Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The meeting in Bell-da-Hallan

The next day was spent in rounding up all who could fight and had some idea of how to protect themselves. Lilly was giving a crash course in kick defence and how to turn and fall to the scholar knights, they learnt quickly and were very willing to do their best.

At the same time the blacksmiths were making and sharpening swords and spears and almost all the women had set to work making arrows. The whole of Bell-da-Hallan was a hive of activity.

Morii had spoken to his father and a meeting of the city council had been arranged for this eve, everyone was invited. Gleryn was busy preparing food and provisions for the camp at Storbvin and every cart in Norsonia was being checked before loading them with everything that the Norsonian ‘army’ would need.

By late afternoon Lilly had gone to see Vartik and taken some of the water bag bombs. Six of the Wyverns took them up to the Kort roof and now they were practising dropping them on the heads of a few volunteer scholar knights, who were running around the gardens screaming and laughing. The Wyverns found it much more difficult to hit moving targets and sometimes even when they got a direct hit the bags didn’t break.

Lilly looked around at the scene and had to laugh herself in spite of the seriousness of the situation.

‘STOP…STOP’ she shouted at everyone, ‘this is not working as well as it should, any ideas anyone?’ she added as everyone gathered around her.

Edie put her arm up, ‘I was thinking that maybe the good Wyverns could make a little tear in the bags just before they let go of them’, she said hesitantly.

Lilly looked at Vartik, ‘what do you think about that?’ she asked him.

Vartik shrugged, ‘it may be quite difficult to do whilst aiming at the target, but we shall try my Lady’, he replied. He went to tell the other Wyverns of the new tactics as Lilly spoke quietly to the scholar knights.

‘Please my friends, I am going to ask you to try and let the Wyverns hit you with their water bombs…I don’t want them to feel that they are going to fail, and I think it may give them some encouragement if they feel they are getting somewhere. Do you all understand that?’ she looked at the others pleadingly. Everyone nodded in agreement as if they all realised at that moment the seriousness of what they were about to do. They went off to let the Wyverns dive bomb them and Lilly called Wilf over.

‘Tell me Wilf’ began Lilly, ‘how many of the older folk in Norsonia would know how to fight in a battle?’

Wilf shook his head; he was one of the eldest scholar knights and was just sixteen. ‘The trouble with all the older knights is that they have never fought in a battle, so all their training be long forgotten. Tis only in recent years that we have begun to learn the art of the bow again, that be down to Lord Morii as he do love it so. The same goes for the spear, we only did that for the hunting, we never had no need to go warring. I do fear my Lady, that it be only us youngers that be quick enough to do any real harm to them Tarken’ Wilf told Lilly.

‘I rather thought as much’ said Lilly, ‘ however I am sure the older folk will be extremely good at putting out fires and tending any wounded or guarding any captured Tarken. We’re going to need plenty of people for those jobs and it’s important that we have somewhere to put any injured or captured Tarken too’.

‘Yay Lady Lilly, we do have hospitalers tents and the aids to the Gamray do tend them. For the captured we do have some chains and cuffs from the dungeons and I daresay the blacksmiths can make more if ye think we needs them’ replied Wilf.

‘That’s good Wilf’ said Lilly, ‘now I think we should be getting prepared for the meeting tonight, what do you say, will you talk of the hospitalers and the cuffs and chains to the towns people?’ Lilly asked him.

‘Yay Lady Lilly if it please ye, I do feel better to have something to think of and I be pleased to do the getting of the hospitaler, tents and chains and all for ye’ Wilf answered smiling at Lilly.

Lilly smiled back and called to everyone to take a break, most of the scholar knights were now well and truly soaked and the Wyverns were looking very pleased with themselves.

‘This practice session is going really well and I thank all of you on behalf of every person and creature of speech in Norsonia’ Lilly told the little group, ‘I have never before seen people so dedicated to getting things right and of course I thank you Wyverns for all your efforts…I can see you have been on target’ she said with a smile.

Everyone burst out laughing as they looked at each other’s dripping hair and clothes. Now I think it’s time for everyone to get changed and go and eat before this eve’s meeting, I will see all of you at the passing of Gamray’s daughter’ Lilly finished to a cheer from the scholar knights.

