"You little monster!" said Eadric.
"Why'd you bring her with you?" Bradston asked, looking at me. "Mother calls her the nasty little witch who cast a love spell on you. Is it true?"
"Of course not," I said indignantly. "I never cast a love spell on Eadric."
"I meant the nasty littie witch part," said Bradston. "She said a lot of other things, too. Want to hear what they were?"
"No!" Eadric and I said in unison.
Bradston stood up and stretched. "So, you came to get me out or what? You sure took your time. Do you know how awful it's been? There's nothing to do here. Trolls have to be the stupidest people in the world. Say, you didn't bring something to eat, did you? I'm starved."
"He talk too much," called Grunella from the other room.
I saw a satisfied smile flicker on Bradston's lips and shuddered, feeling a rush of sympathy for the trolls.
We were back in the troll queen's chamber when Bradston noticed Li'l. "Am I the only one who saw that there's a bat in here? Give me a rock and I'll kill it."
"You'll do no such thing!" I said. "You stay away from her! That bat happens to be one of my best friends."
"That figures," said Bradston. "A witch and her bat. I bet you're really an old woman who drinks bat juice or something to stay young. I bet you're a whole lot older than you look."
"Bradston, that's enough," growled Eadric. "And to think that my mother dotes on him."
"Does she know he acts like this?" I asked.
Eadric shook his head. "She hasn't the least idea. He acts like an angel when she's watching."
"I can silence him for you if you'd like me to, Emma," offered Garrid.
Bradston stuck out his tongue at Garrid, then turned to me and smirked.
Eadric sighed. "Please forgive him. He's ill and doesn't know what he's saying."
"He's not that ill," I said. "And he knows exactly what he's saying."
"My parents are never going to let you marry him," the boy said. "I heard them talking. They're going to send Eadric far away and see that he gets engaged to some other princess. They said that anyone would make him a better wife than you would."
"I should turn him over my knee," said Eadric.
"Don't bother," I said, having had enough of Eadric's younger brother. "I have a better idea. Why don't we just turn him over to your mother? I think they deserve each other."
Choosing one of the cleaner rugs on the troll queen's floor, I said a quick spell to enable it to fly. Bradston was eager to take his seat beside Eadric, and even let his big brother put his arm around his shoulders to keep him safe. With Garrid seated beside me and Li'l cradled in his hands, I made the carpet rise before saying,
Take us to the young lad's mother.
She awaits his quick return.
Keep him there until he grows up.
He still has so much to learn.
Never more than five or six feet
Should this wayward youngster stray.
By his mother's side he'll linger
Till his twenty-first birthday.
"Does that mean what I think it does?" Eadric asked breeze sprang up around us.
"Yes," I said. "Bradston is going to be a real mama's
Thirteen
That was the best thing I've ever done!" exclaimed Bradston as the carpet settled to the floor of Queen Frazzela's solarium. "It was even better than stealing eagles' eggs or dumping trash over the parapets onto people! Give me the rug. I can think of all sorts of places I'd like to go."
"Really?" I said. "That's funny, because I can think of a lot of places that I'd like to send you. I'm not going to give you a magic carpet, though." Although the carpet was resting on the floor, a ripple ran through it every few seconds as if it wanted to fly away. Certain that the boy would try to take it when I wasn't around to stop him, I said a quick spell to turn the carpet back into an ordinary rug. It went limp with a soft, breathy sigh.
"Why'd you do that?" squeaked the boy. "You're mean! If you don't make it fly again, I'll tell my mother that you did and then . . ."
"Oh, look, there's your mother now!" I said, gesturing behind him. "I'm sure she'd be very interested in whatever you have to say."
Queen Frazzela sat open-mouthed, making funny little gurgling sounds. We'd flown through her solarium window, landing between her and a group of ladies. One of the ladies fainted when she saw us, and most of the rest just looked dumbfounded. At a word from Queen Frazzela, the other ladies-in-waiting helped their friend from the room, leaving three other women behind. My grandmother Olivene and my aunt Grassina looked delighted to see me. My mother looked perturbed.
