The Rules of Ever After (20 page)

Phillip blushed and glanced over to see Daniel having a heated discussion with a fairy dressed all in blue. “Yes,” he sighed, “I’ve made several new friends. Some, like Gwen over there, I didn’t expect would ever want to speak to me again.

“Ah, yes,” Mitta said with a snort of laughter, “you were being quite the naughty boy with that silly tonic and that testing-bed nonsense. Convincing unsuspecting girls that they weren’t really royals? Not nice, young man. Not nice at all. Though it appears you’ve made the most of it. I do have to admit, it provided the girls and me hours of entertainment. Though I can’t for the life of me figure out why you let that ridiculous amateur sorceress of a stepmother of yours put you through all that. Really, pulling out something as archaic as a testing bed?”

“Seriously?” Phillip’s eyebrows shot up. “It was your curse that set all of that in motion.”

“My curse? My curse was that the search for love would make you leave your kingdom behind. Which, I might point out, is exactly what has happened. You have left the kingdom behind, gone on this wonderfully entertaining little adventure, and found a delightful companion thanks to Thora’s clever last blessing. The whole affair has been delightfully entertaining. Even more so than I hoped when I said it.”

“That is not what you said!” Phillip gasped as he rose from the bench.

“Phillip,” Mitta chastised, “I think I know what my own curse was. I said your marriage would be an adventure.”

“That’s not it either!” Phillip complained, his voice growing louder and shaky.

“Um,” Mitta stammered, “I know it had to do with love or mar­riage. All my curses and blessings do.”

“You said a bad marriage would make me lose my kingdom!”

“Don’t be absurd, child,” Mitta scoffed, “I would never use a curse that… well… now… that does sound sort of familiar now that you say it out loud.”

Phillip widened his eyes and kicked the bench. “You play with my life and you can’t even remember what you said?”

“Dear, I’ve had many wards and I’m an old fairy. The generation before you had so many… I can’t be expected to—”

“And it never once occurred to you that maybe someone mis­interpreted what you meant? Just once you could have stepped in and helped me out of that mess so I wouldn’t have to—”

“Phillip! We are not allowed to interfere like that. Just blessings. And I blessed you with many things over the years like—” Mitta jerked her head to the left at the sound of a loud shriek. “What in the name of—”

Phillip looked up to see Gwen storming across the hall toward him with James and two fairies trailing behind her. As the girl’s growling scream grew louder, the other party guests began filing over as well.

“You shrimp!” Gwen ran up to Phillip and kneed him in the crotch. “You’re no seahorse! You’re a spineless jellyfish!”

“Ow!” Phillip bellowed. “What was that for?”

“You knocked me out!”

“What is going on over here?” Daniel asked, as he rushed up to Phillip and put his hands on his shoulders. “Are you hurt?”

“I hope he is in eternal pain. Your darling over there gave me a tonic to make me sleep and fail that test! Staying awake was the test, and he knew he was making me fail!”

Phillip’s face turned ashen and he began to stammer, “Gwen, I can explain—” In agony, he dropped back onto the bench.

“Explain? Honestly! Because of you my father is missing, I’ve lost my kingdom, and I’ll never find a prince to marry me. Everyone thinks I am a fraud! I am so mad I could—honestly! You and Dr. Hickenkopf’s Miracle Tonic have ruined everything!”

“What?” Luna, the oldest fairy, interrupted. With her yellow wings and gown fluttering behind her, she sped across the room. Her arms were folded across her chest. “You think that simple tonic he gave you made you fail the test? Thora! What nonsense have you been feeding this girl?”

Thora pouted and tossed her orange braid over her shoulder. “I thought it might make this party a little more interesting.”

“My dear,” Luna said, as she fluttered over and patted Gwen’s head, “Dr. Hickenkopf is really Dr. Nincompoop. That tonic is nothing but frogberry juice and well water. Its only power is to induce tumbly tummy. You were in a testing bed, child. That is an ancient and powerful piece of magic. No tonic that Phillip could get his hands on could have made a true princess fall asleep.”

“Gwen,” Daniel added, “it’s true. James gave me that awful tonic once, and it didn’t make me sleep at all.”

“You mean I failed fair and square?” Gwen whimpered, as her bottom lip began to tremble.

“That or someone with strong magic did something to interfere. Girls,” Luna called out to her sisters, “did any of you break the rules and interfere with these girls’ tests?”

Each of the fairies shook her head no.

“Then they all failed,” Luna said with a shrug. “The only other possibility would be if some sorceress or wizard used something strong like Sleeping Heavenly Peas—”

“Did you say peas?” Phillip rushed over to Gwen. “By Ginger­fair’s curls, it was the pea, Gwen! Not me! Cauchemar must have done this! She put the peas under the bed. She has powers!”

“Phillip, I don’t understand,” Gwen said, scrunching up her nose.

