pontoon beside the river. The sign over the door announced:
THE SALLY MULLIN TEA AND ALE HOUSE
CLEAN ACCOMMODATION AVAILABLE
NO RIFFRAFF
There were no secrets in Sally Mullin's cafe. Anything and anyone arriving at the Castle by water was noticed and commented on, and most people coming to the Castle did prefer to arrive by boat. No one apart from Silas liked the dark tracks through the Forest that surrounded the castle. The Forest still had a bad wolverine problem at night and was infested with carnivorous trees. Then there were the Wendron Witches, who were always short of cash and had been known to set traps for the unwary traveler and leave them with little more than their shirt and socks.
Sally Mullin's cafe was a busy, steaming hut perched precariously over the water. All shapes and sizes of boats would moor up at the cafe pontoon, and all sorts of people and animals would tumble out of them. Most decided to recover from their trip by having at least one of Sally's fierce beers and a slab of barley cake, and by telling the latest gossip. And anyone in the Castle with half an hour to spare and a rumbling tummy would soon find themselves on the well-trodden path down to the Port Gate, past the Riverside Amenity Rubbish Dump, and along the pontoon to Sally Mullin's Tea and Ale House.
Sally made it her business to see Sarah every week and keep her up to date with everything. In Sally's opinion Sarah was much put-upon with seven children to care for, not to mention Silas Heap, who did very little as far as she could see. Sally's stories usually involved people Sarah had never heard of and would never meet, but Sarah looked forward to Sally's visits all the same and enjoyed hearing about what was going on around her. However, this time what Sally had to tell her was different. This was more serious than everyday gossip, and this time it did involve Sarah. And, for the first time ever, Sarah knew something about it that Sally did not.
Sally swept in and closed the door conspiratorially behind her. "I've got some terrible news," she whispered.
Sarah, who was trying to wipe breakfast from Jenna's face, and everywhere else that the baby had sprayed it, and clean up after the new wolfhound puppy all at the same time, was not really listening.
"Hello, Sally," she said. "There's a clean space here. Come and sit down. Cup of tea?"
"Yes, please. Sarah, can you believe this?"
"What's that, then, Sally?" asked Sarah, expecting to hear about the latest bad behavior in the cafe.
"The Queen. The Queen is dead!"
"What?" gasped Sarah. She lifted Jenna out of her chair and took her over to the corner of the room where her baby basket was. Sarah lay Jenna down for a nap. She believed that babies should be kept well away from bad news.
"Dead," repeated Sally unhappily.
"No!" gasped Sarah. "I don't believe it. She's just not well after her baby's birth. That's why she has not been seen since then."
"That's what the Custodian Guards have been saying, isn't it?" asked Sally.
"Well, yes," admitted Sarah, pouring out the tea. "But they are her bodyguards, so they must know. Though why the Queen has suddenly chosen to be guarded by such a bunch of thugs, I don't understand."
Sally took the cup of tea that Sarah had placed in front of her.
"Ta. Mmm, lovely. Well, exactly..." Sally lowered her voice and looked around as though expecting to find a Custodian Guard propped up in the corner, not that she necessarily would have noticed one amid all the mess in the Heaps' room. "They are a bunch of thugs. In fact, they are the ones who killed her."
"Killed? She was killed?" exclaimed Sarah.
"Shhh. Well, see here..." Sally pulled her chair closer to Sarah. "There's a story going around - and I have it from the horse's mouth..."
"Which horse would that be, then?" asked Sarah with a wry smile.
"Only Madam Marcia" - looking triumphant, Sally sat back and folded her arms - "that's who."
"What? How come you've been mixing with the ExtraOrdinary Wizard? Did she drop by for a cup of tea?"
"Almost. Terry Tarsal did. He had been up at the WizardTower delivering some really weird shoes that he had made for Madam Marcia. So when he had stopped moaning about her taste in shoes and how much he hated snakes, he said that he had overheard Marcia talking to one of the other Wizards.