Merrigan shuddered, feeling as if she might be ill. She wanted to laugh at them and scold them. She wanted to hug them and absorb some of their happiness. In the end, she settled for picking up the knife from Bib and holding it out to the two happy ninnies.
Elli burst into tears, snatched up the knife, and flung her arms around Merrigan. The air buzzed, then turned into a shimmering, chiming sound that dropped in the scale until it became the roar of a single enormous wave crashing down around them. When Elli released her and stepped back, Merrigan thoroughly expected to find both of them drenched. Instead, they were tangled in the squirming, growing curls of thick, glossy, sea-scented hair sprouting from Elli's head. In seconds, it fell around her like a cloak, and moved as if pulled by distant sea currents. She chuckled when Miles and Merrigan stared at her moving hair.
"You don't think we swim so fast just with our tails, do you?"
"I—well, I never really thought about it." Merrigan took a step back. As much as she liked Elli, there was something uncanny about her hair moving like that. It reminded her of tales of the gorgons, and she could easily envision that hair reaching out and strangling her, quite by accident. "What are you going to do now?"
"I think we should go swimming," Miles said.
Elli laughed like dolphins chattering, caught hold of his hand, and they dashed out of the room. Merrigan sank down on the side of her bed, feeling rather like a slowly deflating balloon. The smell of the meat pie filled the room, once the fresh sea scent of Elli had faded away. Somehow, it just wasn't very tempting, even though she was hungry. Merrigan shook her head, knowing it wouldn't do her any good to sit and feel sorry for herself.
"That's what it is. I'm feeling sorry for myself. I need to keep moving west, heading home." She sighed and stepped over to the table where Bib waited, softly glowing. "Well, Bib, it's just the two of us again. What do you suggest we do next?"
"Set yourself up as a dressmaker."
"I thought we already did that. And didn't you hear me? I want to keep moving closer to home." Home, she knew now, clearly meant her father's court, not Carlion.
"Once you finish your commitments to all those girls who want new dresses, I suggest you establish Elli as your heir, so to speak. Leave her here to set up shop whenever she decides to stay on dry land with Miles, because he certainly can't be at sea all year, can he? Outfit yourself with a wagon and plenty of cloth and supplies. You can go from country to country, earning your keep, sewing and designing clothes as you go. When you think about it, everyone loves seamstresses and treats them well, because a well-made suit of clothes makes everyone feel so much better. Don't you agree?"
"Yes," she said with a sigh. "Yes, I do. Bib, you are brilliant." She stroked down his spine, eliciting a purring sound from him that made them both laugh. "I don't know what I would do without you, my dearest friend."
A FORTNIGHT LATER, Elli and Miles were married on Quincy's ship, a day's journey out to sea, so Elli's mer relatives could attend. The Sea King himself came up onto the ship. His wedding gift was to turn the cursed knife into two magical bracelets around Elli and Miles' wrists that would never come off. Now Miles could swim with Elli and breathe underwater. As their love grew stronger, so would the magic, until someday he would have a tail of his own and be able to stay with her, as long-lived as all the sea folk.
After the ceremony ended and the dancing began, the Sea King took Merrigan to the prow to speak privately.
"You're learning the oysters' lesson, Princess," he said, as his skin turned green. "The girl asked me if I could undo the spells wrapped around you like poisoned seaweed. They're so tightly bound to the essence of you, cutting them could kill you." He frowned, as his long, silver-green hair turned to strands of seaweed. "That might be the key. You have to die."
"No, thank you." She tried to delicately tug her hand free of his, as it was feeling decidedly cold and fishy.
"There's a bug you drylanders know. It dies and it's beautiful after it dies. Think about that." He winked at her, then flung himself backward over the railing. His legs merged into an enormous tail and waved as he went headfirst into the water without a splash.
