“The Water Princess and Fire Prince?” said the voice. “Well, that sounds fair enough. Tell me, how many rubies are on your sword, Water Princess?”
“That’s his sword,” Clara protested. “I have sapphires, and I’m not sure what I have as the pommel. Now, could you please show yourself? I really don’t like talking to invisible people.”
She gasped as a man dressed completely in gray dropped out of an open window on the other side of the empty courtyard. He held a loaded bow, which was pointed directly at them, but there was an almost friendly smile on his face as he approached them.
“So, you’re the Water Princess and Fire Prince that Dular and Alith told me about.”
“Hold still and draw his fire,” Clara hissed at the Fire Prince, who seemed to be frozen as he stared at the arrow. “I’ll disarm him.”
She ran towards the man, launched into a few flips and somersaults, and then, while the man just stared, gave him a kick to the elbow that sent the arrow flying wildly. “Now that puts us on more friendly terms,” she declared, drawing her sword, and assuming a defensive posture. “Now what was that about you not believing us to be the Water Princess and Fire Prince?”
The man’s smile fell, and he stared at her, his brows knit with confusion. “Clara?”
“Because we are,” she continued, not realizing what he said. “We fell right through the Waterfall and Firefall, and were given these swords by Dular and Alith, and then Alphego himself gave us a guided tour through the mountain.”
“Clara? You’re the Water Princess.”
She stiffened, as his words finally penetrated. “How – how do you know my name? Do I know you?”
The gray-clad man shifted his weight from one foot to the other, delaying his answer and giving Clara time to properly observe him and note that he did, indeed, look a bit familiar. He was taller than the Fire Prince, with messy blond hair adorned with a silver circlet set with diamonds, a diamond ring on the ring finger of his right hand, and a quiver full of gray-fletched arrows. But it was the mischief dancing in his gray eyes that she thought she recognized.
“I suppose you wouldn’t know me,” he admitted. “I’ve been here for thirty years now. But we did know each other, once, Clara. I’m Rich.”
“As in Richard Leodge, older brother of my best friend, Kathlene Leodge?” she asked, wanting to dismiss the thought, but those were Rich’s eyes.
“The one and only,” said Rich, with a mock bow. “But here I’m known better as the Wind Prince.”
Of course. “And Kath is the Leaf Princess?” Clara guessed. The Leaf Princess was supposed to be his sister, after all.
“Yes, she is,” Rich agreed. “Oh, but she’ll be so delighted to find out that you’re the Water Princess. She’s missed you and Rhoda a terrible lot, especially the last few years that we’ve been here alone.”
Clara pressed her mouth into a hard line, not wanting to give in to the emotions that warred inside of her. She felt the Fire Prince approach and lay a hand on her shoulder. She wanted to shake it off, but was too thankful for its steadying presence.
“So, this is your boyfriend?” Rich asked.
“Ah, no,” said the Fire Prince, immediately dropping his hand.
“He’s just the Fire Prince,” said Clara.
“And you’re the Water Princess.” As though that meant anything. Which it did, but Clara wanted to conveniently forget that part.
“His name is Andrew,” Clara informed Rich. “Rhoda’s cousin, actually. His dad is our science curriculum.”
“Ah, wonderful, glad to hear that he isn’t a total stranger, either.” Rich held out a hand to the Fire Prince. “Her cousin is possibly the next best thing to having Rhoda with us, I suppose.”
The Fire Prince gingerly took the offered hand, though clearly afraid that the man was going to pull some sort of trick on him. Since she knew Rich, Clara figured that his fear was well-founded.
“I’m the Wind Prince, by the way,” Rich introduced himself, “though Clair and her friends are allowed to call me Rich. I find that so much more personable, if you know what I mean. Now, I’m quite certain that the Leaf Princess would be delighted to find out that our salvation and her best friend have come to us at long last, so if you will excuse me, I’ll go tell her at once.”
And with that, he slipped away.
“Was that…” the Fire Prince began.
Clara nodded sharply. “Apparently the Leaf Princess and Wind Prince aren’t as much of strangers as I thought they’d be.”
