The Frog Princess Returns Page 8

“The queen makes her home in that tree,” Nightshade announced, pointing at the ancient willow. “I doubt she’s there now, but it’s worth a try.”

  I had tucked Adara in my pocket so I wouldn’t lose her. She peeked out, twitching her little mousy nose. “The queen lives in a tree!” she exclaimed. “I thought it would be a palace made of crystal or gold. How disappointing!” A moment later, she disappeared back into my pocket as if nothing there was worth seeing.

  Nightshade and his friends looked around while Eadric followed me to the willow. Brushing the branches aside, I slipped under the arching canopy. The long, slender leaves filtered the light, giving the space a pale green glow. When I didn’t see anyone, big or small, I called out, “Queen Willow! Are you here?”

  I didn’t really expect an answer, but before I could call out again, flickering lights descended from the upper reaches of the tree. Four tiny fairies fluttered around me, the lights from their wings bright spots of color in the green of the willow tree.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?” asked a fairy covered in curly leaves.

  “I’m Emma the Green Witch,” I told them. “I’m looking for your queen, Willow.”

  “So are we! Do you know where she is?” one of the fairies replied.

  I sighed and shook my head. “No, that’s why I’m looking for her. Who are you? Do you live around here?”

  “Of course we live around here! We live in this very tree,” a fairy wearing a dandelion-puff hat said, looking scornful.

  A fairy with fluffy pink hair hurried to say, “We’re the ladies of the queen’s court. We keep the queen company when she’s in residence.”

  “When did you see her last?” I asked.

  “Oh, my. I’m not sure. I suppose it was after breakfast,” said a fairy wearing a gown of blue petals.

  “You saw her this morning,” I said, excited that my search might be almost over.

  “Of course not, silly! It was ever so long ago,” declared the pink-haired fairy.

  “How long ago, exactly?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. Ages and ages, I think.”

  “It was hot out, wasn’t it? I seem to remember fanning my face with a leaf when we said good-bye,” the fairy wearing the blue petals said.

  “Did the queen tell you where she was going?” I said. “What did she say before she left?”

  “When who left? Dandelion? She didn’t leave. She’s right there!”

  I wasn’t getting anywhere with the ladies of the court. After thanking them, I slipped out from under the willow branches and returned to the meadow. Nightshade and his friends were there, talking to some other small fairies. When I looked his way, Nightshade shook his head. Apparently he wasn’t having any better luck.

  I had thought that Eadric was right behind me when I first slipped under the willow branches. He hadn’t joined me, however, making me wonder where he had gone. I looked around, finally spotting him at the edge of the lake. He was talking to someone in the water, but I couldn’t see who it was. A moment later, Eadric bent down to take off his shoes. Curious, I started walking along the shoreline. Eadric was wading into the water when I realized that he was talking to a water nymph with long green hair.

  “Eadric, stop!” I called, and started to run.

  He turned toward me and waved.

  “What are you doing?” I asked when I was close enough.

  “This nice girl invited me to see her underwater palace,” he replied. “I’ve never seen one under a lake before. She says that the water is much deeper than you’d think.”

  “Shame on you for lying like that!” I told the nymph.

  “But it is quite deep,” she told me, trying to look innocent.

  “That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” I said. “Eadric, she’s a water nymph, not a mermaid like our friend Coral. There is no palace under the lake. She’s lying to get you in the water so she can drown you! That’s what water nymphs do!”

  “How do you know there’s no palace?” Eadric asked, looking skeptical.

  I glanced at the lake. The water seemed clear, but I couldn’t really see more than a few feet below the surface. For all one could tell by looking at it, an entire city might lie only ten feet down.

  “Look, I’ll show you,” I said, and hurriedly made up a spell.

  Murky water

  Become clear

  So we can see

  What’s far and near.

  It wasn’t much of a spell, but it did the job. The water became as clear as crystal, revealing a rock-strewn bottom, a snapping turtle chasing a school of minnows, and not much else.

  Eadric’s eyes grew round as he gazed into the water. Shaking his head, he picked up his shoes and stalked back to the willow tree.

