The Wild Swans (11 page)

Elise watched her foster brothers and tried to swallow the knot form
ing in her throat. “This means a lot to me,” she said.

Rune dropped his chipp
ed rock to ease closer to Elise. He slid an arm around her back and placed his cheek against her head. “I wish I could spare you this ordeal. What we’re doing doesn’t seem like it is nearly enough,” he said before a rock whacked him in the back. Rune abruptly pulled away from Elise, wincing in pain. “Ouch.”

“Sorry
,” Falk said, sounding anything but as he dumped a few handfuls of clover onto Elise’s dress with the berries. “These are edible. They don’t taste like much, but they will fill you when you grow hungry,
Lamb
,” he said before turning on his heels and joining Erick at Elise’s shelter.

“He sounded angry
,” Elise said.

“
That’s because he is,” Rune said, rubbing the sore spot on his back before he went back to chipping away at his rock.

“I see
,” Elise said, watching Falk inspect Erick’s growing wall.

Some things
, even in the worst situations, didn’t ever seem to change.

Elise knitted as she watched the sun sink behind the trees. Soon it would be sunset
, and her foster brothers would be men again for an hour.

Star
ing at the sky distracted Elise from the way her fingers burned and stung. Each loop she made with the stinging nettle stem was painful and torturous, but Elise knitted with a stony expression. When she wasn’t eagerly watching for the sun to set, she spent the time making calculations. She mentally remapped Brandis’ operations budget. She calculated the various prices at which the royal house could hope to price their crops. Numbers ran through her mind from the moment she picked up the blistering, burning shirt until she finally set it down again.

When Elise
was busy running sums and mathematical problems through her mind, she didn’t have the capacity to acknowledge the stinging pain in her fingers.

Because Elise
was so deep in thought—she was calculating how long it would be until Carabas’ harbor would be open—Elise didn’t hear the footsteps until they were just behind her.

Elise whirled around
, clutching the shirt to her belly. Her eyes swiveled back and forth as she looked for the source of footsteps. She didn’t see the figure until it stepped out from behind a tree.

“Princess?”

Elise went slack with relief. It was Brida, the stone-faced captain.

Brida approac
hed Elise cautiously. She wore plain breeches and a black shirt, and her hair was pulled back in a pretty braid. But even out of uniform, one could not mistake Brida for anything but a warrior. For starters, there was a sword buckled to her side, and Elise would bet her last copper that there were daggers tucked up her sleeves and in her boots. She walked with a grace that was different from females who minced along in pretty dresses. She was thicker and taller than most females, but she was lean, and her eyes were always watchful.

Elise offered Brida a
wan smile.

“What are you do
ing out here? Are you
knitting
?” Brida asked, her eyes going to the horrible shirt Elise still clung to. “Where are your brothers?”

Elise nodded her head to the pond wh
ere the swans paddled around—either uninterested in Brida’s entrance, or filled with too many swan thoughts to rally any curiosity.

“
Where are your brothers
?” Brida repeated, speaking loudly and over enunciating.

Out of everyone to find Elise
, why did it have to be Brida? Deciding the guard captain would eventually figure out that the swans were her brothers, or they would transform in front of the guard and
then
she could figure it out, Elise sat back down and went back to knitting.

However,
Brida was not someone you could easily put off. The bossy female crouched down in front of Elise and put her hand on top of the shirt. “What are you—,” she yelped and drew her hand back when the plants pricked her palm. “Have you gone mad?” Brida asked, never one to sweeten her words.

Elise careful
ly moved the shirt away from Brida.

“I
have a message for you from Princess Gabrielle,” Brida said, reaching inside her shirt to withdraw a sealed envelope.

Elise reached for it
, but Brida held it out of range. “I’m not giving it to you until you tell me what is going on.”

Elise patient
ly held out her hand.

“No
,” Brida said, shaking her head. “Get a hold of yourself, Princess, and tell me what’s going on. If you can control yourself and put aside your foolish emotions, I will give you the letter.”

Brida’s arrogance and the way she talked sent a spark of irritation through
Elise, but she kept her expression bland as she started at the letter.

“No
,” Brida shook her head. “Not until you stop acting petty.”

She thought Elise
was being petty, did she? Elise glanced down at her hand to assure herself that some of the sharp hairs and thorns from the stinging nettle plant were stuck in her skin. (There were some, drawing tiny pinpricks of blood.) Elise smacked her open hand on top of Brida’s, the stuck nettles scratching the soft, delicate skin on the top of captain’s hand.

Brida yelped and fell on her rear. Elise used the moment of distraction to snatch the letter
from Brida. She tore open the envelope and removed the letter, reading it before Brida recovered.

My dearest sister,

I assume Angelique
has already visited you and informed you of our failure. Angelique told me there was little hope that my husband and your brothers would ever return to normal. But there is a small possibility, should
you
be willing to take it.