He tried to reach out to her, to offer some sort of support, but that was the last thing she wanted at the moment. She jerked away and headed back to the tunnel to help the others out.
“The Wind Prince and Leaf Princess are still alive,” she announced. “They’re friendly.”
As soon as everyone was out of the tunnel, the wall finally slid shut. Clara barely noticed.
Andrew stared after the disappearing Wind Prince and then glanced back at the Water Princess, still trying to process what had happened. From the look on the Water Princess’s face, it seemed that she was trying to do the same.
“Look, Karlos, it’s the moon!” Jasmine exclaimed, pointing up to the sky. This managed to bring something of a smile to the Water Princess’s face, though it looked more like a grimace.
“Is something wrong, Water Princess?” Jill Anna asked, putting her hand on her friend’s shouler.
“Yes, everything,” the Water Princess answered.
But before she could offer an explanation, a woman ran out of a door at the other end of the courtyard. She paused a moment, and as her eyes landed on the Water Princess, she gave an exclamation of “Clair!” and came running towards her.
The Water Princess instantly drew back, crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive posture. The woman, the Leaf Princess, Andrew realized, drew up short.
“Clara, it’s me,” she pleaded, “It’s Kath.”
The Water Princess didn’t answer, and for the longest moment, the two just stared at each other. The Leaf Princess was taller than the Water Princess by some bit, with long brown hair that fell in a sheet past her waist, restrained only by a silver band set with emeralds. She wore a long green dress, a quiver of green feathered arrows on her back with a wooden bow decorated with emeralds. On the ring finger of her right hand was a large emerald ring.
At last, she broke away from the Water Princess with a huge sigh and turned to her brother with a small half-smile. “I … really don’t blame her. Perhaps it would have been better had the Water Princess not been my best friend since forever.” She turned to Andrew. “And you’re the Fire Prince, eh? Rich said something about you being Rhoda’s cousin.”
“Ah, yeah,” said Andrew, accepting the hand she offered. “I am. The Water Princess and I have discussed that quite a bit already.”
“It’s good to meet you at long last,” said the Leaf Princess. “My brother and I have been waiting for quite some time for you and the Water Princess, but never dreamed that you’d be people we actually knew, or nearly so.”
“So, you mean to say that you actually know the Water Princess?” Abraham spoke up.
“Why yes,” said the Wind Prince. “They were best friends, in fact, the Fire Prince’s cousin being the other unit in the threesome. Quite the dangerous trio, they can be.”
The Water Princess no longer had her arms crossed, but instead hugged tightly against her chest.
“You look familiar, though,” the Leaf Princess added, giving Abraham a closer look. “I’m afraid that Rich and I have been in here for so long, we don’t have any up to date faces in our memory banks.”
“Lord Abraham of Lower Klarand.”
“Ah, I knew you were familiar,” she said. “Such a bright young lad you were, and I’m sure you’ve made a fine leader for Lower Klarand, and let me guess who this young sir is – your son, am I right?”
Abraham put a proud hand on Karlos’ shou
lder. “Yes, that he is.”
“I’m Karlos,” the boy spoke up.
She turned then to Jakob. “You don’t have to tell me who you are, you’re the image of your father. Lor’Son Jakob?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She nodded towards Jill Anna and Jasmine. “Your sisters, Jakob?”
“No, my entourage,” the Water Princess finally spoke up. “They lost Essua to the Dragon’s magic last year, and I wouldn’t have brought Dina along to save my life. Sweet girl, but useless on an adventure. They’re Jill Anna and Jasmine.”
“Well, I’m honored to meet the two of you,” said the Leaf Princess. “Any friend of Clair’s is a friend of mine, to be sure.”
Both girls dipped into deep curtsies, fists over their hearts.
“And now, I say! It’s quite late, to be sure, and most certainly past the young ones’ bedtime,” the Leaf Princess continued. “There are plenty of beds inside, a bit dusty, but you can’t blame us as we honestly had no idea how near you were to coming. Rich – wait a moment, you’re missing an arrow, what’d you do with it? You know we must be careful with those things.”
