The Rules of Ever After (17 page)

P
hilip woke with a sharp gasp and lifted his head
off Daniel’s shoulder as the basket jostled beneath him. He quickly scanned his surroundings as the fog of sleep began to lift. The dark brown straw walls of the basket stretched around him and the blue sky above peeked in and out between the birds carrying the basket.

He could see his traveling companions piled in the corners of the basket. Peter and Marina slept back to back; their heads leaned on the other’s shoulder and their mouths were open. In the opposite corner, James leaned against the side of the basket with his head resting on top of Gwen’s head and his arms wrapped protectively around her shoulders. Gwen had her head nestled into James’s chest, and a trail of drool ran from the corner of her mouth onto the acorns embroidered on his surcoat.

Philip shifted his weight in discomfort; the woven walls scratched at his skin, and he had a sharp pain in his neck from sleep­ing with his head crooked at an awkward angle. A soft breath against his ear pulled him out of the last bit of sleepy haze, and he became aware of the warm arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

“Good morning, handsome,” a voice as warm as a velvet glove purred in his ear. “Silly birds dragged us across the top of a pine tree. I was hoping you’d sleep a little longer.”

Phillip shifted to look into Daniel’s face. The prince sat smiling at him and reached over to rub his thumb along Phillip’s cheek. Phillip leaned his face into the warmth of the man’s hand and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. “Daniel,” Phillip said with a yawn and a grin, “good morning. I’m sorry I fell asleep against you.”

“No problem. Did you sleep well?”

“My neck is killing me, but it felt good to sleep. How did you sleep?”

“Insomnia, remember?” Daniel said with a grin, as he ruffled Phillip’s hair.

“Oh, right. Where are we?” Phillip asked, as he sat up and looked around.

“Still up in the air, despite my worst fears. You know, Phillip, I know you don’t think you are ready to be a king, but this was a brilliant plan. That’s what a king does when he is presented a problem. He figures out a way to solve it and proceeds. If we had followed my thinking, we’d still be stuck in that tower. But you knew what to do. Like a king would.”

Phillip blushed and lowered his chin. Looking up at Daniel through his lashes, he sighed, “You think so?”

“I do, Your Majesty,” Daniel said with a wink, as he grabbed the edge of the basket. “Now, let’s stand up and see if we can see anything. We crossed The Teeth last night so I figure we’re some­where over Lower Lipponia by now.”

The basket bobbled beneath them as the two princes stood and rested their arms on the edge. The shaking of the basket woke the other occupants, and Phillip could hear their grunts and groans as each fumbled into the morning. Looking out, Phillip took in the lush green hills and valleys spreading out as far as he could see. Lower Lipponia was so much greener than her sister nation to the north! Small farmhouses with thatched yellow roofs sat atop the hills, surrounded by split rail fences and small gardens. Sheep grazing along the sides of the hills looked to Phillip like dandelion fluff scattered along the hills by the breath of a child. A short distance in front of the basket, a large stone castle with five turrets and rippling purple flags glistened in the morning sun.

“Look,” Phillip said, pointing toward the building, “that must be the castle of the Lower Lipponian king. We should land there and seek his help with Cauchemar. Birds! Can you please take us down in the courtyard of the castle?”

“I don’t think they are listening to you.” Daniel turned to Marina and asked, “Could you ask the birds to land us over there?”

Marina stepped to the edge of the basket and lifted her hand. “Mr. Bluebird? Can you come down here?” The tiny bird leading the flock dropped the yarn from its beak and flitted down to land on her finger. It sat looking into her face and ruffled its wings. “Could you please take us over there to that pretty castle?” The bird twittered and peeped at the girl. “Yes, I know you’re all tired and I’m sorry if we were heavier than you expected, but if you will just set us down in that castle, then you can go about your day.”

The bird hopped twice on her finger and then flew up into the flock of birds. The basket jostled its passengers to one side as the birds suddenly changed direction to head toward the castle. The basket began descending rapidly; the bottom scraped across the tile roof of one of the castle’s turrets.

