by Nancy Krulik
Sir Stately’s stallion took off, heading in Princess Pulverizer’s direction.
The crowd cheered.
“Closer! Get closer!” The princess heard Elle’s voice above everyone else’s. “You cannot let him win!”
Don’t worry, Princess Pulverizer thought. He’s not winning. She steered the horse closer toward Sir Stately’s path and held her lance out.
Sir Stately held his lance out, too.
Whoa. Sir Stately’s lance was much longer than Princess Pulverizer’s, and yet he seemed to have it completely under his control.
Princess Pulverizer couldn’t even keep her small lance still. It was shaking in her hand.
“Knock him to the ground,” Elle shouted over the crowd. “Get closer.”
Elle was right. The only way Princess Pulverizer could knock Sir Stately from his stallion would be to come up right against him. She yanked the reins to the left.
Her horse turned closer to Sir Stately. And closer. And even closer still.
The princess was now so close, she could see the whites of Sir Stately’s eyes through his visor.
THUD!
Something slammed Princess Pulverizer right in the chest. She sensed her horse’s legs buckling beneath her. She felt herself falling. And then everything went dark.
Chapter 8
“Get up, you fool!” The first sound Princess Pulverizer heard when she opened her eyes was Elle’s bellowing, angry voice.
Neigh. Neigh. The second sound was the whimpering of her injured horse.
“She can’t get up. Don’t you see she’s injured?” The third sound was Dribble’s voice. He seemed rather concerned.
The princess struggled to look up through the eyehole in her visor. She could just about make out Elle, Anna, Lucas, and Dribble all standing above her.
“We have to get her out of that armor,” Lucas said.
“No way,” Elle said. “She’s getting up and going back on a different horse even if I have to—”
“Oh no you don’t,” Anna said, grabbing her sister’s hands. “We’re not going to use any magic this time. It’s a joust between knights, not sisters.”
“Magic!” Lucas shouted excitedly. “That’s it! We can use the mace’s magic to make Princess Pulverizer well again.”
“No you can’t.” Princess Pulverizer felt tired and weak. “I haven’t exactly been fighting on the side of good recently. The mace won’t work on me. And its magic would be gone forever if you tried.”
“Is this a trick?” Lucas asked.
“No trick,” the princess promised.
“But you’re so nice all of a sudden,” Lucas said. “Why the switch?”
Princess Pulverizer thought for a minute. “I don’t actually know,” she admitted.
“It’s the opal brooch,” Dribble told Lucas. “She can’t see it under her armor. Without that blue-and-pink stone hypnotizing her, Elle has no power over Princess Pulverizer.”
“That’s ridiculous. I don’t have to hypnotize anyone to make them work for me,” Elle insisted.
Princess Pulverizer could feel the truth-telling sword wiggle and jiggle at her side. Elle was definitely lying.
“But Princess Pulverizer was so determined to win that joust at any cost,” Lucas pointed out.
“I don’t think that had anything to do with her being hypnotized by Elle,” Dribble said. “Princess Pulverizer just likes to win.”
The princess didn’t—couldn’t—argue with that one. Winning was important to her.
“Use the mace to cure my stallion,” Princess Pulverizer insisted. “He’s a good horse. It’s my fault he’s injured. I took too many risks.”
Lucas looked over at the whimpering animal. “We have to try,” he agreed.
“Okay.” Dribble lifted the magical mace and waved it over the creature’s injured leg.
The horse’s eyes brightened. He shook his leg a bit, scrambled to his feet, and galloped off across the field.
“I told you he was a good horse,” Princess Pulverizer said. She reached down and grabbed her leg. “My ankle’s starting to throb.”
“Don’t worry, Princess. I’m getting you out of that metal suit,” Dribble said.
“Oh no!” Elle insisted. “She’s getting back in the tournament. I’m not losing again.”