  “My Eadric is a good person, but he’s far too trusting,” I told the nymph. “I’m surprised Queen Willow let you lure men to their doom right under her nose like this.”

  The nymph shrugged. “She didn’t, but she’s gone now. Who’s to stop me from doing whatever I like?”

  “I am,” I said, starting to lose my temper. “I’m the Green Witch, and until there’s a new fairy ruler, I guess it’s up to me to keep people safe. Leave this lake and don’t come back. And if I ever hear that you’re lying to people like this again, I’ll turn you into a minnow and introduce you to the snapping turtle I just saw. Do you understand?”

  The nymph swallowed hard and nodded. “I understand. I’ll just get my things,” she said, and slipped back into the water.

  “You know she’ll be back before the week is up,” Nightshade told me. He had walked over when I was talking to the nymph, but I hadn’t noticed until now.

  “I’m sure you’re right,” I replied. “That’s just another reason why we need Willow back.”

  We were gathered by the magic carpet, trying to decide where to look next, when I noticed a woman dressed all in white coming toward us from the forest. Ignoring me and the three fairies, she strode straight to Eadric and stared him in the eyes. “Are you a hunter?” she demanded.

  “Huh?” said Eadric.

  “Are you here to hunt?” she asked, prodding his chest with one finger.

  “No, he’s not,” I told her, knowing full well that he hunted every chance he got when we were at home. That wasn’t in the enchanted forest, however, which was what the Vila really cared about. I’d never met a Vila before, but my aunt Grassina had told me about them. Protectors of the forest and the animals that lived there, Vili were known to hate hunters who dared enter their forests.

  “If you’re not here to hunt, why are you here?” the Vila asked us.

  “We’re looking for Queen Willow,” I replied. “Have you seen her?”

  “Of course I’ve seen her. I live here, don’t I?” the Vila snapped.

  “Let me rephrase that,” I said. “When was the last time you saw her?”

  “Let me think,” said the Vila. “Oh, I remember! It was when the dragons were holding their Olympics. Queen Willow told me that she was on her way to watch the contests. She’d received a special invitation and was very excited. I didn’t see her again after that. Oh, my! Do you think the dragons did something to her? Maybe they cooked her! Or maybe one of them stepped on her and squashed her flat. They might have covered up the incident so they wouldn’t get in trouble!”

  “I doubt very much that the dragons hurt the Fairy Queen,” I told her. “But it does give us somewhere else to look. Thank you!”

  “My pleasure,” said the Vila before turning to Eadric. “Are you sure you’re not a hunter? You look like one.”

  “We need to go,” I said, and hustled Eadric to the magic carpet.

  We were just getting on when a fairy landed on the grass beside me and became full-sized. He was the handsomest fairy I’d ever seen, which means a lot, considering that most fairies are very attractive. He had thick, dark brown hair, and eyes the color of cornflowers. Tall, with more defined muscles than most male fairies, he was enough t
o turn any girl’s head. I heard a little gasp coming from my pocket, so I knew that Adara had seen him, too.

  “I hear you’re looking for Queen Willow,” he said in a voice that would have made a minstrel proud.

  “We are,” I replied, aware that Eadric was glaring at the newcomer. “Most of the fairies seem to think she faded away, but we don’t know that for certain. The fairies need her. We’re hoping to find her and bring her back from wherever she’s gone.”

  “Have you had any luck with your search so far?” he asked, glancing from me to Eadric to Nightshade and his friends.

  “I told them about the Dragon Olympics!” said the Vila, who I’d thought had already gone. “I think a dragon might have eaten the queen.” She smiled at him as if he was the best thing since the discovery of fire, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “We’re going to see the dragons next,” I told the fairy. “I’m Emma the Green Witch, and this is my betrothed, Prince Eadric. Nightshade, Oleander, and Persimmon have been kind enough to help us look.”

  “I see,” the fairy said, eyeing our companions. “Then perhaps I can be of assistance as well. I, too, am looking for Queen Willow. My name is Acorn, and I’m an old friend of the queen’s.”

