“Her name is Loolee. She was my best friend before she left.”
“I know Loolee!” Audun said. “She taught me how to slide down the ice chute. You’ll like the ice chute. Frosty-breath made it so little dragonesses like you could have fun.”
“Would you show me how to slide down it, Audun?”
“Of course,” he replied, smiling. “And then I have something very important that I have to do.”
Twenty-one
A wide grin stretched Audun’s scaly lips when he finally spotted the royal castle of Greater Greensward from high in the sky. Although the castle wasn’t as big as some of those he’d visited, it was by far the most beautiful. Green pennants streamed from the tops of the slender towers, and the white stone of the walls reminded him of home. Flowers grew in profusion along both sides of the road leading up to the drawbridge where guards kept watch over the people coming and going.
It had been more than three months since Audun had seen Millie. Although he’d planned to return to Greater Greensward sooner, Prince Owen had begged him to stay to help him and his father, Cadmus, regain the Aridian throne. Because of Aridia’s ties to the ice dragons, Audun had felt obliged to help them in whatever way he could. Unfortunately, the short campaign they’d planned had lasted far longer than anyone anticipated and it had been many weeks before Audun was able to leave.
Through it all, Audun had spent hours thinking about Millie. Curled up under the stars trying to rest after yet another battle, Audun often lay awake, remembering how Millie had looked when he saw her last. She’d been so happy to see him when he first arrived, and later had looked as if her heart was being ripped apart when her mother whisked her away. Sometimes Audun tried to picture what she would look like when he finally saw her again; he was sure she’d be just as excited to see him as he’d be to see her. Yet now that the time was approaching, Audun was no longer quite so certain. They’d been apart for too many months. Could time have dimmed her memory of him? Or even worse, could she have met someone else?
No, he thought, bringing his wings down with extra force so that he shot toward the castle. After all he’d gone through, he wasn’t going to let doubt mar their reunion. Millie was his one true love, his soul mate and the one with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. He knew deep down inside that she had to feel the same way. Now that he was back, he was going to do whatever it took to make sure nothing got in their way.
Audun circled over the courtyard looking for Millie, but the only humans in sight were the guards on the towers and some servants hustling from one building to the next. Folding his wings to his sides, Audun dove toward the pavement, pulling up short beside one of the outbuildings. He was more concerned with landing where he wouldn’t frighten the horses than he was in the humans who might be there, so he didn’t notice a young man dressed in a cloth-of-gold-lined cape run down the steps, grab a spear from a nearby guard, and prepare to throw it.
Audun had barely set his feet on the ground when a voice shouted, “Don’t worry, Princess! I’ll save you!”
Audun’s head snapped around just as the young man hurled the spear. After having spent so many days in battle in Aridia, the dragon sidestepped it easily.
“Beware, foul lizard,” shouted the man, as he pulled his sword from its scabbard. “I, Prince Rudolfo, am about to slay you and rip your evil heart from your chest and—”
“Oh, for the love of fish!” Audun cursed. Although instinct told him to stand and fight, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt someone who might be a friend of Millie’s. He wanted to make the best impression he could when he met her family again, and was sure they wouldn’t take kindly to the sight of human blood on his talons.
A shadow moved in the open doorway, but before Audun could see who was there, the prince’s sword came whistling through the air, and the dragon had to jump out of the way. Wondering if things had changed so drastically that dragons were no longer welcome in Greater Greensward, Audun turned and hid behind the outbuilding.
“Rudolfo!” shouted a familiar voice, but Audun was already changing and wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.
“Did you see that, Princess?” called the prince. “I sent the beast scurrying away with its tail between its legs! Wait here while I go finish it off.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Millie shouted, as Audun came around the corner, now in his human form and dressed in the blue and white tunic that he’d chosen specially for their reunion. He looked up as Millie dashed down the stairs, saying, “If you’ve hurt him . . .” with a worried look on her face.
“Millie!” Audun said, reaching out his hand, but she ran right past him, stopping suddenly when she saw that there was nothing behind him between the back of the outbuilding and the castle wall.
“What happened to the dragon?” demanded the prince, who had also come running. He shot a glance at Audun and frowned. “Who are you?”
Audun nodded in Millie’s direction. “I’m a friend of the princess’s.”
Millie gave him an odd look. “The dragon is gone. He must have flown off when we couldn’t see him. But that’s beside the point,” she said, turning to glare at Rudolfo. “How dare you attack a dragon at my very door!”
“I was protecting you!” said the prince, falling to one knee before her. “I was going to slay him and lay his head at your feet and serve you his heart on a—”
Millie looked a little queasy as she shook her head. “That’s enough, Rudolfo. I don’t want to hear any more. I don’t need your help. I can take care of myself. As I said before, I appreciate your request for my hand, but we really aren’t suited to each other. Please go before you embarrass us both.”
“Embarrass!” said the prince, his brow creasing and his mouth turning down into a frown. He stood and gave her a stiff bow. “I have done nothing to embarrass myself. However, I do think it is time that I take my leave. Goodbye for now, Princess.”