The Wind Prince pointed to a ledge. “May I remind you that Clair knows how to disarm a bow?”
She laughed. “Oh, dear, but she’s good at it. But Rich, really, you pulled your bow on the Water Princess and Fire Prince? They’re friends!”
“I was quite aware of that fact,” said the Wind Prince. “And I wasn’t really going to shoot them, leastways, not once I knew who they were. I just didn’t expect it to be Clara.”
She laughed, and then suddenly put up her right fist. A purple vine shot out of the ring, straight for the arrow that was embedded in the ledge, then it quickly retracted, bringing the arrow with it. “There we go, no harm done,” she said, handing it back to the Wind Prince. “Be more careful. It’s not like we were given a limitless supply of these arrows, you know.”
Then she turned to Andrew, who stared in astonishment. A mischievous grin twinkled her eyes. “Oh, come now. I’m not called the Leaf Princess for nothing. We have rings waiting for you and the Water Princess as well, but there are ceremonies surrounding them. We can take care of that tomorrow evening. How does that sound?”
“Brilliant,” said the Water Princess. “Now, you were saying something about bed?”
Clara was fine with having been dumped into another world and declared a Water Princess. Andrew as the Fire Prince? That was great! But having Kath and Rich, suddenly in their forties, as the Leaf Princess and Wind Prince? That was where Clara drew the line.
The Wind Prince had taken the men away to their rooms, and Alith had appeared and spirited away Jasmine and Jill Anna, leaving Clara alone with her (literally) old friend. Kath was quiet as they walked, finally getting the message that Clara wasn’t as happy to see her as she was to see Clara, apparently.
“Ah, here’s a room befitting a Water Princess,” Kath announced at length, jolting Clara from her thoughts. “I think you should sleep here tonight, what do you say?”
Clara glanced into the room that Kath indicated, saw a large, comfortable bed and shrugged. “It’ll do. I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day.”
“Ah, so I don’t suppose you’d be interested in a bath?” Kath asked.
Clara perked up slightly. “A bath? Yeah, that’d be nice. Haven’t had one in weeks.”
“Ah, well then, we’ll have to fix that at once.” Kath gestured towards a large stone basin that seemed to be built into the wall in one corner of the room. “One of the benefits of living here in the Kastle is that Alphego built it Himself and I believe it’s the only place in Rizkaland with proper running water. All of the castles have electricity, if only for lights, but we get running water here.” And with that, she leaned over and pulled a lever on the wall. Water poured out of a spigot and into the basin. “I’m not sure how it works, but it’s the perfect blend of purple and orange for bathwater, and always the perfect temperature.”
“One of the unexplained mysteries of Klarand, got it,” said Clara, pulling off her sword belt and propping it up against the tub.
“You know, when I first saw that sword and learned it belonged to the Water Princess who was yet to come,” said Kath, tilting her head to the side, “the first thing that popped into my head was how much you’d like it, Clair. And yet, I hardly dared dream that it would be you to wield it – but now, here you are!”
“How did you get stuck with the job of Leaf Princess?” asked Clara, pulling the pins out of her hair and shaking it free. How long had it been since she had last been called by that nickname? It had been strange enough getting used to the Fire Prince calling her by her real name again.
“Ah, I see you’ve let your hair grow out a bit,” Kath observed. “About me as the Leaf Princess, though. It was about thirty years ago…”
“I know that,” Clara cut in, rolling her eyes. “I did know that there was a Wind Prince and Leaf Princess and that they’d been here thirty years. I just didn’t know it was going to be the two of you.”
Kath was quiet for a few moments while Clara finished stripping out of her clothes and slipped into the water, slipping beneath the bubbles before the woman could say anything.
“Ah, I guess that’s understandable,” she admitted, pulling up a chair. “You’d like to know when we left on our end of things, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“We’d signed up for a hang glider course,” Kath explained, “you were with us…”
Clara sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh! Your crashes.”