"Bradston, is that really you?" said his mother.
The boy didn't look happy, but I didn't know if it was because I'd denied him something he wanted or because he'd said some things in front of his mother that he'd rather she hadn't heard. He covered it well, however, forcing tears to come to his eyes and throwing himself into his mother's arms. "Oh, Mama," he said. "It was awful!"
Queen Frazzela drew him into her arms and kissed the top of his head. "My poor littie darling," she said, rocking him back and forth as if he were a baby. She was cooing and patting his back when he peeked over her shoulder and gave me a sly look of triumph.
Just wait, I thought, remembering my spell.
"My poor boy! Thank goodness you're all right. Those horrible trolls. You must have been terrified. And I bet you didn't sleep a wink." She turned to my relatives, saying, "Bradston needs his rest. He's been through a terrible ordeal. You'll have to excuse m e . . . ."
"Of course, my dear," said Olivene, giving mother and son a sympathetic smile. Bradston was walking dutifully beside his mother when he looked back and stuck out his tongue. Grassina looked surprised, but Olivene just smiled all the more widely and winked at me.
As soon as Frazzela and Bradston were gone, Garrid cleared his throat and said, "Eadric, Li'l and I need to take naps. If you could suggest somewhere quiet and dark .. ."
"You'd probably like the top room in the old tower. No one goes there anymore."
"Perfect," said Garrid.
When Garrid left the room with Li'l on his shoulder, he still looked like a man. Then a whiff of something cold and dank drifted in from the hall, and I knew that he hadn't waited long before turning into a bat.
"It's good to see you both safe and sound," said my mother. "Queen Frazzela told me that the trolls had killed you, but Olivene and Grassina assured me that you were unhurt. I've never known them to be wrong."
I glanced at where they sat side by side on a bench in the sunlight. Grassina smiled and tapped the farseeing ball she wore on a chain around her neck.
"Why didn't your mother thank you after you rescued Bradston?" my mother asked Eadric.
"She doesn't like magic," he replied.
"Neither do I, but I appreciate what it can do' for us and know enough to respect it. Apparentiy your mother does not."
"I'm afraid her attitude is common in this kingdom, Mother," I said.
"Then I fear for your mother and your people, Eadric," she said. "And my respect for both has been woefully diminished."
"We knew there was something wrong with Frazzela when she came to the tournament," said my grandmother. "Your mother was so rude to our Emma."
"I remember," said Eadric. "I've already spoken to her about it."
"Tell us what happened after the army ran back here with their tails between their legs," said Grassina. "I saw them coming in my farseeing ball. I think I've spent more time looking into it these past few days than all the other times I've used it put together."
"We were preparing to follow you when I asked Grassina to see how you were doing," said my mother. "She saw that something had gone amiss, although she couldn't tell what. Her reports were so confusing: you were safe, you were in danger, you were fine . . . We stopped only three times on our way here. I've never felt so rushed in my life. When she saw you enter that mountain, your father almo
st set out after you, but Grassina still insisted that everything was all right."
"And it was, wasn't it?" said Grassina. "Tell me about the cockatrices. I want to hear how you got out of that one."
"And the banshee," said Grandmother. "Don't forget about her."
My mother stood and straightened her skirts around her. "If you're going to talk about such things, I might as well leave. Although I must say I was delighted when Grassina reported that you were able to accomplish so much without using magic for a change, Emma. I'm... proud of you," she said, sounding as if she'd surprised even herself. Gathering her embroidery, she started for the door, pausing on her way out to say, "That young man with the bat looked familiar. Have I met him before?"
"At Father's tournament," I said. "Did Father accompany you here?"
"Yes, and so did Haywood," said my grandmother. "We arrived yesterday."
"About that young man who came with you," said Mother. "Why would he want to sleep in a tower? Wouldn't he prefer to have a room?"
