The Chestnut King: Book 3 of the 100 Cupboards by N. D. Wilson Read Free Book Online Page A

before she took his life. It was with me in Endor when we entombed the witch.”
    Henry rubbed the smooth metal between his fingers and for a moment forgot the cold breeze.
    “The metal has no power of its own,” Mordecai said. “But much is now vested in it. It has a memory of courage and strength well used and knows the patterns both of bravery and goodness. Perhaps it shall guide you. Best of all, unlike your flesh and mine, it knows no fear in the darkest of places. It has a rich story. You shall make it richer.”
    “Mordecai?” The voice was Hyacinth’s. Henry and his father turned and watched three shapes rise out of a doorway and onto the roof. Uncle Frank stood beside Franklin Fat-Faerie. In front of them both stood Henry’s mother. She looked like her daughters. She looked like something made from trees and starlight. The breeze combed her dark hair. Her eyes caught the moon’s light and threw it back into the world.
    She walked to Henry’s father. “Caleb is in the street with horses. Three of his men ride with you.” She kissed him. “You cannot stay one night?”
    Mordecai shook his head. The faerie flopped silently onto his back and shut his eyes. Uncle Frank winked at Henry and leaned against the wall, staring out at the harbor. “Don’t care much for that ship,” he said. “Not a lick.”
    Mordecai looked out at the galley masts, stark silhouettes. Lanterns glowed around the ship’s rail. “Nor do I. But James says the captain has no ill intentions, and we live in the empire’s frontier. This is no time for petty resistance. Treat them well.”
    “What was the message James brought?” Henry asked.
    “The emperor requested that your father return with the ship,” Hyacinth answered. “He has need of his service.”
    “Is that where you’re going?” Henry looked at his father and then back to his mother. She looked up into Mordecai’s face.
    Mordecai shook his head. “I will attend him as soon as I am able.”
    “Oh, ho,” Fat Frank said suddenly. Henry had thought he was sleeping. “He won’t take kindly to that. No, he won’t, the power-drunk puppy. He’ll piddle his satin trousers.”
    “Franklin—” Mordecai said, but the faerie sat up and continued.
    “The lord of the eastern and western seas, the lord of all the fishes and the peoples and the planets. Last I heard, he was only letting God have a go every second Tuesday.” He flopped backward and splayed his limbs. “The little throne monkey.”
    Uncle Frank laughed. “Didn’t know you were an anarchist, Frank. No surprise we get along.”
    The faerie snorted. “That from the Lord Mayor of Hylfing with his shiny chain. In a fortnight, you’ll be regulating donkey behavings and tariffing figs. I’m a free creature, free as the Chestnut King himself, though he probably fears his mother. Free as rubbish in the road. I give account to no one.” Still lying on his back, the faerie crossed his arms. “No one will have me,” he added.
    “Franklin,” Mordecai said again. “Stand up and come here.”
    After a moment, the faerie obeyed, but slowly.
    Mordecai crouched. The faerie adjusted his belt and sniffed loudly. “You are no longer a mound member, no longer a citizen of the district, nor a subject to the queene!”
    “Do I need reminding?” Fat Frank muttered. “My spark’s been doused.”
    “Not doused,” Mordecai said. “Your strength’s not ashen yet. I must ask you to do something, but I am no longer your bonded green man. I live because of you, my son lives because of you, and many others in this city as well. And so I ask you to do something freely, as a friend.”
    Fat Frank shifted his feet and squared his small shoulders. He said nothing, and so Mordecai continued.
    “My brother and I leave in a dangerous time, looking for an even greater danger. Keep this house safe while I am gone, and my family in it.
The Book of Faeren
no longer constrains what remains of your magic. Use it all in their