“I know,” Berwynna said. “Continue.”
“My weeb flew away, and tonight is the songbird contest and it had just begun to sing last night and…and…” It was again hard for Alicia to talk.
“And, and, and,” Berwynna said in a mocking voice.
“Are you going to help Alicia find it?” Gundersnap demanded.
Berwynna did not answer the question but stepped closer to Alicia. As she had before, she rose on to her tiptoes. She looked directly into the young princess’s eyes with her own clear ones that now reflected not the stars but patches of clouds drifting over the treetops. Then as before the scratchy voice began its song, or was it perhaps a riddle, Alicia wondered.
“A golden knight with heart so broke,
A ghostly princess with one great hope.
You’ve sewn some stitches, yes, my dear,
But while they have made some things clear
Your needlework has just begun.
A cage is empty, a song unsung,
But the song is not the end in sight;
For this you need to stitch a knight.”
Berwynna stepped back with a satisfied grin. The princesses waited.
“Is that it, no more?” Alicia asked desperately.
“That’s all, my dears.” And, still grinning, Berwynna began to dissolve into the mists of the forest.
Kristen turned to Alicia. “Princess Alicia of All the Belgravias, would you puleeeze explain!”
“Ja, explain,” Gundersnap said.
“It’s a long story.” Alicia sighed.
“I bet it is!” Kristen exclaimed.
“I’m not sure where to begin.”
“The beginning, naturally,” Gundersnap said.
“Well, the beginning was on the day I caught the weeb and then—do you remember when I asked you if you believed in ghosts the first week of camp?”
Kristen and Gundersnap both nodded. “I said they weren’t practical,” Gundersnap said.
“And I said they were nothing to be afraid of,” Kristen added.
“Well, guess what—there is a real one.”
And so Alicia told the long story of Princess Kyranala, the weeb, and the strange little crone named Berwynna who had told her of her destiny.
As she was concluding the story, she said, “But there is one more thing. The ghost princess told me that it was not merely my destiny to finish the tapestry. You both are a part of this as well. She told me it was almost as if destiny had made us turretmates.”
The three princesses looked at one another. And they knew that the ghost princess was right. They shared more than a turret. They shared a destiny.
Chapter 19
THE SONGBIRD CONTEST
“So, dear princesses, the time has finally come.” The Queen Mum paused dramatically. “We are gathered for the most important event of the Color Wars for this session: the songbird contest.”
A roar of applause and shouts broke out from the princesses. Then the chanting started. “Go Crimson!” “Go Purple!” Frantically the Queen Mum waved her arms and tried to quiet them. Finally the blast of a trumpet split the air, and there was silence.
Color Wars banners decorated the Hall of Music. The two huge candelabras were specially fitted for score keeping. They each held a hundred candles, one all purple, the other all crimson. The scores could range from one to five, which was the highest. The Queen Mum, Princess Roseanna, and the Master of the Hawks were the judges. There was always great tension as the scorekeeper footman walked silently with his long torch to light more candles.
Alicia sat glumly between Gundersnap and Kristen on the Purples’ side of the hall. All the other princesses sat excitedly with their birds in their show cages. She was the only camper on either team without one.
Princess Morwenna was first on the stage for the Crimsons. “My bird is a silver blue-tipped squinch. They are known for doing their best songs at funerals. It shall sing a hymn.”
“Whoopie!” muttered Kristen.
“Glockschnotten ferkyn!” exclaimed Gundersnap, which roughly translated from Slobo to “about as much fun as a snotty nose on a freezing day.”
Three candles were lit when Morwenna’s bird completed its song. Most of the princesses had gayer songs. By the time it was Princess Gundersnap’s turn, no one had yet received a one. Nor had any princess’s bird received a five. The Crimsons were in the lead.
Gundersnap was quite a hit as she and her little bird marched about the stage. Her bird sang a rousing tune called “The March of the Fifth Artillery.” The scorekeeper footman went to the Purple team’s candelabra. Everyone held their breath as the footman continued on after lighting the third candle and then the fourth! Would there be a fifth? No. But still, a huge cheer burst out. The two teams were tied now. What was needed to break the tie was another high-scoring bird from the Purples. But the Purples were out of birds, and still the weeb was nowhere in sight.
