Theo and the Stolen Library: A YA Action Adventure Fantasy (Book of Theo 3) by Melanie Ansley

Author:Melanie Ansley [Ansley, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Writing Rooster Media
Published: 2022-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

As the cart’s wheels creaked over the drawbridge, Hizarah slapped Reenan’s hand.

“Stop fidgeting.”

“I don’t fidget.”

“Reenan does,” Manneki confirmed from where he was perched on Reenan’s other side. “He twists fingers in the reins.”

“I don’t think they’ll let us in,” Reenan whispered.

“We don’t know that,” Hizarah answered, keeping her voice low as well.

Reenan indicated several people who were walking back from the castle bailey, disgruntled looks on their faces. “They’re being turned away. They’ve closed the castle.”

Yesterday had gone as smoothly as they could have dared hoped. They had dropped the trio off in the bedchamber, then returned to their cart where Manneki had been waiting, then driven off through the bailey and back home, taking pains to tell the guards they had brought the wrong sheets and would have to return on the morrow.

But when Hizarah had gone to the alehouse and found none of the castle laundresses there, she had realized something was very wrong. And when the innkeeper had passed on the news that the castle had shut down due to an intruder, Hizarah, Reenan, and Manneki had spent the night debating what to do. In the end, they decided they had to stick to their plan, if only because it was the best chance they had of not leaving the three omatjes stranded in the castle.

They reached the guards on duty at the castle gate.

“Business?”

“The emperor’s linen delivery,” Hizarah said in her sweetest voice.

“Not today. Come back in a week. Like I told the other merchant, it’s orders.”

“A week?” Hizarah echoed.

“What’re more essential than linens?” Reenan argued. “Unwashed linens mean bedbugs, and bedbugs—”

“I’m telling you, the castle is closed to everyone but imperial messengers. Now go.”

Hizarah tried one last tack. “Perhaps you can ask the head of household, she’ll—”

“I’ve said it several times, no one’s allowed in or out!” The guard had clearly lost his patience. “Now get going before I make you.”

Reenan reluctantly turned the donkey around and steered the cart back over the bridge. When they were safely out of earshot, Hizarah voiced what they were all thinking.

“What do we do now? We can’t even come back tomorrow.”

“We could use the seals,” Reenan said. “Get in saying I’m the chamberlain.”

Manneki shook his head. “No one allowed in or out, not even the laundresses or chamberlain. How Reenan and Hizarah leave?”

“Good point,” Reenan said.

“So we just abandon them?” Hizarah asked, incredulous.

“I don’t see much choice right now,” Reenan said, glancing over his shoulder at the castle and its high, smooth walls. “And we’re not doing much good here. Best we head home and think of options.”

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