The Bravest Princess (25 page)

Liam set his hand on her arm to stop her. “You don't have to go. It isn't safe for you out there.”

“If the witch is in the courtyard, I don't have any choice,” said Annie. “This is one of those times when I may be the only one who
can
help. You have to let me go, Liam. I have to do this.”

Liam studied her face for a moment, then took his hand away. “Fine, but I'm going with you,” he said, and stood up beside her.

Together they made their way between the tables. As soon as they were clear of the crowd, they began to run. When they reached the courtyard, it was filled with people shouting, grooms leading horses, and carriages rattling across the cobblestones. Crows were watching from the surrounding roofs, and a few had perched atop the carriages.

Captain Sterling caught up with Annie before she could go running after Tandry. “We just saw the two men from the mirror. They were with Tandry's group.”

“Maybe they're just going to leave,” Liam said, sounding hopeful.

“I doubt that very much,” said Annie. “I want to be ready if they have something planned. Promise me that you'll stay back if they start tossing magic around.”

“And let you face them by yourself?” said Liam. “I don't think so!”

“There she is!” Tandry shouted over the voices of the crowded courtyard. “There's Princess Annie.”

Annie spotted the young man standing on a crate, looking over the heads of the crowd. He was pointing right at her and talking to someone she couldn't quite see. And then the crowd moved, clearing a space between Annie and Tandry, and Annie saw the people she had been trying to find. Granny Bentbone was standing beside the two men, but as Annie watched, the men changed, turning into Queen Marissa and the unknown woman Annie had seen in the mirror.

“Stay here, Liam!” Annie said, and began walking toward the witches.

Tandry climbed down from the crate as Annie approached. He looked much younger now, closer to twelve than sixteen. He was short and scrawny and had wide-set eyes shadowed by heavy brows. It occurred to Annie that he had kept his distance from her since the
very first day and had always sat as far away as he could during meals.

“It's all her fault, isn't it, Mother?” Tandry said, talking to the woman Annie thought was Terobella. “If it wasn't for her, I'd be marrying Snow White and I'd get to live in this big castle.”

“Yes, son,” the woman said, her eyes narrowing as Annie walked closer. “We tried to get rid of her so she wouldn't interfere, but she was too ignorant to die.”

“Terobella, is it?” said Annie. “This whole thing is about your son wanting to live in a castle?”

“No, you foolish girl,” Terobella said with a sneer. “There's a lot more to it than that. It started because you had my sister Marissa's husband lock her away in a dungeon. When I learned about it, I came here to set her free. Archibald began quaking in his boots and declared that his daughter had to marry right away, so I decided that he'd given us the perfect way to make the castle our own. All I had to do was make Snow White believe that my son was her best choice. She'd marry him, and our entire family would move in. There was only one thing I had to take care of first—you, the annoying busybody who was bound to interfere. I went to Treecrest and found that your father had captured our mother and planned to execute her! Mother's cousin, Mother Hubbard, talked him out of executing her, but I couldn't leave our mother in your dungeon. I told her to call to the children, knowing
that it would make your father want to move her somewhere far away. What better place than the old tower?”

“You knew about the tower?” said Annie.

Terobella laughed. “Who do you think built it? I kept Rapunzel there for years, but she escaped before my son could marry her. And then you took my mother there! I had the best laugh I'd had in ages! If only you had died when I wanted you to, everything would have been perfect.”

“So Tandry is your son, Marissa is your sister, and Granny Bentbone is your mother,” said Annie.

Terobella shrugged. “You help your relatives, and I help mine.”

“I told you that you should be afraid of her,” said Granny Bentbone. “Terobella is the most powerful witch around.”

“What happened to the real prince of Westerling?” asked Annie. “Did you kill him or make him up?”

“The real prince of Westerling is named Marco and is two years old!” exclaimed Marissa. “Like you, most people know nothing about the kingdom of Westerling. The opportunity was too perfect to pass up.”

“Annie, what's going on?” Snow White called. She started toward Annie, but Maitland put his arms around her and held her back.

Terobella laughed. “Oh, look! Your little friend came to join you just in time to watch me turn her lovely castle into mud. If you had but married my son,” she
called to Snow White, “you could have lived here forever.”

“But if I can't have the castle, nobody can, right, Mother?” asked Tandry.

“That's right, son,” Terobella replied.

When Terobella raised her hand, Annie began to run, but the witch just laughed and said, “Too late, girl!” as power shimmered green around her arm. With a quick downward slash, the witch threw the spell at the ground. There was a nerve-jangling rumble and the sound of something tearing as the cobblestones split, and the ground in front of Annie cracked, forming an apparently bottomless rift that ran from the castle to the wall surrounding it. Annie stopped just before the rift, certain that it was too wide to jump across.

Terobella laughed as she raised her arm again. Another flash of green and the entire castle went from gray stone to brown mud in an instant.

“What have you done?” screamed Snow White.

“Exactly what I said I was going to do,” said Terobella. “I turned your lovely castle into a mud hovel. And now for the rain.”

“Please don't!” cried Snow White. “This is our home! Marissa, you used to live here. How can you let her do this?”

“Let her? I
want
her to do this!” Marissa yelled. “Terobella, make it pour!”

The rain had just begun when Terobella turned to
the people who had joined Annie at the edge of the rift. Liam was there with the king as well as many of the guards. Horace looked courageous even though his face was gray with fatigue and his arm was still in a sling.

