Dragon's Breath

by E. D. Baker

  Millie turned her head to whisper back, “But I thought you wouldn’t use your magic unless it helped you as a knight.”

  Francis opened his mouth to reply, but Millie didn’t hear what he had to say because just then someone squeezed her cheeks between two fingers and turned her head to face forward. An older woman with frizzy brown hair streaked with gray was smiling down at her, saying, “This must be our Millie. My, but you’ve grown since I saw you last. Of course, if your parents brought you around more often, you wouldn’t be such a stranger. Look at her, Bodamin. Doesn’t she look like Eadric when he was her age?” King Bodamin didn’t answer his wife because he was talking about hunting with Millie’s other grandfather, King Limelyn. Queen Chartreuse was there beside Frazzela, however, listening to every word.

  “Actually, I think I look more like my other grandmother, Queen Chartreuse,” Millie replied between lips puckered like a fish’s.

  “She does have my hair color,” murmured Chartreuse.

  “Perhaps,” said Queen Frazzela, releasing Millie’s face.

  Millie rubbed her cheeks as her two grandmothers led the way into the castle. Francis had disappeared and she was about to go looking for him when her father said, “Millie, I’m sure you remember your uncle Bradston.” Her father had his arm around the shoulders of the young man she’d already seen. A pretty young woman stood on Bradston’s other side, and beside her was a boy not much older than Millie.

  “It’s nice to see you again, Millie,” said Bradston. “This is my fiancée, Lady Maybelle, and her brother, Lord Eduardo.”

  “Hello, Millie,” said Maybelle in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. Millie thought her pale blond hair and light blue eyes made her look almost ghostly in the torchlight. “You never told me that she was pretty,” Maybelle said to Bradston. Turning to the boy on her other side, she added, “She might be just what you’re looking for, Eduardo.”

  Taking a step forward, Eduardo bowed to Millie and took her hand in his. “I’ve heard wonderful things about your kingdom and your mother, the Green Witch,” he said. “Do you have magic as well?”

  Millie nodded and swallowed hard. Unlike his sister, Eduardo had dark hair and piercing brown eyes, but he was as handsome as Maybelle was pretty. The look he was giving Millie was so intense that she could feel her face grow hot.

  “Maybe we should go in now,” said Francis, bumping into her arm.

  “Uh-huh,” said Millie, but her eyes didn’t leave those of Eduardo, who still held her hand in his.

  “Did you see where my parents went?” asked Zoë. She was holding her youngest brother, Ivan, who had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder.

  Francis tugged on Millie’s arm. “Come on. We have to go help Zoë.”

  “Why do you let your servants talk to you like that?” Eduardo asked Millie.

  “What?” said Millie, confused until she saw where he was looking. “They aren’t my servants. This is my friend Princess Zoë and my cousin Lord Francis.”

  “My mistake,” Eduardo said. “Their clothes …”

  Zoë glanced down at the simple shift she was wearing, then looked up at Eduardo, her eyes flashing. “We’ve been traveling.”

  “If you’ll excuse us,” Francis said through stiff lips, “we have to go.”

  Eduardo squeezed Millie’s hand before releasing it, murmuring, “Until later.”

  “Uh … right, later,” Millie told Eduardo over her shoulder as Francis dragged her away.

  As they entered the castle, Zoë said, “I don’t like that boy.”

  Francis frowned. “Neither do I.”

  “I think he’s all right,” said Millie, glancing over her shoulder one last time.

  Six

  Millie was exhausted. Once she reached the chamber she was to use, she lay down on the bed to rest her eyes. It was a cozy room, having been made that way by her mother many years before. The tapestry on the wall and the comfortable bed made it seem like home, and before she knew it, Millie was asleep. She missed supper and would have slept until morning, but halfway through the night her door flew open and a flock of bats fluttered in. Millie sat up, rubbing her eyes as one of the bats settled on her bed and turned into Zoë.

  “Guess what?” said her friend. “My parents have to go, but they said I can stay here with you!”