I must confess I do not know you as well as I should
, but I am confident of the love you have for your brothers. If there is a way to save them, I am positive you will pursue it.

Keep
ing that in mind, I have sent Brida for your disposal. I am aware you two have some differences,
(Elise internally snorted.)
But Brida is unfailingly loyal to our family, and I dare not send anyone else. She will guard you and see to your needs—although I would never venture to call her a maid, if I were you. You would probably get a black eye for your mistake, Fürstin or not.

I wish you luck
with your task and our beloved family. I am sorry I failed you, but I shall do my best in your absence.

With all the luck in the world
,

Gabrielle

Elise
was grateful Gabrielle had thought to send a guard. Elise would be safer with Brida around. Brida was a skilled warrior, had a healthy set of lungs, and she had brought
weapons
.

But
still… did it
have
to be Brida?

Brida
was rubbing the top of her hand and looking reproachfully at Elise. “Princess,” she said, grinding her teeth. “I do not know what is wrong with you, but could you please direct me to your brothers?”

Elise stared at Brida. Hadn’t Gabrielle told her of her brother’s plight? (Or flight
, really, if one wanted to be technical.)

Elise stood
, carrying the letter and her ugly shirt, and walked to the edge of the pond.

The sun
was almost set. Elise couldn’t be sure since the trees blocked the last of its descent, but judging on the light, her brothers would be available for a chat with Brida in a few minutes.

“
Princess
,” Brida said, sounding a little like Falk in her frustration. She walked up to Elise and put her hands on her shoulders, forcing Elise to turn around. “What, in the name of all that is holy, are you—,” Brida broke off her lecture and jumped backwards when a swan furiously paddled across the pond and clambered onto shore, hissing and lunging at Brida.

Brida took a few steps
before she stopped and held her ground. To her credit, she did not grapple for a weapon. Instead she narrowed her eyes and studied the upset bird.

Several other swans ringed around Elise
, forming a white, waist high wall of protection.

“Oh
,” Brida said after her eyes swept across the pond, and she did the math.

The swans scampered back into the pond
, floating on its tumultuous surface. They started to glow and extended their wings before they disappeared in a storm cloud of white feathers.

When the light faded and seven princes
were left behind, sloshing in the water, Brida went down on one knee. “My Lords,” she said.

Falk
, just as blunt as Brida, plunged past greetings. “What did you hope to accomplish by bullying Elise, Captain Meier?”

“W-what?” Brida said
, lifting her head up.

“Bully
ing might be a bit of a strong word to use, don’t you think?” Nick asked, shaking his leg to get rid of dripping water.

“
I am disappointed in you, Captain Meier,” Rune said in a gentle voice as he moved next to Elise, placing a warm hand on her lower back. “I thought you were more patient, and that you would realize Elise is not one to act oddly without a good reason.”

“Yes
, Prince Rune,” Brida said, staring at the ground.

“You won’t do it again now
, will you? What Elise does, she does for our sake,” Steffen said with his portrait smile. “Please stand, Captain Meier. In spite of our words, we are thankful you have come. What news do you have for us?”

“I
had a letter to deliver to Princess Elise,” Brida said.

When
Steffen whipped around to face Elise, Elise held out the letter. “It doesn’t say much,” she said. “Gabrielle probably wrote so little in case it was intercepted.”

Brida twitched at the sound of Elise’s voice.

“Patience, Captain. We will explain the situation once we hear yours first,” Falk said, standing between the captain and Elise.

“There isn’t much to tell
, Prince Falk. The guards and I knew something was wrong when all eight of the royal children disappeared. There were whispers, rumors that Clotilde did something to you. An enchantress launched an attack against Queen Clotilde. Your subjects did their best to help, but Queen Clotilde was able to throw the lady enchantress off her. I know the enchantress and Princess Gabrielle spoke together for some time, for I guarded their meeting. The enchantress left, and Crown Princess Gabrielle summoned a number of captains and military men she trusted. I was among them. She explained to us that you had been cursed, although she did not say how. She asked me to track the enchantress to the location where I would find Princess Elise and all of the royal Princes. The rest of the men, I believe, she organized to create a resistance force.”

“How do they resist?” Mikk asked.

“I only heard very few of the plans, for Princess Gabrielle thought it would be best to leave immediately—in the end it did not matter for I could not track the enchantress at all and had to rely on luck,” Brida said, standing at attention.

“
Humph. Elise, come with me,” Falk said, pulling Elise along by her elbow.

“
But—,”

“No buts. The others will explain the nature of the curse to her
,” Falk said, dragging Elise into the dim forest. Falk kicked at plants, his expression cold as he looked through the underbrush in the nearly extinguished sunlight.

“What are we do
ing?” Elise asked.

Falk ignored the question and hunkered over
, digging plants out of the ground.

“Falk?”

“Rub this on your hands. The undersides—the spores will ease the itching,” Falk said, slapping several large, leafy ferns into Elise’s hands.