Читать книгу Sophie and Heir to the Throne - Viktor Mück - Страница 3

Sophie opened her eyes, sat up and looked around trying to figure out where she was, and whether she was even alive. A few seconds after, Sophie realized that she couldn’t see Patrick anywhere near. Sophie got to her feet and looked around once again and saw Patrick lying inert near the old oak. He was no longer the little mouse as always; he was at least twice taller than Sophie. She dashed to him and kneeled trying to bring him to his senses. A few seconds after, Patrick opened his eyes, and Sophie breathed a deep sigh of relief realizing that he was alive.

“Am I dead? Am I in heaven?” Patrick asked Sophie.

“No, seemingly, we are alive. But I don’t understand what happened to us and how we ended up here,” said Sophie.

“What happened to you? Why are you so small?” Patrick stood up and dusted himself off.

“I don’t know,” she answered, “I suppose that you turned into a big mouse.”

The place where Sophie and Patrick were, looked like the other side of the lake, and the old oak Patrick had told Sophie about was also there. It was very cold and dreadfully scary outside.

“I wonder where we are now?” Patrick asked Sophie.

“I would like to know either, she said. “I don’t know what to do as well. I’m also very scared.”

“Look, there’s a path, maybe it is leading to our house,” said Patrick.

Scared and frozen Sophie and Patrick followed the path along the lake.

“I’m scared,” whispered Sophie.

“Me, too, but we have to go,” Patrick said.

They passed along the lake and took a path to the forest deep. It was still dark and cold outside, the wind was making branches of trees whir in the wind, it sounded like crunching and creaking at the same time, cuckooing and cawing birds felt frightening. Sophie just though she heard something behind her in bushes, she looked back, but saw no one there. Sophie walked a little deeper into the forest and heard a noise reminding branches crunching under her feet, and in a moment the road collapsed under Sophie and Patrick’s feet, and they found themselves in a net hanging over a deep hole. Men came out of the bushes. They were dressed in dirty ragged trenches, they held axes and swords.

“Look at our take,” said one of them. “Well, look what the cats dragged in! A girl and an overgrown rat.”

“I’m not a rat, I’m a little mouse!!!” said Patrick with outrage.

“Moreover, it can talk! I’m sure we will yield a lot of gold coins for a talking rat.”

“Who are you?” Patrick asked them.

“I am Edwin, and these are my friends. Now it’s my turn to ask questions,” said Edwin. “Where are you from and what are you doing in my forest?”

“We don’t know how we got here. We were crossing the lake on a boat, the boat got overturned by the strong wind. We woke up on the bank, we saw a path and figured it would lead us home,” said Sophie.

“Stop feeding us lies!” Edwin said. “Hey, girl, didn’t your mother and father tell you that lying to adults is bad?” Edwin asked Sophie.

“I’m not lying. Let us go, please!!!” cried Sophie begging Edwin.

“Cut them off and pack up.” Edwin ordered his friends, “Let’s take them home, we’ll decide their fate tomorrow.”

“Maybe they will serve as a delicious dinner,” said one-eyed man with huge burn scars on his face pulling Sophie and Patrick out of the net, ‘or maybe it is better to sell them into slavery at tomorrow’s fair,” he continued laughing.

They tied guys’ feet and hands and put them in a horse-drawn cart. Sophie was very scared, she was crying and begging to release them. Patrick tried to calm her down and promised that everything would be fine, and they would get out. The cart stopped after a while, Sophie and Patrick understood that they had reached the destination point.

“Lads, unload everything, take this girl and rat to the basement and lock them up there, let them sit there until morning. And don’t forget to give them bread and water, we do not need them starve to death before morning,” Edwin gave the orders.

They brought Sophie and Patrick to a dirty old house. It didn’t look like a house where people live, but more like an abandoned dwelling. They passed through the living room and approached the stairs up to the second floor. There was a door under the stairs, the scarred man opened it and let Patrick and Sophie down into the basement. Leaving he muttered, “Why all the hard work is always on us…? All that he does is giving orders: bring it here, unload it there, take it there. He always yells at us and calls us stupid losers.”

“Shut up, you whipping boy!!! Go on and tell him all this? And if you are not brave enough, just keep your mouth shut and do what you ought to.”

It seemed that the scar face was talking to someone, but no one was beside him. He left and slammed the door behind him. The basement was furnished with an old mattress, dusty blanket and an almost burned out candle lit by the scarred man on his way out. Sophie sat down on the mattress and began to cry.

“What shall we do?” she asked Patrick.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “I think we should come with an idea, but first we need to eat and sleep a bit, and tomorrow we will see what we can do.”

Sophie broke off a piece of bread and gave it to Patrick, they ate a little and lay down on the mattress. Sophie couldn’t sleep for a long time, she was thinking about tomorrow, her mom and dad must be worried and already started looking for her. Patrick had been up most of the night, trying to figure out how to get out of the basement. He looked over the basement and saw a barred window.

