Chapter 10 Chapter Ten Winning Climbs to the Roof

Charmain was worried all night.If she could travel back in time in Uncle William's house, wouldn't it be possible for her to go to the royal residence ten years ago and find that the king didn't need her then?Or go to the future ten years later and find that Prince Ludvik is already king by then?Such thoughts were enough to make her choose to take the usual way to the mansion. So the next morning, Charmain set off down the trail, Waif following her till they passed the cliffs below Lubbock's meadow, and Waif was breathless, poor Charmain Only then picked her up.Just like before, Charmain thought.I feel like a grown girl already at work, she said to herself as she walked towards town as Waif licked her chin with glee.

It rained again last night, and at this time, there were still large white clouds floating in the pale blue morning sky.The mountains are still silky blue and green.In the town, the sun shone on the cobblestones and sparkled on the river.Charmain felt very happy.She was really looking forward to this new day where she could continue sorting letters and chatting with the King. After crossing the Royal Square, the golden roof of the royal mansion was so dazzling in the sunlight that Charmain had to look down at the cobblestones.Waif blinked, avoided the sun, and suddenly jumped up!A scream came from the mansion.

"Look at me! Look at me!" Charmain tried to look up, but the blinding sunlight filled her eyes with tears, so she freed her arm from Waif's, shielded her forehead, and looked up.The kid named Winky was straddling the golden dome, a hundred feet high, nearly losing his balance as he waved cheerfully at her.Seeing this scene, Charmain forgot all the cold thoughts about the child yesterday.She put Waif on the cobblestones and ran to the door of the mansion, knocking loudly on the knocker and ringing the bell. "The little boy!" she called out breathlessly to Sim, who slowly opened the creaking door. "Winky. He's sitting on the roof! Get someone to get him down!"

"Really?" Sim asked.He staggered out onto the steps outside.Charmain had to wait until he wobbled until he could see the roof, and then looked up tremblingly. "Really, miss," he confirmed. "Little devil. He's going to fall. That roof is as slippery as ice." Charmain had lost his patience by this time and was stamping and jumping. "Find someone to bring him down! Quick!" "I don't know who to turn to," Sim said slowly. "There aren't many people in the mansion who are good at climbing. I thought I could go to Jamal, but he only has one eye and he can't balance very well."

Waif was jumping around, screaming to be carried up the steps.Charmain ignored her. "Then let me go," she said. "Just tell me how to get up. Right now, before he slides down." "Good idea," agreed Sim. "Go up the steps at the end of the hall, miss, and go up to the top. The last flight of stairs is wooden, and then you'll see a little door—" Charmain could not wait any longer.Leaving Waif behind, she rushed down the damp stone corridor to the end, until she came to the hall where the stone steps stood.From there she struggled up, her glasses beating against her chest, her footsteps echoing off the stone walls.She climbed two long flights of stone stairs, her mind full of horrible thoughts: the tiny body falling, hitting the cobblestones, causing a... ah... a splash, right where she put Waif down. .Panting heavily, she rushed up the third stone staircase, which was longer and seemed to have no end.Then, she came to the wooden stairs, almost dying of exhaustion.The staircase also seemed to have no end.Finally, she came to the small wooden door.She prayed it was not too late, opened the door, saw the dazzling sunlight, and the golden dome.

"I thought you couldn't make it up," Winky said from the roof.He wore a pale blue velvet coat, and his blond hair shone as brightly as the roof.He looks very calm, more like a lost angel than a young boy trapped on a roof. "Are you frightened?" Charmain asked eagerly. "Hold on tight, don't move, I'll crawl over to save you." "Please," Winky replied politely. He didn't know he was in danger!Charmain thought.I must remain calm.She climbed out of the wooden door very carefully, moving slowly until she straddled the roof like Winky.This is so uncomfortable.Charmain didn't know which was worse: whether the tin tiles were too hot, too wet, too sharp, too slippery, or if the roof seemed to be splitting her in two.She glanced sideways at the Plaza Royale, far, far below them.At the moment she had to console herself very seriously, she had just saved herself from Lubbock with a spell three days ago and proved that she could fly.Now she can hug Shining's waist and float down with him.

She suddenly realized that Winky was backing away, getting further and further away from her, while she was still crawling towards him. "Stay!" she said. "Don't you know how dangerous this is?" "Of course I do," retorted Winky. "I'm afraid of heights. But it's the only place where I can talk to you without being overheard. Come sit in the middle of the roof so I don't have to yell. Come on. Princess Hilda has found a place for Morgan and me." Got a wet nurse. The poor girl will be here any minute." That sounded too grown-up, and Charmain stared at him dumbfounded.Shining smiled charmingly at her, her big blue eyes were still the same, and her reddish lips were still so intoxicating. "Are you a baby genius, or something?" she asked him.

