by E. D. Baker
“Is that a baby dragon?” Daisy asked, her voice ending in a squeak.
“Shh!” said Jarid and a dozen people around her.
The little blue dragon shuffled to the creature lying on the floor and nudged it with its nose. When the copper-colored creature raised its head to look around, Cory could see that it was a baby dragon, too, although not nearly as big as the blue dragon.
“Well, I’ll be,” the older man beside Cory whispered. “Rupert got his bride a baby dragon! It wasn’t enough that they had one in the castle. Now they’re going to have two.”
“Not exactly the kind of wedding present I’d want,” said Daisy.
Cory shook her head. “I don’t think Lillian does, either.”
The princess had moved as far from the dragon as she could with Rupert still holding her arm. She had a horrified look on her face and Cory thought she might have screamed if Rupert had made her go any closer. Rupert’s friends were standing well back. Although some of them were laughing, only the dark-haired young man that Cory had thought looked familiar appeared to be worried.
“Can’t you see she’s terrified,” a voice said from the back of the room.
Surprised, everyone turned to look. It was Goldilocks, standing by herself wearing tan slacks and a pink shirt that read FLOWER FAIRIES ARE SEEDY across the front. Suddenly, it occurred to Cory that Goldilocks didn’t have any of the traditional clothes with her because Chancy hadn’t made her any.
“Who are you?” Rupert demanded, his gaze turning frosty.
“Goldilocks. And who the heck are you, treating that poor girl that way? And while I’m at it, where do you get off poking a baby dragon out of a box? You might have jabbed it in the eye or something.”
Half the people in the room gasped while the other half looked delighted. From the expression on Rupert’s face, Cory was afraid he was going to have Goldilocks dragged from the room and kicked off the island.
“She’s with Zephyr,” Cory said, getting to her feet. Jarid tried to grab her arm and shush her as everyone turned to stare, but Cory didn’t care. Goldilocks had gotten into this mess because of her and it was up to her to get her out of it. Shaking off Jarid’s hand, she walked straight to Goldilocks and turned to face the prince. If he was going to do anything to the girl, he’d have to go through Cory first.
With all eyes on Goldilocks and Cory, no one was watching the baby dragons. The blue dragon had started to get rough, biting the other baby’s tail and trying to pull it across the floor. Apparently, this was more than the smaller baby could take, because with an unexpectedly loud roar, it turned on its attacker and bit it hard on the side. The blue dragon squealed in pain, letting go of the tail, and launching itself into the air with the copper-colored dragon right behind it.
“Must be a girl dragon,” said someone near Cory. “The girls are always the fiercest.”
People ducked and ran as the smaller dragon chased the larger around the hall. The dark-haired young man left his friends to pull Lillian away when the dragons came swooping back. Even the prince was forced to leave when his own dragon almost flew into him head-on. Hoping to get Goldilocks out of sight before the prince remembered what she’d said, Cory practically dragged her into the corridor. Daisy had just joined them when Perky found them.
“We’re about to start rehearsing,” Perky announced. “Follow me. They gave us an empty room to use. The acoustics aren’t as good as in Olot’s cave, but it’ll have to do.”
Enough people were giving them odd looks that Cory was glad to have a reason to leave. The three girls followed the elf down the corridor and around a corner to a room not much bigger than the one they’d slept in. The only furniture in the room were the stools for Cheeble and Cory. Goldilocks sat on the floor while everyone else took their positions. As soon as they started to tune up, they knew that something was wrong. A quick investigation showed that all of the instruments had water in them.
“How did this happen?” Cheeble asked, holding up his ox horn to let water drip out of it. “We had them all wrapped up and took such good care of them.”
“Don’t look at me,” Goldilocks said when the brownie glanced her way. “Olot saw—I just helped him carry them in.”
“It’s really humid here with the falls so close by,” said Chancy. “Maybe that has something to do with it.”
“Or maybe they got water in them on the ferry,” said Daisy.
“Either way, we can’t play them like this,” said Olot. “We’ll have to get them dried out first.”
In that case, Cory thought, it’s time I make up my mind about Rupert.
CHAPTER
14
While Olot, Chancy, Cheeble, and Perky discussed what to do about the instruments, Cory slipped from the room, taking Goldilocks with her. The wedding was the very next day. She was beginning to have an idea about what she should do, but she wanted to learn a little more about the prince and princess. If she did decide to follow her vision, she needed to have Goldilocks with her.
“Shouldn’t I stay and help them?” Goldilocks said, glancing back to the room they had just left.
“You can later. It’s going to take them a while to decide what to do. I thought we’d go look for the man I told you about. He was the reason you came, remember?”
“Of course, but if Olot and Chancy need my help . . .”
“I’ll get you back to them soon enough,” said Cory.
Because the great hall was the last place they’d seen Rupert, Cory decided to go there first. One peek told her that he wasn’t there, however. The only people in the hall were servants cleaning up the mess the dragons had made.
