Free The Lightning Bolt by Kate Forsyth Page A

swooped Zizi up into his arms, and she wrapped both skinny arms about his neck.
    Rollo growled and rose to his feet, his body stiff, the hair on his neck standing up. He was staring at the door. They saw a flicker of movement, a flash of light on metal.
    â€˜They’re all around,’ Emilia whispered. ‘What are we to do?’
    â€˜Quick, hide in the old oast house,’ Fairnette said. ‘We only use one of the towers. The other one is full of junk. They might not find you there.’
    Luka and Emilia flashed an anguished look at each other. Might not was not good enough!
    â€˜Is there any way out?’ Luka asked.
    â€˜There’s a door to the outside, where they used to load the bags of hops onto the cart, but it’s bolted on the outside,’ Fairnette said.
    Luka grimaced. ‘What about through that white thing at the top?’
    â€˜You mean through the cowl?’ Fairnette asked doubtfully. ‘But how would you get up there? And the hole is very small. Zizi could get out, I guess. It’s really a chimney, you know, that cowl, and it’s just as narrow as a chimney.’
    â€˜I can climb a chimney,’ Luka said.
    â€˜He can climb anything,’ Emilia added loyally. ‘He’s a monkey boy.’
    â€˜And Milly’s a monkey girl.’ Luka grinned at her, sharing a very old joke.
    â€˜Hopefully you won’t need to try,’ Fairnette said, opening a door in the side of the kitchen. ‘It’s an awfully long way down to the ground!’
    The door led into a round, dark, cavernousroom. Along one wall was a huge fireplace like the one in Van’s room, though it was cold and bare of anything but cobwebs. The strange smell was much stronger in this tower, and the floor was covered in brown leaves and petals that crunched underfoot and sent the smell up in dizzying waves. Everywhere were barrels and sacks and peculiar equipment covered in dust.
    There was nowhere safe to hide.
    A ladder led up to the next floor. Luka and Emilia scrambled up it, Zizi leading the way. Rollo put his paws up the ladder and whined, but it was too steep for him to follow.
    Above was a vast, empty space. The floor was wooden, and scattered with dried hop cones. The roof narrowed to a point far above their heads, and there was the white post of the wind vane, letting in a thin beam of light and a faint draught to move the dried hops so they murmured about the children’s feet.
    Luka stared up at it, wondering. ‘Could we, if we had to?’ he whispered.
    Emilia frowned. ‘It’s very narrow.’
    â€˜We’re only skinny.’
    â€˜Aye, but skinny enough?’
    â€˜Lucky we didn’t eat much lunch,’ Luka grinned.
    â€˜What would we do about Rollo?’
    Luka did not answer, only pressed his lips together.
    They crept back down the ladder and put their ear to the door.
    â€˜Open up, else I’ll knock the door down!’ a rough and all-too-familiar voice was roaring. Coldham!
    They heard Fairnette open the door, and then her voice, sounding scared, ‘What is it? Who are you?’ Then she screamed. ‘Ow! Let me go! You’re hurting me! Father, Father, help me!’
    â€˜We’re looking for a couple of gypsy brats,’Coldham snarled. ‘They had a dog with them, a savage, hairy brute, and a horrible flea-bitten monkey. They were last seen coming this way.’
    â€˜Aye, they’ve been here,’ Fairnette said.
    Luka and Emilia stared at each other in horror. Never would they have thought Fairnette could betray them. ‘They were here at the crack of dawn,’ Fairnette went on. ‘I don’t know what they wanted, none of it made any sense. I sent them on their way.’
    â€˜Where? Where were they headed?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ Fairnette said crossly, then screamed again. ‘Ow! Don’t! You’re hurting me!’
    They heard Van’s door creak open.