Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief Read Free

ground as he darted outside, following a scent to the courtyard.
    â€œLeo! Get back here.” Galileo was sniffing around the tree. Alfie called again but the cat paid no attention to him. After pretending to close the large castle door several times Alfie gave up and closed it completely. He guessed Galileo would be able to look after himself.
    â€œCaspian is sending a carriage,” said Alfie as he rejoined his dad and Amy. “We’ve got to stay inside until the phone rings.”
    â€œ In case they come back?” asked Amy. “Do you think they will?”
    â€œI don’t know. They wanted something from Ashford. I think they’ve taken him to get it for them.”
    â€œWhat if he refuses?”
    Alfie didn’t reply. He didn’t want to think about the danger Ashford was in.
    Twenty minutes later the phone rang three times. “That’s the signal. Come on.” Alfie hooked his arm around his dad and helped him limp to the door.
    Amy’s jaw actually dropped as she saw a polished black coach sitting in the courtyard. Alfie recognized it as the very one that had taken him and his dad to Muninn and Bone’s offices nearly a year ago, where he had first learnt he was to inherit Hexbridge Castle. Six midnight-black horses steamed in the moonlight as they stamped on the cobbles.
    Johannes the driver nodded to them. The coach door clicked open. Two short, stocky, bearded men in leather overalls and stout boots jumped out and grabbed a heavy black bag from the back of the coach. They dragged it towards the oak and then circled the tree, tapping it and scratching their beards while making tutting noises.
    Leaving the two men to examine the tree, Alfie climbed into the velvet darkness of the carriage, followed by his dad and Amy. He felt out of place in the elegant interior and wished he had changed out of his pyjamas first.
    â€œYou are hurt.”
    They jumped as a voice sounded from the shadows. The oil lamps in the carriage dramatically flared to life to reveal Caspian Bone sitting opposite them. “Your injuries will be tended to at our offices.”
    â€œCaspian!” cried Alfie, his chest hurting as he shouted out with relief to see the solicitor. “Someone took Ashford. They dragged him into that portal thing in the oak tree. We’ve got to get him back!”
    â€œThey shot him with an arrow,” burst out Amy. “They were really tall and strong; we couldn’t stop them.”
    â€œI didn’t know whether to call the police,” said Alfie’s dad. “I mean, what would we say? What
could
we say?”
    Caspian listened to their wild ranting in impassive silence, and then rapped the wall behind him with a black-and-silver cane. The coach began to move. “Your police cannot be of help. I will deal with this matter alone.” Over Caspian’s clipped tones Alfie could hear the horses clatter over the drawbridge, their hooves pounding the ground as they galloped down the hill. As they reached full speed the coach tilted back as though the horses had leapt into the air and were galloping into the sky. He noticed Amy straining to see through the black glass windows.
    â€œAre we fly—” began Amy.
    â€œNot important,” interrupted Caspian. He twitched his head back to Alfie, who noticed Amy raise an eyebrow at being cut off so sharply. “The talisman – is it safe?”
    Alfie pulled it from his pyjamas and showed the solicitor.
    â€œGood. They still think it is at our offices. We have arranged for the oak to be bound with iron so that the elves cannot return through that portal while we negotiate Ashford’s return.”
    â€œWait …
elves
?” asked Alfie. “Those people were elves? Are you serious?”
    â€œDo I ever joke?”
    Alfie thought that would be too much to hope for.
    Amy’s other eyebrow joined the first as Caspian casually confirmed the existence of a supposedly