Read Chronicles of the Red King #3: Leopards' Gold for Free Online Page A

mumbled, “What happened?”
    “See?” said the girl. “I told you. He ain’t dead.”
    Tolly began to wriggle into a sitting position. “Aw, my head. Trello, where are we?”
    “You’d better ask them.” Petrello nodded at the two children.
    Tolly looked up at the mud-streaked, smiling faces. “We can’t give you anything. We haven’t got money, or jewels.”
    “You got ponies,” said the girl.
    “I suppose you could take one,” Petrello said reluctantly. “But leave us the other, so we can get home.”
    The boy pouted. “Don’t want your ponies.”
    “What do you want, then?” Petrello wondered if he and Tolly were to be dragged away by the children’s family; bandits, no doubt. Would they be killed just for being the sons of a king?
    “We want to come and live in your castle.” The girl had lost her smug little grin. She squatted in front of her brother and her voice became soft and confiding. “We’ve heard about the Red King who can multiply anything, so his people never go hungry. They say he can make rain come and go, and he talks to wolves and eagles and all sorts of animals, just like they were friends.”
    “And thunder,” added the boy, kneeling beside his sister. “He can make clouds, can’t he, and rainbows? And we know about the castle that disappears….”
    “And the loveliness inside.” The girl was almost crooning now. “And the fine clothes you wear. Look at your jackets, they’re like magic, not what normal people wear, even lords and ladies.”
    “And your boots,” said the boy. “I wish I had those.”
    “But we’re not going to take them,” the girl said quickly. “’Cos we’re proud. We just want to live in the Red Castle.”
    “So we’re going to ransom you,” the boy said with satisfaction.
    “Ransom?” Tolly and Petrello said together.
    “Yeah. That’s right.” The girl’s eyes were shining now. “We send a note to the castle. We tell them we’ve got princes. But we’ll give them back if we can come and live in the castle.”
    The brothers stared at the ragged children. Their sudden cheerfulness made Petrello feel uncomfortable. He had never given his clothes a thought, nor the food he ate. Were they so fine?
    “You’ll have to write the letter,” said the boy, “because we can’t.”
    “Have you been planning this for a long time?” Petrello asked thoughtfully.
    “We saw you on your ponies with their fine harnessing and pretty saddlings,” said the girl. “And Gunfrid just thought of it. ‘Let’s catch them and ransom them,’ he said.”
    “Because Zeba and me’d been wondering how we could get into your castle.” Gunfrid smiled. “And there you were.”
    The boy looked so confident, Petrello felt sad. Their plan was hopeless. The two half-starved children would be caught by the guards as soon as they showed their faces. He shook his head. “It won’t work.”
    “Will!” Gunfrid and Zeba shouted.
    “You don’t know …” Gunfrid stopped and looked up at the roof of the cave. Dust fell onto his face and he sneezed.
    A series of dull thuds echoed around the rocks. Hoofbeats. There was a horse above them.
    Petrello opened his mouth, and then closed it. There could be worse than these children out in the forest. Zeba and Gunfrid were of the same mind, it seemed. They froze, their eyes wide with apprehension.
    Tolly didn’t share their fears. “Here!” he shouted. “Help!”
    Gunfrid brought up his fist, his face an angry red, but he didn’t hit Tolly. It was an empty threat.
    Petrello peered through the low cave entrance. He could see the black legs of a horse but the rider was out of sight. Gunfrid and Zeba had their backs to the entrance. Now that Tolly had given them away, Petrello felt he had nothing to lose. “Here!” he shouted.
    The man outside dropped to his knees and looked into the cave.
    “Amadis!” cried the brothers.
    In one glance, Amadis took in his brothers’ bound hands and feet and the two ragged