The Lost Prince (20 page)

Dean ignored the pain in his side and reached for his leg again. He got himself free, and managed to hang on to the net Junter had given him, not that he expected it to do him any good. The snapdragon swam by again, and the current shoved Dean aside. He was off balance and disoriented, but he grabbed hold of Junter’s ball and chain as he flailed about in the water. The sea serpent came at him once more, and Dean had just enough time to stuff the chain into its mouth before it bit him. He crammed a handful of iron links into the creature’s gaping maw and pushed himself away. The snapdragon shook its head back and forth as it choked on the chain, but it spit out the links and whipped its tail into Dean’s midsection. This time, there would be no ignoring the pain. Dean coughed out all the air he was holding in. It was over. He needed to breathe immediately, but he wouldn’t live long enough to die from a lack of oxygen. The creature was coming back. As it closed in on him, only one thought came to mind. Something an old sea dog had once told him. It hadn’t been much help the last time he tried it, but anything was worth a shot.

As the snapdragon swam up to eat him, Dean punched it square in the nose. It was his drop-dead last chance, and he got in a good shot, right above the snapdragon’s top row of teeth.
Miraculously, the creature’s whole body quivered, and it stopped dead in place. A shiver ran through the serpent’s body from head to toe, and its eyes rolled around in its head like cannonballs on the deck of a ship.

Dean blinked twice at the motionless beast.
Glory be, it worked!

He didn’t know how long it would last, but the odds were, not long. He had just a few seconds left to follow Junter’s only worthwhile piece of advice. “Stay away from its mouth. Don’t die.” Dean figured the best way to do that was to get somewhere the creature’s teeth couldn’t reach, like the back of its neck. He still had the net in his hand. He wrapped it around the creature’s back and hooked it over a crooked dorsal fin. He gave the net a tug. It was secure. He climbed onto the snapdragon’s back and held on tight.
This better work.

A few seconds later, the snapdragon bucked. It was no longer paralyzed. It was able to move again, and move it did. It shot up out of the water and tried to flip Dean off its back. It roared. It howled. And when it couldn’t shake Dean, it dove back under the water and tried to throw him off. The snapdragon spun around under the water, trying to rid itself of its pesky rider. Dean’s lungs were fit to burst, but he didn’t let go. The snapdragon tried to bite him, but it couldn’t reach him where he was. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t lose him. Failing in those attempts, it swam rapidly at the wall of the cave. Dean thought it meant to throw him hard against the stones and crush him under its weight, but
just as he braced for impact, they passed through the wall. Dean opened his eyes. They had gone through the cave’s other opening. The one Junter had said was under the water somewhere.

The creature surfaced in the water outside the cave, with Dean riding its back like a bucking bronco. The light outside was intense, but Dean had never been so happy to see the sun. He breathed deep and held on tight. Images of the outside world raced in and out of his vision as he held on to the rampaging sea serpent. He saw the people who had come to watch his trial. They were all leaving. A dejected procession of Zenhalans who had understandably assumed the snapdragon had eaten Dean for breakfast. The beast shrieked with righteous fury as it snapped at Dean and tried to shake him off. The people heard and came running back. Once again, they cheered for Dean. He paid them no attention. He had to focus on the task at hand. If he let go, the snapdragon would surely devour him. Dean held on. Up and down the snapdragon went, taking him on a mad ride. It was furious. It was wild. It was … beaten.

Just when Dean thought he could take no more, the snapdragon settled into the water, breathed deeply, and swam gently along the surface. Dean unclenched his body and rode its back as if it were an old sea turtle. He was astonished as the snapdragon turned around and looked at him. It was tired, and submitted to Dean for all the world to see. Dean nudged it with his knee and pointed to a chain of rocks he could follow back to shore.
“How about over there,” he said. Miraculously, the snapdragon did as he commanded. There was now an understanding of sorts between Dean and the snakelike beast. It swam on, taking Dean exactly where he wanted to go. After Dean had dismounted, the snapdragon paused a moment with him before it left. Dean reached down and patted its head.

