Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

nodded, and put the cloak around his shoulders. It was far too small for him, but better than nothing.
    “He’s not here yet!” Igraine anxiously looked around. “But I’d better wake the guard all the same, to be on the safe side. If the Spiky Knight realizes you’ve gone, we’ll never get out of the castle. So …” She looked encouragingly at him. “Make me laugh.”
    “Make you what?” Bertram cast her an incredulous look. But Igraine didn’t answer. The Spiky Knight had appeared under the arched gateway leading to the castle forecourt. There were two soldiers with him, presumably the men whose voices she had heard outside the tower door. They pointed to the tower, but with so many people around, the guard was out of sight.
    “Bertram, quick!” Igraine urged him. “Make me laugh! Or the Spiky Knight will throw us both into that awful dungeon.”
    The Master of Horse turned pale. The soldiers were clearing a path through the crowd for the Spiky Knight.
    “Bertram, please!”
    He did his best: He squinted down his nose, waggled his ears, puffed out his cheeks. But none of it raised more than a forced smile from Igraine, and she cursed Albert for casting a spell that couldn’t be broken any other way.
    The Spiky Knight pushed past two merchants arguing with each other. Only a few more feet, and he would be in front of the guard and notice that he was deep in a very peculiar kind of sleep.
    “Sorry,” said Bertram, “but there’s no alternative.” And before Igraine realized what he was doing, he had grabbed her and started tickling her tummy. Her laughter rang out all over the courtyard, and the Spiky Knight glanced around, startled. But at the same moment the guard outside the tower opened his visor and looked around him, bewildered. He was horrified to see the Spiky Knight in front of him, but the castellan had already turned to the two men who had brought him, with a dark expression on his face, and Igraine quickly pulled Bertram away.
    “Ride to Pimpernel!” she whispered as they made their way back to the forecourt. “You’ll be safe there. And tell Albert that Osmund’s going to attack as soon as he gets his catapults.”
    Bertram sighed, but he nodded. “And what are you planning to do? Why do you need Lancelot?”
    “I have to find some giant’s hairs,” replied Igraine, pushing past a couple of traveling entertainers who were doing a dance in front of the smiths’ forge. “My parents had a little accident. So now they’re pigs with curly tails.”
    Bertram sighed again. “None of this makes any sense to me,” he said. “But I can tell you how to get safely through the gate with Lancelot. If the guards stop you, just say you have to take him to the water hole outside the castle. That’s the only place where Lancelot will drink, and word of it has probably got around even among the new guards.”
    Igraine nodded and stopped in front of the stables.
    “Good luck, Graycoat,” she whispered in the donkey’s ear. “Carry Bertram to Pimpernel. I’m afraid he’s a bit fatter than me, but when I come home I’ll reward you with a whole handful of sugar lumps. Even if they’re not good for those yellow teeth of yours.”
    By way of answer the donkey nudged her stomach with his hairy head. Igraine took the bundle of armor off his back and removed the bridle from the egg basket. “Better throw the eggs away,” she whispered to Bertram, handing him the basket. “It’ll look suspicious if you still have your eggs with you when you leave the castle.”
    “Clever girl,” the Master of Horse whispered back, hugging her so hard that he left her breathless. “I’ll tell your parents all about it. I’ll let them know what a brave daughter they have, and perhaps even Albert will be so impressed that he won’t tease you so often.”
    Then he waved to her once again, and strolled toward the castle gate with his head bent, apparently in no hurry. Igraine didn’t turn away until he was