"Yes, now," said Winky. "When I was really six years old, I was quite ordinary, I think. Of course, with a strong talent for magic. Would you like to come over?" "I'm trying." Charmain shifted on the roof until she was about a foot away from the child. "Then what are we going to talk about?" She looked into his face. "Talk about Wizard Nolan first," Winky said. "They told me you knew him." "Not really," Charmain said. "He's my aunt's uncle. He's sick and I look after the house for him." She didn't want to mention Peter.

"What does his house look like?" Winky asked, adding, "I live in a moving castle myself. Does Nolan's house move?" "No," Charmain said. "But there's a door in the middle of the room that leads into about a hundred different rooms. It's said to have been made by the wizard Merrickol." "Ah. Merrico," exclaimed Winky.He seemed happy. "Then maybe I should go and have a look, no matter what Calcifer says. Is that okay?" "I think it's all right," Charmain said. "why?" "Because," Winky explained, "Sophie, Calcifer, and I were called in to help find the whereabouts of the gold in the king's treasury. At least, we think that's what they were looking for, but they didn't make it clear .A lot of the time, what they seem to say is that what they lost is called a half-elf, but no one knows what a half-elf is. The princess also asked Sophie to help find out what's going on with the tax money. That seems to be another thing Thing. They sold a lot of pictures, and other things, but they're still as poor as church mice—you must have noticed."

Charmain nodded. "I found out. Can't they tax more?" "Or sell a little of the library stuff," Winky said, shrugging.This made him wobble a little more, and Charmain closed his eyes. "Calcifer almost got kicked out last night for suggesting they sell books. As for taxation, the king said the people of Upper Norland are rich and happy, and the excess taxes would probably disappear as well. So nothing Necessary. What I want you to do is—" There was a shout from far below.Charmain opened his eyes and looked down.Many people gathered in the square, pointing at them while covering the sun. "Hurry up," she said. "They could call the fire brigade at any moment."

