The Twelve Dancing Princesses
by: Tiger Lily21
A/N: This is the first "short" story I've written for my National Novel Writing Month project. I'm planning to write one story a day. Hopefully not all of them will be this long (this one weighs in at an astonishing 10,500 words and is technically a novella). Anyways, I hope you enjoy it. Please note that it's not edited at all and that it was written all in one day, almost non-stop. It's not my best, best work. Also, all the things that ought to be in italics are underlined instead because I'm using a writing program that exports to Word after you finish and that's how it formats things.
Let me know what you think!
It all began on the first of the year. That was the day that King Frederick VII reviewed his expenses for the past year with the Royal Accountant. Having twelve daughters meant that he spent quite a bit on everything, especially clothing and footwear. He had come to expect the large numbers that accompanied those two items on the list of Royal Expenses every year. After all, his daughters were all of age to be married now, even little Luciana, and that meant they attended balls and feasts and festivals all over the kingdom. They each needed a new gown for every one, and a new pair of dancing shoes to match the gown. Within the social season, his expenses climbed enormously. He normally let the Royal Seamstress and the Royal Cobbler handle that and only looked himself on the first of the year, during the official review.
This year, the Royal Accountant had moved through the expenses for the war before anything else. Thank goodness that horrid thing is winding down at last, the king thought. Wars cost more than clothes and shoes for twelve daughters!
The kingdom of Marilon had been at war with the kingdom of Kiral for ten years now. No one was quite sure how the war had started, or why, but it looked like it would be a victory for Marilon in the end.
The Royal Accountant cleared his throat. "Ahem. Now, Your Majesty, the expenses for your daughters. They seem to have risen this year."
"Of course they've risen," said King Frederick. "Luciana's finally out in the social circle. She's been wanting more dresses and shoes and such since her birthday. Show me the number."
The Royal Accountant hugged the list to his chest. "I'm...I'm not sure if I should, Your Majesty," he stammered. "You see, when I said that the number had risen this year, I meant that it has essentially multiplied from years previously. It has more than doubled. It may even have quadrupled, or octupled. It will come as quite a shock to you, Sire, and I would not wish to shock you for anything. Please, if I could just---"
"Stop babbling and show me the number!" the king said, losing his temper and making the poor little Royal Accountant jump at least a foot in the air.
"As you wish, Your Majesty," he said and turned the list around. He pointed a shaky finger at a number. There, in the Accountant's neat handwriting, were the digits 96,000.
The king sank back in his throne and buried his face in his hands. The Royal Accountant turned the list back around quickly and hopped from one foot to the other, desperately hoping that he had not given the king a heart attack.
After a moment, the king removed his hands from his face and looked at the Royal Accountant. "What was that number?" he asked in a ragged voice.
"Ninety-six thousand," said the Royal Accountant timidly.
"Ninety-six thousand what?" asked the king.
"Orlans," said the Royal Accountant. Orlans were the largest coins used in the kingdom of Marilon. "Ninety-six thousand orlans spent on the princesses' wardrobes this year."
"Ninety-six thousand orlans," the king murmured. "That's more than we spent on the war this year, isn't it?"
The Royal Accountant looked down at the list and found the other number. 50,947. "Yes, sire," he managed to squeak out.
The king slumped even further in his throne. "And you're sure this number is correct? You didn't make a mistake, mix up two numbers or add wrong or something?"
"I never make mistakes, Sire," said the Royal Accountant just a bit testily.
"Leave me, then," said King Frederick. "I trust that the rest of that list is correct and in order. Please leave."
"Yes, Your Majesty," said the Royal Accountant, and with a little bow he scurried from the room, his precious list still clutched to his chest.
King Frederick sat alone in his throne room for quite some time, wondering what could possibly have caused his daughters to spend so much on dresses and shoes that year. There was only one way to find out. He would have to speak to the Royal Seamstress and Cobbler and then to his daughters. Somehow he wished he had put off reviewing the Royal Accounts for another day.
#
Later that same day, King Frederick VII called all twelve of his daughters to the throne room. As they entered, he studied them, thinking how much they had grown and changed over the years. They all had their late mother's hair--brown with just a hint of red--and his own hazel eyes. It was there that the similarities to their parents ended, however. Alexandra, Christine, Elinor, Georgiana, Harriet, and Jacqueline were all tall and slender. Beatrice, Danielle, Faith, Isadora, Kaitlyn, and Luciana were shorter and more curvy. Danielle might even be called plump, and Luciana's face still had traces of baby roundness, for all that she was fifteen. They stood in a bunch in front of him, whispering and giggling and looking at him with expressions that ranged from confused to frightened. He cleared his throat.
"Hello, daughters," he said.
"Hello, Father," they chorused and swept curtsies, not quite in unison but nearly so. It would have frightened him if he hadn't seen them do it so often.
Alexandra stepped forward slightly. "You wished to speak to us, Father?" she asked.
"Yes," said King Frederick, "I did. I have been reviewing the royal accounts today and I discovered something quite disconcerting. Do you know how much we spent on the war this year, daughters?"
Harriet, the mathematician, stepped forward. "About fifty thousand orlans, Father," she said. "Is that correct?"
"It is," he said. "Now, do you know how much we have spent on your collective wardrobe this year?"
Harriet stepped back as the girls burst into whispers. Alexandra stepped back as well and gathered them into a circle around her. She said something the king could not hear, gesturing with her hands. Then she stepped forward again and addressed him. "We do not know, Father," she said.
