Feast Fight! Read Online Free PDF Page A

take the other end.”
    “Where are we taking him?” I asked.
    “Best place for him,” said Margaret. “You’ll see. It ain’t far.”
    Between the three of us we lifted the robber. We lugged him out of the hall and across the landing, to a flight of stairs I’d never used before.
    “Down here,” she said. “I’ll go in front.”
    It was tough work manhandling a grown man down a narrow spiral staircase. The walls and steps were slippery and we were soon in total darkness.
    “Nearly there,” said Margaret.
    “Good,” I panted. The place gave me the creeps. It was chilly and dank, anddripping noises and strange scuttlings echoed in the darkness.
    “
Eek!
” I yelped, as something squeaked and ran across my foot. I put out a hand to steady myself, but it just slid down the slimy wall. I fell forwards – and the next thing I knew we were all tumbling head over heels in the dark.

    We came to rest in a big tangled heap.
    “Everyone all right?” said Patchcoat.
    “I-I think so,” I said. I freed a hand and felt under me. “I seem to have landed on a couple of big cushions.”
    “Oi! Those ain’t cushions!” bellowed Margaret right in my ear. “Gerroff me, will yer?”
    Eeeewww.
    Margaret gave me a hefty shove on to the damp stone floor. I looked around. A barred window let in a tiny patch of moonlight. In the dim light I began to make out strange shapes hanging from the wall.
    “So, what is this place?” I said. “Is it one of the storerooms?”

    “You could say that,” said Patchcoat. “Except it’s for storing
people
, not things. Welcome to the castle dungeon!”
    I peered again at the shapes on the walls and realized they were rusty old chains and manacles. In one corner I could make out a huge scary axe with a curved blade. Even under all the cobwebs it still looked pretty sharp.
    “Yikes,” I shivered. “I didn’t even know Castle Bombast
had
a dungeon.”
    The thief groaned again.
    “Come on,” said Margaret. “Let’s get this villain locked up before he comes to.”
    At one end of the dungeon was an ancient door with heavy iron bolts. With a screech ofrusty hinges, Margaret hauled it open.
    “Sling him in ’ere,” she said.
    The cell was narrow, dank and pitch-black. We dragged the thief inside and dumped him on what smelled like a pile of mouldy, stinking straw. He moaned groggily as Margaret whipped off the leather sack, shut the door and slammed the bolts into place.
    “Right,” she said, wiping her hands on her nightdress. “The master can deal with him in the morning. I’m off back to bed. I’ve got a bloomin’ royal banquet to cook tomorrow!”

Chapter Six
Curry Carry-On
    I hauled the thief before the king. I had single-handedly captured the most notorious robber in the kingdom. As the master-thief was led away in chains, the king drew his jewelled sword. He ordered me to kneel before him. Then he touched the blade on each of my shoulders and declared: “Arise, Sir Cedric!”
Arise… Arise… Arise…
    Arise? I opened an eye. What time was it? The sun was pouring through my window. Yikes! After all the shenanigans of the night I’d overslept badly – it was late morning and I’d promised to wake Sir Percy early!
    I leaped out of bed, pulled on my clothes and dashed to Sir Percy’s door. I knocked but there was no answer.
    I knocked again. “Sir Percy?”
    Again no answer. I opened the door and went in, ready to say sorry for not waking him sooner. Once I’d told him about the thief, I was sure he’d understand. I only hoped he hadn’t missed an important appointment in the village.
    To my surprise, Sir Percy wasn’t there. Not only that, he’d even made his own bed, which is normally my job. And his nightgown was on the bed, so he’d even got himself dressed. I usually helped him with that, too.
    Sir Percy wasn’t in the Great Hall, either. (All I found there was the mess from the night before, so that was another chore to add to my list.) He must have