The Knight at Dawn Read online

  “Okay,” Jack said with a sigh.

  They tiptoed together across the cobblestones. Then they slipped into the entrance of the castle.

  Noise and music came from a bright room in front of them. They stood on one side of the doorway and peeked in.

  “The feast in the Great Hall!” whispered Jack. He held his breath as he stared in awe.

  A giant fireplace blazed at one end of the noisy room. Antlers and rugs hung on the stone walls. Flowers covered the floor. Boys in short dresses carried huge trays of food.

  Dogs were fighting over bones under the tables.

  People in bright clothes and funny hats strolled among the crowd. Some played funny-shaped guitars. Some tossed balls in the air. Some balanced swords on their hands.

  Men and women dressed in capes and furs sat at long, crowded wooden tables.

  “I wonder which one is the knight,” said Jack.

  “I don’t know,” whispered Annie. “But they’re eating with their fingers.”

  Suddenly, someone shouted behind them.

  Jack whirled around.

  A man carrying a tray of pies was standing a few feet away.

  “Who art thou?” he asked angrily.

  “Jack,” squeaked Jack.

  “Annie,” squeaked Annie.

  Then they ran as fast as they could down a dimly lit hallway.

  “Come on!” cried Annie.

  Jack raced behind her.

  Were they being followed?

  “Here! Quick!” Annie dashed toward a door off the hallway. She pushed the door open. The two of them stumbled into a dark, cold room. The door creaked shut behind them.

  “Give me the flashlight,” said Annie. Jack handed it to her, and she switched it on.

  Yikes! A row of knights right in front of them!

  Annie flicked off the light.

  Silence.

  “They aren’t moving,” Jack whispered.

  Annie turned the light back on.

  “They’re just suits,” Jack said.

  “Without heads,” said Annie.

  “Let me have the flashlight a second,” said Jack. “So I can look in the book.”

  Annie handed him the flashlight. He pulled out the castle book. He flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

  Jack put the book away. “It’s called the armory,” he said. “It’s where armor and weapons are stored.”

  He shined the flashlight around the room.

  “Oh, man,” whispered Jack.

  The light fell on shiny breastplates, leg plates, arm plates. On shelves filled with helmets and weapons. On shields, spears, swords, crossbows, clubs, battle-axes.

  There was a noise in the hall. Voices!

  “Let’s hide!” said Annie.

  “Wait,” said Jack. “I’ve got to check on something first.”

  “Hurry,” said Annie.

  “It’ll take just a second,” said Jack. “Hold this.” He handed Annie the flashlight.

  He tried to lift a helmet from a shelf. It was too heavy.

  He bent over and dragged the helmet over his head. The visor slammed shut.

  Oh, forget it. It was worse than having a five-year-old on your head. More like having a ten-year-old on your head.

  Not only could Jack not lift his head, he couldn’t see anything, either.

  “Jack!” Annie’s voice sounded far away. “The voices are getting closer!”

  “Turn off the flashlight!” Jack’s voice echoed inside the metal chamber.

  He struggled to get the helmet off.

  Suddenly he lost his balance and went crashing into other pieces of armor.

  The metal plates and weapons clattered to the floor.

  Jack lay on the floor in the dark.

  He tried to get up. But his head was too heavy.

  He heard deep voices.

  Someone grabbed him by the arm. The next thing he knew, his helmet was yanked off. He was staring into the blazing light of a fiery torch.

  In the torchlight, Jack saw three huge men standing over him.

  One with very squinty eyes held the torch. One with a very red face held Jack. And one with a very long mustache held on to Annie.

  Annie was kicking and yelling.

  “Stop!” said the one with the very long mustache.

  “Who art thou?” said the one with the very red face.

  “Spies? Foreigners? Egyptians? Romans? Persians?” said the squinty-eyed one.

  “No, you dummies!” said Annie.

  “Oh, brother,” Jack muttered.

