Born to Rule (8 page)

“Now I’m just going to slip into something more comfortable,” Lady Merry said as she lowered the curtains. Soon the sedan chair began to toss and buck like a ship caught in a sudden gale.

“She’s changing into her bathing costume,” said an attendant as a large corset was flung through the curtains. Finally Lady Merry pulled back the curtain. She was sitting in the sedan chair in a brilliant crimson-and-purple polka-dot silk costume. “I wear both teams’ colors, please note.”

The three princesses did note the colors as well as the size of the costume.

“Ah, yes, it took two jousting tents to make this outfit. Ever so clever, isn’t it?” Lady Merry said.

The princesses, along with several others and Lady Merry still in the sedan chair, made their way across the drawbridge. They headed down the grassy banks that surrounded the moat to a small crescent of beach, where Lady Gustavia, one of the waterfront counselors, sat in a tall stone chair. She wore a golden ruby-studded whistle around her neck to catch the attention of those swimmers who were not obeying the strict waterfront safety rules.

The moat was fairly wide and encircled the entire castle. Some of the older princesses said it was really fun to swim under the drawbridge.

“No dangerous fish?” Alicia asked a third-year princess named Eloise.

“Oh, no, just lovely little sunfish mostly. They are quite friendly. They come up and tickle your toes.”

“How deep is it?” asked Gundersnap nervously.

“It’s over your head out in the middle. The shallow parts go pretty far out, so don’t worry.”

“But the best part about the moat,” Princess Eloise continued, “is that it gives you great views of the castle. When you learn how to float on your back, there is nothing nicer than just floating along and looking up at all the lovely turrets and spires. You can smell all the good food cooking as you go by the kitchens and hear the blacksmith in his yard hammering away. On the far side of the moat, the one you can’t see from here, the banks are covered with daffodils in the spring. And look, the water is so blue. Just like your sapphires, Kristen. It reminds me of a sapphire ring.” Princess Eloise was known for being a very kind princess, and all the younger girls wanted to be just like her.

“Brrr, it’s cold,” Alicia said as she stuck a dainty toe in.

“Not really,” said Kristen. “Not nearly as cold as in the Isles of the Salt Tears. What about in Sloboland, Gunny?”

“I don’t go swimming at home,” Gundersnap explained. “Mummy is afraid we might die before we get married. She has all our husbands picked out already, and she has to pay big money if we die.”

Alicia was suddenly grateful that her own Belgravian royal family didn’t believe in arranged marriages. She hoped Gundersnap’s chosen husband would be a nice one.

The three princesses now turned to watch the attendants in the launching of Lady von Schleppenspiel. Lady Merry created a rather large disturbance in the calm surface of the moat’s waters as she paddled out to the center. She then twirled about in her water wings and began waving at the princesses of the South Turret. “Good luck on your swim tests, Princesses!” She blew them kisses as she bobbled about in the clear water.

The swim test would begin from the small sandy beach on which they now stood. Those who were already swimmers, such as Kristen and Myrella, were in the water about to begin their circuit of the moat. They were supposed to circle the castle clockwise, then swim under the drawbridge and back to the starting point.

It seemed like no time since Kristen and Myrella had started, but suddenly they heard “A-ten level!” Lady Gussie shouted this as Kristen and Myrella raced under the drawbridge in the last stretch toward the beach.

“Tie!” Myrella called out.

A tie it was indeed. Myrella had almost beaten Kristen, but Kristen had pulled even at the very last second.

“Let’s do it again,” Kristen said.

“No, I want to do tricks,” Myrella replied as she clambered up on a rock in the middle of the moat. She dived off in a stunning upside-down twist. Ringlets of hair sprang out from her bathing tiara in a bright golden flurry.

“One might think she had scales,” said a nasty voice behind them. Alicia turned to look. It was the Duchess of Bagglesnort. She smiled her rather grim smile and said, “But then again, what would one expect from a princess of the Marsh Kingdoms?”

Alicia and Gundersnap exchanged looks.

“Omigod, does she suck or what?” Kristen muttered.

Alicia shivered in the sun at the test of bravery confronting her—the swim test. “If Kristen and Myrella are A-tens,” Alicia whispered to Gundersnap, “We’re probably Z-subzeros.”

“I don’t see why we have to take a test. We told them we can’t swim. What’s there to test? How bad we are?” said the ever-practical Gundersnap.

