The Twins of Tintarfell Read online

  About The Twins of Tintarfell

  Orphaned twins Dani and Bart have lived and worked at Tintarfell Castle for as long as they can remember.

  Nothing remarkable has ever happened to them – until the day Bart is kidnapped.

  As Dani and the devious Prince Edward try to find him, strange becomes even stranger when they encounter a sarcastic giant, a mysterious sorcerer, a retired witch and a warthog named Flango.

  Dani and Bart must decide how far they will go to save themselves, the kingdom, and each other.

  A thrilling adventure from broadcaster and comedian James O'Loughlin, author of The Adventures of Sir Roderick the Not-Very Brave and Daisy Malone and the Blue Glowing Stone.

  Contents

  Cover

  About The Twins of Tintarfell

  Dedication

  Chapter 1: A Pigeon on a Mission

  Chapter 2: An Unlikely Prince

  Chapter 3: An Interrupted Ride

  Chapter 4: A Rising Panic

  Chapter 5: A Difficult Discussion

  Chapter 6: Beyond the Gates

  Chapter 7: Pieces of Hay

  Chapter 8: Measles and Gronk

  Chapter 9: An Uneasy Alliance

  Chapter 10: Lord Jasper Randling

  Chapter 11: Tied to a Tree

  Chapter 12: An Extremely Good Shot

  Chapter 13: Dear Deer

  Chapter 14: At the Bottom of the Cliff

  Chapter 15: Crows and a Fox

  Chapter 16: The Soarers’ Ledge

  Chapter 17: A Terrible Choice

  Chapter 18: Something Good, Something Bad

  Chapter 19: A New Threat

  Chapter 20: Melindarah

  Chapter 21: A Quick Way Down

  Chapter 22: An Unusual Army

  Chapter 23: Shifting Alliances

  Chapter 24: Dalinia and Timeon

  Chapter 25: Alone and Apart

  Chapter 26: A New Way to Travel

  Chapter 27: The Orphans

  Chapter 28: On the Roof

  Chapter 29: Hard Truths

  Chapter 30: A Good Beginning

  Acknowledgements

  About James O’Loughlin

  Also by James O’Loughlin

  Copyright page

  To Lily, Nina, Bibi and Lucy.

  Thanks for all the help. You guys rock.

  Chapter 1

  A Pigeon on a Mission

  When Dani was woken by the cock’s crow, she heaved herself out of bed, dipped her hands in the jug of water that stood on the wooden bedside table, stepped over to Bart’s bed and shook his shoulder.

  ‘Ma . . . nurrrr,’ grumbled Bart, rolling away.

  ‘Come on,’ said Dani. As usual, that didn’t work, so she cupped his cheeks in her cold, wet hands.

  ‘Or . . . gonks,’ cried Bart. His eyes flew open and he pushed her hands away.

  ‘Come on,’ repeated Dani.

  Bart reluctantly swung his legs onto the floor. ‘You could have just shaken my shoulder.’

  They put on their dull grey uniforms and descended two flights of stairs, exited the servants’ quarters, crossed a courtyard and entered the castle kitchen. There, under the watchful eye of Miss Bertha, the head cook, and with three other orphan servants they prepared and served the royal party a lavish breakfast. Once it had been eaten, they cleared the table, washed the dishes, swept the floor, put the rubbish out and were then allowed some of the less yummy leftovers for their own breakfast. Then it was time to prepare lunch. Once it, too, had been served and cleared, and the washing up done, the five orphans stood before Miss Bertha.

  ‘May we go?’ asked Dani.

  Bart and Dani worked the morning, afternoon and evening of each day, except every fifth day, when they were allowed the afternoon and evening off. This happily was a fifth day.

  Miss Bertha studied them, tight-lipped. She was a large, round-faced woman who Dani had rarely seen looking anything other than displeased. To her left, one of the two pigeons she kept in a cage on a high shelf cooed.

  ‘Quiet, my darlings. I will feed you soon,’ said Miss Bertha, not taking her eyes off the orphans.

  ‘Thanks for the offer, but I’m not really hungry,’ said Bart, a twinkle in his eye, ‘and thanks for calling us your “darlings”. That’s nice.’

  Dani shot him a warning look.

