A Prince among Frogs (8 page)

Azuria fumbled at the neck of her tunic. “We’re not finished yet. I’ve had this farseeing ball for fifty-two years and it’s never failed me.” Pulling out a golden chain, she showed Millie a small crystalline ball held in place with a clasp shaped like a pair of tiny blue hands. Holding the ball up so everyone could see it, she murmured something and breathed onto the clear surface. Nothing happened for a moment, and Millie was sure it wasn’t going to work, but then an image began to form. She leaned forward for a better look. The image was blurry, and Millie was willing it to become clearer when the farseeing ball suddenly filled with clouds. Azuria frowned and shook the ball. Rain slashed through it, seeming to splash and run down the ball’s inner surface.

“Drat,” said Azuria. “That’s never happened before.” She sighed and replaced the ball under the fabric of her tunic. “You know what it means if none of us can see what happened, don’t you, ladies?”

Oculura nodded. “That storm wasn’t natural. Whoever took the baby created that storm to block anyone from seeing what he was doing.”

“Or she,” said Dyspepsia. “I know a few witches who could have done this.”

“We need to call for help.” Azuria grunted as she reached down to her wicker basket and took out one of the blue butterflies. Holding it carefully between her cupped hands, she whispered to the insect, then opened her hands and set it free. The butterfly fluttered around her head before flying to the window and out into the sunlight. “I laid a compulsion on that butterfly,” said the old woman. “She has to go find the fairy Moth and ask her to come here. Moth goes out at night. She might have seen that strange light you mentioned. If she did, it would have drawn her like, well, like a moth to flames.” Azuria chuckled to herself as she sat back on the bench.

“Do you mean she might be able to tell us who took Felix?” asked Audun.

Azuria nodded. “I hope so.”

“While we’re waiting,” said Oculura, “would anyone like a fruit tart or a slice of pie?”

“No thanks,” Dyspepsia replied, making a face. “Watching you cook has put me off food.”

Oculura had put vivid green eyes in her sockets. They seemed to get darker when she glared at her sister and said, “I thought you liked my cooking!”

While the two sisters argued, Millie joined Audun by the window. The sky had cleared and the rain had washed away the dust, leaving everything looking fresh and clean. Droplets sparkled in the sunlight, but Millie soon noticed that one sparkle seemed bigger than the rest and was moving toward them. It drew closer until she could make out the tiny figure of a fairy.

Millie and Audun stepped back when the fairy flew through the window and landed on the floor. In an instant, she turned from a fairy no bigger than half of Millie’s little finger to one who was human sized. Her soft white wings and pale blue hair were very pretty, but Millie thought it was her large, dark eyes that made her look unusual. She seemed shy at first and uncomfortable at the scrutiny of so many people.

“Moth, I’d like you to meet our good friends Millie and Audun. Millie’s mother is Princess Emeralda, the Green Witch.”

Moth smiled and visibly relaxed. “I know your mother, Millie. She’s a good friend to fairykind. From what I’ve heard, you are as well. Thank you for helping my friends Trillium, Moss, and Poison Ivy. If there’s ever anything I can do for you …”

“Actually, we need your help right now,” said Millie. “My mother is away and someone stole my baby brother during the night. We’re trying to find out who took him.”

“Did they leave another baby in his place?” the fairy asked.

Millie shook her head. “His crib was empty.”

“Then it wasn’t a fairy who took him. We always leave changelings to take the place of human babies.”

Both Audun and Millie looked surprised, but the witches just nodded as if they’d heard it before. “You really do that?” said Millie. “I thought it was just a rumor.”

“I never have, but I know other fairies who’ve done it. Human babies can be so cute!” said Moth.

Azuria cleared her throat. “What we really wanted to ask you was if you happened to notice a strange light coming from the castle last night. If you did, did you go to see what it was?”

Moth shook her head. “The storm was so awful that I spent the night in a hollow tree. I couldn’t have flown in that wind if I’d wanted to, not without being blown halfway to the next kingdom. If I were you, I’d ask Raindrop. She learns a lot from listening to the falling rain.”

“Of course!” said Azuria. “Why didn’t I think of that? Thank you so much, Moth.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Moth said, shrinking once again. “We fairies do what we can!”

Six

T
he three witches were still debating how to contact Raindrop when Moth reappeared with Raindrop beside her. “I told Raindrop what you needed to know, so she insisted we go to the castle before coming here,” Moth told them.

Raindrop nodded, her pale blue hair swirling around her delicate, pointy-chinned face. “Some people think I hear what the rain says only when it’s falling, but I can hear it anytime, even after it’s collected in a puddle!” She crinkled her nose and squinted when she glanced at Moth, as if to say that her friend was just such a person. “I wanted to listen to the raindrops where they collected in the puddles at the castle,” she said, turning back to Millie. “I didn’t know which window you meant, but I listened to each puddle till one mentioned a bright light. It told me that a person wearing a cloak came out through the high turret’s window when the storm was at its worst. The figure was carrying a bundle, which could have been a baby, and flew off on a broom. I suppose the person was a witch. She went northeast, if you’re interested.”

“We’re very interested,” said Audun. “We have to find Felix and bring him back.”

“I can go with you, if you want me to,” Raindrop added. “The puddles will tell me where he went, but only for a little while. Once the rain dries up or gets soaked into the ground, it can no longer talk to me.”

Millie felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her. She’d been so frightened that they’d never find her brother, but if the fairy could help find him …

“We’re going, too,” said Dyspepsia. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything. We haven’t had this much excitement around here since a boy griffin thought Oculura was a girl griffin and tried to carry her off.”

