A Tale of Two Castles Read Free Page A

be a count unless a king made you one or made one of your ancestors one.
    â€œA count.”
    â€œWhat happened to the rest of the ogres in Lepai?”
    She turned her hand palm up. “I don’t know. They may have become mice and been eaten. And ogres sicken and die, just as people do.”
    How lonely I would be if I were the only human. “Mistress? What about dragons? Are there many? Are any of them noble?”
    â€œJust one in Two Castles, and IT is a commoner. Dragons don’t generally dwell near one another.” She straightened her left leg. “My old bones don’t like anything hard.”
    I wished I had a cushion for her. She was so nice. I thought of Mother’s warning, but Goodwife Celeste couldn’t be a whited sepulcher. We had been together all this while, and she had done nothing to raise my suspicions.
    â€œBeyond Two Castles,” she continued, “Lepai has a few dozen dragons, here and there.”
    â€œDo people protect themselves from the dragon, too? Not with cats, with something else?”
    â€œNo. Everyone is used to IT. IT’s lived in the town since IT was hatched a hundred years ago.”
    â€œSo old?”
    â€œIT is in ITs prime.”
    We fell silent. I leaned back on my arms and looked up at the blue sky. Summer weather in October. No clouds, only a breath of a breeze. How safe I felt, like a twig floating in a quiet pond.
    Goodwife Celeste picked shreds of cheese and bread crumbs off her lap in a housewifely way. She walked to the bulwark, tossed them over, and returned to me. Back at my cloak, she knelt. “Crossing is a holiday. For a few days we’re as safe as the kittens in their basket.” She gestured at the cog around us.
    I had been thinking exactly the same thought!
    â€œI’m sorry I won’t be able to help you in Two Castles.”
    That startled me. I hadn’t thought of asking for aid.
    Was she telling me in a roundabout fashion of her own troubles? Were she and her goodman too poor to feed themselves, or were they in some other sort of difficulty?
    She put a gentle hand under my chin. “You have a determined face. Nothing will easily best you.” She stood. “My goodman may well be wondering what we had to gossip about for so long.” She left me.
    That night, when I curled up on the deck, worries came and refused to be pretended away. The mansioners would not take me. I would starve. In the winter I would freeze, fall ill, die. Mother and Father would never know what had become of me.

Chapter Three
    T he weather remained uncommonly warm. The cog master complained about the still air and our slow progress. I feared we would arrive after Guild Week, and then what would I do?
    We’d set out on a Sunday, the only day the cog left Lahnt. Masters in Two Castles began seeing boys and girls on Monday, and by Friday all the places would be taken.
    At noon on Tuesday I lunched on the last pear, the end of my provisions. By nightfall the wind freshened, although the air remained warm. When I awoke the next day, I sensed a change in the motion of the cog. The troughs weren’t as deep, the crests not so high. I rushed to the foredeck.
    An uneven triangle broke the horizon. Our cog now sailed amid fishing boats, a whale among minnows.
    I folded my cloak and pushed it into my satchel with my spare hose, chemise, and kirtle—my entire wardrobe, except for the clothes I wore and the shoes on my feet. My hand encountered the only other item, a list in Mother’s small, neat writing on a sheet of parchment. I took it out.
    H ALF D OZEN R ULES FOR L ODIE
    1. Be truthful.
    2. Act with forethought, not impetuously. Your mother and father depend on your safety.
    3. Neither stare nor eavesdrop.
    4. Do not interrupt or contradict your elders or finish their sentences or think you know more than they do.
    5. Do not befriend anyone until you are certain he or she is worthy of your trust. Beware the