Princess in Disguise

by E. D. Baker

  “As a matter of fact,” Gwendolyn began, “the other morning he sent pigeons to spy on us, but it was my idea to—”

  “We found her! She was in the buttery,” a kitchen maid said, dragging a reluctant-looking Lilah by the hand.

  “What do you want?” Lilah asked, shaking off the girl’s grip.

  “Just to talk to you,” said Annie. Hearing the shuffle of feet, she looked around to see that everyone had moved closer to listen. “In private,” she added, and led Lilah from the hall.

  Grumbles of disappointment followed them as Annie took Lilah to a small room off the main corridor and shut the door.

  “There’s something you need to tell me,” Annie said, turning to her friend. “Is King Dormander your father?”

  Lilah looked away, letting her long hair cover her face. She nodded, an almost imperceptible movement that spoke volumes. “I should have told you sooner, but I couldn’t at first, and then when I wanted to, you were gone.”

  “Why couldn’t you tell me when he first arrived? Are you that afraid of him?”

  “Not of him. Of his wizard. He’s the man my father wants me to marry. If you’d seen him doing the things I’ve seen, you’d know why I can’t marry him.”

  “If he’s so awful, why does your father want you to marry him?”

  “Because the man acts normal when my father is around. Father has no clue what his wizard is really like. I’ve seen him hurt animals for fun, and kick and slap his servants. He lies, swearing that he’s telling the truth even when the evidence is right in front of you. Sometimes he uses his magic to hurt people, which he thinks is funny. The man says he loves me, but that’s not possible. The only person he loves is himself. I wanted to tell my father what the man was really like, but every time I tried, the wizard would show up.”

  “Then there is only one thing we can do. We’ll have to show your father what the wizard is really like. You can’t hide here forever, Lilah. Uh, what is your real name?”

  “Mertice. It was my father’s mother’s name.”

  “Then come with me, Mertice. We’re going to dress you in clothes worthy of a princess who is going to confront her father with the truth.”

  Chapter 16

  “I already told you that I can’t get involved in human matters, especially not a war,” Moonbeam told Annie and Liam.

  “But you did say that you help individuals, and that’s what we’re asking you to do,” said Annie. “Mertice’s father wants her to marry an awful man. He just doesn’t know how awful he is. We need your help to show him the truth.”

  “I don’t know …,” said Moonbeam.

  “What if someone had forced you to marry a man you couldn’t stand?” Annie asked her. “Then you would never know the happiness you’ve had with Selbert, and you’d be miserable for the rest of your life. Please help us, Moonbeam? The only way we’re going to end the siege is if Mertice goes back to her father, but we can’t make her go back knowing that she’ll end up married to a horrible person.”

  “I suppose …”

  “Do you have a wedding present for us?” Liam asked.

  “Why, no,” said Moonbeam. “I hadn’t thought about it yet.”

  “Then this could be your gift to us. Help Mertice and you don’t have to give us anything else.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea!” Annie said, beaming at Liam.

  Moonbeam sighed. “Oh, all right. If it means that much to you! When do you want to go?”

  “Right now!” Annie said. She was so pleased that she couldn’t help herself and gave the fairy a hug.

  The fairy looked surprised. “Well!” she exclaimed, and patted Annie’s shoulder as if she didn’t know what else to do.

  “Is Mertice ready yet?” asked Liam.

  Annie nodded. “She should be waiting in the great hall by now.”

  No one followed them when they stepped out of the room where they’d been talking. Annie had already noticed that most of the people in the castle kept their distance from the fairies and were particularly intimidated by Moonbeam and Sweetness N Light. Walking down the corridor was easier now and they soon reached the great hall. They found Mertice there, dressed in a deep blue gown with embroidery at the neck and wrists. It was one of Ella’s gowns, since she was the only princess as tall as Mertice. She stood when she saw them, smoothing the soft fabric over her hips.

  “You look very nice,” said Annie.

  “It feels strange to wear good clothes again,” Mertice replied. “It’s been so long.”

