Switched ~ a Fractured Fairytale

Chapter Twelve ~ Unwelcome News

Bash's arrival and news sparked a flurry of activity. Despite the lateness of the hour, Father scribbled out some messages and sent Cassy and I up the tallest tower to relay them. Grabbing a thick cloak and blankets, we gathered up a mirror, quill and paper and the codebook. We climbed the cold steps in silence. As we emerged into the cold evening air, I turned to Cassy.

'Look, Cass,' I began but Cassy just stepped forward and hugged me.

'I'm sorry, El,' Cassy said.

'I'm sorry, too,' I said.

We broke apart and I smiled at Cassy.

'I understand what you were trying to say, Cass,' I said. 'I've lost touch with myself lately. Thank you for reminding me that I have a voice.'

'And don't you forget that,' Cassy said, thumping me on the head with the codebook. 'You're in charge of you, El.'

Smiling at me, Cassy began to signal the messages Father had scrawled down. By angling the mirror behind a candle to reflect the light and then moving the mirror away, she could send a short or a long flash of light, depending on what she wanted to send. Three times, she flashed the same message out into the darkness until we saw an answering flash in the distance.

'You call out what you see an I'll write it down,' Cassy said. 'Dot for a short flash of light and dash for a long one.'

'Dash dot dot dot,' I began. 'Dot dash dash dot dash...'

We stayed on the tower, relaying messages, until the sun began to peak over the horizon. When it became difficult to see the flashes of light from the next tower, we gathered up our equipment and headed back downstairs to bed, leaving the messages on the table for Bash to decode.

I collapsed onto my bed without even bothering to remove my boots and was asleep the instant my head hit the pillow. I slept late and woke to my little hedgehog snuffling in my ear, demanding breakfast. After feeding her a little sweet potato, I went to find my own breakfast. It was a cold and gloomy day, grey clouds hung low over the palace, and the grounds were covered in mist.

Bash and Cassy were pouring over a parchment. Both looked exhausted. Cassy's hair was still in its night-time braid and Bash had a large smudge of ink across his nose. As I approached, I saw it was covered in dots and dashes.

'How does it work?' I asked, peering over Bash's shoulder. 'Last night, it was just dots and dashes to me.'

Bash glanced up and me and smiled. 'Come sit,' he said. 'Cass and I were just working on refining it.'

He waved his hand and the parchments that had been piled in the chair next to him rose into the air and landed neatly a few feet away. I sat in the now empty armchair and looked more closely at what they were doing.

'What does that mean?' I asked, pointing to one of the dots.

'That's a 'W',' Cassy said.

'Each letter has a code, but some common words and phrases also have codes,' Bash said. He smiled excitedly, as he always did when explaining a new invention. 'For example, 'Danger, retreat' is that this,' Bash pointed to a series of dots and dashes. 'Which means 'herring'.'

'Seriously, Bash?' I said, laughing. 'You invent a top-secret military code, and you use a nursery rhyme?'

'Where did 'Herring' come from?' Cassy asked.

'When Theo and I were really little, we had a horrible governess who would always try to feed us herring,' I said. 'We would hide in the gardens and when we saw her coming, we'd scream 'herring!' and run the other way.'