Abby the Witch (21 page)

'You do that,
little mouse, and you'll fall right down,' he didn't move his arms,
'now don't hold me up all day long.'

Her blush, by
now, was incandescent. There didn't seem to be anywhere to run or
anyway in which this situation could end without her being
completely embarrassed. 'I'll be okay.'

'Come now,
little mouse, stop wasting my time.' He looked at her very
pointedly, like a parent might look at a misbehaving child.

'I can get
down on my own.' Not that she wanted to, of course; this man,
though handsome, was quite off putting and incredibly
condescending. Abby paused for a moment and looked sideways.
Scratch that previous thought, she thought, he wasn't handsome at
all and as a witch she shouldn't even be thinking along those
lines.

'Oh really,'
he was still as perfectly arrogant as before, except now he was
cocking one eyebrow.

Why was she
meeting so many terrible men these days? Abby sniffed very firmly
and leapt down from the tree, landing lightly beside the Guard.
Though he hadn't seen it, she was sure, the whole tree had bent
with her, making her jump all the more easy.

'My word,'
both the Guard's eyebrows were now raised and he looked vaguely
impressed under that great tuft of fringe. 'Agile, little
mouse.'

Abby tried not
to make a sour face, but this man was truly unbelievable. How rude
to call a woman he had just met a mouse, Ms Crowthy would give him
a good talking to around the knees with a broom, Abby was sure.

The man opened
his mouth after a long pause where he looked Abby up and down
thoroughly, and from the look in his eyes it was clear he was going
to say something cheeky.

But before
Abby had to steel herself for his next arrogant barrage, a voice
rang out from behind them both. She recognised it and looked up to
see Pembrake walking across the grass towards them, the Princess in
an amazing sky-blue dress walking behind him and an entourage of
ladies in waiting giggling in their wake.

Abby, before
she'd thought about it, looked at the Guard in wonder, wanting to
share the sheer ludicrousness of the moment with a fellow human
being, somewhat like two strangers witnessing a rain of herrings.
The Guard did not look at her though, his eyes narrowed and his
lips drew thin. He was angry, and quite clearly not amused.

She just
wanted to back away from the whole scene and climb up her tree till
the pantomime had passed, but there was going to be little
opportunity of that as Pembrake saw her and gave a brief wave. She
wasn't sure what the look on his face was supposed to mean - it was
half-surprised and half school-boy-I've-eaten-a-worm pleased. This
would be Pembrake in his element, surrounded by adoring women and
frolicking across the grass. What a total -

Then something
altogether unexpected occurred. The Guard sidestepped towards her
and suddenly swept her off her feet, hefting her like a hero might
carry a critically-swooning maiden. Except Abby was fine.

She spluttered
with surprise and made a strange whining noise which set the dog
yapping around at the Guard's feet.

'Down,' the
Guard ordered.

'Then put me
down!'

'I was talking
to the dog.'

By the time
Pembrake had made it up to them, his frilly entourage still
trotting behind him, his face had completed the gap between
pleasure and shock and there was something peculiar flickering in
his eyes. 'What's... is she okay?'

Abby stopped
spluttering for a moment to stare at Pembrake, shocked at how truly
annoying he was. He hadn't bothered to ask Abby how she was, no it
wasn't as if she could give an honest assessment - she was only a
witch, right?

'The little
mouse sprained her ankle, I'm afraid,' the Guard hefted Abby
easily, almost like he was lifting weights.

'I am fine!'
she roared a little too loudly after she'd shot Pembrake a death
glare.

'And
delusional. Perhaps a little shocked from falling out of a tree,
I'm afraid.'

'She fell out
of a tree? What was she doing up a tree?'

Abby felt like
waving her hands about and pointing at herself to remind Pembrake
that she still existed, thank you. The whole time Pembrake had
hardly looked at her. This was insane.

'Sir, do you
think it wise to berate the girl when she is in such a fragile
condition?'

Pembrake
stiffened at the tone, his jaw setting and his lips curling in.

'Look I'm fine
– I was fine before, in fact –
and I did not fall out
of the tree
.'