Lilly went back into her rooms, she had never worked so hard either, but she felt surprisingly good and very alive. She bathed and changed and sat with Pel for a while.

‘Pel come meet?’ Pel asked her, looking up at Lilly with his large golden eyes. ‘Of course you must come to the meeting Pel, I will need you to know everything that’s going to happen if you are to help us’ replied Lilly.

Pel looked very excited, ‘Pel help illy…Pel good in fight’ he assured Lilly nodding his head. ‘ Oh Pel you are a dear Squib, I don’t want you to do anything too dangerous, I don’t want you to get hurt by one of those Tisks’ said Lilly stroking Pel’s thick fur.

Pel sat up straight and looked surprised, ‘Tisks not hurt Pel…Pel friends with Tisks, Tisks hate Tarken…Tarken cruel to Tisks’ he blurted out.

Lilly looked at Pel wide eyed, ‘Pel, what are you saying…you know of the Tisks? How do you know they won’t hurt you?’

‘Pel know Tisks, Tisks not swim, can’t scape Tarken…Tisks be friend…give Tisks food’. Pel told Lilly.

‘Oh my goodness, are you telling me that when the Tarken bring the Tisks over to Norsonia, we can give them food and they won’t bite or tusk us?’ Lilly gasped.

‘Pel talk Tisk…Pel get food…Tisk bite Tarken’ Pel said.

Lilly was stunned, here was one of the biggest worries she had, fighting off the Tisks, now looking as if it was taken care of by little Pel.

‘You think they might attack the Tarken…fight with us Pel?’ she asked the little furry creature.

‘illy not scare…Tisk hate Tarken, Pel do good?’ he asked Lilly.

Lilly hugged Pel and told him he had done ‘good’. Pel looked very pleased. ‘I think it best we keep this information to ourselves Pel’ Lilly told him thoughtfully. Pel just looked at Lilly with his big eyes and nodded.

That eve, as Gamray’s daughter disappeared beyond the horizon, Lilly and Pel made their way to the great meeting hall. It was a pleasant stroll along well kept paths as they passed bee-hives and well stocked barns. A few lanterns had been hung among the trees giving off a warm gentle glow in the summer night, crickets clicked and a smell of lemons hung in the still air. Lilly was completely taken with Norsonia, it was a truly beautiful place and now it was up to her and a few others to save it.

Pel darted back and forth along the hedges and as Lilly walked the young Gamray spoke in her head.

I will be with ye this eve Lilly, I feel all is going as ye planned. Ye must take care of yerself though; I feel there may be an evildoer in our midst.

Lilly thought back, Gamray, do you know who this person is?

No Lilly, the young Gamray replied, I just feel there be an evil presence…I do wish I had my full powers and tis not long now before I shall have them, but for now tis all I can tell ye.

I thank you Gamray and I will be careful, Lilly thought back to him.

‘LADY LILLY’. Morii’s voice called from behind her interrupting her thoughts on who might be the evildoer, she turned as Morii came running up the lane from the Kort.

‘Good eve Morii’ Lilly called as Morii approached her, ‘do you have any more news?’

‘Aye my Lady, I do’ he replied trying to catch his breath, he bent forward and rested his hands on his knees for a moment before looking up at Lilly and grinning. ‘Ye have surely fired up the whole of Norsonia, everyone is talking about what they can do and how they can help in the fight against the Tarken’ he took a deep breath, ‘I also need to tell ye that Mollin, ye remember, from the Tarken camp? have got word to me and has done as I asked of him…he have managed to drug some of the Tarken Storbvin barrels before loading them onto the barges, any Tarken drinking from those barrels will sleep for a good few days and that be true’. Morii took another deep breath and stood waiting for Lilly to say something.

Lilly smiled and told Morii that it was all welcome news as they continued their walk towards the meeting hall.

Morii was now telling Lilly that he had decided to let Ribba out of the dungeons. ‘He be very ashamed of what he did and does promise me that he will help in the fire fighting’.

Lilly was glad, she had felt quite sorry for Ribba. ‘Is he coming to the meeting?’ she asked Morii.