WARDEN AND DULCIBELLA seemed deliriously happy together. King Devon and Queen Adele appeared delighted with their new son-in-law. Rosa and Quincy set off after Elli and Miles' wedding, to let the entire enormous clan at the Bookish Mermaid know of their marriage and his decision to follow his mother's footsteps as an innkeeper. That left Miles and Elli to begin the venture that had earned shouts and tears of delight from her many relatives when they proposed it. They would travel up and down the coast, finding sturdy, honorable young men who loved the sea more than their lives, and would be willing to pledge their hearts to the many lonely mermaids longing for a husband and children.
Merrigan wished them well. She had laughed when they pleaded with her to stay with them and guide them in the venture, because after all, hadn't she done amazingly well with three couples already? It was on the tip of her tongue to confess to them how badly her one attempt at love and happiness had turned out, but she couldn't destroy their good opinion of her. She suspected she would never unwrap her heart enough to let someone else touch it. A queen couldn't afford to love, after all. She couldn't afford to be so vulnerable.
She tried to buy a wagon that an old woman could handle by herself. Chancellor Morton wouldn't hear of it. He presented her with a cart just the right size, and a lovely little donkey, fitted out with a magical harness that hitched itself to the wagon every morning and unhitched itself every evening. He couldn't send any guards with her because the guardsmen of Windward were as much bound to the kingdom as the royal family. However, he gave her a magic cloak that was impervious to knives and arrows and swords, once she had closed the brooch that fastened it and turned it three times. It was a princely gift.
So much so, Merrigan wondered if Morton, with all his wisdom and insight, had seen through the curse enfolding her. She knew better than to reveal her true identity. Even if someone could be trusted with her secret, how could she guarantee the wrong people wouldn't overhear, and use that knowledge against her?
No, she decided, the day she drove out of Windward with her cart full of cloth and all the bits and pieces to be a successful seamstress. Better that she and Bib make their way through the world on their wits. The victory when she regained her life would be all the sweeter.
Three days later, she crossed the border of Seafoam. That evening, she was alone in the forest. For the first time, there was no inn, or a hospitable farmer and his family eager to help an old lady traveling alone. Morton had given her the old wooden box she saw him examining in his office, and told her it would serve her when she had need. Merrigan searched it and found a bundle of sticks that, according to the instructions on the paper wrapped around them, became a lovely little fire when she crossed them over each other. In the morning, all she had to do was kick them apart and they turned into sticks again, unscorched. She hung a pot over the flames to make tea, ate some bread and cheese and an apple for her dinner, and was quite content. With the impervious cloak Morton had given her, how could she not feel safe?
By the light of the flames, she dug through the box, and chuckled when she realized it was larger inside than it was outside. Morton had put a good dozen books in the box, and several maps. The books discussed the many small kingdoms displayed on the maps. She let Bib absorb all the information in the books and maps, and then they had a lively discussion about options.
"We don't want to go through Sylvanglade," he announced, and tsked several times.
"Whyever not?" Merrigan's heart gave a couple rapid thumps.
"Such a sad story. The heir brought home a princess under a sleeping curse before her crucial seventeenth birthday."
"And?" she prompted, when the book stopped there.
"Well, curses like that can't be outrun. It unfolded just like the angry witch decreed, and most of the kingdom is sleeping now."
"Not just the palace? Not just the capitol city, but the kingdom?" Merrigan shuddered, imagining the terror washing over people the moment they crossed the border into Sylvanglade and they found themselves falling asleep. What did it look like from the other side of the border? Piles of people lying along the road, even their horses asleep in the harness?
"I don't have all the details, but yes, it's expanded beyond ... ah, here come the details." Bib sounded somewhat uncomfortable. "It seems the crown prince and the princess had an awful argument the day of her birthday. She wanted to get married before her birthday, for true love's kiss to ward off the evil spell. He resented how her parents bullied him into taking her to Sylvanglade. He had rather looked forward to riding through the barrier of thorns and perhaps fighting a dragon and being a hero. She declared she hated him and he responded that he was glad, because he wouldn't marry her to save her entire kingdom from an entire flight of dragons."