"Do they have any?" Winky asked. "You guys are really advanced here." He smiled brightly again. "What we need you to do is—" "Are you two having fun out there?" asked a voice behind Charmain.The sound was so near and so sudden that Charmain jumped up, almost losing his balance. "Watch out, Sophie!" said Winky hastily. "You almost made her fall." "It just goes to show how reckless this plan is, even for you," Sophie said.As she spoke, she leaned out through the wooden door, but Charmain dared not look back. "Did you use the magic I gave you?" Winky asked, turning to Charmain to continue the conversation. "Yes, it did," said Sophie. "Everyone is running around the mansion in a panic, Calcifer trying to stop that stupid nanny from going hysterical, someone outside has called the fire brigade. I used your spell to sneak into the library in the chaos . Satisfied?" "Perfect." Shining smiled like an angel again. "Now you see how ingenious my plan is." He moved closer to Charmain. "What I did," he said to her, "was to put a spell on every book and every sheet of paper that had to do with the king's question to light up so that only you could see that light. If you see The lit parts, I hope you can record them. Quietly, of course. There must be a problem here, and we don't want anyone to know what you're doing, lest the troublemaker find out. Can you help us with this busy?" "I suppose so," Charmain said.Sounds simple enough, though she doesn't really like keeping secrets from the king. "When do you want it?" "Tonight, thanks, before the Prince arrives," said Sophie, behind Charmain. "No need to involve him. We're very grateful, and it's really important. That's what we're here for. Now, please, come in, both of you, before they put up a ladder." "Okay," Winky said. "Let's go. Be careful, or I'll be in two." "Deserved it," said Sophie. The roof was slipping under Charmain's feet.She almost cried out.But she held onto it with two hands, while reminding herself that she really could fly.Really?She wobbled back in the direction she had come, while Winky wobbled ahead of her.After a while, Charmain felt Sophie grab her by the armpit, pull her back, and after a few more crawls, she finally returned to the royal residence.Sophie reached out and grabbed Winky, bringing him in with her, beside Charmain. Winky looked up at Charmain affectionately. "Being a kid again," he said with a sigh. "You won't betray me, will you?" "Oh, stop talking stupid things," said Sophie. "Charmain is solid," she said to Charmain. "His name is Hal actually, and he's enjoying his second childhood. It's disgusting. Come on, my little friend." She picked up Winky in one arm and carried Follow him down the stairs.From time to time there were noises and screams. Charmain followed them, shaking his head constantly. They were halfway down when they saw that everyone in the mansion seemed to gather—including many people Charmain had never met—and Calcifer was scurrying up and down among them.Even the king arrives, absent-mindedly hugging Waif.Princess Hilda pushed aside a fat girl who was sobbing in her arms, and the princess waved to Charmain. "Dear Miss Charmain, thank you very much. We are really afraid. Sim, go and tell the fire brigade that we don't need ladders, and we don't need water pipes." Charmain could not hear her very well.Seeing Charmain, Waif immediately jumped down from the king's arms, shouting excitedly, she was very relieved to see that Charmain was finally safe.Jamal's dog wailed in response.The fat nanny stepped aside and said, "Shhhhhhh!" Morgan yelled, "Hmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh') and everybody chirped.In the distance, Winky yelled, "I'm not naughty! I'm scared, let me tell you!" Charmain picked up Waif, stifling some noise.Princess Hilda clapped her hands to silence the others, and said, "Get back to work, everyone. Nancy, take Morgan back, don't let him deafen everyone, and make it clear to him that he No climbing on the roof. Dear Sophie, can you make Winky shut up?" Everyone dispersed.Shining continued to shout "I'm not naughty—" and then suddenly stopped, as if a slap had been slapped on his face.Soon, Charmain was walking down the stairs with the king, towards the library, Waif licking her chin excitedly. "It reminds me of the old days," the king said. "I climbed outside on the roof a few times when I was a kid too. It caused such a stupid panic every time. The fire brigade nearly hosed me down once. Kids are kids, honey. You're ready to go to work Is it, or do you want to sit down and rest for a while?" "No, I'm fine," Charmain assured him. When she sat back in her chair in the library, she felt completely at home, surrounded by the smell of old books, Waif warming her belly by the fire, and the king sitting across from him looking at a stack of worn out books. journal.The air was so still that Charmain had completely forgotten Winky's spell.She carefully flipped through stacks of old letters.These letters were written by a prince long ago who bred horses and hoped his mother would cheat more money from the king.Charmain was reading the prince's affectionate description of the beautiful colts born to his best mare, when he suddenly looked up and saw the Fire Demon slowly drifting towards him, wandering about in the library. The king looked up too. "Good morning, Calcifer," he greeted kindly. "Do you need anything?" "Just looking around," Calcifer replied in his weak crackling voice. "I see now why you don't want to sell these books." "Yes," said the king. "Tell me, does Huo Mo read books?" "Not often," Calcifer replied. "Sophie reads it to me a lot. I like stories with puzzles where you guess who the murderer is. Do you have any of those books here?" "Perhaps not," replied the King. "But my daughter is also partial to murder mysteries. Maybe you can ask her." "Thanks, I will," Calcifer replied and disappeared. The king shook his head and continued to read his diary.Calcifer's visit seemed to awaken Twinkle's spell, and Charmain noticed a faint greenish glow in the diary the king was leafing through.She herself had it in the pile she was looking at next, a squashed scroll still bound with gold bands. Charmain took a deep breath and asked, "Is there anything interesting in that diary, Your Majesty?" "Well," said the king, "it's disgusting, really. It's the diary of one of my great-grandmother's maids. It's full of gossip. She's writing that she's shocked because the king's sister gave birth to her son Died and the midwife seemed to have killed the baby. She said the baby was purple and it frightened her. They're going to try the poor fool and charge her with murder." Charmain thought of the entry for "Lubbock" she and Peter had seen in Uncle William's encyclopedia."I think she thought the kid was Lubbockin," she said. "Yes, too suspicious, too ignorant," said the king. "No one believed Luborgin then." He read on. Charmain wondered if he should say that the midwife from long ago might have been right.Lubbock exists.Why can't Luborgin exist?But she was sure that the king would not believe her, so she just recorded this passage.Then she picked up the flattened roll