‘Aye I believe he is, along with just about everyone in Norsonia’ Morii told her.

Ribba stepped out into the late afternoon sun and rubbed his wrists, they were sore and stiff from having heavy handcuffs on them for the last couple of days. That stupid boy Morii, he thought, I’ll teach him a lesson for locking me in that dungeon. What do he know of a poor mans world? He be a prince don’t he?

‘Yay me Lord Morii…no me Lord Morii…I’ll behave me self Lord Morii’ Ribba muttered to himself and grinned a horrible grin showing his equally horrible broken and stained teeth. ‘Ribba be havin a few plans of his own and that be true’ he mumbled to a passing crow.

He had arrived at his little hut, set away from the town on the northern edge of the lake and below the northern mountains. As he opened the makeshift door, his wife Min came rushing toward him, ’Ribba’ she smiled, ’ye do me old heart good to see ye back’. Ribba snarled and pushed her aside, ‘ye do yer job and get me some food yer fatbag…I be starved and that be true’. Min looked sad and turned away to prepare her husband some food. Ribba had always been an angry soul, she had hoped that his treatment at the hands of the Tarken and his few days in the dungeons of the Kort might make him stand back and think about what he was doing. Obviously this hadn’t happened and if anything he seemed worse than ever. Min sighed and took down the huge old frying pan that hung over the dirty cooking hob, she looked at her poor old worn hands and her poor and tatty dress, what a life, she thought.

Ribba sprawled himself out in the one chair by the rickety table, he kicked off his boots and ran his hand over his stubbly beard. He needed to go to the meeting this eve and find out what the townsfolk were planning. The thought of being with all those folk moaning on about being scared of the Tarken and making their pathetic little plans made him groan.

Min brought him a plate of eggs and bread and a tankard of Storbvin. ‘What do ye plan to do Ribba? I hope ye aint planning no trouble, the folk be determined to fight off the Tarken for good this time‘ she told her husband.

Ribba snarled his reply, ‘got nothing to do with ye so mind yer manners and get on with yer work woman. What I be planning to do is my business’ he kicked Min in the leg as he said this.

Poor Min staggered over and landed in a heap on the floor, this was too much and she decided to leave her miserable husband to his own bad company. She went through to the other small room which served as a bedroom and store room and started to put her few belongings into her old leather bag, keeping as far away from Ribba as she could until he left for the meeting.

Ribba ate his eggs and bread, drank his Storbvin with noisy slurps and belched very loudly. Feeling better now that he had been fed, he put on his boots, went to the door of the little hut and gazed across the valley to the main town road. Already there was a steady stream of Norsonian folk making their way into Bel-da-Hallan, many seemed to have packs and bags with them, they looked as if they were preparing to stay within the town.

Fools thought Ribba, just fools, they had no idea how strong and evil King Trock was. They would soon find out though and he was going to make sure that he was on the Tarken side, the side that would soon be ruling Norsonia. He scratched his greasy head and skulked off towards the town and the meeting hall.

Lilly, Morii and Pell arrived, along with about two hundred others, at the town square. And people were still arriving from every direction,  there was a definite buzz of anticipation and excitement. Some of the crowd recognising Lilly, started to cheer and clear a pathway up to the town meeting hall steps. Lilly and Morii went up the steps and into the hall after reassuring the crowd that everyone would get a chance to put their thoughts and ideas forward if needed.

Once inside, Lilly scanned the vast hall. Kort workers were putting wooden chairs into neat rows and a platform stage had been furnished with a long table and more chairs. King Litan was already here with some of his Kort advisors, who were fussing around with a cloth for the table and not really achieving anything.

‘How long before we let the folk in my Lord?’ enquired one of the advisors of Morii. ‘As soon as all the chairs are in place’ answered Morii, ‘I don’t think there will be enough for everyone, so ye better let the older folk, and any who find it difficult to stand, in first’ he added thoughtfully. The advisor nodded and bowed to Morii then left to carry out the instructions. Morii turned to Lilly, ‘this be our chance to see who stands with us and those who be against our plans’ he said quietly. Lilly looked at him in surprise. ‘Why, do you think some will go against us Morii?’