The Queen Mum came back onto the stage. “I think everyone has performed except for our Princess Alicia?”
The entire audience turned to look at Alicia. She shrank down in her chair. A titter spread through the Crimson team. Even the Snort was smirking. Gundersnap squeezed her hand gently and said, “It’s not your fault!” But just then Alicia felt something brush her shoulder.
Gundersnap gasped. “Your veeb!”
Alicia slid her eyes sideways. The golden bird was perched right on her shoulder. “You’re back!” she whispered.
And the weeb opened his beak. A beautiful song unfurled in the air like a ribbon of gold. Alicia straightened and then rose from her seat. The audience sat spellbound. Never had anyone heard such caroling. The bird itself seemed to sparkle. It was as if the sun shone from the Princess of All the Belgravias’ shoulder. Her weeb sang and sang and sang.
When it finished, the judges conferred. The footman began his excruciatingly slow march toward the Purples’ candelabra.
“One, two, three, four,” members of the Purple team whispered to themselves. Did he stop? Did he slow? Would there be…? Everyone sat at the edges of their chairs.
“Five!”
A tumultuous shriek rose from one side of the Hall of Music. Five new candle flames licked the darkness of the hall. The Purples had won the Color Wars!
The din of the Purple team princesses’ screaming could be heard all the way to Camp Burning Shield.
Chapter 20
STITCHES IN A LONG NIGHT
Long after the concert had ended, while the castle slept, three princesses slipped through the shadows of the night to begin work on the tapestry. In the Portrait Gallery, they stopped in front of the painting of Princess Kyranala. Alicia touched the frame, and it swung open to reveal the door.
“This way,” Alicia whispered to Gundersnap and Kristen. The three princesses began to climb the winding staircase. When they reached the top, Alicia showed them the tapestry. She held her candle up to the cloth, and with her finger traced the stitches she had completed. “You see, this is the ghost princess.” She touched the figure in the tapestry. “And do you see the outline of this bird?”
Kristen and Gundersnap stepped closer. “It looks as if it is half in and half out of the cage,” Gundersnap said.
“Yes, I know. You see, we must stitch it to find the answer.”
“Look at that princess’s headgear!” Kristen whispered. “And the veil. It’s so Middle Ages!”
They felt a cool breeze stir the air. She’s coming, Alicia thought.
“But of course, dear, it was the Middle Ages,” a voice said. The three princesses whirled around to see Princess Kyranala.
“I brought my turretmates, Your Highness, as you suggested. We are ready to sew.”
“Yes, Your Highness, vee are here to report for duty.” Gundersnap gave a little salute.
“Is the bird in the cage or out of the cage?” Kristen asked. “We can’t tell.”
“He is in more than just a cage,” Princess Kyranala replied mys
teriously.
What did she mean, more than just a cage? Alicia wondered.
“Free him, my dears, free him!” she urged.
“Free him from what? Will he fly away forever?” Alicia asked.
“No. He will fly to me,” Princess Kyranala replied softly.
“He is your veeb?” Gundersnap asked.
“He is my knight.”
“Your knight? Sir Roland?” Alicia gasped. “The one you wrote to in Love Letters of a Forgotten Princess? The bird is Sir Roland?
“Yes,” Princess Kyranala said. “Remember, I told you that Guthstab had ordered his death. Berwynna turned him into a bird so he could fly away and escape. She brought him to the Forest of Chimes.”
“But why didn’t she turn him back into a knight?” Alicia asked.
“Berwynna’s magic is great, but it is not perfect. He was trapped. Nothing Berwynna did could break the spell. We tried everything to bring him back. But when you arrived that first night, when you opened your favorite book and began to read about the Forgotten Princess and we found that you understood the deep love I had for my knight, the transformation slowly began.”
“But couldn’t you go to the forest and find him and release him yourself?” Alicia asked.
“I had tried. And I had tried to stitch the rest of the tapestry, but the ghosts of restless spirits need more. We needed you, a living princess, one who believed in us. When we saw you loved our book, we knew you were the one.