  I nodded, having already noticed that his tunic was made of overlapping oak leaves. “We’d be delighted to have you along,” I said. “Nightshade, I’ll lead the way this time. I know exactly where to go.”

  “I wouldn’t have used the word delighted,” Eadric whispered in my ear as we took our seats on the carpet. “You could have said, ‘No thanks!’”

  “Why?” I asked. “He said he’s already looking for her and he’s an old friend of hers. He might have the insight we need to actually find her.”

  “Maybe,” grumbled Eadric. “But I don’t like him!”

  Eleven

  I had visited the Purple Mountains twice before. The first time, Ralf had taken Eadric and me to see his grandfather Gargle Snort, the king of the fire-breathing dragons. The second time we had gone to the heart of the mountain to see the Dragon Olympics. That was over a year ago. The Olympics were held once a year, but we hadn’t gone to this year’s games.

  We were flying toward the mountains when the wind carried the scent of boiled cabbage our way. “Do you smell that?” I asked Eadric. “That means someone is practicing.”

  Eadric nodded. We had learned that the fiery breath of dragons was real fire that smelled like boiled cabbage. The smoke that their fire created formed pink clouds that the wind could carry for miles. The smell was an especially good way to tell if a dragon was real or a magic-created illusion. If you saw a flaming dragon but couldn’t smell boiled cabbage, some magic-wielder was probably trying to trick you. Smelling cabbage near the Purple Mountains meant that someone was practicing their flaming for the next Olympics. According to my dragon friends, contestants practiced there all year long.

  Turning the carpet into a narrow valley rich with caves on either side, I spotted the one I wanted and landed in front of it. It was a large cave, but I knew that it narrowed in back to form a tunnel that led into the mountain. The tunnel could take you many places, one of which was King Gargle Snort’s lair. Eadric knew what lay beyond, but I didn’t know if the fairies did. I wasn’t about to tell them, either. Ralf had shown great trust by taking us to his grandfather’s lair. I wasn’t about to betray that trust to anyone.

  As I got off the carpet, I reached into my pocket and took out Adara the mouse. She squeaked in surprise but looked pleased when I handed her to Eadric. “I’ll be going in alone and I can’t take her with me,” I said.

  “Be careful,” Eadric said, and leaned toward me for a kiss.

  Nightshade had been peering into the cave. “What is this place?” he asked. “I thought we were going to the dragon’s arena.”

  “This is one of the ways in,” I told him. “We can’t fly there. The heat from the volcano makes it too turbulent for my carpet and might singe your wings. Even if we could fly in, a racing dragon might run into us or someone’s flame might cook us. Only dragons can safely enter the arena from above. This way is much safer, although it gets very hot at the end, and it would be easy to get lost.” If one stayed in the tunnel long enough, taking the turns that Ralf had shown us, it was possible to reach the arena.

  “I don’t like this,” said Oleander. “This place reeks of dragon.”

  “We should all go with you,” Nightshade told me. “It’s dangerous in there.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I replied, and turned toward the cave.

  “I know you said that you’re the Green Witch,” said Acorn. “But dragon fire can hurt witches, too.”

  I paused long enough to say, “It won’t hurt me. I’m not just an ordinary witch. Wait here. This may take a while.”

  I had started into the cave when I heard the fairies talking to Eadric. “How can you let her go like that?” Acorn asked him. “Aren’t you worried about her safety?”

  “She’s the only one who would be safe in there,” Eadric told them. “Emma knows what she’s doing.”

  “She must have some powerful magic,” said Nightshade.

  “Oh, she does. Believe me!” Eadric exclaimed.

  If I’d known when we started out that morning that I’d be visiting the Purple Mountains, I would have brought the fire- and heat-proofing salve that Ralf had given me. Without it, there was only one way I could enter the arena or see the king without getting cooked. I would have to go in as a dragon.

