An Inconvenient Princess

by Melanie Cellier

  I fished out three coins and deposited them in his hand. I had felt for a moment as if he were an ally, but the transaction drained the camaraderie from the air and made me doubt everything he had told me. Had the man simply spun a tale in order to gain some coins?

  None of us relaxed until he was long gone.

  “I think we should move on,” said Arthur. “Find a new place to camp.”

  So, he had doubts about the man, too. We packed up in silence and continued on our way, trudging through the dark now. I let Arthur take the lead, and he pointed us south in the direction of Marblehill, suggesting he had some small amount of faith in the man, after all.

  When we stopped in a new clearing and set up a quick camp, Rapunzel sidled up to me.

  “That was terrifying. I’ve never seen a sword before.”

  My eyes flew to her face, but it was hard to make out her expression in the low moonlight. It hadn’t occurred to me that the interaction with our visitor had probably been the most violent thing Rapunzel had ever witnessed.

  “Swords are a sad necessity in the kingdoms. We can be grateful Arthur knows how to handle one so well.” I paused. “You were safer in your tower, Princess. Do you wish you had stayed there?”

  Rapunzel paused for so long, I began to wonder if her answer would be yes. But eventually she stiffened, drawing herself up to her insubstantial height. “I would rather live—really live—than be safe.”

  For the first time, I was the one to initiate the hug. “Why don’t we ask Arthur to teach us some self-defense? We could start tomorrow.”

  She seemed to brighten at this suggestion, and I refrained from telling her that my older siblings had insisted I learn to defend myself years ago. I thought it would give her more confidence if we did it together.

  As we settled for the night, Arthur slipped over beside me. “Are you all right?” he whispered.

  I could feel the remembered ghost of his hand on my back, supporting me, and I didn’t know how to answer. Was I all right? I didn’t even know anymore.

  I still had no idea what had made Anneliese call Mortimer. Instead I’d rescued a princess from some sort of rogue fairy. And, if our recent visitor was anything to go by, at least some of the people of Talbot had guessed Rapunzel’s identity. And, while the man who had followed us might be something resembling a friend, the tanner had certainly not been. So, how long until this Gothel got word of Rapunzel’s escape? And what would she do when she did?

  Everything kept getting more and more muddied, and I felt the weight of Arthur and Rapunzel’s expectations on me to lead us in this ‘quest’. No one had ever asked me to lead anything before. Not once they learned I had no magic or fairy blessing. Would my current companions realize they’d made a mistake at some point?

  I was glad the darkness hid my face.

  “I’m sure Anneliese is fine.” The words rang hollow even in my own ears.

  He must have realized I hadn’t answered his question, but he didn’t push it further, slipping back over toward his bedroll. I couldn’t decide whether to be sorry or relieved.

  Chapter 7

  In the morning, we all agreed that we had little choice but to head south toward Marblehill. The man’s story might have been a fabrication, but we had nothing else to go on. At first Rapunzel seemed a little wary of Arthur, throwing frequent glances at his sword, but he made an effort with her, laughing and teasing until she soon returned to normal.

  The satisfaction in his eyes when she softened made me move ahead a few steps to get away from them, although I was unsure exactly why it made me so uncomfortable. I was used to getting little attention from those around me—after their initial interest in my eyes and seventh child status withered—so I didn’t know why it bothered me now.

  Except, of course, that Arthur was so very handsome and charming. And I wished, just for once, that someone would look at me and really see me, instead of only my position. Another one of the woodcutter girls. Seventh child. Anneliese’s twin. Disappointment.

  I shook the thoughts away and tried to be glad when I heard Rapunzel’s pealing laughter. The younger girl’s life had been harder than I could imagine; I had no reason to be feeling sorry for myself by comparison.

  We moved at such a slow pace that it took us two whole days to reach the Sarrens River that ran across the middle of Astoria. Rapunzel’s walking was getting faster, though, as she adjusted to the new boots, and I even managed to coax her back onto Aster for short stints.