Both Millie and Audun watched Prince Rudolfo stalk to the horse that a stable hand had just brought out. They waited until he was riding under the portcullis and onto the drawbridge before turning to each other again. “All right,” said Millie, “tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know what you—” Audun began.
“Don’t act all innocent with me! Rudolfo may not have seen you change, but I could see it all from the top of the stairs. How is it that you’re a human? Why didn’t you tell me you could do this before? I can’t believe you deceived me!”
“I didn’t deceive you. I spent months learning how to—”
“There you are, Millie,” said the older woman with the fading blond hair who had been so rude to Audun the last time they’d met.
Audun bowed to her, having remembered that this was Queen Chartreuse, one of Millie’s grandmothers.
“So Prince Rudolfo has gone,” she said. “I was hoping you had changed your mind, Millie. But I see another suitor has arrived. How delightful!” Leaning closer to her granddaughter, she added in a loud whisper, “You’ve already rejected most of the eligible princes in the known kingdoms. Try hard not to chase this one away as well!” Smiling a little too brightly at Millie, the queen nodded to Audun. “Welcome to Greater Greensward. May your stay be a pleasant one.”
Millie frowned at Audun as her grandmother climbed the stairs. “I suppose I’ll have to let you in now, although don’t think I’m happy to see you. I hate being lied to, especially by someone I trusted.”
“But that’s just it,” said Audun. “I’ve never lied to you and I never would! If you’d only let me explain—”
“Explain what?” asked Emma, Millie’s mother, coming down the stairs. “I just saw my mother and she said Millie had a new suitor. Who are you, anyway?” she asked, eyeing Audun with suspicion. “I feel as if we’ve met before.”
“This is Audun,” said Millie.
“But I thought Audun was a dragon.”
“Exactly!” said Millie, her eyes flashing. “Apparently he ha
d hidden talents that he didn’t bother to tell me about. I can’t believe I was so gullible!”
Confused, Audun watched as Millie turned on her heels and stalked up the stairs, leaving him alone with her mother.
“Would you mind telling me what is going on?” Emma asked.
“I’m not sure I know, but I’ll tell you what I can, Your Highness,” said Audun, bowing. “The last time we met, I was a dragon. After I left here, I went to see King Storm-claw, as you know. Thank you for going to see him, by the way. I think your visit helped him decide to let me court Millie. Anyway, I asked the king and his council to teach me how to turn myself into a human. They did, after I performed several difficult tasks for them. I came back to see Millie as soon as I could.”
“You mean you couldn’t change into a human before?” asked Emma.
Audun sighed. “Don’t you think I would have if I could have?”
“Then why didn’t you tell Millie?”
“I was trying to! I wanted to come back sooner, but I had to help the king, and then they needed me in Aridia.”
“I see,” said Emma. “Millie was upset when you didn’t come sooner. She was afraid you’d forgotten all about her. Explain to her what you’ve been doing and I’m sure she’ll understand . . . eventually. It may take a while for her to calm down, though. She can be awfully stubborn at times.”
“I know,” said Audun, “but then, so can I.”
Twenty-two
Audun wasn’t nearly as confident when he woke the next day. All the previous afternoon and evening he had tried to explain what had happened, but each time he broached the topic Millie had invited someone to join their conversation or remembered a suddenly important errand that she had to see to right then. They hadn’t been alone for a minute, and after a big, formal supper, Millie had slipped off to bed without even saying good night. He’d found it frustrating, but he had no intention of telling her all he wanted to say where anyone else could hear him.
Audun had spent much of the night trying to think of something he could do to get Millie to talk to him in private. He had a few ideas, but nothing he really liked, so he was still pondering the problem when he stepped through the door of the chamber where he’d slept. A page carrying a knight’s sword and helmet almost knocked him over.
“What’s the hurry, child?” Audun asked, as he helped the boy collect the gauntlet that he’d dropped.
“Haven’t you heard?” asked the boy. “An army is advancing on the castle. The knights are preparing to defend it. They’d already lowered the drawbridge this morning, so they had to raise it in a hurry when soldiers appeared out of nowhere.”
A passing serving man carrying a knife and an old-fashioned helmet stopped long enough to say, “The call has gone out for all able-bodied men. We’re to bring whatever weapons and armor we have and meet in the courtyard. With the Green Witch protecting the kingdom they probably won’t need us, but they’re having us get ready just in case.”
“Whose army is it?” asked Audun.
The boy shrugged, but the man smiled wryly and said, “Some fool who thinks he can best the Green Witch with an ordinary fighting force. You’d think everyone would know better, considering our Princess Emma’s reputation.”
Audun nodded as the boy and the man went on their way. Even in far-off Aridia, Audun had heard rumors about the might of Princess Emma and the fire-breathing dragons that defended Greater Greensward. He’d never once mentioned that he’d met her or that she was the mother of his one true love. From everything he’d heard, anyone who would attack Greater Greensward would have to either be crazy or think he had some very special advantage that would allow him to defeat dragons and the magic of the Green Witch. If the latter were true, it was possible that the Green Witch might just need Audun’s help, even if he couldn’t breathe fire. Besides, with the alliance agreement between the Green Witch and King Stormclaw signed and sealed, he felt duty-bound to help her just as he had helped Prince Owen in Aridia.
