LITMIR.BIZ

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she would try to reach the edge of the barrel with her hands and cling. Patrick put Sophie on his shoulders and threw her up with all his strength, but unfortunately Sophie couldn’t hold on to.

      “Let’s try again,” said Patrick to Sophie.

      They were almost lucky at the second time, but Sophie couldn’t keep the grab. They caught their breath and decided to try again. Patrick grabbed Sophie’s legs and threw her up as hard as he could. Sophie stretched her hands up as far as possible and clung onto the edge of the barrel.

      “Come on, pull up!” shouted Patrick.

      Sophie climbed up on the barrel and started pulling the bars. The bars were old and rusty, but in spite of it, Sophie did not manage to pull it out.

      “I am too weak, I am not strong enough to open the lattice,” said Sophie.

      “Try to pull it harder,” shouted Patrick trying to give confidence to Sophie.

      Sophie tried as hard as she could, but all was in vain.

      “Look, the bolts are almost out of the wall. Please try a bit harder!” shouted Patrick.

      Sophie got a bit of sweat on her forehead; she was pulling on top of her capabilities. At that moment, Patrick first heard someone coming, and then the sound of the latch opening. It was Edwin. Sophie jumped off the barrel having landed on the mattress; they lay down and pretended to be sleeping. Edwin took the stairs down to the basement.

      “Get up! We must go!” he shouted to Patrick and Sophie.

      Edwin tied their hands to a long rope, and they followed him. They went up to the street and saw a horse-drawn cart along with a medium-sized cage in the cart, Edwin pushed Sophie and Patrick inside it.

      “You’d better be quiet if you want to live,” Edwin said to Patrick and Sophie. “We’re ready, let’s go!” Edwin shouted at the driver.

      The horses took off like mad. It was the scar face man who was driving the horses, all the rest were sitting in the cart next to the cage with Sophie and Patrick. The ride took a long time, first they were riding uphill, then through the forest, and then uphill again. Eventually, they saw castle walls and huge iron gates ahead of them, they passed through a small village situated close to the castle. There were sheep and cows grazing near the castle. A small path paved with quite uneven stones led to the castle gate. The horse cart with Patrick and Sophie approached the gate. Today was the day when traders gathered, and one should show a special pass to admit to the castle, the pass must be signed and affixed with a seal by Albert, the Minister of Trade and a slaveholder.

      “Wait!” said one of the guards at the entrance to the castle. – “Show the pass!”

      Edwin took out a scroll granting them the right to admit to the castle. The gate flung open and they drove in. Sophie saw a large market; it was not clear where it starts and ends. There were plenty of different buildings: armory, premise for soldiers and servants, gardens and snow-white fountains. The most amazing and fabulously beautiful thing was that this castle was built on the edge of a cliff, the castle’s observation deck offered a beautiful view of the mountains. But that was not all. The most important part is the tower and the castle itself, they were built on a separate small rock, a small wooden bridge connecting them was between two rocks. It was not allowed for peasants to reside on the castle’s territory, they were allowed only to visit it for trade. Mostly, the peasants worked in the fields and on farms, and the castle was maintained by servants and slaves brought there by Albert as a gift to the king. The slaves lived in terrible conditions. They starved, couldn’t take a bath, almost never rested and lived in basements. The servants had to get up at four in the morning and go to the main part of the castle, where King Louis lived with his daughter, Princess Milena. The servants finished their duties well after midnight. They were forbidden to stay at the castle’s territory at night. If the servants or slaves get caught by the guards, they see death.

      Once, a family of slaves, husband and wife, were cleaning the castle yard from dry grass leaves and debris. They had to finish everything before dark, because it was the birthday of Princess Milena and a lot of guests were invited. The spouses did not make it on time, so they were punished and sent to a dungeon in the tower basement. The family was starved for two weeks, the guards scarcely brought them water. Two weeks later, they were released and transferred to the slave basement. The parents begged the guards to bring them just a tiny piece of bread for their daughter, because she might die, but the guards beat them for daring to ask for food. A dark night fell, and the father decided to sneak into a vegetable warehouse and steal some food just for his daughter and wife. He found the wire on the floor and used it to open a padlock, he looked outside and found that there was nobody on the street, no guards nearby. He ran to the end of the street in the direction of the vegetable warehouse, got inside the basement through a small window, by feel reached the steps leading into the warehouse and went up. He found vegetables, filled a bag full of them. On his way out, he decided to take some sauerkraut and pickles soured in special barrels in the basement. With sauerkraut and cucumbers in the bag, first he pushed all his staff through the basement window, and then started getting out himself. He almost made it, when he saw feet in front of his face, he looked up and met guards, they were standing and grinning with thunder faces. The guards seized him and threw into a cell, and in the morning, the king ordered to hang all the slaves and made the man watch it. His daughter and wife were forced to watch as well to make everyone understand the price for violating the king’s laws.

      The cart drove across the square, then Edwin ordered to stop and unload the cart, then he left and told that he would find Albert and would be back. The square was full of different creatures Sophie had seen in pictures and read about in books. There were small dwarves, no taller than a meter, they had large ears and huge noses and were always arguing. Elves were taller than a man, they had pointy ears and long hair. Sophie’s attention was conquered by beautiful crystal chariots drawn not just by horses, but by white unicorns of extraordinary beauty There were wizards and witches boasting about their brooms and wands. The druids were standing around a huge pot, whispering and raising their warders to the sky, one of the druids looked at Sophie and Patrick and smiled. Fairies were flying over the square, their wings were of unimaginable beauty with different colors and patterns, they were flying so fast that it was hardly possible to see them, only thing that one could see was pollen slowly falling from the sky to the ground. The creatures were very different and unusual. Sophie heard the robust discussion of three dwarves.

      “I still don’t quite understand,” said one of the dwarves, ‘the reason why King Louis invited everyone to the castle.”

      “I am not quite sure myself,” said another dwarf, ‘but rumor has it that King Louis wants to marry his daughter, the Princess Milena, but no one knows who the groom is.”

      “I heard that the king wants to marry Princess Milena to Adviser Florin,” the third dwarf said, ‘he is his chief adviser known for his cruelty.”

      Princess Milena was the only child of King Louis. The king doted on her. Princess Milena was an arrogant, self-obsessed egoist. Her mother, the Queen Navina, died giving birth to her. The king never married again after his wife’s death, he endlessly loved Milena’s mother, and he decided to dedicate his life completely to his daughter. Growing up, Milena realized that her daddy would allow and forgive her everything. Once, while her father was hunting, Milena ordered to take her to a ball in a neighboring kingdom, of course, her request was declined, since no one was bold enough to disobey the king. The thing was that the king had forbidden Princess Milena to leave the castle when he wasn’t there. If he found out that someone had helped Princess Milena to leave the castle, everyone would be hanged. Princess Milena did not make a habit of being contradicted or rejected.

      “I’m a princess! It is your duty to follow my orders!” she screamed.

      When she understood that no one would disobey King Louis’s orders and anyway she would have to stay in the castle, Milena called the guards

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