  It was common knowledge that fairies were afraid of dragons. Perhaps it was because fairies feared that they would get cooked or eaten or stomped on. Or perhaps it was because it was rumored that fairy magic didn’t work on dragons. Whatever the reason, I hadn’t wanted to change in front of them. It was true that they might have heard that the Green Witch could turn into a dragon, but on the off chance that they hadn’t, I didn’t want to frighten them.

  There was more than one tunnel leading from the back of the cave, but I found the one I wanted easily enough. It was one of the biggest tunnels and the smoothest. For centuries, enormous dragons had passed this way. Scales on their feet and bodies had rubbed the bumps and uneven edges off the stone walls, floor, and ceiling over the years.

  My footsteps echoed as I walked through darkness so complete that I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face. Even so, I walked far enough that I could no longer hear Eadric and the fairies before I started the transition. I stood still with my eyes closed while the change came over me. Turning into a dragon no longer hurt, nor did it take as long as it once did. If I tried to hurry it, however, the pain felt like it would rip me apart. When I finally opened my eyes, the tunnel didn’t seem quite so dark or so big. I was now three times longer than my human height, and my senses were more acute.

  I continued on, passing openings that would lead me in the wrong direction. Eventually, I noticed a glow up ahead. Phosphorescent lichen grew in parts of the tunnel, making it easier to see. I entered a huge cavern where crystalline flowers grew all around me and columns of multicolored rock rose from floor to ceiling. “I wish Eadric could see this!” I murmured as I paused to look around. We had been there once before, but we had been frogs then and saw things very differently.

  I walked on, my head turning from side to side as I took in my surroundings. Soon I entered another tunnel, and another after that, taking different branches and offshoots, until I finally found the one that led me to a large chamber well lit with lichen.

  Although the cavern was just as rich with color as some of the others I’d passed through, it wasn’t from stone columns or crystalline flowers. Instead, huge piles of different-colored objects covered the floor, leaving just enough space for an enormous dragon to pass between. As I stepped into the cavern, my foot touched a golden chalice that had fallen from the nearby gold pile. The chalice spun to the side, clinking across the floor.

  “Who’s there!” roared a voice. What I’d thought was part of the gold
pile stood up. King Gargle Snort stared in my direction, his rheumy eyes not quite focusing on me. His golden scales glittered as he took a step toward me, smoke escaping from his nostrils as his anger grew.

  “It’s me, Emma!” I told him. “Remember me? I’m Ralf’s friend. I became a Dragon Friend at the last Olympics.”

  “Why would you be a Dragon Friend if you’re a dragon?” he asked as smoke billowed around him.

  “I can turn into a dragon now. I think it’s because I am a Dragon Friend. My magic became stronger when I breathed in your concentrated smoke.”

  “I remember now!” the king said. “And you’re a green dragon! I didn’t know green dragons existed. My grandson had a friend who was looking for one once. His friend was a frog, if I recall. Turned out to be human. A good sort, even so.”

  I smiled. I was the one who had been looking for a green dragon to help end Haywood’s otter spell. It was the reason Ralf had brought me to see his grandfather in the first place.

  “You’re here just in time,” Gargle Snort announced. “My talons are too big and clumsy to pick up some of the more delicate things. I was going to ask Ralf to come by, but you’ll do just fine. Here, put these parchments in that pile, then come see me. I have lots for you to do.”

  Ralf had told Eadric and me that his grandfather sorted his collections in various ways. Apparently he was still sorting them by color. I didn’t mind helping him for a little while if he could answer some of my questions.

  “I wanted to ask you something,” I said as I picked up the parchments as carefully as I could. The parchments were old and crumbly and I didn’t like moving them, but it was better than leaving them on the ground to be stepped on.

  “Hmm,” he said. “What’s that?”

  “Did you invite the Fairy Queen, Willow, to the Dragon Olympics?”

  “Yes, I did,” Gargle Snort replied. “Lovely woman, for a fairy. Very nice and thoughtful, too. Gave me a gift when she arrived. Now, where did I put that? It should be right over here! Tell me if you see a blue bottle of mermaid’s tears lying around. Ah, here’s the ruby necklace I found yesterday. Put it in that red pile, please.”