‘REALLY, CROC,’ said Lil. ‘How many times do I have to tell you to cover your mouth when you yawn?’
‘Sorry,’ said the crocodile. He swam closer to the edge of the moat, where Tommy was kneeling, frozen to the spot. After a sly glance at Lil, he opened his mouth again. ‘Muuuuuurp.’
‘And when you burp,’ the cat added sternly. ‘You’ll make a bad impression on our new sword girl.’
‘She started it.’ The giant reptile sounded sulky. ‘She called me a crocodile.’
Tommy didn’t understand. ‘But aren’t you a crocodile?’
‘I’m a crocodiddle,’ he sniffed. ‘There’s a difference, you know.’
‘I didn’t know,’ Tommy said. ‘What’s a crocodiddle?’
‘Me,’ said the crocodiddle, as if that settled it. ‘What do you want, anyway?’
Lil explained about the sword and the crocodiddle’s beady yellow eyes lit up.
‘So that’s whose it is! I was just doing a couple of laps in the middle of the night – backstroke, butterfly, that kind of thing – when a sword splashed into the water right behind me. It almost sliced off my tail!’
‘Do you think you could find it, Mr Crocodiddle?’ Tommy asked. ‘Please?’
The crocodiddle tilted his head to one side. ‘Did you hear that?’ he asked Lil in a loud whisper. ‘She called me “mister”.’ He turned back to Tommy. ‘I’ll see if I can, young Sword Girl.’ He gave her a wide, toothy grin and swam off.
Several minutes passed, then several minutes more, but the crocodiddle didn’t return. Tommy’s throat felt tight. That was it then. The sword was lost forever at the bottom of the moat. She would be sent back to the kitchen in disgrace. Or worse, she’d be—
Suddenly the surface of the water began to shiver. Two yellow eyes appeared, then an ugly snout. And there, clasped delicately between the crocodiddle’s pointy teeth, was Sir Walter’s sword. It was draped with weeds but seemed otherwise unharmed.
‘Oh, thank you,’ Tommy cried as she took the sword from the crocodiddle’s jaws. ‘Thank you!’
‘Now run,’ Lil urged. ‘Get the sword cleaned up and back in the rack before Sir Walter recovers from his mental confusion.’
Tommy didn’t need to be told twice. She sprinted back to the castle gate, squeezed past a cart full of hay that was almost blocking the entrance to the castle, then pelted across the courtyard to the armoury.
Inside, all was quiet.
Smith looked up from the helmet he was repairing. ‘Everything all right, Sword Girl?’
‘Yes, thank you, Smith,’ Tommy replied. ‘It is now.’
With Sir Walter’s dripping sword in her hand, Tommy stalked past the blacksmith to the door of the bow chamber. She could see Reynard sharpening a steel-tipped arrow.
‘What do you want?’ he said when he spotted Tommy in the doorway. Then he saw Sir Walter’s sword in her hand and turned pale. ‘How did …? Where did you …?’ he stammered.
‘You know where I found it,’ said Tommy coldly. ‘In the moat, where you threw it.’
‘You can’t prove it was me,’ Reynard argued, but he sounded scared.
‘I can prove it,’ said Tommy. ‘I have a witness who saw you do it. And if you touch any of my swords again, I’ll tell Sir Benedict what you did to Sir Walter’s sword. Then we’ll see who’s Keeper of the Brooms.’
Back in the sword chamber the Old Wrecks were overjoyed to see Tommy with Sir Walter’s sword. As she wiped the weeds from the engraved blade, she told them how the sword had come to be at the bottom of the moat. Soon the blade shone a brilliant silver once more.
‘Look how nicely she’s cleaned it,’ Nursie remarked.
‘She does have a way with swords,’ Bevan Brumm agreed.
Jasper said, ‘I think she’s the best Keeper of the Blades since …’
But he didn’t finish the sentence, falling silent at the sound of a sharp voice saying, ‘Morning, Smith. Is that new sword girl here? I want to check on my sword.’
‘Yes, Sir Walter, sir. She’s in the chamber.’
Tommy hastily put her cloths away then stood on the cold stone floor, holding the sword.
‘Sword Girl? Where’s my – oh, there it is.’
Tommy had her head bowed, but she peeked up as Sir Walter the Bald took his sword from her outstretched hands. She held her breath as he examined his sword from every angle.
‘Good day, Sir Walter.’ Sir Benedict entered the chamber, accompanied by Lil.
Sir Walter turned to face the new arrivals, his face glowing. ‘Sir Benedict! Doesn’t my sword look particularly marvellous today? Very pleasing, Sword Girl. Very pleasing indeed.’ He nodded once, slid his sword back into the centre of the main rack, and left the room. Tommy wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw a few smears of something sticky on the back of his neck. She smiled to herself. Sir Walter probably thought the physician’s mixture had worked. How surprised he would be to know that he hadn’t been suffering from mental confusion at all – his old nurse really had spoken to him!
‘Dear little Walter, he hasn’t changed a bit,’ said Nursie fondly. ‘And he certainly seems to approve of our sword girl.’
‘And so he should,’ said Bevan Brumm. ‘She’s just like that excellent sword boy we had, oh, about twenty years ago. He polished us and sharpened us and saw to it that we were never neglected.’
‘Exactly,’ Jasper broke in. ‘She’s the best Keeper of the Blades since …’ Again, he trailed off.
‘Since who?’ Tommy demanded.
‘Yes, since who?’ said Sir Benedict. He sounded amused.
Jasper gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘Since you, sir.’
‘Thank you, Jasper Swann,’ said Sir Benedict. ‘You’re very kind.’
Tommy looked up at Sir Benedict. ‘You were a Keeper of the Blades, sir?’ she asked. ‘Like me?’
Sir Benedict smiled. ‘Yes I was, Tommy.’
‘Um, Sir Benedict?’ Tommy wasn’t sure how to ask her next question. ‘Why do Lil and the Old Wrecks and the other creatures of the castle talk to some people and not others?’
Sir Benedict looked thoughtful. ‘Many things can talk, Tommy, but only to those who take the trouble to listen. And listening is a skill which can’t be taught – like kindness can’t be taught. I’ll tell you something which can be taught, though: sword fighting. Why don’t you bring Jasper out to the courtyard and I’ll show you a few moves.’
Tommy thought her heart would burst with joy. It was as if all her dreams were coming true. She was the sword girl, and she was about to have a sword-fighting lesson with Sir Benedict. With a happy sigh, she drew her sword from the rack and hurried after her hero.
