by E. D. Baker
King Darinar and King Carrigan rode toward the mist ahead of the fairy warriors. The royals were almost upon it when the fairy king raised his arm and a light breeze dispersed the mist. On the other side, some soldiers fought with swords while others carried heavy sacks that they set in a pile just beyond the water’s edge. A few soldiers were taking clay jars out of the sacks, opening them as they walked toward the men from Morain. Aislin recognized the sleeping mist that poured from the jars, and could sympathize with the soldiers who fell to the ground, unconscious. Suddenly the masks the Scarmander soldiers wore made sense.
Aislin stood in her stirrups, trying to get a better view. She spotted the Duke of Isely and King Tyburr hacking at each other with swords. Craiger was there too, fighting with two Scarmander soldiers at once. Most of the fiercest fighting was concentrated around them, although there were pockets of other fighters farther out.
When Aislin looked around, she saw Aghamonda raise her arms and begin to turn in a circle. Water droplets rose from the river, collecting on the shore into large, blobby shapes. As the fairy turned faster, the shapes gained definition until the outlines of large cats appeared. In a moment, snarling, slinking felines were padding across the sand to attack soldiers from Morain with sharp teeth and claws. The soldiers fought back, hacking at the cats with their swords but slicing through with no effect.
“We have to help them!” Aislin cried, and urged her horse into the river. Tomas’s horse plunged in after hers and they reached the other side together.
Aislin was passing the sacks that the Scarmander soldiers had left on the shoreline when she saw movement among the pile. The manticore and griffin were there, digging through them. She was about to ask what they were doing when one of the large cats pounced on a soldier only feet away. Sliding off her horse so that her feet were touching the ground, Aislin pulled power into herself and began to sing. The song was a simple one of earth, stone, and sand. It was enough to call the sand from the ground to whirl in the air in front of her. Mimicking Aghamonda, she created even bigger cats made of sand, with sharper teeth and longer claws. With her song propelling them, her cats sprang onto Aghamonda’s creations, dragging them to the ground where they turned into puddles that disappeared into the sand, leaving the soldiers of Morain looking confused. When all of Aghamonda’s cats had melted into the ground, Aislin ended her song.
Suddenly the sand-covered ground was gone from beneath their feet. In its place, a flat sheet of crystal extended as far as Aislin could see. Even the river she had just crossed was gone, leaving a slick surface that reflected the combatants and the sky above them. Soldiers who had been lunging at their opponents fell flat on their faces. Others slipped and slid as they tried to keep their footing. Once they fell, the crystal was so smooth that they could do little more than lie there. Only those who didn’t try to move were still standing.
Aislin was almost convinced that the crystal was real until she sensed that the sand was still there; she just couldn’t see it. The glamour was so realistic that only a fairy with great power could have created it. Having met Aghamonda, Aislin knew that she didn’t have nearly enough power for such a glamour. It had to be either the king of the fairies or her own father. When she turned to look for them, she saw that King Darinar had called up the wind and was using it to propel Aghamonda toward him. Even as she was swept across the crystal, the fairy woman flailed her arms, trying to use her own magic, but she was powerless against the fairy kings. The moment she reached them, the glamour vanished. Soldiers scrambled to their feet and the fighting began anew.
Aislin looked around to see what she could do to help stop the fighting. She saw Tomas battling alongside fairy warriors who were disarming the humans. When she spotted soldiers from Morain running toward them, she started singing again. This time she pulled boulders from deep within the ground to form walls, separating one group of soldiers from the other. The men fell back as the boulders piled themselves one on top of another.
The next time Aislin looked around, the fighting was nearly over. The fairy warriors were separating the soldiers and both the Duke of Isely and King Tyburr had laid down their arms. Leading her horse, Aislin returned to the shoreline where the manticore and the griffin were still digging through the sacks. “What are you doing?” she asked them.
“We’re looking for Baibre. She’s here somewhere. We can sense it,” blared the manticore.
The griffin squawked and snagged a sack from the bottom of the pile. Pulling it to the top, he ripped it open. There was only one thing inside.
“Twinket!” Aislin cried, reaching for her doll. To her horror, the doll was limp and looked lifeless in her hands.
Hearing Aislin’s voice, Twinket opened one eye a crack. “Can I talk now?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Aislin told her. “You’re among friends.”
With a squeal of delight, Twinket threw herself at Aislin and hugged her. “I thought I’d never see you again!”