of paper.But before she unrolled the scroll, it occurred to her to look at the box of papers she had already looked at, to see if they were glowing, too.Only one was shining, and the light was very faint.Charmain took it out, and it was the bill of the wizard Merricol for making the golden dome.It was confusing, but Charmain recorded it anyway before undoing the golden band and unfolding the scroll. It was the family tree of the King of Upper Nolan, written very sloppily and hastily, as if it was just a draft.Charmain was difficult to read.There are big crosses all over it, and then little arrows to add scrawled new content, or a random circle with notes written inside. "Your Majesty," she asked, "can you explain this to me?" "Let me see." The king took the scroll and spread it out on the table. "Ah," he said. "We have a copy of the original manuscript hanging in the audience room. I haven't looked at this one for many years, but that one is much simpler than this genealogy-only the names of the rulers, and their marriage status. This There seems to be a note on it, and it looks like it was written by many different people. Look. This is my ancestor, Adolf I. The writing next to him is very old. It says... um...' via Half-Elf's The power raised the walls of the city. 'It seems that there are no traces of those walls now? But it is said that Embankment Street by the river was once part of the old city walls—" "Excuse me, Your Majesty," interrupted Charmain, "what is a half-elf?" "Neither do I, dear," replied the king. "Wish I knew. It's said to bring prosperity and blessings to the kingdom, but it seems to have disappeared a long time ago. Hmm. That's interesting." The king's thick fingers pointed to another note. "Here, my ancestor's wife has 'Elf' written next to it. It has been said that Queen Matilda was half-Elf, and this is her son, Hans Nicholas, marked 'Son of Elves' next to it, perhaps it is That's why he wasn't made king. No one really trusts the elves. It seems to me a big mistake. They crowned the son of Hans Nicholas, a very dull man, Adolf II, who Nothing. He is the only king on this scroll without a side note. But his son—here—Hans-Peter Adolf, has a side note saying, 'With the half-elves he defended the kingdom, 'Whatever that means. Honey, this is hilarious. Can you transcribe it for me to read? With notes next to everyone's names. Without notes, it's easy to miss a brother or something stuff. Are you okay?" "Very well, Your Majesty," said Charmain.She had been thinking about how to write this down quietly for Sophie and Winky, and now she had a way. She spent the rest of the day making two copies of the scroll.The first was a draft, and she had to constantly ask the king what this or that note was, while the second she transcribed in the neatest hand was reserved for the king.She became as much interested in it as the King.Why did Hans Peter III's nephew "go off to the mountains to be a robber"?Why was Queen Gertrude a 'frightening witch'?Why is her daughter, Princess Isola, called "The Lover of the Man in Blue"? The king could not answer these questions either, but he said that he knew very well why Prince Nicholas Adolf was called a "drunkard".Charmain saw "Dark Tyrant, Wizard" written next to the prince's father, Peter Hans IV. "Some of my ancestors were not good people," he said. "I think this guy must have hit Nicholas a lot. They say that's what happens when elves' blood turns sour, but I guess they're just people, really." That evening, Charmain had sorted and transcribed it to the bottom of the scroll, and almost every ruler was called Adolf, or Adolf Nicholas, or Ludvik Adolf, but she was delighted at last to find a Princess Moina, who "Married to the Lord of Strangia, but died after giving birth to Lubkin." Charmain was sure that Moina was the princess mentioned in the maid's diary.Apparently, someone believed the midwife's story.She decided not to speak to the king about it. Three lines later, she finally sees the king himself, "indulging in his books," and Princess Hilda, "refusing to marry a king, three nobles, and a wizard."They were pushed aside to make room for the descendant of the king's uncle, Nicholas Peter, who seemed to have many children.These children's children take up the entire bottom.How the hell do they remember which is which?Charmain thought.Half the girls were called Matilda, the other half Isola, and most of the boys were called Hans or Hans Adolf.They can only be distinguished by scrawled notes beside them, such as that one Hans "was very clumsy and ended up drowning", another "was killed by accident", and another "died abroad".Girls are worse.One Matilda was a "boring, haughty girl", another was "as terrible as Queen Gertrude", and a third was "of bad character".Those named Isola were either "poisoned to death" or "doing evil".The king's descendant, Ludwig Nicholas, was completely different from the family that Charmain thought was horrific, very conspicuous, with no notes next to it, just like the boring Adolf a long time ago. She took all the names and notes and all that.By the end of the afternoon, her right index finger was tingling and stained with blue ink. "Thank you, my dear," said the king, taking the paper from Charmain.He began to scan carefully, and Charmain had an easy chance of picking up another scribbled sheet of paper with her other notes and stuffing them in her pocket, out of sight of the King.When she stood up, the king looked up and said, "I hope you will forgive me, my dear, I may not need your help for the next two days. The princess insisted that I go out of the library to entertain young Ludvik for the weekend." Prince. She is not very good at entertaining male guests. But I hope to see you again on Monday." "Yes, of course," Charmain replied.She picked up Waif, who had run back from the kitchen, and together they walked toward the front door, wondering what to do with the scrolls she copied.She wondered if she could trust Winky.Can you believe someone who is on the outside, but is clearly not a little boy on the inside?And what Peter said, about the fire demon mentioned by Uncle William.Can you trust dangerous people?She thought painfully as she walked. Immediately, she found herself standing in front of Sophie. "How's it going? Did you find anything?" Sophie asked, smiling at her. The smile was so friendly that Charmain thought she could at least trust Sophie.I hope so. "I found something," she said, taking paper from her pocket. Sophie took the paper even more eagerly and gratefully than the King had when he took his share. "Great!" she said. "That'll at least give us some clues. We're really in the dark right now. Hal--I mean, Winky--said, divination spells don't seem to work here. That's so weird, I thought neither the king nor the princess would Magic, huh? I mean, not strong enough to stop a divination spell." "They won't," Charmain said. "But many of their ancestors would. There's still a lot you don't know about kings." "Makes sense," said Sophie. "Can you stay and look at these notes with us?" "Ask me again on Monday," Charmain told her. "I'm going to meet my dad before his bakery closes."