Once Upon a Curse

  "Let's see what that's all about," I said to Eadric.

  "I thought you were in a hurry to get back to the castle."

  "I am, but Millie asked me to find out what I could about all the princes. We won't stay long."

  We flew closer, hoping to hear their conversation. Circling the pond, we landed in the grass at the edge.

  "I'm tired of your excuses!" said the shorter man. "You've owed me this money for a fortnight, and if I don't get it today, Georgie here will make you wish your ancestors had never been born." The big man grunted and narrowed his eyes until he looked fierce.

  "I told you, you'll get it," said Fenton. "Once Princess Hazel chooses me, I'll push up the wedding date. Greensward's coffers have never been fuller. There's plenty there to pay off my debts and finance my return to the tournament circuit. I'm at the peak of my jousting career. The crowds love me, and so does the princess."

  "What makes you think she'll choose you?"

  "Because I'm her best choice, and she knows it. Some suitors have left already, scared off by the princess or that blasted dragon her father wanted us to kill. I'm the most attentive, as well as the best looking. She'll choose me; I'm sure of it."

  "You'd better be right," said the smaller man. "Georgie doesn't like to be kept waiting."

  As Prince Fenton mounted his horse and started back to the castle, we took to the air once again. I had a mission ahead of me. I had promised myself I would find out what I could about Millie's sister's suitors and T had plenty to tell, regardless of Dyspepsia's warning.

  Ten

  We reached the castle just as a small whirlwind landed at the foot of the drawbridge, depositing a plump, little witch with blue-tinged hair. It was only midday, yet some of the guests were already arriving. We landed in the garden and stayed there only long enough to become humans again before hurrying into the castle. I found Millie watching servants place tankards on tables set against the walls of the Great Hall.

  "There you are, Emma," said Millie. "I've been looking for you all morning."

  Someone opened a door leading into one of the corridors, and the scent of roasting meat wafted past us. Eadric sniffed the air like a hound and turned toward the kitchen. I almost expected to see him drool. "If you'll excuse me," he said, "I think a leg of mutton and a loaf of fresh bread are calling me. Do you need me now, Emma?"

  I smiled and patted his arm. "Go ahead. I can tell her by myself."

  "Tell me what?" Millie asked as Eadric strode down the hall.

  I led Millie away from the listening servants to a corner made private by the foliage of one of Hazel's trees. "I told you I had to get up early," I said. "I followed Garrid when he went hunting, and I learned his secret. Then I overheard Fenton talking, and I know what he's up to as well."

  "I knew they were hiding things! What, were they?"

  I told her about Fenton first. She nodded and said she wasn't surprised. When I told her about Garrid, her eyes grew wide and she looked as horrified as I'd felt.

  "A vampire here in our castle? We have to tell my father!" Millie gasped. "And Hazel! We have to tell her, too!"

  "Shh!" I said. "Not so loud! We don't want to ruin the party."

  "Ruin the party? I'm afraid she might ruin her life!" When Millie ducked under a branch and headed from the Hall, I hurried after her, concerned about what she might do.

  Although we found Hazel right away, we weren't able to see her. She had locked herself in her room with her maids and seamstress and refused to let anyone else in.

  "Hazel!" shouted Millie as she pounded on the door. "I need to talk to you!"

  "Go away!" said her sister's muffled voice. "I'm busy! Ouch! Be careful, you wretch," she said to her seamstress. "You poke me with a needle again and I'll have you thrown into the moat."

  "But Hazel," said Millie, "this is important! Open the door so I can talk to you."

  "If it's that important, you can tell me from there," Hazel replied. "Otherwise go away!"

  Since Millie didn't want to shout the news through the heavy wooden door, she decided to go looking for her father instead. Unfortunately, after searching the castle, we learned that King Grunwald had insisted that Eadric show him how to place escape-proof werewolf traps the way they did in Upper Montevista. No one knew exactly where Eadric and the king had gone.

