The Hungry Garden

Chapter Twelve: The Continuing Adventures of Larkin and Adelia

The Journal of Larkin Claydon

April 9th

My sister and I spent the week in excited anticipation of our return to the Mortal Masquerade and the task entrusted to us by our late Uncle George. When one has willingly placed one's neck in a noose it is harder than ever to summon enthusiasm for approved ladylike pursuits and the knowledge of Elbert Makabra and his diabolical accomplice even now making their plans against us left us eager for action.

Tomorrow we shall return to resume our contest with the pair of them. Today a package was delivered, addressed to the two of us with no information regarding the sender. Inside was a simple stuffed doll with a note attached, reading:

"I AM SIMON. TAKE ME WITH YOU."

The Journal of Adelia Claydon

April 10th

We arrived back at Morior Hall to be met by Uncle Morbid, who showed us to a side room where Elbert Makabra and Amethyst Annie were already waiting. I noticed they had a Simon doll just like ours, clearly this effigy had a role to play in the task to come.

Uncle Morbid welcomed us all back and gave us each a sealed envelope. This done he departed.

The room in which we sat was wood panelled with ornate decorations set around. On the walls were portraits of historical figures. I recognised the images of Anne Boleyn, Oliver Cromwell, Simon de Montfort, King Charles I, Jeanne D'Arc, Mary Queen of Scots and a few others.

The envelope we had been given contained a card printed with a riddle:

"How shall thee be remembered, who will decide
The manner ye lived or the manner ye died.
Think well on your actions lest ye lose the day
Henry's jailer shall tell ye the way."

I looked across to our opponents, who I could tell had just opened the same riddle. We briefly exchanged glances, then our respective duos withdrew to opposite ends of the room to discuss the conundrum before us.

Larkin Claydon

Let us recap the clues we had so far:

There was the strange doll, a simple stuffed toy shaped like a gingerbread man, whose name was apparently "Simon". There was the sinister riddle alluding to crime and punishment. And on the walls around us hung portraits of historical figures who might in some way be linked to the mystery before us. What did all these people have in common?

Anne Boleyn – most famous for being one of the wives of Henry the Eighth, before he had her beheaded. Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, and Charles I, the King he deposed. Simon de Montfort, the Father of English Democracy. Mary Queen of Scots, executed by her sister Queen Elizabeth I. Politics seemed to be a recurring theme here, but surely not the whole story.

I got up to examine the portraits more closely. Beneath each was a small card naming the sitter, along with a brief, very specific caption. Some examples:

"Jeanne D'Arc: burned at the stake, Rouen 1431.
King Charles I: beheaded by axe, Whitehall 1649.
Oliver Cromwell: posthumously hanged and mutilated, Tyburn 1661."

In the context of the riddle, it was apparent that the common denominator was the violent execution of the people in the paintings. Once we understood this, it was Adelia that worked out the link between the riddle, the portraits and the doll.