  “It didn’t need to be,” Annie said.

  Mertice gave her a rueful smile. “I know. You’ve been very kind.”

  “Tell me about this man your father wants you to marry,” Moonbeam said to Mertice.

  While the princess talked to the fairy, Liam took Annie aside. “Don’t you think we should tell your father what we’re doing?”

  “Not at all. He wouldn’t let us do it if we did.”

  “Which tunnel do you want to use?” Liam asked.

  “Neither,” said Annie. “We’ll have the south drawbridge lowered and go out the gate. King Dormander is getting exactly what he asked for—his daughter back. There’s no need to hide from him now.”

  “Then I’ll have some horses brought around,” said Liam. “And a guard to carry a white flag. No need to risk Dormander’s archers taking potshots at us by mistake.”

  “I don’t ride horses,” Moonbeam announced as she and Mertice joined them. “Never have, never will.”

  “Then we’ll walk,” said Annie. “We need to go out together.”

  They had to wait a few minutes while a guard found a white flag, but then they were out the door, watching the drawbridge lower. Annie noticed that a change seemed to be coming over Mertice. Instead of the hunched back and furtive look she’d assumed as Lilah, her back became straight, she held her head high, and her gaze was direct. She looked regal now, and no one could doubt that she was a princess.

  As the drawbridge lowered enough that Annie could see over the top, she spotted King Dormander’s soldiers gathered, ready to fight anyone who emerged from the castle.

  “I’ll go first,” said Mertice. “They need to see that I’m here.”

  With the flag-carrying guard beside her, Mertice crossed the drawbridge while Annie, Liam, and Moonbeam followed close behind. A shout went up when they saw Mertice, and some officers rode out to greet her. Other soldiers moved as if to separate the princess from the rest of her party, but she refused to let anyone get between them.

  “Stay back!” she called.

  They bowed low and kept their distance as they shepherded the little party through the ranks to the king’s tent. When Annie saw the angry looks they were giving her and Liam, she moved a little closer to her prince.

  Mertice and her friends waited outside the tent until the curtain-door opened and a guard stepped out. “The king is anxious to see you, Your Highness, but these people must remain outside.”

  “Then I will remain outside as well,” Mertice told him.

  The man looked taken aback. “Uh, just a minute,” he replied, and disappeared into the tent.

  “Have you seen the looks they’re giving us?” said Moonbeam. “No one has ever looked at me with such hatred before. It’s rather disconcerting.”

  “They seem to think we’ve done something, but I can’t imagine what,” Annie told her.

  “You may all enter,” the guard said when he finally came back to hold the curtain-door open.

  Mertice hooked one of her arms through Annie’s and the other through Liam’s, making sure that they would go in together. Annie didn’t know what to expect when they entered the tent. Glancing back at Moonbeam, she saw that the fairy was following close behind, examining everything with great interest. Dressed in ordinary clothes rather than her normally sparkling garments, she looked like a kindly grandmother who baked tarts for visitors to her cottage and not at all like a powerful fairy.

  The tent
was large and yellow with a high pointed roof. The light passing through the fabric walls of the tent was bright and sunny, giving the space an almost golden glow. Colorful rugs covered the bare earth, and wooden benches were placed along the walls. Unlit lanterns hung from the ceiling, and a large banner depicting a shark chasing a dragon hung behind a tall chair in the middle of the tent.

  The king was seated in the chair, with courtiers and armed guards flanking him on either side. A brown dog with a white muzzle snored at his feet. Mertice’s father was a large man with black hair flecked with white, and a beard more white than black. His eyes looked troubled until he spied his daughter. They brightened then as if someone had lit a candle inside him.

  “My beautiful girl!” he cried, getting to his feet. “It really is you. How are you? Have they hurt you?”

  “Your Majesty,” Mertice said, sounding formal, although her expression was warm. Freeing her arms from Annie’s and Liam’s, she curtsied to the king, but made no attempt to go any closer. Instead she glanced at the bald-headed man standing beside the king and her expression changed to one of dislike.