  We were still hoping to talk to Hazel and had gone back to wait outside her door when her mother saw us. Like most of the ladies of the castle, she had been primping since early morning and was already dressed for the party. Her gown of shimmering silver seemed to glow in the dimly lit corridor. "Ladies," she said, eyeing our everyday clothes, "I know you both have gowns more appropriate for tonight. Don't you think it's time you got ready?"

  "Actually," said Millie, "we want to talk to Hazel first, but she won't let us in. Are you going to see her now?"

  "I am, but you're not. You're to go to your chamber immediately to change. Emma, see if you can do something with your hair. It looks like a bird has been nesting ink."

  "But Mother," Millie wailed, "this is important! We learned something about Garrid that Hazel needs to know. If we can talk to her for just a minute—"

  "You'll do no such thing, young lady. The last thing we need is for you to upset your sister. This is a very big day for her, and we don't need you ruining it. Now off to your room and that's an order!"

  "We'll go, but would you please tell her for us? We found out that Garrid—"

  "I said now! "

  Millie ducked her head like an obedient daughter, but I could see the anger flash in her eyes. "Yes, Mother," she said, curtsying to the queen.

  "Don't worry," I said as we hurried to her room. "We can tell Hazel at the party."

  Millie nodded. "We'll think of something. I'm not giving up yet!"

  We were near a window when something flew past, and I darted to the windowsill to look out. An old wizard seated on a battered door was spiraling down to land in front of the castle. As I watched, a half-dozen witches arrived on their brooms while several swooped in, seated on chairs laden with cushions. I stepped back when an enormous eagle with golden feathers stared at me through the window on his way to drop off the small, wizened woman he carried.

  "Did you see all those witches?" I asked Millie, who had stopped beside me.

  She nodded. "We'd better hurry and get dressed. I think the party is about to start. Your clothes are waiting for you. Mother sent them this afternoon."

  I'd never been interested in fancy gowns, but for Millie's sake I tried to look excited. When we reached her chamber, I found a rust-colored tunic with a crimson surcoat lying on her bed.

  "Tell me," said Millie as I wiped the last of the dragon salve off and slipped the tunic over my head. "After Hazel hears about Garrid, do you think she'll choose Jasper?"

  "Probably," I said, glancing at Millie as soon as my head was free of the fabric. She looked distressed, making me wish I hadn't said anything.

  When we were ready, Millie looked wonderful and far older than her thirteen years. Her hair was laced with a silver cord that glistened when she moved her head. Her tunic was the blue of a summer sky over which she wore a darker blue surcoat trimmed with silver. My clothes were plainer, but Millie had twisted my hair and looped it on top of my head in a way I thought was so flattering that I resolved to wear it that way when I got home. We were about to go out of the door when Millie took a delicate golden circlet out of a trunk by her bed. "I almost forgot Hazel's present," she said.

  "Oh, no!" I said. "I was going to make one, but I've been so busy Give me a minute and let me think." I wanted to give her something she'd like, but I couldn't give her an obviously magical gift since I didn't want everyone to know that I was a witch. That didn't mean that I couldn't use magic to make it, however. If only I had something....

  While Millie waited patiently by the door, I found the pouch I'd worn when I arrived and took out the candle stub. It was small, but it was enough. Only a few minutes later,
Millie was in the Great Hall setting her golden circlet on the table set aside for gifts, leaving room for my wax replica of the castle, complete with miniature flowers.

  It wasn't until we finally joined the party that I realized how difficult it might be to find Hazel. The Great Hall was crowded with guests of every shape and size. I saw hovering fairies no bigger than my thumb talking to hulking knights dressed in silk and leather. Other fairies were the size of the average human, but had a sparkle to their hair or a lilt in their voices that set them apart. Although none of the fairies was dressed like another, they all wore clothes derived from nature. Tunics of leaves or grass and gowns of flower petals or moonbeams clothed the dancers twirling across the floor to the melodies of human musicians.

  The wizards were also dressed in fantastic clothes, having tried to outdo each other by using magic to make them. One wizard was dressed in a black robe that bore constantly changing numbers and symbols drawn in chalky white. Another wore a blue robe bedecked with floating clouds. A third, and the one that demanded the most attention, wore a mirrored robe and a tall, peaked hat that shot sparkling dust out of its pointed crown.