“Thanks for not killing me.”

The snapdragon let out a weary warble, and swam away. Dean watched it disappear from sight, then stood up and looked at the crowd of people all around him. It took him a second to realize they were waiting for him to say something. Too tired for that, he raised his arms high in the air, victorious in battle. That was statement enough. The people shook the island with their cheers. They lauded him like a conquering warrior, which wasn’t far from the truth. All he’d had to do was survive the snapdragon, but he’d done a sight more than that. He’d done the impossible, and bent it to his will. He’d tamed the beast. Across the water, Dean saw Junter standing with the trial judge, looking sour. His brothers were laughing at him. Waverly, for her part, seemed to be stunned by what he’d accomplished. Dean smiled. Maybe this stunt had been worth it after all. It was too early to tell. Dean only knew one thing for sure. Ronan and Rook had to find the orchard fast. He couldn’t take much more of this.

CHAPTER
19

W
hat do you mean you didn’t find anything?” Dean said. “You had all day!”

“Ease off a point there, Seaborne.” Ronan took a bite out of a piece of fruit that looked like an apple except its skin was a bold shade of purple and its insides bright yellow. “It takes time to look for something without looking like you’re looking. What’d you expect? You said yourself these things take time.”

Dean stared out the royal apartment window into the setting sun. He could hardly stand to look at Ronan and Rook. “That doesn’t mean we have time to waste. I turn every head on this island for an entire day, nearly losing my own in the process, and
you two come back here empty-handed. What’d
you
expect? That I’d be happy?”

Ronan patted a sack filled with more of the same fruit he was eating. “I wouldn’t say we came back empty-handed exactly. I found a grove filled with these purple lovelies, and Rook”—Ronan motioned toward the tub in the next room, where Rook was nursing dozens of scratches and bite marks all over his body—“Rook found out the local wildlife is a touch aggressive.” He made no effort to hide his delight at Rook’s discomfort.

“Hardy-har-har,” Rook said, no doubt taking his first bath in a year. “Next time, maybe you’ll take the jungle and I’ll search the fields. Mark me, those red monkeys wasn’t just aggressive. They was pure evil!”

“Don’t speak to me of monkeys,” Dean snapped. “I wrestled a sea serpent today.”

“Oh, go on.”

“It’s true!”

“I heard it was a small sea serpent,” Ronan said, unimpressed.

“If you ever have the opportunity to see for yourself, you’ll find a small sea serpent is still plenty big. Not that the pair of you could find anything. You didn’t turn up so much as a clue.”

Ronan took another bite of the fruit he’d been enjoying. “Ask me, you’re the one who’s clueless. Dining with the lord regent tonight? You’ve got it bad, haven’t you, Seaborne?”

“What are you talking about?”

Ronan looked at Rook. “What am I talking about, he says. As if it isn’t plain as day.”

“Aye,” Rook said as he got out of the tub and covered himself with a robe. “She’s a fair lass, Seaborne. She ain’t worth dyin’ over.”

Dean left the window. “I’m not going to dinner because of her. And if Lord Kray wants to poison my food, he can do it any time. He doesn’t have to wait until I’m sharing his table.”

Ronan tossed Dean a shiny purple apple. “He can’t poison you at all if you stick to eating what I fresh-picked.”

Dean caught the fruit and threw it back at Ronan. “If he wants to kill me, he doesn’t have to lift a finger. The way these trials are going, I’ll be dead by tomorrow night.”

“And who set you on that path but Kray? You’re crazy to take up another invite from him. You don’t belong at some fancy dinner. You’re out of your depth.”

Dean checked his appearance in the mirror and combed his hair with his hand. “You’re probably right. But you haven’t left me much choice, have you? Someone has to get the information you two failed to come up with today.”

“I’m telling you, don’t go,” Ronan said. “Come up with some excuse, tell him you’re tired from your trial, but don’t do this.”