“I didn’t make you fail the test! She did! The pea must’ve made you sleep!

“Girls,” Luna asked as she turned to the other fairies, “did any of you see this Cauchemar woman do something?”

“Don’t be absurd,” Mitta said with a wave of her hand. “That woman isn’t true royalty. None of us could have seen what she was doing unless a true royal was in the room.”

“Oh,” Marina cried out as she ran up to Gwen, “isn’t that won­derful news! You may still be a princess. You can take your kingdom back from King Robert and find a prince to marry!”

“Yeah. Great,” Gwen muttered and looked over at James with a frown. The knight smiled feebly and then turned to walk away, his head bowed.

“Oh no!” Peter yelled. “This is terrible news.”

“What?” Daniel said as he turned to Peter. “Phillip didn’t hurt the girls. That is wonderful news!”

“No! These fairies can’t see Cauchemar. I was hoping they could tell us where to find her, but they can’t see her any more than you or I can.”

“We have to find her,” Phillip said. “So I can save my father!”

“And I have to find Katerina!” Peter cried.

“Katerina?” the silver fairy, Marta, said with a slight gasp. “Why, I can tell you where Katerina is. She is one of my princesses.”

“Except,” Phillip said with a sigh, “that girl is not the real Kat­erina. She’s just someone Cauchemar was trying to pass off as Katerina. The real Katerina was killed with the rest of the Canteran royal family.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Marta said and pointed toward James, “she’s no more dead than her brother, Ewan, over there.”

“Lady, why do you keep calling me that?” James said.

“Marta!” Luna interrupted. “Have all of you girls forgotten the ‘do not interfere’ rule? Well, the horse is out of the stable now. Tell him.”

“Your name is not James. It’s Ewan,” Marta explained. “You’re the crown prince of Cantera. Cauchemar took you and your sister out of your parents’ castle the night it was overrun. She cast you aside here and took your sister with her. Since I couldn’t interfere with your lives directly, I wasn’t allowed to let anyone know who you really are. But I gave you both blessings when I could. I had Queen Rhea find you. I gave you a strong body and a strong will. I gave you skill with a sword.”

James stood still with his mouth agape. “I’m a prince?”

“James!” Gwen flung her arms around his shoulders. “You’re a royal!”

“But I like being a knight,” James muttered as he pushed Gwen back.

“But a royal, honestly!” Gwen gushed.

“Highnesses,” Peter said, “can we discuss this later? We need to find Katerina!”

“Yes,” James said, as he stepped up to Marta, “help us find my sister, please. Hey! I have a sister!”

“Luna?” Marta turned to the oldest fairy with an imploring look.

“Fine.” The fairy threw up her hands. “Show them. Let’s fix this mess you’ve all made.”

Marta reached deep into the pocket of her gown and pulled out her large silver hand mirror. Gazing into the glass, she began to chant “Mirror, Mirror, in my hand. Show me the girl, wherever she may stand.”

The royals crowded close around the fairy’s shoulders to see what the glass would reveal.

C
antera had always been a land of great wealth, due to
the numerous mines that dotted its landscape. Iron, gold, silver, gemstones and coal had all been discovered within its borders and had made its citizens wealthy beyond imagination. Local legend had it that in ancient times, a tall and handsome man, Thrigor, had been king of the entire realm of Clarameer and ruled it from a castle he erected in the center of the kingdom. In his desire to make his castle the largest and most ornate that anyone had ever seen, he had mined the resources from each corner of the land and brought them to Cantera.

As the other regions lost more and more of their fortunes to the king’s greed, they began to develop other resources—timber in the woodlands of the east, produce in the plains of the west, wool and livestock in the northern valleys, and the bounty of the sea to the south. The greedy king, determined to keep all of Clarameer’s riches to himself, grew more and more terrified that someone would steal his riches. He built vast dungeons below his castle and imprisoned the citizens of his kingdom so they could not steal his wealth. In an effort to hide the vast riches from anyone who sought to claim some for himself, the king began to bury all his bounty under
the soil of Cantera and spent every waking moment clawing away at the earth to secret away his treasures.

With time, his fingernails were hardened into long claws by all the digging; they scratched at the flesh of his face as he tried to eat, so his body grew thinner from lack of food. His back grew more and more hunched as he crawled about the dark earth, making large holes and covering his treasure within them
. The rabid greed that ran rampant through his veins turned his skin green and made his hair grow stringy and greasy. Eventually all of his treasures were buried deep within the Canteran soil, and Thrigor rested on the largest pile with a satisfied sigh.

