“The Lady Dragon, or Queen Amber, as she calls herself, is a five-thousand-year-old sorceress who possesses the ability to turn herself into a dragon,” Lord Erik explained.
“And I’m supposed to kill her? I can assure you that I have no experience in dragon slaying, whatever form they’re in.”
“No,” said Lord Erik. “You’re only expected to find a way to banish her back to her own island. Her death is not supposed to come about for another thousand years, and only at the hand of a girl who shares her face – the Tela Du we call this girl. And you are, most assuredly, not her.”
“I find that relieving,” said Clara, in her best sarcastic voice. She had wanted answers, but these weren’t the sort of answers she wanted. Unfortunately, they were what she had expected.
“It is possible to banish her,” said Jakob, encouragingly. “Five hundred years ago, Princess Lina and Bookdaughter Klora managed to achieve the very thing when the Dragon attacked the last time.”
“Yes,” said Lord Erik. “We’ll send the legend for you to read. It would also be beneficial for you to read Alphego’s Hill, so I’ll send that as well.”
“You’re right,” said Clara. “I should take advantage of this opportunity to further my education.”
Somehow, she made it through the meal. If she made any social blunders, no one said anything about it. She suspected that that had a lot to do with the fact that she was their prophesied hero. If the girl who’s going to save everyone’s lives has bad manners, don’t talk about it. She might decide to let you all die.
The food was actually quite delicious, though some courses took a little getting used to, such as an extremely slimy salad. Her nerves were tightly strung, however, and she didn’t have much of an appetite.
At last, however, it was over, and Lord Erik made the suggestion that his son take her on a short tour of the castle before bed.
“We wouldn’t want her to get lost,” he explained.
So, Jakob stood, turned, and held out an arm for her, which she accepted, not knowing what else to do.
They wandered the halls, and he pointed out where more doors and halls led. Frankly, Clara had never seen the point of large houses that only served to get the inhabitants lost, and she wondered how long it would take for this castle to drive her completely crazy. Probably not long.
“And here’s my favorite room,” Jakob announced, pushing open a door and pulling her inside. “The library.”
Clara gasped as she beheld the shelves and shelves of books, and she paused to take in the overwhelming, musty scent of old books.
“Wow,” was all she was able to squeak out, as she let go of his arm in her awe.
“As my father would like you to read the legends about the Lady Dragon, and we’re here already, we may as well pick them up now, don’t you think?” Jakob asked.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” she said breathlessly, as she followed him, gazing longingly at the shelves.
A question that had been bugging her for some time finally wormed its way to the surface and she decided to ask it. “But if all you have are legends, what good would that do? Wouldn’t a biography or something like that be better?”
He paused a moment, then turned to her. “I’m not exactly sure what a biography is, but the Legends are the most trustworthy histories we have. The Bookholders of Rizkaland itself recorded them, gathered from eyewitness accounts. I doubt there is any ‘biography’ in your world that could boast of better.”
Clara was taken aback by this declaration, and he had resumed walking before she found an answer. “I take it then that the word legend means something different here than it does in my own world.”
“Apparently,” he agreed. “So, what does it mean for you?”
“In my world, a legend is a story that is possibly based on fact but has been exaggerated greatly, usually because they were passed down orally for several generations before they finally got written down,” she explained. “They’re fun to read and insightful for learning about the values and beliefs of a culture, but not much worth historically.”
“Well, our Legends are very different from your own,” said Jakob. He stopped walking and began scanning down a shelf, pulling out first one book and then a second, before he turned back to Clara. “Alphego’s Hill and Through the Mountain. The second is my favorite of all the legends.”
“Oh?”
“It’s the one about Queen Lina and Bookdaughter Klora,” he explained, handing her both of the books. “I think you’ll find them informative. History never happens the exact same way twice, but it can’t hurt for you to read how Amber was banished to her island the last two times.”
She frowned as she cracked open the book on the top of the stack, Alphego’s Hill. Instinctively, she pressed her nose into the pages and took a deep whiff of the bookish aroma. “Well, I can certainly say that it smells delicious.”
He grinned. “Most books do.”
She shrugged. “Not where I come from. These days, everyone wants to think themselves an author, and there are so many new books, and new books just don’t smell the same as the old ones.”
He didn’t seem to have anything to say about that, so they were both silent for a minute or so while she examined the books.
“You’re not scared,” he said at last.
She looked up in surprise. It wasn’t a question, or even a tease, just a statement of a fact. She drew herself to her full height of not-quite-five-foot and took a step backward to glare at him better, hugging the books to her chest defensively.
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you’re not,” he said, simply. “You’re very annoyed, borderline angry, perhaps a bit nervous, but you aren’t scared at all. Cautious, and untrusting of us, but not scared.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I’m rather certain. If you were scared, you wouldn’t be making a quip about everything anyone says to you, trust me. I have sisters.”
“And having sisters automatically makes you an expert when it comes to girls?” Clara asked.
He laughed and shook his head. “No, I don’t suppose it should,” he admitted. “But you remind me an awful lot of Essua.”
