Born to Rule

by Kathryn Lasky

  “Nobody does. It’s always Merlin this, Merlin that!” Her voice was shrill. “It’s enough to drive one mad.”

  Alicia collected herself. Merlin’s sister? Had she not wished for just this very thing? A Merlin!

  “What is my destiny?” Alicia asked again.

  “You think I’m going to tell you right off the bat?” Berwynna asked.

  As if on cue, a bat flew out from Berwynna’s hair. “Yikes!” screeched Alicia, but she pressed on with her questions. “You claim there is much to be done. So what is it that I must do?”

  “Look, my dear, you have proven your courage and your determination by coming into the forest on a cold night when you have been castled.”

  So she agrees that it was perhaps wrong that I was castled, Alicia thought.

  “Of course I agree. What do you take me for, a nitwit?” This time a very tiny insect crept out of her ear.

  Holy monk bones, she’s got lice! “Oh, yuck!” Alicia muttered.

  “I’m a friend to all creatures. If some decide to live on me, far be it from me to evict them.”

  “But what is it that you want me to do?”

  “Restless spirits lurk, my dear.” Berwynna stepped closer to Alicia and stood on her tiptoes. The reflections of stars now danced in her eyes. Berwynna smiled and then began to speak in a singsongy voice that scratched the night.

  “Now listen closely to my tale

  Though it may turn your pink cheeks pale.

  There’s still a story incomplete;

  Look closely and you’ll see, my sweet.

  Two spirits must be put to rest

  Until another dream is blessed,

  And then, when every stitch is sewn,

  Evil’s work is o’erthrown.”

  “What?” Alicia was completely confused.

  Berwynna sank down from her tiptoes and rocked back on her heels. She folded her arms across her narrow chest and looked at Alicia with a smug little grin.

  “Go figure” was all she said.

  Chapter 17

  A GHOST PRINCESS

  When Alicia returned to her bedchamber, the little weeb looked at her hopefully. “I’m sorry,” Alicia said. “I didn’t find a mate for you tonight.” She sighed, and it seemed as if the bird sighed with her.

  Alicia looked at the clock on her mantel. It was just before midnight. Not even an hour had passed, but it seemed as if she had been gone for at least three. How strange! Alicia took off her backward clothes, put on her thinking tiara, and slipped into bed. She pulled the covers up to her chin while she stole another look at the clock. Had it all been a dream?

  She repeated the strange, tiny woman’s verse until it sang in her head. “Two spirits must be put to rest…when every stitch is sewn”…what could it mean? She looked across to the little bird and felt sorry for him. But a fat lot of good it had done her to sneak out on this bitter-cold night. All she had accomplished was to find a nutty old lady who spoke in nonsense rhymes.

  Alicia picked up Love Letters of a Forgotten Princess. She had read some of these love letters over a hundred times and could recite many by heart. As she paged through the book to find her favorites, a few words in one of the letters caught her eye, as if for the first time.

  “What is this?” she whispered to herself. As she read, Alicia felt her cheeks turn pale.

  “Hidden in a turret the tapestry is lost, but its magic can be found between the seconds of midnight’s chimes.”

  Alicia’s head seemed to spin with glittering fragments of stories—words, rhymes, verses that began to stitch themselves together with new meaning. Words came back to Alicia. The words of that strange creature made of bark, moss, and magic—Merlin’s sister, Berwynna! “And then, when every stitch is sewn, evil’s work is o’erthrown.”

  There was a sudden rattling at the shutters. A cold draft swept through the chamber.

  The weeb began to carol! His silvery notes filled the room.

  Alicia was out of bed in a flash. “You sang! You sang!”

  “That was not a song. It was a cry for help,” a voice whispered. The voice seemed to come from the grate in the fireplace, where the coals still glowed. As another gust of wind pushed open the shutter, a shiver went up Alicia’s spine.

  “Who’s there?” Alicia called. A swirl of snow blew down from the chimney. She was shaking so hard that her teeth chattered, but she forced herself to ask again, “Who’s there, I say? Who needs help? The weeb?”