  At the first opportunity, we asked Arthur about the self-defense lessons, and he responded with enthusiasm. Each time we stopped for a break, he would walk us through some basic moves that could be used to escape if someone grabbed us. Rapunzel had great delight in throwing him onto the grass and giggled uncontrollably every time.

  It didn’t seem to bode well for how she would cope in a real situation. I, on the other hand, was slow to throw off Arthur’s arms whenever they encircled me. I told myself it was because my brother Martin’s lessons were distant, and I had allowed myself to get out of practice.

  By the second day, Arthur had taken to stealth attacks, sneaking up on us whenever we took a moment to rest. He gave me such a fright on the final occasion that I had him on the ground before he even managed a good grip.

  He hauled himself to his feet, one eyebrow raised in my direction. “You’ve been holding back, Penny. That was fast.”

  “Maybe you’re just a good teacher.” I forced down the flush that wanted to rise up my cheeks.

  “Maybe.” He laughed. “I do have a certain flair.” He winked at me as he turned to stalk Rapunzel.

  I rolled my eyes at his retreating back but couldn’t help smiling to myself as well.

  We camped that night a short way back from the bank of the Sarrens, the rushing water filling our dreams. Rapunzel could talk of little else but the river, exclaiming over and over again how different it was from the creek near Horley. She seemed equal parts terrified and fascinated.

  I would have preferred to cross downstream where the river narrowed as it passed south of Torina, but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the days of travel it would take to get there and back. Instead we would cross here, which essentially meant crossing two rivers, since just before it reached Astoria, the Sarrens split off into two channels. It didn’t join back into a single course until closer to Torina.

  Arthur offered to lead Rapunzel across on Aster and then come back for me, but I rejected the offer. I would be able to cross on my own feet if I gripped the mare’s saddle for extra stability. We soon had Rapunzel in position on Aster’s back, our bags slung across her shoulders, and we each grasped one side of the saddle.

  Moving forward into the flow of the water, Arthur and I gasped at the same moment. He looked at me across Aster’s withers and smiled.

  “Cold!” I managed to chatter, my teeth slamming together. I hadn’t expected it to be so frigid at this point in the season.

  “Is it?” asked Rapunzel, gazing down with interest. “I’ve never been in cold water before. My wash room was heated.”

  I shook my head, unable to imagine how, unless it was some arrangement of the fairy’s.

  As we waded deeper, I grew accustomed to the temperature and realized it wasn’t as chilly as I had first imagined. I began to breathe more easily and focus more of my attention on my feet, trying to ensure I didn’t slip on the smooth stones that covered much of the riverbed.

  Despite having to cross the two halves of the river, we were fortunate to have arrived at a stretch that was shallow enough for crossing at all. But when the water hit my chest, I began to worry that perhaps I had misjudged my ability to cross. However, the riverbed began to rise soon after, and the far side approached.

  When we stepped out onto the other bank, I breathed a sigh of relief. The whole process had been much smoother than I had feared.

  Rapunzel insisted on sliding down from Aster’s back and rummaging through the packs for a dry cloth. I protested
that we would only be wet again, soon enough, but she insisted that I at least try to slough off the worst of the water, and I eventually conceded. The sun was warm, but not quite warm enough to ward off the chill of the breeze against my wet skin. I wished I could change dresses, but the easiest way to dry this one was to wear it, and I couldn’t afford to wet another, anyway.

  We could hear the rushing of the water both behind and before us now, but it took longer than I expected to see the sun reflecting off the second half of the river. Rapunzel walked beside us, chattering about the river and how it had looked and sounded and felt when it splashed against her.

  Little shivers kept racing through me, which made it hard to focus on her words. Perhaps if I had been listening more closely, I would have realized her intention but, as it was, I was taken completely by surprise.

  When we reached the second bank, she surged forward and raced into the water.

  “I don’t need to cross on Aster this time,” she called over her shoulder. “I want to feel the river for myself.”

