A Prince among Frogs (20 page)

Fifteen

R
alf 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.

“Mother’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.

Poison Ivy’s mouth opened in surprise. “You’re Millie? I’d heard about the dragon princess, but I didn’t know Millie, I mean you, were the one. Uh, it’s nice to see you again.”

Millie smiled her most insincere smile, certain that fairies couldn’t tell the difference between one dragon smile and another. “It’s nice to see you, too.”

The first witch arrived a few minutes later, and soon there was a steady stream of witches and fairies setting down beside the moat. Millie wondered if Olebald was aware of their arrival or if he was sleeping through the whole thing.

It wasn’t long before the largest group of dragons arrived, making enough racket that Millie was sure no one could possibly still be sleeping. King Stormclaw had come, along with four elderly dragonesses, two dozen dragon guards, and Audun’s family. Millie had already met his parents and grandparents and was delighted that she was about to have the chance to meet his friends. She noticed that Song of the Glacier stayed away from the humans and gave disapproving glances when any passed by.

“There’s the happy couple!” said the ice dragon king when he saw them. “I believe congratulations are in order.” Millie smiled and opened her mouth to speak, but the king wasn’t finished yet. “The Green Witch was just telling me about her plan.”

“It was Millie’s plan, actually,” said Emma. “She’s the one who came up with the idea to use dragon force against the ‘invisible nothing’ in the first place. With so many dragons here, we shouldn’t have any problem breaking through the barrier. If we divide into three groups, we can take turns.”

“Then we should organize now,” King Stormclaw announced.

Emma was a dragon again when she organized breaking the dragons into groups. Millie and Audun were telling the last group what it needed to do when the witches Ratinki and Klorine swooped in on their magic carpets carrying the king and queen of Upper Montevista and their younger son, Bradston. Eadric hurried to speak to his parents, both of whom were scowling at the gathered dragons. Emma and Millie were in their dragon forms, so neither of them joined him.

“You did tell them that there would be dragons here, didn’t you?” Millie asked her mother.

“Of course,” said Emma. “I’m surprised Frazzela actually came. We’ll just have to try to keep them away from the dragons, which includes us right now.”

“I bet they leave early,” Millie told her.

Emma smiled. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

As the rays of the rising sun fanned out over the countryside, ten dragons rose into the air, including Audun, Frostybreath, and Audun’s father, Speedwell. Millie watched as they beat their powerful wings and climbed until they were out of sight behind a scattering of clouds. Minutes passed and the next group readied themselves. Emma was the leader, and at her signal they followed the first group into the air.

“Look! There they are!” shouted one of the fairies, and everyone hurried to look where she was pointing.

Ten dragons plummeted toward earth like spears shot from the heavens, their wings tucked so tightly to their sides that their bodies looked wingless. They hit the “invisible nothing” with a boom that made the earth shake and the crack widen. Then Millie, Ralf, and his father, Grumble Belly, took off with seven other dragons, racing into the sky as the second group began their descent. The two sets of dragons passed each other, but the second group was going so fast that all Millie could see were blurry shapes.

Millie’s dragons had flown too high to hear the second group hit, so they climbed until she thought they had gone far enough and shouted to her companions, “Now!” As synchronized as if they had practiced for years, the dragons turned and began their descent. Once again ten dragons plunged toward earth, the cold air frosting their scales, then heating them as their speed increased. Knowing what would happen at the other end, Millie let herself fall to earth like a shooting star.

They hit with such force that the world seemed to shatter around them, but it was just the “invisible nothing” breaking under the impact of the final dragon onslaught. “Pull up!” Millie screamed when she realized that it wasn’t like the last time, that there wasn’t anything to cushion their fall or make them rebound.

Wings snapped open around her as she fought to spread her own, but the speed of her fall was so great that the rushing air kept pressing them closed. Arching her neck, she turned her dive into a climb; at the moment she changed direction, her wings opened so fast that it was painful. Millie angled her wings and swooped over the castle, trying to slow her momentum. She flew as far as the enchanted forest before turning back. Even then her heart was still racing and she was gasping for breath, but she wanted to make sure that all of the dragons who had flown with her were all right. Looking ahead, she saw them descend by twos and threes over the castle wall and the worry creating the knot in her stomach dissolved.

