The Princess and the Pearl

by E. D. Baker

  Rupert settled back into his pillows and closed his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. There’s nothing that can be done for me, and I’d rather die in my own bed. “

  “I’m taking you to the castle, whether you want to go or not. I’m going to do everything I can to find a cure for you and my father.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re very strong-willed?” said Rupert.

  “I have to be to deal with stubborn people like you,” Annie replied.

  One of the guards came into the room, ducking his head when Annie looked his way. He had brought a small trunk and began to collect clothing and various things from around the room. Prince Rupert lay with his eyes closed, making Annie wonder if he’d fallen asleep. When the guard had filled the trunk, Annie gestured for him to set it by the door.

  Rupert muttered, “I’m not going anywhere,” without opening his eyes.

  “We’re leaving already?” Liam said as he walked into the room. “Oh, sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t realize your uncle was asleep.”

  “He’s not,” said Annie. “He’s just being stubborn. We’re taking him back with us to the castle. He has the same illness as my father, only my uncle’s has progressed much further. He’s going back with us so we can get him and Father medical attention.”

  “And I’m going as well, right?” asked Clarence. “I’d hate to think I carried this bag all the way up those stairs for nothing.”

  Big Boy and Edda began to growl, a deep throaty sound that made the air vibrate. Clarence glanced at the dogs and backed into the corridor.

  “Yes, you’ll be going, too,” said Annie. “I’m not leaving you in the fortress to take advantage of the commanding officer’s absence. There’s no telling what mischief you could get into then.”

  “I’m not getting out of this bed,” said Rupert. “I can’t stand on my own, let alone walk.”

  “Then we’ll have to help you,” said Annie. “Liam, if you can assist my uncle, I’m going to speak to the captain.”

  Liam nodded and started for the bed. He stopped to let Big Boy sniff his hand. When the dog wagged his tail, Liam petted his head and brushed past him to help Rupert. Satisfied that Liam could handle it, Annie returned to the corridor.

  “Captain, we’re leaving now,” Annie told him. “My uncle is convinced that he’s about to die, but I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “Very good,” said the captain. “The prince is an excellent commanding officer. The men and I don’t want to lose him. We’d be forever in your debt if you can indeed find a cure.”

  “Please don’t pay any heed if he protests,” Annie said. “He doesn’t want to go.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” the captain told her. “He finds it difficult to accept help from anyone.”

  “I’m not just anyone,” said Annie. “This is one argument he’s not going to win.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Edda and Big Boy went with them to the castle. Clarence had insisted that he stand as far from the dogs as possible, so he had placed himself on Liam’s left side while Liam supported Prince Rupert on his right. Big Boy was propping his master up from the other side and Annie was sandwiched between the two troll dogs. Although they were huge, the dogs hadn’t so much as stepped on her feet. She could see how her uncle could have come to depend on Big Boy.

  The postcard worked as long as they were all touching, much like Annie’s own anti-magic. As soon as they arrived at the castle, Clarence let go of Liam and started to walk away.

  “Guards!” Liam called. “Please escort Prince Clarence into the great hall and don’t let him leave. We have to decide what we’re going to do with him while we’re here.”

  When a group of guards came running, Annie called two of them to her. “Please tell my mother that I’ve returned and need to speak to her right away,” she told one man. Turning to the other, she added, “Run to the steward. Tell him that Prince Rupert has returned with us and needs the best accommodations that we can manage.”

  “Why don’t I get the best accommodations?” Clarence whined as three guards hustled him off.

  Prince Rupert sagged against Liam. “Sorry, but my legs really don’t hold me now,” Rupert told him. “I need to lie down.”

  Annie gestured to a big, burly guard, who picked up the ailing prince like he weighed nothing at all. The group hurried across the drawbridge, getting curious glances from everyone they met. Most people didn’t recognize Rupert, who hadn’t visited the castle in many years. He had grown up there, however, and some of the older castle residents recognized him. Word spread that the king’s brother was back, and soon a crowd was following them into the great hall. They weren’t there long before the steward had a room ready for him.

  Annie was about to accompany her uncle upstairs when the guard she had sent to her mother returned. Queen Karolina was sitting by her window when Annie arrived. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Edda, but it wasn’t until she noticed the look on her daughter’s face that she motioned for her ladies-in-waiting to leave.

  “What’s wrong?” the queen asked Annie. “Did something happen in Dorinocco? Is King Montague all right?”

  “The king is fine,” Annie told her. “Liam doesn’t want either his mother or his brother living in the castle once he becomes king, so we used one of the magic postcards to take Prince Clarence to the fortress at Delaroo Pass. We hoped to leave him there, but when I saw Uncle Rupert, we had to come straight here. We brought him with us. Mother, he has the same illness as Father, but he’s in a much worse state. He claims to be dying and I believe him. Uncle Rupert says that their father died of the illness as well.”

  Queen Karolina’s face had gone pale as she listened to Annie. Her hand was shaking when she put it to her cheek. “Isn’t there something we can do to help them?” she asked.

