The Thief: Part 2

By MEGAN WHALEN TURNER, Illustrator DAVID WATT

I was thinner than I had been when I was first arrested. The large iron ring around my waist had grown loose, but not loose enough to fit over the bones of my hips.

Few prisoners wore chains in their cells, only those that the king particularly disliked: counts or dukes or the minister of the exchequer when he told the king there wasn't any more money to spend.

I was certainly none of those things, but I suppose it's safe to say that the king disliked me. Even if he didn't remember my name or whether I was as common as dirt, he didn't want me slipping away.

So I had chains on my ankles as well as the iron belt around my waist and an entirely useless set of chains locked around my wrists.

At first I pulled the cuffs off my wrists, but since I sometimes had to force them back on quickly, my wrists started to be rubbed raw.

To take my mind off my daydreams, I practised moving around the cell without clanking.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $14.95

Age group: 11 plus years