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

children. “What mess have you got yourselves into, little brothers?” he said.
    Gunfrid and Zeba scuttled over to the brothers. Gunfrid produced a small knife and held it to Tolly’s throat.
    Amadis shook his head. “Boy, put down your knife!”
    “I will not,” Gunfrid said defiantly. “I will cut your brother’s throat, if you … if you …” He looked imploringly at his sister, who shrugged her thin shoulders and grimaced.
    Amadis made a strange noise in his throat. Petrello recognized the sound. He knew what would happen next.
    The wolf, Greyfleet, slipped past Amadis and walked into the cave. Gunfrid and Zeba began to scream, even before the wolf revealed his long fangs.
    “Hush,” said Amadis. “The wolf will not hurt you, but I suggest you use your knife to cut my brothers’ bonds. If you do not, Greyfleet here will be on you in a moment, and then nothing can save either of you.”
    Zeba had wriggled into the darkest corner of the cave and there she stayed, her eyes never leaving the wolf.
    Greyfleet moved not a muscle. Petrello and Tolly knew him well. He would do anything that Amadis asked of him, but he was a wild creature for all that, and would revert to his savage nature in a second.
    Gunfrid rapidly cut through Tolly’s bonds, but when he began to sever the rope around Petrello’s ankles, his small hands began to shake.
    “Don’t cut my flesh, I beg you,” said Petrello with a laugh.
    He had hoped to calm the boy with a joke, but there was a sob in Gunfrid’s voice when he replied, “I don’t mean to cut. I’m doing my best.” He crawled around Petrello and quickly released the hands tied behind his back.
    Bending his head to avoid hitting the low cave roof, Petrello moved swiftly past the wolf and joined his brothers outside.
    The two children sat very close to each other, staring at the wolf. Greyfleet still hadn’t moved. When Amadis made a sound low in his throat, Greyfleet’s ears flicked. He turned and loped out of the cave. Amadis touched the wolf’s head as he passed and then Greyfleet was gone, gliding into the trees until he became one of the many shadows that moved incessantly across the forest floor.
    “I found your ponies,” Amadis told his brothers. “We’d best be getting home.”
    “You can’t go home, Amadis,” Petrello said gravely. “That’s why we’re here. We came to warn you.”
    Amadis gave Petrello a quizzical look. “You speak in riddles, brother. What do you mean?”
    Tolly said breathlessly, “The guard on the South Gate has accused you of being in league with the bellman’s abductors.”
    Amadis did something unexpected. He chuckled.
    “Believe us,” begged Petrello. “He says you threatened to set your wolf on him if he prevented the bellman’s capture. The chancellor’s men are searching for you. You must ride away, now, Amadis, before they find you.”
    Amadis gave a small frown, but the next moment he was smiling, and then he was laughing.
    Petrello, worried for his brother’s sanity, cried, “Don’t you understand, Amadis?”
    “I hear what you’re saying,” said Amadis. “But it makes no sense. I was on my way back to tell the king that the bellman is being taken to Castle Melyntha. The eagles told me. They saw it all. Why would I reveal the bellman’s whereabouts if I had assisted in his capture?”
    Petrello couldn’t answer.
    Tolly said, “John, the guard, was lying.”
    Why? The unspoken question hung between them. Petrello remembered the way the guard had stared at Lord Thorkil, and then looked away, as though he were afraid. “I think it might have something to do with the chancellor,” he said.
    Amadis looked serious for once. “Come on, boys. I’ve tethered your ponies. We must unravel this mystery.”
    Petrello turned to the cave. Gunfrid and Zeba had scrambled out. They stood together, their eyes darting from one brother to another.
    “Please …” Gunfrid spoke in a thin, choked voice.
    “We must take them