A Prince among Frogs (3 page)

Because Millie didn’t have the kind of magic to control a carpet herself, her mother had given it a simple set of commands. All the princess had to do was repeat a few words and the carpet would go wherever she wanted. It wasn’t as much fun as flying in dragon form, but there were certain places where a royal princess would be welcome whereas a dragon would not. Her parents had made her promise never to leave Greater Greensward in dragon form unless another dragon accompanied her. Too many people feared and hated dragons, and she wasn’t safe outside her own kingdom. Millie never even flew to Upper Montevista as a dragon. The royal archers still shot at dragons that dared to fly near the castle, which didn’t bode well for relations between Millie’s Upper Montevistan grandparents and her future in-laws.

“Rise and leave!” Millie said, bracing herself because she expected the magic carpet to levitate. When nothing happened, she tried again. “Climb and depart!” The carpet remained motionless on the floor. It had been many months since Millie had used the carpet. She knew the phrase her mother had chosen was short and to the point, but that didn’t help if Millie couldn’t remember the words. “Float and flee!” “Ascend and fly away!” she said to no avail.

“I can’t believe this!” she declared out loud. “All I want to do is make this carpet get up and go!” The carpet lurched into the air, sending Millie toppling onto her back. Flinging her arms wide, she grabbed hold of the edges and held on while the carpet shot through the window, only to hover two stories above the ground. “Ah,” she murmured. “I think I remember it now.”

The magic carpet wobbled beneath her as Millie sat up and looked around. She hated that things like this happened whenever she tried to use ordinary magic.

Millie shifted her weight the way her mother had shown her, making the carpet change direction. She straightened her clothes as the carpet floated around her parents’ tower and into the courtyard outside the castle keep. The fairies were still there talking to Audun. Though Moss and Trillium both looked worried when they saw her, Poison Ivy only managed to look smug. “So you did come back,” the fairy said as if she’d tasted something nasty. “I thought you might have been frightened into running away.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” Millie replied, turning to face Moss and Trillium, “but it took me a while to get my carpet out of storage. Audun, if you’re ready …”

Millie leaned forward and the carpet drifted to the ground, allowing Audun to climb on behind her. He gave her a searching look as he sat down and crossed his legs. After all they had been through together, he was attuned to her moods more than anyone and often seemed to know just what she was thinking.

“This should be fun,” she said over her shoulder, giving him an encouraging smile.

Audun nodded, although his eyes showed that he didn’t believe she meant it. She’d told him many times how worried she was about her lack of nondragon magic and how ineffective she felt in a family where most of the women were witches.

“Then let’s go!” Poison Ivy announced. The next instant she was no bigger than Millie’s little finger and sported iridescent green wings. She was the first to dart over the castle wall with Trillium only a heartbeat behind her.

“I’ll show you the way,” said Moss, and then she too was tiny.

Millie had never flown with fairies before. By the time the carpet rose above the walls, both Poison Ivy and Trillium were out of sight. Moss was careful to stay where Millie could see her, however, although she had to circle back if Millie and Audun didn’t move fast enough. Soon they landed in a small clearing in the heart of the enchanted forest.

“Where is this plant?” Millie asked, looking around her as she climbed off the carpet.

“It’s a tree, actually,” said Moss, settling on the forest floor a few feet away. The air shimmered as she turned back into a full-sized fairy in time for her to raise her arm and point. “It’s down that path. Just look for the tree with the red berries and the dead bird by its roots.”

“Aren’t you coming with us?” Millie asked, feeling a touch of unease.

“We wouldn’t go near that thing for all the pollen in the kingdom!” said Poison Ivy, who was already back to full size. “It’s up to you now. We just wanted to make sure that someone came to take care of it. Come on, Trillium, I hear they have a new batch of dandelion wine at the old stump.”

Moss shook her head as the other two fairies darted away, tiny once again. “I’m sorry, but she’s right. We’re not able to go near that tree safely. Thank you so much for coming. We weren’t sure that even a strong witch like your mother could handle this. Let us know how it goes!”

The air had begun to shimmer around her when Audun called out, “Are the berries poisonous?”

“Maybe,” called Moss, her voice becoming fainter as she shrank. “I don’t know. But it’s not poison you have to worry about.” And then she was gone, leaving Millie and Audun alone in the enchanted forest.

“What do you suppose is wrong with this tree?” asked Millie. “What could be so awful about it that no fairy will claim it?” Now that Poison Ivy was gone, Millie’s temper had cooled and she started to wonder what she’d gotten herself into.

“Is that what they said?” said Audun. “I thought every plant had a fairy to watch over it. It must be pretty serious if none of the fairies likes it.”

“Maybe we should go back,” said Millie. “The fairies said this would take really strong magic. My mother should be home soon and we can bring her here, now that we know where to come.”

Audun frowned. “You shouldn’t second-guess yourself, Millie. There’s no need to worry. We’re dragons. We can handle anything. Unless it’s your human side speaking now, in which case—”

“Are you implying that my human side is any less than my dragon side?” Millie asked.

Looking surprised, Audun backed up a step. “You’re the one who has doubts. Lack of confidence is rarely a dragon trait. As far as I know, humans are the only creatures who are ever uncertain about their own abilities.”

“I’m not uncertain!” said Millie. “It’s just that my magic isn’t very strong and that’s what we need to take care of this plant.”

