“Oh, I don’t know,” answered the frog, “I guess I just like to have something to do in the evenings.”
“Do you come here every night?” Clara didn’t wait for him to answer the question before asking another. “Why would an ordinary frog like you come to a human village every night?”
The frog didn’t have an answer. He’d never known another frog that did what he did. Come to think of it, he’d never really known another frog. Lots of other frogs lived at his pond, but they tried to avoid him as best they could. He’d never really given it much thought, but now that it had occurred to him he wondered if it had something to do with the fact the he was several times their size.
Clara gave him an encouraging grin. “What I told you was the truth, Roland. Come with me. You won’t just be helping me, you’ll be helping the entire kingdom.”
Roland. The name was so achingly familiar that he almost agreed on the spot. But he wasn’t quite ready to give in. Not just yet. “I want to know why you kissed me.”
“The kiss of a princess is supposed to break the spell. I know I’m no princess, but I thought maybe it wouldn’t matter.”
“Not a princess. That’s quite the understatement,” the frog snorted.
The girl glared at him. “You are definitely Prince Roland.”
That name again.
“So, your incredibly ill conceived, long shot attempt to make me human again didn’t work. What’s your plan, now?”
“Now,” said Clara, “we need to find a real princess to kiss you.”
“And I don’t suppose you’ve got somebody lined up for the job?” Much to his surprise, the frog found himself hoping that the answer was yes.
Clara beamed. “Actually, I know just the princess.”
CHAPTER 3
“This is it.” Clara held out a small golden ball hanging on a thin chain in front of the frog.
They were sitting at the edge of a large pond in a well-kept garden. Not far away a castle rose above the tree line, keeping watch over the immaculately trimmed hedges and winding paths. The aroma of flowers was pervasive.
“What am I supposed to do with that?” asked the frog as he poked the golden ball with one of the toes on his front foot.
“It belongs to the princess. It’s very precious to her. You’re going to return it.”
The frog looked at Clara through squinted eyes. “Where did you get it?”
Clara ignored the question. “When she goes to sit by the reflection pool, you will swim up with it in your mouth. Hopefully the sight of her beloved trinket will counteract the horror she will feel at the sight of you.”
“You stole it, didn’t you? Admit it!” The frog puffed himself up in indignation.
Clara gave the frog a half smile. “If she asks you where you got it, tell her she dropped it in the pond and you fetched it from the bottom. If she asks what she can do to repay you, that’s your chance to get kissed. Fortunately for you, she has a reputation for being kind, patient, and gentle, all the things that a good princess should be.”
The frog snorted. “Any halfway decent princess should be beautiful. Those other things are unessential, but nice to have, I suppose.”
Clara’s face twisted as though she was unsure if she should frown at the frog or smile at him. She settled on a smile. “So you have opinions on princesses now? Are you remembering anything of your past yet?”
“Just because I have an opinion doesn’t mean I’ve remembered anything. Frogs have opinions on everything. It is not un-frog-like to have an opinion, even on princesses.”
Clara’s smile grew wider and amusement twinkled in her eyes. “Oh, I see.”
Clara dropped the golden ball into her palm, held it in front of the frog and he took it in his mouth.
“She comes here every evening. With a little luck, she’ll be quite distraught over the loss of her trinket. All you’ve got to do is wait here until she comes, then you get to play the hero. The trick will be turning her gratitude into a kiss.”
The frog hopped into the pond, and Clara disappeared into the foliage of the garden. As he waited he bemoaned the fact that the golden ball in his mouth prevented him from catching bugs. The pond was buzzing with delicious possibilities, but he dare not drop the locket into the murky water. Fortunately, he didn’t have long to wait before a young girl came and sat down beside the pond. She had long blond hair and was dressed in a fine gown, just like Clara has described.
The frog swam closer, letting the water conceal him, and got a closer look. As he hid in the reeds near the shore, he could hear that she was crying. Perfect! This was going to be easy. He’d just hop over there, plop the golden ball down in front of her, and then his biggest problem was going to be getting her to stop kissing him.
The frog jumped forward, emerging from the reeds, golden ball dangling from the chain in his mouth. The princess jumped in surprise. For a moment it looked like she was going to run. The frog sunk halfway back into the plants, suddenly self-conscious. He was an extremely large frog, much larger than any of the other frogs he had seen. It was something that he’d thought nothing of in the past, but here, in front of this frightened girl, he felt as though he should hide himself.
It was in the middle of the frog’s bout with self-doubt that the princess noticed the jewelry dangling from the frog’s mouth.
“My necklace!” she cried.
The frog had lost most of the confidence he’d had just a moment ago, but he still managed to hop forward and place the trinket in front of the princess. He then tried to do the closest thing to a bow that he could manage.
“My compliments,” said the frog.
The princess clasped both hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp. “You can talk!”
“Yes,” said the frog. “I find it nearly as amazing as you do.”
“How is that possible?” asked the princess.
“A tragic enchantment brought upon me by a witch,” answered the frog, then added, “Don’t be afraid.”
