The Horns of Kern

  *

  Meanwhile, up in the castle everything was not going as planned. Lord Mellem was screaming orders to the guards. “I want all of the members of the royal households brought before me!” Guards were scurrying all over the place trying to find the royal families. “Where are King Octavius and his family?!”

  A guard came over to Mellem. “My Lord, King Octavius has disappeared along with his wife and daughter. They are nowhere to be found. We have searched the entire castle.”

  “Search it again! Search every nook and cranny! Every exit was blocked and there was no way for them to escape.” Mellem’s jaw clenched and he went purple with rage. A tap on the shoulder made him turn and snarl at the person behind him. “My Prince! I am sorry… I did not realize that it was you.” Mellem cowered and stepped back from the prince.

  “What has gone wrong? I can tell by the expression on your face that something is amiss.” The prince looked at Mellem as a cat would a mouse.

  “Nothing that I cannot handle, my Prince. It is merely a small matter that I am taking care of personally.” Mellem tried hard to act as if he were well in control of the situation.

  A guard scurried over to Mellem. “My Lord, all of the royal houses are gathered in the great hall. We still can not locate King Octavius a………”

  The guard was cut short by a scream of absolute rage from the Prince. “You mindless, near-sighted, sniveling moron! You had him here in this room and you let him escape?!” The prince hissed through his clenched teeth. He flung his arms in the air. “Of all the utter incompetence! To think that I agreed to your terms to let you be my overseer!” The prince turned quickly and went nose to nose with the trembling Mellem. “You find the king and his family before the sunrise or the only thing you will be in charge of is a small space in a coffin!!”

  Not far away, Winifred and Toddy were underneath the stage where the throne had been placed for the party. She had grabbed a dark banner and covered the two of them. The old troll saw the guards go after the royal family and immediately grabbed Toddy and hid while there was enough confusion to make themselves invisible.

  “Winifred, I am so afraid. What are we going to do?”

  Winifred tried to keep the fear out of her voice. “We are going to remain here until everything is quiet. Then, with luck, we might be able to escape down through a lower passage or an unguarded door. We will be fine, my dear.” she whispered. She reached over and put one of her hands on Toddy’s.

  “I thought Gertrude would come to help us. I did not see where he went. You don’t think something ill has happened to him do you, Winifred?” Toddy’s voice cracked.

  “I caught a glimpse of him going out the rear door. He had his sword drawn. He knows how to use the sword well so I am sure that he will be all right. Shh! I hear someone coming.” They crouched closer to the front of the platform.

  “Check well under that platform.” an unfamiliar voice commanded. A stick could be heard as if the person was poking the inner reaches of the platform. The sound of the stick came closer…and closer. “That’s good. You have poked under there long enough. Check behind every door and inside anything that might be big enough to hide a human or troll.”

  Winifred was about to say something to Toddy when she heard a very familiar voice. Toggart was speaking to someone. She took the banner off of her head in hopes that, clearing the fabric away, she would be better able to hear his conversation.

  “Lemerich, my lord, I came as soon as I received your summons. What may I do to be of service to you?”

  “I need you to go down to your village and look for King Octavius and the royal family. They escaped somehow. We cannot find them in the castle. Do you know of any secret entrance to the castle?”

  “I do not have any knowledge of any secret entry, Lord Lemerich.”

  “It is a wonder that you have any knowledge at all, troll! Go! See if you can find the royal family.”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  Winifred smiled. “Did you hear that, Toddy? They cannot find the king, which means they are safe for the time being. If you can fall asleep for a while, I need to stay awake and watch for trouble. Besides, if I fall asleep, I may snore and give our hiding place up.”

  Toddy moved under the banner. “I will try to sleep, Winifred, but this floor is very cold and hard.” Soon, however, Winifred could tell that Toddy had fallen off to sleep by the sound of her breathing. She moved to get more comfortable. It was going to be a long, hard night.