Edgar started to move off, but Maude told him to wait a moment more. She ran around the back of the inn, and when she returned she had a small sack made of rabbit skin in her hand.

"It's water-the last we've got for today, but you can have it."

Edgar thanked them both, and then he was gone, making his way to the edge of the world.

Briney and Maude opened the door to the inn with a look of astonishment at the sight of Sir Emerik's charred head. When they got him free, they were surprised to find Sir Emerik smiling, for what he had read on the paper was a magnificent secret full of potential uses. He would save it for Lord Phineus when he got himself out of the mess he was in.

CHAPTER.

16.

HORACE LEAVES HIS POST.

As morning turned to afternoon in the Highlands, word began to spread of the strange descent into Tabletop. Rumors were mounting of armed men from below preparing to loot and burn their Highland paradise. Fear flooded in liquid strides through delicate stone houses and along glistening streams, darkening the mood of all the families of the Highlands. Every man of the Highlands was bombarded with desperate questions as he left in the morning on orders from Sir Philip.

"What shall we do if they come for our children? What if they come with torches to burn down the house? Will you ever return?"

As the men gathered in a large open field with sharp wooden spears and horses, they wondered if the catastrophe called war that all of them had read about in books had finally found its way to Atherton.

As Sir Philip went about the business of arming and instructing his men, Horace sat at the top of the stairs in his usual spot, pondering what he'd seen and heard the night before in the House of Power. He was back on duty after a morning of rest, and he looked down the hallway toward the main chamber, trying to imagine why Samuel had not returned. He was a good boy whose father had been taken from him. Why would Lord Phineus and the others want to torment the poor child by locking him in a room?

"Horace?"

He was jolted from his thoughts by Samuel's mother, who had quietly crept up the stairs behind him. Anxiously rubbing the red blotch beneath her lip, she held a small loaf of bread out to him.

"I came in late last night and Samuel wasn't in his room. I've asked everyone in the courtyard and the kitchen, even Sir Emerik and Lord Phineus. n.o.body seems to know where he's gone."

Horace was embarra.s.sed to accept the bread in exchange for information, but he was also very hungry. With all of the bustle in the House of Power, he hadn't had a moment to eat. He took the bread and thanked Samuel's mother.

"You don't look like you've slept," said Horace.

"I haven't. I've been all over the Highlands searching for him. And with Tabletop coming so near and the rumors of what they might do..." Her voice trailed off and she dropped her head, rubbing the red spot once more. When she looked up, there was heartbreak in her voice.

"Have you seen my boy, Horace?"

Horace paused. Lord Phineus and his two men were gone, leaving their rooms and the chambers above empty and still. "I have an idea where he might be, but I'm not certain," he said. "I'll tell him to get on home if I see him."

"Did you see him during your shift last night?"

Horace didn't want to appear overly confident about the whereabouts of the boy. "The House of Power is in a bit of chaos, as you might have noticed. But I'll look around as my duties allow. There are a few places I can check where he may have run off to."

"Thank you, Horace!" Samuel's mother touched Horace on the shoulder awkwardly and took a few steps back down the stairs. "I'm already late for the kitchen. If you find him, send him there, won't you?"

Horace nodded and shooed her away. After taking a few bites of bread, he began his search. He knew the boy wouldn't be in the main chamber or any of the three private rooms on the floor above that. He would be hidden at the top of the narrow, winding stairs if he were anywhere near this part of the House of Power.

When he arrived at the door to the room where Samuel was locked away, he knocked on it and waited. Thinking he heard a stirring on the other side, he unlocked and opened the door. Samuel was crouching against the back wall, looking at Horace like a trapped animal.

"Have you come to take me to the main chamber?" asked Samuel, certain he was being summoned for more questioning.

"I'm here to take you to your mother, who's worried sick about you," said Horace. "You shouldn't scare her like that. Hiding in here all night. Have you lost your mind?" He was pretending not to know the truth of Samuel's imprisonment. Should Lord Phineus ask, it would be best to act as though he'd found Samuel and let him out, thinking he'd been locked in by accident while playing where he shouldn't have been.

"These doors have a way of locking on their own," he went on. "Remember that the next time you go sneaking around!"

Samuel was ready to dash out of the room until he remembered that one of his captors might be around any corner.