Aislin hugged her back as hard as she could, saying, “I was afraid of that, too. I don’t understand why Aghamonda took you.”
“That was my fault,” said Twinket. “She came looking for the locket. I’d hidden it in the best place I could think of—inside a tear that the trolls made in my side. She sensed where it was and took me, saying that I was as good a place to keep it as any. I guess I should have hidden it someplace better.”
“It was a very good choice,” the fairy king said, setting his hand on Aislin’s shoulder. “May I see this locket?”
Aislin glanced toward Aghamonda, who was wrapped in vines and had a wad of leaves in her mouth. “She is secured for now, but that’s only temporary,” said the fairy king. “I need to use something that will last long enough to transport her back to Fairengar for sentencing.”
Aghamonda must have heard him, because her face turned pale and she began to squirm.
“What will happen to her?” Aislin asked.
“Whatever Queen Surinen and I decide after much deliberation,” said her grandfather. “Throw her in a bottomless pit, take away her fairy powers, turn her into stone, feed her to the gargoyles …”
Aghamonda let out a muffled scream and struggled so much that she fell over and landed on her side. She began to roll until King Carrigan walked up and set his foot on her back, pinning her in place.
Twinket reached into the tear and pulled out the locket. “Here,” she said, handing it to the fairy king. “I’m happy to get rid of it.”
“I thought Poppy fixed all the holes,” said Aislin.
Twinket shrugged. “She missed one, but she did such a good job with the others that I didn’t want to complain.”
King Darinar examined the locket and nodded. Walking back to where Aghamonda lay on the ground, he dangled the chain over her and motioned with his hand. With a bright light and a loud bang, the fairy was sucked into the locket with her sister.
“It’s not very elegant,” said the fairy king. “But it will do.”
“Aren’t you going to let Baibre out?” asked Aislin.
“I will when it’s time for her to testify against her sister,” King Darinar replied. “I think they have a lot to discuss and I’m giving them the time to do it.”
“But Aghamonda still has those leaves in her mouth,” Aislin reminded him.
“Yes, I know,” said the fairy king. “It will be a very one-sided conversation. Aislin, I’d like to entrust you with taking the locket to your grandmother. I’d take it myself, but I’m going to stay here until I’ve seen that everything is worked out between Morain and Scarmander in an amicable manner. No fairy should have ever gotten involved in a human disagreement and I’m sorry it went as far as it did, but because a fairy was involved, I need to see it through to the end. Your father will take you home. Welcome back, sweet girl. We all missed you and worried about you constantly. You don’t know how happy we are to have you back with us again. And I must tell you how proud I am of you. You were very brave and your t
alents have exceeded everyone’s expectations. I didn’t know that anyone could do what you did today. Who knows what you’ll be able to do next!”
King Darinar’s hug was enough to make Aislin squeak again. When the king walked off to speak to the Duke of Isely and King Tyburr, Aislin turned to Tomas. “I want to thank you for being nice to me when so many people were being unkind,” she said. “You were my friend when I really needed one, and I want you to know that I’ll be your friend forever.”
Tomas grinned. “I liked you from the start. It was great to meet a good and decent person in that castle. If you ever need anything, just let me know. Although, with an army of fairies … I don’t know what I could do that they couldn’t.”
“Friends are always important,” Aislin told him. “And everyone has different talents.”
“When will I see you again?” asked Tomas.
“Soon, I hope,” Aislin said, and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. “Right now I’m not sure what will happen next.”
When Aislin turned away, half the troop of fairy warriors was waiting with her father and Poppy to take her home. Her heart swelled with pride when she saw them sitting astride their horses. She told herself that her eyes were watering because the light reflecting off their armor was so bright, but part of her knew that her tears were really those of joy at the thought of going home again.
Chapter 21
Every time Aislin saw Fairengar, she thought it had to have grown more beautiful than the last time she was there. Built of gold-veined marble, perfect crystals, moonbeams from clear nights, and sunbeams from cloudless days, it was the most beautiful building in the world. And she wasn’t alone. Before Fairengar had been moved in entirety, people had traveled across countless kingdoms to see the fairy palace. Aislin had always thought it was a shame that more people didn’t get to see it now. Returning home from the human lands, she wondered if that was about to change.
