More Than a Princess

by E. D. Baker

  “If I’m right, she can answer some very important questions,” Aislin replied.

  “Oh, I meant to tell you, we won’t be seeing Rory while he’s here,” said Tomas. “It seems that he tried to escape into the city his very first day in the castle. Now he’s locked in his chambers under guard. He talks constantly, and the guards find him really annoying. He never has known how to be nice to people.”

  “I’m glad we won’t be seeing him,” Aislin replied. “I think we both had more than enough of Rory in Morain.”

  Chapter 18

  The christening was held in the noble couple’s mansion just inside the city wall. Built from pale gray stone streaked with pink, it was positioned on the hillside so that its large windows looked out over the bay far below. Tomas and Aislin were the last of the guests to arrive. The noble and his wife met them at the door and were effusive in their greetings. Aislin didn’t want a fuss made over her, so Tomas introduced her as his friend. Even that brought her more attention than she wanted.

  When the guests gathered in a large room fronting the bay, Aislin stayed in the back near the door. She watched the ceremony, waiting for the fairy’s arrival. As soon as Morning Glory entered the room, Aislin slipped out and listened from the hallway. Even without seeing what was happening, she could hear when the noble paid Morning Glory and the fairy gave the gift to the infant. When Morning Glory stepped out of the room, Aislin was ready for her. Before the fairy had spotted her, the princess stepped up and took hold of her arm.

  “Come with me,” Aislin said as she drew the fairy into a side room.

  Morning Glory was too confused to try to get away.

  “You need to answer my questions,” said Aislin. “How well do you know Aghamonda?”

  “You’re a fairy with royal blood!” Morning Glory cried. “I can feel it. What are you doing here?”

  Aislin sighed. “I’m here to ask you questions. How well do you know Aghamonda?”

  “What if I don’t want to answer you?” Morning Glory asked.

  Drawing power from the stone beneath her feet, Aislin projected it into her voice. “I’m someone you don’t want to fool with,” she told her.

  Morning Glory gasped and tried to pull her hand back, but Aislin wouldn’t let go. “I’ll ask you one more time—how well do you know Aghamonda?”

  Morning Glory licked her lips. “Not well at all,” she replied.

  “You’re lying,” said Aislin. “Try again.”

  This time she let a hint of power trickle through her hand, giving the fairy a tiny shock. Aislin had never done that before, but she wasn’t beyond experimenting when she needed to. It made the fairy hiss as she drew in a breath. “I’ve met her a few times,” said Morning Glory, her eyes fixed on a point above Aislin’s head.

  “Another lie,” Aislin told her.

  This time the touch of power was so strong that it singed Morning Glory’s sleeve and she yelped in pain. Aislin had yet to learn how to control the amount of power she let through.

  “I work for her sometimes, all right?” said the fairy. “I can go just about anywhere because of the christenings. I see things, and I tell her about them. Sometimes I give messages to other people for her. That’s all!”

  “The truth, finally!” said Aislin. “Tell me, did you give a message to King Tyburr about a pass recently?”

  “How did you hear about that? Unless …” Morning Glory looked at Aislin more closely. Suddenly her eyes widened and she tried to pull her hand free. “You’re from the other side!” she cried. “That is where the fairies went!”

  Aislin held on tightly. Another touch of power, less than the one that had singed her, and the fairy stopped struggling. “What did Aghamonda have you tell King Tyburr?” Aislin asked.

  “Nothing much, really. Just the directions for a pass that was open to the land between the mountains. She wanted me to tell him that if he took it, he could find a secret way into Scarmander.”

  “And how did Aghamonda benefit from giving him this information?” asked Aislin.

  “I don’t know. I told her what he said, but it wasn’t much,” said Morning Glory. “I met with him after he came back. He said that he didn’t find the pass into Scarmander. He had a dream that made him come home early, so he didn’t go very far. He did say that a girl saved his life, and he brought her back with him because he couldn’t leave her in a haunted castle where strange things happened. He said she was a princess. It was you, wasn’t it?”

