Born to Rule (13 page)

Kristen and Gundersnap jumped back in shock.

“Berwynna!” Alicia said with relief.

“No! The Duchess of Malta! Who else wears spiderwebs, leaves, and a moss tutu?”

Kristen and Gundersnap stared in disbelief at the peculiar figure standing in front of them. She was plucking at a short, fluffy moss skirt that she had pulled over her bark tunic. “How do you like it? I think it becomes me. Now, what are you grousing about this time?”

“My bird, my bird.” Alicia had meant to be brave, but she found herself in tears.

“Here, blow your nose.” Berwynna handed her a wad of cobwebs.

“Eeeew!” Gundersnap and Kristen wrinkled up their noses at the sight of the cobwebs.

Alicia, for the sake of being polite, took the cobwebs and tried not to make a face as she pretended to blow her nose in the icky things. Then she remembered her royal training.

“Berwynna,” she said, “I’m pleased to introduce my turretmates, Princess Kristen of the Isles of the Salt Tears in the Realm of Rolm, and Princess Gundersnap from the mighty Empire of Slobodkonia.”

“I know,” Berwynna said. “Continue.”

“My weeb flew away, and tonight is the songbird contest and it had just begun to sing last night and…and…” It was again hard for Alicia to talk.

“And, and, and,” Berwynna said in a mocking voice.

“Are you going to help Alicia find it?” Gundersnap demanded.

Berwynna did not answer the question but stepped closer to Alicia. As she had before, she rose on to her tiptoes. She looked directly into the young princess’s eyes with her own clear ones that now reflected not the stars but patches of clouds drifting over the treetops. Then as before the scratchy voice began its song, or was it perhaps a riddle, Alicia wondered.

“A golden knight with heart so broke,

A ghostly princess with one great hope
.

You’ve sewn some stitches, yes, my dear
,

But while they have made some things clear

Your needlework has just begun
.

A cage is empty, a song unsung,

But the song is not the end in sight
;

For this you need to stitch a knight
.”

Berwynna stepped back with a satisfied grin. The princesses waited.

“Is that it, no more?” Alicia asked desperately.

“That’s all, my dears.” And, still grinning, Berwynna began to dissolve into the mists of the forest.

Kristen turned to Alicia. “Princess Alicia of All the Belgravias, would you puleeeze explain!”

“
Ja
, explain,” Gundersnap said.

“It’s a long story.” Alicia sighed.

“I bet it is!” Kristen exclaimed.

“I’m not sure where to begin.”

“The beginning, naturally,” Gundersnap said.

“Well, the beginning was on the day I caught the weeb and then—do you remember when I asked you if you believed in ghosts the first week of camp?”

Kristen and Gundersnap both nodded. “I said they weren’t practical,” Gundersnap said.

“And I said they were nothing to be afraid of,” Kristen added.

“Well, guess what—there
is
a real one.”

And so Alicia told the long story of Princess Kyranala, the weeb, and the strange little crone named Berwynna who had told her of her destiny.

As she was concluding the story, she said, “But there is one more thing. The ghost princess told me that it was not merely my destiny to finish the tapestry. You both are a part of this as well. She told me it was almost as if destiny had made us turretmates.”

The three princesses looked at one another. And they knew that the ghost princess was right. They shared more than a turret. They shared a destiny.

Chapter 19

THE SONGBIRD CONTEST

“So, dear princesses, the time has finally come.” The Queen Mum paused dramatically. “We are gathered for the most important event of the Color Wars for this session: the songbird contest.”

A roar of applause and shouts broke out from the princesses. Then the chanting started. “Go Crimson!” “Go Purple!” Frantically the Queen Mum waved her arms and tried to quiet them. Finally the blast of a trumpet split the air, and there was silence.

Color Wars banners decorated the Hall of Music. The two huge candelabras were specially fitted for score keeping. They each held a hundred candles, one all purple, the other all crimson. The scores could range from one to five, which was the highest. The Queen Mum, Princess Roseanna, and the Master of the Hawks were the judges. There was always great tension as the scorekeeper footman walked silently with his long torch to light more candles.

Alicia sat glumly between Gundersnap and Kristen on the Purples’ side of the hall. All the other princesses sat excitedly with their birds in their show cages. She was the only camper on either team without one.

Princess Morwenna was first on the stage for the Crimsons. “My bird is a silver blue-tipped squinch. They are known for doing their best songs at funerals. It shall sing a hymn.”

“Whoopie!” muttered Kristen.

“Glockschnotten ferkyn!”
exclaimed Gundersnap, which roughly translated from Slobo to “about as much fun as a snotty nose on a freezing day.”

Three candles were lit when Morwenna’s bird completed its song. Most of the princesses had gayer songs. By the time it was Princess Gundersnap’s turn, no one had yet received a one. Nor had any princess’s bird received a five. The Crimsons were in the lead.