But the time was coming. The two princesses stood on the small beach with a dozen other princesses waiting their turns.

And then Alicia and Gundersnap were called.

“By the frosty breath of Saint Bertie, it’s really cold,” Alicia gasped as she waded in cautiously. Then she sent up a quick prayer to Saint Addie of Vernon, the patron saint of swimmers.

“Not so cold when you have as much padding as I do,” Lady Merry said. “Come, come, miladies. Follow me. The water wings will support you.”

“Lead them once around the moat, Lady Merry. We just want to see their form with the wings,” Lady Gussie called.

Her teeth chattering, Alicia felt her feet leave the sand as the bottom of the moat slanted downward toward the middle, where the water would be over their heads. The water wings held her up! It was not quite as scary as she had imagined.

“Now, stroke toward me, girls,” Lady Merry instructed.

Lady Merry cut a large wake through the water. The waves she made lapped gently over the two princesses, but they managed to keep up. They circled around the castle, by the blacksmith’s shop where they heard the hammer and tongs as he fitted the shoes to horses, by the kitchen where the wonderful fragrance of plum tarts baking wafted out across the moat.

As they swam, Alicia looked up and wondered where in this castle might an unfinished tapestry be. Aside from the turrets for the princesses, there were many more towers and spires than she would have ever guessed. They continued swimming and were soon passing under the drawbridge. It was all shadows and strange echoes.

“Woo, woo!” Lady Merry called out, and the hollow sounds of the echoing drawbridge wrapped around the two princesses. “I’m a ghost!” Lady Merry giggled as if she were one of the campers. “I’m a ghost!”

“Holy monk bones, is she trying to scare us?” Alicia paddled faster as she approached the beach where they had started. Lady Gussie waded out to greet them.

“Bravo, Your Highnesses,” said Lady Gussie. “Now for the final test.”

“What’s that?” Alicia asked.

“Faces in the water,” Gussie replied.

“No!” both princesses gasped.

“Oh, yes!” Princess Myrella said. She was jumping up and down on the beach. “It’s fun. Just close your mouth and open your eyes. You’ll see the loveliest little fish.”

Princess Alicia had no desire to see lovely little fish. She had no desire to get her face wet. All she could think of was getting water up her nose. The whole idea was appalling. Who would dare to go first? She turned to Gundersnap, who was looking quite pale.

“
Acht!
This is…scary!”

Alicia was relieved to see that Gundersnap was scared too, but before she knew it, Gundersnap had plunged her head under the water. When she resurfaced, she was indeed spouting water from her nose, and her bathing tiara was perched at an odd angle.

Gundersnap blinked, then sputtered. “I opened my eyes. I saw a fish that looked exactly like my mother! Totally ice!”

“Oh, it must have been the prickly blowfish,” Lady Gussie offered.

“
Ja, ja
. It was blown up like a balloon and had little stickers all over its scales.”

“Very good, Princess Gundersnap,” said Lady Gussie. “Well, now we can put you in the advanced beginners class. Anyone who can put her head under can be a B-eight. Two more levels and you’ll be an intermediate, out of the moat, and ready for the lake.”

Alicia stared at Gundersnap in amazement. How had she done it? B-8! If she didn’t do it, Alicia supposed she would be a B-flat! Left behind on the beach of the moat while her turretmates went off for lake swimming.

The princess squished her eyes shut—she had no intention of seeing the blowfish that looked like the Empress Maria Theresa of All the Slobodks. She held her nose and stuck her head into the water. She was tempted to open one eye. But no. All they said was to get your face wet, not your eyeballs. She could still be a B-8 with her eyes shut. Her cheeks blew out. Air…I need air…is this long enough? Alicia thought as she burst through the water’s surface. She was sputtering and gasping, but she felt quite pleased with herself. Aunt Molly never did this! she thought. So ice!

“Hooray! Hooray!” Myrella, Gundersnap, and Kristen were now clapping. Princess Alicia smiled. How curious, she thought. She had heard cheering crowds before. Whenever she and Mum and Pop and her sisters marched in a parade, the citizens of Belgravia would applaud them. But this was somehow different. She was now being cheered not simply for being a princess, but for being a wet princess—a princess who had accomplished something! How curious indeed. She felt a strange, wonderful new feeling of confidence.

