Emma sighed. “You go, Millie. I have to see what your grandfather wants to do next. I’ve been trying to talk him out of digging a tunnel that would come up in the dungeon. You should thank me. He already asked me to dig it with magic, and if that doesn’t work he wants you and me to use our talons, with Audun’s help, of course,” she said, giving the ice dragon a halfhearted smile.
“You can tell Grandfather that it wouldn’t do any good,” said Millie. “The ghosts are trapped in the dungeon and I’m betting any human who ends up down there would be trapped as well.”
Emma’s smile widened. “I’ll be sure to tell him. Maybe that will get him to stop asking. Oh dear, he’s talking to Azuria now. He’s probably trying to get her to do it. I’d better go. Be careful, darling. People are coming up with all sorts of ways to get into the castle, and some of them are very dangerous.”
Oculura, Dyspepsia, and Mudine rushed over to Millie when she landed. All three witches were quivering with excitement. “We’ve had the best idea!” cried Mudine.
“It was my idea, actually,” Dyspepsia hurried to say.
“No, I think it was Mudine’s,” said Oculura. “I think she should be the one to explain it to Millie.”
Dyspepsia scowled. “Does it really matter?”
“What is this idea?” Millie asked.
“It’s quite simple,” said Mudine. “We think Olebald must be directing invisible servants to repel attacks from the air. They are probably looking for the more traditional siege weapons, like ladders and catapults. However, we think we could sneak in when Olebald is distracted by the catapult.”
“What catapult?” Millie asked, looking around.
“The one your grandfather is building with Azuria,” said Dyspepsia. “Haven’t you been paying attention?”
“I’ve been busy,” said Millie. “So how do you plan to sneak over the castle wall?”
“Millie, can you come here for a moment?” her father called.
“I’ll be right there,” she replied, then turned back to the three witches. “Don’t go anywhere until I get back. I want to talk to you.”
“Millie, it’s important!” her father called again.
She hurried to where King Limelyn was standing with her parents and the witch Azuria. No one acknowledged her, however, because her mother and grandfather were in the midst of an argument and everyone standing nearby was listening. “I told you that the tunnel isn’t a good idea,” said Emma. “I can’t believe you had Azuria dig it. The way was blocked just like every other way has been, and now we’re going to have to fill it in.”
“It would have worked if Olebald hadn’t put a spell on the dungeon,” said Azuria.
Emma frowned. “I told you about the spell.”
“After we dug the tunnel!” said the king.
“I didn’t know you had even started!” Emma sighed and looked toward the field where a catapult was being loaded. “And when did you find the time to build a catapult?” she asked Azuria.
“I did that before I dug the tunnel,” said the old witch. “I do so want to be helpful.”
“And have you thought about what is going to happen when you use that thing?” asked Eadric. “Think about the arrows the men shot over the wall.”
“The range is much greater,” said Azuria. “The men will be fine.”
The king scratched his head and looked doubtful. “I hadn’t thought of that. To tell the truth, my head is getting a bit muzzy. Lack of sleep, I suppose.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Emma. “We should— Oh no, don’t tell me they’ve started already!”
Everyone watched as a boulder hurtled from the cup of the catapult and flew over the wall. There was a smack like a paddle hitting a leather-covered ball and the boulder flew back over the wall, heading for the catapult.
“Run!” Emma shrieked and began a hurried spell to get the men operating the catapult out of the way.
“I did tell them to begin as soon as they were ready,” the king said.
The men scattered, moving twice as fast as was normally possible for an ordinary human, and were well away from the catapult when the boulder hit, smashing it to bits. Emma lowered her arms and sighed. “Is there anything else I don’t know about?” she asked her father.
“No, just that—”
“What on earth are they doing?” asked Azuria, pointing at the wall.
Oculura, Dyspepsia, and Mudine had flown their brooms across the moat and landed on the thin strip of ground circling the castle. Millie watched openmouthed as Mudine finished whatever spell she was saying and all three witches flopped down on their backs. Raising their feet, they pressed them against the vertical castle wall and began to walk up as easily as if on level ground, although their bodies were sticking straight out to the side like quills on a porcupine.
“They’re crazy!” said Eadric, and everyone else nodded.
Even though they took slow, methodical steps, it wasn’t long before the witches reached the top. They were raising their feet to step between the parapets when a strong wind sprang up, hitting them full force in the face and blowing them over backward. With only one leg firmly attached to the castle wall, the witches flapped like flags in a storm and couldn’t move until the wind died down. A moment later they were running backward down the wall, flailing their arms and shrieking.
“I told them to wait,” muttered Millie. “Some people just won’t listen.”
Fourteen
Emma glanced down into the glass bowl and frowned. “I’m worried about Felix,” she said, holding up the bowl. “He’s no longer swimming the way he should. Look.”
Millie peered into the bowl and her breath caught in her throat. Although the little tadpole had been darting from one side of the bowl to the other the last time she’d seen him, he was now moving lethargically through the water as if it had turned into thick syrup.
“This can’t be good,” she said, feeling the first flutter of panic. Her baby brother couldn’t die, but he would if they didn’t do something soon. “We have to think of a way to get to Olebald!”
