“Giller, Princess Violet is coming here.”
He turned back, his eyes big. “When?”
“She said after she has the fitting for her new dress. She’s pretty fussy, so it may take a while, but maybe not. She likes to try jewelry on and look at herself in the mirror.”
“Curse the spirits,” Giller whispered, “nothing is ever easy.” He turned around again and snatched the Queen’s box off the marble stand.
“Giller! You mustn’t touch that! It’s the Queen’s!”
He looked a little mad when he looked down at her. “No! It’s not! Just wait, and I will explain.”
He set the box down on the stool next to the bread. His hand reached into his robes and pulled out another box. “How’s it look?” With a smile on one side of his mouth, he held the new box toward her.
“It looks just the same!”
“Good.” He put it on the stand where the real one had been, then sat down on the floor next to her and the footstool. “Now listen to me very carefully, Rachel. We don’t have much time, and it is very important that you understand.”
She could tell by the way his face looked that he meant it. She nodded. “I will, Giller.”
He laid his hand on the box. “This box has magic, and it does not belong to the Queen.”
She frowned. “It doesn’t? Who does it belong to?”
“I don’t have time to explain that right now. Maybe after we are away from here. The important thing is that the Queen is a bad person.” Rachel nodded; she knew that was true. “She chops off people’s heads just because she wants to. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself. She has power. Power means she can do whatever she wants. This box has magic and it helps give her power. That is why she took it.”
“I understand. Like the way the Princess has power, so she can slap me, and chop my hair crooked, and laugh at me.”
He nodded. “That’s right. Very good, Rachel. Now. There is a man who is even meaner than the Queen. His name is Darken Rahl.”
“Father Rahl?” She was confused. “Everyone says he’s nice. The Princess says he is the nicest man in the world.”
“The Princess also says she doesn’t spill gravy on her dresses.” He lifted an eyebrow.
“That’s a lie.”
Giller put his hands on her shoulders, real soft. “You listen very carefully. Darken Rahl, Father Rahl, is the meanest man that ever was. He hurts more people than the Queen could even think of. He is so mean that he even kills children. Do you know what that means, to kill someone?”
She felt sad, and scared. “It means you chop off their head or something, and make them dead.”
“Yes. And just as the Princess laughs when she slaps you. Darken Rahl laughs when he kills people. You know the way when the Princess is at dinner with all the lords and ladies, she is real nice, and polite? But when she is alone with you, she slaps you?”
Rachel nodded; she had a lump in her throat. “She doesn’t like them to know she’s really mean.”
Giller held his finger up. “That’s right! You’re a very bright girl! Well, Father Rahl is the same way. He doesn’t want people to know he is really mean, so he can be very polite, and make it seem like he is the nicest man in the world. Whatever you do, Rachel, you stay away from him, if you can.”
“I will, for sure.”
“But if he talks to you, just be polite right back, don’t let him know that you know. You must not let people know all the things you know. That keeps you safe.”
She smiled. “Like Sara. I don’t let people know about her so they can’t take her away from me. It keeps her safe.”
He put his arms around her and gave her a quick hug. “The spirits be praised, you are a smart child.” It made her feel really good that he said that. No one ever told her that she was smart. “Now, listen close. This is the important part.”
She nodded again. “I will, Giller.”
He put his hand back on the box. “This box has magic. When the Queen gives it to Father Rahl, he will be able to use the magic to hurt even more people. He will chop off a lot more people’s heads. The Queen is a mean person, and wants him to do it, so she is going to give him the box.”
Her eyes got real big. “Giller! We mustn’t let her give him the box! Or all those people will get their heads chopped off!”
A big smile spread under his hook nose. He held her chin in his hand. “Rachel, you are the smartest girl I have ever met. You truly are.”
“We have to hide it, hide the box, like I hide Sara!”
“And that’s just what we are going to do.” He pointed up at the box he had put on the stand. “That is a fake. That means it’s not the real thing, it’s just pretend, so they will be fooled for a while, and we can get away before they find out the real one is gone.”
She looked up at the fake box. It looked just like the real one. “Giller, you’re the most clever man I ever did know.”
His smile went away a little. “I’m afraid, child, that I am too clever for my own good.” His smile came back. “Here is what we are going to do.”
Giller took the loaf of bread she had stolen from the kitchen and broke it in half. With his big hands, he scooped out some of the insides. Part of it he stuffed in his mouth; his cheeks puffed out, there was so much. He stuffed some in her mouth. She chewed as fast as she could. It was good, still warm. When they finished eating the middle, he took the real box and pushed it into the middle of the bread and put the two halves back together. He held it up for her to look at.
“What do you think?”
She made a face. “It’s all cracked. People will know it’s been broken.”
He shook his head. “Smart. You are really smart. Well, since I’m a wizard, perhaps I could do something about that. What do you think?”
She nodded. “Maybe.”
He put the bread in his lap and made his hands go all around in the air over it. He took his hands away and held the bread up in front of her face again. The cracks were gone! It looked just like new!
“No one will know now for sure.” She giggled.
“Let’s hope you’re right, child. I have put a wizard’s web, a magic spell, in the bread, to be sure no one will be able to see the magic of the box inside it.”
He spread the cloth out on top of the stool and put the bread on it, then pulled up all four corners and tied them in the middle on top. He lifted up the bundle by the knots and put it in the palm of his other hand, in front of her. He looked her in the eyes and he didn’t smile; he looked almost sad.
“Now, here’s the hard part, Rachel. We have to get this box away from here. We can’t hide it in the castle, or it might be found. You remember where I hid your doll, in the garden?”
She smiled proudly, she remembered. “Third urn on the right.”
He nodded. “I will hide this there, just like I hid your doll. You must go and get it, just like you did with your doll, and then take it out of the castle.” He leaned a little closer. “You have to do it tonight.”
She started twisting her finger in the hem of her dress. She started to get tears in her eyes. “Giller, I’m scared to touch the Queen’s box.”
“I know you’re afraid, child. But remember? It’s not the Queen’s box. You do want to help keep all those people from getting their heads chopped off, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she whined. “But, couldn’t you take it away from the castle?”
“If I could, I swear to you, Rachel, I would. But I can’t. There are some who watch me, and don’t want me to go out of the castle. If they found me with the box, then Father Rahl would get it, and we can’t have that, now, can we?”
“No…” Then she got real scared. “Giller, you said you were going to run away with me. You promised.”