“How about we try to remove the bars and climb out of the window?!” he asked Sophie.

The window was out of their reach, they looked for something to stand on, but they found nothing except two barrels against the opposite wall. Nevertheless, Patrick decided to try to move one of the barrels. Fortunately, the barrel was empty. Patrick and Sophie managed to move it closer to the window. Now they needed something small to use it as a platform to climb on the barrel, there was nothing that could serve for this purpose. Patrick suggested that Sophie climb on his shoulders, and she would try to reach the edge of the barrel with her hands and cling. Patrick put Sophie on his shoulders and threw her up with all his strength, but unfortunately Sophie couldn’t hold on to.

“Let’s try again,” said Patrick to Sophie.

They were almost lucky at the second time, but Sophie couldn’t keep the grab. They caught their breath and decided to try again. Patrick grabbed Sophie’s legs and threw her up as hard as he could. Sophie stretched her hands up as far as possible and clung onto the edge of the barrel.

“Come on, pull up!” shouted Patrick.

Sophie climbed up on the barrel and started pulling the bars. The bars were old and rusty, but in spite of it, Sophie did not manage to pull it out.

“I am too weak, I am not strong enough to open the lattice,” said Sophie.

“Try to pull it harder,” shouted Patrick trying to give confidence to Sophie.

Sophie tried as hard as she could, but all was in vain.

“Look, the bolts are almost out of the wall. Please try a bit harder!” shouted Patrick.

Sophie got a bit of sweat on her forehead; she was pulling on top of her capabilities. At that moment, Patrick first heard someone coming, and then the sound of the latch opening. It was Edwin. Sophie jumped off the barrel having landed on the mattress; they lay down and pretended to be sleeping. Edwin took the stairs down to the basement.

“Get up! We must go!” he shouted to Patrick and Sophie.

Edwin tied their hands to a long rope, and they followed him. They went up to the street and saw a horse-drawn cart along with a medium-sized cage in the cart, Edwin pushed Sophie and Patrick inside it.

“You’d better be quiet if you want to live,” Edwin said to Patrick and Sophie. “We’re ready, let’s go!” Edwin shouted at the driver.

The horses took off like mad. It was the scar face man who was driving the horses, all the rest were sitting in the cart next to the cage with Sophie and Patrick. The ride took a long time, first they were riding uphill, then through the forest, and then uphill again. Eventually, they saw castle walls and huge iron gates ahead of them, they passed through a small village situated close to the castle. There were sheep and cows grazing near the castle. A small path paved with quite uneven stones led to the castle gate. The horse cart with Patrick and Sophie approached the gate. Today was the day when traders gathered, and one should show a special pass to admit to the castle, the pass must be signed and affixed with a seal by Albert, the Minister of Trade and a slaveholder.

“Wait!” said one of the guards at the entrance to the castle. – “Show the pass!”

Edwin took out a scroll granting them the right to admit to the castle. The gate flung open and they drove in. Sophie saw a large market; it was not clear where it starts and ends. There were plenty of different buildings: armory, premise for soldiers and servants, gardens and snow-white fountains. The most amazing and fabulously beautiful thing was that this castle was built on the edge of a cliff, the castle’s observation deck offered a beautiful view of the mountains. But that was not all. The most important part is the tower and the castle itself, they were built on a separate small rock, a small wooden bridge connecting them was between two rocks. It was not allowed for peasants to reside on the castle’s territory, they were allowed only to visit it for trade. Mostly, the peasants worked in the fields and on farms, and the castle was maintained by servants and slaves brought there by Albert as a gift to the king. The slaves lived in terrible conditions. They starved, couldn’t take a bath, almost never rested and lived in basements. The servants had to get up at four in the morning and go to the main part of the castle, where King Louis lived with his daughter, Princess Milena. The servants finished their duties well after midnight. They were forbidden to stay at the castle’s territory at night. If the servants or slaves get caught by the guards, they see death.

Once, a family of slaves, husband and wife, were cleaning the castle yard from dry grass leaves and debris. They had to finish everything before dark, because it was the birthday of Princess Milena and a lot of guests were invited. The spouses did not make it on time, so they were punished and sent to a dungeon in the tower basement. The family was starved for two weeks, the guards scarcely brought them water. Two weeks later, they were released and transferred to the slave basement. The parents begged the guards to bring them just a tiny piece of bread for their daughter, because she might die, but the guards beat them for daring to ask for food. A dark night fell, and the father decided to sneak into a vegetable warehouse and steal some food just for his daughter and wife. He found the wire on the floor and used it to open a padlock, he looked outside and found that there was nobody on the street, no guards nearby. He ran to the end of the street in the direction of the vegetable warehouse, got inside the basement through a small window, by feel reached the steps leading into the warehouse and went up. He found vegetables, filled a bag full of them. On his way out, he decided to take some sauerkraut and pickles soured in special barrels in the basement. With sauerkraut and cucumbers in the bag, first he pushed all his staff through the basement window, and then started getting out himself. He almost made it, when he saw feet in front of his face, he looked up and met guards, they were standing and grinning with thunder faces. The guards seized him and threw into a cell, and in the morning, the king ordered to hang all the slaves and made the man watch it. His daughter and wife were forced to watch as well to make everyone understand the price for violating the king’s laws.