"Now that's a great, ignorant ninny. Didn't anyone ever tell him that you shouldn't make oaths like that when evil spells are about to awaken?" She shuddered and imagined all the green fields and lush forests of Sylvanglade, wrapped in the unnaturally quiet, constant twilight that accompanied a sleeping spell.
Bryan had told her all about his home. He had given her drawings of the places he loved, and books about his kingdom's history. Before everything turned sad and cool between them, they had made plans for her to visit Sylvanglade. Odd, that after all these years, she still remembered those conversations and books and pictures so clearly.
"Because of the vehemence of their argument," Bib continued, "the sleeping spell is growing. All that anger sort of gave it a boost. It only took over the palace when it unfolded, but as time passed, the tendency to fall asleep for no reason crept outward into the capital, then the countryside. It's been going on for three years now and has completely swallowed eight towns, and portions of six more. At the rate it's going, the entire kingdom should be swallowed up in sleep in eight more years."
"Was everyone caught in it?" Merrigan's hand shook slightly as she lifted the pot off the fire, and dipped up some tea. She needed something hot and bracing right now. "The entire royal family?"
"Hmm ... it says most of the younger princes were out on adventures or on diplomatic missions. It doesn't say which ones. Not that it matters, when you really think about it. Being a prince without a kingdom is powerful magic. Whatever they do, as long as they remember to act like princes, they will succeed and become heroes. It's sad for their family and kingdom, but when you think about it, they are much better off now than they would be as the third and fourth and fifth sons."
"Bib ... sometimes you can be quite mercenary," she murmured, and stared unseeing into the fire as she sipped her tea.
Five nights later, Merrigan climbed down from the cart at the end of the day in another stretch of woods with no inns or friendly farmers. She unharnessed the donkey and tethered her in the middle of a thick patch of sweet grass, and paused a moment to stroke the donkey's nose. The sweet creature nuzzled her once and snorted. Merrigan was sure it was her way of saying thanks. She walked around to the back of the cart to unload the magic box and take out the sticks for her fire. The shadows clustered in the trees overhead turned into six men who leaped down at her.
One snatched up the harness from the seat of the cart. Another yanked the donkey away from her grazing. Two pulled the cart toward the road while Merrigan let out a shriek. The last two leaped on her, swinging cudgels at her knees and head.
The cudgels snapped against the magic cloak. The two leaped on her, punching and kicking, but howled in pain and came away with bloody knuckles. One tried to pull the magic box from her hands. The cloak's protection enclosed it, so the bandit couldn't keep a grip on it. His partner tripped Merrigan. She didn't let go of the box, however.
Meanwhile, the other four harnessed the donkey to the cart and shouted for their comrades to come. Two drove the cart and the other two ran alongside. The two attackers flung handfuls of pebbles and forest trash in her face, then ran after their comrades. In moments, the evening forest shadows closed in around Merrigan as she gasped and struggled to sit up without letting go of the box. Soon even the sounds of running feet and the angry, protesting brays of the donkey faded into the distance.
Chapter Eleven
Her cart, her donkey, her food, her inventory of cloth and sewing notions, all gone.
"Bib!" she shrieked.
The satchel with the magic book was still sitting on the cart seat.
Her only friend in the entire cruel, unfair world—gone.
Merrigan let go of the magic box and fell over it with a wail. She cried her eyes swollen and sticky. Cried her voice hoarse. Cried until she could hardly breathe and the front of her dress was damp and she thought she might be sick. Cried until she thought she might just be losing her mind—because it was the strangest thing, she actually felt better, despite her aching head and sore throat and churning stomach.
"Oh, Bib, I'm sorry," she moaned, when she had caught her breath. "They likely don't know how to read, so they'll probably rip out your pages and use them for kindling. I failed you. I let them kidnap you."
"Is it really kidnapping when they didn't even know they had me, and they certainly couldn't keep me?" Bib said.
Merrigan tried to shriek, but her throat hurt too much and she didn't quite have enough breath. She settled for scrambling away from the dark lump that had appeared before her.
"Bib?" Her voice cracked in a most unbecoming way, but she didn't care. Cautiously, she reached out and rested a hand on the dark lump—it certainly felt like the leather of his satchel.