‘Aye, I believe some might, those from the outlying hamlets to the north and those as do not have a stomach for a fight, or those who cannot believe that the Tarken will even get here’. he answered Lilly.

Lilly said nothing but thought that surely the people would know that she and Morii would not have gone to this much trouble if the situation were not so serious.

Within a short time the great hall was packed to overflowing and some stragglers were left outside to glean what they could of the proceedings from the murmured comments of those at the very back of the hall.

Lilly sat on the platform with Morii, King Litan, Queen Lewold, three of Gamray’s senior aides, two senior advisors, Wilf, Edie and Pel. She guessed there must be a thousand people all looking at her and waiting to hear of the forthcoming invasion of Tarken.

King Litan stood and there was an immediate hushing sound. He began by thanking everyone for making such a tremendous effort in getting here and also thanks to all the towns folk who had helped with the preparations for war. Lilly was miles away in her thoughts on what she would say when she suddenly realised that King Litan was holding his arm towards her and everyone was clapping and watching her expectantly.

Lilly stood up and again the crowd went quiet.

‘People and creatures of speech of Norsonia’ she began, ‘I could say a great deal on the evils of the Tarken and of their desire to rule your lands. I could tell you all that I have witnessed their plans and seen their great ‘fire giver’ ‘traption with my own eyes, but…I’m not going to give a great speech on those subjects because you either fight with us or you don’t. Norsonia is your land, your children live here in peace and harmony and I can only think that you would all want it to stay that way.

If you cannot fight, you can help in many other ways. If you do not wish to be part of this battle I give you the choice to head for the Northern hills and hide yourselves, keep your distance and you may be safe. All I can say to you is that Norsonia needs you, King Litan needs you and I, Lady Lilly of the Norfolk need you to help save this beautiful land for your future generations.

We have plans and jobs in plenty for anyone who would like to volunteer for them, you can put your names forward at the end of this meeting. For now I will tell you what we know so far and then you can decide for yourselves if you are willing to help.

A great cheer went up, which Lilly thought was promising.

Lilly quickly explained all that was necessary for the crowd to know, from how she and Morii had gone to see what the Tarken were up to, how the Wyverns were helping and how they planned to make a camp near to where they suspected the Tarken would attack first. She explained about the need for helpers with the hospitaler tents and the fire fighting, the arrow making and the cart pulling.

At the end of this Lilly stopped talking and looked slowly around the great hall, there was absolute silence. Suddenly a small boy called out, ‘I want to help Lady Lilly fight the Tarken’ The crowd started to cheer and clap, they shouted as one ‘Norsonia for ever’ and ‘we will beat the Tarken’. Lilly raised her hands and the crowd slowly quietened.

‘Does everyone agree with our plans?’ she asked. There was silence, a young man stood up and put up his hand. Lilly called to him, ‘please give us your name and say your thoughts’.

The young man went bright red and slowly stammered his name, ‘ If ye please…I be named Ruffus, from the northern hamlet of Chysterhallan…I want to ask ye if ye be sure them Tarken are a comin and ye aint just makin a big fuss cause they had a raiding party?’

A few in the crowd murmured, ‘aye…are ye sure?’

Lilly waited a moment or two before her reply, ‘Without wishing to panic anyone…the Tarken are already in Norsonia, by way of a once secret passage…’ she looked around to see if Ribba was anywhere in sight. ‘They are delayed somewhat as they are bringing with them what I would call in my world a ‘machine’ … an apparatus that gives out fire…’

At this statement the crowds started looking at each other and whispering fearfully to one another.

Lilly continued, ‘As I said, we must not panic. We…’, she gestured to the others on the platform, ‘have good sound plans…and a few tricks up our sleeves…we must stand together, together we shall be strong enough to beat the Tarken and send them back or banish them for good. WILL YE ALL STAND WITH US’

The crowd erupted with cries of ‘YAY’ and ’WE STAND WITH THE LADY LILLY’ followed by cheering and clapping that lasted a good few moments. Every one on the platform stood and joined in the clapping. Finally Lilly managed to get the audience to quieten down and handed over to Wilf, who explained about the need for helpers in the hospitaler tents, prisoner guarding and fire fighting. Wilf told them to sign up for these jobs with the scholar knights at the end of the meeting.

