The Mirror's Tale (Further Tales Adventures) Read Free

have to charge right at them, that’s what Father would do” Bert frowned, wondering why the map was suddenly so much easier to read. A flickering orange glow had flooded the room. Will gasped, and Bert’s head jerked up, and his eyes nearly burst from their sockets.
    The candle that Bert pushed to the back of the table had ignited the map just above it, and the flames leaped eagerly to the other parchments.
    “Let’s get out of here!” cried Bert.
    “No, we have to put it out!” Will said.
    “What? Right!” said Bert. He pulled the candle away from the pigeonholes and swatted at the flames with his open palm. “Ouch!” Bits of burning paper floated about, and a few more maps began to smolder. A dense cloud of smoke gathered in the chamber’s rounded ceiling. “Will, get the water bucket by the hearth!”
    Will’s grimace nearly stretched from one ear to the other as he ran into the great hall, where the day’s fire had settled into a sputtering gray heap. He lifted the iron bucket with a grunt and waddled awkwardly backto the chamber with the pail swinging between his legs. By the time he got back, Bert had stripped off his nightshirt and was batting the flaming ends of the parchments. “Put the bucket on the table!” he said, trying not to shout.
    Bert grabbed the parchments and stuck the burning ends into the bucket, where they hissed like snakes. When the last of the maps had been extinguished, he and Will crammed them back into the holes. They stepped back and looked at the result. Soggy, blackened parchments stuck out at all angles with a third of their lengths burned away by the fire. Will shook his head and groaned. “Maybe they won’t notice.”
    “Right.
Now
let’s get out of here,” Bert said, picking up his charred nightshirt. “You’d better put the bucket back”
    Will lifted the pail. When he turned and saw Edward blocking the archway and staring at them, he dropped it again. The bucket tipped over, and the water sloshed out into a puddle that engulfed Edward’s feet.
    The boys froze. Edward sniffed the air and looked at the cloud of smoke still trapped overhead. His eyebrows rose as he glanced at the ruined maps, and then at Bert standing naked with a strand of smoke still drifting up from the nightshirt he held bunched against his waist.
    “We didn’t do it,” Bert ventured.
    Edward snorted.
    “You won’t tell, will you?” Will asked in a strangled voice.
    “Let’s see,” Edward said. “I could say nothing, then have your father use me for an archery target when he finds out I lied. Or I could say something, and you two ruffians could get what you deserve. Dear me, what should I do?”
    Will closed his eyes and shivered, thinking about the look on his mother’s face when Edward led her to the map chamber. When she ordered them to their room, it was with a colder fury than he’d ever seen before. Starting that fire wasn’t the worst thing they’d ever done, but something about her expression told Will they’d made one mistake too many. “What do you think they’re going to do.”
    “Dunno. Maybe Father will have us beheaded,” Bert replied. He was at the window, staring into the black sky. “Hush for a minute,” he said. He stuck his head out and cocked his ear toward the left. Will got out of bed and leaned out with him. Their parents were talking in the room next door, and their voices were rising.
    “Can’t quite hear what they’re saying,” Will said. “Doesn’t sound promising, though.”
    “It doesn’t,” Bert agreed. “I wish they didn’t lock us in. Otherwise we could just sneak out and listen at their door.” His expression brightened. He ran to his bed,reached underneath it, and pulled out a coiled rope from the clutter of objects that was crammed into the narrow space.
    “Bert, I don’t think that’s a good—”
    “They’re talking about us!” Bert said. “Don’t you want to know what the punishment will be?” He knotted one end of