Chapter Thirty Two: In Which The Magic Seeds Work Their Magic

Ralph the Timid, Ginger McSporran, Mad Pete and Twinkle in a sack stood behind the barrels and waited for Ethel to come back. No one said anything. Ralph looked up and down, scanned the tall towers for signs of giant warblers or other life, whistled casually. Ginger McSporran sat down and looked at his hands. Mad Pete just stared blankly in a disturbing way that made Ralph and Ginger think that maybe he was madder than he pretended to be.
Then "Warble! warble warble!" they heard in the distance, and Ethel came to rest on top of the barrels with admirable grace. Almost amazing grace, but that is reserved for the William Wilberforce Pigeon. No more graceful bird exists. Still, Ethel did pretty well. She leant down and whispered in Mad Pete's ear - well, whispered some warbles. Unexpectedly Large Warblers can't really whisper.
Then, message delivered, she began to preen and tweet and warble.
Mad Pete looked at the other two (not Twinkle, because he was in his sack). "She's found her! She's in - which tower, Ethel?" he asked the bird.
"Warble warble warble!" said Ethel, which clearly meant "that one there, the tall one on the left by the other two tall ones. "
"It's that one there, the tall one on the left by the other two tall ones." said Mad Pete, pointing.
"All right Ethel!" said Ginger McSporran who was highly impressed.
Ethel just warbled.
"All right," said Ralph the Timid slowly and thoughtfully. "We know what tower she's in. Now how do we get to her?"
Mad Pete and Ginger McSporran, the black beast of the caves, considered this problem for a moment.
"Well," said the black beast, at length" we could start by going over to the tower and having a look. Maybe there's a ladder or somehting?"
"Okay," said Mad Pete genially "Let's do that." Mad Pete was very pleased and proud of his friend the Unexpectedly Large Warbler, almost as pleased and proud as if he had flown up to find Lady Ann himself.
And so they walked, keeping a close eye on the tower so it didn't suddenly run away or blend in with the other towers, until they came to the base of it where it joined onto the body of the castle.
"It's pretty tall." said Ralph the Timid, looking at the tower stretching up up up up as far as he could see when he tilted his head back. "And there's no ladder. What do you think we should do, Ginger McSporran?" He asked Ginger McSporran as he trusted the black beast of the caves much more than Mad Pete. Mad Pete had, after all, tricked him into discovering his purpose and hidden a sandwich in a cave completely unnecessarily for over two years.
"Hmm." said Ginger McSporran, stroking his chin with one giant clawed hand. "Let me think."
so Ralph let him think. There was a pause while he thought.Then Ginger McSporran said "Could Ethel fly up and get her?"
"Warble." said Ethel, fluffing up her neck feathers.
"No," said Mad Pete, emphatically. "She can't. There's nothing to hold on to and the girl would fall off."
"She could wrap her arms around her neck?" suggested Ralph hopefully.
"What good would that do? She'd just strangle herself!" said Mad Pete scornfully.
"No, she could wrap her arms around Ethel's neck." replied Ralph with great patience.
"Oh." said Mad Pete, and looked at Ethel.
Ethel squawked and fluffed her feathers some more.
"No go," said Mad Pete turning back to the others. "Ethel says she's too big and she won't be able to fly properly."
Ralph was too preoccupied to be amazed that Mad Pete had got that much from a single squawk. He studied the stones that made up the tower. Could he climb up? But that would do no good, because then he would be locked in the tower too. He looked at the wall in front of him. It was as if the stones were omnipotent. There was no way he could get around it. He was defeated. He put his hands in his pockets in a gesture of despair and brushed the seeds that the gypsies had given him. He had forgotten about them momentarily in the excitement and rush of finding the tower. Maybe they would help? He pulled them out to look at them. What did they do? The gypsies hadn't said. Did you plant them? That was what you normally did with seeds. Ralph decided to try it with one.
Lady Ann leant out of the window of her tower room at an extremely dangerous angle. There were four figures standing at the base of her tower, looking a bit like large ants. One was the bird that had flown into her room. Lady Ann marvelled at this. Had it understood her? Had it gone to fetch help? Or was it just a random coincidence? She was no longer at all bored.One of the figures that wasn't the huge bird appeared to be dressed entirely from pieces from a very colourblind butterfly's rag bag, and another of the figures was so big it looked like...well, an exceptionally large ant. And it had - wings? That couldn't be right. She was just trying to make sense of this when all of a sudden, something happened. There was a rush of green and brown and then....with a popping noise, where nothing had been just a second ago there was a very big tree, right next to her window. Its branches seemed to unfold in the blinking of an eyelid, and Lady Ann had to jump back from the window again as a bough raced towards it, exploding into a flurry of leaves just before it hit the windowsill.
"That's all very well." said Ralph the Timid, looking up at the gigantic tree that he had brought to life. "But now I need to get up the tree..."
"It's all right," said Mad Pete. "It's a magic tree. That should help."
Somewhere in the castle, Prince Rupert was being informed of the sudden appearance of a giant tree in his castle grounds. He uttered an exclamatory phrase and began to run.

(Word Count: 44089)