Lilly stood again and asked if the folk from Storbenn hamlet were all here. The crowd looked about the hall expectantly and sure enough a man, the elder of Storbenn, stood up.

‘Aye, Lady Lilly we all be here and ready to help in any way we can. I be named Gorsen the elder and I speak for us all’.

‘Thank ye Gorsen, I would invite ye all to stay here in the great hall and leave yer hamlet for us to protect for the next few days, ye will be safer here. If any one from Storbenn wants to volunteer for anything please see one of the scholar knights after this meeting’  Lilly smiled down to Gorsen. He bowed and sat down.

‘Does anyone else have anything to say?’ Lilly searched the crowd for raised hands. She spotted one towards the back and asked the woman to speak.

‘I be named Min from the foothills of the mountains of Cerryn. I be but a poor woman and have little fight in me, but I do offer whatever I can do. I can fire a bow, as I have these good many years for catchin jumpers in the fields around me home…I reckon I could shoot me a Tarken or two just as soundly and that be true’ she finished, her cheeks flushing slightly as she sat down.

Lilly smiled warmly at her and said, ‘My good Min, I…we thank ye from our hearts and would welcome yer skills with the bow greatly. I look forward to meeting ye later. Shall we all finish our meeting and sign up for jobs?’ she asked the crowd.

The crowd replied with aye’s and clapped and cheered.

Morii later told Lilly that Min was Ribba’s wife and that he had always thought her very quiet and shy. ‘It must have taken her a lot of courage to speak in front of the folk in that way’ he’d said. Lilly asked Morii if he’d seen Ribba. Morii said he had not.

It was much later that eve when Lilly and Morii returned to Kort. They had spent many hours with the folk of Norsonia answering the many questions that inevitably came up. Most wanted to be allowed to stay in or around Bell-da-Hallan, and this presented a new set of tasks, collecting food provisions and putting up new tent villages to feed and accommodate everyone. Because everyone was so willing to help, these things were soon sorted out with the folk seeming glad of being given jobs to do. They felt they were all involved with the fight against the Tarken, that much was obvious.

Lilly and Morii finished off their day by checking that all was ready for the trek to Storbenn in the morn and for making their defence camp there.  Lilly had decided to bring the journey forward a day for herself, Morii and a few others and go on the next morn and begin the setting up of the camp before the main party, who would arrive the day after. She and Morii also wanted to see what progress the Tarken were making with the ‘fire giver’. Lilly hoped with all her heart that it wouldn’t be too much progress.

Gamray’s daughter was still climbing into the bright blue sky when Lilly and Morii arrived at Storbenn wood. There was an eerie silence all around as the village of Storbenn a mile to the south, had been deserted since yesterday.

Lilly sat in a shaft of sunlight by the rivers edge; she sniffed at the clean morning air and watched Storr and Srix, drinking a little further downstream. She had the feeling that this may be the last bit of peace she would have for quite some time.

Morii was off somewhere hunting for jumpers for everyone’s tea tonight and the few scholar knights and Kort workers that had accompanied them were busy setting up the camp in a clearing to her left. She sighed and stood up looking around her. They were a little way into the wood and the path into Storbenn was just visible in front of her. It was a good position and she felt confident that they still had the advantage over the Tarken at this point.

She called to Pel and he came scampering over. ‘Do you fancy a little walk Pel?’ she asked. Pel nodded his small furry head and started off toward the path into Storbenn. Lilly was surprised for a moment and then remembered that Pel knew what was in her mind, he knew without her telling him where they were going and why. Lilly smiled to herself and followed after Pel.

As she approached the edge of the village, Lilly had a dreadful feeling that all was not well. She headed for one of the outlying buildings of Storbenn, which she saw without too much surprise, was a Storbvin store house and crept inside it’s shady door for a moment. She could hear someone coming, someone muttering to themselves and shuffling their feet. She peeped carefully around the door and saw with some surprise Ribba coming into view. Ribba looked up at that moment and saw her.