“Now for the part we've all been waiting for—at least I have!” cried Terobella. Raising both of her arms above her head, she turned to face Annie and the crowd gathered behind her. Annie felt awful that she hadn't been able to stop the witch, but if Terobella made a mistake now …

Although others had already run from the castle grounds, Annie stood with her head high, watching Terobella's every move.

“You think I'm going to try a spell on you, don't you?” shouted the witch. “But I've had too many people warn me about you, girl.” Bringing one of her arms down abruptly, she pointed her finger at Horace. A burst of green light shot at the old man, hitting his chest. Four people behind him were hit as well, and as the light began to grow, they began to shrink. In moments, they had all turned into earthworms writhing on the ground.

“That's enough!” cried Annie. “Your problem is with me, not them. What is wrong with you? You're acting like a petulant child!”

“Ah, a new approach. First your friend pleads; now you think that insulting me will make me stop.”

“I don't think anything will make you stop!” Annie shouted. “I think you're an evil-spirited woman who likes the reaction she gets when she does something truly horrible. I think you like seeing the expressions on people's faces when you perform your nasty magic!”

“Perform?” Terobella said, her eyes gleaming.

“Yes, perform, like a traveling juggler out to make a few coins by amazing the crowds, or, in your case, horrifying them. I bet you do magic only when you have an audience to watch you! And I bet that your magic is the only excitement in your life! If you're not doing magic, you're sitting at home in your swamp, feeding maggots to your pet crows and watching the swamp fleas bite your son!”

“How did you—” began Tandry.

Annie could see that the witch was getting mad. Her face was turning red, and two veins stood out in her forehead. “That's why you're here, isn't it?” Annie shouted. “It's not because you love your family, but because you were bored and this was a chance to stir things up, to have a little fun in your miserable, boring life! Your sister and your mother don't mean any more to you than your son does!”

“Quiet, you piece of pestilence!” Terobella screamed.

“Why should I?” Annie shouted back. “You're afraid of me. What are you going to do—turn me into a worm, too?”

“I should!” Terobella shrieked. “Or a slug! No, no, I
have it! I'll turn you into the slime that the slugs leave behind. And when I'm done, the rain will wash you away and it will be as if you never existed!”

“Terobella, no!” shouted Marissa, but her sister was already raising her arm and pointing her finger at Annie.

Once again, a burst of green light shot from the witch's hand, but when it hit Annie, there was a loud fizzing sound, and the light rebounded, flying back to engulf Terobella. There was a flash and a bang, and she was nothing but a slime trail shining on the mud. At the same instant, Horace and the others turned back into men, the rift closed with a wet slapping sound, and the mud buildings turned back into stone. The rain began to lessen until it was gone, leaving everyone soggy but grinning.

“You did it!” Liam cried, running across the courtyard to pick Annie up and squeeze her tight.

“I remembered how Nasheen had made me mad at supper one night, and I thought that if I could only make Terobella lose her temper, she might forget that she shouldn't cast a spell at me. Then Marissa shouted and … where are Marissa and Granny Bentbone, by the way?”

Liam raised his head to look and smiled at what he saw. “It seems they're in Captain Everhart's custody and headed toward the dungeon.”

Annie turned in Liam's arms. “What's Tandry doing?”

“It looks as if he's trying to find something in the mud. His mother has probably already washed away, though. I think we've seen the last of her.”

“And the crows?” Annie asked, looking toward the top of the curtain wall.

“Gone, every last one of them, apparently,” said Liam.

“Thank goodness!” Annie exclaimed. “If I never see another crow, I'll already have seen too many!”

After being a worm, Horace was too shaken to go anywhere that day, so Annie and Liam postponed their trip back to Treecrest until the following morning. Once again, Snow White insisted that they take gifts with them, so while Liam supervised their packing, Annie went to see Lilah. A cook's helper directed Annie to the garden, where she found Lilah reading a book.

“If you still don't want me to introduce you to Snow White, I think you should come with us,” Annie told her. “Unless you have some reason to want to stay in Helmswood.”

“I'm in Helmswood only because I walked this far and wanted to rest for a time. Nothing's keeping me here,” said Lilah.

“Treecrest is farther from the ocean and anyone who might know your father. I can help you start a new life, and I know a lot of eligible princes if you're interested.”

“Will that nice prince who gave me this book be in Treecrest?” Lilah asked, looking hopeful.

“His name is Prince Cozwald, and he'll be traveling with us for most of the way. All the princes who came with us decided to wait for us to leave. They're getting ready to go right now.”

“Are you sure I wouldn't be imposing?” Lilah asked.

“I'm positive!” said Annie. “How long will it take to get your possessions together?”

“This is all I have,” said Lilah.

“Then come with me! We'll be leaving as soon as we say good-bye to everyone.”

When Annie and Lilah reached the courtyard, Liam was ready to go. Annie's horse was saddled, and the princes were already starting across the drawbridge.

“Who is that?” Liam asked as Lilah climbed into the back of the cart that Horace and another guard were driving.

“A friend,” said Annie. “I'll tell you all about her later.”

“I found her!” Dog barked when she saw Annie. The animal started running, and Annie braced herself for an enthusiastic greeting.

“Annie, there you are!” called Snow White, hurrying across the courtyard. She sidestepped Dog, who was wagging her tail and wiggling all over as she licked Annie. “We wanted to say good-bye. Thank you so much for all you've done. Without your help, I never
would have known what to do about the princes or realized the truth about Maitland. And Terobella … I hate to think of what she would have done!”

“That's enough, Dog! I love you, too,” Annie said, calming the animal by scratching her behind the ears. She glanced up at Snow White and smiled. “You're most welcome, Snow White. I think we all learned a lot over the past few days.”