“I don’t understand something,” Goldilocks said as they walked down the corridor. “Why do these people live this way? The people in town live in a modern world with solar cycles and message baskets and pedal-buses, but here they live like they did hundreds of years ago. Don’t they know what it’s like in other parts of the world? I can see the attraction if you’re a member of the royal family, but what about the servants? If you knew you had other options, why would you stay here and wait on someone like Rupert?”
Cory shrugged. “The human world was like this when they first came to the fey world, so this was what they were used to. They must like it, or they would have changed it over the years. Or they could always leave, like you said. I’m sure they know what our part of the world is like. A young man named Jarid told me at breakfast that everyone here knows that Zephyr is a hit in town.”
They stopped walking, having reached the end of the corridor with no sign of Rupert. “Where else do you want to look for this guy?” Goldilocks asked Cory.
“I’m not sure,” Cory began. “I don’t—”
The sound of crying came from one of the rooms they had passed. Worried that someone was hurt, Cory pushed the partly open door and peeked inside. She spotted book-filled shelves, but didn’t see anyone at first. Stepping farther into the room, she saw two upholstered sofas in front of a fireplace. Princess Lillian was sitting on one of the sofas with her head bowed and her hands over her eyes.
Cory didn’t care what the protocol would be in situations like this; she couldn’t bear to see anyone cry without comforting them. “Are you all right?” she asked, hurrying to the princess’s side.
Lillian looked up, startled. “Perfectly all right,” she said, scrubbing at her eyes with her fists.
Goldilocks had followed Cory into the room and the princess’s eyes flew from one girl to the other. “I wanted to thank you,” Lillian told Goldilocks. “Rupert didn’t listen when I told him that I didn’t like dragons, and he would have made me pet it if you hadn’t stopped him.”
“I’m glad I was there to help,” said Goldilocks.
“I haven’t liked dragons since I was a little girl,” the princess continued. “I often had nightmares about them. Why would you give a dragon to someone who’s afraid of them?”
“Maybe he wasn’t paying attention when you t
old him,” Cory said, remembering her ex-boyfriend, Walker.
“I don’t think that’s it at all. I think he’s just plain mean. He did it because he knew that I was afraid,” said Lillian.
“Maybe he didn’t remember that you’d told him and he was thinking that if he liked dragons, you might, too,” said Goldilocks. “Or maybe he was hoping you’d like them if you got used to them. I like dragons myself, but I know a lot of people are frightened of them.”
“You don’t know him like I do. I’ve heard that the only reason he proposed to me was because his mother wanted him to marry someone else. He never does anything his mother wants,” Lillian said. “I wish I knew if I was doing the right thing. My parents want me to marry him, but I . . . Oh well, I’m sorry I burdened both of you with my troubles.” She took a deep, ragged breath and stood up. “I suppose I should go splash cold water on my face. I don’t want people seeing me with red eyes. Thank you for being so kind. I can’t wait to hear your music.”
Goldilocks and Cory followed the princess from the room, but let her go down the corridor by herself. “Let’s see if he’s outside,” said Cory. “He has to be around here somewhere.”
“Can you tell me this mystery man’s name?” Goldilocks asked.
“Not yet,” said Cory.
It was warm when they stepped outside and the air smelled of rain and wisteria. The vine was planted on many of the walls surrounding the castle, draping over archways to dangle their heavy blossoms just above passing heads. Cory looked for Rupert in the central courtyard, and in the garden where the grass was sodden beneath their feet. The flowers and decorative trees were larger than normal, growing in the nurturing mist of the waterfall.
Still unable to find Rupert, Cory led Goldilocks to the dock, where they overheard people talking about how the prince and his friends had just left to go hunting on the mainland. They were on their way back to the castle when they ran into the Head Water Nymph, Serelia Quirt, looking haggard and unsteady on her feet. When she stumbled over an uneven cobblestone, Cory rushed to catch her.
“Would you like to sit down?” Cory asked, spotting a nearby bench overlooking the river.
Serelia nodded and let the two girls help her to the bench. “I’m sorry. I’m just so tired. I’m supposed to keep the water exceptionally calm when a member of the royal family is crossing on the ferry and it takes a lot out of me. Helping with an ordinary crossing is hard enough, but this is so much worse. I’m getting far too old for this kind of thing. I’ll be all right in a few minutes, girls. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”
“But we want to,” said Cory. “It’s so beautiful here. I could sit and watch the river for hours.” The low, drifting fog skimming the surface of the river made it look more ethereal and mysterious.
Goldilocks nodded. “It’s really peaceful, which doesn’t make sense to me. The falls are just upriver from here. Why isn’t it louder than this?”
“Because I work to keep it quieter every minute of every day,” said Serelia. “Before you can become the Head Water Nymph here, you have to learn to do it in your sleep. It’s part of my job.”
“You’re funny!” Goldilocks said with a laugh. “How can anyone—”
Serelia got the kind of distracted look of someone who was concentrating hard. Suddenly, the roar of the falls was as deafening as if cotton had been removed from their ears. When Cory glanced at Goldilocks, she could see the girl’s lips moving, but couldn’t hear her over the sound of the water.
Serelia squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, and the roar was as muted as before.
“Wow!” said Goldilocks. “That was impressive!”