Both men
ignored her; it was like shouting at a wall, except a whole lot
more frustrating because you expect a wall to ignore you.

Abby toyed
with the idea of struggling, but it was always a bad idea to incite
a Guard, especially one as loony as this guy. She settled for
glaring at everyone instead.

'Then perhaps
I should take her inside?' Pembrake's tone hinted that this was not
a suggestion.

'You? I'm the
Captain of the Guard; I think that falls under my duties.'

If Ms Crowthy
had been here, both boys would find themselves with very painful
shins and a terribly good reminder to never treat girls so poorly
again. But Ms Crowthy wasn't here and Abby was so confused and
angry that she felt ready to pop.

'Captain of
the Guard, do you even know her name?' Pembrake's voice was
icy.

The entourage,
with the Princess standing close by Pembrake, looked on with
Martha-like interest. The Princess was slightly red in the face as
she gazed fitfully at both men.

The Captain
looked murderous, 'do I have to?'

Alright this
had to stop. 'Just put me down! I'm fine!' she tried to make her
voice boom like she imagined Ms Crowthy’s might, but what with one
thing and another it came out as a keening squeak.

'I think not,
madam, I will take you to safety,' the Captain hefted her again
then bowed slightly at the Princess. 'Please forgive me, Princess,
duty calls.' He gave the Princess an extremely devilish smile that
left her blinking prettily then marched off with Abby in his
arms.

This was
starting to be a habit, Abby thought bitterly: men were pretending
to save her and using it to impress girls. She would have to start
taking Ms Crowthy's advice and start hitting boys over the head
with brooms.

When they were
sufficiently far enough away from the entourage, the Captain began
to chuckle. 'See, mouse, that wasn't so hard, was it?'

'Can you just
put me down!'

'Not until we
are out of eye shot, mouse.'

'Stop calling
me that!' he could go to hell. Who cared if he was a Guard – Abby
couldn't put up with this any longer.

'Feisty,
aren't you. First jumps out a tree then harasses the Captain of the
Guard. Who are you, mouse?' he flicked his eyes down
towards her as he continued across the grass.

'Why did you
pick me up like that? I was fine!' Abby wasn't about to give any
information till she'd received a little herself.

'I think we
both know that, mouse.'

Abby chose not
to answer because she feared the only words in her head were
vicious indeed.

'Because you
had hurt your ankle,' he finished for her. 'Now answer my question
– who are you, mouse?'

It probably
wasn't a wise idea to toy with him further. 'I was brought in with
Pembrake when he saved the Princess. We're… just travelling
together.'

The Captain
raised an eyebrow again; he seemed to find a lot of things curious.
'Indeed. I have been informed of the incident involving the
Princess and her guest – I was looking for your
name.'

He'd said
'guest' with as much poison as possible.

'Abby.' Why
did she always find herself in such foolish situations? Okay so
she'd never been in a situation quite like this – stuck between a
love triangle, being repeatedly saved for no reason – but she felt
like this was going to happen more often these days. There was
something about Pembrake that screamed trouble. And this Captain
was the icing on the cake.

'Well, Abby
the mouse, I'm sure you'll understand if I put you down now, my
arms are beginning to hurt.' He let go of her and stepped away
flicking his arms loosely.

Abby tried not
to smile at his honesty, but it was hard. Pembrake wouldn't have
done that – his arms could have been ready to drop off and the
idiot would have viciously lied about it all the way home.

'I'm sorry for
my display, but I could just tell that your ankle was hurting you.'
The Captain looked at her and nodded after a moment.

She didn't nod
back, not quite yet. He'd redeemed himself slightly, but there was
still a heck of a lot to make up for. 'My ankles are quite strong
actually.'

'Well isn't
that interesting, now if you excuse me, I have to be
elsewhere.'

Momentarily
forgetting the peculiarity of the last several minutes, Abby
recalled the Captain's angry shouts when she'd been in the tree. He
had been looking for someone, a woman, and he had been angry. 'Who
were you looking for?'

Now they stood
sufficiently far enough apart so she could see his face in full,
she could make out the twitch of indecision. He didn't want to tell
her.

'A
criminal.'