“I was in the garden,” said Oculura. “I don’t know what he saw, but he sure liked it.”

Dyspepsia chortled. “Maybe it was your feathered underwear.”

“I didn’t have any choice,” said Oculura. “It was laundry day.”

“We’ll fly on our brooms, of course. I suppose you and Audun will travel by your usual method?” Dyspepsia asked.

Millie shrugged. “We have to. We didn’t bring my magic carpet.”

“What method is that?” asked Raindrop, quirking a pale blue eyebrow.

Audun and Millie smiled at each other as they stepped across the threshold and into the sunshine. “As dragons,” Millie said as the air around them began to shimmer. She blinked as her eyes turned into those of a dragon. Colors looked different, and she could see the fairies even more clearly than before. Raindrop’s blue hair had streaks of ultraviolet, a color Millie hadn’t been able to see as a human.

Once everyone was outside, Moth decided that she wanted to go with them. “It looks like a party,” she said, turning into her smaller self. “I can’t resist a good party.”

“It may take a while before I find more rain that can tell us anything,” said Raindrop.

Moth zigzagged around her. “Then you’d best get started.”

Millie, Audun, and the witches flew above the forest, circling while Raindrop looked for puddles. It took some time before she found one that could tell her about the cloaked figure. The tiny puddle was located in the crook of a tree and was nearly invisible to anyone in the air except a dragon or a fairy. The witches joined the two dragons to watch Raindrop scoop out a handful of water and bend down to listen as it dribbled back into the puddle. She looked satisfied when she glanced up to say, “The figure flew over this tree still headed northeast.”

They moved more quickly after that, finding puddles in depressions in boulders, on top of witches’ cottages, and in muddy dips in dirt roads. Moth finally grew tired of waiting for her friend and flew off, claiming that she was bored. The others followed Raindrop, anxiously awaiting her announcements each time she found the next puddle.

“Rain talks to all of us,” she told them. “You just have to know how to listen.”

They had left the forest behind when Azuria angled her broom so that she was flying next to Millie. “That’s Soggy Molvinia,” she said, pointing at the ground. “Most of the kingdom looks just like that.”

Millie maintained the steady beat of her wings as she glanced down. Marshland stretched out in front of them for as far as she could see, making a crazy quilt of water and soggy patches of land. The bright colors of marsh flowers accented the mix of blues, browns, and greens like dabs of paint on an artist’s palette.

Once again Raindrop flew down to listen to a shrinking puddle. She stayed on the ground for only a minute before darting back up to talk to Millie. “This is as far as I can go,” she said. “The witch landed her broom on that hummock just as the rain stopped. She may have stayed here, or she may have gone on. Either way, I can’t tell you what happened next. Falling rain notices everything, but puddles aren’t very observant.”

“Thank you so much,” said Millie. “You’ve been such a big help.”

“Just remember that,” said Raindrop, “in case I need a favor someday.” Bringing her hand to her lips, the fairy blew a kiss at Millie before darting back the way they had come.

“Now what?” asked Audun as the three witches gathered around them. “We can fly down there and look around, but that’s an awful lot of ground to cover.”

“I don’t think we have much choice,” Millie replied.

“I’m going to start by that hummock,” said Azuria.

“We should all start there and work our way out,” Audun said. “Millie and I will look from the air while you three ladies search the ground. If there’s anything to find, we should be able to spot it with five of us looking.”

“Oh dear,” said Oculura. “I should have worn my blue eyes. These are fairly nearsighted, I’m afraid. I don’t know how much help I’m going to be.”

“And my back is hurting me,” Dyspepsia whined. “I just can’t ride a broom for long distances like I used to.”

Azuria sighed. “Do what you can, girls. A child’s life is at stake here.”

“Yes, of course … ,” said Oculura.

“I didn’t mean … ,” Dyspepsia protested even as Millie began to spiral closer to the ground.

While the three witches descended to the hummock, Millie and Audun began to search from the air. They didn’t see much at first, but after a time Millie noticed a brown hummock much like the one where they’d left the witches. There was something odd about it, however, so she called to Audun and pointed at the little hill. “What does that look like to you?” she asked when Audun flew close enough to hear her.

“I don’t know,” Audun replied, squinting. “It almost looks like fabric, doesn’t it? Let’s get a better look.”

The lower they went, the more puzzled Millie grew. It wasn’t until the two dragons were about to touch the ground that she saw the brown mound for what it really was—a hunched figure wearing a cloak with the hood pulled up.

“It’s the witch!” she breathed, but Audun had seen it as well, and he looked as if he was about to attack it. “No,” said Millie. “You might hurt Felix.”

Audun paused, his tail raised for a blow. He set it down reluctantly and, prepared to pounce, approached the seated figure.

“What took you so long?” asked the figure as he pushed back his hood. “I’ve been expecting you for hours.”

Millie hissed as her breath escaped in a rush. It wasn’t a witch at all. It was Olebald, the nasty old wizard. “Where’s my brother? Do you have him with you?”

The old wizard shook his head and sneered. “I’ve put him where you’ll never find him.”

With a roar, Audun launched himself at Olebald and knocked him flat on his back. “What have you done with the baby?” the dragon growled.

When Olebald laughed, Audun pressed his talons against the old man’s chest. Sweat broke out on the wizard’s forehead and he gasped. “If you hurt me, that boy will spend the rest of his life in this marsh!”