Princess in Disguise (15 page)

“Then we must be close to Lizette and Grimsby's castle,” said Annie.

“Which is exactly where we're going now,” Liam said. “It should be right this way.”

Annie was horrified. “No!” she exclaimed. “We can't go there!”

“Why not?” Liam said, looking surprised. “Is it because he's an ogre and tried to kill me the last time we met?”

“Of course not,” said Annie. “It's just that I forgot to invite them to the wedding. I meant to, but it completely slipped my mind. I feel just awful!”

“You'll feel worse if we don't get out of this storm soon, or those men catch up with us. The ogre's castle is the only shelter that I know of around here.”

Annie sighed. “Then I guess we have no choice, but I really don't like barging in on them!”

“At least this time we're not here to kill the ogre and rescue the princess,” Liam said with a laugh.

“That's true,” said Annie. “Although I still wouldn't call this a friendly visit, not with those men on our tails!”

Liam shook his head. “I don't like leading men like that to someone's home, but I don't see that we have any choice. I could probably handle them myself if I wasn't worried that I would risk leaving you unprotected.
I'm sure Grimsby and Lizette will understand. If we're lucky, those men will have enough good sense to stay away from an ogre's castle.”

The mare following them whinnied again and Hunter screamed right back. “Great,” Liam said. “We're trying to lose those men and this stallion keeps announcing where we are.”

The storm grew stronger as they picked their way through the forest. Thunder rumbled and wind lashed the branches overhead, tossing leaves and bits of broken twigs to the forest floor. Boughs broke with a loud
crack!
crashing to the ground and making even the normally calm Otis skittery. Suddenly, out of the near-dark, the castle loomed overhead, looking as foreboding as it had the first time they'd been there.

Annie and Liam were trying to make their horses go closer when the little finch returned, landing on Liam's shoulder. If the bird chirped anything, Annie couldn't hear it over the sound of the wind and rain. “Did she say something?” Annie shouted to Liam.

“Those men are right behind us,” he shouted back. “We have to get inside the castle.”

“Do we have to climb the wall like last time?” Annie asked, looking up at the chiseled stone.

Thunder rumbled, sounding louder and closer. Liam nodded. “We will unless we can find another way in.”

Annie followed Liam through the trees, looking for a door or window or any kind of opening. Anxious,
she kept glancing back, expecting to see the men at any moment. When lightning flashed overhead, she thought she saw a horse and rider back among the trees, but then it was dark again and she was urging Otis on.

“What are we going to do with the horses?” Annie shouted at Liam. “We can't leave them in this storm. They'll either get hurt or run off.”

“I haven't seen a shelter for them yet. We'll keep looking.”

The wind was growing stronger, pushing against their backs. They were rounding the base of a tower when there was a loud crash and a door in the castle wall blew open, letting the rain pour in.

“This way!” Liam shouted, hopping down from his horse's back. “We'll have to leave the horses out here. I can hobble them and—”

Thunder boomed as lightning cracked the night sky overhead. Terrified, Liam's horse broke away and ran through the open door into the castle. Not wanting to be left behind, Otis followed, carrying Annie inside. She was sliding off Otis's back when Liam appeared. “I guess the horses decided for us,” said Annie. “I don't have the heart to put them back outside now.”

Annie helped Liam force the door shut. It was dark in the castle, with no lit torches and light only when lightning flashed. “The next time there's lightning,
look for a torch on the wall or a candlestick or something I can light,” said Liam.

“All right,” Annie said as they waited in the dark. “You know, I've never ridden a horse into someone's home before. I have to say, though, that this is more like a very large house than a castle. There's no courtyard, no moat, no real defense …”

“It's an ogre's castle,” said Liam. “Usually that would be defense enough. Ah, there we go!”

Lightning split the sky outside with an earth-shaking boom, startling the horses and giving Annie and Liam the chance to look around. They were in a large hall with a fireplace at the other end. “I didn't see anything,” said Annie. “Nothing on the walls, no furniture … It looks as if the place has been abandoned.”