  “Rapunzel!” I yelled, just as Arthur called, “No!”

  We both rushed after her, but before either of us could reach her, she lurched and fell backward with a scream. For a long second, she disappeared beneath the water, and when she reappeared, thrashing wildly, she had already been swept away from us.

  Arthur immediately dived in, kicking out toward her. I started to follow him but paused and leaped back out of the water instead. Scrambling onto Aster’s back, I directed her down the riverbank, keeping pace with them as my mind worked furiously.

  Arthur had reached Rapunzel and managed to get a firm grip around her waist, pulling her head out of the water. I could see her taking desperate gulps of air. But as he angled them both toward shore, a loud rumble drew my attention upstream. Looking back, I screamed, “Arthur!”

  His head turned, and then he and Rapunzel were engulfed by a sudden wave of water which sent them both tumbling beneath the surface. I yelled again as I was forced to draw Aster back further from the shore or risk the two of us being pulled into the flash flood ourselves.

  It was over as quickly as it had come, but the water was now littered with debris, and only Arthur’s head reemerged. He peered around as the river pulled him further downstream, and I continued to keep pace along the bank.

  “Over there!” I yelled as a flash of pink showed through the water.

  He dived in the direction I was pointing and when he came back up, Rapunzel hung limply in his arms. I breathed a sigh of relief, but she suddenly came alive, thrashing and struggling against him. For a moment, they both went back under, and I looked around wildly for some way to help.

  Pushing Aster into a burst of speed, I outpaced them, before pulling her up abruptly and swinging down from the saddle. Grabbing a long sturdy branch that lay fallen on the ground beneath a tall tree, I tugged it toward the river. Grunting, I swung the other end into the water, angling it into the path of the two struggling bodies.

  Arthur looked up just in time to see the rapidly approaching branch. He twisted and turned, and then he had passed it and was floating further downstream. I registered a spurt of disappointment that my plan had failed at the same time as my arms strained against a new weight. My eyes raced back to the branch, and I realized Arthur had managed to leave Rapunzel draped over the wood.

  Straining, I pulled the branch back onto shore, receiving no help from the terrified girl who seemed barely able to grip it. I desperately wanted to check on Arthur but wrangling the now heavy branch took all my attention. When I finally pulled it in far enough for Rapunzel to crawl onto the bank, I dropped it and helped drag her all the way out of the water.

  She coughed several times before rolling onto her back and lying still.

  “Is she breathing?” asked Arthur’s voice behind me, and I gave a silent sigh of relief. Obviously, he had been able to swim ashore once he was no longer weighted down by a drowning princess.

  “Yes,” she said weakly, and he sat beside her, his own breath coming heavily.

  I lowered myself down near them, and for a long moment no one spoke.

  “I…I didn’t realize it would be like that,” said Rapunzel at last, her voice rough. “It went so smoothly before, and I wanted to feel what it was like.” She shivered. “Only then I slipped, and I couldn’t get my feet under me. I couldn’t find the surface, and I couldn’t breathe, and…”

  She rolled over onto her side and curled into a ball as a sob shook her.

  I scooted over and patted her arm, saying nothing. No words could take away the terror she had just experienced, but time would help her regather herself.

  Sure enough, her sobs slowly died down, and she eventually pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her face and dress were a mess, but somehow her long golden hair remained shiny and neat. I leaned in to look at it more closely.

  “Is your hair dry?”

  She pulled part of her braid in front of her face. “It’s always dried quickly.”

  I looked at her, the perfect hair providing the strangest counterpoint to her otherwise disheveled appearance, and began to laugh. The paroxysms came so fast that I wondered if I were on the verge of hysteria, but a lower chuckle joined mine, and I came back from the brink, Arthur’s presence anchoring me.

  “That was quick thinking with the branch, Penny. Well done,” he said. “I was starting to wonder if I would be able to get us both out of there.”