“You’d better leave,” Princess Pulverizer warned her friends. “You don’t want to make Elle your enemy. I’ll be okay.”
“Not inside that armor you won’t,” Dribble said. “You shouldn’t be carrying all that extra weight.” He turned to Lucas. “Help me get this thing off her.”
Lucas just stood there.
“Come on,” Dribble urged again. “Remember, you left that whole Lucas the Lily-Livered reputation behind you. You’re brave now. She’s our friend. She needs our help. Besides, Anna won’t let Elle hurt us.”
“Of course not,” Anna agreed.
Lucas took a deep breath, then bent down to unfasten the armor from the princess’s legs.
At the same time, Dribble removed the armor from her arms and upper body. As he did, the golden brooch fell onto the ground.
“Your brooch!” Elle looked at Princess Pulverizer and forced a fake smile to her lips. “Here, I’ll just pin it back on and then . . .”
Before Elle could pick up the brooch, Dribble stepped on it. He turned his heavy dragon foot back and forth, grinding it into the ground. The opal stone cracked into pieces under his weight.
Dribble lifted his foot and smiled triumphantly. “Looks like your brooch—and its evil spell—are both broken.”
Elle glared at Dribble. “I can’t believe you did that!” she bellowed.
“Believe it,” Anna told her. “And if I were you, I’d think twice about getting back at Dribble. Remember, I have powers as strong as yours.”
Elle frowned. “So now I have an injured knight to deal with.”
“No you don’t,” Princess Pulverizer told her.
“You are injured,” Dribble corrected her. “It’s probably just a sprain, but . . .”
“I mean, she doesn’t have a knight anymore,” Princess Pulverizer explained. “I don’t want to be a knight who ruins people’s lives. I want to be a noble knight.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Elle said. “A knight is a knight.”
“That’s not true,” Princess Pulverizer countered. “Being a noble knight is not something you can become overnight. It takes time. And training. And if I wasn’t strong enough to stand up to the magic in a little gold pin, then I’m not ready. My father was right. I have a lot to learn.”
Elle rolled her eyes. “You must have hurt your head in that fall,” she said. “You’re speaking nonsense.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying,” Princess Pulverizer insisted. “I QUIT!”
“No one quits on me!” Elle shot the princess an angry look. “And you’re going to be very sorry you tried.”
“Don’t listen to Elle,” Anna said as Dribble and Lucas helped Princess Pulverizer to her feet. “You’re leaving with me.”
“Can you walk?” Dribble asked the princess. “Or do you need me to carry you?”
“I’m okay,” Princess Pulverizer assured him. “It just hurts a little.”
“You can rest in my castle,” said Anna. “It’s this way.”
But before Princess Pulverizer could respond, she felt a piece of cloth fly into her mouth, blocking her words. She tried to pull the gag from her mouth, but already a white rope had magically tied her hands behind her back. Another rope was slithering its way around her legs, binding them so she couldn’t walk.
Dribble and Lucas tried to grab their friend and rescue her. But with a single wave of Elle’s hand, a locked cage appeared magically around Princess Pulverizer. She was trapped!
“Do som
ething!” Dribble pleaded with Anna.
“I cannot undo Elle’s magic,” Anna admitted.
The princess gasped. Even Anna couldn’t help her now.
“But I can do some magic of my own,” Anna continued. She waved her hand in the air, and a key appeared magically in her palm. She reached over and quickly used it to unlock the cage. “You’re free,” she said kindly.
Well, not exactly. The princess was still bound and gagged by Elle’s magical ropes. Anna couldn’t undo those.
Which meant the princess couldn’t just walk out of the cage.
But she could hop toward her friends. Hop. Hop . . .
Whoa! Just as Princess Pulverizer was about to reach her friends, she felt her feet lift off the ground.
She looked over at Elle. The wicked witch was waving her hands in the air. She was the reason the princess was flying in midair. Which would be kind of fun—if Elle weren’t so evil. No good could come of this.
