Once Upon a Curse (16 page)

"We were hoping you could help us," I said.

Haywood frowned. "I can't. Even getting Grassina to talk to me would be nearly impossible."

"You could try, couldn't you?" I asked. "If you kiss her, she'll turn back into the sweet Grassina she used to be, and you already said that she was the one you love."

"Think about it, Emma," said Haywood. "Grassina doesn't want to have a thing to do with me and threatens me if I go anywhere near her. Who knows what she'll do if I try to force a kiss on her? She could do something to make all of us miserable, and I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you two. You'll just have to learn to live with her the way she is or find some way to get her to move."

"Please?" I asked. "It isn't just about Grassina. There's Eadric and me, too."

"Huh?" said Eadric. "What are you talking about?"

"I want to marry you, Eadric, but if we don't end the curse one way or another, I can't marry you or anyone else."

"Emma, you can't mean that! You know how much I want to marry you. I love you!"

"And I love you, too, which is why I can't marry you with the curse hanging over us. I don't want the same thing to happen to you that happened to my grandfather. I don't want you to end up married to someone so nasty that living in the dungeon is preferable to living with her."

"Just because that happened to them doesn't mean it will happen to us. We won't have any flowers near the castle and you can—"

"Eadric, it wouldn't work. There will always be the chance that I might come in contact with some by accident. Look at what happened to Grassina when my grandmother sent all those magical flowers to fall on her."

"Then we'll have to do whatever it takes to end the curse, won't we?" said Eadric. "What do you say, Haywood? Will you try?"

Haywood sighed. "If it means that there's a chance that I could get my Grassina back and that you two can get married, yes, I'll try. But I can't guarantee anything."

"We don't expect you to, do we, Eadric?"

"Well, it would be nice," Eadric muttered under his breath.

"I'll be there tomorrow," said Haywood. "I have a few things to do first."

It was dusk when Eadric and I returned to the castle, and I half expected to see Li'l out hunting for insects. The area around the castle was curiously quiet, however, and I learned why when Bright Country suddenly reared up, nearly dumping us off his back.

"What happened?" Eadric asked Bright Country, patting his neck as the horse danced nervously to the side of the road.

"Didn't you see it?" said the horse. "A huge, scaly beast just ran in front of me. It looked right at me and stuck out its tongue!"

"That was probably Grassina," I said. "She must have gone out for the evening."

"Grassina is a scaly beast now?" asked Bright Country.

I nodded. "She likes turning into a lizard. A few weeks ago, she tried being a wolf. Who knows what she'll try next."

As we'd missed supper, Eadric and I went straight to the kitchen to find something to eat. He had befriended everyone on the kitchen staff during his frequent visits there, so they were delighted to see him. After they spent a few minutes reminiscing about his last stay, the cook said, "We know where you got your appetite. Your father can eat even more than you can!"

"My parents are here?" Eadric asked.

"They arrived right before supper. 'Good timing,' I said, when I heard how hungry His Majesty was. I had to cook extra eels just for him."

Eadric grinned. "My father likes eels, but they give him awful indigestion."

"You do take after him, don't you?" I said, kissing him on the cheek. "Come on, you can introduce me."

Eadric gazed at the platters of leftovers with great longing. "All right," he said, "as long as Cook saves us some supper."

Cook laughed. "Don't worry, we'll save plenty of food. It will even be enough for you!"

We were leaving the kitchen when Eadric said to me, "I'd better warn you. My parents aren't anything like yours."

"You mean your mother is sweet and friendly?"

"I wouldn't go that far," he said, grinning again.

"Eadric, my boy!" called a deep voice, and I looked up to see a short, heavyset man with a well-rounded belly coming toward us. A tall, thin woman with frizzy, brown hair turning to gray followed at his heels.

Eadric greeted the couple, then said, "Father, Mother, this is Princess Emeralda, the girl I'm going to marry."

"This is your Emma?" said Eadric's father. "Why, she's lovely, my boy. You've found yourself a good one."

