Free The Cabinet of Curiosities by Paul Dowswell

lion.’
    They could hear snuffling now and panting.
    ‘A tree. We’ve got to climb a tree,’ fretted Lukas.
    The garden was full of extraordinary trees. There were several close by that looked easy enough to climb. ‘Help me up,’ said Anselmus, pointing to a slender trunk covered in beautiful white blossom. The panting was getting closer.
    Lukas made a stirrup with his hands and Anselmus hauled himself up into the thin branches. Then he leaned forward, offering his arm to help Lukas to pull himself up. But as he took Lukas’s weight, the branch began to creak and Anselmus instinctively released his grip.
    Lukas heard a great roar right next to him. He looked over to see a young lion, somewhere between a cub and an adult. In a second the creature was upon him. But rather than maul him, it rubbed its mane against his legs. Instinctively Lukas began to stroke its fur. The lion gave a contented yawn, his sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight. An awful catty stench filled the air, worse than any animal Lukas had ever smelled before.
    ‘He wants you to give him something to eat,’ whispered Anselmus.
    ‘What do you suggest?’ said Lukas desperately.
    The lion was growling now, and snuffling around Lukas’s crotch. He was getting restless. ‘Uncle, pull me up, before he takes a bite out of me.’
    Anselmus relented. He reached down an arm and pulled with all his might. Lukas scrambled up, distracting the lion with a snowstorm of white blossom dislodged from the tree.
    They both clung to the trunk, resting their feet on the sturdiest branches, so close they were almost nose to nose. The lion sat below.
    Lukas shifted his weight and the branch beneath his feet cracked and broke right off, leaving him dangling by his hands. The lion was on his feet in an instant. Lukas could feel the wind from its wafting claws on his swinging foot.
    Anselmus pulled Lukas back as yet another branch gave an ominous crack.
    ‘This tree isn’t going to last much longer with the two of us up it,’ said Anselmus. ‘We need to distract this creature while you run to another tree. There’s one close by.’ He looked guilty. ‘I would go myself, but I am not so agile.’
    Lukas took off one of his boots. He called down to the lion and swung the boot by its laces. The creature stretched out its body and began to paw at it.
    Then Lukas threw the shoe as far as he could and the lion galloped after it into the darkness. Taking his life into his hands he leaped down and sprinted to the next tree. By the time he scrambled up it, the beast’s claws were reaching for his feet.
    As he reached the safety of the lower branches, a startled bird fluttered up in panic. Lukas almost lost his grip. As he clung on tight he saw the bird was tied to the tree by a tiny golden chain. When the chain pulled tight, the bird gave a shriek of alarm and fluttered down to the top branches.
    ‘What’s that?’ he hissed.
    ‘One of the Emperor’s parrots,’ said his uncle.
    Their voices carried easily in the still night air.
    ‘What do we do now?’ said Lukas when he had caught his breath.
    ‘We wait, nephew,’ said Anselmus.
    ‘But it’s cold,’ said Lukas. It was too. April nights were cold enough to produce a frost in the morning. ‘Can’t we call for help?’
    ‘No,’ said Anselmus. ‘The Emperor might be sleeping in the Summer Palace. You can see it there, at the far end of the garden. If we wake him, he will be very angry with us. Being eaten by a lion is probably preferable.’

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    Chapter Eleven
    Dawn came with a light frost. Anselmus and Lukas worried that they would fall from their perches like frozen sparrows. But soon after first light, the lion keeper entered the garden with a piece of meat. ‘Taman,’ he called. The creature lolloped over to him and even let him fuss with its mane as it began to eat.
    While the lion was distracted the keeper placed a heavy iron chain around its collar. Then the two of them trotted back towards the lion