'What had she
done?' Abby pressed a little further.

'She had
done something very terrible indeed.'

Abby frowned
at his intonation of ‘she’, it was heavily loaded and sarcastic.
'Was it not a woman?' Abby had thought she'd heard him shout 'her',
but she could have been wrong. What with being deathly frightened
and stuck up in a tree, her mind may not have been that sharp.

The Captain
paused and looked impressed, both his eyebrows raised this time,
though it was hard to tell with one permanently covered by his
floppy fringe. 'You are very quick, mouse.'

'You can call
me Abby now.'

'I prefer
mouse actually.'

Abby swallowed
her frustration. She felt like the information she was squeezing
out of this annoying man was important somehow, and she wasn't
about to stop. 'Does it have something to do with the attack on the
Princess?'

'You really
are a clever mouse.'

He wasn't
answering her questions, but he wasn't not answering them either.
And all the time Abby was getting slightly more excited, like she
was on the cusp of an important clue, and lord knows she needed one
of those.

'Why was the
Princess taking a ride on a witch's broom anyway? Not many witches
would agree to take a passenger on a frivolous ride – they reduce
stability and speed.'

If he'd looked
impressed before, it was nothing on the school-teacher beam he now
wore. He was almost like a proud father. 'My word you know a lot
about witches, mouse. You might just be the smartest mouse I've
ever met.'

Abby bit into
her smile, but it grew regardless. She hated it when he called her
mouse, but his charm was infectious. 'I know a little.'

'Indeed. Well
I too am not sure why the Princess was on a broom. She's long been
fascinated by witches, but as you say, none would agree to take her
up.'

'So where did
this one come from then?' Abby conjured up the image of the witch
in her mind and remembered how odd and wrong she'd looked, 'there
was something very off about her.' Abby had practically forgotten
who she was talking too, and was well and truly caught up in the
mystery.

'Odd
indeed.'

Was that all
he was going to give her? 'In fact, as I remember, she was the
least witchly looking witch I've ever seen.'

'As you
say.'

He really
wasn't going to say more, was he? She was just on the cusp of
finding out something important, and he was closing off all avenues
of information. 'But why would you look for her here?'
Abby cocked her head to the side, trying for maximum innocent
curiosity and waited.

The Captain of
the Guard had slowed down some, not retorting instantly with an
arrogant quip. In fact from the look of reserve on his face, he was
probably regretting having told her so much. 'If you will excuse
me, Abby.'

'Ha! You
called me Abby!' she was desperate to keep him in the conversation
by any means.

'Well, even
little mice need to rest sometimes,' he said very slowly and
carefully.

Was that a
threat? Was that the signal before bonking her over the head and
dragging her off to the cells for spying? 'Oh.'

'Yes, well I
must be off. Investigations never cease.'

'And you never
tire?' her attempts to make him stay and keep him telling her more
were getting truly pathetic, and she was starting to wince slightly
at her words.

'Ha! You are
quite a delightful mouse. I will be sure to stand right next to you
tonight.' He winked and quickly turned on his foot and walked
off.

Abby was left
with a fast pulse and a warm face. What a strange man the Captain
of the Guard was, very strange indeed.

Abby had
decided not to stick around to find Pembrake and wrestle him from
the clutches of the Princess. She would have to find some other
time to talk to him. But the more time they spent apart, the more
she desperately needed to discuss.

And of course,
at some point, Abby was going to have to broach the subject of
Pembrake stealing her saves. Maybe if he'd only taken the glory
once she would have understood, but twice was infuriating. Who did
he think he was? Or, more importantly, who did he think she was?
Did she come across as the kind of dippy mild-mannered girl that
would be happy to surrender her achievements to a muscle-bound
pleck?

Once she'd
berated him sufficiently, she would move onto telling him what
she'd learned from the Captain of the Guard, not that it was much.
Still, Abby's gut feeling was that it was very important and was
crucial to her and Pembrake furthering their obscure quest to tie
down their destinies. Which would bring Abby to the final matter –
the bracelet. She knew that it was important and that whatever
adventures they were to get up to, the bracelet would have to come
along.