Urchin and the Heartstone Read Free

are you absolutely sure you don’t want it longer?”
    “If it’s any longer it’ll get sat on by a mole,” said Padra. “And when you see your husband, tell him the gallery’s finished and there’s room for all the Hedgehog Host in there.”
    “Oh, Docken and me and all of us are most grateful for it, Captain,” she said, and twisted awkwardly to follow his gaze up to the newly finished gallery. “There’s such an awful lot of them, sir, to fit in.”
    “And you can’t pack hedgehogs in closely,” observed Arran. “Not without serious consequences. But Gorsen and Lumberen had a look at it themselves, and they were pleased with it.”
    Thripple had opened her mouth to say that Gorsen was a most particular hedgehog, and if the gallery was good enough for him, it was good enough for everyone. But she said nothing, because at that point Gorsen the hedgehog himself marched into the Gathering Chamber, bowed smartly to Crispin, and saluted.
    “There’s a deputation of young 'uns to see Your Majesty and Captain Padra,” he announced. Gorsen was a tall hedgehog with a bronze tip to his spines, large black eyes, and a purposeful stride, and his striking good looks had won the attention of most of the single female hedgehogs on the island.
    “I told them Your Majesty’s busy,” Gorsen went on, “but they’re all mightily excited about something and they say it’s important, and Urchin sent them. Your young Hope’s among them, Mistress Thripple.”
    “Tell them all to come in, please, Gorsen,” said Crispin as Thripple’s eyes brightened. “And send a squirrel down to the kitchen for some strawberries.”
    They heard stifled giggling before Jig and Fig, the mole sisters, appeared with Hope the hedgehog between them. There was a cry of “Ooh, Mummy!” from Hope, who scurried as fast as he could to Thripple before he remembered where he was and turned to bow to the king.
    “Please, Your Majesty—” he began.
    “That’s Brother Fir,” said Thripple gently. Hope was very shortsighted.
    “Please, Your Majesty,” repeated Hope as Padra picked him up and pointed him in the right direction, “King Crispin, sir, Captain Padra, sir, there’s a ship arriving and Master Urchin said you should know, urgent says it’s Urchin, no, Urchin says it’s urgent, Your Majesty, Captain Padra, sir, sir.”
    “Urchin mentioned it before,” said Padra. “I’ll go, shall I, Crispin?”
    “And if Your Majesty can spare me, I shall have a little look for this ship from my turret,” said Brother Fir, slowly standing up and rubbing at his lame leg. “Hope, would you like to come with me? But your legs may be too tired to manage the stairs. I believe we should wait for a minute or two and eat strawberries. They renew one’s energy, you know.”
    On the shore, animals had gathered to watch the approaching ship with her tattered sails and slow, halting progress. Otters swam in the shallows and ran up and down the beach, wanting to help with mooring the ship. Squirrels and hedgehogs stood in little clusters on the rocks, shielding their eyes against the sun. It was unusual, a ship arriving, especially one as battered as this. It was well worth watching, especially for small animals bored with gathering the berry harvest. Now and again a mole or two would emerge from a tunnel, peer about, sniff, and, not caring much for ships, disappear again. Urchin, Needle, and Juniper stood close enough to the water’s edge to let the waves lap over their paws as Apple, Urchin’s foster mother, bounded across the sand toward them. Apple was very round for a squirrel, and left large paw prints. She was telling them what she thought about the ship long before she reached them.
    “Ooh, look at that, or I should say look at her, shouldn’t I?” she said, and stopped to take a deep breath. “She don’t look too big, nor too healthy, neither. She must have been in the storm, I wonder who’s on there, poor souls.”
    “I can see