  “Uncle Rupert claims that the doctors tried everything when his father was dying, but there are new medicines now,” said Annie. “I’m sure we’ll find someone who can help Father and Rupert. I wanted to tell you what was going on before I got started. With your permission, I’m going to send for every doctor and herbalist in the kingdom. If there is a cure out there, we’ll find it!”

  “How will you get word out?” the queen asked.

  “I’ll see if I can get a few fairies to help,” said Annie. “I think I saw one or two flitting around the clover when we got here.”

  The doctors and herbalists began to arrive the next day. Some of the doctors rolled across the drawbridge in fancy carriages, while others arrived in creaking carts or on tired horses, having pushed their mounts to get there as quickly as they could. The local herbalist walked across the drawbridge carrying a heavy sack. A number of herbalists used magic to get there, arriving on a broom, in a washtub, or, like the woods witch Holly, in a shower of pine-scented sparkles.

  “I’m worried about your father,” Queen Karolina told Annie, “but he still refuses to let any more doctors near him. They should see Rupert now. His illness has progressed much further and his situation is dire.

  “And I want the doctors to see him before the herbalists take their turns. I really think it will be a doctor who will have the cure.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do.” Annie turned to Ewan, who was waiting by the door. “Tell Horace to bring the doctors to Prince Rupert’s chamber. Have him bring them in the order that they arrived.”

  The page nodded and hurried off. Annie watched him go, but she wasn’t thinking about him at all. Her mother seemed to have more faith in the doctors than she did. Annie was glad that the herbalists were there.

  Dr. Pencivale stepped into the room shortly after Queen Karolina and Annie. The moment he pulled a jar of leeches out of his bag, Annie had the guards escort him from the castle.

  Dr. Hemshaw wanted to use a lancet to draw blood, saying, “We must remove the toxic humors!” He left just as quickly.

  Dr. Learned, an older man who seemed quite sure of himself, made a great show
of pouring a clear liquid into a silver chalice. “You must drink every drop,” he told Rupert.

  “What is it?” Rupert asked, eyeing the chalice with suspicion.

  “Vinegar!” said the doctor. “It should do the trick!”

  “I’m not drinking that!” the prince declared.

  The doctor opened his bag again. “Then we’ll try the mustard plasters. One for the chest and one for the back.”

  “No, you’re not!” cried Rupert. “Get him away from me, Big Boy!”

  The doctor gasped and dropped the bag when Big Boy stood up. “I thought that was a rug!” said the doctor, scurrying from the room.

  “And he thought he was so smart!” Rupert grumbled.

  Doctors Persnickety and Quarelle had ridden together, so Annie let them come in together as well. “We must shave his head and make him walk backward,” said Dr. Persnickety.

  “I disagree,” said Dr. Quarelle. “The blue obviously goes from bottom to top. I believe he should stand on his head so that the blue will reverse itself and travel back up his legs and out through his toes.”

  “I disagree with both of you,” said Annie. “My uncle can neither walk nor stand on his head, and your ideas are ridiculous. Thank you for coming, but we don’t need your help today.”

  “We could try cupping,” Dr. Quarelle told her as she hustled them from the room. “Raising blisters might pull out the toxins.”

  “Good-bye!” Annie said as she shut the door.

  The last two doctors both believed that Rupert’s body temperature was off. “He’s blue because he’s too cold,” said Dr. Wartinger. “He needs to sit in a tub of hot water.”

  “He’s too hot,” Dr. Schmooze announced when it was his turn. “He’s turning blue because his innards are cooking. He needs to sit in a tub of cold water.”

  “You’re wrong,” Annie told each of them. “You need to leave.”

  Because the herbalists all came with potions and tonics that could take some time to work, Annie gave them each one day.

  The local herbalist, Frond, went first. “Here, drink this,” she told Rupert, and poured an amber-colored tonic down his throat.

  The tonic put him to sleep within minutes. He woke four hours later, shouting, “Help me!”

  Big Boy started barking while the guards rushed to his side. “Did you see it? Is it still here?” asked Rupert.

  “Is what still here, Uncle Rupert?” Annie asked him.

  “The cat with flaming green eyes! It was as big as me!” the prince replied, his gaze darting around the room.

  Frond started scribbling on a piece of parchment. “Produces sleep and wild dreams,” she muttered as she wrote.

  The blue had crept up his body an inch or so.

  Calianth, a witch and herbalist from the southern tip of Treecrest, went next. “This salve will bring back his normal color,” she said as she began to rub it on his skin.

  It didn’t. By the next day, the blue was halfway up his chest.

  After a few more herbalists had tried to help without success, it was the turn of Holly, the woods witch. “I’m not sure what will work,” Holly told Annie. “I’ve brought everything I could think of that might do some good, including some potions he can drink and salves we could put on him. To be honest, I’ve never seen or heard of an ailment like this and I doubt all those doctors and the other herbalists have, either.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” said Annie. “Although I’m also sure that none of them would ever admit it. Do you have anything that you think might possibly work? Perhaps something that could slow the progress of the disease, even if it doesn’t stop it?”

  Holly shook her head. “The most I can do is help lessen the pain. Here,” she said, pulling a small bottle from her bag. After tipping a little into Rupert’s mouth, Holly stepped back and handed the bottle to Annie. “Give him just a few drops when he wakes up. No more for at least six hours after that.”