Gundersnap was quite a hit as she and her little bird marched about the stage. Her bird sang a rousing tune called “The March of the Fifth Artillery.” The scorekeeper footman went to the Purple team’s candelabra. Everyone held their breath as the footman continued on after lighting the third candle and then the fourth! Would there be a fifth? No. But still, a huge cheer burst out. The two teams were tied now. What was needed to break the tie was another high-scoring bird from the Purples. But the Purples were out of birds, and still the weeb was nowhere in sight.

The Queen Mum came back onto the stage. “I think everyone has performed except for our Princess Alicia?”

The entire audience turned to look at Alicia. She shrank down in her chair. A titter spread through the Crimson team. Even the Snort was smirking. Gundersnap squeezed her hand gently and said, “It’s not your fault!” But just then Alicia felt something brush her shoulder.

Gundersnap gasped. “Your veeb!”

Alicia slid her eyes sideways. The golden bird was perched right on her shoulder. “You’re back!” she whispered.

And the weeb opened his beak. A beautiful song unfurled in the air like a ribbon of gold. Alicia straightened and then rose from her seat. The audience sat spellbound. Never had anyone heard such caroling. The bird itself seemed to sparkle. It was as if the sun shone from the Princess of All the Belgravias’ shoulder. Her weeb sang and sang and sang.

When it finished, the judges conferred. The footman began his excruciatingly slow march toward the Purples’ candelabra.

“One, two, three, four,” members of the Purple team whispered to themselves. Did he stop? Did he slow? Would there be…? Everyone sat at the edges of their chairs.

“Five!”

A tumultuous shriek rose from one side of the Hall of Music. Five new candle flames licked the darkness of the hall. The Purples had won the Color Wars!

The din of the Purple team princesses’ screaming could be heard all the way to Camp Burning Shield.

Chapter 20

STITCHES IN A LONG NIGHT

Long after the concert had ended, while the castle slept, three princesses slipped through the shadows of the night to begin work on the tapestry. In the Portrait Gallery, they stopped in front of the painting of Princess Kyranala. Alicia touched the frame, and it swung open to reveal the door.

“This way,” Alicia whispered to Gundersnap and Kristen. The three princesses began to climb the winding staircase. When they reached the top, Alicia showed them the tapestry. She held her candle up to the cloth, and with her finger traced the stitches she had completed. “You see, this is the ghost princess.” She touched the figure in the tapestry. “And do you see the outline of this bird?”

Kristen and Gundersnap stepped closer. “It looks as if it is half in and half out of the cage,” Gundersnap said.

“Yes, I know. You see, we must stitch it to find the answer.”

“Look at that princess’s headgear!” Kristen whispered. “And the veil. It’s so Middle Ages!”

They felt a cool breeze stir the air. She’s coming, Alicia thought.

“But of course, dear, it was the Middle Ages,” a voice said. The three princesses whirled around to see Princess Kyranala.

“I brought my turretmates, Your Highness, as you suggested. We are ready to sew.”

“Yes, Your Highness, vee are here to report for duty.” Gundersnap gave a little salute.

“Is the bird in the cage or out of the cage?” Kristen asked. “We can’t tell.”

“He is in more than just a cage,” Princess Kyranala replied mysteriously.

What did she mean, more than just a cage? Alicia wondered.

“Free him, my dears, free him!” she urged.

“Free him from what? Will he fly away forever?” Alicia asked.

“No. He will fly to me,” Princess Kyranala replied softly.

“He is your veeb?” Gundersnap asked.

“He is my knight.”

“Your knight? Sir Roland?” Alicia gasped. “The one you wrote to in
Love Letters of a Forgotten Princess?
The bird is Sir Roland?

“Yes,” Princess Kyranala said. “Remember, I told you that Guthstab had ordered his death. Berwynna turned him into a bird so he could fly away and escape. She brought him to the Forest of Chimes.”

“But why didn’t she turn him back into a knight?” Alicia asked.

“Berwynna’s magic is great, but it is not perfect. He was trapped. Nothing Berwynna did could break the spell. We tried everything to bring him back. But when you arrived that first night, when you opened your favorite book and began to read about the Forgotten Princess and we found that you understood the deep love I had for my knight, the transformation slowly began.”

“But couldn’t you go to the forest and find him and release him yourself?” Alicia asked.

“I had tried. And I had tried to stitch the rest of the tapestry, but the ghosts of restless spirits need more. We needed you, a living princess, one who believed in us. When we saw you loved our book, we knew you were the one.

“And now you can help him complete the journey.” She smiled and held up three needles, one with golden thread and two with turquoise. She handed the two with turquoise threads to Gundersnap and Kristen and the one with golden thread to Alicia.

“What are we supposed to do?” Kristen asked.

But Alicia knew exactly. “‘The song is not the end in sight; For this you need to stitch a knight,’” she recited.

“But you must begin by stitching the bird,” Princess Kyranala said.