  There was a hiss and a small puff of smoke and ash from the fireplace. The swirl of snow had been sucked into the fire, striking the coals, which were now sputtering.

  Alicia ran to get the bellows to breathe life into the flames. It would be a cold morning if the coals in the fire went dead. She had seen Gilly pump the bellows. It didn’t look hard. She crouched down and began pumping. The coals started to glow orange again. She pumped harder. A tiny flame began to flicker.

  Then the shutters swung wide open and immense gusts of snow swept into her bedchamber.

  The fire in the grate leaped up to meet the gusts. For a few brief seconds, snow and flames seemed to join in an odd dance. And then it was over.

  A figure stepped out of the fire. It was a beautiful lady! Her dress hung like dim amber flames. Wisps of shimmering hair escaped from an old-fashioned headpiece, the medieval kind that was called a coif. On top of the coif was a small crown, a coronet. Alicia knew that only ruling princesses wore coronets! The coronet seemed to be made of snowflakes.

  Now, at last, the weeb burst into a song of pure joy, and the strange princess smiled.

  Alicia took a step closer to the princess, who quivered like a candle flame in the breeze. “Who are you?” Alicia whispered. “Are you a ghost?”

  The woman nodded.

  “Are you my destiny?” Alicia asked, remembering Berwynna’s words. “Are you the spirit that must be put to rest?”

  “We must both be put to rest, me and my love, too,” the ghost princess said.

  “Him? Who? How?” Alicia was completely confused.

  “How, my dear? The tapestry is how you shall do it. The stitches left undone must be stitched, and then a spell will be broken.”

  “But how will I know what to stitch?”

  “You shall know,” the ghost princess said. “Follow me.” She tipped her head toward the door of Alicia’s chamber.

  Alicia felt as if she were walking behind a fine mist shaped like a lovely lady. She could see right through to the stone walls of the castle. The ghost princess’s dress gave off a strange light that lit the darkened passageway. They needed no candles.

  As Alicia and the ghost princess wound their way through the corridors to the Portrait Gallery, the castle’s great clock began to sound the hour. It was midnight. “Between the seconds of midnight’s chimes,” Alicia thought with excitement. She dared not steal a glance at her mother’s portrait. The queen might disapprove, but Alicia had to go. This ghost was somehow connected with the weeb. Alicia was sure of that. But how? The princess might be a ghost, but she was the ghost of a princess and not the ghost of a female weeb.

  They stopped in front of a portrait of a young princess. “This is you!” Alicia exclaimed.

  “Yes, I was here as a girl, and later I returned.”

  Alicia put her hand on the corner of the frame. The portrait swung out from the wall, revealing a door. The ghost princess opened the door and appeared to float up a winding staircase. Alicia followed step by step.

  The staircase seemed to spiral upward forever. When they reached the top, they were directly under the cone-shaped roof of the turret.

  “I never knew this turret existed,” Alicia said.

  “It is a long-forgotten one. It was used as a storeroom when I was the needlework counselor here.”

  Alicia stopped. “You were a needlework counselor?”

  The ghost princess turned on the stairs and nodded.

  “You are the princess with the broken heart who took r
efuge here.” Again the ghost princess nodded. “And this is the unfinished tapestry that you are taking me to, isn’t it?” For a third time, the ghost princess nodded. Then she spoke.

  “I am the Forgotten Princess that you have been reading about all this time. You see, my dear, our destinies are joined. Not only did you read about me, but you really believed in me and felt my troubles as if they were your own.”

  Alicia put a hand to her cheek in astonishment. The book that her sisters often teased her about reading was part of her destiny. She followed the ghost through the doorway at the top of the stairs.

  They were in a small room. In the dim glow of the ghost princess’s dress, Alicia could just make out a tapestry on the wall. She walked toward it as if in a trance. The woven cloth did not look like it had aged, but she could hardly make out the design. As Alicia lifted her finger to touch it, shapes seemed to appear through the cloth. It was almost as if ghost actors were walking onto a stage. Alicia saw a regal woman who wore a coif fixed by a coronet, and over the coronet, hanging like mist, was a long veil.

