“Run,” she hissed.
Chapter 19
Without a second thought, I picked up my gown high above my ankles and swiftly exited the ballroom. Harry stood, confused by all the people staring at me.
“Princess Adelaide?” he said. Then, noticing I had started to run, he bolted after me.
We made it a third of the way down the long corridor lined with enormous portraits and shining wallpaper before a mob of guards overcame their shock enough to chase after us. Harry whipped his head back as we ran, wide-eyed, and the color draining from his face as he saw the soldiers catching up to us quickly, swords brandished and faces shining with determination.
“What. Is. Going. On?” He spat out each word between his heavy breaths.
I shook my head and kept my eyes forward, hot tears spilling down my cheeks. “I don’t have time to explain.” I gestured toward the guards gaining on us. “Obviously.”
The more I sped up my pace, the more I began stumbling over my own feet, quickly realizing that the glass slippers were very difficult to run in. With a grunt and barely stopping, I kicked the smooth and beautifully transparent shoes off of my feet. I watched as one bounced twice on the floor behind me until it stopped, but the other flew to the wall at my left and shattered into dozens of pieces with an ear-splitting crack. I winced. Hopefully, Bavmorda wouldn’t be angry about my tossing them aside… and breaking one.
The guards quickened their own pace to match ours, but a short one with longish, auburn hair sheathed his sword and bent down to study my slipper. I didn’t allow myself to watch him long enough to see what he did with it.
“They’re, like, three feet behind us!” Harry shouted. “Running is pointless! Besides, we look more guilty that way!”
I darted my eyes behind me and to each side. He was right. Within seconds, the soldiers would be upon us. But Bavmorda had appeared out of nowhere and told me to run. I clenched my teeth and pushed onward. Maybe she would appear again and help us.
And appear she did.
I skidded to a halt at the sight of the witch at the end of the corridor, standing right before the massive doors of the castle’s entrance with her saggy arms stretched out before her. Harry’s eyes were down as he continued huffing past me, and then he ran straight into Bavmorda’s arms.
“Whoa, what?” he cried.
The witch gestured for me to run up to her as well as she clutched Harry’s shoulder, digging her disgustingly long nails into his tunic.
I didn’t have to look back to know I was within arm’s grasp of the soldiers, so I followed Bavmorda’s demands and rushed to her side. After grabbing me into her grip as well, the witch dug into her shawl and brought out three big slices of wrinkled jerky— just like the meat she had used to calm me when I first met her.
The guards halted directly in front of us, forming a semi-circle of about half a dozen men and pointing their various weapons at us threateningly. The one at the front, tall, medium-build, and silver hair, puffed out his chest and glared at me.
“Princess Adelaide, and…” He studied the two beside me with his nose turned up in disgust. “And companions, you are under arrest by order of the Crown Prince Gerald.”
Bavmorda threw her head back and cackled so loudly and so high-pitched, I felt the inside of my ear tremor.
“I’d like to see you try!” she spat.
The lead guard growled, but just as he ordered his men to overtake us, Bavmorda shoved the stale meat into mine, Harry’s, then her mouth and directed us to chew quickly. We did, and the charging of some angry-looking men distracted me enough from the old, metallic taste. Just as soon as my teeth bit down a second time, the scene before us began to fade away. It was like the castle and the guards before us were flickering in and out like a dying flame.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
Bavmorda squeezed my shoulder excitedly. “Transport, dear. One of the things I’m best at! But then again, I’m good at everything.”
As the castle faded away, a view of thick foliage and the darkness of outside began to come into focus. I stumbled backward and fell directly into the grass once Bavmorda released her grip from my shoulder.
The witch gasped and rushed to my side. “The dress! You’re going to ruin the dress!”
I ignored her fussing over my gown and rubbed my forehead with my hand and groaned. Whatever happened, “transport,” she said, made me feel like my stomach was doing flips, and my head started pounding painfully.
Harry must have fallen back, too, for he was muttering and groaning a couple feet from me. I couldn’t see him very well through the tall grass, but the green I could see in his face made him seem as sick as I was.
“Where are we?” I said, looking around us. We were definitely deep in the woods somewhere. There was no trail near us, and the line of trees surrounded us tightly.
“Look!” Bavmorda held up some of my dress’s fabric to my eyes, ignoring my question. “You tore it!”
My vision was blurred slightly from the travel, so I squinted to see what she was referring to. It took many seconds, but finally, my eyes cleared enough to find a minor tear in the lacing of the skirt underneath the main gown. It was hardly noticeable.
“Sorry,” I said anyway.
Bavmorda rose and brushed the dewy grass off of her own dirty outfit. “I do so much for people, and then they give nothing back but disrespect!”
“I fell!”
She raised an eyebrow at me, then shrugged. “Fine. It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
I pressed my palm against my throbbing eyes. “What’s with all the dried meat, anyway?”
Bavmorda waved a hand and shrugged. “That goes into a lot of rules that you won’t be able to understand. The simplest answer is that you can’t put a spell on someone, but you can perform magic on things to affect people… blah, blah, blah.”
