He had no choice. Time to move. The steps at the front of the castle were wide and burnished with gold. The risers were embossed with stags, boars, eagles, and ravens, all bowing before their king. At the top, a pair of huge oak doors reared up into the sky. The sun, now orange as it sank toward the horizon, lit up the flag of Arborium high above: an oak leaf twisted into the shape of a crown.

The studded doors were firmly shut. The guard who stood on sentry duty, with his ceremonial hat in the shape of an outsize acorn, frowned at the sight of a boy messing up his newly polished metalwork.

“Yeah?” said the guard menacingly. The man might once have been a mountain of muscle, but his features now sagged downward, thanks to an excess of pies and too much standing around, bored out of his skull.

Ark was on his own. “I’d like to … that is … the King. Well …” So much for speeches. “He’s in danger! I’ve overheard a plot, you see —”

His words were cut short. “Yeah. I do see. And what I see is a little oik!”

Good. The man was distracted. Out of the corner of his eye, Ark saw Mucum working the first bolt of the manhole. The plumber was in plain sight. Ark gulped down his fear.

“Did yer mates set you up for this as a dare?”

The guard leaned down and Ark caught a whiff of stale beer.

“No!” It wasn’t a dare. It was a plan. A dumb, impossible plan. If the guard would just turn a couple of inches …

“Well, I don’t see no plot here, unless you’ve been sent to assassinate our beloved leader?” The guard leaned back and his shoulders bobbed with laughter at his own joke. But then he lunged suddenly, grabbed Ark hard, and lifted him up until they were both at eye level. “We’ve had a bit of fun, you and me. Now go back to whatever miserable little squithole you crept from and leave me to do my job, guarding the King from real danger, eh?” He let go and Ark dropped in a heap on the floor.

Ark allowed himself to slide his eyes quickly toward his friend, struggling with the final bolt. Ark knew this one was going to screech. Plumber’s instinct. Rust was never silent. He had to do something!

Ark jumped up and screamed as loudly as he could at the guard. “You’ll see! Trouble’s coming!”

Instead of running toward the sound of the bolt giving way, the guard put one hand on the hilt of his sword. “It will be if you don’t clear off, you nutter!” he hissed.