"n.o.body's here, Samuel," Horace rea.s.sured him. "Go see your mother in the kitchen."

Samuel grinned from ear to ear, free at last, and bolted for the stairs.

"And tell your mother to bring me another loaf of bread," Horace called after him. "I'm fit to die of hunger."

When Samuel reached the courtyard, he immediately sensed something had changed in the Highlands during the short time he'd been locked away. Baskets of food were carried past, men with tools and weapons raced from place to place. It seemed as though everyone was in a rush to get somewhere. The walls around the House of Power were guarded with a heavy presence of somber men, the likes of which he hadn't seen before.

Samuel's mother beamed when he arrived in the kitchen, then she cried softly as they embraced. Samuel kept to Horace's story and told her he'd locked himself in a room by accident. As he recounted his tale, she brought him a small baguette and a cup with water.

"You must stop your sneaking around the House of Power," she said, then knelt down so she could see Samuel's expression. "Samuel, do you know what is happening in the Highlands?" she questioned. His blank stare indicated that he did not, and so she told him only what she felt was absolutely necessary. "The Highlands are falling. Our land has shifted toward Tabletop, but we don't know what it means. It's no matter, though-you're safe in the House of Power. Stay inside and everything will be fine."

It was really happening! Samuel couldn't stop thinking of Edgar and the grove and how he must find his friend. There were things Edgar didn't understand, things he couldn't know without reading the last page of the book of secrets.

"Now," said Samuel's mother, "I have much bread to bake." As if to confirm what she'd said, a guard entered the kitchen and took the large basket of bread away, leaving an empty one in its place. She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand and stood up. "Stay in your room unless I tell you to come out, all right?"

Samuel nodded and followed the man with the basket out the kitchen door into the courtyard.

"Excuse me, sir," he said, after he was far enough away from the kitchen that his mother couldn't hear.

The man glanced down at the boy with some irritation.

"What do you want?"

"How far down have the Highlands sunk?"

The man began walking away from Samuel again, but said something over his shoulder.

"Farther than you can imagine."

Thinking quickly, Samuel headed back to the kitchen and begged his mother for two more loaves of bread and some water, which she hesitated to give. He couldn't understand her uncertainty, for there had never been a shortage of food or drink, and Samuel had always enjoyed whatever he wanted. Though the demands on the kitchen were greater than ever, eventually Samuel's mother relented, sending him off with the items he had asked for.

Back in his room, Samuel transferred the water from the cup into a leather container and sealed the top with a string. He put it and the two baguettes inside a sack retrieved from under his table. Tying the bundle around his waist, he made his way to the main gate.

A bustle of activity surrounded the entryway to the House of Power. Men on horses were let through and given supplies to take out to the field. When a large group of men heaving baskets and bags proceeded through the gate, Samuel skirted around and between them. One of the men saw him and laughed, thinking the boy was looking for adventure, and didn't want to spoil his fun.

"Where are you off to?" he asked curiously.

"I just want to see what everyone is doing."

"Then you'll want to come this way," said the man. He called to his comrades. "We have ourselves a little soldier!"

Though the men were dreading the confrontation that might occur, they were also proud and oddly excited and willing to give a future mate a look at what all the fuss was about. Samuel tagged along, asking questions while planning to sneak away to the cliffs when they weren't watching him. He desperately hoped he could discover a way down, and that he would find his friend waiting in the grove.

All the while the ground trembled on, drawing Samuel closer to a world he'd previously known only from a distance.

CHAPTER.

17.

QUAKES AND TREMORS.

When Sir Emerik arrived in the grove, he tried to put his hood on to hide the hair that had gone missing, but it stuck to his head with a burning and itching he couldn't stand. As he made his way through the trees, some of the workers stared curiously. When he finally stood at the front steps of Mr. Ratikan's house, he was trying to think of a lie that would disguise the absurdity of what had actually happened. He didn't knock on the door until he was satisfied with his own telling of things.

"Lord Phineus, are you in there?"

Mr. Ratikan opened the door, and Sir Emerik found Lord Phineus sitting in a chair waiting for him.

"What happened to you?" scoffed Mr. Ratikan, who stood behind Sir Emerik, gazing at what remained of the man's hair.

"Oh, shut up!"