“I didn't see anything, either,” said Liam. “Something isn't right.”

“Here,” Annie said, taking the wilted moonflower petals out of her knapsack. “We can use these.” They were partly crushed and the edges were browner than before, but they still gave off enough light to see by.

“What happened to this place?” Liam asked as he looked around.

The hall looked as if it had been ransacked. There were no sconces on the walls, although Annie could see marks from smoke where candles or torches had burned. Rough stone remained where wood paneling had once covered surfaces, the floor was torn up in
some places, and there were piles of rubble in others. The mantel and stone facing of the fireplace had been removed. All of the tapestries, furniture, and decorations were gone, leaving an empty shell behind.

“Lizette and Grimsby must have moved out,” said Annie. “Then vandals broke in and did this. Now I don't feel so bad about bringing the horses inside.”

“We need to find something to block this door,” Liam said. “See, the latch is broken. That's why it blew open.”

“We're not going to find anything here,” said Annie. “And we can't stay where we are. Those men are going to be right behind us.”

Liam nodded. “You're right. We'll leave the horses here. The men are after us, not the horses. Let me get you somewhere safe, then I'll come back down and deal with them.”

They hurried from the hall with Annie carrying the petals to light their way. Entering a corridor, they saw a set of steps at the end. She recognized the staircase from their last visit. “We'll be safe up there,” she said over her shoulder as she strode toward the stairs.

“Hurry,” said Liam. “Those men are in the hall now.”

Annie heard the thud of someone tripping in the dark and a grumbled curse even as another voice cried out, “Blast it! I've burned my fingers again on this stupid torch. Why didn't you bring one that works, Alfred?”

“At least I brought a torch, Fenley! We'd be stuck in the dark again if it had been up to you.”

“There, I got it. Which way did they go?”

Annie and Liam ran up the stairs, one flight, then a second to a floor where the stairs ended at a corridor and closed doors. The men were behind them then, their feet pounding the steps.

Remembering their last visit, Annie turned to the door at the far end of the corridor. “We have to go this way,” she told Liam.

“But that leads to—”

“I know,” said Annie. “But if the magic is still working, the house can actually help us.”

The last time they had entered the room, it had held a table and two chairs along with the remains of two meals. It was empty now, with nothing but dust and stale air to greet them. Annie glanced down the corridor as she closed the door behind them and could see the light of a torch wobbling as the men ran up the stairs. A head appeared at the landing and Annie was sure the man had spotted her.

“They'll be here in a moment,” she told Liam. “Quick, this way!”

Annie had been the one to discover the secret staircase hidden behind a panel in the wall during their last visit. The door was covered with the same paneling that covered the walls, making it almost impossible to see. Because she knew where it was,
she found the handle easily, opening the door without making a sound. They slipped through, closing it behind them, and started up the stairs just as the men threw open the door into the room and rushed inside. Annie paused on the stairs until she heard them fling open the door opposite the first and barge into the hallway beyond. She and Liam climbed a few more steps, then the men were back in the room, running through as if they had never seen it before. By the time Annie and Liam had neared the top of the secret staircase, the men had run through the room two more times.

“Wait a minute!” one of the men said. “Haven't we been here before?”

“What are you talking about, Alfred? We've never been near this castle before tonight.”

“I don't mean the castle, I mean this room. I swear we keep going through it.”

“How is that possible? We'll go out that door …”

“And come in this one. Stay here and watch me.”

Annie heard the sound of running feet, then overheard one of the men left behind say, “Why are we listening to Alfred? While we stand here waiting, the prince and princess are getting away!”

“What do you want to do, Twitch? We could go after him, but he—”

“See!” Alfred said as he dashed into the room, panting.

“How did you come in that door? You just went out the other one!”

“It's like I said, we keep going through the same room. Someone put a spell on it.”

“So where did the prince and princess go? Shouldn't they be running through the room, too?”