The princess stared at the frog, not sure what to make of this strange talking creature. At least she didn’t look quite so terrified anymore.
The princess seemed to be at a loss for words, so the frog said, “I found your little golden ball glittering at the bottom of the pond when I went for a swim. You must have dropped it.”
The princess managed to mumble, “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. I’m always glad to help.”
This was the moment that the princess was supposed to express the depths of her gratitude by asking what it was she could do to repay him. Instead she said, “Well, have a nice day,” and started walking away. She looked very eager to be rid of the frog.
“Wait! Please!” the frog yelled after her. “You can break the curse that the witch put on me. You’ve just got to kiss me.”
The princess stopped, turning to stare suspiciously at the frog.
The frog hopped to catch up with her then said, “I brought you back your golden ball. Isn’t that worth a kiss?”
“No, I don’t think so,” said the princess.
“But just a moment ago you were crying over it!”
“It wasn’t my lost trinket I was crying about. I’m being sent to the Westhaven Academy tomorrow.” The princess’ voice caught as she said the name of the school. She bit her lip to stop the tears from returning.
“Westhaven Academy?” the frog asked.
“It’s the school that trains the best and brightest children handpicked from the realm.”
The frog was very confused. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Don’t you see?” The princess lifted her arms dramatically. “Everybody at the school is there because they are brilliant and talented. The only reason I get to go is because my father is a king. I don’t belong there, and everyone will know it. They’ll hate me for it.”
“If your father is the king, can’t you just have him punish anyone who doesn’t like you?” It seemed like a simple eno
ugh solution to the frog.
“Ugh, why I am telling these things to a frog.” The princess turned once again and this time she ran.
“What about the golden ball?” The frog called to her. Her trinket was still sitting on the ground right where the frog had left it.
“You can keep it!” the princess yelled back.
It didn’t take long after the princess was gone for Clara to emerge from the bush she was hiding in. She knelt down and picked up the golden ball that the princess had left behind.
“So much for kind, patient and gentle,” said the frog. “We need to find another princess.”
“Nonsense,” Clara said with a laugh. “We’ll just try again tomorrow. And then the next day, and the day after that if need be. She’ll come around soon enough.”
“The princess won’t be here tomorrow. She’s going to someplace called Westhaven Academy.”
Surprise briefly flashed over Clara’s face. It was quickly followed by a look that the frog could only describe as determined. It was how she looked most of the time, at least when she wasn’t laughing at him. The frog had at first not found it conducive to relaxation, but he was getting used to it.
“Westhaven,” Clara said, “Does that name mean anything to you?”
“No. Should it?”
“You went to Westhaven Academy yourself, back when you were a prince.”
“I am not yet fully convinced that I was ever a prince, but if it were true, it would make sense. The princess did say the school was for the best and brightest.” Clara rolled her eyes at this comment, but the frog ignored her and continued, “Like I said, we need to find another princess. So much for your little plan.”
“Well, there’s Princess Orchid,” Clara said. “But she had an unfortunate incident with an enchanted creature a few years back that she’d rather not repeat. She’d have you hunted and killed before she would kiss you.”
“I guess she’s off the list,” said the frog.
Clara thought for a while before continuing, “There’s Princess Annabelle, who is known for her magnificent menagerie. She just might kiss you, but then again she might find a talking frog to be a novel addition to her collection.”
“Yikes. Who else is there?”
“There’s the spinster princess, Princess Maxine. She would probably agree to kiss you if you agree to marry her, which, well, trust me, you do not want to do that.”
“Maybe I could just promise to marry her until she kisses me, and then not follow through with it.” The frog puffed up with pride at his own cleverness.
“That is a possibility,” Clara said, “though it doesn’t seem prudent considering the fact the Princess Maxine is known to employ some of the best assassins in the kingdoms. She is also known to not be very forgiving.”
The frog deflated immediately. “Anybody else?”
“There are other princesses, but we don’t have weeks to travel.”
“I guess we’re doomed then. I’ll just have to go back to my pond and relax in comfort forever.” The frog said the words as much to convince himself as to irritate Clara. He had already grown rather attached to the idea that he’d been a prince all along. The thought of going back to the pond was no longer appealing in the slightest.
The determination that so often found its way into Clara’s eyes was there in full glory. “Things aren’t going quite as well as I had hoped, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say doomed.”
“You have a plan, don’t you?” The frog was almost afraid to hear it.
“Not much of one, but yes,” Clara answered.
The frog let out a derisive snort. “That goes without saying, but tell me your plan, nevertheless.”
“We follow Princess Adela to Westhaven. The golden ball didn’t work, but once we get there we can figure out some other way to endear you to her.”
The frog rolled his eyes. “Princess Adela hates me. She’ll never kiss me. I think the reason she didn’t want the golden ball is because it had my drool on it. That plan was even more terrible than I expected, which is actually quite impressive in its own way.”
“Oh, it gets worse.”
“How so?”
