A Tail of Camelot Read Online Free PDF Page B

continued. He put down the quill he had been writing with and squatted to the ground. To Calib’s shock, the boy extended a hand, as if to invite Calib onto his palm.
    Alarms blared in Calib’s head. Being seen by a Two-Legger equaled certain death. He darted around the other side of the table and behind the throne. From there, he began scaling up the back, using the ornate filigreed carvings as pawholds.
    â€œWait!” said the boy. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
    But Calib wasn’t listening. He jumped onto the nearby sill of a tall stained-glass window. Spying a small missing pane in the glass, Calib squeezed through the opening. Suddenly, he was falling through the night air outside.
    He landed hard on a wilting lilac bush. Winded, Calib looked around him. He was in the queen’s private courtyard—a beautiful overgrown garden on the cliffside. King Arthur had built this sanctuary for Guinevere, to keep her happy while he went off on battle campaigns. From what little Calib knew of the queen, it hadn’t worked.
    Calib navigated the garden, still panting, still bewilderedby what had just occurred. Had the boy really spoken to him? Two-Leggers, he knew, cared nothing for mice, unless it was to snap their heads in traps. They couldn’t even communicate with other species, like most animals could.
    And his grandfather . . . Was it possible? Was Commander Yvers really . . . ?
    The tournament, the shadows, the feel of his grandfather’s paw in his . . .
    Calib skirted around a pond choked with green algae, past gargoyles with moss growing thick as beards on their limbs. He climbed the stone wall that lined the edge of the cliff. The castle was perched upon a small island that divided a mighty river into two streams. Those streams emptied into the Sapphire Sea by way of two waterfalls. From this vantage point, Calib could see both the northern and southern falls plummeting into the sea.
    And then it hit him, like an acorn to the chest.
    Dead. His grandfather was dead.
    No amount of wishing or magic would undo this terrible truth. He wanted to cry, but the tears felt clogged somewhere in the back of his throat.
    The moon and stars hung high over the sea, turning the water into a sparkling canvas as far as the eye could see. Calib remembered tales his mother used to tell, of ships that could sail great distances, beyond what even theTwo-Legger maps had charted. Perhaps he could run away and join one. Run away—as he had done just now—only farther, never to return.
    â€œThere you are!” Devrin’s sharp voice rang out from the courtyard below him, cutting through the numbing fog in Calib’s heart. “All pages need to report to the council room immediately!”
    â€œComing!” Calib swiped at his eyes with a paw. He couldn’t let Devrin see him like this. That would make things even worse. He quickly rappelled down from the wall, using a length of ivy as a rope.
    â€œHave they found the attacker? Do we know who it was?” he asked breathlessly when he reached the bottom.
    â€œNo, the devil got away,” Devrin said with a snarl. She balled her paws into fists, and her ears flattened against her head. “But not for long.”
    They scurried toward the southernmost tower, using the gutters that ran alongside the castle walls. When they arrived at its base, they entered the tower through a large crack between two stones. The building housed the castle’s weapons, which were dusty from neglect. The two mice ducked behind the handle of a large mace and entered a much smaller chamber set into the thick castle foundation.
    Inside was a round table, much like the one in King Arthur’s throne room, except that this one was constructed from a bronze serving platter stacked on an empty threadspool. Overturned cups surrounded the table, serving as seating for the assembled knights. A rusted chandelier made of broken Two-Legger jewelry