  “Arrest them!” said Red-face.

  “The dungeon!” said Squinty-eyes.

  The guards marched Jack and Annie out of the armory. Jack looked back frantically. Where was his backpack?

  “Go!” said a guard, giving him a push.

  Jack went.

  Down they marched, down the long, dark hallway. Squinty, Annie, Mustache, Jack, and Red.

  Down a narrow, winding staircase.

  Jack heard Annie shouting at the guards. “Dummies! Meanies! We didn’t do anything!”

  The guards laughed. They didn’t take her seriously at all.

  At the bottom of the stairs was a big iron door with a bar across it.

  Squinty pushed the bar off the door. Then he shoved at the door. It creaked open.

  Jack and Annie were pushed into a cold, clammy room.

  The fiery torch lit the dungeon. There were chains hanging from the filthy walls. Water dripped from the ceiling, making puddles on the stone floor. It was the creepiest place Jack had ever seen.

  “We’ll keep them here till the feast is done. Then turn them over to the Duke,” said Squinty. “He knows how to take care of thieves.”

  “There will be a hanging tomorrow,” said Mustache.

  “If the rats don’t get them first,” said Red.

  They all laughed.

  Jack saw that Annie had his backpack. She was quietly unzipping it.

  “Come on, let’s chain the two of ’em,” said Squinty.

  The guards started toward them. Annie whipped her flashlight out of the pack.

  “Ta-da!” she yelled.

  The guards froze. They stared at the shiny flashlight in her hand.

  Annie switched the light on. The guards gasped in fear. They jumped back against the wall.

  Squinty dropped the torch. It fell into a dirty puddle on the floor, sputtered, and went out.

  “My magic wand!” Annie said, waving the flashlight. “Get down. Or I’ll wipe you out!”

  Jack’s mouth dropped open.

  Annie fiercely pointed her light at one, then the other. Each howled and covered his face.

  “Down! All of you! Get down!” shouted Annie.

  One by one, the guards lay down on the wet floor.

  Jack couldn’t believe it.

  “Come on,” Annie said to him. “Let’s go.”

  Jack looked at the open doorway. He looked at the guards quaking on the ground.

  “Hurry!” said Annie.

  In one quick leap, Jack followed her out of the terrible dungeon.

  Annie and Jack raced back up the winding stairs and down the long hallway.

  They hadn’t gone far when they heard shouting behind them.

  Dogs barked in the distance.

  “They’re coming!” Annie cried.

  “In here!” said Jack. He shoved open a door off the hallway and pulled Annie into a dark room.

  Jack pushed the door shut. Then Annie shined her flashlight around the room. There were rows of sacks and wooden barrels.

  “I’d better look in the book,” said Jack. “Give it to me!”

  Annie gave him the flashlight and his backpack. He pulled out the book and started tearing through it.

  “Shhh!” said Annie. “Someone’s coming.”

  Jack and Annie jumped behind the door as it creaked open.

  Jack held his breath. A light from a torch danced wildly ov
er the sacks and barrels.

  The light disappeared. The door slammed shut.

  “Oh, man,” whispered Jack. “We have to hurry. They might come back.”

  His hands were trembling as he flipped through the pages of the castle book.

  “Here’s a map of the castle,” he said. “Look, this must be the room we’re in. It’s a storeroom.” Jack studied the room in the book. “These are sacks of flour and barrels of wine.”

  “Who cares? We have to go!” said Annie. “Before they come back!”

  “No. Look,” said Jack. He pointed at the map. “Here’s a trapdoor.”

  He read aloud:

  This door leads from the storeroom through a secret passage to a precipice over the moat.

  “What’s a precipice?” said Annie.

  “I don’t know. We’ll find out,” said Jack. “But first we have to find the door.”

  Jack looked at the picture carefully. Then he shined the flashlight around the room.

  The floor of the room was made up of stones. The trapdoor in the picture was five stones away from the door to the hall.

