Read Online The Secret Kingdom by Jenny Nimmo - Free Book Online Page B

biggest cub. Timoken called him Sun Cat. His coat was darker than his brothers', the markings larger and closer, and in certain lights his spots took on a shade of sunset red. One of his brothers had a hint of orange beneath his chin, like a small flame. Timoken named him Flame Chin. The smallest of the three had a coat as pale as a star. He was always the last to approach Timoken, but it was this cub that he loved best. He called him Star.
    Every night, Timoken slept under the moon cloak with the cubs curled beside him. In the morning, he would tie the goatskin bag to Gabar’s saddle and lift the cubs into it. But one morning, they struggled when Timoken lifted them, and begged to be set free.
    ‘We will follow,’ said Sun Cat.
    ‘We will watch,’ said Flame Chin.
    ‘We will listen,’ said Star.
    Reluctantly, Timoken climbed on to the camel’s backand left the cubs to run beside them. After a while they fell behind, and when Timoken looked back they had vanished. He didn’t know what to do.
    ‘Stop, Gabar,’ he commanded, pulling on the reins. ‘The cubs are lost.’
    ‘No,’ grunted the camel. ‘You cannot see them. They are not lost.’
    ‘How do you know?’ Timoken demanded. ‘Can you smell them, hear them, sense them?’
    Gabar gave a grunt that was more like a sigh of impatience. ‘Leopards are not seen,’ he said. ‘They must not be seen. You should be proud that they have learned this so quickly.’
    ‘Oh!’ Timoken was always being surprised by the camel’s vast knowledge. ‘I am proud,’ he said. ‘Very proud.’
    Timoken did not see the cubs again all day. But that night, while he lay sleepless with anxiety beneath the moon cloak, three shadowy forms crept out of the long grass and crawled in beside him.
    They continued in this way for several days, but one night the cubs did not return. The moon was, once again, a thin splinter in the sky, but Timoken forgot the Alixir. The new moon had almost disappeared whenGabar said, ‘Family, do you want to grow old?’
    ‘The Alixir!’ Timoken found the bird-shaped bottle. He gave the camel a single dose, and then poured a drop for himself.
    It would take three weeks for the cubs to reappear.
    Timoken and Gabar had reached a range of tall, seemingly impassable mountains. For several days they had been travelling north across a stretch of inhospitable, stony ground. The nights were growing colder. Darkness was falling fast and Timoken decided to light a fire. Gabar settled himself close to the flames and began to doze. Timoken leaned against the camel and closed his eyes. How long, he wondered, and how far would he have to roam before he found a home? Gabar was very dear to him, but he sometimes longed for the companionship of another human being. He thought of his sister and tears welled up in his eyes. Timoken pressed his fists against his lids. He was more than a hundred years old, so he should not cry.
    A voice, close to his ear, whispered, ‘North.’
    Timoken looked at the ring on the middle finger of his left hand. The small silver face wore a frown. ‘North,’ it urged again.
    ‘I have come north,’ Timoken said irritably.
    ‘Further,’ the voice implored. ‘Now.’
    There was a sudden, loud rumble from the camel: a nervous warning sound. Timoken jumped up and searched the rocky scrubland before him. Nothing moved, but it was dark and he could not see what lay beyond the firelight. The grasses beside him rustled and a dreadful stench came out of them. Timoken froze. He knew that smell. He leapt for the moon cloak, lying behind him, but he was too late.
    Long, sinewy arms grabbed the web and tossed it away. Timoken could see them now: three tall figures, twisting and bending, one to his left, another on his right, and the third a few feet in front of him, waving the moon cloak like a banner.
    ‘I have it,’ one of the viridees shrieked, and his laughter filled the air like the tuneless scream of a hungry hyena.
    The web was not