Sir Emerik was just about to tell Lord Phineus of the battle he'd had with the rebellious villagers when the floor of the house began to shake. It started softly, then grew into a violent heaving. The cups and spoons on Mr. Ratikan's table rattled furiously and began falling to the floor in groups of three or four. The three men raced outside, and Sir Emerik fell to his knees as Lord Phineus and Mr. Ratikan steadied themselves against a swaying tree. The house was beginning to collapse into itself.

"My house!" screamed Mr. Ratikan. "My beautiful house!"

But Lord Phineus wasn't looking at Mr. Ratikan's home as it fell to pieces. His eyes were fixed upon his own home in the Highlands, in awe as it sunk into the ground, faster than he'd thought possible in his wildest imagining.

"Look there," he said with a surprising calmness, pointing to the cliffs that plummeted with such fury. A brutal crunching noise rippled across the land as it made its way down. Lord Phineus estimated that at this rate, it might take only a few hours to crash into Tabletop.

And then-as quickly as it had begun-the quaking settled down to a low hum, and the descent of the Highlands slowed. Lord Phineus could hear it churning, grinding the earth as it slowly continued its march. We are but a day away, if that. I must move quickly.

Sir Emerik raised himself off the ground, fallen leaves stuck to the side of his head. "Every soul in Atherton knows now, of that we can be sure."

Mr. Ratikan was in a state of shock as he stood before what was once his home. All that remained were the three steps leading to a pile of rubble.

"What's happening, Lord Phineus? What have you done?" asked Mr. Ratikan, rage brewing in his eyes. He was looking at Lord Phineus as though the ruler of the Highlands could move mountains.

Lord Phineus took hold of Mr. Ratikan's walking stick and tore it from his hand. Then he stepped back and swung it at the master of the grove, just missing his head as he ducked and tumbled to the ground.

"I would prefer it if you didn't use that tone with me, Mr. Ratikan."

There was nothing Sir Emerik liked more than to watch as someone of importance was beaten down. He had always hated Mr. Ratikan for his lack of cleverness, and he was sure the man was in the habit of h.o.a.rding figs from the grove that should have been sent up to the Highlands. He's finally getting his due, thought Sir Emerik.

Lord Phineus continued, holding the end of the stick only an inch from Mr. Ratikan's face. "I'm glad one of us had the presence of mind to bring this out of the house." In his other hand he clenched the bag of dirt from the basket. "Can you imagine the grove with this released freely into the air?"

Sir Emerik began to ask about the curious bag in his master's hand.

"Silence!" Lord Phineus screamed, pointing the walking stick at his companion. Mr. Ratikan tried to stand up, but the stick was back in his face before he could escape.

"Keep the people under your charge in control until I return. If there is an uprising in the grove, it is you who will pay." Lord Phineus raised his gaze to the Highlands once more, then tossed the walking stick aside. "We must go, but I suspect we'll be back sooner than you think."

Lord Phineus was not in a chatty mood as they walked under the canopy of trees. Sir Emerik had grown to understand that there were times in which speaking would not be to his advantage, and so he kept his mouth shut. Neither of them liked to be in the grove, for the trees forced them into uncomfortable ducking and weaving, which annoyed both men. When they finally came free of the trees and stood upright, Sir Emerik could feel the question coming from his quiet companion even before it was in the air.

"What happened to your head?" asked Lord Phineus. They were moving toward the cliffs now, and Sir Emerik had other concerns on his mind.

"Do you really think it wise to try and go back? What if there is more shaking and the basket loosens? We'll be killed." The Highlands moved slowly now, but the two of them could still see and hear its determined progress.

"All right then, if you won't answer that question, then tell me how the people in the village are reacting to the Highlands' descent."

Sir Emerik thought, By burning all of my hair off, you heartless madman! Regaining his composure, he told the story he'd concocted on the way back from the Village of Rabbits.

"There was a great deal of questioning and hostility. The townsfolk had me cornered at the inn-a place we should seriously think about closing down-and they weren't going to let me go. When I struggled to escape, the monsters tried to torch me! I think we should be prepared for the worst, Lord Phineus."

Lord Phineus smiled cruelly.

"I do believe you're right, Sir Emerik. We will do well to antic.i.p.ate them, don't you agree?"

Sir Emerik nodded. "Always better to be on the offensive," he said, though he had not an ounce of military knowledge to back his a.s.sertion.

"And there was no sign of the boy?" asked Lord Phineus.