Adventure 2016

Chapter 11: The brass key.

The grumpy badger stepped back from the door and trotted off away from the children. James looked at Jenny and Elf. None of them moved.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" the badger called back. "You've only got five minutes!"

Jenny stepped past James and followed the badger through the door. On the other side was a huge room with a high ceiling and a stone-flagged floor. It was lit by old-fashioned paraffin lamps fastened to the walls at regular intervals. It was easily twice as big as the school hall.

The focal point of the room was a big wooden seat, a throne perhaps, positioned in front of the wall on Jenny's left. There were bookcases and bureaus and tables and shelves behind the throne. On the wall opposite were pictures -- portraits of animals. Mostly badgers, but some foxes and hedgehogs among them.

And in the centre of the room was a long, wide banquet table. It was covered in a dark coloured tablecloth and several ornate candelabra. Only a handful of candles had been lit. There was no food on the table, but piles of objects scattered along it. Books, bottles, parchments and clothes overflowed the table onto chairs and the floor.

Their host made his way to the wooden throne and sat down heavily. Then he got up with a humph and carried a bench out in front of him and sat back down again.

"Come on, come on! Time is running."

Jenny walked over and sat down in the middle of the bench. It was dusty, but felt smooth and well-constructed. Elf and James joined her, sitting either side.

"Are you the King Under the Fort?" James asked again.

"Yes, for whatever it's worth these days. This hall used to be filled with badgers, foxes, hedgehogs and even the odd mole. But now they all keep to themselves. Most animals either seem to be at war with each other, or try and keep out of the way. Not much a king can do about it."

"Countess Madeira didn't think so," James said. "She thought you would help her to get her starlings back under the pier."

"Starlings come and starlings go," the king said. "That's not my business. If they move back to the pier now, they'll move away from it next year on a whim. I've heard Worthing's got plenty of good roosting spots."

"And what about Archduke Crackwing?" Jenny asked. "Is it right that's he's in Brighton? We don't even know why he's here."

"That bird is a bad sort," the king said. "Gives us animals a bad name. No doubt he's here to bolster his nephew, the Duke of Jubilee Square. They're always trying to get one up on the stupid pigeons. But King Pigeon has one thing on his side: numbers. They can wipe each other out for all I care. Birds, ha! Birdbrains all of 'em."

"King Pigeon has a plan to burn down the pier," James pleaded. "You can't let them him do that."

"I can do what I want!" the king said. "I told you. Birdbrains. Their plans won't amount to more than feathers and fluff."

"But my poor cat has been poisoned because of the seagulls." Elf said. "She wasn't trying to do anything apart from keeping movement free in Brighton."

"We haven't had freedom of movement for years. The roads and the humans put pay to that. But animals shouldn't restrict other animals, I agree with that." He nodded at Elf. "Who was your cat again?"

"Mistress Claudia of a dial and some other things," Elf said. She held out Claudia's collar for the king to see.

He looked at it for a long moment. He seemed lost in thought. Then he heaved his body off the throne and went to a bureau on the wall behind. He pulled it open and called back to the Elf.