"Emma," said Eadric, "this is my father, King Bodamin, and my mother, Queen Frazzela."

"Delighted to meet you, my dear," said the queen, in a high, thin voice.

Even through the formalities of royal greetings, I noticed that the queen's nails were nibbled short, and she had permanent worry creases on her forehead.
Eadric was
right,
I thought.
They aren't anything like my parents.

Later, when Eadric and I finally had a minute alone, I said, "Your father is the first person to tell me that I'm lovely who seemed to mean it. The only people who've told me that before were ones who think they're supposed to flatter a princess."

"I think you're lovely," murmured Eadric.

"Only because you love me," I said.

"Hmm," he said, kissing me before I could say anything else.

Fourteen

T
he next day was overcast, with a heavy blanket of clouds blocking the sun. The tournament to celebrate my birthday was to be held in the field where Father and his knights usually practiced with their swords and lances. Carpenters had taken over the field weeks before, building stands for the crowd that would come to watch and setting up tents for the competing knights. The wooden barrier that ran the length of the tilting field and divided the field in two was also ready, its frame draped with colorful fabric.

Since I hadn't seen Eadric in the castle, I assumed he was getting ready for his first run against someone called the Black Knight. It had become fashionable for a knight to choose a color for his armor, then claim that color for his name during the tournament. Eadric's color was silver, which looked wonderful when he was on his white horse. Although I had met most of the competing knights, I didn't know which colors they had chosen. With their helmets closed and their faces covered, I had no way of telling until after they'd competed and removed their helmets.

I was on my way to the field, hoping to see Eadric before the games began, when I saw my grandmother chatting with Oculura and her sister, Dyspepsia. Olefat the dog was also there, sniffing the hems of their gowns. As I approached the tents closest to the castle, I spotted Grassina scurrying toward the moat. She was carrying something in her arms, but I couldn't tell what it was from a distance.

The herald's trumpet blared just as I started toward my aunt. "King Limelyn has declared that all lances must be blunted for this tournament," announced the herald. "Any knight using a pointed lance will be disqualified."

My father always ordered the blunting of lances, though even blunted lances could deliver powerful blows. I'd been so preoccupied with the curse that I hadn't thought about Eadric's safety, and suddenly I was worried. The competition was dangerous, and so was the threat of the unknown magic that my grandmother and Oculura had mentioned. I decided to do something about it—nothing that would help Eadric win, because I knew he wouldn't stand for that, just something that would keep him from getting hurt.

I found a quiet spot behind two of the tents where no one could see what I was doing and reached into my purse. There wasn't much inside that was suitable, but I found a small coin that would do. Holding the coin in one hand, I recited a health-and-safety charm.

Keep the wearer of this charm

Safe from any kind of harm.

Keep the wearer heal thy, too.

Bring him back as good as new.

The coin glowed bright orange for a second, then faded to its original copper. When it was dull again, I took a scarf I'd intended to give to Eadric as a token of my favor and tied the coin in one of the corners. I'd give it to him as soon as I saw him.

The festive atmosphere surrounding tournaments always attracted people from all over. Some came to compete, some to watch and others to make money. Wandering minstrels, jugglers and merchants selling food and trinkets all vied for the attention of anyone passing by. This tournament seemed to be especially popular, with commoners and nobles traveling all the way from Eadric's kingdom of Upper Montevista.

I wandered through the growing crowd looking for Eadric. Instead I ran into Haywood, who was listening to a minstrel's song about an enchanted prince.

"It's not like that at all," Haywood said when he saw me. "But you would know what I mean, having been a frog. Everyone thinks that when you're turned into an animal, you pine away for your human life. You don't, though. You get used to being an animal pretty quickly. It takes a lot longer to remember how to be a human when you turn back. I still don't have it mastered, and it's been more than a year."

"You were an otter for so long," I said.

"That's true. I'm sure it'll just take time. Let's go see Grassina and finish this. I don't like being around crowds anymore."