When she returned to the castle, the other dragons had already opened the drawbridge for King Limelyn’s soldiers. She could hear the men’s feet pounding across the wooden planks and watched them enter the courtyard with weapons drawn. They met with no resistance, however, and soon disappeared into the castle keep.

Millie searched for the only other green dragon, and when she saw her, she landed beside her mother. Emma’s eyes were shining as she turned to her daughter, and a moment later they both began to change back into their human forms.

“I saw your dive,” said Emma. “That was amazing! You had me worried, though. I didn’t think you were going to make it for a moment.”

“Neither did I,” Millie admitted, running her fingers through her hair. “Have you seen Audun?”

Emma nodded. “He went into the castle with your father. There are so many people and dragons looking for Olebald that I didn’t think they needed me in there as well. Apparently the ice dragons are furious with the old wizard, which is why so many of them came. They wanted to help us, especially if it meant they could get their talons on Olebald. He hurt some dragons when he escaped from their stronghold and they want him back in a bad way. I think he’s in for it now. A vengeful dragon is a really nasty dragon. I doubt very much that he’ll be able to get away this time.”

“I hope not,” said Millie. “I wouldn’t want to have to deal with him ever again.”

Sixteen

I
t quickly became apparent that Olebald wasn’t going to be easy to find. Every floor in the castle had been searched, including the towers, and yet not one dragon, human, or fairy had seen Olebald. No one wanted to search the dungeon, however, because the ghosts were making a racket horrible enough to chill the blood of even the hardiest soul.

“I think I might know what’s wrong,” Millie told her mother, who was about to investigate.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I want to see how Felix is doing. Grassina asked your grandmother to hold his bowl. I just hope she hasn’t put it down somewhere and forgotten where she put it. She’s been doing more of that kind of thing lately.”

The sound from the dungeon grew louder as Millie opened the door and stepped onto the landing at the top of the stairs. Chains rattled, doors slammed, agonized voices howled and screamed and wailed. Millie would have been frightened if she hadn’t heard some of those sounds every time she’d come to visit. “What’s wrong?” she called, holding up her skirt with one hand while she hurried down the stairs. “Is Hubert still stuck between the cells? Are you still trying to drown out his moaning?”

Sir Jarvis appeared at the bottom of the stairs. When he held up his hand, the clamor died away to a few dragged chains, then stopped completely. “Hubert is fine. Everything went back to normal after the castle shook for the third time this morning. It was very noisy down here, I must say. Nothing like what we made ourselves, however. No, we just wanted to get your attention. It seems we have something that doesn’t belong to us, and we want to give it to you.”

Millie was puzzled. “Did I leave something down here? Surely this can wait until later.”

“I think not,” said Sir Jarvis as he drifted to a neighboring cell. “Please take a look in here and you’ll see what I mean.”

Millie hurried to the door and peeked inside. As her eyes adjusted to the deeper gloom, she saw a figure huddled in the corner with its face hidden in the depths of a hood. She thought at first that it was a dead body, and she started in surprise when it moved.

“Have you come to rescue me?” asked the wavering voice of an old man.

“Rescue you from what?” Millie replied. “And who are you?”

“The ghosts! Can’t you see them? They chased me in here and nearly scared me to death with that horrible creature.”

Millie turned to Sir Jarvis. “What is he talking about?”

“We finally got the shadow beast under control and set him to patrolling the dungeon. He makes a marvelous watchdog. In fact, he was the one who alerted us to the old gent’s presence in the dungeon. We sent the beast away when we heard the door opening just now. We thought it was some guards coming down. No need to frighten them.”

“I’m glad you finally have him under control,” said Millie. “This … What
is
your name, anyway?” she asked the old man.

“Dogsbreath,” he said. “I came to ask for a charitable contribution and was trapped down here when the fire broke out.”

There was something about the old man that wasn’t quite right, something that made her instincts tell her not to trust him. And when he tilted his head in a way she’d seen before, Millie knew her instincts had been right. She clenched her hands, fighting the urge to turn into a dragon, wishing she hadn’t come into the dungeon so unprepared.