Igraine the Brave Read Online Free PDF Page B

greaves with iron spikes. Even his helmet was as prickly as a sweet chestnut husk.
    When Osmund (for who else could the leader be?) took up his position in front of the drawbridge, the Spiky Knight followed and planted his lance on the ground between himself and his master.
    The lions were still roaring, but when Albert snapped his fingers they stopped.
    “Hide!” Igraine whispered urgently to the two pigs. Her parents hesitated, but finally stuck their heads under Albert’s magic coat. Meanwhile Igraine climbed up on the battlements. Luckily she’d put on her new armor when she got up that morning.
    “Who are you?” she called down as loudly as she could. “And what do you want?”
    The Spiky Knight opened his visor and looked up at her. His face was white as snow.
    “I am the castellan of Osmund the Magnificent!” he called across the marshy water. “Osmund is the new master of Darkrock Castle, and he presents his compliments to his neighbors at Pimpernel.”
    “How kind!” Igraine called down. “Same to him. And now you can all ride home again.”
    “Hush, Igraine!” hissed Albert. “Let’s hear what they have to say.”
    Igraine pressed her lips together and kept quiet, hard as that was.
    The horses were snorting uneasily. They could scent the water snakes. But the Spiky Knight forced his own mount closer to the moat.
    “The noble Osmund didn’t come to bandy words with children!” he called up to Igraine. “Especially not with an impertinent minx like you. Take a look at that!” he told his men. “Here’s a castle where they put little girls in armor. They really scare us, don’t they?”
    The horsemen gave such a loud roar of laughter that the water snakes lifted their heads out of the water. Whinnying, the horses reared. Five men fell headfirst into the moat and disappeared beneath the water lilies. The Spiky Knight angrily signaled to his men to pull them out, but however hard they looked, their companions had disappeared, armor, swords, pennants, and all.
    “The moat magic still works all right!” whispered Albert.
    “That’s good news!” the Fair Melisande whispered back. “The sheer nastiness of this Osmund and his castellan is getting up my nose like the stink of sulphur!”
    “Hey, you down there, you can save yourselves the trouble of searching!” Igraine put her hands on her hips. “Anyone who falls into our moat turns into a fish. But don’t worry, I’ve already fed the water snakes today.”
    Osmund’s men were getting restless. But when their master cast a menacing glance all around, they fell perfectly silent again.

    “That’s enough silly children’s talk!” cried Osmund. His voice sounded like the growling of a fat tomcat, and his black cloak billowed out in the wind. “Where are the enchantress Melisande and her husband, Lamorak? Is this your idea of hospitality, turning brave men into fish?”
    “Talks big, doesn’t he?” murmured Albert. “I don’t think I like him one little bit.”
    “Can’t you turn him into a wood louse or a fat frog?” whispered Igraine, without taking her eyes off Osmund.
    “Answer the noble Osmund, you little toad in armor!” bellowed the Spiky Knight. “Where are your parents, the enchanters Melisande and Lamorak?”
    “Not at home!” Igraine shouted back. “But you can always come back next week and try again.”
    Osmund obviously didn’t care for this information at all. “Listen to me, little girl!” he called back menacingly. “I don’t care where your parents are. Tell them that I want their Singing Books of Magic! I’m ready to pay whatever you and your skinny beanpole of a brother weigh in gold. But if they turn down this extremely generous offer,” he added, drawing his sword and laying it across his knees, “I’ll be back with an army, to tear down this miserable castle stone by stone. And no magic in the world will prevent me from taking the books by force. Will you tell them that?”
    Igraine started