We found Grassina by the moat near where I'd seen her before. She was staring down into the water, muttering to herself, with her long, straggly hair hanging down around her face. Her cloak lay on the ground beside her, covering something large and lumpy.

"Aunt Grassina," I said. "There's someone here to see you."

She turned her head abruptly and peered up at Haywood through her curtain of hair. "What does he want?" she growled.

"He just wants to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to him."

Haywood cleared his throat and said, "Hello, Grassina. How have you been?"

"Good, since you left. Why don't you leave again so I can be even better?"

"There's no need to be like that, Grassina," he said. "We haven't really talked in a long time and—"

"Not nearly long enough. Can't you see I'm busy with matters more important than talking to a brainless nit like you?"

"What are you doing, Aunt Grassina?" I asked.

"Nothing," she snarled. "Now, go away and let me do it some more."

"What is that?" If anyone was going to ill-use magic at the tournament, it was bound to be Grassina. I reached for her cloak, but she slapped my hand aside.

"Keep your hands to yourself if you don't want to lose them," she said, spitting out the words.

"Aunt Grassina," I tried one more time. "I found out how to end the curse."

"What curse? You mean being cursed with rotten relatives who won't leave you alone? Or cursed with nincompoops who have smaller brains than fleas do and don't know when to quit? What do I have to do to get rid of you two? I'd turn into a lizard and eat you both if I wasn't so busy. Now, leave me alone before I turn you into worms and toss you into the moat. I'm not too busy for that!"

"But Aunt Grassina!"

"Now!" she barked, pointing a finger at us as she began to mutter a spell.

I could have counteracted any spell she tried on me, but that wouldn't make her any nicer. Remembering the wording of the curse, I was sure a forced kiss wouldn't do any good. The way Grassina was acting, there wouldn't be any other kind. "Let's go, Haywood," I said, hustling him away from my aunt. "We'll come back when she's in a better mood."

"I'm in a wonderful mood now, you ninny!" my aunt shouted as we hurried toward the tilting field, "because you two are leaving!"

We didn't stop until we reached the first of the tents, and Haywood turned to me to say, "It's no use, Emma. I wouldn't be able to get close enough to that woman to kiss her even if I wanted to. The only reason I was willing to try was to help you and Eadric, and that probably wasn't enough to break the curse, anyway. I'm sorry, Emma. I'm going home."

I was feeling desperate. After everything I had gone through, the curse was as strong as ever. "Are you sure, Haywood? You know she acts like that because of the curse. That wasn't the real Grassina back there. Maybe it would be different next time."

Haywood shook his head. "She seemed real enough to me. You know she's not going to change. Good-bye, Emma. You and Eadric should come visit me some time."

I headed toward the stands, feeling more dejected than I'd ever felt before. I dreaded having to tell Eadric that I couldn't marry him after all. Even worse, I was going to have to live with an aunt who was getting nastier by the day. If only Grassina could have been nice for just a few minutes!

I glanced back and saw my aunt bending down, pouring something from a big jug into the water.
She's up to
something,
I thought, and turned around. By the time I reached the moat, however, Grassina had already gathered her cloak and jug and scuttled off toward the drawbridge.

Kneeling beside the water, I tried to peer into its depths, but all I saw were green bubbles rising to the surface. I was considering using a spell to call up whatever Grassina had put in there when I heard the strident notes of the heralds' trumpets above the clamor of the crowd. I sighed and brushed off my skirts, knowing that I'd have to figure out what Grassina had done later. The tournament was about to start, and Eadric was in the first round.

I found my seat in the stands between my mother and Queen Frazzela. Mother nodded approvingly at the yellow gown I wore, one of the new ones she'd had the seamstress make while I was in the past. Queen Frazzela gave me a halfhearted smile, but she seemed too worried to be enjoying herself.

"I hate tournaments," she said. "Someone always gets hurt. At least Bodi no longer competes." She patted her husband's hand where it rested on the arm of his chair beside her. I wondered how the portly, little man had ever fit into a suit of armor. He smiled at his wife reassuringly, then turned back to the approaching knights. Dressed in silver armor, Eadric rode Bright Country, who pranced alongside the Black Knight's all-black charger as if he was having a wonderful time.

