Power of a Princess

by E. D. Baker

  “You can’t keep the princess here,” Hydrangea shouted at Gorinda. “What are you going to do with her?”

  The sorceress gave Aislin an appraising look, then yelled to the trolls, “Take the princess and her friends away. Dispose of them however you want to, but make sure you bring back Aislin’s royal head so I can send it to King Darinar and Queen Surinen.”

  The trolls grinned and started toward Aislin and her mestari, but the princess was ready. The entire time Aislin had been listening to Gorinda, she had been drawing power from the rock platform into herself. The trolls were only a few feet away when Aislin gestured. The cavern trembled as the end of the platform rose up, creating a wall in front of the trolls.

  “What the—” cried Gorinda. “How did you do that? I don’t know of any magic that can control rock that way. Hold on. Now it’s my turn.” Raising her hands, she twirled them around, then made a sweeping motion at the water. A wave rose up from the lake and slammed into the platform. Before it could wash her friends away, Aislin created another wall to block it. The wave crashed into the new wall, sending spray high into the air and drenching Gorinda. Hydrangea darted out of the way and fled to the tunnel.

  While Gorinda spluttered and shivered, Aislin reached into her knapsack and pulled out the calcite globe. Bending down, she whispered to Kimble, “Jinxie told me about Old Grumpy. Was everything he said true?”

  “It sure was,” said Kimble.

  Aislin straightened up and turned to the lake. Pulling back her arm, she threw the globe at the very edge of the platform, smashing the calcite into a dozen pieces. The globe and its contents fell into the water, disappearing into the depths.

  “Now you can fight,” she told her companions. “Push as many trolls as you can into the water, but make sure you don’t fall in, too.” With another gesture, she removed the wall, making it sink back into the platform to become part of the floor.

  Surprised, the trolls weren’t expecting Deela, Lin, and Tomas to fall on them with sword and hammer. Kimble went after the nearest troll, slicing at its hairy, knobby legs with her knife while Twinket darted between the combatants, jabbing the trolls’ feet and ankles with her pins. Within the first minute, three trolls fell into the lake where they splashed around and tried to climb atop one another to escape the water.

  Suddenly one of the trolls screamed, “Something nibbling me!” His screams grew louder until he disappeared with a whoosh.

  Soon a second troll was screaming, too. “Something chomping me!” he cried before disappearing under the water.

  The third troll didn’t have time to scream more than “Help!” before something dragged him under.

  After the last troll disappeared, Aislin glanced into the water. She could see the shape of something large and pale that seemed to be growing even as she watched. As the fighting continued and more trolls fell in, the creature grew until it was massive. The fighting became fiercer as the trolls saw what had happened to their friends. Tomas was grappling with a troll when it slipped and started to fall. Deela had to grab Tomas and jerk him back when he almost fell in as well.

  “We have to get to the shore,” Aislin told Lin.

  The pedrasi girl nodded and told the others even as she hacked a path through the trolls. When the creature leapt out of the water to grab the trolls closest to the edge, Lin saw her opportunity and urged her friends to cross over the bridge. Twinket was trying to poke the back of a troll’s leg and didn’t see Lin, so Deela scooped up the doll and ran with her. Most of the trolls were watching their friends disappear and didn’t see when Aislin’s party ran past them. Two trolls ran into the tunnel, screaming. Seeing them flee, the rest of the trolls ran after them, shrieking so loudly that the sound hurt Aislin’s ears.

  Aislin and her group were near the cavern wall when the princess turned back to look for Gorinda. The sorceress was the only one on the platform and she was furious. Although she must have lost sight of Aislin when the trolls were fleeing, she saw her now. Screaming, “I hate you! You spoiled everything!” the sorceress began waving her arms and pointing at Aislin.

  As waves rose up and crashed over the shore, Aislin drew more power from the rock around her. Closing her eyes, she reached out to open fault lines and weaken the stone near Gorinda. Ever so slowly, the platform began to tilt. Suddenly the columns collapsed, the roof slid into the lake and the entire platform tilted onto its side. Deela grabbed Aislin just before Gorinda’s wave hit. Holding the princess with one arm and a rock outcropping with another, the orc took the brunt of the wave’s force.