“Congratulations, Alicia.” Kristen came up and gave her a hearty slap on the back that jostled Alicia’s bathing tiara more than the dunking had.

There was a sudden cool breeze, and everyone’s teeth began to chatter.

“Oh, my stars and Saint Delphine’s corset, I swear it’s autumn coming on again!” cried Lady Merry. “Come, Princesses, out of the water before you catch your death of cold.”

Lady Gussie was tweeting her whistle and waving her arms from the stone lifeguard chair. “Everyone out of the water!”

“Who’s Saint Delphine, Lady Merry?” Gundersnap asked as a bathing maid was drying her off.

“My patron saint, the saint of ample ladies. She was about the size of that turret over there.” Lady Merry pointed toward one of the smaller turrets.

“No!” all three princesses said at once.

The princesses returned to the South Turret. When Alicia entered her chamber, Gilly was setting out her clothes. “I think you’ll need your fur-lined underclothes. It’s getting cold, and it’s been a long day for you,” she said as she bustled around the room. “Let’s see, how many seasons since morning—at least two, because it wasn’t summer when you were with Duchess of Bagglesnort, then it was summer, and now it certainly looks like winter will be setting in. And you’ve been swimming. Oh, it tires me out just to think about it.”

“How can that be, Gilly? You must be much more tired. You dressed yourself, and then you dressed us and brought our food.”

“Oh, I’m used to it, milady,” Gilly replied with a smile. She then paused in her bustling and looked at Alicia. She had known a lot of princesses, but there was something special about Alicia. She seemed exceptionally sweet and kind, and not at all snooty. She didn’t take her royalty for granted as so many other princesses did.

“I think it will be coziest, Your Highness,” Gilly said, “if you take your supper in the turret this evening. Everyone is quite exhausted. No sense having to get dressed for dinner.”

“That is a good idea, Gilly. Can we wear our nightgowns, night cloaks, and cut slippers?” Alicia asked.

“Absolutely. Listen to the howl of that wind straight over the plains of Wesselwick. That’s always the coldest wind.”

After their supper, and after Lady Merry had excused herself, the girls played Parcheesi in front of the fire as they sipped cocoa.

“In Slobodkonia,” Gundersnap was saying, “we play this game using servants for pieces.”

“What?” exclaimed Kristen.

“Yes, Empress Mummy had a huge Parcheesi board made from big tiles in the central courtyard of the castle. We have the servants dress as pieces and then direct them where to go.”

“How appalling,” Alicia said.

Gundersnap blinked. “You think so?”

“I most certainly do. Servants should be servants. They are people, not toys.”

“You are very smart, Alicia.” Gundersnap turned to Kristen. “And you are too. I am glad that I have you as turretmates.”

“Me too,” Kristen and Alicia both said at once.

“Let’s make a pact,” Kristen said. “Let’s promise always to be mates in the South Turret through every session.”

In the South Turret? Alicia wondered. But she did not hesitate. She thrust her hands into the center of the circle and held on to the others’ until there were six hands clasped in what was known as the Royal Hand Pact. This meant they would always be friends and allies and always come to one another’s aid wherever, whenever, and for whatever reason—in love, in war, in sickness, and in health.

When they withdrew their hands, Alicia looked slowly at her mates. “Princesses, I have a very serious question.”

“Vot is it, Alicia?” Gundersnap leaned forward.

“Do you believe that there really is a ghost in the South Turret?”

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Gundersnap said. “I can’t see them, so they don’t exist.”

“Look, if there
are
ghosts, what’s to be afraid of? It’s not like a great white shark,” Kristen said, touching the shark’s tooth that she wore as a pendant around her neck.

“How can you wear that around your neck while you sleep, Kristen?” Gundersnap asked.

“Because I know it’s dead, like a ghost. My harpoon killed it.”

But hello! You can’t kill a ghost, Alicia thought. That’s the whole point. It’s dead, and it comes back to haunt you for some reason.

They had only been at Camp Princess for four days, but on two of those nights Alicia had sensed upon awakening that there might have been a presence in her bedchamber while she slept. Tomorrow would be the fifth day of camp. That left nine more days for this first session. Would she feel this spirit each night? she wondered.

Another thought struck her. Nine more days meant she didn’t have much time to teach her songbird how to sing! That thought was almost as alarming as notions of ghosts. She would have to go to Princess Roseanna, the Mistress of the Aviary and Songbird Counselor, to seek her advice.