A Prince among Frogs (21 page)

“You must be terribly hungry,” said Millie. “Come with me and I’ll get you something to eat.”

“That would be wonderful, miss. You’re too kind.” The old man struggled to his feet, pressing his hand against the damp, grimy wall to get his balance. He wore the robes of a beggar, although his speech wasn’t like that of any beggar Millie had ever met. “My legs have grown numb. Please excuse my clumsiness.”

He took a step toward her and lurched almost to Millie’s feet. She backed away as if to let him pass, then stayed where she was as he staggered to the door.

“He’s lying, Princess,” Sir Jarvis whispered in her ear as the old man tottered toward the stairs.

“I thought so,” said Millie. “You would have told me sooner if a stranger had been in the dungeon all this time.”

“Miss!” called the old man. “Could you help me up the stairs?”

“Careful, Princess,” whispered Sir Jarvis. “He’s got something in his hand.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you,” Millie called back. “My skirts are too long and I’ll need both of my hands to hold them up.”

“Ah, well,” said Dogsbreath. “I’m sure I can manage. It just might take me longer.”

Millie peeked out the door and saw the old man take his first unsteady step up the stairs. “Take as long as you need,” she told him. “I’ll be right behind you.” Turning her head, she whispered to Sir Jarvis, “Make sure he didn’t do anything to the dungeon or leave anything behind.”

The ghost gave her an exaggerated wink and nodded. “I know what you mean. We’ll see to it,” he said and gestured at the ghosts floating in the corridor and emerging through walls.

Millie followed the old man up the stairs, holding her skirts with both hands in case he looked back. He paused frequently, and each time he did Millie paused as well, not wanting to get any closer to him. When he finally reached the landing, he waited as if expecting Millie to open the door.

“The landing is too narrow,” she told him. “You’ll have to open it yourself.”

Dogsbreath groaned as if the effort was too great for him, but he pushed the door open and stepped out into a sea of soldiers.

“Grab him, but be careful!” shouted Millie. “He has some kind of weapon. We’ll take him to my mother and sort this all out.”

“No! What are you doing? I’m not— Get your hands off me, you rogues!” cried the old man as soldiers pinned his arms to his sides and hustled him down the corridor into the Great Hall. “Why did you do this?” he yelled at Millie. “I thought you were such a nice young woman!”

“Who is this?” Emma asked as the guards deposited the old man before her.

“The ghosts found him in the dungeon,” said Millie. “I think it’s Olebald.”

“I told you my name is Dogsbreath!”

Emma nodded at one of the soldiers, who yanked the hood off Dogsbreath’s head. The frail-looking old man with tufted eyebrows and a full head of white hair gazed back at them in confusion. A murmur ran through the crowd that had gathered around to watch.

Millie ignored the comments and sized up the old man. “I’m sorry for asking the men to bring you here like this if you are indeed who you say you are,” she told him, “but I still think you’re Olebald Wizard.”

“Who?” Dogsbreath asked. The guards had loosened their grip on him and he took a step closer to Emma.

“Watch out,” said Millie. “I told you he has something in his hand. I think it’s a weapon.”

“What? Do you mean this?” Dogsbreath held up his hand, revealing a simple gray feather. “It’s my good luck charm. I was afraid of the ghosts so I held it in my hand, hoping it would keep me safe.”

“A weapon!” one of the guards said, and a number of them snickered, earning them a glare from Millie.

“I know one way to set this straight,” said Emma. Pointing her finger at the old man she said,

If liars never prosper

You have to show what’s true.

We want to see your real face—

The old one, not the new.

Dogsbreath inhaled sharply, looking horrified. Then his face seemed to grow fuzzy and vague, his features shifted, most of his hair disappeared, and Olebald stood before them. There was a rustling of fabric, and angry voices spoke out in the crowd. The human guards reached for him again.