  Aislin wasn’t about to tell the fairy any more than necessary, but she still had a few questions to ask. “What did Aghamonda do when you told her what King Tyburr had said?”

  Morning Glory shrugged. “She was disappointed that he didn’t have more to say. She didn’t mention it before I told him about the pass, but later she said things that made me think she’d expected him to find a lot of people there.” She gasped and her eyes went wide again. “Do you think she suspected that the fairies went to the land between the mountains?”

  “Has Aghamonda asked you to do or say anything else since you reported back to her?”

  “No! We haven’t spoken since then.”

  “Good,” said Aislin. “I want you to promise me that you won’t talk to her anymore. Go far away from here and don’t let her know that we’ve spoken, or that you’re leaving. I don’t blame you for aligning yourself with Aghamonda; I know that fairies have had to do all sorts of things to survive. If you leave now, you’ll be forgiven. However, if you help her again, you’ll be considered a traitor to your kind. Do you understand me?”

  Morning Glory nodded. “I do. I promise. I’ll go right away. But tell me, you’re related to Queen Surinen, aren’t you? You have the same eyes.”

  “I am,” Aislin whispered, and held her finger to her lips. “But you can’t tell anyone.”

  “Oh, I won’t!” said Morning Glory.

  The moment Aislin released her, Morning Glory ran out the door, clutching the noble’s payment to her chest. The fairy almost bumped into Tomas in the doorway.

  “Did you learn anything from her?” he asked Aislin as Morning Glory darted off.

  “Yes, but now I have more questions and I’m not sure how to find the answers.”

  When the princess returned to her chambers, Twinket was still sitting in the corner, exactly where she’d been that morning before Aislin left. After Aislin put on more comfortable clothes, she invited her friends to sit with her in front of the window to watch the ships in the harbor. Although Poppy joined her, Twinket stayed in the corner, saying, “I’m fine where I am.”

  “She hasn’t moved all day,” Poppy said. “I think there’s something wrong with her.”

  Aislin shook her head. “I think she’s fine. I gave her a job to do and she’s taking it very seriously.”

  “What kind of job?” asked Poppy. “It can’t be much if she can do it without moving.”

  “It’s important. Perhaps the most important job she’s ever taken on. Oh, look at the ship with the blue sails. Isn’t that beautiful!” Aislin said, hoping to distract her friend.

  The girls hadn’t been sitting by the window for long when there was a knock on the door. It was Tomas with news for Aislin.

  “Aghamonda is here,” he said as Poppy shut the door, leaving them alone to talk. “She arrived this morning while we were at the christening. She’s already taken over one of the towers from top to bottom. I don’t know why Father puts up with her. Anyway, she summoned me to her tower as if she was a queen, then questioned me like I was some sort of criminal. I really don’t like that fairy.”

  “What did she ask you?” said Aislin.

  “She wanted to know if I gave Baibre the locket,” Tomas replied. “When I said that I had, she asked where it was now. I played dumb and said that her sister had it, of course. She got mad and threw a glass bottle at the wall. It shattered and I left before she could throw something at me.”

  “She sounds like a delightful person,” Aislin s
aid.

  “She’s bound to be at supper tonight,” Tomas told her. “We can skip eating in the Great Hall and have our food brought up here if you’d like.”

  “That’s very tempting,” said Aislin, “but I think it’s time I met Aghamonda.”

  “That reminds me,” Tomas continued. “I’d never seen Aghamonda before, but now that I’ve met her and her sister I was wondering something. Why is it that, if they’re twins, Aghamonda looks so much younger and prettier?”

  “She’s a fairy,” Aislin said. “Fairies can let themselves age, or keep themselves looking young with a simple spell. Aghamonda may be incredibly old, but she’s using magic to make herself look young.”

  “Huh,” said Tomas. “Too bad she doesn’t use her magic to make herself nicer.”

  Aislin wasn’t sure if she should dress like a princess for supper, or wear a less flattering gown that wouldn’t draw attention. She thought about it long and hard, finally deciding that she should dress the way she would normally. Aghamonda probably had a good idea who she was anyway, and no disguise was going to conceal Aislin’s magic. Although she wasn’t going to deliberately reveal who she was, she also wasn’t going to hide it.