“Birds!” Gwen yelled and grasped the side of the basket so hard her knuckles turned white. “Gently, please.”

As the basket glided over the center of the castle’s courtyard, the birds opened their beaks and released all the threads holding the basket up. It dropped with a loud “thump” and toppled onto its side, dumping the passengers onto the cobblestones in a jumbled pile of arms, legs, crowns and gowns. As Phillip shifted and pulled against the ground to free himself from the pile of bodies, he saw a man running across the courtyard straight for him. The man’s thick gray hair fluttered in the breeze, and his deep purple surcoat flapped behind him. As the man drew closer, Phillip noticed he was wearing a silver crown in the shape of ram’s horns and recognized the man as his most recent captor.

“Daniel! James! Peter! Get up!” he yelled as he scrambled to his feet. “King Rupert is here! Stand up and attack him with me!”

“By Gingerfair’s girdle!” James exclaimed, as he leaped to his feet and reached for the sword at his waist. “Blast, I forgot he took our swords!”

“How did he get here so fast?” Peter interjected, as he slipped behind Gwen and peeked over her shoulder.

Phillip and Daniel squared their shoulders and prepared to face the approaching king. Just as Phillip was preparing to take a swing at the king’s head, Marina came rushing past him and raced across the courtyard toward the man. “Uncle Frederick!” the girl cried as she jumped into his open arms. “Boys! Calm down! This is my father’s twin brother, King Frederick!”

“Marina, dear!” Phillip heard the old man say, as he spun the girl around before setting her gently back down. “Where have you been hiding away? I haven’t laid eyes on you since that horrible Prince Phillip ruined Bianca’s and your reputations. If he were here right now, why, I’m not sure I could be trusted not to put his head on a spike. The headache he has created for me—”

“Uncle,” Marina interrupted with a little giggle, “but he is here! Look over there!”

“What?” King Frederick stomped across the courtyard toward the assembled group. “Guards! Grab this man and fling him from the highest turret! No! Tie him down in the courtyard and let the birds feast on his liver! No! Even that is too kind. Quick,” the king said as he snapped his fingers and then scratched his head, “someone tell me a good punishment I can give to this—”

Peter stepped from behind Gwen and said, “You could cover him in honey and let the ants—”

“Peter!” Phillip yelled, as he turned to the boy with a glare. “Whose side are you on?”

“Sorry,” Peter mumbled and stepped back behind Gwen. “I can’t help it. I just have good ideas.”

“King Frederick,” Phillip said, as he turned back to the king and offered a deep bow, “there will be no need to punish me. I have been punished already by the near murder of my father. I’ve come to seek forgiveness from you and Princess Bianca, and to request your assistance in rescuing my father and bringing his attacker to justice.”

“Nice speech,” Frederick said. “And while I am sorry your father was attacked, I have problems enough of my own. Problems you created, in fact.”

“I’m sure anything I created can be, um, uncreated? I’ll gladly do what I can, if you’ll just help me.”

“Well, you set her on this path. Maybe you can knock her off it as well. Follow me,” the king said with a sigh, as he turned to go back into the castle. He held out his hands to his niece and escorted her beside him. “So, Marina, what news do you have of my simple-minded brother?”

“Uncle, he has lost his mind!” Marina said in an excited trill, as she took Frederick’s arm. “He is so determined to conquer you, it eats at his every thought. Oh, speaking of eating, can we have some breakfast? I’d love some hot buttered bread and maybe some milk? Oh, and something sweet? Anyway, he is insane with rage! He locked me in a tower and made me do peasant work! Which I was terrible at, by the way. Have you ever tried to spin? It’s hard and makes you really hungry! What was I saying? Oh, yes. He was going to kill my new friends and blame it on you. And I didn’t tell you the worst part, he let me eat too much and gain this weight and now…”

Phillip watched as the king and his niece disappeared through the large open doors of the castle, the girl’s scattered prattle fading with each step they took. Without thinking, Phillip took Daniel’s hand and pulled him along inside.

