The Frog Princess Returns

by E. D. Baker

  As soon as I was finished with the necklace, the king had me take a pair of tiny silk slippers with tassels on the toes to the green pile. I was setting them down when I found a cluster of seemingly freshly picked green leaves tied together with a cord bearing the label LEAVES FROM THE TREE OF LIFE. I was examining them when Gargle Snort called to me again.

  “These three phoenix feathers got stuck between my toes when I was working on the gold pile. Would you mind taking them back there for me?” he asked.

  “I’d be happy to. You were telling me about the Fairy Queen?” I prompted.

  “Ah, yes,” said Gargle Snort as he set a feathered headdress on a multicolored pile. “I like her. She’s not as scatterbrained as some fairies. I thought she was having a great time. Then I got called away for a few minutes. When I came back, she was gone. As soon as you’ve finished putting the feathers in the gold pile, take this crystal rose to the white pile.”

  “Did the queen say anything about where she was going next?” I asked.

  “No, why would she? I thought she was spending the whole day here. Why are you holding those feathers? Don’t they go in the gold pile?”

  I nodded and hurried off. It looked as if I wasn’t going to learn any more from the king. After setting the feathers down, I took the crystal rose to the white pile, placing it on a lustrous white fur beside a pearl as large as a melon. The king was muttering to himself when I sidled to the cavern entrance.

  “I have to go now,” I told him. “It was good seeing you again.”

  The king looked at me and blinked. “Who are you? What are you doing here? I didn’t say you could come in!”

  “Oh, sorry! Then I’ll be going,” I said, and hurried down the tunnel.

  Finding a route to the arena was easy from the lair of the Dragon King. All I had to do was find an opening where the air was hot enough to blister human skin. Although it felt comfortable to my scales, the tunnel was too hot for the lichen to grow, so I was walking in the dark once again. The air grew even hotter as I approached the opening to the arena.

  Eager to learn something useful, I entered the enormous, bowl-shaped arena and stopped, my gaze drawn to the sky overhead. At least twenty dragons were flying above me, performing loops and spirals as they practiced their synchronized flying routine. Another group was flying just below them, racing around and around in a big circle as a dragon on the ground kept track of their time. None of the dragons looked familiar to me.

  It wasn’t until I glanced down that I finally saw someone I knew. Ralf’s mother, Flame Snorter, was practicing her flaming. I walked to the distance-marked lane, as much to watch as to get her attention. A beautiful and delicate-looking red dragon, she was most well-known for her ability to flame. It looked as if her flames were even longer now than they had been at the Dragon Olympics the year before.

  She had just finished her set and was talking to another dragon when she saw me and turned my way. “I’m Emma, Ralf’s friend,” I began. “I can turn myself into a dragon now and—”

  “I know!” cried Flame Snorter. “I heard what happened at that tournament. Congratulations! I think it’s wonderful!”

  “Did Grumble Belly tell you?” I asked. “I ran into him and Ralf earlier today and they didn’t believe me at first.”

  Flame Snorter laughed and shook her head. “I haven’t seen him since this morning. I told him about it ages ago, but he probably wasn’t listening. I meant to come see you once I got a break in my training schedule. I’m so glad you came to visit!”

  “Actually, I was hoping someone could answer some questions for me,” I said. “Did you happen to see the Fairy Queen when she was here during the Olympics?”

  “I saw her, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to her. There was so much going on that day! You know, I do remember that the queen was talking to young Sky Runner over there when he was between races,” she said, pointing toward the center of the arena where dragons were swimming laps in the pool of bubbling lava. “He’s the blue dragon with the lighter blue crest. You might want to talk to him.”

  “I will,” I told the dragoness. “Thank you so much! I’ll see you again soon.”

  Flame Snorter was still waving good-bye when I started toward the lava. The last time I was there, I had stayed as far from the lava as possible. But then, the last time I was there, I’d been walking around as a frog and wasn’t sure how long Ralf’s special salve would hold out. This time the lava seemed enticing. Even if Flame Snorter hadn’t suggested it, I probably would have gone over for a closer look.

