The Little Investigators Part 4: The Odd Coat of Arms

Holidays at the castle were full of adventure for brothers Jacob and Matthew. Since their grandfather was a castle warden, they spent their summer days wandering around the medieval castle and its grounds, discovering all its quirks and hidey-holes.

This time, Matthew and Jacob had gone to sit in the castle’s library again, and were half buried among stacks of old books about castles and noble families. It was the fourth time this summer that they had gone looking for interesting facts about the castle in the library. They were looking through a book now called Coats of Arms and their Secrets.

Jacob was flipping through the pages, his eyes like saucers, marvelling at the ornate, colourful illustrations. Matthew was looking over his shoulder, and one of the coats of arms caught his attention.

“Wait, Jacob, look at that one!” he exclaimed. Jacob turned back a page, and Matthew pointed at the coat of arms in the picture, which must have belonged to a noble family, although there was no name written on the page. It wasn’t particularly ornate, but it had a strange symbol in the middle that looked like a braid, as if it was meant to symbolize something that wound around and around.

“I’m sure I’ve seen that somewhere before…” Jacob muttered, narrowing his eyes and concentrating intently. After a moment, he blurted out, “That’s it! In the tower!”

“The tower?” Matthew asked sceptically. “The one with the stairs that are so steep, not even a cat can climb up them?”

“Ha! The castle cat is ancient, so no surprise if she can’t. But I took a peek up there last year when you were stuck in bed with that broken leg. Trust me – we need to investigate!”

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