The witch snapped her fingers, and the beautiful gown turned back into its original make from when Harry bought it for me. It was still beautiful, but its elegance and expensive quality had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Harry was sitting up and watching the conversation unfold, and just as my dress returned to normal, his face paled even more.
“I think I’ve had enough magic for a lifetime.”
Bavmorda whirled around to him. “You should be thanking me, too! I got you both out, didn’t I?” She turned her attention to me once again and shoved her fists onto her bony hips. “And what did I tell you about leaving before midnight, hm? I told you it’d get you into trouble!”
I brought my hands to my mouth. “You mean, it really was my fault the King and Queen died?”
“Of course not! They were going to be killed, no matter what happened. You were just conveniently there for the culprits to blame you. A smart plan, actually.”
“Wait!” both Harry and I said simultaneously. We exchanged glances, and I bit my lip so Harry could speak.
“Ellie,” he said, “They said Princess Adelaide did it, not you.”
Bavmorda whipped her head back and forth between us and laughed. “I guess she didn’t have time to explain. Ellianne here is actually the missing Princess Adelaide.”
Harry’s eyes grew wide as he looked me up and down. I gave him a sheepish smile.
“What?” he sputtered.
I rubbed my face with my hands and let out a long breath of air. “Harry, I promise I’ll explain later, but I think there are some more important things to discuss.” I turned my attention to the witch, and she gestured for me to ask away. “Uh, do you know who killed them? Was it that man named Clarence?”
I thought back to the old man’s false claims of seeing me put something into their drinks. I clenched my fists and felt more tears begin to bite at my eyes, but this time they were brought on by my anger.
“Yes, it was him. But he didn’t work alone. Not necessarily.”
I pursed my lips. “What does that even mean?”
Bavmorda tapped her fing
ers against her thigh. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Please.” I rose from where I sat and stared deeply into her dark eyes. “I want to know.”
The witch sighed. “Fine, but don’t get angry with me. I’m not the one killing people. It was your brother. The Prince. He and Clarence planned it all.”
My heart felt like it stopped before it began to thud once again, but at a quickened pace. Bavmorda couldn’t be right. There was no way my twin brother wanted to kill our parents! But then I thought back to his skittishness throughout the night, leaving the feast with the old man…
“How do you know this?” I squeaked.
“Exactly how I know everything else. Besides, I made it my business to know. For your sake. That’s why you were supposed to leave before midnight! I wouldn’t have had to rush in so quickly to save you.”
Harry stood and stepped up beside me, gently wrapping his arm around my shoulders as I shivered against the chill air.
“Wouldn’t her leaving so early been just as suspicious?” he said.
Bavmorda rolled her eyes. “Of course, but I was planning on helping you later. I was really busy with… some other things. I had to drop everything and come here! Besides, if you both had left before midnight, way before, like I said, you would have had a head start, and it would have taken them much longer to find you.”
I started to feel lightheaded from all of the events and new information, and my legs began to sway underneath me. Harry felt it as well and tightened his grip around me.
“Where are we?” he said. “Is there someplace close by to rest?”
Bavmorda looked around herself as if studying the area for the first time. “We’re in the Grerivethan Mountains. Not really any people or inns around.” She pointed to the ground and wiggled her eyebrows. “Is the grass not comfortable enough?”
“The Grerivethan Mountains? There aren’t just no people around; there are no people around for miles and miles!” Harry cried
“One hundred miles, to be exact.” Bavmorda grinned at us. “Now, there’s no way for you to be found. Again, I am ready for the ‘thank you’s.”
I didn’t know how I felt about camping out in the mountains for who knew how long, but my mind was so muddled I could barely hear the words between Bavmorda and Harry. I let my knees buckle underneath me, and I slowly curled back into the soft grass. Harry’s arm on my shoulder stiffened as I did so, but once he saw the exhaustion in my face, he helped me to the ground.
“I’ll be back in the morning!” the witch chirped. “Harry, I trust you can take care of things until then?”
He nodded, worried eyes locked onto me. With a heavy sigh, I reclined back onto the squishy dirt, not caring about the dampness seeping into my clothes. I watched through the slits in my closed eyes as Harry placed a gentle hand in my hair and stroked it. And then, despite everything, I fell asleep.
Chapter 20
Prince Gerald stood in front of the full-length mirror in his bedroom, staring back at the sunken, empty eyes in front of him. His hair was disheveled, and he had worn the same brown tunic and dark trousers from his parents’ funeral for the last two days.
“What’s wrong with me?” he hissed at himself. “I should be happy! I’m going to be King!”
“That you are, Your Highness.”
Gerald closed his eyes and took a deep breath before facing his tutor. “Good morning, Clarence.”
“Good morning!” The old man circled the Prince with a scowl on his face, deepening the many wrinkles he already had. “You look wretched. What’s eating at you, Sire?”
Prince Gerald raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious? I can’t get rid of the gnawing guilt! We killed my parents, then blamed it on a sister I never thought I’d be able to meet!”
“Hush!” Clarence rushed to the door of the bedchamber and shut it with a loud click. “Do you have a death wish?”
