Princess Electra Book 4 School of Medicine

by Dory Lee Maske

  Chapter 32

  King's Lake in Fernland

  Take and his fellow actors arrived at their theatre in King's Lake and were excited to find Shandor there.

  "We was that worried when we didn't find ya at the castle," Tom said. "Thought maybe them villains what took out the King's powder might a got ya."

  Shandor blanched at the mention of the King's ruined powder. "Did they find the ones that did it yet?" he asked.

  "Not that we know," Angie whispered. "Did ya see a one at the stables afore ya left? One what didn't belong there?"

  "No. I didn't see anything, but I thought it might be better to wait for you down here. I like to stay out of the way of trouble." Shandor hiccoughed loudly.

  Take took a long look at Shandor and realized he was quite drunk. He wondered if he could count on Shandor for tomorrow's performance. He would have to devise a show that would work with or without their fiddle player.

  "We thought we would try a pirate theme for this show," Take said. "It is for Avor's birthday and he had a run-in with pirates not so long ago. This Prince Oswald who is coming for a visit—his kingdom faces the sea. I'm sure they have had pirate encounters as well."

  "We're gonna make a collapsible pirate ship," Peaches added, excited by the challenge.

  "Sure, there be nothin' to it," Bear said in a sarcastic voice. "What a we got—a day an a half?"

  Smiles clapped Bear on the back and nearly toppled him over. "I betcha some a them Taz men'll be comin' round ta help us. Them 'uns love ta be a buildin' things."

  "I'm counting on that," Take said. "They can't stand it when we start to build something and they know they can do it better."

  "We'd best get started then," Angie said. "I've got a basket full a sweet rolls ta sweeten the pot, so ta speak."

  The men went to the scrap wood pile further down the beach and began pulling bits of wood and dirty woven mats from the pile to drag back to the theatre. Before long Prince Avor came by to ask what they were doing.

  "We're building ourselves a prop fer yer show," Tom said in a jovial voice. "Gonna be a side of a pirate ship."

  Avor raised his eyebrows. "By tomorrow?" he asked in a doubting tone.

  "Sure, it don't have ta be seaworthy," Smiles added.

  "You know we are expecting a visit from Prince Oswald of Sandovia. His ship has already been sighted off the mouth of the estuary." Prince Avor looked at the pitiful scraps they were dragging out of the scrap pile. "The men want to know if you happened to bring any sweet rolls."

  "That we did," Take said with a smile. "We wouldn't want to disappoint the men from Taz."

  Avor bit his lower lip gently. "I'll tell them they can take a break for a sweet roll." He looked over at his crew, hard at work on the barge. "I suppose if they want to help you build a mock up of a pirate ship, I could give them leave to do it. We could tear it down after and reuse the wood."

  Take looked surprised. "I never imagined... Why, with their help we could build a prop that would knock the socks off Prince Oswald. If you are sure it would be all right—we would be honored to accept your help."

  Avor looked at Take with suspicion. He knew he was being manipulated but he did not change his mind. "Just make sure it will impress Prince Oswald. I know my father is looking to the kingdom of Sandovia as a possible ally."

  Take made a little bow. "We will do our best, Your Majesty."

  The actors threw their scraps of wood and mats back on the pile and raced down the beach to lay out the sweet rolls.

  Before long the Taz workers lined up at the basket and Haddad's son, Javed, came along to translate.

  Take insisted Javed have the first sweet roll. While the young man ate, Take described the prop he envisioned. "We will place it just to the front of our offshore platform. It will look like a ship to those seated on the hillside as they will only see the side facing them. We will keep it draped until the show starts. We will assemble as pirates on the platform behind it. We will have a short ladder to climb up and over the painted deck. Then with swords drawn, we will jump into a shore boat and storm the beach. Then we will fight the Fernlanders and just when things look hopeless, King Neptune will rise up from the sea with his trident and curse the pirates. Then he will point his trident at the pirate ship and it will disappear."

  Javed paused, his sweet roll half way to his mouth. "It will disappear?"

  "Yes." Take's eyes sparkled with mischief. "It is only a painted facade held to the side of the platform with a hook or two. We release the hooks and the whole thing falls over the platform in to the water. It disappears."

  "But will the audience not see it fall over?"

  "No," Take continued. "Because we will have a diversion here on shore that will claim their attention momentarily."

  "A diversion?"

  "Yes."

  "What kind of a diversion?"

  "You do not want me to ruin the surprise for you, do you?" Take asked, wondering himself what the diversion might be.

  Javed considered the question for a moment, then grinned. "No, I guess not."

  "Do you think your men can pull it off? I know it is short notice for a prop this size."

  Javed waved his hand casually. "If we can not paint a thin sheet of wood with a picture of a ship in one day, we had best not continue to call ourselves master shipbuilders."

  The men from Taz finished their snack and fell to their prop-making with enthusiasm. Within a hour they had sawed out the outline of a pirate ship on thin strips of wood, backed with reinforcing boards. They argued over who would do the painting and finally settled on three men who seemed to have won the right through some kind of guessing game.

  Take and his actors busied themselves with assembling costumes and a discussion over what the 'distraction' might be.

  All work ceased as the ship named King Gundar sailed into the lake. It was an impressive ship painted midnight blue with gold trim—the colors of Sandovia's flag.

  Avor stood ready to receive Prince Oswald. Oswald came ashore in a small boat wearing a gold tunic emblazoned with a lion. His oarsmen and two royal guardsmen wore uniforms of midnight blue.

  One of the guardsmen jumped out of the boat and set down a block of wood for the Prince to step on as he exited the boat. The Prince ignored the block of wood and stepped into the shallow water, then splashed on to shore.

  Prince Avor offered his hand to shake, but Prince Oswald ignored it and made a short stiff bow instead. Prince Avor returned the bow and spoke a few words of welcome before indicating the royal carriage that waited to take them to the castle.

  Take stood watching the scene with pursed lips.

  "This one might be a bit hard to impress," he mused aloud.