Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

“Tedi and I will eat first,”declared Tanya. “You two go and get a look. Fredrik can show youwhere it is and you can draw us a map when you return,” she said toArik.

They all agreed and Fredrik led Arik tothe spot where he thought the island might be. The wall was a goodtwenty feet high and the boys could not see over it. The trees inthe area were not tall enough to get a good look over the wall andthere were too many people in the area to start climbing the walleven if they could.

Fredrik looked around the area and hiseyes stopped on a three-story house across the street. Fredriktapped Arik on the sleeve and marched across the street and knockedon the door. At first he thought no one would answer, but when hewas about to open the door and go in, a middle-aged woman openedthe door.

“What is it?” she demanded.“If it’s something you’re selling, be off with you.”

“Madam,” Fredrik puffed up,“do I look like a lowly merchant? My agent sent me by to examinethe house.”

The woman gave Fredrik a looking overand eyed appraisingly at his red velvet suit. “Agent? What agent?Whatever are you talking about?”

“The property agent, ofcourse,” snapped Fredrik. “Look, I am offering an outrageouslylarge sum of money for this house and I don’t appreciate my timebeing wasted with foolish games. Are you going to let us in orshould I buy your neighbor’s house?”

“I don’t know nothing about .. .” faltered the woman. Her eyes sparkled as she changed her tune.“I mean to say that your agent was not gracious enough to inform methat you would be coming this evening. Come in, please.”

Arik hid his smile well as Fredrik ledthe way into the tall house. Fredrik saw a few poor pieces offurniture and some crates in the entry hall. He swept past theminto the receiving room and stopped when he saw no furniture atall. “I am afraid that I forgot your name, Lady,” Fredrikstated.

“Mabel, My Lord,” she repliedas she bowed. “As you can see, I have already moved the furnitureout except for these small pieces. I can have them removed in themorning. How much was your offer, Sir?”

“Twice what you were asking,”Fredrik calmly replied. “I think this will do well, LadyMabel.”

“Perhaps, you could show yourgood faith, Sir,” Mabel hesitantly suggested. “A small depositwould guarantee that your offer is accepted, as generous as itis.”

The house was really in deplorablecondition. The floors were cracked, the doors hung poorly anddidn’t close, and the walls had holes in them. The truth of what hewas seeing began to dawn on Lord Wason. He walked back into theentrance hall and looked at the crates. Nodding his head, Fredrikretrieved some coins from his pouch and counted themout.

“I must have men in tonight totake measurements and I will not want them disturbed,” Fredrikordered. “Here is one hundred crowns deposit. The belongings in theentry hall will not be available until tomorrow after midday. Ifyou can carry them, you can take them now, otherwise, do not sendfor them until that time. I will have my agent draw up the paperstomorrow and by nightfall you will be a very wealthy woman. Goodnight, Lady Mabel.”

The woman bowed with a grin on her lipsand hefted a crate on her way out the door. Arik started to ask foran explanation as Fredrik dashed up the stairs to the top floor.Arik pounded after him and looked out the window at the Palacegrounds.

“What was all that about?”asked Arik. “Do you know that not going through with the purchaseof this house could be considered cheating a merchant?”

Fredrik was studying the lay of thegrounds as he spoke. “This house is not for sale, Arik,” hechuckled. “And that was no Lady. I can’t be sure, but I think thishouse held rooms that were rented out. Each of the crates in theentry hall had a different name written on them. That woman wasprobably one of the renters who received an eviction notice. Lookat this place. It has probably been condemned and is scheduled tobe torn down. The way the woman bowed proved she was noLady.”

“Then why did you give her themoney?” quizzed Arik.

“The money was well spent,”laughed Lord Wason. “She will be scurrying around to the otherevicted renters offering to have their belongings brought to themfor free just to stop them from coming here and alerting me. Thisplace will not be disturbed during the night. Now, we not only havea good view of the grounds, we have a new base for therescue.”

Arik shook his head in amusement as hestudied the layout of the island prison. Fredrik watched a piece ofwood fall from the window as he withdrew and headed for thestairs.

The two boys returned to the FlutteringJib and sat at the table occupied by Tanya and Tedi. He quicklydescribed the house and told them that Arik and he would bringtheir belongings to the house when they had finished eating. Thesecond team left for the abandoned house and Fredrik and Arikordered a healthy meal that had been put off too long.

After the meal, Fredrik spoke to theinnkeeper and explained that part of his party would be leaving andhe no longer required the smaller room. He paid for both rooms forthe night and the innkeeper was well pleased by the sudden changein plans. Fredrik left his belongings and, together with Arik,collected everyone else’s and carried them down to the stables. Thehorses had been cared for as the blacksmith promised and leavingFredrik’s horse they loaded the rest and rode to the abandonedhouse.

The house had no stables and Arik ledthe horses inside to the parlor. The boys ran up the stairs andfound Tanya and Tedi sitting on the floor, drawing diagrams in thedirt. Arik plopped down alongside them but Fredrik stood notwanting to subject his apparel to the dirt.

“We have a few things workedout,” Tanya offered. “The climbing claw I purchased today will getus over the wall and we can make a rope ladder to get us down intothe cell. That still leaves the problem of getting across the moat,the roving guards, and carrying Niki.”

“You forgot about the lock,”Fredrik mentioned.

“I can take care of the lock,”Tedi chuckled and Arik looked at him queerly. “Fredrik, can youmake a shield like Kalina did in the canyon?” Tediasked.

“No,” answered Fredrik. “Howwould that help you?”

“It was just a thought,” Tedisighed. “Tanya told me about our archer’s new bow and hisabilities. I figured if you could create a shield like Kalina did,only make it curve back around, Arik could shoot an arrow with astring tied to it. He could shoot the arrow to one side of theflagpole and the shield would make the arrow curve back on theother side of the flagpole. That way we would have a string wrappedaround the flagpole and we could attach a rope to it and pull itaround so that we had a rope stretching across themoat.”

“And what good would that doyou?” Fredrik inquired.

“I could walk across the ropeto the cell,” Tedi assured him.

“Can you really do that?”Tanya asked. “Because I know how to get a rope across the moat. Ican use the same climbing claw that we will use to get over thewall. I am sure that it will catch on the bars to thecells.”

“Can you walk across the ropewith Niki on your back?” Arik asked. “From what Fredrik said, shewill be in no condition to help herself escape.”

“If you can figure out a wayto keep the rope taut with our weight on it,” Tedi declared, “I canwalk across it with anything that I can carry.”

“I can make Tedi a harness tocarry Niki,” offered Fredrik. “That way his hands will befree.”

“Okay,” Arik commanded,“Fredrik, you get started on the harness. Tanya, try to time theroving patrols so that we have a sense of how long we will have toget Niki and get back. Tedi, you get to make the rope ladder. I’mgoing to search this house for something we can use to tie theother end of the rope to.”