Read Online The Palace Library by Steven Loveridge - Free Book Online

as I’ve delivered you to Axmouth.  I’ll take you to
the blacksmith and then I must leave you.”
    “After
that,” he bellowed with laughter, “the Captain of the King’s flagship will have
to take orders from you, Grace.  For you have a skill of navigation which
will leave him overwhelmed, in spite of all his experience!”

 
11.  The Blacksmith
     
    “Do you think he is a real
dwarf?” whispered Grace to Eleanor.
    “Yes,”
the short man shouted at them as they quivered under the thatched overhang at
the forge.  Rain was now dripping off them since a sudden storm and squall
had soaked them all as they walked through the village.  “He’s a real
dwarf with very, very sharp hearing.”
    They
looked at him - not up at him, which made a change for children of their age
when speaking to an adult - and the smiles on their faces turned to fear. 
Then Eleanor realised that they were probably just being rude by whispering, so
she said “We’re sorry for whispering.  Mummy says we shouldn’t.  I’m
Eleanor.  This is my brother Harry and our cousin Grace.”
    “Well
how do you do then, Eleanor and Grace.”  He still looked very
bad-tempered.  He was not much taller than Harry, but about three times as
wide, with a chaotic red beard and a mad mop of red hair.  A heavy leather
apron was wrapped round him from his neck to his feet. Great chunks of his
beard seemed to be singed and missing, the effect of
burns.
    “Well
you are very small to be the solution to this kingdom’s problems.”  Then
he let out a hollow laugh and the girls were not quite sure to make of
it.  They were not sure if it was a joke or if he was being serious.
    Master
John stepped in under the thatch, nearly bending double, and thrust his hand
out to shake the dwarf’s. “I am Master John of the Royal Hunt.  I assume
you are Master Edwin of Axmouth, the blacksmith and armourer?”
    “I
am,” was the reply.  “But how should I know you are who you say you are,”
he added.
    “You
have heard of the Prophecy?” asked Master John.
    “I
have.”
    “Then
these are the three children.”
    “Well
they don’t look up to much,” carried on the blacksmith.  “Three healthy
children for sure, but how do we know they are not impostors?”
    This
was almost too much for Master John, and bending nearly double he looked the
dwarf in the eye.  He used a tone the children had not heard before, “I
know, as our Queen put them into my charge.”
    The
dwarf looked him straight back in the eye and said, “But I was not there.”
    At
that moment, Harry realised he had the solution to this problem, and he pulled
at the chain around his neck.
    “Here
is the Queen’s signet ring, Sir.  It is her token and our authority to be
here.”
    Edwin
looked at the signet ring and looked almost disappointed that they were not
traitors for him to dispose of as he wished.  “Well you seem to be what
you say you are.  You’d better come in.”
    The
inside of the forge was much bigger than the overhanging eaves they had crowded
under outside.  It was a huge room, with a furnace at one end, surrounded
by all the blacksmith’s tools.  There were great iron hammers and tongs
hanging on beams above.  At the other end, nearest the door, was a more
traditional hearth and fireplace, with a pot hanging over the fire and some
sort of soup bubbling away in it.  A half-open door at the back led to a
cramped room to sleep in. 
    “Welcome
to my home.  This is my wife, Anwen.”  The words were a little
grudging, but at least they were welcomed inside.  As if to put a stop to
his initial impression of grumpiness, the dwarf said, “We are proud of our home
and workshop.  It is the only stone house in the village, the only stone
building until the church was put up some years ago.  And it’s warm enough
with the furnace and the fire both going.  Anwen will look after you.”
    At
that, Edwin drew up a chair away from the kitchen hearth and started