  “I’m sorry.” Rapunzel looked stricken. “I could have killed us both. I don’t know what came over me when that wave hit. I panicked.”

  “It’s a normal reaction,” he assured her. “Simply promise me that you won’t dive into any more rivers, and I’ll promise not to hold it against you.”

  She agreed eagerly, but her words had sent my thoughts in a different direction.

  “Yes…that wave,” I said.

  Arthur instantly frowned. “It’s not the season for flash floods.”

  “No, no it isn’t.” I met his eyes, our silence as eloquent as words.

  “Are…are you saying that wasn’t natural?” asked Rapunzel, a quaver in her voice.

  “I don’t see how we can tell for sure,” said Arthur. “And there’s nothing to be done but keep moving. If anything, perhaps we should take it as a good sign, that we’re heading in the right direction.”

  I appreciated his optimism, even if I could think of several ways in which it might not be a good sign at all. But I said none of them out loud because he was right. There was nothing we could do but move on.

  Chapter 8

  We all moved as fast as caution would allow when we finally made the actual crossing, Rapunzel once more safely on Aster’s back. My ears strained for a telltale rumble, but none came, and we reached the far bank safely.

  Rapunzel stayed in the saddle this time, and we traveled for many minutes before stopping and attempting to dry off somewhat. Rapunzel had no change of clothes at all, and I once again elected to stay in my gown to give it the chance to dry off. But I had already offered Rapunzel my dry cloak, so every time a new gust of wind blew past, I shivered and regretted my choice a little.

  After some time of this, a heavy warmth settled over my shoulders, and I looked up to find Arthur draping his own dry cloak around me. I smiled at him, grateful, and he smiled back so warmly that I didn’t feel the next gust of wind at all.

  “Cadburey isn’t near the sea,” I said, referring to his capital city. “Where did you learn to swim so well?”

  He smiled reminiscently. “There’s a large and beautiful lake just outside the city. When I was young, my sister Lunette and I used to harass our cousin Conrad to take us there whenever our older brother was busy training to be king. I loved it. The feeling of weightlessness in the water was so unlike anything else.” He looked over at me. “What about you? You seem familiar with life on the road, but you said you grew up in your capital, too.”

  “Yes, I did. But my older siblings hav
e spread throughout the kingdoms. I’ve done plenty of traveling during the last few years. Only last year my parents and I traveled to Anura for my sister Ellie’s wedding.” I looked over at him. “In fact, I’m a bit surprised I didn’t meet you there.”

  Arthur gave a wry smile. “That’s a long story. My sister Lunette was supposed to make a marriage alliance with King Eston of Guthward, but she turned up her nose at him. Apparently, he’s far too old, and she didn’t approve of his…adventuring ways, let us say.”

  I had heard stories of King Eston from my sister Eva and her Guthwardian husband, so I could hardly blame the Farthendellan princess. She wasn’t the first to feel that way.

  “But she agreed to at least visit Guthward after my brother married your Astorian princess. Davina.”

  I hid a smile at the tone in his voice when he said his sister-in-law’s name. Rynn had worked for Davina in Astoria before traveling to Farthendale with her, so I knew all about the patience-testing princess.

  Arthur continued his story after a small pause. “It all worked out in the end, because Lunette fell madly in love with the younger son of a senior noble of the Guthwardian court. And she convinced my parents he was sufficiently well-connected to represent a satisfactory alliance.”

  He grinned. “And the added bonus was that, as a younger son, she was able to bring him back to Farthendale—where she has proceeded to pop out children as fast as she can, taking some of the pressure off my poor brother and me. Which brings me back to the Anuran wedding last year. Lunette and her husband wanted to visit his family in Guthward to introduce the children, so Lunette convinced my parents to send them as the Farthendellan representatives to Anura, and to let them travel via Guthward.” He glanced at me. “I didn’t mind at the time, but I’m sorry I missed the chance to meet you there.”

  I glanced at him and then away. He seemed relaxed and open, so I decided to ask the question that had been plaguing me.