"Right here, Mi'Lady. How?" he said with a rippling chuckle. "It's all in the bond we've created. Do you really think my former master would leave me vulnerable so anyone who walked into his library could steal me?"
"Well, you have to consider they'd have to go through a dozen magical wards, at the very least," she mumbled, wiping her face.
"You bound me to you when you repaired me, and I have chosen to bind myself to you. We are friends."
"It just shows how low I have fallen in the world, that my only friend ..." Merrigan sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve and for once didn't care what it looked like. "I'm sorry, Bib. That was cruel. I truly am the selfish brat my brothers and sisters always called me. You are my dearest friend, in some ways the only real friend I have ever had, and I am glad you—well, you do like me, don't you?"
"Enormously, Mi'Lady. I see great and good things hidden within you."
"Your eyesight is much better than most. Such good things must be hidden very deep indeed. I certainly don't see them."
"They need excavating, so to speak, Mi'Lady. Well, now that we're back together, I suggest we make you as comfortable as we can for the night, then in the morning find the nearest village. There should be an official of some kind who can help us."
"Most likely, some of the brutes who robbed me are his sons or nephews. That seems the way of it, out here so far from civilized towns. Those with any kind of power and authority abuse it."
"You never know. Luck might be on our side this time."
Merrigan was pleased to discover that she had stored quite a few necessary things inside the magic box, taking advantage of its expanded interior. Her teapot and the tin of tea. Scissors, pin cushion and measuring tape. A paper packet of sweets the wife at the last farm had given her, in thanks for mending her husband's coat, along with three boiled eggs, half a loaf of bread and a block of cheese as big as her fist. All tossed into the magic box because it had been open at the time. Merrigan wished she had thought to put her little bag of gold and silver coins in there, along with her extra clothes and blankets. Fortunately, the cloak was warm and thick, coming between her and the rocks and branches and uneven ground. Merrigan made a decent dinner for herself. She discovered a little waterskin tucked into one corner of the box, just large enough for two mouthfuls. Then laughed a little harder th
an was reasonable when it spilled out a stream of water that didn't stop until she squeezed the neck and stuck the plug back in the mouth.
"Did you know it could do that?" she asked Bib, as she set the pot of water over the flames of her magical fire.
"No, Mi'Lady. I think we have been remiss in exploring all the wonderful things Chancellor Morton gifted us with."
"Remind me to do something wonderful for him, when I have regained my throne. Even considering all the help I was to him in resolving Seafoam's problems ..." Merrigan sighed and closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fists. "Bib, do you think, with all the wonderful little magic tools at his disposal, Chancellor Morton knew who I really was, and that's why he helped me? Not to be kind, but because it was his duty to a queen?"
"To be blunt," Bib replied after a short silence, "I think he has far too much on his plate to care about the trials of, if you will excuse me, Mi'Lady, the former queen of a kingdom far from Seafoam. I think he is first of all a kind man, and wise. One who knows how to repay invaluable help. If he had magic strong enough to discern your true identity, then he would have done more for you than he did. He was being kind and grateful to Mistress Mara, not to Princess Merrigan of Avylyn."
"You must be right," she whispered. She managed a weak little smile at the realization that it didn't bother her when he referred to her as a princess, rather than a queen. She was just too tired to fight over such details—or maybe it just didn't matter anymore.
A MERCHANT'S CARAVAN caught up with Merrigan when she stopped at a spring just past noon, to rest and have something to eat. The merchant's daughter was a sweet creature wearing far too many ribbons on her traveling dress. She squealed with delight when she heard Merrigan tell her father she was a seamstress. Before Merrigan quite knew it, she was ensconced in the largest of the wagons, plied with a warm meat pie and sweets while Gilda interrogated her about fashion and the latest designs. She nearly swooned when Merrigan admitted she had made the wedding gown for Princess Dulcibella of Seafoam, and had sewed in the royal courts of Avylyn and Carlion.
The Kindness Curse Page 19