Something in his tone made her pause. “Who?”
“Essua,” he repeated, quieter, turning back to examine the shelves, but clearly not actually looking at the books. “I think the two of you would have gotten along well.”
“What happened to her?”
It was several seconds before he answered. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to Clara. “Essua was my twin sister. A bit annoying at times, but that was her. She had taken a group of guards to Nitek village to bring food and supplies, but they didn’t return. With no eyewitnesses surviving, we don’t know how, exactly, it happened, but when we investigated that next winter, we found the statues. The Dragon had gotten them.”
Clara’s heart tightened uncomfortably. “Oh. I’m … I’m so sorry.”
Jakob gave her a small smile. “It’s … not quite as bad as it sounds. She didn’t kill them – only turned them into ice. Which, I guess, would be worse, if it weren’t for the fact that we were promised a Fire Prince.”
“Um … I’m not quite following.”
“In all of Rizkan history, there has only been one cure for Amber’s ice spell – the fire of Alphego Himself. And the only ones to have wielded it were King Ralph and Queen Jane. But it is hoped that the Fire Prince will be able to do so as well.”
“That sounds … nice. But apparently I’m the Water Princess, and I have no special powers over water – beyond randomly falling through waterfalls.”
Jakob hesitated before he said, “Perhaps not yet.”
“Not yet?” Okay, now Clara was crossing over that borderline to angry. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“What I mean is that Alphego does things in His timing, and we didn’t expect you to have power over water immediately after your arrival,” Jakob countered.
He nodded towards her books. “Read those, and later you can ask my father more.”
She frowned, hating it when people skirted around telling her the truth, but followed him out of the library. Neither said much to the other as they made their way back to her room – he pointed out more of the various rooms and halls, but that was it.
At last, they reached her room. He took his leave of her, but then turned back as she opened the door to her room, and said, “I hope you don’t think I was trying to scare you.”
She paused. “What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t trying to scare you when I told you about my sister. I just wanted you to know how important this is to us,” Jakob explained. “You weren’t pulled from your own world just for a visit. We need your help, your courage to lead us to victory. We will follow you, we won’t make you do it on your own, but we need you.”
Clara was quiet for several moments, hand on the doorknob. “I understand, I really do…” She paused and took a deep breath. “But I wish your Water Princess could have been someone else. Good night.”
Chapter 4
“When I open my eyes, I will be back in my own bed, and this Water Princess business will have all been just a bad dream.”
Clara opened her eyes to find herself staring up at the velvet curtains of the canopy bed that was in the Blue Room. She rolled her eyes and then squeezed them shut again.
“Let’s try this again. In any normal situation, I would be waking up back at home and I would not be a prophesied hero who has to fight a crazy dragon lady.”
She opened her eyes again. Still in the canopy bed.
She sat up. Obviously, this was a bit more than just a dream. Frowning, she pulled back a corner of the curtain, only to be hit by a blast of cold air. “Oh, that’s right,” she muttered. “It’s winter here.”
She shoved the curtain closed and buried herself in the blankets again. Normally, she didn’t stay in bed very long in the morning, but normally she also awoke in her own bed – or at least in a bed in her own world.
“This isn’t a dream,” she whispered, making herself hear it. “Unless I’m in a coma, and I frankly doubt that. Coma dreams are usually crazier than this.”
It was true. The events of the night before were far too orderly and logical for them to have been a dream. Sure, the water was rather vividly colored, and there was the whole Water Princess business, but no one had randomly sprouted a second head, and beyond the sudden plunge from swimming pool to waterfall, there had been no illogical changes of setting.
“Time to start believing impossible things. I’ve a ways to go if I’m to catch up to six.”
An uncomfortable scratch rose in the back of her throat, and she felt the unmistakable prick of tears. Swallowing and taking several deep breaths, she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Get ahold of yourself, Clair!” she scolded herself. “Winners don’t cry. Olympic champions don’t cry. A true master is in control of her emotions at all times.”
She lay there, repeating those words for several minutes, and then sat up.
“I’ve got to get back home.”
Forgetting the cold, she sprang out of the bed. She had come here through that Waterfall; perhaps she could return home through it.
She paused as she set her hand on the door handle. It was cold, and while she wore a thick, fleecy nightdress, she didn’t trust it out in the elements, and she needed shoes. She may have survived the trip down the mountain with bare feet, but she wasn’t going to subject her feet to such torment a second time if she could help it.
Clara spun around, scanning the room for something that held promise of shoes. Her eyes fell on a large chest that lay at the foot of her bed. She threw it open to find it was full of clothing. Sighing in relief, she sorted through it, looking for something more practical than the gown she had worn the night before. Sure, it had been pretty, but it was hardly suited for a trip up the mountain, any more than this nightdress was.
There weren’t many practical items in the chest, mostly more dresses that were even longer than the one she had worn the night before, but at last, at the very bottom, she found a pair of green leggings folded into a dress that would only come to about knee length. They were both made of a soft, thick material that would keep the cold at bay. Perfect.
