Up until this point, Mirabella had not deemed it worth her while to get involved, but just then she heard men yelling and a few hunting dogs barking through the forest. She sighed, unfolded her arms, leaned down, pulled a long, evil-looking dagger out from its hilt at her ankle, walked over to where the guys were thrashing about on the ground, and stabbed Warren.
Chapter Forty-two
Mirabella had been aiming for Warren’s heart, but as she lunged, Farland jerked to the side, bringing Warren with him, and Mirabella’s knife only managed to imbed itself in Warren’s shoulder.
Warren screamed and looked down; the hilt of Mirabella’s knife was sticking out of his shoulder, which meant the rest of the knife was lodged deep in his body. Which meant he was in serious trouble.
“You stabbed me!” he gasped, gaping in horror at Mirabella as the pain shot through him.
She gave another shrug and looked over his head, scanning the forest again for soldiers. Then her empty gaze snapped back to him, straight into his eyes. She pulled the dagger slowly out, watching him with a cold curiosity as he cried out again in pain.
Farland seized the moment and knocked Warren off him and into the dirt. Then he lunged toward Conroy Jr., intending to magic him out of the woods and back to Mirabella’s cave.
After just about two minutes of waiting, Julianna couldn’t take it any longer. She figured the blanket covering her was plenty big enough that she could walk with it covering her as long as she was careful. All she had to worry about was her hands and face because the rest of her was covered in fabric or shoes.
“Dexter,” she breathed. “I’m going to walk around the pond. You guide me? Don’t let me trip or hit a tree—”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“What on earth can you do stuck under a blanket?”
“Nothing. So what? I’d rather be doing nothing over there than over here.”
Dexter knew that tone of voice; if he didn’t help her, she’d just try to do it without his help, and then she’d trip over a root or slam into a branch and lose her blanket. There had been a time at the start of this adventure that he would have tried to talk her out of it, would have told her how stupid she was being. But now he merely said resignedly, “Okay. Stand up. Let’s go.”
Slowly but surely, Dexter guided her over logs and roots, under branches, and around trees; she was nearly there when she heard voices raised in an argument. Dexter steered her to a stop behind a tree so close that if Mirabella and Farland hadn’t been so distracted by Warren they might have seen her. She stood silently, listening with mounting fear as the argument turned into a physical altercation.
Julianna heard the soldiers and dogs at the same time as Mirabella did, and felt relief wash over her. The soldiers would see them. Everything would be fine.
Then she heard Warren cry, “You stabbed me!”
“Dexter!” she cried. “What’s happening? This stupid curse!” Warren had been stabbed, and Mirabella and Farland were about to take her little brother, and there was nothing she could do, though she was standing mere feet away from them.
“Warren’s stabbed. Farland’s going to take your brother!” Dexter said with dismay.
Julianna lurched forward in the general direction of where their voices had been, her only thought of her little brother who was going to be kidnapped in a matter of moments. Her little brother who, despite their father’s constant nagging and disapproval, really did have a good chance at turning into a good king who could help the people of Fritillary.
In a flash, she realized she had to do something. If Farland and Mirabella succeeded in taking Conroy Jr. and brainwashing him and turning him into a horrible monster for their own benefit, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life for having done nothing. There she’d be, sitting down in her dungeon while Farland and Mirabella drove the country into the ground, and she’d have to live with the knowledge that she could have tried to stop them.
Which was no way to live.
So she gave a wild scream to notify the soldiers of her location, threw off the blanket, and flung herself at Farland, who was just about to close his hand around her brother’s wrist and disappear. She figured if she was fast enough, she’d be able to knock Farland off Conroy Jr. before the sunlight got her. Hopefully that would give the soldiers enough time. Or, if Warren was alive, she’d give him enough time for him to do something.
But once she’d slammed into the wizard and knocked him to the ground and crashed down on top of him, she was surprised to find that she was still alive. She froze, bracing herself. Maybe the sunlight had to soak in a bit before it killed her?
Farland stared up at her with bewilderment. “Wha—?” Then he gasped and started to writhe about in what looked like severe pain.
“Julianna! NO!” cried Warren from where he knelt in his steadily-growing puddle of blood a few paces off.
“Julianna?” Farland gasped though his pain. “The Princess?”
“Why am I not dead?” she asked frantically, conveniently finding herself at this moment face to face with the only person who might have the answer to that question. “I don’t love him,” she nodded toward Warren. “So the spell shouldn’t be broken!”
Farland fought to get her off him, but she held on tight. She didn’t understand why he appeared to be in so much pain, but it was working to her advantage, that was for sure.
“You’ve got an anti-magic amulet?” he gasped.
“Of course. Everyone in my family wears them, in case we run into you!”
“Take it off! It hurts!”
“No way,” she answered. “Give me some answers! Why am I alive?!”
“I don’t know!” he cried. “You should be dead! The sunlight—”
“Was the curse fake?” she prodded. “Was it a lie?”
“No!” he yelled. “No! I didn’t make any mistakes! I was so careful—It should have—”
“Farland!” Mirabella cut in sharply. She had been frozen with shock at this turn of events, but, being soulless, she didn’t have many emotions to slog through, so she snapped out of it pretty fast. “Farland! We have to go!”
