“You mean I will.”
“Yes. You get to do the honors. Believe me, if I could do it myself, I would.”
Angelique circled the castle and shot her fiery breath, purposely missing a group of soldiers in her path.
“What was that?” he hollered in disbelief as they circled around. “You could have done much better than that! Try it again!”
She did what he asked with the same results.
“What game is this?” he growled angrily.
“None. I’m sorry. I have something in my eye, which is why I keep missing,” she lied. “I need to land and get it out.”
He groaned. “You’re kidding? Now?”
“Yes. I think it could be a bird. I can barely see, especially in the dark,” she replied, flying away from the castle, toward the woods. As soon as they landed in a clearing, Gaylen climbed off of her back and mumbled something about incompetence.
We’ll see who’s incompetent, she thought, scanning the surrounding trees for Edward. If he acted upon her message, a search party would hopefully be arriving soon.
“Hurry, before they realize what’s going on,” the wizard said, glaring at her. “There’s really no time for this.”
“I didn’t plan on this happening either. Quit being so bossy and rude,” she replied, turning into her real form. “If you’re unhappy with my performance, maybe you should be Baldour. Something tells me you’d enjoy setting fire to the soldiers much more than I would anyway.”
“You know that I can’t. I already explained why,” he said gruffly. “It would be dishonoring the Rotthavens and my vows forbid me to do that.”
“You can’t possibly think that this conspiracy you’ve engaged me in, isn’t dishonoring the king?” she asked, trying to stall.
“As long as I’m not the one doing the killing, I can plot whatever I need to. Now, hurry up.”
“What kind of plot are you talking about, Gaylen?” a voice asked in the darkness.
Angelique’s heart began to pound. It wasn’t Edward, but she did recognize the voice of the sheriff.
Eyes wide, Gaylen whipped his head around. “Who is there?”
Marcus stepped away from the trees with a knight at his side. Both of them had their swords out.
Angelique quickly took a step in their direction. “Fear me not. I was the one who sent Edward the message. Surely, you heard what Gaylen said, didn’t you?” she asked excitedly.
“Don’t move,” the knight warned. “Stay where you are.”
Angelique froze.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Gaylen asked angrily. “What are you doing out here, Sheriff?”
“The king received a message, stating that you were stabbing him in the back. Considering what we just heard and the company you’re keeping, it appears to be true.”
Angelique frowned. “Hey, I’m the one who wrote the note. I’m the one trying to save the king’s life. Mind your words.”
“Excuse me? I hope you’re not implying that I’m committing some type of treason?” Gaylen said. “And, don’t listen to her. I was the one who sent the message… so that you could capture Angelique.”
She glared at him. The wizard was clever. She gave him that. “Liar!” Angelique turned to Marcus. “It was me. Gaylen sending the message would make no sense. Surely, you see that? In fact, ask him what the note said. Go ahead. Ask him.”
“I believe I will. Wizard, what did the message say?” Marcus asked with a smirk.
Gaylen opened his mouth and closed it. “I… I don’t remember. She must have wiped my memory clean.”
Angelique laughed harshly. “You just never stop, do you?”
“Let’s go. Both of you,” Marcus said sternly. “We’ll let the king decide who’s lying and who’s not.”
Gaylen smoothed down his robe. “Fine. At least King Edward will listen to reason.”
The knight ordered both of them to turn over their wands. Neither agreed.
“You have nothing to fear from me,” Angelique promised, looking at Marcus. “If I wanted to leave, I would have already done so. If I wanted to harm someone, you’d know by now. I’m just tired of Gaylen’s treachery and want the king to learn the truth about his beloved wizard.”
Gaylen grunted. “Don’t let her words fool either of you. She is a witch and we all know that they can never be trusted. Obviously, I will not be giving up my wand. That would leave the entire kingdom defenseless.”
Angelique rolled her eyes.
“I cannot trust you around the king with your wand,” Marcus said, staring at her.
“You have my word that I will not harm him. Just like I didn’t harm your daughter,” she replied evenly. “Besides, you overheard our conversation and talk of a plot. It was Gaylen you heard mentioning it, correct?”
“Lies,” spat Gaylen.
Marcus looked from one to the other and sighed. “Let’s go. Both of you.”
14
AS MARISELLE, AND the others, were finishing supper, Griffin and Aiden returned, alone.
“What’s going on?” the queen asked, looking past them. “Where’s Edward?”
Griffin quickly told them about the dragon sighting.
Mariselle’s eyes widened in fear. “Dragon?”
The queen stood up, a horrified look on her face. “Did you just say that it’s circling our castle?”
He nodded.
All of the color washed out of Princess Eva’s face. “What do we do?” she asked, terrified.
“I want to see the dragon!” Mathias cried, getting up from his chair.
“Me, too!” said Zackary, who was seated next to Mariselle.
Mariselle couldn’t believe how excited they looked. It was as if they were talking about a puppy.
“Absolutely not. You will stay where you are,” Queen Lizbeth ordered sternly.
Disappointed, both boys plopped back into their chairs and began to mope.
“We need to get you all to safety. Father suggested that we leave the castle from the underground escape route,” Griffin said.
“Yes. We need to get moving,” Aiden added. “We’re supposed to meet Marcus down there in twenty minutes.”
“Leave?” The queen’s eyebrows knitted together. “Surely, staying here would be in our best interests right now?”
“In most circumstances, yes. We’re dealing with witches and dragons, however, so the safest place is anyplace other than here,” Griffon replied.
The queen sighed.
“What if the dragon catches us outside of the castle?” Eva asked, alarmed. “I don’t know about this idea.”
Mariselle listened intently as they discussed all of their options, her fears rising. From what she understood, everyone’s lives were in danger and that the dragon would have no problem destroying the castle, since they had no real defense against the beast.
And what about Father? Would he be required to stay?
“Don’t worry, Mariselle,” said Zackary noticing that she was frightened. He reached under the table and took her hand. “Our father won’t let anything happen to you. We have the knights and I have my sword, too. I won’t let anything, or anyone, hurt you.”
She wanted to believe him, but they were talking about a huge, fire-breathing dragon. She didn’t think anything could protect them against something like that. “Thank you, Zackary,” she said, trying to smile.
He smiled back. “I told you I’d be your champion.”
“If we’re to leave, I imagine we should gather a few belongings,” the queen said, moving away from the table. “Karina, why don’t you and Mariselle wait for us in the Great Hall?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” her mother replied.
“There isn’t much time,” Griffin said, looking frustrated. “We need to get moving now.”
“A few more minutes won’t make a difference,” the queen said, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t hear anything coming from the towers. Are you sure there really is a dragon out there?”
“That’s what we were told,” Aiden replied.
Still looking doubtful, Queen Lizbeth turned toward the five guards, who were talking amongst themselves quietly. “Someone needs to find the king. I won’t leave until I hear it straight from him that this is the best thing to do.”
“Yes, My Queen,” they said in unison.