As beautiful as Fairengar was, Aislin thought the next sight she saw was even lovelier. Her mother waited just inside the palace gates, her face alight and her arms open to her daughter. With a cry from her heart, Aislin slipped from her horse and ran to her mother. Queen Maylin enfolded her in a warm embrace, murmuring soothing words just as she had when Aislin was a baby. When she finally held her daughter away from her to look her in the eyes, the pedrasi woman’s smile faltered for an instant. “You’ve changed,” she said. “You look older now. Did someone hurt you?”
“Not in any way that being home won’t fix,” Aislin told her mother, and gave her another hug.
Her mother smiled as King Carrigan took his daughter’s hand and led them both inside. “I’m sure your grandmother is waiting for you in the throne room,” he told Aislin. “She was ready to fly over the mountains and search all the human kingdoms for you herself. She’ll want to welcome you back where everyone can see that you’ve returned, but we’ll have a family celebration later when your grandfather is here.”
“I’m very fortunate to have such a wonderful family,” said Aislin.
“We’re the ones who are fortunate,” her father said. “You saved your mother and brother by sacrificing yourself. That was far more than anyone could ask or most would do.”
Aislin shrugged. “My family is everything to me. I would do anything and go anywhere to keep them safe.”
“I believe that you and I have a lot to discuss,” her father said.
“I have a lot to discuss with all of you,” said Aislin.
The throne room was crowded when Aislin and her parents walked in. Fairies, sprites, nymphs, ogres, and other beings she had known all her life had come to welcome her back. The floor was marble, but the walls and ceiling were clear crystal so that it looked as if everyone was outside. Unlike those in the human kingdoms, the smiles that greeted her were genuine.
Although the thrones rested on a raised dais so that everyone could see the king and queen, neither the thrones nor the dais were at all like those in the human-owned castles. The thrones were made of the arched and curled branches of living trees, while the dais was made of rock taken straight from a glade in the woods. Moss and wildflowers spread across the rock’s surface and small animals made their homes in the nooks and crannies. Water trickled down one side, magically replenishing itself as it gathered in a pool at the base. Occasionally, a frog croaked or a cricket chirped. Although there weren’t any trees in the room, the air was filled with the scents of the forest. Sometimes a bird flew through, but no one could see where they came from or where they went. When Aislin closed her eyes, it was easy to believe that she was in the forest itself.
This is what a throne room should be like, Aislin thought as she approached the throne.
Queen Surinen was smiling as her granddaughter drew closer. Aislin thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world, with hair the color of the moonless night sky and eyes the color of violets in the spring. Although the queen frowned as readily as she laughed, and she was older than most of her people could remember, her face was unlined and unblemished and had a radiance of its own.
“Welcome home,” the queen told Aislin. “How are you after your grand adventure?”
Aislin grinned. “I’m well, Your Majesty.” Their more informal greetings and their real conversation would come later when they didn’t have an audience. Taking the locket from around her neck, she handed it to the sprite dressed all in green who waited at the foot of the dais. “King Darinar asked me to bring that to you,” Aislin told her grandmother. “Two fairies are in there, but only one is waiting for sentencing.”
The sprite darted up the dais, bowing his head when he handed the locket to the queen.
“Two?” the queen said as she examined the locket. “Oh, dear!”
“I have a lot to tell you,” said Aislin.
The queen nodded. “And I have many questions for you.”
The look they shared said a great deal. Things were going to change; they both knew it. Part of Aislin was sad because nothing was ever going to be the same again. But another part was excited—hiding from the humans hadn’t worked, and now all the humans would know that the fairy king had come back. Perhaps it was time they returned to the world they’d left behind. Perhaps it was time the fairies helped to straighten up the mess that the human world had become. And perhaps it was time Aislin accepted herself for who she really was—a princess with powers that were unlike anyone else’s.
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First published in the United States of America in November 2018 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Text copyright © 2018 by E. D. Baker
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Baker, E. D., author.
Title: More than a princess / by E. D. Baker.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2018.
Summary: Aislin of Eliasind must rely on more than the magical gifts she has as a half-fairy, half-pedrasi when she becomes entangled in a sinister plot and saddled with difficult human princesses.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018003772 (print) | LCCN 2018010441 (e-book) ISBN 978-1-68119-768-5 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-68119-771-5 (e-book)
Subjects: | CYAC: Fairy tales. | Princesses—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Fairies—Fiction. | Self-confidence—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ8.B173 Mor 2018 (print) | LCC PZ8.B173 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018003772
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