“I told you, nobody quits on me!” Elle exclaimed as she leaped onto her horse.
The evil witch waved her hands once again, and in an instant, the princess was hanging over the side of Elle’s black-and-white mare, her head dangling over one side of the saddle and her feet over the other.
“Don’t try to stop me, Anna,” Elle warned. “You know what I am capable of.” She kicked her horse hard in the side. “Giddyap!”
Princess Pulverizer gulped. She had no idea where they were going. But she was quite certain she wasn’t going to like it there.
Chapter 9
“This is where you live?” Princess Pulverizer asked nervously a little while later as she hobbled around the castle. Elle had taken the gag out of Princess Pulverizer’s mouth and untied her arms and legs so she was free to move around. But that didn’t make her ankle—or the rest of her—feel much better.
The princess had never before been in Elle’s home. Up until now, the witch had always insisted on meeting with the princess out of doors. Which was probably just as well. This castle was awful.
“Yes, this is my home,” Elle said. “And it’s yours, too. Because now, instead of being my knight, you are my prisoner. You will spend every minute trapped in here. Lucky for you, I live in a really wonderful place.”
Wonderful wasn’t exactly the word the princess was thinking of. More like horrifying.
Elle’s castle was decorated with velvet paintings of red-eyed rats and ravens. A real skeleton’s head sat on the mantel. Above the fireplace was a giant portrait of Elle herself, with eyes that seemed to follow the princess around the room.
“This place is definitely a reflection of your personality,” the princess told Elle.
Princess Pulverizer couldn’t bear the thought of staying in this horrible place much longer. But she knew she couldn’t just run away. For one thing, she had an injured ankle. And for another, Elle could easily use her magic to capture her again.
An escape was going to take planning—and patience. So for now, the princess was going to have to get used to the skeleton skull, the creepy paintings, that doll up on the highest shelf of the bookcase, the . . .
Wait a minute. Doll? How strange.
The doll was beautiful, with long dark hair and smooth porcelain skin. It sure didn’t fit in here.
“What a lovely doll,” the princess said. She reached to take it off the shelf.
“Don’t ever touch that!” Elle exclaimed angrily. “It’s mine. And no one touches it but me.”
Whoa. “I never pictured you having a doll,” Princess Pulverizer said.
“What, was I never a kid?” Elle asked her. “My mother gave Anna and me identical dolls. Anna’s somehow ended up in the fire. But mine is still here.”
The truth-telling sword by Princess Pulverizer’s side began to shake. Clearly, Anna’s doll didn’t just “end up” in the fire. Or the doll in this room didn’t belong to Elle. The princess wasn’t quite sure which. She just knew Elle was lying.
“I don’t care how popular Anna is,” Elle continued. “She will never have a doll like that. It’s irreplaceable because it came from Mother.”
Wow. That was surprising. Not that Elle was jealous of Anna. Jealousy was just one of Elle’s many ugly traits. What was surprising was that the evil witch would be so attached to a gift. She didn’t seem the sentimental type.
“I was Mother’s favorite daughter,” Elle boasted.
“She told you that?” the princess asked, surprised. She couldn’t imagine Elle being anyone’s favorite.
“Well, of course she couldn’t say it,” Elle continued. “But it was obvious. She gave me lovely dresses to wear, and braided my hair. She told me I was special.”
Special. Well, that is definitely one way of putting it.
“Didn’t your mother do those things for Anna?” Princess Pulverizer asked.
“Well, she sort of had to,” Elle scoffed. “Otherwise people would accuse her of playing favorites. But Mother was kindest to me. When no one else would play with me, Mother always did.”
If the grown-up Elle was any example of what she might have been like as a child, Princess Pulverizer wasn’t surprised that she didn’t have many playmates.
“Wasn’t your mother kind to Anna?” Princess Pulverizer replied. “Didn’t she ever play with her?”