Gerald trudged over to his bed and flung himself onto the mattress, his body steadily bouncing from the springs three times.
“What are we going to do?”
Clarence scrunched up his face, then relaxed it once more with a long breath. “Do about what, Sire?”
“My sister!”
“She’s gone, and I highly doubt she’ll ever come back,” he replied with a shrug. “And if she does, she won’t be taken to very kindly, I assure you.”
“It doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty.”
Clarence began pacing the length of the room with erratic strides and began muttering under his breath. The Prince watched the man with furrowed brows and shook his head.
“Clarence, I think we made a terrible mistake.”
Prince Gerald could tell the old man was starting to get more than frustrated as his little hands began to shake, and his face turned a deep red.
“You are nothing without me, Prince Gerald! I taught you everything! I did everything! You are nothing but a spoiled little brat who runs away from his own problems.”
The Prince’s jaw dropped open, and a hush fell over the chamber. Clarence’s face began to twitch, and he shifted from one foot to the other, as if trying to output the rest of his angry energy into the movement.
Gerald’s thoughts began churning violently at the sharp words from Clarence. His tutor was rarely wrong and had gifted a wealth of knowledge to the Prince for years, but was it really right to murder and lie? He grabbed at his chest as it began to tighten, and his breathing became shallow.
“I need to go on a ride,” the Prince said as he slowly moved from the mattress and out of the room.
Clarence watched him leave, nostrils flaring and hands turning into fists. Prince Gerald ignored it, however, and quickly made his way to the treasury. They were keeping something there that he needed.
The people in Newvein hardly let him pass as many rushed him with condolences, and some women even came to bat their eyelashes and twirl their hips in the hope that he was still in need of a bride.
Prince Gerald sat atop his tall palfrey that had a well-groomed, black coat. He tried to calm the over-excited horse as they halted in the middle of the capital’s square. He looked down at the people with a loss of connection. After being a part of his parents’ deaths, Gerald found it difficult to meet anyone in the eyes, or even accept any respect. He felt his hands begin to sweat as one person after another bowed or curtsied and looked upon him with admiration.
Though the crowds were thrilled to see him, he could still notice the sadness swimming in their eyes and evident in their hunched shoulders. He gave darted glances to the Grerivethan people— the people he had wronged. Or did he? Had his parents’ deaths been the right thing? His hands tightened on the leather reins. He didn’t know what to think anymore.
“Please!” he shouted to the masses. “I’m here in search of Princess Adelaide! She may go by the name of Ellie.”
The Prince dug out the slipper he had taken from the treasury that morning and held it up for the people to see. The hot, noon sun glinted against its smooth glass and reflected a brilliant light on many of the Grerivethans’ faces. A few had to hold their hands up to their eyes to block the light.
“This was hers! I need to return it.”
“Return her slipper?” someone shouted at him. Gerald squinted his eyes past the people to find the source of the voice. A young man no older than sixteen, with red hair sticking out in unruly tufts on his head, stood at the end of the crowd. “Wasn’t she the one who killed the King and Queen? I say who cares about the slipper? Find her and kill her!”
The Prince’s face fell, and his stomach tied into knots as shouts of agreement sounded all around him. “I promise—” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “I promise that we will do what is necessary. I just need to find her. Does anyone have any clues?”
“I do.”
The crowd parted, confused, at the frail, yet booming sound of an old woman speaking up from the back. She was dressed in grimy clothes and a layer of filth, and sh
e had almost no gray hair left on her wrinkled scalp. She smiled a grotesque smile at the Prince and wiggled her knobby fingers in a “hello.”
“You saw her?”
The woman cackled, throat bouncing up and down like an over-excited rabbit. “I can do better than that! I know where she is right now.”
Prince Gerald was a child. Clarence should’ve known the Prince would buckle under the pressure, and now he had to deal with a runaway princess and a nervous prince— both could ruin all of his plans.
Clarence stared up at the ceiling in the King’s old study. He was alone with the dusty books and dim candlelight, and he scratched at the shining varnish on the wood of the King’s desk. Clarence had locked himself inside the room for a good few hours after the Prince left, trying to come up with a good plan.
He straightened his back and groaned at the popping of his spine. He really was starting to get old— even his brain was beginning to slow. Twenty years ago, Clarence would’ve found a solution within seconds.
The third hesitant knock of the day sounded on the door, and Clarence shoved his face into his hands.
“What?” he hollered.
The heavy, double doors clicked open, and air from the corridor outside made a few of the candles in the room flicker. Three castle guards stood in the doorway with their square, boorish faces stoic and jaws clenched.
“M’lord,” the middle, taller one said. “We were wondering if you know where His Highness is.”
Seeing the three soldiers standing before him and questioning about the Prince’s whereabouts made Clarence intake a sharp breath. Of course! The answer had been staring at him all along. The Prince running off provided Clarence with the perfect opportunity to place the blame on yet another royal.
Clarence frowned and feigned a sorrowful sigh. “I didn’t want to say anything, but I think he was in league with the Princess.”
Pumpkins and Princesses (The Tales and Princesses Series Book 3) Page 11