The Secret of Zanzibar Read Online Free PDF

almost relaxed. Here in Shetlock, their home, there were no Queen’s Guards after them. And they were inconspicuous. She and her mother were both a deep chocolate brown (though Alice had a white patch on her left hip), while Alex and their dad were white (though Alex had a patch of brown on his right shoulder blade). There was no reason for anyone to look at them twice. Of course if Alistair or Tibby Rose had been with them it would have been a different matter: they stood out, being ginger. And Zanzibar, too, though Alice would have described Zanzibar’s fur as golden rather than ginger. And he would have stood out if his fur wasn’t golden. He just had some sort of presence. She couldn’t explain it even to herself. She just knew that he didn’t look ordinary.
    Still, you could never judge a book by its cover, she reminded herself. A beautiful silvery grey mouse with a bell-like voice could be evil. And they were only inconspicuous among those who weren’t looking for them. But out there, somewhere, two mice were looking for Alice and her brother. She had last seen Sophia, the silvery grey Sourian spy with a sharp knife and a sharper tongue, and her morose coal-black companion, Horace,in Gerander. The two spies had fallen (helped along by some skilful piloting by Solomon Honker) from a hot-air balloon. They had landed in the Winns, and if Alice knew Sophia – which she did only too well – she would be furious. More than that, she would be out for revenge … The warmth seemed to drain from the sun as Alice considered the prospect of an enraged, vengeful Sophia.
    No longer relaxed, she anxiously scrutinised the face of every mouse they saw. That light brown mouse sitting on the porch of the farmhouse … had he been watching them a little too intently? Had that young cream mouse they passed on the road earlier looked at them with more than ordinary interest?
    â€˜Alex?’ Alice quickened her pace to catch up with her brother, who was walking a few metres ahead of her.
    â€˜Huh?’ Alex started, as if she’d woken him from a doze. ‘Oh, it’s you. Hey, sis, do you think when I’m king I could make Uncle Ebenezer my personal chef? Every morning he’d come to see me in the throne room to consult about that day’s menu …’ He trailed off, and Alice guessed by the look of bliss on his face that he was imagining some of the dishes he might request.
    â€˜I hate to interrupt your menu planning, Your Highness,’ she said sharply.
    Alex started again. ‘What?’
    â€˜Alex, where do you think Sophia and Horace are now?’
    Alex’s face clouded over at the mention of the spies. ‘Did you really have to ruin my daydream by mentioning them?’ he grumbled.
    â€˜You don’t think they’d be looking for us, do you?’ Alice asked. ‘You know, to take –’ she hesitated before saying the word aloud ‘– revenge?’
    â€˜Does it make any difference? They were already planning to kill us,’ Alex pointed out. ‘We’re the heirs of Cornolius, and Queen Eugenia wants us dead.’
    â€˜That’s true.’ Alice didn’t find her brother’s reasoning all that comforting though.
    â€˜But in answer to your question,’ Alex continued, his voice serious, ‘I do think Sophia and Horace will be looking for us. And Sophia will definitely be out for revenge.’

    They reached Sharman in time for a late lunch. Climbing the winding road up to the town, Alice saw more towns and villages dotting the hills and valleys. They seemed so peaceful, dozing in the sun. The mice they saw as they entered Sharman seemed peaceful too. For a moment Alice recalled the anxious-looking mice of Cornoliana, scurrying out of the path of the red-coated Queen’s Guards. What would life be like for the mice of Sharman if Queen Eugenia succeeded in taking over Shetlock? But it hardly seemed