  Jack shined the light on the floor and counted the stones. “One, two, three, four, five.”

  He stamped on the fifth stone. It was loose!

  He put the flashlight on the floor. He worked his fingers under the thin sheet of stone and tried to lift it.

  “Help,” Jack said.

  Annie came over and helped him lift the stone square out of its place. Underneath was a small wooden door.

  Jack and Annie tugged on the rope handle of the door. The door fell open with a thunk.

  Jack picked up the flashlight and shined it on the hole.

  “There’s a little ladder,” he said. “Let’s go!”

  He clipped on the flashlight and felt his way down the small ladder. Annie followed.

  When they both reached the bottom of the ladder, Jack shined the light around them.

  There was a tunnel!

  He crouched down and began moving through the damp, creepy tunnel. The flashlight barely lit the stone walls.

  He shook the light. Were the batteries running down?

  “I think our light’s dying!” he said to Annie.

  “Hurry!” she called from behind.

  Jack went faster. His back hurt from crouching.

  The light got dimmer and dimmer.

  He was desperate to get out of the castle before the batteries died completely.

  Soon he reached another small wooden door. The door at the end of the tunnel!

  Jack unlatched the door and pushed it open.

  He poked his head outside.

  He couldn’t see anything in the misty darkness.

  The air felt good. Cool and fresh. He took a deep breath.

  “Where are we?” whispered Annie behind him. “What do you see?”

  “Nothing. But I think we’ve come to the outside of the castle,” said Jack. “I’ll find out.”

  Jack put the flashlight in his pack. He put the pack on his back. He stuck his hand out the door. He couldn’t feel the ground. Just air.

  “I’m going to have to go feet first,” he said.

  Jack turned around in the small tunnel. He lay down on his stomach. He stuck one leg out the door. Then the other.

  Jack inched down, bit by bit. Until he was hanging out the door, clinging to the ledge.

  “This must be the precipice!” he called to Annie. “Pull me up!”

  Annie reached for Jack’s hands. “I can’t hold you!” she said.

  Jack felt his fingers slipping. Then down he fell.

  Down through the darkness.

  SPLASH!

  Water filled Jack’s nose and covered his head. His glasses fell off. He grabbed them just in time. He coughed and flailed his arms.

  “Jack!” Annie was calling from above.

  “I’m in … the moat!” said Jack, gasping for air. He tried to tread water and put his glasses back on. With his backpack, his shoes, and his heavy clothes, he could hardly stay afloat.

  SPLASH!

  “Hi! I’m here!” Annie sputtered.

  Jack could hear her nearby. But he couldn’t see her.

  “Which way’s land?” Annie asked.

  “I don’t know! Just swim!”

  Jack dog-paddled through the cold black water.

  He heard Annie swimming, too. At first it seemed as if she was swimming in front of him. But then he heard a splash behind him.

  “Annie?” he called.

  “What?” Her voice came from in front. Not behind.

  Another splash. Behind.

  Jack’s heart almost stopped. Crocodiles? He couldn’t see anything through his water-streaked glasses.

  “Annie!” he whispered.

  “What?”

  “Swim faster!”

  “But I’m here! I’m over here! Near the edge!” she whispered.

  Jack swam through the dark toward her voice. He imagined a crocodile slithering after him.

  Another splash! Not far away!

  Jack’s hand touched a wet, live thing.

  “Ahhhh!” he cried.

  “It’s me! Take my hand!” said Annie.

  Jack grabbed her hand. She pulled him to the edge of the moat. They crawled over an embankment onto the wet grass.

  Safe!

  Another splash came from the moat waters.

  “Oh, man,” Jack said.

  He was shivering all over. His teeth were chattering. He shook the water off his glasses and put them back on.

  It was so misty he couldn’t see the castle. He couldn’t even see the moat, much less a crocodile.

  “We … we made it,” said Annie. Her teeth were chattering, too.

