The Imagination Machine

Chapter 12

The drawbridge creaked behind them, slowly rising now that the children had crossed it. Two men in armor guarded the castle's front door, their faces hidden and their swords drawn. "Are these the intruders, Lucretia?"

He nodded. "Let us past. We're here to see the queen, like she asked."

Courtney didn't like the word intruders. It made her feel like she was in trouble, without having done anything. The guards stepped aside, letting Lucretia lift the hatch on the door and opening it for Courtney and Rudy.

The first thing Courtney noticed when she stepped into the castle was how grand and spacious it was. The ceiling rose high above the top of her head, and there was a stone fireplace built into the wall of the hallway. Floor-to-ceiling tapestries also covering the wall, depicting images of forests and knights and wars.

Courtney's heart pounded and she tried to calm her nerves by looking at pictures of trees and royal kings, but she was suddenly horribly sure that something was going to go wrong. Maybe they'd be killed, or thrown in some kind of jail.

Rudy let out a low whistle. "This place is so cool!" he exclaimed. Courtney snuck a glance at him. Rudy's face was upturned, and he was admiring the chandeliers placed at regular intervals above them.

Courtney didn't understand how her brother could be so calm at a time like this. Lucretia must have sensed how nervous she was, because he put a tentative hand on her arm. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

She shrugged and bit her lip. "Don't worry," said Lucretia. "Queen Estelene is very kind. She never makes an unfair ruling."

All around them, women and men alike were swarming to get tasks done. Some were knights in armor, some were men wearing what appeared to be tunics, and some were women that Lucretia explained were ladies-in-waiting.

The difference between the castle and the village was odd. Both could have been from entirely different time periods. Although the village in Labania seemed to be different from the villages Courtney had learned about in history.

"The Queen makes sure everything is running smoothly in the village. She is also working to build a colony around this castle. It will not happen for a while, though," Lucretia explained as they walked. 

"A colony around this castle?"

"Yes. We need to expand. This is what the Queen says."

Courtney was dying to ask Lucretia what he thought about this, but held her tongue.

There were wooden doors along the walls that Lucretia told her led to the bedchambers, but he directed them up a flight of stairs, and then another. Two more knights met them at the landing of what seemed to be the tallest story in the castle.

To Courtney's surprise, one grabbed hold roughly of her arm while the other took Rudy, who struggled. "Hey, let go!" Rudy yelled, lashing out and kicking the knight in the leg. To no avail, of course, thanks to his armor.

"Is he going to be a problem?" The knight asked Lucretia, wrapping his other arm around Rudy.

"What's your problem?" Courtney snapped at the knight holding her. "Can you let us go? We didn't do anything." The knight said nothing, and Courtney couldn't read his expression because of the visor covering his face.

Lucretia had a pained looked on his face. "It will be better if you don't resist, Courtney. They won't do anything to you."

Rudy, still struggling, was dragged against his will to two doors larger than the rest in the castle. Courtney, keeping an eye on the sword in the scabbard of the knight holding her, allowed herself to be led to the doors.