The cart drove across the square, then Edwin ordered to stop and unload the cart, then he left and told that he would find Albert and would be back. The square was full of different creatures Sophie had seen in pictures and read about in books. There were small dwarves, no taller than a meter, they had large ears and huge noses and were always arguing. Elves were taller than a man, they had pointy ears and long hair. Sophie’s attention was conquered by beautiful crystal chariots drawn not just by horses, but by white unicorns of extraordinary beauty There were wizards and witches boasting about their brooms and wands. The druids were standing around a huge pot, whispering and raising their warders to the sky, one of the druids looked at Sophie and Patrick and smiled. Fairies were flying over the square, their wings were of unimaginable beauty with different colors and patterns, they were flying so fast that it was hardly possible to see them, only thing that one could see was pollen slowly falling from the sky to the ground. The creatures were very different and unusual. Sophie heard the robust discussion of three dwarves.

“I still don’t quite understand,” said one of the dwarves, ‘the reason why King Louis invited everyone to the castle.”

“I am not quite sure myself,” said another dwarf, ‘but rumor has it that King Louis wants to marry his daughter, the Princess Milena, but no one knows who the groom is.”

“I heard that the king wants to marry Princess Milena to Adviser Florin,” the third dwarf said, ‘he is his chief adviser known for his cruelty.”

Princess Milena was the only child of King Louis. The king doted on her. Princess Milena was an arrogant, self-obsessed egoist. Her mother, the Queen Navina, died giving birth to her. The king never married again after his wife’s death, he endlessly loved Milena’s mother, and he decided to dedicate his life completely to his daughter. Growing up, Milena realized that her daddy would allow and forgive her everything. Once, while her father was hunting, Milena ordered to take her to a ball in a neighboring kingdom, of course, her request was declined, since no one was bold enough to disobey the king. The thing was that the king had forbidden Princess Milena to leave the castle when he wasn’t there. If he found out that someone had helped Princess Milena to leave the castle, everyone would be hanged. Princess Milena did not make a habit of being contradicted or rejected.

“I’m a princess! It is your duty to follow my orders!” she screamed.

When she understood that no one would disobey King Louis’s orders and anyway she would have to stay in the castle, Milena called the guards and ordered them to gather all the slaves to the square and whip them until she orders to stop. No one dared to disobey this order. All the slaves were brought in the square, guards ripped their outer clothing off and set out whipping them to death, while Milena stood still counting strikes. When the number reached twenty, the Princess stopped the guards and went to her chambers smiling.

Sophie and Patrick were in a cage. They couldn’t believe that this was really happening to them. After a while, Edwin walked up to the cart where Sophie and Patrick were contained. A bald man in Golden armor and a huge scar on his face from a sword was accompanying Edwin. He cast a thunder eye at Patrick and Sophie. As it turned out, it was Albert, a well-known slaveholder. He asked Edwin:

“You told me the rat could talk.”

“Yes,” Edwin said.

“So, make it talk.”

Edwin moved closer to the cage and said, “Say something!” he ordered Patrick.

Patrick did not utter a word pretending that he cannot talk to make a liar out of Edwin. Edwin came even closer and whispered

“If you don’t talk now, I’ll cut the girl to pieces and make you watch.”

“I’m not a rat, I’m a mouse!!!” Patrick said at the top of his voice.

“How much gold do you want for this rat?” Albert asked Edwin.

“Ten thousand gold coins, my Lord. And this girl goes for free,” he said.

“Good! I’ll take them,” said Albert, the slaveholder.

He handed Edwin ten thousand gold coins and ordered the guards to take Sophie and Patrick to the house next to the castle and lock them up. As ordered, Sophie and Patrick were taken to the house, locked in a basement, in a while, guards brought them a jug of water and a couple of bread slices.

“What are we going to do now?” Sophie asked Patrick.

“I have no clue, we have to come up with something and get out of here,” he said. “I’m sorry, Sophie,” Patrick said, “I’ve dragged you into this, I shouldn’t have talked you into going to the lake and getting on that old boat. I have no doubt that we will find a way out of here, we just need to figure out how.”

No one will help us,” said Sophie sobbing. “How will my mom and dad live without me now?” she said crying even harder.