  Alicia turned slowly around toward the lovely ghost. “This is you,” Alicia said. The princess nodded.

  Alicia couldn’t help but feel that the princess looked familiar to her, and not just from the portrait. Something about her hair and sparkling eyes did indeed remind her of someone. She just couldn’t remember who.

  “What happened? How was your heart broken?”

  “You know my story,” the ghost princess said. “My name is Kyranala, and I come from the Kingdom of Kerrwyn. After my mother died, an evil princess from another kingdom lured my father into marriage. My poor sister had to go live with them. A short time later, my stepmother poisoned my father, and my sister managed to run away. My stepmother became known as Queen Guthstab the Remorseless. She terrified everyone.

  “There was a small order of knights who remained loyal to my father’s memory. They protected me. One of these knights, Sir Roland, and I fell deeply in love. We were married, secretly. But Guthstab found out, and she hated my happiness. She had the Blood Guard capture Sir Roland. She ordered him put to death. I ran here to Camp Princess, where my sister and I had been so happy. They let me stay on as the needlepoint counselor.”

  Alicia had been looking closely at the tapestry during the princess’s story. As she spoke, the cloth began to suggest a design, a design to be stitched that told a story with great meaning. Alicia turned to the Princess Kyranala. “Do you have a needle and thread?”

  “Right there, my dear.” She pointed to a section of the tapestry where a needle was tucked in next to several others, all with different colored threads. Alicia began to stitch. She blinked in surprise. In no time she had done a perfect row of split stitches, and her fingers began to move even more rapidly.

  “Goodness!” Alicia exclaimed. “I just did the butterfly stitch—that’s the hardest stitch of all! My older sister can’t even do that one!”

  She felt a kind of energy traveling through the thread to the very tips of her fingers as she stitched. “This is like magic.”

  “Not like magic, my dear. It is magic.”

  Princess Kyranala’s face seemed to glow now almost like a living person’s. It had a tinge of pink, as if blood coursed through her veins.

  Can it make the dead live again? Alicia wondered. Am I bringing her back to life, or am I putting a spirit to rest?

  Alicia sensed new urgency for her task now. She turned back to the tapestry and continued to sew. As she stitched, the figures became clearer. She began to see a forest of trees with shining crystal bells instead of leaves. She saw a small figure crouched behind a tree trunk. Could it be Berwynna? On another panel she saw a scene with a cage at the princess’s feet.

  “You are kneeling here at the edge of the Forest of Chimes. There is a cage, and inside I can see the outlines of a bird. A bird to be freed, or a bird to be stitched? Is the cage door opened or closed? I cannot tell.” Alicia felt her heart beat rapidly. “What is it?”

  “I have a long story to be stitched, too much for one night. The sky grows light, and you must be back in your bedchamber,” replied the ghost princess.

  “Please, can’t I stitch the bird? He looks so much like my weeb.” Alicia knew then that what she had suspected was true. The weeb and the spirit of this princess were connected in some mysterious way. Bird, book, and spirit! she thought.

  Princess Kyranala seemed almost to read her mind. “You must wait just a bit longer. Tomorrow night, after the songbird contest, all will be revealed.”

  “Why must I wait?”

  “The tapestry cannot be completed alone. You will need your friends. But do not take them to the tapestry until after the songbird contest. It is almost as if destiny has put you three princesses together, is it not?”

  With those words the ghost princess vanished. And Alicia herself was no longer standing in the turret in front of the unfinished tapestry, but in her own chamber, barefoot on the cold stone floor, next to her bed. She was not sure how long she had been standing there or how she had returned from the forgotten turret. And she wondered what had happened to Princess Kyranala.

  As the first streaks of dawn light slipped in through the window, she felt something cold and wet beneath her feet. She was standing in a puddle of water. Could the puddle have come from the snowflake coronet? Alicia wondered what was real and what had been a dream.