As the withered king slept, he dreamed that a beautiful huntress came to him and kissed his cheek, making him instantly reveal the locations of all his hidden riches. As he awoke screaming in fear of losing his wealth, the king decided that even he could not be trusted to know where the treasures were buried. He took the last of his gold and rubies and made a large crown for himself. He turned the crown in his hands and whispered the locations of each treasure into one of the rubies, quickly forgetting each hiding place as soon as he had told it to the crown. He said, “Ruby, Ruby, red and round, keep my secrets safe and sound.” He plopped the crown onto his head, knowing that as long as he wore it, he could ask the crown where his treasures lay.

Satisfied that his bounty was safe, Thrigor turned back to his castle. As he walked along the edge of the river, he grew thirsty and stopped to drink from the sparkling blue water. H
e caught sight of his reflection in the water, seeing a dirty, green troll with scars all over his face. The troll king reeled back in disgust, causing the crown to topple off his head and into the water below. He screamed in horror at the creature his greed had birthed and in anguish at the loss of the crown.

Thrigor’s screams drew the attention of a young huntress, Gingerfair, who had wandered down from the mountains to gather flowers for her bridal bouquet. As she ran to the source of the screams, she noticed the glimmering gold crown in the river. After pulling it from the water, she placed it upon her head and said, “Ruby, Ruby, red and dear, whisper a secret in my ear!” Instantly, she knew the locations of all of the troll king’s treasures. She ran to her beloved, Godrick, and told him of her good fortune.

The young lovers ran to the castle to tell the king of her discovery, only to find the withered old troll sitting on the throne and mumbling to himself. When the troll king saw the crown on the young girl’
s head, he stamped his feet and demanded she return it to him. He stomped so hard, the ground beneath his feet cracked open and swallowed him whole.

Gingerfair and Godrick instantly rushed to the dungeons and released all of the citizens of Cantera, with Gingerfair telling each where he could build a mine to retrieve the troll king’s riches. Out of gratitude to the young girl, the citizens named her their queen and threw a lavish ball in her honor. Her first act as queen was to divide Clarameer into five kingdoms, split between her four sisters and herself, so that no one person could ever control all of the land’s resources again. Clarameer and her five kingdoms were ruled by the five queens in peace and harmony. Her people lived their lives happy, wealthy
and free from that day forward, with only one little fear in the back of their minds—someday the troll king could return.

“Well, I guess he did.” Dinah lifted her bound hands to her face and brushed a stray hair from her eyes. “Kitty, you said you’d tell me a story to make me feel better, but that just made me think about the troll king upstairs. You’re terrible at this. I bet you’d tell someone with a cough a story about the rain plague.”

“I’m sorry.” Katerina sighed and leaned her head against the bars between their cells. “That’s how Peter ended it. He’s better at telling stories than I am. If he were here…” Her words trailed off as she shivered against the cold air of the dungeon. “It’s just an old legend anyway. That man upstairs can’t be Thrigor. He’d have to be thousands of years old.”

“Silly girls,” King Edward muttered from his cell. “That legend is based on facts. My ancestor was one of the queens who was given a kingdom. Maybe he
is
back? Who knows? It’s him. It’s not him. Who cares? Either way, we’re still in a dungeon awaiting Godrick knows what.” Katerina heard the bars of his cell rattle as he pounded on them. The sound echoed around the empty hallway of the dungeon. “Dinah’s right about one thing, though. You’re terrible at storytelling. My daughter performs a play version of that legend much better than you do,” Edward said gruffly, as he turned from the bars and shuffled to the stone slab in his cell that served as a bed. “Don’t know why your aunt thinks you’d be a good wife.”

“Kitty!” Dinah said, as she struggled to stand up and wobbled across her cell toward Katerina. “What about your aunt? Maybe she has changed her mind? Maybe she will help us get out of here?”

“No, that won’t happen,” Katerina said with a frown. “She’s very determined. She claims she’s the one who brought the troll king back in the first place.”

“Why would she do that?” Dinah asked.

“She wanted him to help her get rid of my parents,” Katerina explained. “She let him into the castle and helped him take over. She says I am the daughter of King Francis and Queen Evelyn. She showed me the whole thing in a magic mirror. The only reason I survived was because she stole me away.”

“You are Katerina?” Edward gasped from across the hallway. “Kitty. Katerina. Yes, you even look like Evelyn. Of course! It all makes sense now. Well, it makes no sense but… by Gingerfair’s girdle! If she would do all that… we are doomed.” The man groaned and dropped to his knees.

“Kitty,” Dinah begged, holding her bound hands in front of her face. “Tell me this isn’t true. Surely your aunt won’t do anything to hurt us!”

Katerina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. My aunt is not a very nice lady.”

“What an unkind thing to say, Katerina,” Cauchemar purred, as she walked out of the shadows and up to the cell. She dragged her fingers along the bars, making small blue sparks arc between them. “After all I have done for you. I’m making you a queen. And for the last time,” Cauchemar said as she reached through the bars and yanked on the ruffles of Katerina’s dress, “These go down here. You really are a dimwit.”

