"What is this?"

"The latest list of donations, your Majesty".

"Hmmm. The generosity of our subjects is to be commended".

"Yes, your Majesty".

King Daniel sat in his private sitting-room, reading a list of donations that had been gathered during the day.

"This is the last delivery to Mountania for the week?"

"Yes your Majesty".

Billy shivered. The royal secretary's shoulders vibrated and his arms drew close to his body.

"It's uncommonly cold tonight, my lord..." he said.

Daniel pointed to the fire in his fireplace.

"Warm yourself while I read this", he said. The king slipped on a large pair of handsome, gold-framed reading-glasses, and looked at the list.

"Hmmm...Fifty sacks of flour...ten sacks of sugar...twenty pounds of...coffee...One barrel of...what's this?"

Billy glanced at the entry on the list.

"...Treacle, your Majesty".

"...one barrel of treacle...ten rolls of cloth...three sets of old kitchen knives...four barrels of wine..."

Daniel yawned and kept reading. The clock above his fireplace struck midnight.

"Oooh..." he groaned. He tugged off his spectacles, folded them and stuffed them into a pocket of his robes.

"Very well", he said. "A pen, Billy".

Billy handed his king a handsome golden pen. The king dipped it into an inkwell and signed his name.

Daniel removed his large, gold signet-ring.

"Seal it with my ring at the bottom of the list. Fold it, seal it again and send it off with the delivery first thing in the morning".

"Yes your Majesty".

"I am going to bed!"

The old king got up and headed to his bedroom. Despite the warmth of his tonnage, even Daniel felt a bit nippy. He settled his kingly bulk into bed, rolled over, pulled his heavy blankets over his body and was soon snoring away.

Around the rest of the palace, hundreds of other people were doing the same thing. It was going to be a long, cold, cold, cold night.



"Uurrrgghmmmrrrugle..."

Jamie, the palace Chamberlain, rolled out of bed. He smiled at his wife Ellisia, like the wives of many other of the prominent courtiers, one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, who slumbered next to him, hugging a fat, squishy pillow in her arms.

The Lord Chamberlain stretched and groaned.

As Chamberlain of the King's Household, it was Jamie's job to keep abreast of all palace activities. Meetings, visitors, guests, special events, important news and the daily running of the palace itself. Ordering and checking stocks and supplies and making sure that everything ran smoothly. He left his bedroom in the royal family's private wing...as with all senior courtiers, he got the benefit of his own private suite...and shuffled dozily along the corridor to the nearest window. He yawned and pressed his hand against the glass...

"YEOUCH!!"

He pulled his hand away and clasped it in his sleeves! That was COLD!!

He blew on his hand to warm it up! It was FREEZING!

Now fully awake, he glared at the window in front of him and saw it frosty and cold and full of ice. He pulled back a bolt and pushed the window open! He heard a cracking sound and he ducked as icicles broke off the eaves and flew past him on their journeys down to earth! He stared out at a crisp and freezing winter's morning, with snow everywhere! His breath wafted in front of him and he shivered! It was so cold! And it was snowing steadily, still!

He slammed the window shut and shivered! Brrrrrr!!

As he moved around to try and keep himself warm, he saw some dozy-eyed servant-children plodding around the palace. Some of the servant-girls carried buckets of steaming hot water, while the palace fireboys, among the first to wake up every morning, shuffled dozily from room to room, lighting all the fires and checking on the candles and oil-lamps.

Two boys, Simon and Peter, shuffled into one of the meeting-rooms of the palace to light the fire. One boy reached up into the chimney to open the damper - the heavy, steel shutter that regulated the airflow and the release of smoke.

"Guuugh...stupid...damn...thing's...STUCK!" he grumbled, "I think it's frozen shut!"

Peter grabbed the shutter and shook it vigorously!

"Damn it!"

"Here, let me help", said Simon. He bent down and stuck his hands up the chimney. The two boys grabbed and shook and tugged and...

CRACK!! CRASH!!

Without warning, the heavy steel shutter broke loose from its fittings inside the fireplace! Weighing several dozen pounds, the heavy sheet of metal crashed to the ground! The two boys screamed as the heavy weight descended onto them!

"Woah! Woah, woah, woah! What's all the shouting about?"

Prince Javelin entered the room. It was his job to wake up the servants this morning, so he was up and about much earlier than most other people. Then he saw what happened.

"...Oh", he said. "...Oh wow...that looks nasty!"

He bent down and lifted the heavy metal shutter off of their arms.

"You should've melted the ice with candleflames first, THEN tried to move it", he said. "Instead you just ripped the whole thing out of the chimney! Oh jeez look at this...You two better come with me..."

In the palace infirmary, Dr. Farrier was eating breakfast with his wife, the Matron. She smiled when she saw the prince enter.

"Good morning, your Royal Highness", she said.

"Hey Matron", said Javelin.

"More muscle-cramps?"

"Nah, these two fire-boys got their arms broken when they tried to shake loose a stuck fireplace damper..."

The doctor stood up and waddled over, wiping tomato-sauce from his mouth with a napkin.

"Hmmm," he said, examining their wounds. "Darling, some water to clean this up...Oh my this does look nasty", he said.

"What'll happen to us?" Simon asked.

"How does this fe--"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!"

"...Hmm. And yo--"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!"

"...I see. I'd say you've both broken your wrists and forearms when that thing fell on you. You're lucky it didn't smash them right off! You two won't be working for a while, my lads. Matron, get the nurses to clean them and then I'll attend to their arms with splints and dressings and some slings to hold them in place".

"Yes my darling", said the Matron to her husband, "Come along!" said the chubby, good-natured head nurse, "Come along boys, this way..."