  The lava pool was nearly half the diameter of the arena. It was the reason that the Olympics were held in the Purple Mountains. Dragons loved lava and held as many events in the pool as possible. One of the most popular events was lava swimming, so Sky Runner wasn’t the only one doing laps in the pool.

  Floating rocks had been used to divide the pool into lanes, most of which were occupied. Few of the swimming dragons noticed me as I walked around the pool to stand at the end of Sky Runner’s lane. It took him three more laps before he looked up and saw me standing there. When he did, he scowled and said, “What do you want?”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping to ask a few questions,” I told him.

  “Why should I talk to you? I don’t even know you!” he said, glancing from me to the bubbling lava as if he couldn’t wait to get back to it.

  “I’m a friend of King Gargle Snort and his family,” I said, hoping that would lend some weight to my request.

  Sky Runner sighed. “Oh, all right,” he replied, and turned to point at the empty lane next to him. “If you want to talk to me, you have to keep up. I’m here for practice, not conversation.”

  The dragon didn’t wait for me to get in but started swimming down the lane again. Although the dragon part of me was excited about getting in the lava, the rest of me was terrified. Certain that I was about to feel searing pain, I tentatively dipped one foot into the lava. To my surprise, the heat felt wonderful. I slowly started to lower myself into the pool then, but my dragon side took over when I was up to my knees, and I slid in the rest of the way.

  I sighed as the heat of the lava surrounded me. It was like coming in from a cold day to sit in front of a roaring fire with a hot cup of mulled wine. The lava warmed me inside and out, making me so comfortable that I sighed with relief. Closing my second set of eyelids, I sank beneath the surface and floated, reveling in the sensation.

  I stayed submerged in the lava until I felt the pressure change as if someone was approaching. Raising my head just enough to see who it was, I started swimming when I saw that it was Sky Runner. He was coming back down the lane and would pass me by if I didn’t try to catch up. We were swimming side by side when I was finally able to ask him a question.

  “I heard you talked to the Fairy Queen when she was here for the Olympics,” I began. “Do you remember what she said?”

  “Sure! It’s not often that I get to talk to fairy royalty,” Sky Runner replied.

  “What did you talk about?” I asked.

  “Mostly the games,” said Sky Runner. “What events I was in. What I do to get ready. You know, that kind of thing.”

  “How did the queen seem? Was she happy? Was she having fun?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Sky Runner told me. “At least at the beginning. But then we were watching a young dragon named Tory in his first race. His parents were rooting him on, and suddenly the queen started looking sad. She didn’t say much for a while, then she said good-bye and left.”

  “Did she mention where she was going?” I asked.

  “Not that I can recall. Well, that’s it,” he said, stopping against the side of the pool. “I’m going to fly around the arena a few dozen times before I head for home. It’ll be dark soon and I have to be back here early in the morning to start practicing again. Did you have any more questions?”

  “No, that should do it. Thank you for your help,” I told him, and heaved myself
out of the pool.

  Although the lava had relaxed me, it left me sluggish and tired when I got out. I didn’t feel like finding my way all the way back through the tunnels, so I took to the air and flew past the dragons that were still practicing. The updraft from the heat of the lava nearly flipped me over, but I was able to climb above the jagged edges of the arena and head toward the valley where Eadric and the fairies were waiting. When I thought I was close, but not too close, I landed and turned back into my human self.

  The sun was setting when I found Eadric asleep on the magic carpet. Adara was curled up into a tiny ball on his chest, and she lifted her head when she saw me approach.

  “That took you long enough,” she said accusingly.

  “I’m sorry, but it had to be done,” I told her even as I looked around. I spotted Acorn resting on a boulder just a short distance away, but I didn’t see Nightshade or his friends. “Where are the others?”

  “Shh!” Adara told me. “Don’t wake Eadric! He needs his rest.”

  “Don’t we all,” I replied, yawning.