  She turned to look for the weeb. He was not on her bedpost where she had last seen him and he was not in his cage. The cage was empty! She gave a small cry of dismay. The shutters were still open. Had the golden bird flown away? Why, after all this, had he fled? Was he looking for his mate in the Forest of Chimes? She had to find him! He was at the center of this whole mystery. The bird and the ghost princess—the Forgotten Princess—were linked. Their fate depended on each other and on Alicia and her friends.

  Did she dare go to the Forest of Chimes again? Would Berwynna know where to find the weeb? One thing was for sure—she must ask Kristen and Gundersnap to help. She must tell them this strange story. She must take them to the tapestry, after the songbird contest, as the ghost princess had instructed.

  Chapter 18

  UNCASTLED!

  Last night’s winter had turned to spring by the time Gilly brought her breakfast. Alicia ate quickly.

  In the salon Lady Merry greeted her, waving a note from Queen Mum.

  “Good news, Alicia!”

  “What? What?” Kristen and Gundersnap had arrived in time to hear the news.

  “Is she uncastled?” Kristen asked.

  “Indeed she is,” Lady Merry replied.

  Gundersnap and Kristen began cheering wildly.

  “And there is more good news, my dears,” Lady Merry continued with a smile.

  “What’s that?” Alicia asked.

  “Well, I gave the Queen Mum the proposal Princess Gundersnap wrote about our little Myrella and how poorly her turretmates were treating her. She has graciously agreed to let Myrella join you next session!”

  And now a near riot broke out. The princesses were jumping and hugging and throwing pillows into the air.

  “Princesses! Princesses! You’re behaving like savages. Please!” Lady Merry begged. But it was no use. The princesses’ spirits were simply too high.

  Lady Merry von Schleppenspiel sank back into her reinforced rocking chair. “Gilly…Gilly, dear, would you come and loosen my stays. The princesses are hogging all the air. I need to ease my breathing.”

  Alicia, no longer castled, was now free to join in all outdoor activities. The first of that day was the Picnic Royale. Gold tablecloths were spread on the grass by the lake, and a croquet field had been set up with silver wickets for the amusement of the campers. During the game Alicia could not find a minute alone with her turretmates to tell them of her lost bird and the story of the ghost princess. And when croquet ended, kite flying began in the meadow.

  After a few minutes, Alicia slipped up to Kristen.
“Reel in your kite and follow me.” Kristen was about to protest. “If anyone asks, tell them that my kite got away and you’re helping me look for it.” Then she went over to Gundersnap and told her the same thing.

  Alicia led her friends from the meadow into the Forest of Chimes.

  “What’s this all about?” Kristen asked.

  “My weeb is gone. It flew away last night. And there is more. Much more. Just follow me.”

  There was such mystery surrounding this walk in the forest that Gundersnap and Kristen were afraid even to question Alicia. Finally Alicia decided that they had gone far enough.

  “All right. Now we must just stand here quietly for a few minutes,” Alicia said. She hoped that Berwynna would help find the weeb, but she was not quite sure how she would explain Berwynna to her friends.

  “What’s to explain?” A crotchety voice scraped through the tinkle of the chimes. “Gads! What a whiner you are!”

  Kristen and Gundersnap jumped back in shock.

  “Berwynna!” Alicia said with relief.

  “No! The Duchess of Malta! Who else wears spiderwebs, leaves, and a moss tutu?”

  Kristen and Gundersnap stared in disbelief at the peculiar figure standing in front of them. She was plucking at a short, fluffy moss skirt that she had pulled over her bark tunic. “How do you like it? I think it becomes me. Now, what are you grousing about this time?”

  “My bird, my bird.” Alicia had meant to be brave, but she found herself in tears.

  “Here, blow your nose.” Berwynna handed her a wad of cobwebs.

  “Eeeew!” Gundersnap and Kristen wrinkled up their noses at the sight of the cobwebs.

  Alicia, for the sake of being polite, took the cobwebs and tried not to make a face as she pretended to blow her nose in the icky things. Then she remembered her royal training.

  “Berwynna,” she said, “I’m pleased to introduce my turretmates, Princess Kristen of the Isles of the Salt Tears in the Realm of Rolm, and Princess Gundersnap from the mighty Empire of Slobodkonia.”