  Although the wizards' clothes were interesting enough, it was the witches' clothes that made me catch my breath. I saw a gown that shimmered from one color to the next, encompassing the entire rainbow. A second was covered with splashing raindrops that seemed so real I almost expected to find water on the floor. My favorite, however, was a gown of moss green that smelled like the forest after a cleansing rain. It reminded me of my aunt Grassina and the kind of gowns she wore before the curse changed her.

  There were normal people as well: relatives of Hazel's, inhabitants of the castle and the nobility from the surrounding area. Even though they were dressed in their finest clothes, they seemed drab and uninteresting when standing beside the magical guests.

  "What color is Hazel wearing?" I asked Millie, craning my neck to search for her sister in the crowd.

  "I don't know. She wouldn't tell me anything about it except that it was much better than mine," Millie replied.

  Human musicians played their instruments on a balcony above the Great Hall while dancers paraded below in the center of the room. Although most of the guests stayed at ground level, nearly half the fairy dancers cavorted in the air above them, creating a multihued spectacle with their fluttering wings. I stopped to watch the fairies for a moment, wondering if one of them would pronounce the curse that would do so much damage to my family.

  A table had been set up at one end of the Hall. Laden with delicate, eggshell cups filled with dandelion wine and large, pewter tankards brimming with ale, it was the most crowded place in the room. A short distance away, another table stood covered with platters of hummingbird eggs, sugared violets and the herbed wings of some tiny bird. A third table supported platters of roasted pheasants and peacocks with reinserted feathers; suckling pigs glazed with honey, their mouths filled with sweet, red apples; and tureens of baked eels floating in a thick cream sauce. Eadric stood between a tall, thin man with jutting cheekbones and a handsome fairy dressed in hose and a tunic the color of new spring buds.

  An already heaping plate in his hand, Eadric was reaching for one of the herbed wings when I stepped between him and the table, forcing him to look at me. "Emma," he said, "you look lovely"

  "Thanks," I said, craning my neck to watch the people entering the room. "Have you seen Hazel?"

  "Not since yesterday."

  Millie squeezed between two heavyset witches and a long-haired warlock with a dragon emblazoned on the back of his robe. "Here, try this," Millie said, thrusting an eggshell cup into my hands.

  The cup was so delicate that I was afraid to use it, but Millie and Eadric had no reservations. Common in the land of the fairies, the cups were sturdier than they looked. I followed their example and took a long sip, then started coughing when the sweet liquid burned my throat. This was no ordinary dandelion wine.

  "The fairies brought the cups and the wine," Millie said, wiping her watering eyes.

  "I believe it," I said, my voice a hoarse whisper.

  Carrying our drinks with us, Eadric joined us in our search for Hazel. We were skirting the dancers in the middle of the room when I spotted Millie's mother approaching a group of witches in the far corner. A light breeze seemed to come from that part of the hall, stirring the banners hanging from the walls and the leaves of Hazel's trees.

  Millie glanced at me. "You can tell that the witch Windifer is here. She can't go anywhere without her breezes. I forgot to warn you that some of Hazel's guests are a little unconventional."

  "I didn't know there were so many witches in the area."

  "They've come from all over," said Millie. "Hazel meets them at witches' gatherings. Let me introduce you to the ladies over there." Turning toward a cluster of witches, Millie led the way across the floor.

  Four witches stood talking by the trunk of one of Hazel's trees. They all looked up when we approached, their eyes suspicious until they recognized Millie.

  "Hello, princess," said a beautiful witch with hair and eyelashes of real gold and impossibly large, amber eyes. She wore a gown of brilliant red with tiny golden specks that gave off its own kind of heat. "It's a lovely party," she added in a deep, throaty voice.

  Eadric's eyes seemed to glaze over when he saw her. I stumbled and stepped on his instep, which seemed to bring him back to the real world.

  "I'm glad you're enjoying it," Millie said to the witch in red. Placing her hand on my back, she gave me a small nudge forward. "This is Emma, one of my cousins, and this," she said, "is her friend Eadric."