Elle let out an angry grumble. “You ask too many questions for a prisoner!”
“Elle! Set her free!” Suddenly Princess Pulverizer heard Anna’s voice echo through the room.
The princess turned quickly to see the castle doors burst open. Anna, Dribble, and Lucas stormed inside.
“Boy am I glad to see you,” Princess Pulverizer told her pals.
“We’re here to rescue you,” Lucas said, trying to sound brave, but failing miserably.
“Don’t you knock?” Elle barked in her sister’s direction.
Anna rushed over to her sister and looked her straight in the eye. “I said, set her free.”
Elle laughed in her sister’s face. “You’re real scary, Anna,” she said sarcastically. “Now be gone, before one of your friends somehow winds up in the fire.”
Anna’s eyes went straight to the highest shelf on the bookcase. “I’m not leaving without Princess Pulverizer—and my doll.”
“I guess you’re moving in, then,” Elle said. “Because you’re not getting the prisoner or my doll.”
“That’s not yours,” Anna insisted. “It’s mine. Yours burned up in the fireplace.”
“No, yours did,” Elle countered.
Princess Pulverizer watched as the two sisters walked around in circles like two caged lions, readying themselves for a fight. It was impossible to tell them apart.
Was Elle the one in the blue-and-white stripes?
Or was she the one in the white-and-blue stripes?
Was there really any difference in the dresses?
“Come, Princess,” one of the twin witches said. “We’re leaving. There’s no reason to be afraid as long as you’re with me. Here, take my hand.”
“Thank you, Anna.” Princess Pulverizer reached for her outstretched palm.
“She’s not Anna,” the other witch said sweetly. “I’m Anna. Here, take my hand.”
“Cut it out,” the first witch said. “You know I’m Anna.”
“No I don’t,” her sister insisted. “I know that I am Anna.”
The sword of truth began to shake. But the witches were talking so quickly, the princess couldn’t tell which witch the sword was calling a liar.
“Without knowing which witch is which, we won’t know which way to go,” said Princess Pulverizer.
“You can say that again,” Lucas agreed nervously.
“I doubt it,” Dribble said. “I don’t know how she said it the first time.”
Princess Pulverizer was very confused.
In fact, the only thing she knew for sure was that they were in trouble.
Make that double trouble.
Chapter 10
Princess Pulverizer stared at the two women in front of her. It was amazing how alike they were.
Except that wasn’t completely true. Elle and Anna were only alike on the outside. Inside they were completely different. She bet Anna’s castle wasn’t all dark and frightening like Elle’s was.
What was it she had called Elle’s castle? Oh yeah, a reflection of who Elle truly was.
Wait a minute. That was it! There was a way to tell the difference between the twins. All she had to do was get them to the reflecting pool by the bell tower. Then Elle would see her hardened heart and turn to stone!
If only it were that easy to get the two witches to follow her to the reflecting pool. At the moment they were so focused on who owned that doll, nothing else would get them out of the dark, dingy castle.
Unless . . .
Quickly, Princess Pulverizer darted between the two feuding witches and over to the bookcase. She reached up and grabbed the porcelain doll.
“What are you doing?” one witch demanded.
“Give me my doll!” the other ordered.
“Your doll?” the first witch asked.
“You heard me,” the second witch replied.
Princess Pulverizer started to run toward the door. But her ankle was throbbing. Running was out of the question.
“Hey, Dribble!” she called. “Think fast!” She tossed the doll in the dragon’s direction.
Dribble reached out his claws and caught the doll in midair.
“Don’t throw my doll!” one witch shouted. “You’ll break her.”
“You mean don’t throw my doll,” the other witch insisted.
Princess Pulverizer didn’t listen. As the two witches lunged toward Dribble, she hobbled her way over to the doorway and reached out her hands. “Dribble, over here!” she shouted. “I’m clear.”
“Here it comes!” Dribble exclaimed as he tossed the doll back to her.
