Floods 3 by Colin Thompson Read Free Book Online

could follow anyone almost anywhere simply by sniffing one of their socks. 20
    The Chancellor had given him one of Mordonna’s eyelashes, which were normally sold in the castle gift shop for three gold sovereigns each and involved a very quiet ghost plucking them out while Mordonna was asleep. 21 They also had one of Queen Scratchrot’s spare toes that she kept in a jar in the bathroom and had forgotten to pack. Cliché held the two objects to his nose and sniffed. Then he got down on all fours and sniffed some more.
    â€˜Why are you doing that?’ said Stain.
    â€˜I would’ve thought it was obvious,’ said Cliché. ‘I’m trying to find where they went.’
    â€˜But we’ve been told they went into the forest.’
    â€˜And there’s only the one path,’ Ooze added.
    â€˜Well, I know,’ said Cliché. ‘But we might have been given false information.’
    â€˜We have a photo of them standing right here at the edge of the forest, and another of them just up there,’ said Stain, pointing to the path.
    â€˜It could be a fake,’ said Cliché. ‘You can do anything with computers nowadays.’
    â€˜Go on, admit it,’ said Stain. ‘You just like sniffing things.’
    â€˜Especially girls’ eyelashes,’ sniggered Ooze.
    It was a miracle that the three spies had any stars, because this was how they carried on all the time. Creeping up slowly and silently on someone was simply impossible for them. Time after time they had found the person they were looking for, crept up behind them and then given themselves away by bickering like sparrows.
    â€˜Did you bring the sandwiches?’ Cliché asked as they vanished into the trees.
    â€˜I thought you were bringing the sandwiches,’ said Stain.
    â€˜I brought them last time,’ said Cliché.
    Soon they were completely lost, which, considering there was only one path, took some doing.Feeling safe in the Valley of the Sages and Other Herbs, with the Sheman’s blizzard protecting them, the exhausted runaways decided to take the opportunity for a rest. Neurotic George was convinced he had altitude sickness and went and hid behind a tree. Even Mordonna and Nerlin, who wanted to get away as quickly as possible, agreed they would take a power-nap, which is like forty winks but half as long and with no winking.
    When they woke up, the Sheman was in deep conversation with a pair of budgies. 22

    â€˜My spies Cassandra and Clint tell me,’ the Sheman reported, ‘that the King has sent three secret agents after you. As we speak they are lost in the forest.’
    â€˜How can they get lost in the forest?’ said Vessel. ‘There’s only one path.’
    â€˜I arranged to have it moved a bit,’ said the Sheman.
    â€˜Shouldn’t you have a creature of the night like an owl or a vampire bat spying for you?’ said Mordonna. ‘Budgies aren’t very cool, are they?’
    â€˜Exactly,’ said the Sheman. ‘No one would suspect a couple of budgies flitting about. Besides, they speak a lot better than owls. I mean, have you ever tried to talk to an owl? They only know two words – ‘twit’ and ‘twoo’ – and one of them doesn’t mean anything.’
    â€˜Who’s a pretty spy?’ said one of the budgies and the pair flew off to see what the three secret agents were up to.
    â€˜As you know, there are but two roads out of Transylvania Waters – west to Transylvania and north to Russia,’ said the Sheman. ‘Not surprisingly, the King has posted guards at each border crossing, and on every road to the border he has secret agents bribed with offers of great wealth.’
    â€˜He doesn’t have any great wealth,’ said the Queen. ‘He’s useless, like every other king. His only talent is to squander the treasures his forefathers gathered. I’ve got all the King’s