  ‘Very amusing, Bart,’ said Miss Bertha with such an unimpressed expression that even the kitchen bench could tell she was being sarcastic.

  Dani tried again. ‘So, time to go then?’ she prompted.

  ‘Time to go then,’ repeated Miss Bertha.

  ‘Great,’ cried Bart, turning towards the door.

  ‘Wait,’ commanded Miss Bertha.

  Bart stopped. ‘You said, “time to go”.’

  ‘I was just repeating what Dani said,’ said Miss Bertha, looking as if she had just swallowed a slug, ‘while I thought about it.’

  ‘Our apologies. And have you thought about it?’ asked Dani as sweetly as it’s possible to ask someone something when what you actually want to do is to grab the freshly made carrot cake on the kitchen bench and shove it in their face.

  ‘Jonas, Claudia, Sophia – you may go,’ said Miss Bertha. The three younger orphans raced out the door.

  Miss Bertha turned to Dani. ‘What do you and your brother intend to do with your free time?’

  Dani and Bart exchanged a look. Because they spent almost every moment together, each knew exactly what the other’s look meant. Bart’s look meant, ‘Why’s she asking us that? It’s none of her business,’ whilst Dani’s meant, ‘Stay calm. Let’s just answer the stupid woman’s stupid questions and we’ll be out of here soon.’

  Dani forced a smile. ‘We’ll probably go and play behind the stable.’

  Behind the stable there was a peaceful, and usually deserted, grassy bank where Dani and Bart would often go on their free afternoons. While Bart, who was slim with big, curious eyes and brown hair that never stayed where it was supposed to, studied ants, birds and any other animals he could find, Dani, slightly taller, strongly built and with a straight nose and penetrating eyes, dozed or practised slinging rocks at trees.

  ‘Will Prince Edward be joining you?’ asked Miss Bertha.

  Dani suppressed a groan. Prince Edward, the King’s oldest son, was fourteen, the same age as Bart and her, and was the only royal teenager in Tintarfell Castle. A few weeks earlier the Prince’s tutor, a tall, thin man with a drooping moustache, had asked Dani if she and Bart would try to befriend him.

  ‘The Prince is very alone,’ the tutor had said sadly. ‘He doesn’t get on with his little brother. You and your brother often spend your free afternoons behind the stable, don’t you?’

  Dani had nodded.

  ‘The Prince is learning to ride,’ continued the tutor. ‘So he’ll be about. Just be friendly to him.’

  From what Dani had heard, Prince Edward was a selfish, spoilt brat, but she realised if they did strike up a friendship with him it could be useful, especially when he succeeded his father and became King. And that might happen soon, as the King had recently become so ill that he rarely left his bedroom.

  So, over the next few weeks, whenever the Prince wandered by, Dani and Bart made an effort. They were respectful at first, and then friendly. They talked to the Prince, and sometimes they played together, but Dani didn’t particularly like him and would much rather be left alone with Bart.

  ‘The Prince is very welcome,’ Dani said to Miss Bertha, forcing a
smile.

  ‘At any rate,’ said Miss Bertha, looking around, ‘all your duties appear to have been done, so you may go. But make sure you don’t slam the –’

  BANG!

  ‘– door.’

  Miss Bertha sighed, walked to the kitchen door and, after seeing Bart and Dani disappear into the servants’ quarters, turned to a drawer and extracted a quill, a bottle of ink, a small piece of paper and a short piece of string. She looked about to check that she was alone and then wrote in small, neat letters:

  The servants have just left. They’re going behind the stable. The Prince may be with them.

  She re-read it, and then added two more words: Be careful!

  She rolled up the note, opened the cage, and reached in. ‘Come, my pretty.’

  One of the pigeons stepped lightly onto her hand. Miss Bertha rolled the note around its leg and tied it on with the string.

  ‘You have an important job, my boy,’ she said, stepping outside. She looked around again and then lifted her hand, flicking her wrist as she did. The pigeon took flight, circled twice, dropped a poo that just missed Miss Bertha, and flew off towards the forest.