  "How nice," said the golden-haired witch, dismissing us with a flick of her eyes.

  I learned the names of all four witches, although I doubt they remembered mine. Scarletta, the witch dressed in red, was the only one who spoke to us.

  I was trying to think of something polite to say when the witches turned to stare past Millie at another witch who had come up behind her. Middle-aged, with dull, brown hair, everything about her was thin, from her thin face to her thin body to her thin, whiny voice. Unlike the other witches, she didn't look as if she had dressed for the occasion since she wore a faded, gray gown with a straggly, unraveling hem.

  Scarletta sneered and said, "If it isn't Scrofula, looking as scrawny as ever. You'd best stay where you are or Windifer's breeze might blow you right out the door."

  Scrofula's eyes narrowed. "Oh, I won't be the one to get blown away. We all know how full of hot air you are, Scarletta. It comes from puffing yourself up over your appearance every time you make yourself look twenty years younger, sister dear."

  "Why," said Scarletta, "if we weren't guests in this castle, I'd—"

  "You'd what?" said Scrofula, tilting her chin defiantly.

  Millie whispered in my ear, "Emma, we have to do something. Those sisters are known to have the most awful fights."

  Fights between witches often involved magic, putting everyone at risk. I shoved my cup at Scarletta and said, "Have you tried the dandelion wine?"

  "What?" she asked, distracted for the moment.

  "It's very good," I said. Taking a step toward her, I did something I'd never done before; I pretended to trip. The dandelion wine sloshed out of the cup and down the front of Scarletta's gown, making the heated fabric sizzle.

  "You clumsy girl!" said the witch, her voice suddenly shrill. "Why, I ought to—"

  "Leave her alone, Scarletta," said her sister. "It's just a little wine. You aren't going to melt."

  The golden-haired witch glared at Scrofula, then, with a crackle and a snap, Scarletta disappeared.

  "How very rude!" said one of the other witches. Even I knew that it was impolite to vanish so abruptly at a social gathering.

  "You were brilliant!" Millie told me as we continued our search for Hazel. "And pretending to be clumsy "

  "I've had a lot of practice with the real thing," I replied.

  I was beginning to wond
er if we'd ever find Hazel. Could she have decided to stay away from her own party? I was thinking of sending a page to look for her when a fairy I was passing fluttered her wings, slapping the side of my head with one.

  "Oops," said the fairy, waving a nearly empty tankard of ale in my face. I backed away when the fairy burped, her ale-soaked breath strong even a few feet away. "This is good stuff!" she said, putting the tankard to her lips and draining it dry.

  "The Swamp Fairy," said Millie.

  I caught my breath with a gasp. Glancing at Eadric, I saw that his eyebrows were raised in surprise. We had met the Swamp Fairy once when we'd been frogs back in our own time. She'd been older then, yet when I looked at her more closely, I knew she hadn't changed much. Her blue hair didn't have the gray streaks it would have later on, and her flower-petal skirt looked fresher, but it was definitely the same fairy. Unlike witches, who are mortal, fairies live forever.

  "Oh dear." The Swamp Fairy turned her empty mug upside down. "It's all gone. Better get more!" she said in a cheery voice. Fluttering her wings, she rose straight into the air, nearly colliding with a dancing couple. "Watch where you're going!" she declared.

  We circled the room, studying the mingling guests, when a bell chimed, light and sweet. "Attention, every one!" called a voice as the volume in the room dwindled.

  "There she is," Eadric said, gesturing toward the raised dais. Flanked by her mother's ladies-in-waiting, Hazel stood facing the dance floor. Her clothes were magnificent; both her tunic and her surcoat had been made from cloth of gold, and diamonds sparkled in her hair.

  "I have to get up there," Millie whispered as she looked for a way to reach her sister. Seeing an opening between two knights, she squeezed past them while I followed close on her heels.

  "Thank you for coming," said Hazel. She was so loud it sounded as if her voice was magically amplified. "I'm happy to celebrate my birthday with all my closest friends."