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

standing. As Jeniah approached, Queen Sula placed herself between the princess and the throne.
    â€œJeniah,” the queen whispered, “what is going on?”
    The princess reached out. “Mother, the Monarchy is in danger. The ancient evil—the Crimson Hoods—have returned. They’re stealing the people of Emberfell. But I’ve blown the war horn, and I’m preparing to hold council—”
    The queen opened her mouth to interrupt but doubled at the waist, seized by a coughing fit. Jeniah gently helped her mother to her knees until the queen recovered.
    â€œJeniah,” Queen Sula said, “the Crimson Hoods are a myth. A fairy tale. They don’t exist.”
    The princess felt a lump in her throat. “No. No, Mother, you see, I know they’ve been taking people. They’re pretending to act in your name. But I have a plan—”
    The queen shook her head. “The people of our land dress as the Crimson Hoods as part of a gloamingtide fête. They’re symbolic and nothing more. There is no danger. Now, please stop.”
    Jeniah looked past her mother at the assembled scholars. They whispered to one another, looking perplexed. The queen summoned her strength and dismissed her council with a single gesture. Red-faced, Jeniah helped her mother back to bed; then she stormed to the kitchen.
    â€œYou lied to me!” she spat at Cook and the others.
    The servants smiled kindly with looks of genuine confusion on their faces.
    â€œForgive us, Your Highness,” Cook said, bowing low. “You asked us to tell you what we knew of the Crimson Hoods. We only did as you asked.”
    â€œYou told me stories and myths,” Jeniah said. “I believed you.”
    â€œWe only told you what Skonas asked us to tell you,” Cook said. “He said it was for one of your lessons. We didn’t know you were taking the stories so seriously. The truth about the Crimson Hoods is—”
    Jeniah didn’t let the old woman finish. She turned on her heel and went in search of her tutor. She found Skonas exactly where she’d left him in the library. He was pulling worms from a satchel and feeding them to Gerheart.
    â€œWhy did you do that?” she demanded, holding back tears. “You had everyone tell me lies, and you made me look like a fool. You’re supposed to be my teacher.”
    â€œAnd what did you learn?” Skonas asked softly.
    Jeniah stiffened. This was a lesson. One that was harsher and crueler than anything taught by any previous tutor. But, oh yes, she’d learned.
    â€œTo believe only that which I’ve seen or heard for myself,” she said through bared teeth.
    Skonas chuckled to himself. “It takes most people much longer to see that. You’re learning your lessons quite swiftly. You might be
too
strangely clever for your own good.”
    â€œFrom now on, you are to tell me only the truth!”
    â€œEverything I’ve said is the truth.
Somebody’s
truth. Funny how truth changes, depending on who says it.”
    Too angry to speak, Jeniah turned and walked quickly to the door. But she couldn’t give him the last word. Whirling around, she said, “Truth shouldn’t be flexible!”
    The tutor didn’t even look at the princess when he responded. “People should be.”
    Walking back to her bedchambers, still shaking with anger, Jeniah made a vow: There would be no more lessons with Skonas. If she was to learn to be queen, she would do it on her own.
    When she slept that night, Jeniah dreamt that she was searching through Emberfell at midnight with a blue-light lantern. The town had been abandoned. In the distance, the war horn pierced the night, dissonant and warbling. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see hooded figures lurking in every corner. But when she turned to face them, they vanished. She searched frantically as the lantern light grew dimmer and dimmer by the