The basement was huge, it was almost dark there, the basement was lit just by a candle that was barely burning dimly illuminating the whole area. Dampness and high humidity that filled the basement making all the clothes damp, froze everyone there to the bone. After a while, the guards went down to the basement. They opened the cage with Sophie and Patrick, ordered them to get up and follow them. The bright daylight hurt their eyes, they barely could walk, as their feet were placed in iron, so they could not escape. The guards brought them to a small wooden bridge leading to large castle’s entrance doors. The bridge linked two rocks together hiding a huge gap between them. One of the guards warned them to follow their orders unless they want to be thrown off that bridge into the abyss. Dreadfully scared Sophie and Patrick looked down and stepped back from the edge, coming close to the guards. There were four more guards at the entrance, enormous and strong, they carried axes and large metal shields. The guards opened the door, and Sophie and Patrick entered the castle in their company. There were many portraits in the long and narrow hall, King Louis and his dead wife Queen Navina were shown on some of them, there was also a portrait of Princess Milena. These portraits frames were in golden colors, the walls were made of red carved wood, large crystal chandeliers with candlesticks inside hang on the white ceiling along the hall. There were a lot of doors along the walls, but the guards took Sophie and Patrick down the hall to the door leading to a laundry to meet Robert, the butler. He was of average height with a grey head and thick black beard, he was in charge of everything in the castle. Robert’s family had served the kings of this castle for many centuries. His male ancestors had been butlers, blacksmiths, or carpenters, and the women had always been maids. Robert was very strict, he could put in a dark cell for a week without food, having allowed the guards to give just water.

“Follow me!” Robert commanded Sophie and Patrick in an arrogant tone.

The guards removed their shackles, and they followed the butler into a small room with large and small wooden troughs, brushes, rags, and brooms in a corner.

“You are to take these troughs, rags and brushes,” Robert said in a commanding tone, ‘take everything to the throne room, and fill these troughs with water.

“I will explain you what to do next later,” he turned to the door on his heels, looked at the guards, and ordered them to take the mouse and the girl to the throne room.

Sophie and Patrick took rags, brushes, and troughs and headed to the throne room. When the guards opened the doors, Sophie and Patrick were standing with their eyes bulged out and mouths opened. The beauty of the hall was beyond words, the hall looked dazzlingly beautiful and bright, its glory radiance even made the eyes hurt. The coupled columns along the walls made it look like a temple. The room was decorated with marble of white, gray, pink, and bluish shades. Gold-plated interior items and bright, picturesque dome shades were everywhere. Statues were placed in semicircular niches against the walls. The place for the throne looked like a stepped podium with the throne. The throne was made of gold, had a long back and wide armpads. In a few minutes, Robert, the butler, approached and informed that a ball in honor of the Princess Milena engagement would take place there, and that everything should be shining by nightfall.

“Everything is already shinning in this place,” said Sophie.

“Shut up!” said Robert, the butler.

“How come would we manage to clean such a huge hall?” Patrick asked Robert.

“That’s not of my concern’, he said, turned and walked away.

“I suppose if we don’t start right now and hurry up, we may end up punished or executed,” said Sophia.

“I will say even more, we may as well be executed if everything doesn’t shine in here,” said Patrick.

Sophie and Patrick brought water and got to work.

“Patrick’, said Sophie to the little mouse, “I think you should start from dusting, and I’ll clean the floor.”

The floor in the throne room was also made of marble. It was all white, and it took a lot of effort to wash it. An ordinary rag did not help with the dirt, so Sophie decided to take a brush and use it against the dirt, of course, it was very difficult, but still the dirt slowly had been being vanished on the white marble.

“I wish I could be a king and live this way,” said Patrick, ‘no troubles, just sitting on a throne and giving orders to others.”

“I wish I would be a princess myself,” Sophie decided to dream a bit too, “I would wear lush and beautiful dresses, and host a ball every day. I would marry a handsome prince, and we would raise a bunch of children.”

“And, also, you would have lived happily ever after,” Patrick said laughing.

Patrick stopped laughing, he went to take the bucket and slipped on the spot where Sophie had washed the floors. Sophie almost laughed her head off; it was so loud that she was heard by one of the guards standing outside the door. The guard came in and said in a threatening tone,

“Enough of talking. Hurry up! Soon, they will start bringing tables and chairs into the throne room.”

Patrick waited the guard to turn away and made a face at him. Sophie smiled and continued brushing the marble floor. Then servants started bringing tables and chairs into the hall, they lined them up along the walls, covered with white velvet tablecloths, and placed crystal candlesticks and white vases with flowers in the middle of the tables. By this time, Sophie and Patrick had finished with the floor washing and dusting. The Butler, still looking arrogant, walked up to Sophie and Patrick and told them to go to the kitchen and find the chief Aunt Dorothea to receive further instructions.