Ch. 40.7 – Butterfingers scurried along his usual route through the secret passageways of the castle. He had just opened the secret door behind the statue in the alcove across from the queen’s apartment when the large doors opened.
Butterfingers shrank back out of sight. Two enormous guards carried the queen out of her rooms and started down the hallway.
One of the queen’s hands fell limply from the stretcher, and her face was blank. One of the guards farted, and an awful smell filled the hallway.
Butterfinger’s heart pounded. He’d never seen those guards before. And where had he smelled that awful stench before? What was wrong with the queen? Was she dead? With the king so sick, and his sons missing, the queen was the last person who could rule the kingdom.
Butterfingers crept along the secret passageway, keeping parallel with the guards. He watched through the peepholes as they walked along. The guards stopped at the door to the maid’s room.
“Knock, knock,” said the first guard.
A young woman opened the door – Sally, from housekeeping. When she saw them, her eyes widened, and she gasped.
The guard caught the girl’s arm as she tried to slip past him. He stared into her eyes. “Go home and go to sleep. You will remember nothing about this day.”
Sally’s face went blank. She turned and walked away.
The guards carried the stretcher into the room and shut the door. Butterfingers ran through the passage until he came to a small door that led into the maids’ quarters. He slipped behind the heavy tapestry that covered the stone wall and peeked out.
The guards had dumped the queen onto a bed and now tied her hands and feet with ropes. They stuffed a cloth into her mouth.
One of the guards leaned down and sniffed her. “Can’t I have just one bite?”
“No. You know the orders.”
The other guard scowled for a moment, and then beamed. “No one said anything about later.”
“Dessert,” said the first guard. They looked at each other and laughed. Then they trooped from the room.
Carol Nicolas 