Physik - By Angie Sage Page 0,90
has today a new Apprentice. Though he hath a pleasing countenance he is a most peculiar hoy. When he didst see me he laughed and shouted out some strange name that I knew not. I spoke to him most Pleasantly even though he is but a common Apprentice, yet when I didst speak, he ran away. My Brother is still much troubled. He doth say over and over, "I didst see myself in the future. I didst see my terrible fate. Oh, Esmeralda, I am a fool. I wouldst not wait. What have I done?" But I do not know what he hath done, for he will not saye.
Freya's Day
A Day of Great Foreboding. Mama did come for me today. I am no more to stay with my deare Brother for she said, "He has important work to do, Esmeralda, and with your great moanings you do distract him from his task." I begged to stay - and my Brother begged also, but to no avail. Now I sit in my Most Dismal Chamber. Mama is sending the Bumptiouse Barrelle of Larde for me at dawn tomorrow. I am greatly afraid.
And there the diary ended. Jenna slowly closed the book and sat on the edge of Esmeralda's bed, trying to take it all in. What had happened to Esmeralda? And what - now that everyone thought that she was Esmeralda - would happen to her?
Chapter 35 Knights
Later that afternoon, Jenna sat wrapped in a damp bedspread on Princess Esmeralda's lumpy bed. Beside her were the remains of a large pie, crusty bread, cheese, apples, cake and milk that the Knight of the Day, true to his word, had the Cooke bring to her. She had lit the small candle beside the bed, and as she sat warming her hands over the feeble candle flame, she heard a faint knocking on the wooden paneling of the room. The sound came and went in bursts, sometimes frenzied, sometimes weary and despairing. The hairs on the back of Jenna's neck rose: It was the little Princesses and they were still alive.
Jenna knew she shouldn't, but somehow she could not help but put her ear to the panel where the knocking was coming from. To her dismay she was sure she could hear the faint snuffling, hiccupping sounds of exhausted sobbing - children's sobbing. It was too much. Jenna ran to the door and hammered loudly with her fists, calling out, "Sir Hereward, Sir Hereward! They're here. I can hear them - we've got to get them out! Oh, Sir Hereward, please, find someone to help!"
To Jenna's surprise, the ghost Passed Through the bedroom doors. Sir Hereward did notPass Through doors for many people, but sometimes it had to be done. He stood next to Jenna, shaking his head to get rid of the unpleasant sensation of being full of wood.
"Princess," said the knight, leaning on his sword and regarding Jenna with a puzzled air, "forgive my confusion but it seemeth to my poor brain that though thou art most assuredly a Royal Princess, thou art not the poor Princess Esmeralda, e'en though thou hast her looks to a strange degree."
Jenna nodded. She knew she could trust Sir Hereward but she was not sure if he would understand what she was about to tell him. "I am Princess Jenna," she said very quietly, just in case anyone was listening. "I have come from a Time in the future..." She trailed off, unsure if Sir Hereward would understand what she meant.
The old knight was quicker than Jenna expected. "Ah, so thy speech is that from times yet to come," Sir Hereward mused. " 'Tis a strange sound to be sure, so quick and sharp to the eare, like the rattling of a bird's beake upon the bars of its cage. What a cacophony must sound through your Palace, Princess Jenna."
Jenna was about to say that her Palace was quiet and empty compared with this one when the knocking inside the wall started up again. "Th-there it is," she whispered.
" 'Tis the poor baby Princesses, Princess Jenna." Sir Hereward sighed mournfully.
"But we have to get them out before they suffocate," said Jenna, frustrated by Sir Hereward's lack of action.
"They are already suffocated," murmured Sir Hereward, staring at his rusty feet.
"But - "
" 'Tis their UnQuiet Spirits that you do hear, Princess. As indeed didst poor Esmeralda. Perchance, if I had known the true nature of our Queen ... I might have saved the Babes."
"But they were