  Aislin wore a beautiful cornflower-blue dress. As Tomas came to the door that evening, he whistled when he saw her. “You look fantastic!” he said, taking her arm. “All the ladies in the court are going to be jealous!”

  “I wasn’t thinking about the ladies of the court when I put this on,” Aislin told him. “I just didn’t want to look as if I was trying to hide who I was from Aghamonda.”

  Tomas snorted. “I don’t care what that fairy thinks. If she bothers you, she’ll have to deal with me!”

  “That’s very sweet,” Aislin told him. “But let’s not judge her just yet. I need to meet her and see what kind of fairy we’re facing before I make any real decisions about her.”

  “I told you what she did this afternoon,” said Tomas.

  Aislin nodded. “I know, and that definitely counts against her.”

  When they reached the Great Hall, Aghamonda was already sitting beside the king, right where Aislin had been seated the night before. The fairy was dressed in brilliant red petals that made her impossible to ignore. “Oh, look,” the fairy announced in a loud voice. “It’s the princess that everyone is talking about! Come sit beside me. I want to get to know you.”

  “You don’t have to sit there if you don’t want to,” Tomas whispered in Aislin’s ear.

  Aislin smiled and murmured, “I don’t mind. This should be interesting.”

  When Aislin took the seat, Aghamonda beamed as if she’d already won some sort of contest. It hasn’t even begun yet, Aislin said to herself, then turned and smiled at the fairy.

  “So you’re making the rounds of the kingdoms. Are you having fun?” the fairy asked her.

  “Yes, I am,” Aislin replied. “I hear you arrived at the castle today and have already made yourself at home in the tower. Are you here for a visit or have you moved in permanently?”

  “Just a visit,” the fairy said, her smile becoming brittle. “Is it true that you rescued King Tyburr from a horrible death?”

  Aislin shrugged. “I stopped a bear from mauling him, if that’s what you mean. The king was hunting in a place he should never have been.”

  “Oh, really? And why is that?” asked Aghamonda.

  “Because someone who didn’t have the right sent him there,” Aislin said, deliberately misreading the question.

  Aghamonda’s eyes were glittering when she said, “I meant, why shouldn’t he have been there?”

  “It was closed off for a very good reason,” replied Aislin as she reached for a ripe pear.

  The fairy leaned close and said in a harsh whisper, “Is that so? And what were the people left outside supposed to do?”

  “Respect the reason that the people were inside, and know that they were never shut out intentionally,” Aislin said in a normal voice.

  King Ozwalt gestured to the eel stew that a server was offering the fairy. “Try some of the stew! It’s my favorite,” he said in his wavering voice.

  “Not now!” Aghamonda snapped.

  The king shrugged and reached for his spoon.

  “Why are you here?” Aghamonda asked Aislin.

  “Because Tomas is my friend and he invited me,” Aislin said, and turned to give Tomas a sweet smile. She turned back when he nearly choked on his bite of eel.

  “Uh-huh,” the fairy said, sounding doubtful.

  “And why are you here?” Aislin asked her.

  “Perhaps you’d like the roast duck?” the king said as a serving maid presented the next dish.

  Aghamonda made a disgusted face and said, “No, thank you.”

  “Fairies don’t eat meat, Your Majesty,” Aislin told him.

  “Then why aren’t you eating it?” Aghamonda asked, looking Aislin up and down. “You’re no fairy.”

  “And you’re very rude,” Aislin said, and helped herself from a bowl of parsnips. “You didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?”

  “I came to help King Ozwalt fight a war,” Aghamonda replied.

  Suddenly Aislin went cold. “What do you mean?” she asked the fairy. “What do you plan to do?”

  “Whatever it takes,” Aghamonda said, and turned to face the king. “Isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”

  When the fairy continued to talk to the king with her back to Aislin, the princess knew that she wasn’t going to get any more out of her. Turning to Tomas, Aislin said, “We can leave whenever you’re ready. I’m finished here and I have a lot of thinking to do.”