  Chapter 2

  An Unlikely Prince

  Dani and Bart quickly changed out of their dull, grey, shapeless work clothes and into their dull, grey, shapeless non-work clothes. Dani grabbed her sling and they raced out into the fresh air. It was a glorious day, exactly halfway between chilly and boiling. They strode along a dirt path that led towards the stable and soon reached it. Over the years the stable had withstood hailstorms, howling winds and even a small earthquake, and it still looked as sturdy as it had the day it was built. But that wasn’t why it was called a stable. It was called a stable because it contained horses.

  Bart pointed to the sky. ‘Look! A pigeon.’

  As the bird flew over the castle wall, Dani looked longingly after it. Beyond the wall were all sorts of things that she had heard about but never seen: the city of Cranlon, and then farms, mountains, rivers, forests and even, if people were to be believed, the vast, unimaginable sea. More than that, there was freedom.

  When they were six, Miss Bertha had told Dani and Bart how they had come to live in the castle. Their parents had apparently lived simple lives in a nearby forest, fishing, hunting and growing fruit and vegetables. Their mother had become pregnant and one day, when she was nearly due, her husband had gone hunting and been gored by a wild boar. He’d managed to stagger home, but died in his wife’s arms. She was so shocked that she went into early labour, all alone. She gave birth to twins, but there were complications and she also died. Bart and Dani had lost both their parents before they had even had a chance to meet them.

  Tintarfell had a longstanding tradition that any uncared-for orphans would be taken in and cared for by the King or Queen and so, when a neighbour found the twins, she took them to Tintarfell Castle. Many orphans were saved in this way, but in return, from the age of seven, they had to work as unpaid servants. In fact, they were more like slaves, for they were never permitted to leave the castle grounds, and all they received in return for all the carrying, peeling, cooking, serving, scrubbing, cleaning and everything else-ing they spent hours doing each day was food and a bed in a cramped, shabby room. Bart, Dani and the other orphans could expect to live this way for their entire lives, as only very occasionally were orphans set free.

  Bart noticed the faraway look in Dani’s eyes as she gazed over the wall. ‘We could do it,’ he said.

  ‘Fly? I don’t think so.’

  ‘Escape!’

  ‘What if we got caught? Remember what happened last time?’

  ‘We won’t get caught. You always worry.’

  ‘One of us has to.’

  ‘Imagine if we got out, D,’ said Bart. ‘We could live by the sea and do whatever we wanted. We’d be free.’

  Dani shook her head. ‘Now’s not the time. If we keep being nice to the Prince, maybe he’ll help us when he becomes King.’ She patted Bart on the back. ‘Life will get better. I promise. We just have to be patient.’

  Bart sighed and walked on. Dani watched him, wondering if she really believed her own words.

  They circled around to the back of the stable where an open grassy bank led down to the high stone wall that surrounded the castle grounds. Bart picked a juicy patch of grass and lay down.

  ‘How good would it be to tip a jar of honey onto Miss Bertha’s head?’ he said. ‘I mean, obviously the honey would take a while to trickle out, so you’d have to hold her still while I tipped, but I think we could make it work.’

  Dani smiled and closed her eyes. She felt the sunlight on her face and soon, something close to peace. She wasn’t sure how long she had been lying there when a voice interrupted her rest.

  ‘Hello.’

  Dani kept her eyes closed. She knew who it was: Prince Edward, heir to the throne. The sun was so warm, her eyes were so tired, and there was a beautiful nap lurking just a few breaths away. She didn’t feel like talking to

  the Prince, but she knew she should. She prised her eye­lids open.

  For most, what comes to mind when they think of a prince is a young man who is handsome, strong, dashing, brave, charming, and has hair that flops fetchingly into his eyes. Edward wasn’t like that. He was slightly chubby, had smallish eyes, plump cheeks, hair that was too short to flop, and Dani didn’t find him at all charming. He wore black leather boots and leggings, and a purple tunic, cloak and three-cornered hat.

  ‘Hello, your Highness,’ Dani said, trying to sound happy to see him.

  ‘I’ve got a new horse,’ said the Prince nervously. ‘She’s called Midnight.’

  Behind him Dani saw a big, black horse. She jumped to her feet and backed away. She had never felt comfortable around animals, especially big ones. Bart, on the other hand, loved them. He also jumped to his feet, and stared at the horse in wonder.