  Eadric stirred and looked up at me.

  “Do you know where Nightshade and his friends went?” I asked him.

  “They left right after you did,” he said, and sat up to look around. “Aren’t they back yet? Look, there they are, just coming up the pass.”

  Three tiny lights flew through the gloom cast by the mountain, landing beside the carpet. Acorn got up to join us as the tiny fairies grew big again.

  “You’re back!” Nightshade said to me. “Any luck?”

  “Not really,” I replied, shaking my head. “I spoke to three different dragons. The Fairy Queen was here last month during the most recent Olympics, but she left early. Something happened that upset her, although no one knew what it was or where she went when she left.”

  “Then I learned more than you did,” said Nightshade. “My friends and I went exploring and talked to some of the area residents. It seems that a local fairy talked to the queen after the Dragon Olympics. The queen told her that she was going to the border between Greater Greensward and Soggy Molvinia, although she didn’t say why.”

  “Really?” I said. “Then that’s where we’ll go next. How fortunate that you met that fairy.”

  “Wasn’t it, though?” Acorn said, giving Nightshade an odd look.

  Twelve

  I yawned again and glanced at Eadric. He was tired, too, and it was going to be a long flight to the border of Soggy Molvinia. Not knowing what we’d have to face there, I didn’t want to arrive exhausted in the middle of the night.

  “I think we should sleep before we start out,” I told my companions.

  Something grumbled in the tunnel and a puff of dust blew toward us. “Do you mind if we move away from here?” Persimmon said, looking nervous. “I don’t want to wake up to a dragon stepping on me.”

  “We passed over a forest at the foot of the mountains. Why don’t we spend the night there?” Eadric suggested.

  “Good idea,” I told him.

  Eadric and I took our seats on the carpet. When he tried to hand Adara to me, she squeaked and ran up his sleeve.

  “I guess she wants to stay with me,” said Eadric.

  I glanced at his sleeve and nodded. “That’s fine, as long as I can see her. Get out of there, Adara, right this instant!”

  The little mouse nose peeked out of the sleeve. A moment later, Adara crept out. “I wasn’t going to stay in here, although it is nice and warm.”

  “Just stay where I can see you,” I told her. “I’m sure you don’t want to make me worry about you and lose my concentration while I’m flying the carpet.”

  “Why are you so worried about her?” asked Eadric. “I’ll make sure she’s all right.”

  “That wasn’t what I meant,” I said. “She may be a mouse now, but I still don’t want her rooting around in your clothes!”

  The forest wasn’t very far from the cave, and it didn’t take us long to get there. Even so, it was nearly dark before we arrived and I had to follow the light of the fairies’ wings to a clearing where a little stream ran cold and clear. The fairies grew to full size to help us gather wood for a fire and enough nuts and berries for a meager supper. Eadric refilled the water-skin that he had brought with him. Once the fire was started, I sat down on the carpet beside him.

  We ate our meal by the glow of three witches’ lights that I positioned over the carpet. Nightshade, Oleander, and Persimmon sat under a nearby tree, talking quietly among themselves. Adara sat next to Eadric’s foot as she nibbled half a walnut. She didn’t say much because she was too busy eating. Acorn had also joined Eadric and me on the carpet. I noticed that he wasn’t touching the berries he’d chosen as he gazed off into the darkness. “How did you meet the queen?” I finally asked him.

  “We’ve known each other for a very long time,” he said. “We grew up together.”

  “Do you know why she might be unhappy?” I asked.

  “I have a good idea,” he replied, looking glum.

  “What is it? Did something happen?” I said.

  He wasn’t able to meet my eyes when he said, “I think it’s more about what didn’t happen.”

  “I don’t understand,” I told him.

  Acorn shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Fine,” I told him. “But do you know anything that might help us find her?”

  Acorn finally turned to look at me. “When I do, I’ll make sure to let you know.”

  I watched as he got up and walked away. I may not have learned much, but I had the feeling that he really did care about Willow, and it wasn’t just because she was a good queen.