“What problems is he talking about?” Peter asked James.

“At this point, I’ve stopped trying to guess,” James said with a shrug before taking Gwen by the arm and turning to follow the princes.

Phillip held Daniel’s hand in a tight grip as they entered
the throne room. As he looked around at the tall marble columns the held up the lapis- and jade-bedecked ceiling and the long wool tapestries that hung along the walls, Phillip realized that what he and his father called a throne room was definitely lacking. The pastoral scenes of shepherds and peasant girls on the tapestries were arranged in a manner that led Phillip’s eyes to the far end of the room, where the king’s throne sat beneath the family sigil of a ram’s head on a purple banner.

The king and Marina stood a few feet in front of the throne, and the king was arguing with a young girl, who sat on the throne and wore a large silver crown. Her high cheekbones and slightly olive skin showed she was of Gloriannan heritage, like Daniel. Her small, bright red mouth was drawn downward in a sour frown as she argued with the king. Seeing the sleek cascade of raven black hair falling over the girl’s shoulders from beneath her crown, Phillip instantly knew who she was.

“It’s Bianca,” he whispered to Daniel, as they approached the throne. “Frederick’s daughter.”

“Failed your test?” Daniel whispered back.

“Yes. Without any help from me, either. I found her dead to the world in the bed when I came in to say goodnight and offer her my potion. Snoring like an Osterling boar! But I have no idea what she is doing up there.” Phillip looked at the girl sitting on the throne and chewed his lip.

“I said, Daddy, that I don’t care if it is my birthday fairy herself who is here to see me, I will not be interrupted while Lady Fiona and I are having our breakfast and… well, look who’s here! Fee,” Bianca said with a sharp laugh, as she turned to a petite blonde woman standing shyly behind the throne, “look who has the nerve to show up in
my
throne room after telling the whole land that I wasn’t a real princess. Can you believe he would just waltz right in here?”

The blonde girl—Lady Fiona, as Phillip assumed—giggled and shook her head before ducking behind the throne and peering back at him through the filigree around its edges. She whispered something into Bianca’s ear. Bianca cocked her eyebrow and looked back and forth between Phillip and Daniel. “I think you’re right, Fee. That does look like the man in the
Kingdom Inquisitor
. You there, are you Prince Daniel?”

“Yes, Bianca, we’ve met before. Remember? When you came to meet my brother for a possible marriage?”

“Ah, yes. Andrew, that pompous nitwit,” Bianca said with a roll of her eyes. “Fee, you remember what I told you about him? The one who couldn’t take his eyes off his own reflection long enough to notice me? What a jackass!” Bianca held out her hand to Fiona and led her around to sit on the arm of the throne and then rested her hand on the girl’s thigh.

“Yes,” Daniel said with a nod, “that would be Andrew.”

“Well, Phillip, if this one is anything like his brother, I don’t see how you can stand him. But, eh, to each his own, right? If you want to take him as your companion then—”

“Oh! No, no, no,” Phillip interrupted her, “Daniel is just my friend. He is helping me on my quest.” Phillip felt Daniel drop his hand and step away. Turning to look at the other prince, he saw Daniel staring at him, his mouth agape and disappointment in his eyes. Phillip screwed up his face and said quietly, “Daniel?” The other prince closed his mouth, shook his head and stepped over to stand with James and Gwen. As he turned back to the throne, Phillip saw Fiona whispering into Bianca’s ear again.

“Yes, Fee, men are stupid. He’ll figure it out eventually. So, Phil, what’re you here for?”

Glancing in Daniel’s direction, Phillip tried to gather his thoughts, unsure of what his words had just made happen. He stam­mered, “Um… I was…”

“Spit it out, boy. You can fix things with him later. You’re all keeping me and the lady here from a good breakfast.”

“Yes,” Phillip said, as he shook his head to clear his mind, “I’m here to warn you about an evil sorceress who has placed a spell on my father and who is intent on conquering all the kingdoms. I figured, Princess Bianca—”