“Excuse me, but I think they’re having a problem undoing the spell,” Azuria said, pointing at the castle wall. “Perhaps I should go help them.”
The witches were lying on their backs at the base of the wall, struggling to remove the bottoms of their feet from the stone surface. “Let them work it out,” Emma said to Azuria. “It will keep them out of trouble.” She peered down into the bowl again and shook it just a little. “Maybe it will help if I change his water.”
Emma was hurrying to the side of the moat when Millie turned to Audun. “I have an idea. Remember how the door in the secret passage shook when you hit it with your tail? What if I hit it harder—I mean really, really hard?”
“We might be able to get through then, but there isn’t room in the tunnel for you to swing your tail any better than I did before.”
“I don’t plan to use my tail. What if I dive from high up and hit the air above the castle full force? I’ve found that when I fly high and let myself drop from the sky, I end up moving at tremendous speed, like a hawk. With tremendous speed comes tremendous force. If I were to hit whatever is keeping everyone from flying over the wall, I might actually be able to make it through. I bet it’s the same magic surrounding the entire castle.”
Audun shook his head. “That’s too dangerous. It’s practically suicidal.”
“But it could work?”
“I guess so,” he said, sounding reluctant.
“Then it’s worth a try,” Millie said and took to the air.
“Millie, you can’t do this!” said Audun, following her with a mighty sweep of his wings. “I can’t let you risk your life this way!”
“Aren’t you the one who’s been telling me that I can do anything?” Millie asked him. “I thought you wanted me to believe in myself. Well, I believe in myself now and I wish that you would, too. You have to give me the chance to prove
what I can do, and I know that I can do this. Look, it’s not like I’d be hitting a really hard surface. We sort of bounced when we tried to land in the courtyard.”
“Even so, I don’t think—”
“Audun, we have to do something, and no one has come up with anything better!”
The ice dragon sighed and glanced down at the castle, then up at the sky above. “My father’s special talent is that he can fly very high. I’m nearly as good as he is, if I do say so myself.”
Millie reached out and touched Audun’s cheek with her talons. “You’d risk your life for my family?”
“I’d do anything for you, Millie,” he told her.
“And I for you,” Millie said. “But you don’t have to do this. It was my idea and I’ll take the risk.”
Audun shook his head. “We’re doing it together. Two dragons are better than one, after all. If you can damage Olebald’s magic, imagine what we can do together.”
“In that case, the last one there is a rotten roc egg!” Millie shouted and turned her face toward the clouds high above. She began to spiral upward with Audun at her side. Flying wingtip to wingtip, they rose high into the sky, until the castle was no more than the tiniest speck when they looked down.
“Is this high enough?” Millie asked.
“Not yet,” said Audun.
They flew higher until they were above the clouds, and when they looked down all they could see was a vast sea of puffy white. It occurred to Millie that they were higher than they’d been when trying to escape the thunderstorm on the way back from the island; going even that high had made her uneasy.
“Is this high enough?” Millie asked.
“Not yet,” said Audun.
They flew until the clouds lay so far below them that they were white shapes over a background where the largest rivers were thin blue ribbons and forests were masses of green. And still they climbed until they could see the ocean sparkling far in the distance and Millie finally said, “One way or another, this is it for me. You may take after your father and be able to go to great heights, but I take after my mother and prefer seeing nice solid ground close enough to land on in less than a minute. So, if you don’t mind, I’m heading back down now.” Even as she talked, she was leveling out so that she could rest in a lazy glide.
“I was just about to say that we were high enough,” Audun said, joining her. “We’re directly above the castle now. If we tuck our wings to our sides and dive, we should be fine if we go straight. We’re trying to smash this thing, not kill ourselves, so tuck your head in at the last moment. I don’t want you to end up a smear on a tower roof.”
“I know.” Millie nodded. “And since I don’t want you to be a smear anywhere, I want you to be careful, too.”
Even from such a great height, Millie could sense exactly where the castle lay, so she knew that Audun was right; the castle did lie directly below them, but then so did her family, and if she missed the castle she could flatten them as well as herself, or at least leave them with a very bad memory.
“Are you ready? We won’t be able to talk once we start.”
“Ready,” said Millie.
“Go!” shouted Audun, and they were off, their wings pressed against their sides and their legs to their bellies so they looked like arrowheads piercing the sky. They plummeted with their noses pointed directly at the castle while the wind whistled past them. And then the air grew thicker and the wind roared like a wild beast chasing them through a sky that was getting darker as the sun moved toward the horizon. A moment later they were passing through the layer of clouds and they could see the castle. It grew bigger and bigger until suddenly it was there in front of them and Audun was screaming, “Tuck your head in, Millie!”
Millie tucked her head close to her body just before she hit something that felt slightly squishy and made a loud booming sound in her ears as her momentum forced her ever lower. The next instant she was bouncing back into the sky, but when she looked down she could see a small fracture in the apparent nothingness that seemed to envelop the castle.
“Wow!” Audun shouted as he wrapped his front legs around her and they spun in circles in the air. “That was incredible! I half expected to die back there, but I never expected that! And did you see the rift we made in that thing?”