  Annie studied the man, certain that he must be the wizard. He wore a dark gray robe with long, dangling sleeves that nearly reached the ground. His scalp was bare and so smooth that it almost looked as if it had been polished. Tufts of hair sprouted from his ears and nose, while bushy eyebrows overshadowed small eyes set close together. Annie thought he looked sly when he smiled at the princess.

  “Come here, my dear girl, and let me look at you,” said the king. “I’m glad these people finally came to their senses and allowed you to leave.”

  “These are my friends, Father,” Mertice told him. “They brought me to see you not because of your siege, but because they just learned that I am your daughter. Allow me to introduce them to you. This is Princess Annabelle, Prince Liam, and …” She turned to Moonbeam and bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I don’t believe I know your name.”

  The wizard leaned toward the king and whispered in his ear.

  “Speak up, Rotan,” said Mertice. “Whispering like that is rude. Tell us all what you told my father.”

  “I said,” the wizard said, sneering, “that you are under their influence. They are controlling you now as much as they did when you were locked in their castle.”

  “They are not controlling me and they never held me prisoner! They gave me refuge when I needed it and treated me well.”

  “They didn’t kidnap you?” asked the king.

  “No one kidnapped me, Father. I left home of my own volition. I overheard you promise Rotan that I would marry him and that is something I will never do. I disguised myself and crossed the sea so I would not have to marry that man.”

  The king frowned. “You would disobey me in this? But you have always been such an obedient daughter.”

  “And you have always been a reasonable father, until you promised me to Rotan. He isn’t what you think he is. He has never shown you what he is really like.”

  “I admit that he is many years older than you, and I suppose he is not as handsome as some, but he will take care of you after I am gone. I worry that you will be left all alone after I die.”

  “That won’t be for many years, Father! If you give me a chance, I’m sure I can find a more suitable husband than Rotan.”

  Annie noticed that the wizard was glowering at Mertice during her conversation with the king. He kept opening and closing his mouth as if he were struggling not to interrupt, but his expression was getting angrier. Finally he could no longer control himself and he blurted out, “It’s all lies, Your Majesty. I am just as you know me to be, a good honest man who has nothing but the well-being of you and your daughter at heart.”

  “So you’re calling the princess a liar?” asked Annie as she took a step forward.

  The wizard narrowed his already small eyes at her. “I would never do that! I’m saying that you have used some sort of magic to control her and the words she speaks.”

  “I don’t use magic,” said Annie.

  “Really?” said the wizard. “Then why can I sense a magical presence? Let’s check the truth of your words, shall we?”

  His hands had been hidden inside his long sleeves, but he raised one now so that the sleeve fell back, exposing his hand and the slender wand it was clutching. Annie reached for Liam, grabbing his wrist as the wizard pointed his wand. In the next instant, the finch flew from where she had been resting on top of the banner and fluttered in the wizard’s face, beating him with her wings and trying to peck him. Cursing, the wizard swatted her aside, knocking her to the ground at Moonbeam’s feet.

  Annie gasped and was about to reach for the finch when Liam called out, “Annie!”

  She looked up in time to see the wizard point his wand at the chain holding up one of the lanterns. The loose end of the chain grew longer until it reached the ground, then longer still, sliding across the carpet to where Annie and Liam stood.

  When Liam reached for his sword, Annie shook her head and whispered, “Remember the ants.” Even though she was sure the chain wouldn’t touch her, Annie held her breath while it reared back as if it were a snake about to strike, then whipped at her, only to stop in midair. It shivered so hard that the lantern attached to the other end rattled as it swung wildly on the ceiling of the tent. The chain backed off, then turned to Liam. Once again it moved as if to strike, only to be turned aside.

  With an exasperated sigh, the wizard flicked his wrist and the chain fell in a heap on the carpet, inanimate once again. He gave Annie a speculative look and pointed his wand at the dog asleep at the king’s feet. A tiny wave of the wand and the dog turned into a huge black wolf. The beast jumped to its paws and turned toward Annie and Liam, growling. Its eyes seemed to glow as it stalked them. And then it was hurling itself at Annie, its lips pulled back in a fearsome snarl.

