Authors: Kathleen Duey
Castle Avamir (5 page)
He tossed his head, pranced in a wide circle as she washed her hands and face in the lake.
She raked her fingers through Moonsilver's mane, then rebraided her own hair.
She put Moonsilver's armor on slowly.
The sun burst above the clouds.
Heart looked across the lake.
The slope below the ledges was covered in maple trees.
She looked into Moonsilver's eyes.
“Don't get scared of songbirds again. Stay close to me. If my family is up there ⦔
Heart trailed off. She wasn't sure what she had meant to say.
She was shivering with cold and excitement.
Would her family really be there?
What would her mother look like?
Moonsilver shook his mane.
He pawed at the ground.
Heart slid the halter over his ears. She gripped the lead rope. “Stay close,” she whispered. She could feel her pulse.
She squared her shoulders.
Then she picked up her carry-sack and began to walk.
Moonsilver was uneasy beneath the maple trees.
He kept tossing his head. But he did not stop.
Heart clung to the rope.
The shade of the trees was so deep, so dark, that she could not see very far ahead.
So the appearance of the first wall of gray stone surprised her.
Moonsilver stopped in front of it. Heart looked up.
It was higher than any wall she had ever seenâhigher than Lord Irmaedith's castle in Bidenfast, higher than Dunraven's castle.
The maple branches grew toward the wall, then angled straight up, seeking sunlight.
Heart followed the wall, touching it timidly with her fingertips.
When the wall changed directions she walked along it, heading uphill.
The gates were at the top of the slope.
They hung on massive iron hinges.
The wood was black, and as thick as a tree trunk.
It had been carved.
Heart stared. The design was the same as the one on her baby blanket. It matched the gates on the library in Jordanville, and the drawing in Tibbs's book. The original iron gatesâthe ones that had been made by Joseph Lequire's great grandfatherâhad to be inside these walls.
This
was
Castle Avamirâ¦.
“Who is there?”
The sudden shout made Heart jump.
Moonsilver snorted in a sharp breath and reared.
Heart stood still, clinging to the rope.
“Heart Avamir,” she called back, then cleared her throat and called her name out a second time, a little louder.
She was trembling as she waited for the voice to come again.
But instead there was a high creaking sound.
The massive gates swung inward.
Moonsilver turned to look back at the trees. Heart pulled his head round. “Stay close,” she whispered.
Then she went forward.
She stood up straight, keeping her shoulders squared.
She expected to see people walking along the
castle parapets. She expected the voices of children and the sounds of horses and hens and cows.
But the courtyard was empty.
The castle was silent.
It was beautiful.
The spires soared high.
The walls enclosed a garden.
Heart walked toward it.
There was a lilac hedge taller than a man.
There were trimmed boxwoods, cedars, and flowers of every color. A bed of deep red roses was in full bloom.
Heart was puzzled. Outside the walls, winter had barely ended.
The roses' perfume mixed with the sweet scent of lavender and lilac, layered in with the cool dawn air.
“Why have you come back?” the voice asked.
Heart spun around.
It was the old man who had passed them on the road.
Standing this close to him, she could see that his eyes were milky and unfocused. Was he blind?
He leaned on his walking stick.
“I am looking for my family and Iâ,” Heart began.
The old man chuckled, interrupting her. “No one's family dares to live here anymore.” He bent to cut a strange-looking flower.
Heart glanced around.
The garden was perfectly kept. But beyond it, the castle was still.
There was no smell of morning cookfires, no hint of people. She caught a glimpse of purplish wings flashing into an open window.
“Where did they all go?” Heart whispered. Her throat was tight.
“I don't know,” the man said quietly.
He straightened and began to walk toward her. His steps were sure. If he was blind, he knew the garden very well. “For a long time, they put their little ones out for others to find,” the man said quietly.
“Put out for others to find.”
Heart thought about Laura.
She thought about herselfâabout how Simon had found her in the tall grass by the Blue River.
“Why?” she asked, breathlessly. Then she cleared her throat. “Why would they do that?”
The old man tipped his head. “To save you, of course.”
Heart shook her head. “Save us? From what?”
The man came toward her, extending the flower.
Heart took it, staring into his odd, clouded eyes.
He smiled. “A homecoming gift, the only one I can give you.”
Heart was trembling. “Don't you know where they are?”
Before the man could answer, Moonsilver nudged at her shoulder. A second later, she heard what he had heard.
Hoofbeats.
The old man lifted his head. “Hide,” he commanded.
Heart whirled around in a circle. She couldn't go out the gate. The sound of galloping horses was too close.
She ran, leading Moonsilver into the garden, around to the far side of the lilac hedge.
Moonsilver lay down.
Heartcrouched beside him.
She saw the old man running toward the gates. He grabbed a thick rope and pulled. But it was too late.
“Good morning, gardener,” a rasping voice called out.
Heart recognized it instantly.
It made her skin prickle and tighten.
Lord Dunraven!
The girls had told Laura the truth, then.
Heart pressed her lips together. She could hear her own heartbeat.
If Lord Dunraven found her now, if he saw the book she had taken from his castle ⦠and if he found out about Moonsilver â¦
“Get your things, old man,” Dunraven said in his rough-edged voice.
Heart peeked out from her hiding place.
The old man was shaking his head. But Lord Dunraven and his men were circling around him.
“Your queen calls for you,” Dunraven said in an ugly, mocking voice.
Moonsilver struck the earth with one hoof, and one of the guards glanced around.
Heart ducked down.
Moonsilver pressed close to Heart, and she could feel him trembling.
She put an arm around his neck.
If he made a sound now ⦠they would be caught.
“Be still,” Heart whispered into Moonsilver's ear. “They can't see us. We're safe.”
She didn't believe them herself, but her words seemed to calm Moonsilver a little.
Just then the clattering of hooves began again.
Heart leaned forward to see through the hedge.
One of Dunraven's men had pulled the old man up behind his saddle.
They were galloping away
Heart held her breath.
The sound of hoofbeats dimmed, then faded away.
Heart's bracelet tightened, then seemed to turn in a circle around her wrist.
Astonished, she shoved up her sleeve.
The flower in her hand seemed to leap free, spinning and changing, the bloom turning silver as it shrank.
Heart watched, breathing hard.
The long stem was a silver thread now, weaving itself into the silvery lace of her bracelet.
It was all over in an instant.
The silver flower, tiny and delicate, lay at the center of the bracelet.
The band of silver lace circled her wrist.
Heart could only stare.
Moonsilver stood beside her.
Above them, the silent castle stood high and proudâand empty.
Finally Heart looked up. “We have to follow them.”
Moonsilver was glancing nervously at the maple trees just beyond the gate.
Heart understood. She was afraid, tooânot of
the maple trees, but of everything that lay beyond them.
But that didn't matter.
There was only one thing she could do.
Moonsilver was kneeling down, and she kissed his silken cheek for understanding.
She scrambled onto his back.
She had found her home. Now she had to find her familyâand save them if she could.
COBBLE ⢠STREET has never been this much fun!
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