The soldiers were getting closer. If they hadn’t seen them yet, they would soon.
Farland was galvanized into motion by Mirabella’s sharp reminder. He summoned up some strength, tossed the befuddled Julianna off him, and lunged once more for Conroy Jr.
This snapped Julianna out of her shock at being not dead, and she lunged after him, grabbing him by the leg and sending him crashing to the ground with a thud and a roar of rage. He tried to crawl forward to get a hold on Conroy Jr.’s unconscious form, but Julianna kept pulling him back.
Mirabella gave an exasperated curse and was about to kick Julianna off of him, but she was stopped by Warren, who had managed to stagger to his feet and stumble over to them, slipping a bit on his blood, but somehow managing to stay upright. With all his might, he tried to stay on his feet long enough to help Julianna. He reached them just in time to slam into Mirabella so that her kick missed Julianna. She staggered to the side before gaining her balance.
Mirabella shot Warren a venomous glare; she had every intention of flying at him then and there and putting her knife where she’d originally intended, but just then soldiers burst through the trees. “Farland! Now!” she yelled and rushed toward him.
Farland looked up and saw the swarming soldiers. Mirabella reached him. He grabbed onto her wrist.
Julianna realized what was going to happen just in time to let go of him and scramble away.
Farland and Mirabella disappeared in a big puff of smelly, dark smoke.
Once the smoke had dissipated, Julianna looked wildly around until she saw her brother still lying on the ground. He was already surrounded by soldiers who were industriously trying to wake him up. She felt a rush of relief. He was safe.
Then she whirled around to look for Warren. He was kneeling in the mud where he’d fallen after knocking Mirabella away from Julianna. He was staring vacantly at her as blood rapidly soaked his already blood-and-grime crusted shirt. Not a single soldier was paying any attention to him.
“Warren!” she cried and ran over to him. “Soldiers! Get over here!” She knelt in front of him and looked intently into his unfocused eyes.
“You’re alive,” he observed, and coughed weakly.
She nodded. “Yes. I am. Let’s make sure you stay that way too.”
He nodded.
It occurred to her then that no soldiers had responded to her. She whirled around and yelled, “Soldiers! Anyone with any medical knowledge!”
“Or magic knowledge,” Warren added too quietly to be heard.
A few of them looked at her disdainfully, and then turned their attention back to Conroy Jr.
They didn’t know who she was. Of course they didn’t. She was filthy and dressed in old maid clothes, in the middle of a wildlife refuge, and in the sunlight to boot. “Hold on a second,” she said to Warren, and stalked over to the soldiers.
“Look at me!” she barked at one of the soldiers in her Royal Person Voice.
He glanced at her and muttered something about not having time for a crazy backwoods yokel, then looked back with concern at the Prince. But he had seen her imperious gaze, and though it took a moment for him to sort it out, he did look back at her with confusion. “Are you…?”
“Yes,” she said angrily. “I am Princess Julianna.”
“But—the sunlight—” he spluttered.
“I know. I know. I don’t get it either. But that’s not the most pressing issue at hand. I need some soldier with medical knowledge to see to that man over there.” She pointed to Warren just in time to see him collapse from his knees to his side in a puff of dust. “He helped save the Prince’s life, and you are all ignoring him while he is bleeding from a severe stab wound.”
“But—I’m sorry—but we didn’t know—”
“Don’t waste time with excuses!” she exploded. “Take care of him! Construct some stretchers and get these two back to camp!”
They all began to rush about, doing as they were ordered.
“If that man dies, I will have you all stationed at the Forest of Looming Death for the rest of your lives!” she roared for good measure.
Back at the camp, Julianna accompanied Warren to the wizard’s tent in order to make sure he was well taken care of. She stalked right up to Wendell the wizard and, ignoring Wendell’s amazement that she was out in the sunlight and not dead, snapped at him that if Warren died Wendell would never work in the kingdom again. Not a cool move, but she was stressed, so we’ll forgive her.
It was then that she looked up and saw that Warren and Conroy Jr. were not the only patients in the tent. There was also an unconscious Lillian, who was still suffering from the aftereffects of her run-in with Mirabella. King Conroy was sitting at her bedside, holding Lillian’s hand and staring at Julianna, not with amazement (like everyone else that morning who had seen her out and about in the sunlight) but with a sort of dread.
“Julianna!” Conroy stuttered. “Hey, will you look at that! You’re alive!”
“Yes. I’m alive,” she said, looked at him through narrowed eyes.
“What a stroke of fortune!” He wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead.
“Dad,” she said warily. She left Warren’s side and walked over to the King. “What’s up?” She studied his face. “You’re not surprised.”
Behind her back, Wendell and some wizard interns converged on Warren and began to work.
“I am so surprised!” Conroy said defensively.
“No. You are not surprised to see me out in the sunlight.” She looked at him suspiciously. “But why not?”
