Read Online The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse by Brian Farrey - Free Book Online Page A

sound anything like what Aon had reported. And why had Aon believed the Hoods to be the queen’s servants?
    Unless . . .
    Unless the Hoods
posed
as servants of the queen in order to steal away with Her Majesty’s most loyal subjects. Unknowingly, Jeniah had stumbled on a conspiracy.
    â€œAgain, I must ask,” Skonas said. “Where did you hear of them?”
    Jeniah was torn. Admitting she’d heard this from Aon meant revealing her plan to learn the secrets of the Carse. But if the Hoods were real and seen recently in Emberfell, then the Monarchy was in danger. She had to act with caution.
    â€œI think I heard Cook mention it,” she lied.
    Skonas nodded. “Well, she’d know. Most of the staff would know all about the Hoods. They are well versed in ancient knowledge. Wisdom you won’t find in books, passed down from generation to generation among the commoners.”
    Jeniah quietly cursed herself.
Of course
Cook would know all about this. When she was younger, the princess had spent hours in the kitchen listening to Cook weave tales as she ordered her assistants about. Jeniah wished she’d thought to ask Cook about the Hoods first. The kindly old woman could give Jeniah the information she needed to save the Monarchy
and
rescue Aon’s father. And no one would ever need to know about Jeniah’s bargain with the brave girl from Emberfell.
    The princess thanked her tutor and ran from the library. Until her mother woke, the Monarchy was Jeniah’s responsibility. There was a threat to her subjects, and she was going to do something.
    She went first to the kitchen to Cook and asked what the kindly matron knew of the Crimson Hoods.
    â€œVery powerful,” the old woman said. “They can reach into your chest and turn your very soul to stone.”
    Next, Jeniah consulted the royal cartographer, Ms. Reynard.
    â€œBefore we became a land of bliss, the Crimson Hoods ruled with a savage fist. They say that if the Crimson Hoods ever return, we’re all doomed.”
    Jeniah talked to everyone she could find. All had stories about the horrors of the Crimson Hoods. Each added to her knowledge of this new adversary, but few told her how to fight back. One thing was very clear: the Monarchy was in danger.
    It was Mr. Dalcott, the stable keeper, who told her what she most needed to know.
    â€œAt the top of Gedric Tower sits the war horn,” he said. “It has not been blown for a thousand years, since before the time of the first monarch. It is a cry to battle. When the horn sounds, the wisest scholars gather in the throne room and plan to defend the Monarchy.”
    The war horn.
Of course Jeniah knew of the ancient relic. Her mother had taken her to Gedric Tower and shown it to her a year ago. “One day you will learn,” the queen had promised, “how important it is to the Monarchy’s heritage.” That day, it seemed, had arrived.
    As Jeniah ran up the stairs of Gedric Tower, battle plans filled her mind. She would rally the royal troops. She would warn the commoners to avoid the Hoods when they returned. She would expose the evil beasts and protect the Monarchy.
    She would be a queen.
    Gedric, a tower that twisted upward like a great stone coil, sat on the easternmost part of the Nine Towers’ circle of spires. At the very top, Jeniah spotted the great war horn—a crescent of bone and brass that took up nearly the entire room. She puckered her lips, pressed them to the small end of the horn, and blew as hard as she could.
    An unearthly shriek echoed throughout the land, glancing off mountains and shooting through trees. Jeniah ran to the throne room, eager to meet with the queen’s council to discuss a plan for protecting the Monarchy. But when she got there, she found the scholars huddled in the corner and her mother standing with shaky knees before the throne.
    The queen gripped a staff in her weathered hands. It alone kept her