“But is a little crack enough?” asked Millie as they broke apart and spread their wings. “We’re going to have to do it again, aren’t we?”
“And I’m going with you,” said a green dragon only a few shades darker than Millie.
“Mother!” said Millie. “Are you sure?”
“What you two just did is the only thing that’s had any effect on Olebald’s ‘invisible nothing’ that’s keeping us out. I was appalled when I saw you diving, but I’m so proud of you for trying. If this is what it takes to get into our castle and make Olebald turn Felix back, there is nothing that could keep me from joining you. How high do we have to climb, anyway?”
“Higher than I’d ever gone before,” said Millie.
Emma peered up at the darkening sky. “Then we’d best get started. The sooner I get my baby back, the happier I’ll be.”
This time there were three dragons climbing into the sky. Although they didn’t go as high as before, it was higher than Emma liked, and she was gasping for air long before Millie. They turned back when she could go no higher and together the dragons plummeted back to the castle. This time when they hit, the boom was louder and the crack wider, but it still was far from big enough to let them in.
“We need a lot more dragons,” Audun said as they surveyed the crack that seemed to float in empty air.
“Remember how I said that I wanted a small wedding?” said Millie. “Well, I’ve changed my mind. I want an enormous wedding. I want you to invite all your dragon friends, and I want the wedding to be held tomorrow.”
“Really?” said Audun. “If you’re serious, we can send out word right away. The ice dragons would fly all night to make our wedding, but they’d fly even faster if we tell them that Olebald Wizard is here.”
“Then by all means, tell them,” said Emma. “I was going to ask if you were ready to make another run, but I must say that I like your idea better. I’ll send word to the ice dragons and take care of the invitations to the others. I know a few fairies who love weddings, and we can round up enough bird messengers to carry the rest. Your grandmother Frazzela won’t be happy to receive such short notice, and she’ll be even more upset when she hears that dragons have been invited, but she loves Felix and will understand why we need to rush this. You really don’t mind hurrying your wedding this way, Millie?”
“I don’t mind at all,” Millie said as she gazed into Audun’s eyes.
“Then I have a lot to do,” said Emma. “I’m glad Grassina is here. She’s so good at this kind of thing. Thank you, my dears, for all your help. And congratulations! My daughter is getting married and we’re going to teach Olebald Wizard a lesson all in one day. This is so exciting!”
Fifteen
Ralf and his parents were the first to arrive. When Millie spotted them, they were talking to King Limelyn, and she noticed that they’d brought Ralf’s grandfather Gargle Snort, the king of the fire-breathing dragons. Millie was about to go greet them when Zoë and her family landed at the edge of the moat where everyone had gathered. No one seemed surprised to see a family of bats, however, because they were such frequent visitors to the court and everyone knew and liked them.
Zoë changed to her human form as soon as her feet touched the ground. “I’m so glad you found Felix!” she said, giving Millie a hug. “Is he all right?”
“Aside from being a tadpole, he’s doing very well. Mother changed his water and he seems fine in the bowl now. Great-Aunt Grassina is holding on to the bowl until Olebald turns Felix back. We were afraid that if we set him down, someone might knock him over or drink him by mistake,” she said.
“Where’s your mother?” asked Li’l.
“Moth
er’s a human again,” said Millie, who hadn’t bothered to change out of her dragon form. “She’s with Grandfather, so just look for the biggest crowd and you’ll find her.”
“Thank you, sweetie. I’m so sorry we weren’t here to help you with Olebald sooner,” the little bat said.
“You’re here now and I’m sure Mother will be happy to see you. Who is that?” she asked as a ghostly white shape emerged from the dark sky.
It was an ice dragon and Audun recognized him right away. “Frostybreath!” Audun shouted and ran to greet his friend. The two dragons met in the traditional dragon way of equals by bowing low and extending their necks along the ground. Audun had told Millie that this was a sign of respect. She’d told him that she thought it was so they could check out the opponent’s vulnerable underbelly.
Millie was waiting for Audun to introduce her when a cloud of tiny fairies settled on the ground around her. Then the air sparkled and the fairies grew from thumb-sized to the size of full-grown humans. Moss, Raindrop, and Trillium were there, as well as a lot of fairies she’d known for years.
“Welcome!” Millie told them, but she knew better than to touch a fairy. Most fairies tried to avoid physical contact with dragons, even if they were the closest of acquaintances.
“We’ve come for the wedding,” said the Swamp Fairy. “You know we never let ourselves get involved in the altercations of others.”
“So I’ve heard,” said Millie. “But you don’t need to worry. There isn’t going to be an altercation. All we have to do is get back in the castle and Olebald will have to give up. There are too many of us now for him to do anything else.”
“Why is the Swamp Fairy talking to a dragon?” a voice asked in a fierce whisper, and Millie saw that Poison Ivy had also come.
“That’s Princess Millie,” said Raindrop. “I thought you met her already.”
“Hello, Poison Ivy,” said Millie. “I’m glad you were able to come.” Unlike natural-born dragons, Millie didn’t mind lying when the situation required it.