The Secret Kingdom by Jenny Nimmo Page A

too still.’
    Edern rubbed his bruised arm and stared at the sky,shading his face with his hand. ‘When we came to this land, wherever it is, we were loaded on to carts. But some of the children got sick. They were thrown out to die on the road, like dogs.’
    ‘But you escaped,’ said Timoken, trying to sound cheerful. ‘And now you are on your way home.’
    Edern shook his head. ‘Not without my friends. I promised to go back and rescue them, when I found someone to help.’
    ‘Well, you have found help,’ said Timoken. ‘But who are these men who are not monks? Did they kidnap you for a ransom? And were your families unable to pay the price?’
    Edern leant forward. ‘We were to be slaves,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Rich men in the East will pay a fortune for slaves with pale skins and yellow hair –’ he touched his head with a rueful grin – ‘and even more, it seems for boys with hair like mine.’
    ‘Slaves?’ said Timoken in horror. ‘Where are your friends now? Have you come far?’
    ‘Not far,’ said Edern. ‘This track will soon descend through woods into a wide valley. The false monks hold my friends in a barn there in the trees. Every night wewere roped together by our hands. I was at the end of the line, next to my friend, Peredur. Peredur is renowned for his sharp teeth; they are like the teeth of a wolf.’ Edern opened his mouth in a wide grin and pointed to his incisors. ‘And so he gnawed the rope between us, and when his jaw began to ache, I gnawed, and between us we chewed right through the rope. As soon as I was free, I stood on Peredur’s shoulders and climbed through a hole in the roof. It was but a short jump to the ground.’
    ‘Were there no guards?’
    ‘All the false monks were asleep in a stone house beside the barn. The dogs were our guards; three great brindled hounds that set up a great barking at the slightest noise.’
    ‘And they did not see or hear you?’
    ‘They did. But we had saved a little of the meat that evening, and hidden it beneath the stones where we sat. I threw it to the dogs and they let me pass, but their first warning barks had woken the false monks, and one came stumbling out of the house. He must have thought the dogs were eating a rabbit, or some other creature, for he cursed them for their noise and went back to bed.’
    Timoken’s mind began to race. He was confident that he could rescue Edern’s friends, but he had to plan his actions. ‘How many of you are there?’ he asked.
    ‘There were twenty or more. But only twelve of us survived the sickness. We must rescue them soon,’ Edern said anxiously. ‘Tomorrow they will be on the move again.’
    ‘Perhaps they have gone already,’ Timoken said. ‘Would those brigands stay another night in the same place?’
    ‘They were waiting for someone,’ said Edern. ‘We heard them talking. One of the girls is to be collected tomorrow. She is in a cage.’ He paused for a moment and added, with a frown, ‘I am afraid for her, Timoken. I am afraid for all my friends, but the way those false monks talked, I think they expect a large sum of money for this girl, and so they will guard her very closely. Perhaps we cannot rescue her.’
    ‘Nothing is impossible,’ said Timoken. ‘I have a plan already. We will wait for moonlight.’
    That evening he packed the bags for travelling. Everything had dried in the sun, even the woollen blankets. Gabar had thoroughly recovered and ate a hearty meal of dried fruit and grass before dozing off.Timoken unfolded the moon cloak and laid it under the trees. The boy watched, his expression a mixture of wonder and curiosity.
    ‘What is that?’
    Timoken hesitated. Should he tell Edern the truth? The boy already knew so much about him, what did it matter? Timoken trusted him. He was certain that Edern was not the one whom the ring had warned him about.
    ‘It is made from the silk of the last moon spider,’ he said at last. ‘I call it the moon cloak, and