“They must have found another way out,” said Alfred. “I don't see a trapdoor, so maybe there's a secret door in one of these walls. See if you can find one.”

The men started tapping on the walls, working their way around the room.

Afraid of putting her weight on a squeaky step, Annie had stopped just below the top of the stairs while the men were in the room, but she and Liam no longer had time to wait. She started up the stairs again, gesturing for Liam to follow.

“I found it!” shouted one of the men, and the door at the bottom of the stairs flew open. “There they are!”

“Go!” Liam cried, urging Annie up the last few steps.

Unlike the floors below, this one looked just as it had before. Wooden benches lined the walls, one between each of the closed doors. Light from flaming torches wavered in a breeze that wafted through the windowless hallway. A tapestry's edge fluttered as if it were alive.

The moment Annie and Liam stepped into the hallway, the air began to swirl around their feet, carrying
black fur with it. Annie could hear the magic gathering, but she wasn't worried; she knew what was coming next and what she had to do about it. She and Liam ran down the corridor, heading to the far end. Although the fur followed Liam, it avoided her entirely.

“We've got 'em now!” shouted one of the men, who were nearly tripping over one another as they followed Annie and Liam.

Reaching the end of the hall with nowhere to go, Liam stepped in front of Annie, saying, “Stay behind me. I recognize those men and I've dealt with them before. I'll just … Drat this fur! I can't move!”

Annie glanced down. The fur had wrapped itself around Liam's feet and ankles and was working its way up his legs. No matter how much he strained to lift them, he couldn't budge his feet.

“Hold my hand,” Annie told him. “And don't let go.”

The moment Liam touched her, the fur fell away and skittered down the hallway toward the men, who were also unable to move. Some of the fur had already gathered around them, coating their boots. As more fur accumulated, it covered their legs, working its way up their bodies. Annie recognized them with a start. They were the men who had delivered the tiny spindle that had pricked Gwendolyn's finger and put everyone in the castle except Annie to sleep. They were the same men who had locked Annie in Rapunzel's tower. And now …

“Help me!” shouted one of the men, his eyes wild with fear as he beat at the thickening fur.

A door burst open and an ogre over seven feet tall thundered into the hallway. “What are you doing in my home?” he roared, waving a massive knobbed cudgel over his head.

“Grimsby!” cried Annie. “You're here after all!”

The ogre turned to glare at Annie. “Of course I'm here,” he growled. “Did you come thinking I was away?”

“We came hoping you were home,” said Liam. “But your door was open and your castle looked deserted.”

“These men have been chasing us,” Annie added. “We came to you for refuge.”

“What's this?” Princess Lizette said, emerging from the same room. Clutching her robe at her throat with one hand, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the other. “Annie, Liam, what are you doing here? Is Cozwald here as well?”

Annie shook her head. “No, it's just us. These men have been following us since we reached Farley's Crossing.”

“We didn't mean you any harm!” shouted the man called Alfred.

“Really?” said one of the others. “I thought we did. Have our plans changed again?”

“Quiet!” the ogre bellowed. His face was a mask of rage until he turned to Lizette. The anger fell away then, replaced with a look of such love that Annie had
to squeeze Liam's hand. “What do you want me to do with them, my love?”

“Lock those men in the dungeon and throw away the key!” cried the princess. “Then come back upstairs and help me welcome our guests.”

“No!” shouted Twitch. “Not an ogre's dungeon!”

“I told you we shouldn't have taken this job,” said Alfred.

“Move along!” growled Grimsby.

“Wait!” Liam called. “I want them to answer a question first. Who hired you to come after us?”

“Don't answer him!” cried Fenley.

Grimsby took a step toward them, waving his cudgel. “You'll answer him or you'll answer to me!”

“I'd rather answer the prince,” said Twitch. He turned his head, the only thing he could move, to look at Liam. “It was your brother, Clarence. He wanted us to get rid of you so you wouldn't interfere with his plans.”