Just as she had been spotted, Lilly heard the Gamray calling a warning in her head. Beware Lilly…the evil doer approaches, be very careful Lilly. She thought back, it’s ok Gamray, Ribba has been punished and has promised to help us. NO LILLY, came Gamray’s thought.

It was too late; Ribba was standing over Lilly with the most evil leer on his face.

‘Ribba, what are you doing here, did you come to help with the camp?’ enquired an innocent Lilly.

Ribba lunged for Lilly and grabbed her shoulder…’Come here ye mangy little trouble maker’ he spat at Lilly and pulled her into the store house.

Lilly was speechless with shock, it slowly dawned on her that Ribba had been lying all along and that she had been stupid to ever feel sorry for him. Now he had her in a vice like grip, her shoulder burning with pain. None of the others even knew she had left the camp.

Ribba dragged Lilly to the far corner of the room and pushed her roughly through a large trap door in the floor. The last thing Lilly knew was falling and something hitting hard on her head…then blackness.

Morii returned to the woodland camp with a dozen jumpers for supper. He cleaned them and put them into the meat safe that he had thought, sensibly, to bring along. He cleaned his hands and went in search of Lilly.

Morii spent nearly an hour asking around. Had anybody seen Lilly? The answer kept coming back no, not since early this morn. He was beginning to get worried; Srix and Storr told him that she had been by the river earlier that morn, so they all searched up and down the river bank, no sign of her there.

‘I will go further afield and look on the road to Storbenn’, Morii informed the worried party, ‘ye must all stay here apart from Wilf who shall come with me’.

Edie begged to be allowed to come but Morii told her he wanted to leave someone in charge and she was his choice for that task. Edie had to stay. ‘Find her Morii…just find her’ was all she would say as she watched the two boys set off for Storbenn village.

Lilly came-to in a dark and musty smelling place, her head was smarting and her shoulder felt as if it were on fire. She couldn’t move her arms or legs and realised after a moment or two that she had been tied up and her mouth gagged with some foul smelling rag.  As her eyes became accustomed to the gloom, she could just make out a little shaft of light over to the corner of the low roofed room she was laying in. It seemed to be coming from the ceiling, then she remembered, she had been pushed down into the cellar of the store house by the evil doer Ribba.

Lilly laid her head back in frustration. Tears, hot and stinging welled up in her eyes as she tried hard to breathe through her nose only. She struggled to move herself into a sitting position by using the wall behind her. Slowly she inched up the wall, turning herself as she did so, her muscles screamed at her for moving them in ways they didn’t want to. Finally she was upright and could see more of the cellar.

There was nothing useful here, just sacks of something that smelled like gone off yeast and lots of empty stone jugs. Some tipped over, some broken, some…Hang on Lilly thought to herself, broken stone jars, sharp broken edges. If I could just move across the floor somehow…I may be able to…cut at the ropes.

Poor Lilly, everything hurt and Ribba had bound her so tightly it was almost impossible to even move. After a long time of struggling Lilly was almost ready to give up, her throat hurt, her mouth was dry and she was not much further on. She lay panting on the floor and trying not to cry. She could not cry and breathe properly through her nose at the same time. After a couple of moments getting her breathe back, Lilly was about to try again when she heard a scrabbling noise above the trapdoor.

She froze in terror. What was that? Was there something else coming to get her? Oh please don’t hurt me, Lilly wanted to cry out, but couldn’t.

Illy…illy…where illy? Pel’s little voice called in her head. Lilly’s heart soared, Pel, Pel here I am in the cellar…I’m tied up, can you get to me? She thought back.

Pel try, came the reply.

Lilly couldn’t believe her luck, Pel had found her, maybe even seen all that had happened.

Pel’s voice came into her head again, Pel can’t move door…Pel not strong…Pel get elp illy.

Lilly heard his feet scampering off at top speed; she closed her eyes and waited.

Morii and Wilf had reached Storbenn some time back. Morii decided to start searching the buildings at the centre of the hamlet and work their way outwards, they dare not call out too loudly as they didn’t know how far their voices might carry towards the Tarken camp at the foot of the mountains of Flax. They didn’t want to alert the Tarken of their presence.

