Chapter 15

I followed Mother over the courtyard. She wasn’t happy, and I knew that she would just sneer at anything I would say, so I just stayed quiet. I wondered if the travellers had planned it. But would they really have risked the girl? At least Mother had seen the sense in it and wouldn’t sacrifice the girl, but I knew she would not look favourably upon them from now on.

We entered the castle and climbed the stairs to her chamber. Martha and Holger were already waiting, and Martha glanced at Mother as we stepped inside. Holger must have told her what happened.

“How dare they…!”, Mother lashed out.

I knew there was no point in trying to talk sense to her now, so I just let her rant about how they’d fooled her, and now we would need to have an enemy soldier within our borders and that their dragon was only waiting to arrive. Only as she calmed down did Martha venture,

“What do you want to do with them?”

Mother glared at her.

“We cannot let her run freely. Who knows what she plans to do? She might as well be gathering intelligence to bring back to her country for all we know.”

I didn’t think she was right, but I wasn’t going to correct her.

“So you’ll let them stay in the fortress?”, Holger asked.

“What other choice do I have?”

She sat down on a chair only to get up again and begin pacing the room.

“We’ll need to put them to work somewhere where we can keep track of them.”, she huffed.

“The smith?”, Holger suggested.

Mother snorted.

“No, within the walls of the castle. I will not let her out of my sight.”

“And the others?”, Martha asked.

“You put them where you’ll need them. They will not dare to cause harm that will hurt our friendship.”

Mother was right, but I didn’t want them to split up. They had seemed almost like a family. I dared to suggest,

“The kitchens would suit. Helena need all the help she can have from all three of them, and that would be within the walls of the fortress”

Mother halted and glared at me for a moment before she softened.

“Yes, that will work”

So it had been the right answer. I didn’t think she would go so far as to praise me, but just the fact that she had approved was enough to show it had been the right thing to say. She shooed Martha.

“You know what to do”