"He doesn't need one," said Eadric.
"Oh," my mother said, the muscles around her eyes and mouth tightening. "Don't tell me any more. I'm sure it's something that I'd rather not know anything about. Mother, Grassina, I'll see you at supper. I believe that I'll go for a walk in the garden. I trust that no one will be discussing magic there."
"Now," said Grassina after my mother had gone. "We want to hear everything. Start with how the trolls attacked in the middle of the night."
So Eadric and I told them about the trolls and the devices they'd used to sense my magic. Although I'd smashed the queen's magic-seeing ball, her army must still have theirs. I put finding it on my mental list of things I had to do.
We told them about the sea monsters and the cockatrices. Grassina said that she might like to turn into a weasel and hunt cockatrices someday. We told them about the banshee and the vampires. Olivene wondered if the banshee knew an old acquaintance of hers—someone she'd met when she was under the family curse.
They were particularly interested in the troll queen's mountain and its tunnels and caverns. Olivene and Grassina told us that the monsters sounded familiar. When we told them about the sick trolls, they said that it sounded as if they had troll pox, a nasty yet rarely fatal disease. We were still discussing the pox when Queen Frazzela returned with Bradston in tow.
"I thought the boy was going to rest," said my grandmother.
Bradston's expression was sour, and I could tell he wasn't happy to be back with us.
"He refuses to leave my side," said Queen Frazzela. "I tucked him into bed, but he jumped out and followed me when I left. The experience with the trolls must have been too much for the poor child." She patted his head, then leaned down to kiss him on the cheek, not noticing his pained expression.
I was trying not to smile when my eyes met my grandmother's. She winked at me and I had to look away.
"It occurred to me that I've been remiss," Queen Frazzela told Eadric. "I should have thanked you for what you've done. You brought my baby back to me when I thought he was gone forever. I've never heard of anyone getting a child back whom the trolls had taken. Thank you, Eadric."
"And Emma," Eadric said, giving my hand a squeeze.
Queen Frazzela sighed. "And Emma. I must admit, I never thought I'd say this, but after what Bradston told me, I, well. . ."
"Can see how magic might be useful at times?" said Eadric.
"Yes, exactly!" The queen looked relieved that she hadn't had to say it herself.
"And it might be handy to have a witch in the family?" Eadric continued.
"I never said . . . but I suppose .. . well, yes, that, too."
"I'm curious," said my grandmother. "What did Bradston tell you, exactly?"
"He told me about the trolls, of course. They were horrible to him. And he told me about the dangerous passages and the cave where he was held prisoner and the horrid monsters he saw." The queen dabbed at her eyes with a cloth she pulled from her sleeve. "When I think about what my poor boy had to endure . . . Thank you for getting him out of there!" she said, and this time she looked straight at me.
Bradston looked disgruntled. I was convinced that he'd probably described his plight to his mother to gain more sympathy, not so she could picture what we had gone through to get him out. He kicked at an uneven spot on the floor, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else but there, yet he stayed by his mother's side when she collected her embroidery and sat down.
Eadric yawned, exaggerating it until his mother couldn't help but notice. "I need a nap," he said.
"So do I," I said, following his lead.
"There will be a feast tonight," said Queen Frazzela. "In honor of Bradston's safe return."
"Good," said Eadric, yawning again for real. "We'll be there."
Supper was hours away, however, and we were too hungry to wait. Eadric was showing me the way to the kitchen when we ran into his father in the Great Hall. "Eadric, my boy! I knew you could do it! Congratulations! Into the trolls' mountain and out again safe and sound. It's an extraordinary accomplishment. You'll have to tell me how you managed it. A little magical help from your Emma, I presume. I must say, after everything that has happened over the past few days, my opinion of magic has changed. I've never really understood it, but then maybe it has its place whether you understand it or not. It certainly saved the day this time. I heard all about the trolls attacking and how you kept the bulk of their army off my men with that thing you did to the stream, Emma. 1 wish I had someone like you attached to my army!" King Bodamin winked at me, and I could see that Eadric was as surprised as I was.