  Liam’s sword snicked out of its sheath, but the wolf bounded to Annie’s other side, coming at her so that Mertice and Annie herself blocked Liam’s blow. The wolf was almost on her when Annie threw up her hand as if in defense. At her touch, the wolf turned back into the old dog and collapsed, groaning, its sides heaving.

  “Rex!” Mertice cried, dashing to the dog and kneeling down beside it.

  “You see!” shouted the wizard. “The girl has magic just as I said!”

  “What did you do to my dog?” the king said, scowling at the wizard.

  “It’s just a dog, Your Majesty. You can always get another. I’ve proven that the girl is a witch.”

  “But I’m not,” said Annie. “You’ve just proven that you don’t like animals and that your magic doesn’t work on me.” Turning to Moonbeam, she asked in a soft voice, “Can you do something about him before he seriously hurts someone?”

  “It would be my pleasure,” the fairy said with a grim smile. Raising her own wand, she circled it overhead. The air seemed to crackle around them, the light grew almost unbearably bright, and suddenly Annie, Liam, Mertice, King Dormander, and the wizard were standing with the fairy in a meadow with no one else around.

  The wizard looked more stunned than anyone else.

  “You might want to get your father out of the way,” Annie told Mertice.

  The princess nodded and ran to her father, whose chair had also come to the meadow. Helping him to his feet, she hustled him away from any errant magic.

  The wizard turned to Annie. “You’ve proven my point for me. Only someone with great magical powers could have done this. And anyone with such powers could easily control the mind of a princess.”

  “I didn’t do it,” said Annie.

  “I did,” Moonbeam declared.

  “You’re the witch!” exclaimed the wizard.

  “Not quite,” Moonbeam said with a laugh.

  The wizard raised his wand and aimed it at Moonbeam, saying, “I know how to deal with you!” He wore a satisfied smile as a light shot from the tip of his wand, but instead of striking Moonbeam, it faded away before i
t could reach her. Muttering to himself, the wizard tried again, but the second attempt was no more successful than the first.

  “Now it’s my turn,” said the fairy. With a twitch of her wand, the wizard’s long sleeves wrapped themselves around him, holding his hands and arms to his sides and covering his mouth so that he couldn’t speak. Still pointing the wand at him, Moonbeam announced in a loud, clear voice,

  The truth is like a beacon

  Shining in the night.

  It cuts through all the murkiness

  That can impede one’s sight.

  Ensure this man will now speak

  Only what is true.

  So all may know what he has done

  And hear his point of view.

  “There,” she said, glancing at Annie. “That ought to do it. Although I must say, I’m surprised that he didn’t recognize me for what I am.” Walking up to the still-bound man, she leaned toward him and shouted in his face, “I’m a fairy! Wizard’s magic doesn’t work on us.”

  “Can we go back now?” asked Liam.

  “Not quite yet. Come join us!” Moonbeam called to Mertice.

  “Did you see what the wizard did to the finch?” Annie asked Liam. “The poor little thing.”

  “Do you mean this little bird?” Moonbeam asked, reaching into her pocket. Raising the limp finch to her lips, she kissed the bird on her beak. The finch lifted her head and blinked at Moonbeam.

  Annie gasped and Liam looked amazed. Moonbeam laughed. “Don’t look so surprised. She was stunned, not dead. I felt her heart beating when I picked her up.”

  “I’m so glad!” said Annie.

  The finch turned her head at the sound of Annie’s voice. “I saved your life, didn’t I?”

  “You certainly did!” said Annie.

  “And you saved my life,” the finch said, turning back to Moonbeam. “Then I must stay with you until I have done the same for you.”

  Moonbeam looked delighted. “I would love to have you live with me! You’ll really like my garden! Ah, there you are,” she said, seeing Mertice. Once more the fairy raised her wand and pointed it at the wizard. With a light tap, the end of the sleeve that covered his mouth fell away, although his arms and hands were still bound.