"If only Eadric would stop competing," said his mother.

"There, there, my dear," said King Bodamin. "It's good for the boy. And before you know it, Bradston here will be ready." The king patted the head of a boy about ten years old seated at his other side. "Princess Emeralda," said the king, "this is our younger son, Bradston." The boy smiled at his father, but the king had already looked away so he didn't notice that the smile dissolved into a scowl as Bradston smoothed his hair back into place. Sticking his tongue out at me, he rolled his eyes up in his head and shoved back the tip of his nose with one finger so he looked like a pig.

I'd heard about Eadric's younger brother. It was because of Bradston that Eadric had met the witch who'd turned him into a frog.

"It's nice to meet you, Prince Bradston," I said. For the first time in my life, I was glad that I was an only child.

"You'll have to excuse Brad the Brat," said a voice, and I looked up to see Eadric smiling at me from Bright Country's back. "He usually falls asleep during the lessons on courtly manners."

I smiled and reached into my purse for the scarf. "This is for you," I said, handing it to Eadric.

He grinned and tucked it under the neck of his armor. "Thank you, my lady. I shall wear your token by my heart." Bradston made a rude noise, which we all pretended not to hear.

Wondering who Eadric was competing against, I glanced at the Black Knight, but his visor covered his face. After saluting both royal couples, the knights turned their horses and trotted down the field, taking up their positions at opposite ends of the tilting barrier.

I sat up straighter when trumpets blared and the herald announced, "The Silver Knight shall ride against the Black Knight!" then held my breath when they lowered their lances and charged.

I'd never seen Eadric joust before, although I had seen him fight a monstrous spider with his sword. He had told me that he was good with a lance as well, but I didn't know how good until he charged down that field. His back straight, his lance poised, his horse's hooves pounding the turf, Eadric looked like the kind of knight in shining armor that every princess dreams about. He was perfect for me, so perfect that he made my heart ache. I'd still have to tell him that I couldn't marry him.

I gasped when the knights' lances slammed into their opponents' armor. Both lances splintered and the knights rode on, unharmed. They rode again with fresh lances in their hands. Once again, the lances splintered, the sound of the impacts making me wince. On the third round, the Black Knight's lance splintered and broke while Eadric's held firm, knocking his opponent off his saddle. The Black Knight landed on his back with a thud that shook the ground and made my heart skip a beat. Although I was rooting for Eadric, I bit my lip until the Black Knight stirred and some eager squires helped him to his feet. I hated seeing anyone get hurt.

I glanced at Queen Frazzela. Her face was pale, and beads of perspiration had formed on her upper lip. "Eadric will be fine," I said, thinking of my health-and-safety charm.

"If only I knew that for certain!" said his mother.

Although I was tempted to tell her about the charm, I didn't dare because I didn't know how much Eadric had told her about me. Given a choice, I'd rather not be the one to inform her that I was a witch.

While Eadric trotted off to wait for his next turn, the Red Knight rode up to take his place. To everyone's surprise, another knight in silver armor forced his way past the milling squires, taking up the opposite position. When the herald approached, the noise of the crowd died away.

"You may announce me as the Silver Knight," said the new arrival.

"You can't be the Silver Knight," said the herald. "We already have one. There's only one of a color allowed per tournament, so you'll have to go."

"And if I come back in another color?" asked the knight, his voice muffled by his lowered visor.

"That would be fine," said the herald.

Turning his gray charger back the way he'd come, the knight rode off the field just as the Blue Knight arrived. A large man, he looked imposing in his deep blue armor astride his chestnut steed. However, after the second round he, too, lay flat on his back staring up at the sky.

The Blue Knight had scarcely been helped from the field when the knight on the gray charger was back. Armored in black, he rode into position and waited for the herald to announce him. Once again the crowd fell silent as the herald approached the knight.