“No!” shouted Olebald, wrenching his arms out of their grasp. The old man held up his hand. What had looked like a feather was now a knife, its tip black with what must have been poison. Waving the knife in front of him, he forced the guards to step back. And then he saw his chance and ran straight for the door.

The dragons who had been watching from the back moved in, growling deep in their throats. It was a primal sound that had terrified humans since the beginning of time. Every human in the room edged away, looking for a place to run. Even though Millie was part dragon herself, she felt her heart skip a beat.

Olebald, of course, ran faster and had almost reached the door when the dragons were on him, knocking him down, wresting the knife from his hand, and pinning him to the floor with their sharp talons. “You’re not getting away from us again,” said one of the dragon guards.

“Wait!” Emma shouted. “You may take him back with you, but he has to do something for me first.”

The dragons hauled Olebald to his feet and dragged him in front of Emma. The old man glanced from her to the dragons, fear plain on his face. After whispering something to one of the guards, she turned to Olebald and said, “I’m surprised you went into the dungeon, considering your run-in with the ghosts the last time you were here.”

“I would have left the castle, but I had unfinished business,” said Olebald. “Besides, your ghosts are so stupid that they didn’t even suspect it was me.”

“That isn’t true,” said Millie. “Why do you think they kept you in that cell and sent for me? They wouldn’t have done that if they’d thought you were an ordinary stranger. And what did you mean by ‘unfinished business’?”

“Nothing,” said the wizard, unable to meet her eyes.

“You meant to cut someone with that poisoned knife, didn’t you?” Millie asked. “You would have cut me with it if I’d come close enough to you in the dungeon.”

Emma gasped and turned to glare at Olebald. “You really are a despicable old man!”

Olebald’s face grew red and he pursed his lips as if trying not to speak. “Your family deserves to be taken down a peg or two!” he finally blurted. “You destroyed my life, and I want to do the same to you!”

“All we did was stop you when you tried to invade Greater Greensward and take our castle from us,” said Emma.

“Twice!” said Millie.

“You sent me to that horrible island with those crazy old women!” he told Emma.

“How did you escape from there, anyway?” Emma asked. “You were supposed to spend the remainder of your life on that island.”

Olebald smirked. “You think you’re so smart, but I have friends, you know.”

“It was Nastia Nautica, wasn’t it?” said Millie. “She lives close to that island.”

“You took a pearl from her and she wanted you to suffer for it,” he told her mother.

Emma looked shocked. “I didn’t take that pearl! I gave it to her daughter, Pearl, who was supposed to give it to her.”

“Well, she didn’t,” spat Olebald, “and Nastia Nautica has hated you ever since.”

“That explains a lot,” Emma murmured to herself.

“We had an agreement,” said Olebald. “She’d help me leave the island and use her skills to lure the Green Witch there, and I’d get to destroy the royal family of Greater Greensward. The thought of destroying this family was the only thing that’s kept me going all these years.”

“It was you who planted that nasty tree in the enchanted forest,” said Millie.

“That tree was supposed to drive you insane with agony,” Olebald said.

Millie shuddered. “It would have if I hadn’t turned into a dragon.”

“And the little manticores?” asked Audun, who had finally joined them.

“They did their job. They were a distraction to get her out of the castle while I took the baby,” Olebald said, scowling at Millie.

“Ah, here he is,” Emma said as Grassina strode through the crowd carrying the glass bowl. Taking the bowl from her aunt, Emma cradled it in her hands and turned to Olebald. “Before you go stay with the dragons for a very long time, you have to turn Felix back into a human.”

A sly smile widened the old man’s lips. “I’ll help you on one condition. I’ll turn him back if you promise to set me free. Otherwise he’ll stay a frog for the rest of his life and you’ll never—”

“The only bargain you’ll get is one with us,” said Frostybreath, who had come in from outside and pushed his way to the front of the crowd. “You turn the baby back into a human, and we won’t rip you limb from limb this very minute! We don’t have any patience for you, old man, so you have five seconds to decide. One!” All the dragons in the crowd smiled, showing their fangs. “Two!” The dragons tapped their talons on the floor. “Three!” The dragons began to growl softly. “Four!” The sound of growling swelled. “Fi—”

“All right, I’ll do it!” Olebald screamed.