  Another bat landed on the floor and a moment later Garrid was shutting the door. He had the same blond hair as Zoë, and the same sharply defined features, but unlike his daughter, the prince was tall and extraordinarily handsome, while Zoë could only be considered pretty. “Li’l said that she can manage without Zoë as long as the boys remain bats,” said Garrid, “so I spoke to your mother and father and they said it’s fine with them. I’m sorry we’re going to miss your party, but at least you two will be together.”

  “Zoë,” said Li’l, a small brown bat, “you can fly us to the castle wall, then I want you to go to bed. You and Millie are going to have a busy day tomorrow, so you should get some sleep now.”

  “But Mama, I slept all the way here!” wailed Zoë.

  “I’m sorry, Zoë, but you’ll have to live like a human, at least for a little while. Queen Frazzela and King Bodamin don’t know anything about you, so just let them think you’re human while you’re staying with them.” Li’l fluttered around Millie, brushing the girl’s cheek with her wing. “Happy birthday, Millie!” Li’l said. “Behave yourselves, and don’t get into any trouble.”

  “See you in the morning!” Zoë told her friend before turning back into a bat and flying out the window with her family.

  It seemed as though Millie had just fallen asleep again when she woke to the sound of people running in the halls and the tinkling laughter that could only belong to a fairy. She sat up and was about to get out of bed when suddenly her door burst open and a flood of full-sized fairies poured in as a flock of tiny fairies flew in through the window. Laughing and shouting, “Happy birthday!” the fairies crowded around Millie’s bed, showering her with kisses so delicate that she could scarcely feel them.

  Tiny fairies began to jump on her bed, shedding fairy dust in their excitement. They didn’t seem to mind when a larger fairy swept a dozen or so of them aside so she could sit by Millie’s feet. “Happy birthday!” she said, giving Millie’s toes a pat. It was the Swamp Fairy. She had become a particular friend of Millie’s parents around the time Millie was born, claiming that she had a special tie to them because she had known them for so long.

  Millie felt a tug on her hair. The tiny fairies were swarming around her head, vying with each other to arrange her locks in a special birthday style. Not to be outdone, the big fairies began rooting through Millie’s trunks, pulling out one gown after another, then discarding them, declaring that they were too plain or too ugly. Her shoes were also dismissed as being unsightly, and tossed under the bed.

  When the tiny fairies finally let go of her hair and hovered around her to admire their handiwork, Millie reached up to feel what they had done. Somehow, they had turned her hair into a giant knot that she couldn’t get her fingers through. Millie winced when her fingers snagged the knot. “Um, thanks for trying, but …”

  “Now it’s my turn,” said the Swamp Fairy. With a wave of her hand, the knots came out of Millie’s hair with a whoosh and flew in a whirl around her head, settling in an intricate arrangement of curls. A mirror flew out of the trunk on the floor, stopping inches away from Millie’s face. She had to lean back to see her hair, which wobbled and bounced each time she moved her head. “Uh, very nice, but—”

  “Let me!” cried another fairy.

  “No, me!” cried another.

  Millie gritted her teeth and tried to look like she was enjoying it as the bigger fairies used their magic to rearrange her hair. Curls, loops, ringlets, braids, poufs, and buns all gave way as her hair changed from one style to the next. From what she could see in the mirror, none of the styles were anything she would actually have worn, although a few gave her
some ideas.

  “Hello!” called an overly cheerful voice, and Queen Frazzela stuck her head into the room. “What’s going on in here?” she asked, smiling broadly.

  The Swamp Fairy frowned. “We were just leaving,” she said. “Happy birthday again, sweet bud,” she said to Millie, and gave her another kiss on the cheek. Then, in a sparkle of fairy dust and a tinkling sound like wind chimes, fairies big and small fled the room.

  Queen Frazzela scowled at Millie. “They didn’t have to leave,” she said, and turned to study the mess on the floor. “I hope you brought a maid to clean this up.” Still scowling, she stomped from the room and closed the door with a loud thunk.