“You! Kitty, this is your aunt?” Dinah screamed as she tottered toward the door of her cell. “You’re Phillip’s stepmother! The one who told everyone I wasn’t a princess and ruined my life!”

“Did I?” Cauchemar said with a slight lift of her eyebrow. “From what I have seen, you were happier learning magic than you ever would have been married to Phillip. I believe I did you a favor. You show a real aptitude for it, too.”

“Will you teach me?” Dinah asked as she approached the bars. Katerina’s jaw dropped as she looked at Dinah in disbelief.

“Oh, child, I’m afraid I cannot have someone in the kingdoms who might someday be as powerful in her magic as I am. I’ll have to dispose of you after you’ve served as Katerina’s bridesmaid.”

Dinah dropped her head against the bars of her cell and groaned.

“You still think I’m going to marry that troll?” Katerina asked. She glared at her aunt and yanked the sleeves of her dress back up onto her shoulders. “Have I suffered enough down here to prove your point?”

“Well, not really. But I’m afraid there has been a slight change of plans. It seems the guards along the eastern wall have seen four men and a woman approaching.”

“Peter?” Katerina gasped.

“Yes. And those meddlesome princes. But we’ll deal with them in short order. Then, old man,” she said as she turned to the cell behind her, “you’ll have a little father-daughter reunion.”

“Gwen?” King Edward jumped up from the slab and ran to the bars of his cell. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on my daughter.”

“Oh, I can take care of her just fine without touching her at all.” Cauchemar pointed her finger and shot a bolt of burgundy light at a rat scurrying between the cells. The animal screeched in pain before falling onto its side. The two girls turned away in horror as the animal kicked its feet in the throes of death. Cauchemar watched until the animal lay still and then turned to the girls with a smirk. “Ladies, get some rest. We don’t want dark circles under the eyes when the court artist paints your wedding day portrait.”

Cauchemar turned quickly and swept out of the hallway with her long train trailing behind her. As she reached the doorway, she turned and snapped her fingers, causing all of the torches in the dungeon to extinguish. “Nighty night!”

“Oh, Gwen,” the old man wailed in his cell, “don’t come near this place. Please don’t!”

“I’m sorry, Dinah,” Katerina whimpered, as she stumbled over to her slab and lay down.

“Isn’t this just lovely,” Dinah grumbled. “I have to be a brides­maid. Again.”

“I think we should leave the horses here,” James called
over his shoulder as he galloped out of the edge of the Western Wood. “We’re going to have a hard enough time just getting the five of us over that wall, much less the horses. Gwen and Peter, if you want to stay here, we’ll understand. Things might get dangerous.”

James pointed to the gigantic structure that blocked the horizon. The wall stood at least a hundred feet tall and glistened in the light of the morning sun. The sides appeared to be made of milky white glass streaked with veins of emerald green and sapphire blue. James walked up to the base of the wall and ran his hand down its side. “I have no idea how we are going to do that, of course. There’s no way we can climb something as smooth as this.”

Pulling his sword from its sheath, he reared his arms back and swung at the wall with all his force. The sword bounced off the surface of the wall and sent a shower of sparks flying about his shoulders. James inspected the surface where he had hit the wall and said, “It didn’t even leave a mark. You two better get out of the way while I try again.”

Peter looked at Gwen and frowned. “Why do they think we are useless? He does realize that we have been through everything on this journey that he has, right?”

Gwen shrugged and pulled her horses reins to stop beside Peter. “Honestly. All they see is a girl who play-acts adventure and a boy who writes about it. I know one thing, though. I’m not staying with the horses while they see all the action. Cauchemar is the one who slipped that pea under the mattress and I’ve got a thing or two to say to her.”

“I guess he has a point, though,” Peter said and dismounted. “The princes and James have their swords. Even you are good with a dagger or a bow and arrow. All I have is this silly pencil.” Peter pulled the pencil from behind his ear and held it up for her to see. “What am I going to do? Write a strongly worded letter?”

“Dear Madam,” Gwen said with a giggle as she hopped down beside him, “I would like to lodge a formal complaint.”

“Peter,” Phillip chastised as he and Daniel trotted up beside the pair, “you’re not staying here. You’ve been with me every step of this journey, and it’s time you prove you were right about Cauchemar all along. I’m not leaving you here. You either, Gwen.” Phillip dismounted and walked over to Daniel’s horse. He smiled up at the other prince and held out his hand to help him down. “You’ve kept watch in the night, but are you ready to save the day?”

Daniel slid off his horse and down into Phillip’s waiting arms. He could see Phillip trying to maintain an air of bravery, but knew the other man’s heart had to be pounding with fear as hard as his own was. As Phillip pulled him into a tighter embrace, Daniel cleared his throat. “You know, I’ve been thinking.”