The boys were about to start searching the hamlet school building when Pel came running towards them. Morii scooped Pel up in his arms as Pel threw his small arms around Morii’s neck.

‘Where be Lady Lilly?’ Morii asked Pel, searching the little creature’s eyes for an answer and stroking his soft furry head. Pel said nothing, but squiggled down and shot off with Morii and Wilf hot on his heels. At the store house Pel stopped.

‘Is this where she be Pel?’ Morii gasped, trying to catch his breath. Wilf looked quickly around, ‘is she inside Pel?’

Pel nodded and pointed a small paw at the ground. Wilf and Morii looked at each other and without another word rushed into the store house. Pel ran to the corner of the room where the trapdoor was and pointed again.

Morii and Wilf tugged at the big iron ring in the floor, it was well and truly stuck, or too heavy for them to move. ‘We need something to lever it up’, Morii told Wilf and they started looking around the storehouse. There was nothing, absolutely nothing they could use as a lever. Morii asked Wilf to go and look in the other buildings around them and, when he’d gone, knelt down by the trap door and put his ear to the wood.

‘Lilly…can you hear me? It’s Morii…Lilly?’

Lilly could hear Morii but couldn’t call back, she tried banging her feet against the floor but it was sand, and only made a dull thud. She was so exasperated and a little frightened that they would go and leave her. Lilly squirmed and squiggled and rolled using a strength that she never before knew she possessed and managed to reach a pile of stone pots. She lifted both feet off the floor and kicked out violently. The pile of pots came crashing down, some of them hitting Lilly herself, but at least she had made some sort of noise. She could hear Morii calling out to her again. ‘Hold on Lilly, we’re going to get you out…hold on my dear’.

Morii’s voice tailed away and Lilly heard footsteps running back and forth above her head.

After what seemed to Lilly an eternity, the trap door was levered open and Morii, Pel and Wilf came down into the cellar.

Morii pulled the gag from Lilly’s mouth and stroked her face. Lilly was really crying now, from relief and from being with friends again. Pel licked Lilly’s wrists as Morii untied her hands and feet and Wilf went off to get her some water.

After Lilly had recovered a little, her throat being so dry it had taken three large cups of water to enable her to speak at all, she told the boys and Pel what had happened to her. Pel nodded and when Lilly asked if he had seen what happened he told her he had not, but he had seen Ribba going towards the foothills of the mountains of Flax, and came looking for Lilly to tell her, couldn’t find her and had finally sensed that she was a prisoner here in the cellar.

Morii hit his fist against a wooden pillar, ‘this be all my fault, if only I hadn’t let him out of the dungeon’.

‘No Morii, don’t blame yourself’ Lilly said quietly, ‘I wanted you to let him go, I felt sorry for him, remember?’

‘He’s gone back to the Tarken, I can’t believe he would trust them after how they treated him last time’ Morii muttered.

Wilf said, ’we should get Lilly out of here and back to camp as the others there will be worried.’  Morii and Wilf helped Lilly up and out of the cellar and they slowly made their way out into the afternoon light.

Morii took out his silver whistle and blew it to summon Srix and Storr.

As they waited, Gamray stole into Lilly’s head. 

Are ye well Lilly? I tried to warn ye of Ribba, ye thought he meant no harm?

Lilly thought back to Gamray. Aye Gamray I will be fine soon, I realised too late that Ribba was a traitor, I just need to rest a little and I will be good as new.

A short while later Srix came galloping up the path, Storr following closely behind. Srix whinnied and snorted his disgust when hearing about Ribba. ‘My lady, ye would let me after this creature? I will kick some respect back into the villain and that be true’ he told Lilly.

‘I appreciate your concern Srix, but Ribba will keep, I need to get back to camp and get something put on my wrists and ankles. The hospitalers did not think they would have their first customer yet,’ Lilly smiled at Srix and gave him a feeble pat.

Wilf and Morii helped Lilly onto Srix’s back and Morii climbed up behind her, Wilf took Pel on Storr, who didn’t seem to mind carrying a Squib, and they all made for camp.