  Suddenly Midnight neighed loudly, reared up and twisted her head, jerking the reins out of Edward’s hands. Quickly, Bart stepped forward and picked them up.

  ‘Down, girl,’ he said soothingly.

  Instantly the horse calmed. Bart reached up, wide-eyed, and stroked her nose. ‘Hello.’

  ‘How does she ride?’ asked Dani. She didn’t particularly care, but was trying to be friendly to Edward.

  ‘She doesn’t,’ teased Bart. ‘You ride her. If Midnight tried to ride you, it wouldn’t work. When she climbed on your back, you’d collapse.’

  Dani rolled her eyes and addressed the Prince. ‘How does she ride?’

  Edward shrugged. ‘I don’t know, and I’m not going to find out. She’s huge, and crazy. I’ve got a perfectly good horse, a nice small one. But my father insists I ride this brute.’

  ‘She’s not a brute. She was just scared,’ said Bart, smiling at Midnight. Dani smiled too at her brother’s happiness. He got so few chances to play with any animal bigger than a mouse.

  ‘Do you want to ride her?’ the Prince asked Bart.

  Dani was instantly alert. Edward knew servants were forbidden to ride. What was he playing at?

  ‘We’re not allowed,’ she said.

  ‘I have a proposal,’ said the Prince. ‘My father thinks my horse is too small, so he got me Midnight. He’s going to be watching from his bedroom window and wants to see me ride around the inside of the castle wall. But . . . I tried to get on before. As soon as I put my foot in the stirrup, she went crazy.’

  Dani thought she could guess the Prince’s plan, and she didn’t like it. She stepped protectively between him and Bart. ‘Bart could help you with Midnight,’ she said. ‘He’s good with animals.’

  The Prince shook his head. ‘She’s not safe. For me, that is. But Bart . . . he’s a natural.’ He addressed Bart. ‘Animals like you. As soon as you grabbed Midnight, she calmed down.’

  Bart was flattered.
‘Well, I’ve always –’

  ‘He can hold her as you get up,’ interrupted Dani. ‘Then he can lead her until you feel confident.’

  ‘No,’ said the Prince. ‘Bart can ride her.’

  ‘We’re not allowed. You know that,’ said Dani. She didn’t want to make an enemy of the Prince, but there was no way she was going to let him put Bart in danger.

  ‘He can wear my cloak and hat,’ continued Edward. ‘Then he just has to ride around the inside of the castle wall. My father will see him from his window and think it’s me. We’re about the same height and weight. No one will know.’

  ‘You’re a bit chubbier,’ said Bart.

  ‘Bart!’ said Dani sharply.

  The Prince’s jaw clenched as his hand reached to his waist.

  ‘No offence,’ added Bart.

  Edward forced a smile but his eyes were cold. ‘Well?’ he demanded. ‘Will you do it?’

  ‘So you’d get out of doing something you don’t want to do,’ said Bart, ‘and I’d get to ride a horse, which I’ve wanted to do my entire life.’ He smiled at Dani. ‘It’s win–win.’

  Dani’s jaw clenched. ‘We’re not allowed to ride, Bart.’

  ‘Please, D,’ begged Bart. ‘I promise it’ll be fine. I’ll practise here until I’ve got the hang of it, and I can pull Edward’s hat right down over my eyes. And,’ he shot Dani a meaningful look, ‘we’ll be helping the Prince.’

  ‘He only has to go round once,’ added Edward.

  ‘He’s never ridden before,’ said Dani, trying to keep her voice calm despite her mounting worry. ‘What if he falls off, or someone recognises him? He’d end up in the dungeon for impersonating you.’

  ‘I promise I won’t fall off,’ pleaded Bart. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  ‘If anything happened,’ continued Dani to Edward, ‘you’d have to say it was your idea and take the blame.’

  ‘I don’t have to do anything,’ said Edward coldly. He and Dani locked eyes and then his manner softened. ‘But yes . . . yes, I’ll do that. I promise.’

  ‘Please, D,’ urged Bart.

  Dani tried to weigh it up. Riding would make Bart so happy, and it would be good to put the Prince in their debt, but she didn’t trust Edward. If something went wrong, she had no confidence that he’d keep his word and take the blame. Even if he did, the King might still punish Bart.