“And now you can help him complete the journey.” She smiled and held up three needles, one with golden thread and two with turquoise. She handed the two with turquoise threads to Gundersnap and Kristen and the one with golden thread to Alicia.
“What are we supposed to do?” Kristen asked.
But Alicia knew exactly. “‘The song is not the end in sight; For this you need to stitch a knight,’” she recited.
“But you must begin by stitching the bird,” Princess Kyranala said.
“Yes, the bird. We must free the weeb so it might become a knight,” Alicia said.
The three princesses stitched until the moon climbed high in the sky and the soft spring air turned to summer and then to autumn. The rustle of crisp leaves could be heard outside the turret window.
At last Alicia poked her needle in for the very last stitch of the bird. A shimmer seemed to glow from within the tapestry. The bird they had just finished began to lengthen into a human form, and its cage became shining armor. At that moment the shutters flew open, and on the autumn breeze red and golden leaves tumbled into the turret room. They swirled about as if caught in a gale and then, just as Princess Kyranala had stepped from the ashes and flames of the fire, a knight stepped from the leaves. He wore golden armor, and on his shoulders were turquoise flowers.
He knelt in front of the ghost princess. “I am here, dear one.”
The princess opened her mouth to speak, but she could not. Tears began to stream down her face, leaving silver paths on her cheeks.
The knight then turned to the three princesses. “I am forever in your debt, Princesses,” he said. “And my dear Princess Gundersnap?”
“Ja?” Gundersnap looked slightly alarmed.
“I even forgive you for shaking me like a saltshaker.”
Gundersnap put her hands to her face, which was turning quite red. They all began to giggle.
“No harm done, my dear. No harm done,” Sir Roland said in a deep, kind voice.
For as thrilled as Alicia was when her songbird had finally sung that evening, this indeed was even more thrilling. It wasn’t the fact that the bird had finally sung and the Purples had won the Color Wars. Those desires of hers all seemed so small and so selfish by comparison to what had just happened—a knight and his lady had been reunited. Now they were two spirits put to rest, inseparable.
“For eternity,” Sir Roland said as he embraced his princess.
“For eternity,” Princess Kyranala replied.
And then, as quickly as each had appeared, they now dissolved into the mist of the early morning.
That was the last the three princesses of the South Turret saw of the Princess Kyranala and her knight, Sir Roland. The princesses went back the following evening to look at the tapestry, hoping that perhaps there might be some hint about where the lovers had gone. But there was none. Alicia touched the stitching lightly. “I guess the tapestry is finished. The story told.” She sighed.
But Princess Gundersnap was looking at another part of the tapestry. She squinted hard. What was she seeing? Was it a horse? No, not exactly. A unicorn? But unicorns weren’t real. Unicorns were just made-up creatures from fairy tales. Fairy tales weren’t practical.
As a practical girl and daughter of one of the most powerful rulers on earth, Gundersnap had had it drummed into her since birth that certain things were silly, such as reading fairy tales. Unicorns would definitely come under that heading. Unicorns weren’t practical in the least. No, a princess needed a fine pony, or a great warhorse like Thunder Monster, her mother’s charger. Gundersnap squinted harder. This tapestry was far from finished, she suddenly realized. But unicorns? Impossible.
Still…
About the Author
Kathryn Lasky is the Newbery Honor–winning and national bestselling author of more than one hundred books for children and adults. She has created picture books: PORKENSTEIN, SUGARING TIME, and LUNCH BUNNIES; novels: BLOOD SECRET, THE BONE WARS, BEYOND THE BURNING TIME, and A VOICE OF HER OWN; and the bestselling series Guardians of Ga’Hoole. When she’s not writing, she and her husband, Christopher Knight, enjoy sailing the world aboard a boat named Alice.
Kathryn Lasky lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. You can visit her online at www.kathrynlasky.com.
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Credits
Cover art © 2006 by Amy Saidens
Cover design by Sasha Illingworth
Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Amy Saidens
Copyright
CAMP PRINCESS 1: BORN TO RULE. Text copyright © 2006 by Kathryn Lasky. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition June 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-196282-0
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