  Chapter 19

  “Did you hear what Aghamonda said?” Aislin asked as she and Tomas walked down the corridor. “She’s here to help King Ozwalt with the war.”

  “I heard,” Tomas replied. “My father told me about it this afternoon. He thinks that having her on our side will make all the difference.”

  “It will make a difference, all right, but I don’t know if it will be good or bad. Your father and the king shouldn’t trust her. She’s up to something and I have a feeling that the only one who will benefit is Aghamonda.”

  Aislin wanted to tell him more, but that would mean revealing things she wasn’t free to share. Aghamonda had already tried to help King Tyburr by telling him about the back way into Scarmander through the land between the mountains. Even though King Tyburr hadn’t located the route, the fairy had done something that could have turned the war in his favor. And now she was here saying that she wanted to help King Ozwalt. She was playing the two sides against each other, which was wrong. What was even worse was that she was involving herself in the war at all. Keeping fairies out of human conflicts was the very reason that the fairy king and queen had left the human lands. Aislin’s grandparents were going to be furious when they heard about it, and they were bound to want to stop her. In the meantime, Aislin had to do something.

  After saying goodbye to Tomas, Aislin returned to her chambers to think. “What’s wrong?” Poppy asked the minute the princess walked in the door. “Something happened; I can see it on your face.”

  “Aghamonda says she’s here to help King Ozwalt, but she already tried to help King Tyburr. I need to convince Tomas’s father not to trust her, except I can’t without some sort of proof of what she’s doing.”

  Poppy sounded eager. “Do you want me to spy on her? I’m very good at it now.”

  “I don’t know,” said Aislin. “This wouldn’t be like spying on King Tyburr. Aghamonda is a fairy and has the power to do something nasty.”

  “Don’t worry about me! I’m a fairy, too,” Poppy replied. “She’ll never even know I’m there.”

  Aislin shook her head. “I really don’t think you should. It wouldn’t be safe.”

  “What about contacting your family?” asked Poppy. “I think they should know what’s going on.”

  “Not yet,” said Aislin. “Not until we learn more about Aghamon
da’s plans.”

  Although Poppy didn’t seem happy, she didn’t mention her spying mission or contacting the fairy royals again that evening. When Aislin went to bed, she was sure she’d lie awake, tossing and turning, but she fell asleep right away.

  She woke in the morning, certain that something was wrong. Throwing back the covers, she jumped out of bed and ran to the next room. To her relief, Twinket was just where she’d been the day before.

  “Poppy’s gone,” Twinket told her. “She left last night and hasn’t come back.”

  “She went out without telling me?” said Aislin. “Where did she go?”

  “To spy on Aghamonda,” Twinket said. “She wanted me to go with her, but I already have a job to do.”

  “What time did she leave?”

  “About an hour after you went to bed. She wanted to have the proof you needed when you got up this morning.”

  “I have to go find her!” Aislin cried. “Aghamonda better not have hurt her!”

  Aislin hurried to her room to get dressed. She was slipping on her shoes when there was a knock on the door. Although she knew Poppy wouldn’t knock, she was still hoping it was her friend when she ran to answer it.

  “Hi!” Tomas said. “Want to have breakfast with me?”

  Aislin shook her head. “I can’t eat now. I have to find Poppy.”

  “She isn’t here?” Tomas asked, looking around the room.

  “She went to spy on Aghamonda,” Twinket announced from the corner. “Aislin needs proof that Aghamonda is helping both sides so you can show it to your father.”

  “Twinket!” exclaimed Aislin. “You weren’t supposed to tell him that!”

  “Why not? It’s the truth, isn’t it?” said the doll. “And he is on our side.”

  “If you’re going to the tower, I’ll go with you,” Tomas told Aislin. “I know my way around there and you don’t. I just saw Aghamonda heading to the Great Hall, so if we’re going, we should go now. If she comes back and finds us in the tower, I can always say that I left something there before she took it over.”