Roland's Castle by Becky York Read Free Book Online Page B

pieces of meat, chunks of bread
and various unfortunate vegetables and fruit. As they ate Oliver
said to Roland “I saw those two nutters from the Scary Oak were
with your uncle,” and with Savitri out of earshot he asked “What’s
her story?”
    “Ill-treated. Bitter. Angry. Very
dangerous with sharp objects. Watch out.”
    “Okay, Got it,” Oliver said.
    And they watched Savitri stab a
roast pullet with malicious intent.
    Firebrace was impatient to be
getting on and didn’t eat anything himself. With the meal over he
simply said “follow me,” and strode ahead without looking back. He
walked quickly for his age, and quicker than the three young people
could easily manage to keep up with. He marched up to the
Unfinished Tower and up its winding staircase right to the top. He
went to the very edge of the highest step, and only then paused and
looked back to check that Roland was following. For the first time
he noticed that Savitri was with them and shot an enquiring glance
at Roland.
    Roland understood its meaning, “I
will vouch for her. I have already shown her the secret room, and
the Companion.”
    “It is good to be trusting,
sometimes,” Firebrace cautioned, “but you can be too trusting…”
    He said no more but faced forwards
again and put his foot out into thin air – or so it appeared.
Instead of falling he just vanished. Roland looked over the edge of
the step to see if he had fallen – but no, he was simply gone. Then
Firebrace’s – apparently disembodied - arm reappeared and its hand
gestured for Roland to follow. He stepped up to the topmost step
and looked down. It seemed to be a long drop and he faltered. This
was going to be a leap of faith. He looked up and saw the hand
reaching out to him. He took it and stepped off of the step…

Chapter 4

    Roland nearly tripped up as he had
been unable to see the invisible step right in front of him and
hadn’t raised his foot high enough. Now he did so and placed his
foot firmly upon it. Then he took the next step up, and the next.
He stopped and looked around. Firebrace was above him and now he
could see that a winding staircase led upwards, enclosed by walls
with flaming torches each side.
    “Stepping off of tall buildings is
not normally a good idea!” Firebrace cautioned.
    Roland nodded agreement. He looked
back and could see Oliver and Savitri looking up to where he was,
wondering what was going on. He stuck his hand back over the
threshold as Firebrace had done. They too took a deep breath and a
hold on their courage, and each stepped up into the rest of the
tower.
    “Welcome to the finished tower!” Firebrace said.
    He led the way up the winding
staircase until they found it blocked by a huge door studded with
nails. Firebrace raised his fist and gave three mighty knocks that
practically shook the building. It took a while, but eventually
someone answered. There was a small door inset within the main
door, the top about Roland’s height so that a grown man had to
stoop to pass through it. This door opened and a man poked his head
out. He had a face like a V that pointed downwards and his hair was
on upside down, a huge beard bushing out from his chin whilst the
top of his head was bald. He didn’t even bother to look to see who
had knocked but just told them “We’re somewhere else! Come back
yesterday!” and the door was banged shut.
    Firebrace looked peeved and knocked
again. Shortly after the same face appeared.
    “What do you want?”
    “We are here to see the tower.”
Firebrace told him.
    “You can’t see it! It’s invisible!
Every fool knows that!” And the door was banged shut again.
    Firebrace banged the door very hard
and kept on banging in a most insistent way. Eventually the man
reappeared. “ What is it now ? You know how long you were
banging on that door?”
    “We want admission!” Firebrace
fumed.
    “Ah, well, admissions for adults is
ten quid children and concessions seven concessions is with OAP bus
pass