  Adara was scrubbing her whiskers with her paw when she turned to me and said, “I don’t understand something. If you’re a witch, why don’t you just use a spell to find the Fairy Queen? I’m tired of going from one place to another when we don’t know for sure where to find her.”

  “Fairies are very powerful,” I told her. “Their magic isn’t the same as witches’.”

  I thought about what she’d said, though. Scrying to learn the truth about Adara had worked better than I could have hoped. My magic had grown ever since I turned myself into a dragon. Maybe I could see what had become of the Fairy Queen. There was no reason I couldn’t try.

  Opening the sack I carried, I took out the bowl that Oculura had given to me. “What are you doing?” Eadric asked.

  “Looking for the Fairy Queen,” I replied.

  Borrowing Eadric’s water-skin, I poured water in the bowl until it was half-full. When the water grew still, I bent over the bowl and said, “Where is the Fairy Queen?”

  I frowned, unsure of what I was seeing. For a moment it looked like pouring rain and lashing branches, until suddenly the picture was gone and all I could see was my own reflection. When I tried again, my reflection just stared back at me.

  “It doesn’t seem to be working,” I said, glancing at Eadric.

  The fairies had all gathered around as I tried to scry for Willow. “I don’t think Willow wants to be found,” said Acorn before he turned tiny and flew into a tree.

  Nightshade seemed to want to say something, but instead he and his two friends turned tiny as well and found a tree of their own.

  It looked as if all four fairies were wrapping themselves in leaves for the night. Because fairies often spent their evenings dancing or visiting one another, I decided that they must be as tired as Eadric and I if they were going to sleep so early.

  “We could sleep on the carpet, I suppose,” Eadric said, rubbing his spine, “as long as we can find a spot without too many rocks. My back still hurts from sleeping on one earlier.”

  “We don’t need to worry about rocks,” I said. “Lie down and I’ll show you.”

  Eadric looked skeptical when he stretched out on the carpet. Lying down beside him, I twitched my fingers and made us rise a foot above the ground. Floating in the air feels wonderful when you’re lyin
g down with nothing but an age-softened carpet and air beneath you. Before Eadric could say anything about being cold, I said,

  Whisper soft and kitten warm,

  Two blankets will be fine.

  Two pillows for beneath our heads,

  One’s Eadric’s and one’s mine.

  Eadric gasped when blankets suddenly covered us and pillows plumped under our heads. “This is great! We should camp like this more often!”

  “So you like sleeping on a magic carpet?” I asked, smiling into the dark.

  “I will now!” he said. “Imagine, no ants or spiders to crawl on us, plus it feels like we’re floating on a cloud. Are you sure this will stay up all night?”

  “Positive!” I said. “I have to concentrate only when I’m making it move.”

  “What if I fall off?” Adara asked from up by Eadric’s head.

  “You won’t have far to fall, but you’re small enough that you still might get hurt,” I told her. “Don’t move around and you’ll be fine.”

  “That’s easy enough for you to say,” Adara grumbled. “You’re not a mouse and frightened of every little sound.”

  “Then that shouldn’t be a problem,” said Eadric. “Haven’t you noticed how quiet it is here? I don’t even hear crickets chirping. Hey, look at the sky over the mountains! You can see the glow of the lava and the dragons’ fire.”

  “And the outlines of flying dragons!” I said. “Some of them must practice at night. See, there’s one now. If you look straight up, you’ll see it flying above us.”

  “You know what you don’t see?” asked Eadric. “The lights from the fairies who live around here. Normally fairy lights are all over a forest at night.”

  I sat up to look around. Eadric was right. The forest was dark and quiet; the only movement was the occasional dragon flying overhead and the leaves rustling in the light breeze that stirred the air. Unlike the forests we’d visited before, there were no twinkling lights zigzagging through the trees. “Perhaps it’s because we’re so close to the dragons,” I said. “Maybe fairies don’t like to live where dragons are always coming and going.”