Audun learned from a passing servant girl that Princess Emma had a tower of her own. He ran up the stairs, hoping Emma hadn’t already left the castle, and didn’t stop until he reached the door at the top. Hearing voices inside, he knocked and was relieved when someone called out for him to come in.
Although the room was fairly large, the end near the door seemed crowded. Millie and Emma were seated on a bench by the window while two men stood only an arm’s reach away. Audun had met the men at supper the night before. The younger one had curly brown hair and a pleasant face. He was Prince Eadric, Millie’s father and the crown prince of Upper Montevista, the northern kingdom where Audun had encountered the witches Klorine and Ratinki. The older man was King Limelyn, Emma’s father and the ruler of Greater Greensward. His hair was graying and his skin was lined from years of worry, but he still had the commanding presence of a king who had seen many battles. Audun had liked both Prince Eadric and King Limelyn right away and had had the feeling that they liked him as well. Right now, however, they scarcely glanced at Audun before turning back to examine a ball made of crystal that Millie’s mother held cupped in her hands.
Audun ducked as a brightly colored bird the size of a chicken with long, trailing feathers and a curved beak swooped past his head to land on the table on the other side of the room. “Lover boy is here!” screeched the bird in a grating voice. “It’s Millie’s next suitor, come to spy on her and learn all her secrets! He wants to know why none of her other suitors have—”
“Be quiet, You-too,” snapped Millie. “I don’t have any secrets from Audun.”
“Really?” said the bird. “Does he know that you—”
“I don’t know why you keep this bird around, Emma,” King Limelyn said, making a grab for You- too, who lurched off the table and fluttered out of reach.
Emma shrugged. “He was a wedding gift to Eadric and me.”
“I’d say he was more of a curse,” said her father.
“Look, that must be the one in charge,” Emma said, pointing at something in the ball that Audun couldn’t see from where he was standing.
Millie bent closer to the crystal ball. “Can you see his face?” she asked, frowning in concentration.
“Give it a moment,” said Emma.
“There, he’s turning this way,” Eadric said, “and it’s . . .”
“Prince Rudolfo!” they all exclaimed in unison.
“He must have had his soldiers waiting for him on the other side of the border,” King Limelyn said. “And went to fetch them when Millie turned him down.”
“I told you I didn’t like him,” muttered You-too. “He had shifty eyes.”
“You never said any such thing!” Millie said.
The bird shuffled sideways on the back of the chair where he had perched. “Yes, I did. You just didn’t hear me!”
Emma shook her head. “I wish I had seen those men sooner. The first thing I do every morning is check our borders with this,” she said, tapping the farseeing ball, “but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary today. I can’t believe so many men made it all the way through the forest before anyone noticed them. If we hadn’t heard their horses we wouldn’t have known they were here until it was too late. Even then I had to cast a spell to make them visible. They must have a magic user of their own, but I can’t seem to find him.”
“My friend Frostybreath froze Olebald, but the wizard was able to use his magic to escape after he’d thawed just a little,” said Audun. “He fled into the desert, where he gathered a group of soldiers and used a spell to hide them right beneath our noses by changing the color of their skin and clothes to match the colors of their surroundings.”
Millie gave him a quizzical look. “How did you see the soldiers to fight them?”
“We didn’t, at least not at first. But I sent a small puff of poison gas their way. Smaller doses of an ice dragon’s poison gas makes humans ill without doing permanent harm. Soldiers who are violently sick to their stomachs aren?
??t effective fighters.”
“Poison gas?” screeched You-too. “I thought there was something odd about you. There,” he said, turning to Millie. “Did I say it loudly enough for you this time?”
Eadric strode to the window and looked out. “Rudolfo’s men are drawing closer to the moat. I don’t think they’ve spotted your moat monster yet, Emma.”
“Do you see anyone who might be a magic user?” asked Millie.
“Not from here,” her father said, craning his neck.
“I’ll try again,” said Emma, turning back to the ball. Audun noticed for the first time that it was attached to a gold chain that she wore around her neck. He took a step closer, taking the place of Prince Eadric, who was still looking out the window. Audun could just make out a swirling light before the Green Witch touched the ball and the light disappeared. Even with his dragon hearing, he couldn’t make out what she said as she whispered under her breath and tapped the ball again. A faint image appeared. It blurred and shifted and looked like it was about to become a face when it dissolved in a blue fog. Suddenly, the ball went blank.
Emma shook the farseeing ball, but nothing happened. “There must be a magic user out there, but I can’t tell you who it is. Whoever it is has done something to my farseeing ball. It’s not working anymore.”
“I need more information,” said her father.
Emma nodded. “I could turn myself into a bird and go look for the magic user. It would be easy to gather information without anyone noticing.”
“Just as easy as it would be for a magic user to find you, or for an archer to shoot you down,” said her father. “No, there has to be another way.”
“I’ll go through the secret tunnel to look around,” said Eadric. “I’m glad we put it in. I knew it would come in handy someday.”
“What secret tunnel?” squawked You-too.