  Rupert’s eyes seemed to glaze over. “Did I ever tell you that you look just like my niece, Annie?” he told Annie, and promptly fell asleep.

  While the prince slept, Holly tried a dab of salve on one leg, and a different kind of salve on the other. When neither salve made any difference, the little witch looked at Annie and said, “There isn’t a thing I can do. I’m so sorry.”

  “At least you were honest, unlike the rest of them,” said Annie. “But I’m not giving up yet!”

  Although Annie wanted people to think that she was still hopeful, she was actually feeling miserable. No one seemed to be able to help her uncle or her father, and she had no idea what to do next. The “creeping blue,” as they had started calling it, had almost reached her father’s knees. He was beginning to find walking a challenge. Edda seemed to sense this and had taken up a post at his side, supporting him when he stood and walking beside him until he sat down again. Despite Edda’s new dedication to the king, she still seemed to like Annie better than anyone and looked sad each time the princess walked out of the room. The only time the big dog ever left the king’s side was when he was sleeping, something he seemed to do more often now. King Halbert was dozing in his bed when Annie went to check on him. Her mother was sitting by the window, embroidering, just as she’d been most of the day.

  “I’ll come back to see him later,” Annie told her. “Would you like to join me for supper, or should I have something sent up?”

  “I’ll stay here a bit longer in case he wakes,” said the queen. “I may still come to the hall; I need to stretch my legs.”

  “I hope you do,” said Annie. “People have to see that you’re all right.” When Annie left the room, Edda stood and followed her down the stairs to the great hall.

  People had grown used to seeing the huge dogs going to the kennel area to take care of business and walking to and from the royal brothers’ bedchambers. Even so, when Annie came into the great hall with Edda at her side, people turned to stare. Annie was too caught up in her thoughts to notice, and Edda was interested only in Annie.

  “Edda seems to be popular,” Liam told Annie as she joined him on the dais.

  Annie patted the great head resting on her lap. “I think the troll dogs give people something to think about other than Father’s and Uncle Rupert’s illness,” said Annie. “Everyone needs a distraction at a time like this.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” said Liam. “Speaking of distractions, here comes Clarence with his guard in tow.”

  “I’m glad the steward was able to find a suitable room for him,” Annie replied.

  “He isn’t happy about being back in a tower,” said Liam. “Unless he can sprout wings and fly, that’s where he’s staying until we decide what to do with him. It’s nice of you to let him join us for supper, considering all he’s tried to do to your family.”

  Annie shrugged. “He is your brother, although I have to admit he’s not on my list of favorite people.”

  “Nor mine,” said Liam. “Don’t let it bother you when he gripes about the tower or the food or whatever he’s thinking about at the moment. Mother raised him to expect more than he deserves.”

  Annie reached for her cup of cider and nodded to the girl who had just poured it. “I’m afraid Clarence’s happiness is the least of my concerns. The creeping blue is moving up Father’s legs, and he’s not able to eat anything except soup and broth.”

  “That has to be the draftiest tower I’ve ever had the misfortune to be locked away in,” Clarence said as he took a seat on the other side of Liam. “At least the tower at home had tapestries on the walls to block the wind coming through the cracks.”

  “Be glad you’re not in the dungeon,” Liam told him. “That’s where I would have put you if I’d been King Halbert.”

  “If you were King Halbert, you’d be turning blue and counting the days until you die,” said Clarence.

  Liam scowled at his brother. “Be nice or I’ll lock you in the dungeon myself,” Liam said. “You know, Annie,” he said, turning
to face her. “I just thought of where we should take Clarence. I think the ice-dragon stronghold would be just the place for him. The dragons could stick him in that little room and freeze him like they froze those wizards.”

  “Don’t tempt me,” said Annie. “If he makes one more crack about my father, we may do just that.”

  “Dragons! Now I’m sure you’re telling tall tales,” said Clarence. “Everyone knows that dragons don’t really exist.”

  Liam snorted and shook his head. “You may think whatever you want if it will make you happy. Oh, good! It looks as if your mother is going to join us for supper tonight, Annie.”

  Annie looked up and saw Queen Karolina coming through the door. Like Annie, the queen hadn’t smiled in days. Although she was as beautiful as ever, she looked tired and worn.

  “Your father is sleeping,” the queen said as she sat down beside Annie. “He may sleep for a while. This illness is taking so much out of him.”

  “I’m sure we’ll find something that will help him very soon,” Annie told her. “There are so many marvels in this world that we’re only just discovering. All we have to do is keep looking.”

  The servers were bringing platters of baked trout with onions and spit-turned venison coated in herbs when a guard came hurrying into the hall. “Your Highness,” he said, looking from the queen to Annie. “Two people just arrived who claim to know Princess Annie and Prince Liam. They got here the same way you did, Princess. They weren’t there, then suddenly they were.”

  “Really?” said Annie. “Did they give you their names?”

  The guard nodded. “The lady says that she’s Princess Millie. The young gentleman just called himself Audun.”

  “Bring them in!” Liam told him. “They’re friends of ours.”