Forest Kingdom Trilogy 1 - Blue Moon Rising

only by a little mortar and accumulated pigeon droppings.
    'Is it safe for me to come out yet, Princess?' called Bodeen plaintively, and Julia started guiltily as she realised how long she'd kept the guard waiting.
    'All clear!' she yelled quickly, and scrambled down on to the next step so as to give him more room.
    She'd barely made it before Bodeen came flying upside-down through the door, somersaulting in mid-air as the gravity changed. His grip on the lintel never even looked like slipping, and in the space of a few moments he was crouching gracefully on the top step, and looking interestedly down at the view.
    'Do stop hanging around,' called the Seneschal. 'The Treasury door isn't locked.'
    Julia glanced across just in time to see him tug energetically at the door. It opened outwards, nearly knocking the Seneschal from his perch in the process. He quickly regained his balance, stared dubiously into the dark opening, and then jumped into it, flipping head over heels upwards as he went.
    That man has nerves of steel, thought Julia. Either that, or absolutely no sense of self-preservation.
    She glared at the weathered, rough-hewn steps that lay between her and the Treasury door. There were only a few gaps wide enough to require jumping, but the steps on each side of the breaks looked decidedly precarious. Julia looked down, and then wished she hadn't. The drop seemed to get longer every time she looked. She studied the battered stairway, and cursed under her breath, so as not to upset Bodeen. If the Seneschal hadn't already made the journey, she'd have called it impossible. As it was . . .
    Julia sighed, gathered up her long dress, and tucked the front and back ends securely into her belt. The wind was cold on her bare legs, but she had to be able to see where her feet were. She glared dubiously at the next step down, and then lowered herself cautiously on to it. The stone creaked warningly under her weight. Julia waited a moment for it to settle, and then moved on to the next step. Slowly she made her way down the stairway, one step at a time, testing each slab of stone carefully before committing her full weight to it. Time and again she stood motionless while the ancient stonework groaned and shifted beneath her, and crumbling mortar fell away in sudden little streams. Julia was aware of Bodeen hovering close behind her, in case she fell, but after a while she had to order him to stay further back. The stone steps couldn't hold both their weights.
    The first jump was the hardest. An entire block of six steps had broken away, leaving a jagged-edged gap of some fifteen feet. The steps on either side looked none too secure, and Julia reluctantly decided that her best bet was a running start. She climbed back two steps, took a few deep breaths to settle her nerves, and then launched herself at the gap, trusting to speed and luck to get her safely across. For a brief moment there was nothing but open space beneath her, and then her feet slammed heavily on to the far step. She fell forward and clutched anxiously at the uneven stonework, but the great stone slab barely shifted an inch. Julia let out her breath in a great sigh of relief, and rising cautiously to her feet, she moved down on to the next step to give Bodeen enough room for his jump. He made it easily, landing in a cat-like crouch that barely stirred the stonework. The two of them shared a grin, and then carried on down the stairs, one step at a time.
    The wind was rising steadily, a bitterly cold wind that seemed to strike clean through to the bone. Julia couldn't stop shivering, and in her eagerness to get out of the cold she hurried down the last few steps without bothering to check them first. The icy wind tugged and buffeted her as she stood staring at the final gap in the stairway. It was only a yard or so wide, and once over, it was only two more steps to the
    Treasury door. Julia checked that her dress was still tucked securely in place, studied the distance to the far step, and then jumped the gap easily. The stone gave lightly beneath her as she landed, and then tore itself free from the Castle wall with a roar of rending stone and mortar. Julia threw herself forward, and just caught the edge of the next step as the first slab dropped out from under her. She watched it tumble lazily end over end on its long way down to the dirty green waters of the moat, and tried not to think of how many other people might have ended up there. She clutched