"We're grateful, the queen and I, although she might not know how to say it. She dotes on that young scamp. I'll have to give him a talking-to when he's feeling fit again. Shouldn't have gone off like that. Not with trolls and who knows what else outside the castie walls. We'll have to see that he doesn't stray again. Assign him his own guard perhaps."
"That won't be necessary," I told him. "I don't think he'll go far from his mother now."
"Good, good," the king said, beaming. "We can't have this sort of thing happening again. It caused quite an uproar, didn't it? Why, I was telling King Limelyn. . .You do know that your parents are here, don't you, m'dear? They arrived yesterday along with so many carts and carriages t h a t . . . Well, I'm sure you understand."
Eadric had waited until his father paused to take a breath. "If you'll excuse us, Father, we were on our way to get something to eat."
"Quite right, Eadric. Quite right. You must be starved. Come see me after you've eaten."
"I will, Father. We have a lot to talk about," Eadric said, giving me a meaningful glance.
His father nodded, saying, "Indeed we do, my boy. Indeed we do! Now, don't eat too much. I understand that there's to be a special supper tonight. Make sure you save room for the stewed eels. They're my favorite."
It didn't take us long to get a bite to eat. The kitchen staff fawned over Eadric, congratulating him and offering him the best cuts of leftover roasts and the freshest fruit. They smiled at me, a big difference from the disapproving looks I'd gotten from the residents of the castle a few days earlier.
When we'd finished eating, we left the kitchen and were crossing the Great Hall when my father hailed me. "My darling Emma, how are you?"
"Better," I replied without explaining that it was because I could use my magic again.
He nodded as if he understood. "Please join me for a moment," he said, and he led us to a bench away from the bustle of the Hall.
Eadric put his arm around me as we sat, pulling me close to his side. My father cleared his throat and said, "King Bodamin and I have agreed that there's no reason to put off your marriage any longer. You two make a perfect match and will unite our kingdoms in a way that would benefit both. As I have no other heirs, Emma will be queen of Greater Greensward one day. Bodamin assures me that Eadric will rule Upper Montevista. Eadric, you have shown great strength of ch
aracter and bravery, two qualities that your father had hoped to see in his heir. There's no reason you can't rule both countries side by side. I must admit, I'd thought Bodamin was against the marriage, but I was surprised by how quickly he agreed to it. He mentioned something about family members helping his army. I didn't quite follow that, but he might have been alluding to the way you took care of the trolls."
"So he gave his permission?" I said, not quite believing what I thought I'd heard.
My father nodded. "The wedding will be tomorrow. Everyone we would have wanted here for the wedding is already at the castle, although I daresay that Chartreuse and Frazzela will have others they want to invite. Bodamin and I will see that the appropriate documents are drawn up. He sent word to the local priest right after we spoke. Ah, there's your mother now. She's handling the rest of the arrangements."
I was stunned. I'd been afraid that we'd never get the approval of Eadric's parents, and now we were having the wedding the next day. I didn't know if I should be happy and excited, or frightened and tell them to wait because I wasn't ready. I would have liked to discuss it with Eadric, but he took off when we saw my mother bearing down on us with a determined look in her eyes.
"Did your father tell you about the wedding?" she asked me as Eadric hurried away.
I turned to my father, but he had already retreated across the Hall. "Yes, he did," I said. "Don't you think tomorrow is a little soon?"
"Of course I do, but the men have made up their minds. I'm determined to make the best of things, however, and you should, too. Although I may not have long to make the arrangements, I'm going to see that this wedding is done right, not like your aunt Grassina's. Now come with me. I have Maude waiting to start on your gown, and Frazzela has sent both of her seamstresses to assist. This shouldn't take long with three pairs of hands working on it."