There was silence for a moment, and then, “Oh. So you do know how we got here.”
Clara dunked her head under the water in an effort to calm the emotions that churned within her. Surfacing, she answered, “It was last summer for me. You … so that’s why you changed.”
“Changed?” Kath repeated.
“You were never the same after that crash,” Clara replied, with a shake of her head. “And now I know why. You came here and got holed up in this Kastle for I’m not sure how long. That could turn anyone crazy, I guess.”
Again, silence. It was painful.
“Oh,” said Kath, at length. “So Rich and I do get to go back?”
“Well, since you recovered from those crashes, rather than dying, as you almost did, I’ll risk saying yes,” Clara returned, biting the words a bit harder than was necessary.
“Back to our old lives, old selves,” Kath mused. “Rich and I have talked about that so much, especially these last few years, but…” She suddenly snapped out of it and turned to Clara. “There’s a towel right there you can use when you’re finished,” she said, pointing to the bar that hung over the tub. “Do you have a nightdress that will work, or would you like me to fetch you one?”
“I have something that would work,” Clara informed her. “Don’t bother. I’m sure you’re exhausted too at this late hour, and I need some time to think.”
“Very well,” said Kath. “Sleep well, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.” She paused at the door and placed a fist over her heart, then disappeared.
She didn’t bow – it was the Rizkan salute for equals. Clara had seen it done many times, but never in her direction. As Water Princess, she outranked pretty much everyone here, save the Fire Prince, and he wasn’t quite used to Rizkan customs yet. The Leaf Princess, Kath, was her equal here.
Chapter 2
Andrew awoke in a large, luxurious bed. The mattress and cushions were soft and beckoned for him to go back to sleep, but he pulled the covers off of himself and surveyed the room.
There were clothes laid out for him at the end of the bed; a red shirt of a linen-like cloth, a pair of loose-fitting tan pants, some socks, and a pair of black boots. His sword and belt lay on top of them. Clearly, he was meant to wear these.
No sooner was he dressed than he heard a knock at the door.
“Um, come in,” he announced.
Th
e door opened to reveal a man Andrew didn’t recognize. The man bowed slightly, fist pressed to his heart. “Ah, it’s good to see you awake, Fire Prince. The Wind Prince has sent me to invite you to breakfast. I’m Phillip, by the way.”
Andrew’s stomach grumbled, attesting to the fact that they hadn’t really had a decent meal the day before. “Uh, breakfast sounds good.”
“Follow me, then.”
So Andrew did so, glad for a guide in the twisting corridors of this Kastle. It was a very different place from the Lower castle: a fortress, not a place of learning. It seemed more ancient, the rooms hewn from the stone of the Mountain itself, and the passages long and twisting.
“So, uh, Phillip, wasn’t it?” said Andrew, trying to make conversation.
“Aye, that it is, Fire Prince.”
“What are you doing here? I was under the impression that only the Wind Prince and Leaf Princess were here. And Alith and Dular.”
Phillip laughed. “A logical question and one easily answered. Despite their bravery, it would never have done for them to remain here alone without a Bugslayer or two to protect them from those terrible Ia Beetles – have you seen some of them yet? Nasty creatures. That’s where my wife Sarai and I come in.”
“Oh,” said Andrew, noticing for the first time all of the x-shaped scars that covered the man’s exposed arms. “We encountered some of those beetles in the tunnels trying to get here. Fortunately, the Water Princess’s companion, Jill Anna, was one … though she called herself a Bug Child.”
“Ah, so we were called in the old days,” Phillip confirmed. “Sarai and I were two of the first. However, as we grew older, the Wind Prince and Leaf Princess decided that child no longer fit us, and christened us with a much more fitting title. I cannot speak for the doings of the lesser castles, however.”
“Oh.”
They emerged in the courtyard, where a long table was set up. It appeared that Andrew had been the last to wake up, as all the seats were filled except for the one that Phillip quickly claimed, and one that was, coincidentally, next to the Water Princess. She was frowning at her empty plate, seeming especially grumpy this morning.
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