“No one could live here without you doing what you do, could they?” Cory asked. “You calm the water when people want to come and go, you make it quieter so it doesn’t make everyone go deaf, and I bet you make sure the plumbing is working, too.”
“What else do you do?” asked Goldilocks.
“I make the water run off the cobblestones so they aren’t too slippery, and I control the water cannons if we need to fight off invaders. It’s been necessary only once since I took over the job. A flock of harpies thought we were easy prey. I knocked them out of the sky and into the water. They never came back.”
“They must consider you a very important person here,” said Goldilocks.
“I am well paid, but I’m so busy that the job takes up my entire life. I’ve told them that they should have two or three water nymphs here, but they can’t find anyone who can handle the water as well as I can. Very few water nymphs have the necessary strength. I’ve been looking for an apprentice for years.”
Goldilocks glanced at Cory. “What about Rina?”
“Good, I found you!” Perky said as he hurried across the cobblestones. “Chancy needs your help, Goldilocks.”
“See you later,” Goldilocks said, jumping to her feet.
“She’s a nice young girl,” said Serelia as they watched Goldilocks run after Perky.
“Uh-huh,” Cory said, but she was thinking about what Goldilocks had just said. After considering it for a minute or two, she turned to Serelia. “What would you say if I told you that I know of a water nymph who would make an excellent apprentice for you? She’s young, but she’s already very powerful. She had to transfer to Junior Fey School early because she came into her talent recently. They’re trying to help her at the school, but she’s so strong that she keeps breaking the plumbing. She caused an accident at a water ballet the other day, too. Her name is Rina and she’s a good kid. She just needs a mentor who can help her learn to control her abilities.”
Serelia’s eyes lit up. “I’d love to meet her! Do you think her parents would agree to let her come here to study?”
“I think they’d be happy to try anything at this point. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask them.”
“Not that I don’t enjoy your company,” said Serelia. “But why are you sitting here with me? Shouldn’t you be inside rehearsing?”
Cory shook her head. “I would be, but when we started rehearsing earlier, our instruments were waterlogged. Some of the members of our band are trying to dry them out. Say, what’s that light over there?” Cory pointed at a blue light shooting into the sky from the other side of the river.
Serelia sighed and got to her feet. “That flare is a signal telling me that someone wants to cross on the ferry. And that flare,” she said, pointing to a purple light that had followed the blue, “tells me that it’s a member of the royal family and that I have to hurry. It’s probably Rupert, coming back early. He either bagged the game he wanted already, or someone got hurt. Rupert isn’t very good with a bow and arrow, so my guess is that someone’s been injured again. I have to go now. Send me that girl Rina’s information. She might be just what I need.”
Cory watched as Serelia trudged down to the dock and climbed onto the ferry. When it reached the midpoint in the river, the fog blocked Cory’s view, so she started back to the castle. She was passing the wall when she noticed a set of stairs that she hadn’t seen before. Wondering where they led, she climbed to the top of the wall and found that although she couldn’t see much of the fog-obscured river, if she looked higher she could see all the way to the falls. The sight was breathtaking, and was even more beautiful when she walked farther along the wall. Mesmerized, she watched the water cascade down the side of the mountain and thought about how happy she was that they had been invited and could actually see one of the wonders of her world. That made her think about Rupert and why he’d invited them, which made her think of the other task she had set for herself. Having learned a little more about Rupert, Lillian, and even Goldilocks, she knew what she had to do. Now she just had to hope that there was enough time to do it.
She didn’t notice the chill that had begun to seep into her bones until she was going down the steps. Shivering, she wrapped her arms around herself and was hurrying toward the castle when Chancy called out, “Where were you?”
Cory turned to see the ogre’s wife hurrying toward her. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Chancy exclaimed. “The Head Water Nymph dried out the instruments, so we can practice now. She said you’d told her that they were waterlogged. It’s a good thing, too, because we learned that the queen wants us to perform tonight as well as tomorrow after the wedding. Hurry, you have to put on your other gown and for heaven’s sake, go brush your hair! Then come to the rehearsal room. They’ve already started practicing.”
Cory practically ran into the castle and up the stairs to the room she was sharing. It took her only a few minutes to wash her face, put on the green gown, and brush her hair. When she reached the rehearsal room, her drums were set up and waiting for her. Everyone glared when she came in late, but she knew she’d used the time wisely. She’d made an important decision and planned to act on it that very night.
Cory was there for only half an hour’s practice before the band had to move their instruments to the great hall. Servants came to help them, so it didn’t take as long as it might have to get them set up. Because the royal family and their royal guests would sit on the dais, Zephyr had to set up on the floor at the side of the hall, facing the middle. They were still close enough to the dais to hear the royal family talking as the king and queen took their seats.
“Sit over here by me,” the queen ordered her son. “Lillian, you sit here, too. I want to listen to the music with you by my side. We’ll see if these people are worth the money we’re paying them.”
“Lillian and I will sit over here,” said Rupert, indicating some chairs set up on the other side of her parents, as far from his own mother as he could get.
“Let’s have some wine while we listen to these wonderful people, shall we?” the king’s father said as he sat beside the queen.