“Remember the witch that cursed you? Westhaven Academy is where she is. If she finds either of us, well…let’s just hope that doesn’t happen,” Clara said with a shudder.
The frog nearly demanded to be dropped off back at his pond, but stopped himself. If this witch person was real, then Clara had been telling the truth all along, and the only chance he had at making things right was to follow her to Westhaven. If not, then he had nothing to worry about. Either way, the only way to find out was to go to Westhaven Academy.
“When do we leave?” asked the frog.
CHAPTER 4
Clara’s sturdy but slow horse raised his nose to sniff the air as the Westhaven Academy spires pierced the horizon. It was the first sign of interest in anything that he’d shown since they’d set out this morning. As they came closer, Clara felt a little bit of a spring in his step. There was only one thing that could break through this creature’s wall of indifference and that was the thought of going home and the food that surely waited there.
The frog was quiet, perched on the rump of Clara’s horse. He hadn’t said much since they’d started out two days ago, and Clara was starting to worry that he might be losing his nerve. She hoped that he wasn’t, because she wasn’t sure she was going to have nerve enough for the both of them.
The spires rose higher as they moved along the road. There were five in total, one for each school at the academy. The spire above the School of Mathematics was a crystalline spiral, crowning an institution that prized patterns and symmetry. Intricate carvings graced the surface of the spire for the School of the Arts. Clara had been told that the carvings on the spire told the history of the kingdom in a metaphorical play, each scene frozen in time. Atop the School of Alchemy sat a spindly golden spire, topped with an ornament that resembled a beaming star. The shiny silver blades that decorated the spire for the School of the Sword glinted in the sun. It was the last spire that Clara tried to keep out of her line of sight. The School of Battle Magic’s spire was a simple black spike. It would have been the most unremarkable of the five, were it not for the fact that it was perpetually ablaze.
Princess Adela would not frequent the School of Battle Magic, Clara reasoned. She would prefer one of the less harsh disciplines, such as art or alchemy. The princess would not be at the School of Battle Magic, and since they were here for the princess, neither would they. As long as they stayed away from the School of Battle Magic, everything would be fine, Clara told herself.
“How goes it back there, Roland?” Clara asked, needing a distraction. She just needed to make sure she didn’t let her unease show in her voice.
“I don’t remember anything yet. I thought you told me that once we got here, I would remember something.”
“I said you might remember something. Besides, we aren’t all the way there yet.”
Transformation curses, like the one afflicting Prince Roland, had a way of making one lose oneself over time. When the curse is new, the subject is grieved by the unfamiliar form and the loss of the life they used to know. But as the days pass, the unfamiliar becomes familiar, and then the forgetting begins. It was a mercy to some extent, Clara believed. If one must live as a creature, better to live in ignorance than be tortured by the constant awareness of everything you have lost. Clara also was well aware that she had found Prince Roland in the nick of time. In a few more weeks, or even days, the frog might not have been able to speak or to understand her.
Clara had hoped that the sight of the academy would help to jog the prince’s memory. She had read about cases where a transformed creature was able to regain some of its lost faculties through a reunion with a loved one or cherished object. The researchers in the book she had read theorized that the strong emotions associated with such an event could cause memories to resurface. Perhaps being reunited
with a familiar place would have the same affect.
The sun sank low and the spires rose high as the day approached its end. Clara pulled her furry brown horse off the road and away from the Academy, a turn of events that the horse did not welcome. Now that he was going in the opposite direction of food, he stopped picking up his feet and settled down once again into his plodding gait.
“What are you doing? We’re almost there!” scolded the frog.
“It’s a school, not an inn. There won’t a place for us to stay there. We’ll set up camp a little ways away, and we’ll spy on the princess during the day. I know a place that you’ll like.” An additional perk to that plan, Clara knew, was that they would be far away from the witch most of the time.
Clara rode the horse through the woods until they reached the banks of a lake. The frog bobbed with pleasure when he saw the water. Clara dismounted and then lifted the big frog off the horse’s back and set him down near the edge of the water. The frog didn’t waste any time talking before he hopped in and swam away.
“Be back here by dawn!” Clara called after him.
***
It was a magnificent night. The moonlight stretched across the lake, a river of white across the black water. Prince Roland had always liked this little lake in the forest. He found it had the perfect balance of beauty and simplicity. Tonight he was sure it was the pinnacle of the world. He knew this because it was right where he was standing.
He could not, no matter how hard he tried, think of anyone else as fortunate as him. For one thing, he’d had the good fortune to be born the son of a king. If that had not been enough, he had the looks to gain him the attention of practically every female he’d ever encountered. If that had not been enough, he was about to graduate with highest honors from the most prestigious and selective of the Westhaven schools, the school of Battle Magic.
But none of that had been enough, because he’d also been granted one of the rarest of magical talents. It was a gift so rare that Westhaven didn’t even teach a course on it. It was an institution that boasted coursework on everything from the Magical Properties of Agitated Saltwater to the History of Magic Beans, so that was saying something.
A Kiss to Break the Spell Page 2