Thronegarden Andrew Dickerson (the little red hen ebook TXT) 📖

and that meant he was the first person outside of the royal apartments to learn of the surprise birthday party. Rat had been picking at the scraps of his dinner when the large door to the royal apartments opened. He had explored every inch of the castle except the royal apartments, which he was forbidden to enter. Creeping out of his hiding place, Rat could see a familiar dark figure silhouetted against the golden doorway, which was decorated with the Thrane family crest. It depicted an ancient tree with a wise owl perched on the highest branch, a replication of the moment Abeldine had been chosen to succeed the Fairy King. Rat’s hair stood on end with anticipation for the news.

“Come here, boy, I have a message for you.”

There were only two sorcerers in Thronegarden, Luyna and her brother Orion who stood waiting impatiently for Rat to move forward. Orion had a crown of dark hair that joined seamlessly into a perfectly trimmed goatee. His eyes seemed to bore into Rat menacingly. He crooked one finger, enticing the boy closer.

“There is to be a birthday party for the Princess Damselfly,” Orion announced.

Rat, who was shaking with nerves, slowly digested this information before smiling and managing a single hiccupped word. “Good.”

Orion grabbed the boy by his worn clothes and brought his head down so they were eye to eye. The red of Orion’s cape seemed to reflect in his serpentine eyes, and Rat gulped as he tried not to stare at the crescent birthmark that he could just make out on the sorcerer’s cheek.

“This is to be the greatest celebration Thronegarden has ever seen and anybody who fails to deliver will be sorry.”

Orion released Rat who collapsed to the floor before hurrying to his feet, giving a short bow and scurrying away to carry out his orders. Orion turned on his heel, enveloping himself in his cape, and disappeared back inside the royal apartments. Rat stopped running as the door closed behind Orion. He looked determinedly at the barrier and swore to himself. “One day I will see what is behind that door.”

With no one to hear his oath or laugh at the idea of an orphan being invited into the royal chambers, Rat raced off to deliver his extremely important message.

The upper levels of the castle held courts overseen by head Judge Vale who was a constant thorn in Rat’s side; the old man had a running grievance which went back to when Rat had attempted to steal some of the lawman’s food from his chambers.

Despite Rat’s unwanted presence, he sometimes watched trials from a secret vantage point high in the courtroom and had noticed that many of the accused were being sent to exile in the Evergarden.

A punishment worse than death.

The next levels were a kind of barracks for the soldiers of Thrane, men who had fought in the battle against the Fairy King and who still protected the citizens of Thronegarden. Rat had to be extremely cautious traversing these floors with sentries and guards on constant alert. Anyone caught trespassing would almost certainly end up under Judge Vale’s critical eye, and the thought made Rat shiver with fear. The young messenger then found himself in the cool, slightly musty-smelling world of Archives. However, much Rat feared Judge Vale and the soldiers, this level was his least favourite to pass through. There were vast libraries stacked floor to ceiling with books of all kinds, written in languages long-forgotten, tomes dedicated to the history of Fable and many written by famous sorcerers. Rat had been told that one book in the archives had actually been penned by Death himself. Only a small number of historians, archivists and librarians had access to this precious knowledge all watched over by Librarian Scroll. He was a meticulous scholar with a voice like crinkled paper. Thankfully, Rat found his path clear with no late-night interruptions so that in no time at all he was down into the central levels of the castle. These were the easiest to move through unnoticed due to the high number of residents and secret pathways that riddled the ancient castle. Rat took one of these hidden shafts to bypass the medical wing as he had a bad memory of being strapped to a bed while Nurse Vial and Doctor Garland forced disgusting-tasting medicine down his throat. Many of the castle’s ordinary people lived, worked and socialized in these particular levels. The majority of them would never go higher or lower than five floors of the castle and could not imagine any need to do so. Rat had been born an adventurer and had explored more of the castle than anyone alive today. This skill meant he could go from the highest point of the castle to the lowest without anyone noticing him, a freedom that was impossible for anyone else to achieve. Sometimes Rat got lonely although he found solace in the company of animals, he had a special relationship with dogs, birds and horses, all of whom seemed to naturally respond to him. Still, before he could reach the lower levels, Rat had to pass through the school rooms. This was always difficult for Rat because he both scorned and longed to be part of it. Rat’s upbringing meant he could not read or write, no one had ever taught him, and the strange characters left on the chalk boards never revealed their secrets to him. Sometimes he would hide behind a hollow wall and listen to the children arrive at school accompanied by their parents. They always sounded so happy that Rat wondered if he was missing something special, yet surely being like other children would mean losing his freedom and that he could never do. Leaving Professor Drawbridge’s silent classroom, he spirited down like a shadow into the lower levels where his people lived.

The lower levels held the castle’s workforce, folk that would