Part 20 (1/2)

*Does anyone else know this besides the bodyguard?' asked Merbeck anxiously.

*I'm afraid they do. The Captain called to every cat in Fairfax Market to search.'

*Fairfax Market!' said John and Rosemary together.

*Can you tell us exactly where it happened?' asked John.

*We were in Cat Country. We'd jumped down to the pavement to avoid a skirmish between half a dozen animals, and we were keeping well into the wall, when a window opened just above. A human looked out and laughed, not a nice noise it wasn't, and thena the Queen was gone!'

*Her white coat must have shown up as clearly as spilt milk,' said Merbeck.

*Quick,' said John. *Can you remember anything about the house you were near?'

*Not much,' said Leadbitter. *I was too busy. Hold on though! There was a door that opened and closed very quickly while we were searching. I looked around when I heard a bang, and it was scarlet half way down.'

*Mrs Cantrip!' said Rosemary.

John nodded grimly.

Another messenger came up.

*Sir Councillor, things are going against us! A fresh wave of the enemy has stormed the Causeway, and Fallowhithe cats are falling back. They've heard the Queen has disappeared, and it's shaken 'em badly!'

*Come on, Rosie!' said John. *It looks as though we may be able to help after all.' He turned to Merbeck. *If Mrs Cantrip has got her, we'll get her back, somehow!'

*Of course we will!' said Rosemary stoutly. *Come on, John!'

*Hurry!' said Merbeck. *There is no time to lose!'

Together they scrambled down the rocky chasm, which they knew led to the belfry. Once their feet were on the wooden ladder the shadowy cat world disappeared, and although they neither of them stopped to say so, it was a relief to feel the solid firmness of the winding stairs, even though they had to feel their way down in the dark. The bank of cloud had mounted higher in the sky, and as they ran through the churchyard, there was a low rumble of distant thunder. They did not stop to look up at the swaying battle on the roofs of the houses opposite, but ran as fast as they could to Fairfax Market. Without stopping to think what they would do next, they hammered on the scarlet front door of Mrs Cantrip's house.

It opened quickly.

*It's you, is it? I thought as much, for all your talk of backing out,' said the old woman accusingly to Rosemary.

Rosemary had no time to point out that she had never talked about it at all, before John demanded fiercely. *Queen Blandamour! Where is she? You've got her hidden somewhere!'

*If you're so certain, you'd best come in and see for yourselves!' said Mrs Cantrip, with a mocking curtsy.

They followed the old woman through the bare room inside the front door, which had nowhere to hide a fly, let alone a well-grown, white cat, and into the little kitchen beyond.

*Where is she?' repeated John.

Mrs Cantrip sat herself down in the rocking chair and began to rock herself to and fro.

*If seeing's believing, and you can't see her, well, it proves she isn't here, young man. So look as much as you've a mind to. Then perhaps you'll leave a law-abiding old woman to her night's rest.'

John and Rosemary stood in the middle of the floor. By the flickering light of a candle in a bottle they looked around. It was very quiet in the little room. There was no sound except the rhythmical rocking of the chair on the tiled floor. An occasional scuffle outside was the only sign of the battle that was raging above them. There was nothing behind the cloak that hung on a peg on the door. Their hopes were raised by a tall thin cupboard by the fireplace, but when they looked inside there was nothing but Miss Dibdin's flying besom, and an ordinary sweeping broom very upright in a corner, as though it did not much care for the other's company. Mrs Cantrip chuckled at their disappointment.

On the table in the middle of the room were the remains of a meal. It was laid for two. John noticed that one plate and the cup and saucer beside it were empty, but the other had some cold meat and pickles on it, and only half of the cup of tea had been drunk, as though someone had left the table in a hurry.

*Where is Miss Dibdin?' asked Rosemary.

*How should I know?' said Mrs Cantrip, with her head on one side. *With your precious white cat, for all I know.'

*Go and look upstairs, Rosie!' said John.

Rosemary went, and while she was gone, Mrs Cantrip went on rocking and looking at John with a twisted smile. He began to wonder if they had made a mistake after all. Rosemary came down again and reported that there was no sign of Miss Dibdin and no trace of Blandamour. She had looked in every drawer and cupboard and corner.

*I've had enough of your busybodying,' said Mrs Cantrip. *I'm going to sleep.'

She took a large handkerchief out of her pocket, spread it over her face and linked her hands over her waist. But the vigorous rocking of the chair suggested someone very wide awake indeed.

*If only we could see better. It's so dark!' said John.

*I believe she keeps her candles in here,' said Rosemary, and she went to the little hanging cupboard behind the door.

*Top shelf, left-hand side,' said Mrs Cantrip from under the handkerchief. John and Rosemary looked at each other in a puzzled way. They had never known Mrs Cantrip to be obliging before, and the very strangeness of it made them suspicious.

*Light as many of 'em as you like,' said the old woman. Rosemary took down three candles.

*There's a box of matches here,' she said and picked it up from the bottom shelf. But Mrs Cantrip whipped the handkerchief from her face and said fiercely, *Don't you touch it! Put it down!'

Now you will have noticed that everyone who picks up a box of matches gives it a little shake to see if there are any matches inside. Rosemary obediently put the box down, but she noticed that although it was not light enough to be empty, it did not make the little rattle that matches usually do. It had been lying on the bottom shelf of the cupboard where she remembered Mrs Cantrip had kept the few little bits of magic she had left. Only the gla.s.s pickle jar was there, but now it was empty, too. The label on it said MINUSCULE MAGIC.

*Minuscule!' said John. *I've seen that word somewhere, I wish I could think a”'

*I shouldn't bother, dear!' said Mrs Cantrip. *You light the pretty candles from the one in the bottle. It's a pity to waste good matches!' She was smiling once more.

John lit the candles and stuck them in a row on the mantelpiece, and as he lit the third one he suddenly said, *I've got it! We were playing that spelling game, and Daddy used it, and we all said there wasn't such a word as minuscule, and Daddy said there was and it meant very, very tiny!'

Mrs Cantrip jumped up from her chair so violently that she knocked it over backwards. For a few seconds one could have heard a pin drop, and then from behind Rosemary, who was still standing in front of the open cupboard, came a faint, faint scrabbling noise together with a tiny shrill *meow'. At first she thought it was a mouse, but, as everybody knows, mice don't mew.

*The matchbox!' she said.

Mrs Cantrip strode across the room, but Rosemary was too quick for her. She picked it up and gently slid it open. Fitting neatly, curled up inside, was a tiny, tiny white cat!

*It's Blandamour! You've made her small with the Minuscule Magic!' said Rosemary.

30.

The Return of the Kings

John and Rosemary peered at the minute white cat.