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” Audun told her. “You stay here, and I’ll go look.” He started down the path, glancing from one side to the other.

“I will not!” Millie said as she hurried to catch up. “I came here on my mother’s behalf, so
I
have to take care of this. You’re the one who should stand back and wait for me to look into it!”

“Look,” said Audun, gesturing at a tree a few yards away. “Is that the tree they were talking about? It has red berries.”

It was a pretty little tree that couldn’t have been more than seven feet tall. Its leaves were nearly heart shaped, and the branches bore clusters of red berries.

“They look like raspberries,” said Millie, reaching out to pick one.

Audun knocked her hand aside. “Don’t touch it!”

“Moss said it wasn’t poisonous.”

“She said she didn’t know if it was poisonous, but she still thought it was dangerous. There’s the dead bird she was talking about.”

“And there are three more dead birds over here,” Millie said.

“I saw some plants once that had branches like arms. The plants could move around. I wonder if this tree can, too.”

Millie shook her head. “It doesn’t look like it.”

A breeze sprang up, shivering the leaves of the trees around them. Audun slapped at his cheek. “Something just stung me!”

Millie took a step toward him. “Let me see,” she said. A flurry of loose leaves broke free from the tree and fluttered through the air. One brushed against her upraised hand. Millie cried out as blinding pain tore through her. She stared at her hand in horror, stumbling back until she bumped into the solid trunk of an old oak.

“What happened?” Audun asked, his hand pressed to his cheek.

“I don’t know,” Millie gasped. The pain radiating up her arm was so intense that she could think of nothing else.

“It must have something to do with that tree. We have to change, Millie. Do it now!”

“It hurts so much!”

“The change might help. Please, you have to try!”

Millie’s entire body vibrated from the pain. It was hard to concentrate, but she forced herself. The transformation seemed to take forever, but then her skin turned from the soft flesh of a human to tough dragon hide and the pain ended with surprising abruptness. Millie turned to face Audun, who was now a dragon as well.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice heavy with concern.

“I am. Are you?”

Audun nodded. “Look,” he said, striding closer to the tree. “The entire thing is covered with fuzz—the berries, the leaves, the bark—everything.”

“Like a peach?” asked Millie, joining him beside the tree. She arched her neck for a better look. Dragon eyesight is far better than human, and she could now see things that she couldn’t before.

“Not at all,” said Audun. “Peach fuzz is soft. This stuff is more like tiny needles.”

Millie glanced down at her front foot. She could see her dragon hide forcing the needles out even as she watched. When they were fully expelled, she exhaled a puff of flame, melting them like molten glass. “I can see why the fairies were afraid of the tree.”

“They should have told us what to expect,” said Audun.

“Fairies rarely do what they should,” said Millie. “They don’t think about things the way we do.”

A breath of air rustled the leaves again. This time Millie could see the cloud of tiny needles that swept from the tree into the surrounding forest.

“What do you want to do about the tree?” Audun asked.

“Burn it to the ground,” Millie said, backing away. “The fairies were right. This tree is too dangerous and shouldn’t be here.”

Audun stood to the side while Millie blasted the tree with fire, letting her flame wash over it so that she burned the tiny needles as well as the plant itself. When she was finished and there was nothing but ash, Audun stepped forward and began digging up the ground where the tree had stood. “Remember those plants … I … told you about?” he asked, puffing with exertion. “I thought I’d killed them … but just a few weeks later … they started to grow again. If we really want to … get rid of this tree … we have to destroy … the roots as well.”

“Good idea,” said Millie.

A dragon’s talons are tougher than metal yet refined enough to pluck a gnat from the air without hurting it. Millie watched as Audun dug up the roots, knowing that he would find every one. She waited until he was out of the way, then burned every scrap of root to ashes, too.

“That was awful!” Millie said as they returned to the spot where she’d left her magic carpet.

They flew back to the castle side by side. Millie was delighted with what she’d been able to accomplish, but she couldn’t help wondering what she would have done if the task had required the kind of magic she didn’t have.

Millie was relieved when she found her parents waiting for her in the Great Hall and couldn’t wait to tell them what had happened. But before she could say a word, her mother kissed her on her human-again cheek and said, “Your father and I are leaving. Grassina and Haywood should have returned by now. I told your father I was worried, and he suggested that we go to the island to see if they need our help. I’m sure your father is right and nothing bad has happened, but I can’t help thinking that we should have heard from them.”

“And when we get there and your mother sees that everyone is fine, she and I might just take a few days to enjoy the beach,” said Eadric, Millie’s father. “We haven’t been there in years.”

“We shouldn’t be gone long,” said Emma. “Your grandparents will be in charge of any nonmagical issues, but I’m depending on you and your cousin, Francis, to help out if any magical problems come up. And keep an eye on Felix, too, if you would. His nursemaid has everything under control, but I’d feel better if I knew you were watching over him as well.”

“Of course I’ll keep an eye on Felix, but are you sure you have to go?” Millie asked, and immediately felt selfish and petty. This was her great-aunt and great-uncle her mother was talking about, people who were very dear to her. If they needed help, her parents had to go. But being left alone to deal with all of the magical problems … Francis would be there, but she couldn’t imagine that he’d be much help. He was so preoccupied with becoming a knight that he never spent much time on his other magical studies, even though he was more gifted than Millie. If she had half the magic he had, she would have studied every book and parchment she could get her hands on …