  “I know,” said Jack. “But where are we?” He peered at the foggy darkness.

  Where was the drawbridge? The windmill? The hawk house? The grove of trees? The tree house?

  Everything had been swallowed up by the thick, soupy darkness.

  Jack reached into his wet backpack and pulled out the flashlight. He pushed the switch. No more light.

  They were trapped. Not in a dungeon. But in the still, cold darkness.

  “Neeee-hhhh!”

  A horse’s whinny.

  Just then the clouds parted. A full moon was shining in the sky. A pool of light spread through the mist.

  Then Jack and Annie saw him just a few feet away. The knight.

  He sat on the black horse. His armor shone in the moonlight. A visor hid his face. But he seemed to be staring straight at Jack and Annie.

  Jack froze.

  “It’s him,” Annie whispered.

  The knight held out his gloved hand.

  “Come on, Jack,” Annie said.

  “Where are you going?” said Jack.

  “He wants to help us,” said Annie.

  “How do you know?”

  “I can just tell,” said Annie.

  Annie stepped toward the horse. The knight dismounted.

  The knight picked Annie up and put her on the back of his horse.

  “Come on, Jack,” she called.

  Jack moved slowly toward the knight. It was like a dream.

  The knight picked him up, too. He placed Jack on the horse, behind Annie.

  The knight got on behind them. He slapped the reins.

  The black horse cantered beside the moonlit water of the moat.

  Jack rocked back and forth in the saddle. The wind blew his hair. He felt very brave and very powerful.

  He felt as if he could ride forever on this horse, with this mysterious knight. Over the ocean. Over the world. Over the moon.

  A hawk shrieked in the darkness.

  “There’s the tree house,” said Annie. She pointed toward a grove of trees.

  The knight steered the horse toward the trees.

  “See. There it is,” Annie said, pointing to the ladder.

  The knight brought his horse to a stop. He dismounted and helped Annie down.r />
  “Thank you, sir,” she said. And she bowed.

  Then Jack. “Thank you,” he said. And he bowed also.

  The knight got back on his horse. He raised his gloved hand. Then he slapped the reins and rode off through the mist.

  Annie started up the tall ladder, and Jack followed. They climbed into the dark tree house and looked out the window.

  The knight was riding toward the outer wall. They saw him go through the outer gate.

  Clouds started to cover the moon again. For a brief moment, Jack thought he saw the knight’s armor gleaming on the top of a hill beyond the castle.

  The clouds covered the moon completely. And a black mist swallowed the land.

  “He’s gone,” whispered Annie.

  Jack shivered in his wet clothes as he kept staring at the blackness.

  “I’m cold,” said Annie. “Where’s the Pennsylvania book?”

  Jack heard Annie fumble in the darkness. He kept looking out the window.

  “I think this is it,” said Annie. “I feel a silk bookmark.”

  Jack was only half-listening. He was hoping to see the knight’s armor gleam again in the distance.

  “Okay. I’m going to use this,” said Annie. “Because I think it’s the right one. Here goes. Okay. I’m pointing. I’m going to wish. I wish we could go to Frog Creek!”

  Jack heard the wind begin to blow. Softly at first.

  “I hope I pointed to the right picture in the right book,” said Annie.

  “What?” Jack looked back at her. “Right picture? Right book?”

  The tree house began to rock. The wind got louder and louder.

  “I hope it wasn’t the dinosaur book!” said Annie.

  “Stop!” Jack shouted at the tree house.

  Too late.

  The tree house started to spin. It was spinning and spinning!

  The wind was screaming.

  Then suddenly there was silence.

  Absolute silence.

  The air was warm.

  It was dawn. Far away a dog barked.

  “I think that’s Henry barking!” Annie said. “We did come home.”

  They both looked out the tree house window.

  “That was close,” said Jack.

  In the distance, streetlights lit their street. There was a light on in their upstairs window.