Free The Palace Library by Steven Loveridge Page B

difficult.  Did he trust them?  Should they
trust him?  Master John was a cheerful soul and Edgar had told them about
him, but was he leading them astray? It was hard to know.
    It
was Sophie who broke the atmosphere.  She pushed her nose up at Eleanor’s
pocket to reveal her book of plants.  Eleanor looked at her and realised what
she was saying.  It was time for her to talk to Anwen about plants, herbs
and healing.  It was not the first time Eleanor thought that Sophie had a
clearer judgement about who to trust and who not to.  Perhaps it was the
sense of empathy that Edgar had spoken about.  Eleanor remembered she must
speak to Harry and Grace about the way Sophie had behaved when Guy of Caen had
pushed past them in their audience with the Queen.  She would need a
moment alone.
    Eleanor
stood up and moved to sit with Anwen and show her the book.  “It’s time
for me to show you my book.  I think it’s important and it’s special
too.  I have read it, but you have the experience.  Will you help
me?”
    “Of
course I will,” said Anwen.  “You have a difficult journey ahead of you
and you will have to learn to be the healer.”
    “Aren’t
you coming with us?” asked Eleanor.
    “No. 
I cannot.  But come over here and let’s see what I can pack for you and
teach you.”
    Eleanor
still wasn’t quite sure whether to show her all the secrets of the book after
the discussion about treachery, but Sophie decided things for her.  She
flicked the book out of her hands on to the floor and started scratching at the
page it opened.   A lavender bush seemed to grow out of the book and
the room became full of a soothing fragrance. 
    “Clever
dog,” said Anwen, unsurprised at the magic of the book.  “That will soothe
all our nerves.”
    “She’s
called Sophie,” said Eleanor.  “A man called Edgar sent her with us, but I
think she belongs to the Queen too.”
    “Perhaps,”
said Anwen, “she is wiser than us all at the moment.  Come.  We will
pack some herbs and plants.”
    Anwen
seemed to move all around the room gathering dried herbs and plants from
everywhere.  Eleanor followed and listened. “This is good for sea
sickness.  It sounds like you will need that,” Anwen said.  Then, she
looked affectionately at Edwin and said, “These are good for burns if you mix
then with mead.  I know all about them from treating Edwin after his work
at the furnace!”  They spent several hours at this.
    Whilst
Eleanor and Anwen looked through their book and prepared potions in the
kitchen, Grace had fallen asleep and Master John had carried her to a straw
mattress at the back. 
    Harry
read his book, quietly asking it questions. But whenever he said, “Where are we
going?” the pages just said Peto and Invenio as if they’d
forgotten how to speak English.  He was fed up with it again.
    The
storm outside had settled down and it was not long before they were all asleep
on straw mattresses on the floor.

 
13.  Dragons’ Bane
     
    In the late morning, Eleanor
walked ahead with Anwen, clutching a bag of dried herbs and spices, which they
had supplemented with fresh pickings from the hedgerows.
    Grace
and Harry walked behind talking to each other.  Master John had stayed behind
with Master Edwin to pack his heavy tools into a cart and bring them down to
the Harbour Inn, where he had promised to meet them to make their farewells.
    The
forge was outside the main part of the village and the night before they had
barely seen Axmouth at all.
    “Edwin
is rather scary isn’t he?” Grace said to Harry.  “Do you think he is the
traitor?”
    “Well,
I wouldn’t think so,” replied Harry.  “He calmed down a lot after first
meeting us and seemed to be helpful.  But I suppose he could have been just
pretending.  Anyway the Queen seems to trust him, even if no one else
does.”
    “But
that’s the whole point, isn’t it?” replied Grace.  “You trust people and
then they turn out to be a