He gave a nervous smile that looked more like a wince. “Okay, so I’m not surprised.” He looked at her beseechingly, as though begging her mutely not to press the issue. But when all she did was stare stonily at him, he continued. “I, um, well I just always had a pretty good idea that Farland was lying about cursing you. Because that must be the reason, right? He either messed up the curse or he was lying about it the whole time. So that’s why you are okay.” He laughed nervously and looked down at his unconscious wife. Had Julianna imagined it, or did Conroy look relieved to see that his wife’s eyes were still shut?
Julianna looked from Conroy to Lillian and back again. “Dad…” she whispered as something clicked into place in her head. She looked over her shoulder. Wendell and the interns were gone (they’d worked very quickly because they did not want to be eavesdropping on this action), and Warren was lying peacefully, apparently asleep. She turned back and asked Conroy, “Am I your firstborn child?”
Conroy spluttered and his eyes bugged out. Sweat was pouring down his face. But when he spoke, he said, “You know you’re our first child!” Unable to hold her angry gaze, Conroy looked down at his cursed ring and twirled it around.
“Dad! I didn’t ask whether I was both of your first child; I asked if I was your first child.”
“Honey, don’t go jumping to crazy conclusions,” he said pleadingly. “Farland just lied about the curse!” He gave another nervous giggle.
“Dad, I happened to be staring right into Farland’s face when I jumped out into the sunlight. I saw his face the moment he realized that the sunlight hadn’t killed me.” She locked eyes with her father and said, “Farland was surprised. He was more than surprised. He was confused. I asked him why I was alive, and he was sure he hadn’t messed the spell up. He said he’d been careful and hadn’t made mistakes.”
Conroy waved a dismissive hand. “Well everyone makes mistakes, dearest. He just added the wrong ingredients or something. Some of those spells have tons of ingredients. I remember watching him whip up some at the castle back from when we were pals.”
“Dad,” she said, deciding to take this in a different direction. “If you have another kid out there somewhere stuck in some dungeon or basement or wherever, and you have her counter-curse right there,” she pointed with her thumb over her shoulder in Warren’s direction, “How can you in good conscience deny your kid the chance to get the curse broken? Just because—I assume—you don’t want mom to find out that you had an affair.”
“It wasn’t an affair!” Conroy finally sighed and looked at Julianna with big, sad eyes. He gave a huge sigh. “I had a girlfriend before your mom. Margaret. Then I met your mom and I dumped Margaret. I never knew about the baby until she was about to be born! By then, I was married to your mom and I just couldn’t tell her about Margaret! She’d have been devastated!”
Julianna gaped at him. “I’ve been living my whole life in a dungeon because you couldn’t admit to mom that you had a kid with someone else? Before you even knew mom?”
“Well, when you put it that way it sounds so bad–”
“That’s because it is bad!” Julianna roared. “I could have been out doing things! I could have—argh! There are so many things I could have done with my life that I can’t even think of an example right now! I’ve lived my life thinking I was cursed, all because you made a mistake in your youth? You were a prince, for goodness sake! Isn’t that sort of thing expected?”
Conroy frowned. “Dearest, I’m sorry.” He managed to meet her eyes for a moment, then suddenly a fake look of surprise popped up on his face and he said, cupping a hand to his ear, “Oh, whatever is that? I think I hear someone calling for me. You hear that?” He pointed in the direction of the pretend sound that wasn’t fooling anybody, then shot to his feet and said, “I’d better go. Could be some important kingly thing that needs doing.”
Without objection, Julianna let him scuttle off. Fuming, she turned and watched as he ran away from her. Then she glanced down at Warren, who was lying on the bed n
earest the exit.
He was awake and staring at her with wide eyes. “Whoa,” he breathed.
“Yeah,” she said crabbily. “Whoa.” She stalked over to Warren’s bed and sat down on the edge. There was a lot of silence for a long time while they both thought about what they’d just heard.
She shook her head as though to clear it. “You all right?” she asked at last, looking at his shoulder. The wound was covered in some bright blue paste. Warren was very pale from all the blood loss but seemed pretty okay otherwise.
“Yeah. Those wizards are good at magic. Barely hurts at all.”
“Good. Hey, thanks for all your help back there,” she said.
“No problem. Likewise.”
“No problem.”
They were quiet for a bit longer.
“So, you’ve got a lady in a cellar somewhere waiting for you, huh?” Julianna said finally.
“Yeah. I guess I do,” Warren said. “And you’ve got some life to live.”
“Yeah. I guess I do,” she agreed with a smile.
Epilogue
Julianna was lying in the grass, soaking up the sun’s glorious rays. Sunlight sure was awesome, so much so that she felt like saying it out loud.
“Sunlight sure is awesome,” she commented.
The banjo music that had been wafting through the castle garden paused for a moment, and Warren said, “Yeah. Nice and warm. But you’re totally going to get a sunburn.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will care once you’ve got a sunburn.”
Julianna sat up with a sigh, then picked up her parasol from where she’d tossed it in the grass beside her. She opened it up and held it over her head. “So that’s what the city looks like in daylight,” she mused as she looked down the gently sloping lawn, out over the castle walls, and at the sprawling city below. “It really is ugly.”
How to Break an Evil Curse Page 36