His hands were shaking when he reached into his robes and pulled out an intricately carved gold ring. When he slipped the ring on his finger, Frostybreath leaned close and whispered, “You try any tricks and I’ll rip your head off where you stand.”

When the dragon placed his talons on the old man’s throat, Olebald gasped and said, “I won’t! I promise!”

Frostybreath snorted. “As if your promises are worth anything! Go ahead—say your spell, but be careful!”

Emma dipped her hand into the bowl. She took out the squirming tadpole and some of the water, being careful to keep her hand cupped so that the water didn’t leak through her fingers. Millie noticed that the tadpole had grown little buds that would turn into legs if he remained a frog.

Olebald opened his mouth to speak. He paused and a frown wrinkled his brow. “You’ve got me so rattled I can’t remember what I said before!” he blurted.

“Try hard,” Emma said, her voice cold.

“I’m not very good at making up spells,” whined Olebald.

“Just do it!” Frostybreath growled.

“I’ll … I’ll try!” Olebald whimpered. “Let me see now. Oh yes, this should work.”

Turn this frog back into

The baby that he used to be.

“That’s it?” Millie said when nothing happened. “I could do better than that, and I don’t even have that kind of magic.”

“Try again, wizard,” said Emma. “And he’s a tadpole, not a frog.”

“All right! I will!” Olebald squeaked as Frostybreath gave him a light cuff.

This baby is a tadpole

But he was born a human.

Change him into what he was,

A human, not a tadpole.

“That was worse than the first one!” said Millie.

“But it worked,” said Emma as the air around the tadpole started to sparkle. When the little creature began to stretch and grow, there was a loud gasp as everyone held their breath. The little face widened, the eyes grew bigger, his mottled skin turned pink, the leg buds grew into human baby legs and feet, and his arms and hands sprouted. Suddenly he was Felix again, pink cheeked with red gold curls and blue eyes filled with wonder.

“Oh, my little darling!” said Emma, holding him so tightly in her arms that he began to squirm and whimper.

“Now you’re coming with us,” said Frostybreath as his talons closed around Olebald’s shoulders.

“I’d take that ring from him first if I were you,” Emma told the dragon. “I’m sure that’s what gave him the power to change Felix and take over the castle.”

Frostybreath grunted. “I was just thinking that. Give me the ring, old man.”

“But I … ,” Olebald began. Then the dragon squeezed just a little harder, and the wizard hurriedly removed the ring and held it up for Frostybreath to take.

“You keep it,” the dragon told Emma. “If we have it at the stronghold, he’ll try to get out of his cell and find it. Get some rope, boys!” he shouted at the other dragons. “We’re tying him up and going home. I’m sorry I can’t stay for the wedding,” he said, turning back to Millie, “but the king put me in charge of Olebald. You and Audun should come visit me when you can.”

“We will,” Millie said and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The big dragon looked flustered from the kiss as he turned away, and his voice sounded gruffer than usual when he directed his men in tying up Olebald. The dragons marched the old wizard out of the Great Hall just as Audun and Eadric came in.

“I heard you found Olebald,” said Eadric as he watched him disappear down the corridor. “What about—Ah, there’s my boy!”

The baby cooed when his father took him in his arms, then grabbed a hunk of Eadric’s hair in his fist and yanked.

“Ow!” Eadric exclaimed. “It looks as if he’s none the worse for his experience.”

“He’s fine,” said Emma. “I’m going to take him up to the nursery now. Grassina is handling the preparations for the wedding. Do you see her anywhere? Ah, there she is! Millie, go talk to your great-aunt. I’ll be back down as soon as I can.”