The Knight of Swords and Spooks
Illustrated by Helen Flook
A
&
C Black • London
First published 2009 by
A & C Black Publishers Ltd
36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY
Text copyright © 2009 Terry Deary
Illustrations copyright © 2009 Helen Flook
The rights of Terry Deary and Helen Flook to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
eISBN 978-1-40819-886-5
A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior permission in writing of the publishers.
This book is produced using paper that is made from wood grown in managed, sustainable forests. It is natural, renewable and recyclable. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
Printed and bound in Great Britain
by CPI Cox & Wyman, Reading RG1 8EX
Contents
Chapter Two: Tudor and Traitor
Chapter Three: Cheers and Chains
Chapter Four: Tower and Torment
England, 1485
Sir Thomas Stanley sat at the window and enjoyed the late-summer sun. It shone through the diamond panes of glass and on to his velvet jacket the colour of rust. He chewed on a peach and looked out over the fine garden of his castle.
There was a soft knock at the door and Sir Thomas called, “Enter!”
A boy pushed open the door – a fair-haired, pale boy in a green tunic. He was carrying a wooden sword.
“Ah, George, my son! Come in, come in!” Sir Thomas said, waving a hand.
The boy stood in front of his father’s chair. “You sent for me, Father?”
“I did, George, I did!” The man smiled. It was a wide smile and as honest as a snake that is just about to swallow a rabbit.
“I was practising my riding with a lance. Robin was teaching me.”
“Good boy, good boy. We need all the knights we can get to fight our wars. There will always be wars and there will always be knights! Ha! Now, my dear, dear son…”
George blinked. His father had never called him ‘dear’ before. In fact, he thought his father hardly knew he was alive and living in the same castle. At dinner, his father sat with his favourite knights and ladies at the top table. George sat with the children and the squires.
“As you know,” Sir Thomas was saying, “when a boy reaches your age, he is sent away to live with another family. It’s a chance for a lad to see how other great families do things … get to see other parts of England … meet new people.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Now, I have the most thrilling news. It is so exciting I can hardly believe it myself, my dear, dear son.”
“You are sending me away to serve as a squire to a knight.”
“Not just
any
knight.”
“A great knight?”
“Not just
any
great knight!” Sir Thomas Stanley chuckled. “You, my dear son, are going to serve in the palace of the king himself!”
“The king?” George said. “Why?”
“Why? Why what?”
“Why me? The king has thousands of fine families to choose from. Why me?”
Sir Thomas shifted in his seat as if it were hot. “Don’t ask questions like that, boy. Now … turn around and kneel before King Richard III!”
George turned slowly. Sitting in a darkened corner of the room, was a man with skin as pale as plaster. Dark eyes burned in a sad face with thin lips. The man was dressed in black. It was plain, black wool, not the fine silk George would expect from a king. Only a badge in the shape of a white boar on his riding cloak and a large golden ring on his finger gave some colour.
The king sat hunched in the chair and stared at George in a way that made the boy shiver.
A tall man was standing behind the chair. He smiled a sneering smile. George fell to one knee and bowed before the king.