  Gorinda screamed, but instead of tumbling into the water, she seemed to hang motionless as silver sparkles surrounded her. Aislin gasped when Gorinda turned into a tiny fairy and darted out of the tunnel. “Did you see that?” the princess asked her friends.

  “I did,” said Tomas, but he was staring at the creature in the lake and not at the tunnel. The creature was finishing off the trolls that had fallen in and looked as if it was at least a hundred feet long. “And I think it’s time to go before that thing figures out how to get out of the water.”

  Chapter 19

  Salianne had just rejoined Aislin, Tomas, and the rest of the mestari when King Darinar and his army rode down the side of the mountain looking battle-worn but happy. “The trolls stopped fighting suddenly and fled the mountainside. I assume that had something to do with you,” the king said as he stopped his fairy horse beside the princess.

  “Gorinda left,” she said. “But I think she lost control of her army before that.”

  King Darinar listened closely as Aislin told him everything that had happened. When she finished her story and said, “So she really is a fairy,” the king nodded.

  “I knew there was something familiar about her,” said Aislin. “She had fairy features and was beautiful like a fairy.”

  “Your grandmother and I suspected who she was,” King Darinar told her. “The sorceress was using ancient spells that no one uses anymore, although it makes sense if she had remained in the ice cave all those years. Your description of her confirms our suspicions. Her real name is Firethorn and she was a powerful and most unpleasant fairy. Although she never did sit on the throne, she did try to take over the fairy world once a long time ago. If she’d had her way, she would have destroyed everything so she could rebuild it the way she wanted. She started by infesting a forest with firethorns. Your grandmother and I had to weed her out before she could do any more damage. Lightning was one of the few things that worked on her.”

  “If she was so powerful, why didn’t she try to use other spells on us?” asked Aislin. “Firethorn created waves and sent her trolls after us, but I would have expected more from a powerful fairy.”

  “Fairy magic comes from living things and sunlight,” the king replied. “You were deep in a mountain where sunlight cannot reach. Firethorn may have chosen that cavern because fairies couldn’t do much to her there, but then she wasn’t expecting magic like yours. I doubt her spies knew what you could do, or they would have told her.”

  “Do you think she’s gone for good?” asked Aislin.

  King Darinar shook his head. “I doubt that very much. The real question is, where will she turn up next?” She’s always been stubborn and persistent. She’s also exceedingly hard to defeat. The fact that you defeated her in battle is amazing. No one else could have done what you did.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without my mestari,” said Aislin. “Poppy has her magic, knows things about fairies that I don’t, and is a messenger I can trust. Lin and Deela can take down trolls single-handed and are the only guards I need. Kimble is clever, fierce, and deadly. Salianne can throw trolls great distances and scare away werewolves just by standing up. And Twinket can open doors and fit into spaces that others can’t. When we were in Morain, I learned that she also makes an excellent spy. I’m very proud of my mestari and think they’re perfect for the job.”

  “You should be proud of all your mestari,” King Dari
nar told her. “Your grandmother and I believe that you made excellent choices. When we get back to Fairengar, we’ll hold a banquet to honor all of you. Soon everyone will know that your mestari are just what a princess like you needs.”

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  First published in the United States of America in November 2019 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

  Text copyright © 2019 by E. D. Baker

  Interior art copyright © 2019 by Erwin Madrid

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Baker, E. D., author.

  Title: Power of a princess / by E.D. Baker.

  Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2019.

  Summary: Aislin, with a carefully chosen group of girls who are brave and loyal but not typical companions for a princess, sets out to restore balance and peace among magical creatures.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019004272 (print) | LCCN 2019006473 (e-book)

  ISBN 978-1-68119-769-2 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-68119-772-2 (e-book)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Fairy tales. | Princesses—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Fairies—Fiction. | Imaginary creatures—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ8.B173 Pow 2019 (print) | LCC PZ8.B173 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019004272

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