  Millie sighed and slid out from under her covers. Although she could do some simple magic of the ordinary kind, most of her magic was related to being a dragon. This meant that while her relatives could clean a room with a quick and easy spell, Millie had to ask a maid to do it or do it herself. It didn’t take long to pick up all her gowns, but her shoes were under the bed and she had to crawl on her stomach to reach them. She was still trying to grab the last slipper when the door opened again and Zoë and Francis came in.

  “Looks like your party already started,” said Francis.

  “The fairies came to see me,” Millie said, crawling out from under the bed.

  “Is that what happened to your hair?” asked Zoë, stifling a giggle.

  Millie reached up to touch her hair. “Is it that bad? I haven’t found the mirror yet.”

  “It’s not that bad,” said Zoë, grinning. “It’s worse. Here, let me help you.” The last fairy to arrange Millie’s hair had left it in stiff coils that sprung from her head like tiny snakes. Taking a boar-bristle brush from the trunk, Zoë brushed out her friend’s hair and braided it in one long plait. “There, now you can go out in public without frightening everyone.”

  “Am I the only one who’s hungry around here?” Francis asked.

  “I’m famished,” said Millie, heading toward the door.

  “You would be,” said Zoë, as she followed her friends. “You slept through dinner last night. Your mother told us not to wake you.”

  Millie laughed. “Which your whole family did, anyway.”

  “That was different,” said Zoë. “They came to say good-bye.”

  “Your parents left?” asked Francis.

  “Let’s go get some breakfast,” said Millie. “We’ll tell you about it on the way.”

  Millie and Zoë took turns telling him what had happened. They were still talking when they reached the entrance to the Great Hall and ran into the witches Ratinki and Klorine, two of the more frequent visitors to Emma and Eadric’s castle.

  Although they always wore ordinary clothes when they visited Greater Greensward, today Ratinki and Klorine were dressed alike in dark green gowns and short, sleeveless, gold-colored tabards embroidered with King Bodamin’s double-mountain crest. Their clothes were the same, but Klorine was smiling as if she was happy to see them while Ratinki’s wrinkled face looked sour and grumpy.

  “Look, it’s Millie!” Klorine shouted in her loud and distinctive voice.

  “I suppose this means I should say ‘happy birthday’ or some such drivel,” grumbled Ratinki. “No one wishes me well on my birthday, so I don’t know why I should say it to anyone else.”

  “I gave you a new pair of shoes for your birthday not six months ago,” Klorine bellowed, looking puzzled.

  “Goody. Shoes,” grumbled Ratinki.

  “But you asked for them. I thought you liked the shoes! You have them on your feet right now.”

  “You didn’t give me what I really wanted. I asked for you to stop shouting, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

  “Why … that’s …,” sputtered Klorine.

  “It’s good to see you both,” said Millie.

  “What are those for?” Francis asked, pointing at their golden tabards.

  “King Bodamin gave us jobs. We’re his Magic Brigade,” Klorine said proudly in a quieter voice that was still louder than everyone else’s. “We work with the army to make stronger armor and weapons that don’t break so easily. The king gave us space in the dungeon to do our work and another room to sleep in. It’s small, but not nearly as drafty as my cave.”

  “And no one’s come to burn it down the way they did my hut,” said Ratinki. “I wonder if it’s still repairing itself. I should go and see one of these days. Maybe I should let the cat out, too.”

  “How long have you been here?” asked Francis.

  “Two years,” said Klorine. “I didn’t know you had a cat, Ratinki.”

  “That’s because it’s none of your business,” said the old witch. “The cat’s probably run out of food by now,” she mumbled to herself.

  “Maybe one of the villagers let it out,” said Millie.

  Ratinki curled her lip in a half snarl. “Maybe one of the villagers stole it. They always were stealing my food.”

  “Speaking of food,” said Francis, “we’re on our way to get breakfast. Would you like to join us?”

  “No, thanks,” said Klorine. “Three bowls of porridge is enough to start my day.”

  “I have work to do,” Ratinki grumbled. “I want to see if I can find a way to make the opposing armies’ spears shatter before they reach our men. Maybe when the spears are in the air …”

  Klorine nodded. “We could do that. Or maybe before the soldiers throw them.”