Dean went to the door. “Not only am I going, but I’m coming back with a lead on the orchard, and no bones about it. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone, will you?”

And with that, Dean left. He didn’t quite storm out of the room, but he didn’t leave with a smile on his face either. His foul mood was partly due to the way the day had gone, but it had been added to by what Ronan and Rook had said about Waverly. What bothered him most was the fact that they were right. She was clouding his judgment, and he knew it. He just didn’t care to admit it, and worse than that, he didn’t care to stop it, either. Dinner with the regent was an unnecessary risk, but he was taking it just the same. If Dean were honest with himself, it was only for the chance to see her.

He met the Krays outside in an open-air dining room. Their table was on a terrace at the end of a long narrow footbridge. He walked across, stepping on bright blue flower petals that were strewn about the path as he went. Dean approached the table, and the regent rose to greet him with open arms.

“Seaborne! Dean Seaborne, tamer of wild snapdragons. Come! Join us. We’ve been waiting for you.” Lord Kray put his hands on Dean’s shoulders and gave him a healthy shake. The regent was in fine spirits this evening. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there this morning. State affairs prevented me, and for once I was grateful, so concerned was I for your safety. But I see now there was nothing to worry about. Not a highborn son in the history of this island has ever done what you did today! What’s your secret, lad? How did you do it?”

Dean chose his words carefully. The regent was brimming
with enthusiasm, but Dean saw the true question being asked beneath his friendly overtures:
How are you still alive?

“I just followed my second’s advice,” Dean told the regent. That was true enough, even if Junter himself was worse than useless. “Thank you for sending him to help me.”

“Yes, Junter. I’ll have to tell his father you said that. Lord Ralian was rather upset with his son for leaving you behind.”

“As well he should be,” Waverly said. “Junter should be ashamed of himself. He was downright cowardly. When only he emerged, I was certain you were dead.”

“For a moment, Lady Kray, I was too.”

“Come. Sit,” said the regent. He directed Dean to a seat at the banquet table. “You must tell us all about it.”

Dean took the chair positioned at the regent’s right hand. Waverly sat on her father’s left, just across from him. “Actually, I was hoping we might discuss tomorrow’s trial. After today, I think I need to prepare myself a little more thoroughly.”

“Tomorrow’s trial is the test of seamanship. You grew up at sea, didn’t you?” The regent waved his hand. “Racing down the Bad Falls should be a mere trifle for a lad with your experience.”

“Even so, you can’t blame me for being curious. I’m a stranger here. Tell me more about the Bad Falls.”

Waverly pointed out over the terrace. “The peak behind this castle is Mount Skytop. It has three waterfalls, each one larger than the last. You have to ride them on your way down the
mountain. It’s not that difficult.” She turned up her palms. “You’ll have a kayak. Just hold on tight.”

Dean nodded. They were giving him only the basics. He knew that much already. “I don’t understand. How can we have a test of seamanship if we don’t head out to sea? There has to be more to this.”

“Wild animals live along the river,” Waverly said.

“But nothing so fierce as the snapdragon,” her father added.

“The last waterfall is almost two hundred feet,” Waverly continued.

“But you don’t have to go over it,” her father cut in.

“You don’t?” Dean asked.

“Not if you know the way around,” the regent said. “And you’ll have Jin Ralian there to guide you. He’s the finest sailor in Zenhala. The second trial is simply less dangerous than the first. Most young lords choose this one. You have nothing to fear.”

Dean grimaced. The regent’s efforts to downplay the dangers ahead left him unconvinced. After the fiasco with Junter, he was worried how much help Jin would offer him. He wanted to pursue the matter further, but there was no point. Lord Kray and Waverly were too eager to hear the details of his early-morning brush with death. They would not be dissuaded, so while trying hard to sound modest, Dean provided his hosts with a faithful account of his time in the Snapdragon Grotto. As much as he could get out, anyway. Waverly kept interrupting him with questions, and the
regent kept imploring him to sample the island’s local produce.