Free Ghost Ship by Kim Wilkins Page B

Rollo asked.
    “I can tell you this: their last thoughts were of you and your sister.”
    “So Una wasn’t with them?” Asa asked. “When they were killed?”
    “No. At the last moment, the witch princess Margritt, Flood’s half sister who despises him, stole the little babe and took her to her castle in the north.”
    “Is she well?” Rollo asked. “Can we see her?” He remembered Una’s tiny, soft fingers and her sweet, gummy smile. He loved his baby sister so much and thought of her every night when he went to sleep. In his dreams he saw them all—his mother, his father, and Una—as though the flood had never come and his happiness had never been washed away with the mighty tide.
    “Silence, child,” Egil said sternly. “Listen to the whole tale. It will all become clear.
    “I was working as a jailer when Flood first brought your parents in. I suppose Flood thought that a creature like me, so used to living underground at the dungeonsin the company of thieves and traitors, would have a heart as black as his own. But he was wrong. King Sigurd was kind to my mother when I was just a babe. Her own family had thrown her out, and we would have starved without his generosity. I grew up believing I owed my life to King Sigurd, and no matter how many gold pieces Flood gave me, my loyalty could not be bought.
    “The night before the King and Queen’s execution, I slipped into their cell to promise them a final wish. Alas, I could not set them free. After Una’s disappearance, Flood’s spies were thick near the entrance to the dungeons. So King Sigurd, your father, charged me to seek you out, to tell you about Una, and to give you all you need to find her.”
    “Find her?” said Rollo. “We have to
find
her?”
    “Now listen,” Egil said. “And no more interruptions. You know that Flood was once your father’s court sorcerer, but did you know there was another? A secret sorcerer named Ragni, whom your father trusted and loved well.”
    Asa and Rollo exchanged curious glances. They thought they knew everyone who had lived at the Sea Palace before the flood.
    “No, I’ve never heard of him,” Rollo said.
    Egil nodded, his grim face set hard. “Ragni suspected Flood of mischief, and he put into place some insurance. In case the worst happened—and, as we all know, it did. Do you remember the night of the masked ball?”
    Rollo nodded, remembering the great hall of the Sea Palace decorated with shimmering gold and red ribbons. That night, the dukes and duchesses from every principality had come in their fine costumes. Music had echoed around the dark wooden beams and the fires had glowed hot. The magic tricks were marvelous and the ice cream so creamy and sweet that he’d eaten too much. It was the last party before the flood.
    “Then you’d remember the magic tricks of the jester? The tall man in blue and gold?”
    “The one with the doves?” Asa said, wincing as Katla cleaned her wound with stinging squid-balm. “He was wonderful. The way he made himself disappear behind that silver cloth!”

    “Do you remember that, before he disappeared, he cast upon you three children a cloud of golden dust?”
    The children nodded, and Asa said, “The dust stayed in my hair for two days. I couldn’t brush it out.”
    “That magician was Ragni,” Egil said. “The dust was enchanted.”
    “What do you mean?” Rollo said, growing excited. “He
enchanted
us?”
    Egil paused for a moment, scratching under his chin. The sound of his fingernails rubbing his beard stubble was loud in the expectant silence.
    “Yes,” he said at last. “Ragni gave you magic powers.”
    Asa gasped. Katla dropped the squid-balm and the jar rattled on the cold flagstones.
    “What kind of magic powers?” Rollo spluttered.
    Egil pointed a bony finger at Asa. “You can change into a raven at will. You only have to close your eyes and say, ‘Wings of a raven upon me.’ ”
    Now he pointed at Rollo, who almost couldn’t