She pulled the leggings on first, then pulled off the nightdress and pulled on the dress as quickly as she could to minimize exposure to the frigid air. She laced up the bodice front as tight as it would go, and then paused for a quick look in the mirror. Well, the princess look of the night before was gone, but she wasn’t disappointed with the change. There was only so much a girl could take of princessing.
She found boots and socks in the trunk as well, so she pulled them on. They were a bit big, but she could live with that.
Casting one last glance back at Jasmine, to make sure the girl was still asleep, Clara slipped out of the room.
Thanks to the tour she had received the night before, she had a basic idea of the layout of the castle. It was frightfully cold in the hallways, but then, it hadn’t been much warmer in her room. Jogging up and down the halls, Clara tried to retrace her steps to the library – perhaps it held a map that would help her out of the castle and back up that mountain. For certain, it was one of the few places she knew where was.
Or, at least, she thought she knew where it was. It wasn’t long before she found herself in a completely unfamiliar section of the castle. Once she realized that some mistake had been made, she tried to retrace her steps, but she couldn’t find her way back to her room, either.
Servants bustled here and there, and Clara supposed that she could ask one of them for directions to the library, or back to her room, which was sounding pretty good at that moment, but she didn’t want to admit to them that she was lost, not when she was trying to make a great escape. So, she just kept out of sight when she could, and pretended she knew where she was going when she couldn’t.
At last, she came to an archway leading into a large room. The room held a fresh, warm, inviting air, so she stepped in.
The room was empty except for a large platform at its center. It was a circular structure which rose to about Clara’s shoulder, with sides that sloped perfectly save for four sets of stairs that cut into it at the four points of the compass. The sides and top were painted green, and the steps were golden. Warmth radiated out of it, though when she brushed her fingers against the steps, they didn’t feel hot.
Light permeated the room, though it didn’t seem to have a source. Based on the shadows, it seemed to come from the platform, but it didn’t seem to be glowing in any way. Clara could feel goosebumps rising on her arm. Of all the strange things she had encountered so far, this was by far the strangest.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” she muttered.
But somehow, she wasn’t afraid. A sense of peace oozed through the room. If anything, it made her want to lay down her fears and pray. To whom, she wasn’t quite sure, since she was in another world and things like that were a bit crazy, according to some of the books she read. Lord Erik had prayed to an Alphego the night before, but she didn’t know a thing about Him.
She stood a moment, in a state of indecision, when she heard a step behind her. Since she was already somewhat tense, even despite the peace that pervaded the room, she didn’t even bother to look to see who it was. She just spun around, and with a few well-placed kicks and maneuvers, the intruder was on the ground.
Arm held against his neck to keep him down, Clara finally thought to look at who it was.
“Jakob!”
“Water Princess,” said Jakob, both eyebrows raised. “Just a harmless girl indeed…”
She rocked back onto her heels and held out a hand and helped him up. “My dad is actually a Tae Kwon Do instructor,” she explained with a shrug. “I’m a blackbelt, and you won’t tell anyone.”
“Ah, so I’m held to an oath of absolute secrecy, I see,” said Jakob. “I thought there was m
ore fight to you than you admitted.”
“Oh? More of your in-depth research on girls?”
“Something like. Your posture, for one – you’re always on guard. Also,” he took her hand and turned it palm up, “your wrist is thicker than that of a helpless girl.”
Clara pulled her hand away and stood up. “And you’re not going to tell anyone?”
“Well, I’m sure father would appreciate knowing that he doesn’t need to train you in martial arts. Sir Martin was not impressed with the prospect of teaching another girl.”
Clara folded her arms over her chest. “All the more reason that he should teach one. No, no telling. I have my reasons.”
“Girls and their reasons,” said Jakob with a shake of his head as he scrambled to his feet. “I already knew you don’t trust us, so I’ll keep quiet about it. The last thing I want is for us to become your enemy.”
“What is this place?” said Clara, changing the subject, gesturing about the room.
“Alphego’s Hill,” said Jakob.
“Like, in the Legend?” asked Clara.
“You could say that. It’s not the real Hill, where Alphego stood to make this world, but a replica.”
“And why is it here?” Clara hadn’t read the Legend yet, as she’d gone to bed almost immediately after her return to the room the night before.
“To remind us. Also, King Ralph and Queen Jane of Fire and Electricity set it up in such a way, that wires running from this Hill are what bring light to the entire castle – and it’s the same in every castle that was built during their time. Before the Dragon came, we could also use it to travel to the other castles, and even the Great Kastle.”
“Travel?”
“I’m not exactly sure how it worked,” said Jakob, “they disabled it back when the Dragon first attacked so she couldn’t use it to go directly into the Kastle, should she succeed in taking this castle.”
“Oh, we’re back to her again,” said Clara. “You’re seriously trying to guilt me into this ‘fighting her’ affair.”
“You have agreed to take the lessons,” Jakob pointed out. “Even lessons for a skill already possessed.”
Water Princess, Fire Prince Page 3