  “Sometimes you come up with good ideas, for a ninny-head,” Ratinki told her, as the two turned and started for the dungeon.

  When Millie and her friends finally entered the Great Hall, housemaids and grooms were sweeping the floor and hanging garlands from the windowsills. The tables had already been rearranged for the party, with room for musicians on the raised dais where the king and queen usually sat. The only people sitting down were Maybelle and her brother, Eduardo, who smiled and stood up when Millie entered the room.

  “Won’t you join us?” Eduardo said, indicating the bench beside him.

  Millie was happy to share a bench with such a handsome young man. She’d decided that all she had to do was steer the conversation away from anything that might make her mad and see how well they got along when she didn’t have to worry about side effects or her fear that she could change into a dragon.

  “Where are all the fairies?” asked Zoë as she took a seat across from Millie.

  “They went off with some woman named Grassina,” said Maybelle. “She said they could help her with the flowers for the party.”

  “Grassina is my mother,” said Francis.

  “That’s nice,” Maybelle said, looking bored.

  Eduardo turned so that he was facing Millie, even though she was sitting right next to him. Francis scowled but didn’t say anything until after the cook’s helper had set a bowl of porridge in front of each of them and returned to the kitchen.

  “How long are you staying in Upper Montevista, Eduardo?” asked Francis.

  Eduardo looked annoyed as he said, “Are you talking to me? … What was your name, again? You have a better memory than I do, Maybelle. What is the boy called?”

  “Francis,” Maybelle said, giggling.

  “It’s Lord Francis to you, Ed,” said Francis.

  “That’s right! Grassina is the younger sister of Greater Greensward’s queen, which makes you Millie’s first cousin once removed, doesn’t it? As the son of the younger daughter, there isn’t much chance you’ll ever sit on the throne.”

  Maybelle clapped her hands and squealed. “Five gold pieces says my brother is right!”

  Zoë gasped. “You’re both very rude!”

  Eduardo turned to face her, his lip curled in a sneer. “You’re supposed to be a princess, aren’t you?”

  “My father is Prince Garrid,” said Zoë.

  “I notice that no one has mentioned your kingdom. Is it because you don’t really have one?”

  “Why, I … you … I can’t believe …” It was obviou
s that Zoë was flustered. Although her father was a prince, his subjects were scattered across countless geographic kingdoms. Zoë didn’t dare mention that he was the prince of vampires.

  “I bet we can uncover the truth before the day is over,” said Maybelle.

  “My sister likes to wager,” said Eduardo.

  Maybelle sniffed. “No more than you.”

  “Perhaps,” said her brother. “But I gamble only about things that really matter. And you,” he continued, turning to Zoë, “should work on your lies. You aren’t very convincing.”

  Millie no longer found the young man charming. “I can’t believe you’re calling my friend a liar,” she said, sliding away from him on the bench. “Because if you are, you’re calling me one, too. I told you who she was last night.”

  “Ah, but that was a joke, wasn’t it?” said Eduardo.

  “No more than you are a gentleman,” Millie replied.

  Francis had two spots of red on his cheeks as he said, “You’ve insulted my cousin and our friend. You, sir, have no honor. Would you care to meet me on the jousting field so I can teach you a lesson?”

  Eduardo laughed. “I don’t joust with children!”

  “You can’t be more than a year or two older than I,” said Francis. “I could best you at any weapon you choose.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, boy,” said Eduardo. “You may be related to royalty, but you’ll never be my equal.”

  “Why I ought to—,” Francis began, just as a witch seated on the handle of a pitchfork zipped into the Hall, shouting, “There’s the birthday girl!” Suddenly there were witches everywhere, pushing and shoving as they streamed through the windows and doors.

  Millie stood to watch the witches arrive. Although some of them rode brooms, others rode farm implements, chairs, and magic carpets. One witch even rode a cobbler’s bench, which trotted to the corner to wait until its rider was ready to leave.

  “Oh, my!” said Maybelle as the witches crowded around, laughing and jostling each other as they tried to get close to Millie.