"Then I will tell you. We have spent exactly ninety-six thousand orlans buying you girls dresses and shoes. That is nearly twice as much as we spent on the war. Would any of you care to explain how this came to be?"
The girls looked worriedly at Alexandra, who spoke for them again. "We have been going to quite a lot of parties and balls, Father," she said. "More than usual. Now that all of us are out in society, we get invited to parties nearly every week in one place or another."
King Frederick gave them a hard, disbelieving stare. "You have been purchasing new gowns and new shoes every week to attend parties?" he asked.
"Yes, Father," said Alexandra.
"Then perhaps," said the king, bending over to pick up a bundle lying at his feet, "you would care to explain why the royal seamstress informed me that she made you new dresses only every other week but the royal cobbler told me that he has made new dancing slippers for each of you every day?" He unwrapped the bundle to reveal a pair of pale blue dancing slippers. He held them up so the girls could see that the soles were completely worn through.
The girls burst into whispers again. Alexandra herded them farther away from the throne and began gesturing to quiet them. Then she spoke in a voice so low her father could not hear what she was saying. He could tell by the looks on the other girls' faces, however, that she was relieving some fear of theirs. What frightened them so much about a pair of worn out shoes? Were they keeping some sort of secret from him? They must be. New shoes every day was certainly a secret. But why would they not tell him, now that he had found out about it? Always before they had confessed when he had caught them in wrongdoing. Would they do so this time? Somehow, he did not think they would.
The girls stepped forward again and Alexandra spoke. "Father," she said, "we have been dancing quite a lot lately. We order the shoes from the cobbler every day to make sure we have new ones when our old ones wear out."
Something didn't add up, King Fredrick thought. His daughters had not hosted a ball or a party at the palace for over three months, and they had not gone out more than once a month. There was something they weren't telling him.
"Where have you been dancing?" he asked. "Have you been going to parties I don't know about?"
The girls looked at each other. Luciana was biting her lip in the way she always did when she was frightened, and Danielle was twisting her hands together. Only Alexandra looked perfectly calm. It was she who spoke again for her sisters.
"No, Father," she said, "we have not."
"I don't believe you," said King Frederick frankly. "I believe there is something you are not telling me and I am determined to find out what it is. Will any of you tell me?" He looked hard at them. "Beatrice?"
"No, Father."
"Elinor then."
"No, Father."
"Harriet?"
"No, Father."
"Kaitlyn?"
"No, Father."
"Luciana, sweetheart, tell me what's going on. What are you keeping from me?"
"Nothing, Father."
"Danielle?"
"I...I...We've...Father...Nothing is going on. Alexandra is telling the truth."
Their faces betrayed them. They were all lying to him. Frederick felt anger boil up inside him. He reigned it in carefully. It would not do to shout at them. Frightening them would not get him the answer he wanted. He would have to go about it in a different way. He thought for a moment and then a brilliant idea came to him. Of course! It was perfect! It was sure to work. He smiled at his daughters.
"Very well," he said. "If you won't tell me where you've been going to dance every day, I'll simply have to find someone else to tell me. I am going to declare a contest. Any man who can solve this mystery will win one of you as his bride and become my heir. In the meantime, you will be locked into your suite at all times except for meals. You may go now. I will come and lock your door in a little while. In the meantime, if you want to confess, you're welcome to come and see me. Save the young men some trouble." He smiled at them as Alexandra hurried them out of the throne room. Once they were gone, he rang the bell for a servant and summoned the Chief Royal Scribe to write his proclamation. He would get to the bottom of this, one way or another.
#
A short time later, the princesses sat together in the sitting room that was connected to their bedrooms. Luciana was crying while Faith and Kaitlyn tried to comfort her. Elinor, Georgiana, Isadora, and Harriet were sitting in a corner, whispering furiously. Alexandra paced around the room. Beatrice and Christine had their heads together in another corner. Jacqueline sat on the window-seat, staring at the grounds below. Danielle was on the floor near her open bedroom door, knitting furiously on what appeared to be a long green scarf.
It was Alexandra who broke the silence. "Don't look so glum, all of you! It's not as if this is the end of everything," she said, striding to the middle of the room. Her sisters turned to look at her.
"What do you mean it's not the end of everything?" asked Luciana, sniffling a bit. "Father's found out about the shoes and he's called a contest. Someone is sure to figure it all out and then we'll lose it forever and one of us will have to get married and everything will be ruined!" She burst into tears again. Faith handed her a handkerchief.
Alexandra waited until Luciana's sobs had subsided, then said, "No one will figure it out and none of us is getting married to any of the fools who will come to try their hand at this contest."
"How do you know they'll be fools?" asked Danielle, her needles still clacking away.
"They'll be fools because they'll think they can outsmart us," said Alexandra with a bit of a wicked smile curling at the corners of her mouth. "But they don't know who we have on our side."
Her sisters stared at her for a moment. Then Beatrice's face lit with understanding. "You really think they'd help us?" she asked.
Alexandra nodded. "They love what we have as much as we do. They won't want it to end. We can ask tonight. It will be at least a week before anyone comes for the contest, so we have plenty to time to convince them."
"Ally, you're brilliant!" crowed Elinor. The other girls murmured their agreement. Luciana stopped sniffling long enough to go over and give her oldest sister a hug.
Only Danielle stayed outside the circle of celebration. She remained where she was, knitting on her scarf and looking worried. Something didn't feel right about this whole thing. She hadn't noticed it until today, when Father had asked her outright to tell him the truth. She had been ready to explain everything. It had been on the very tip of her tongue, but then somehow the words had gotten stuck. It was as if something was keeping her from talking about it.
"I need to go to the library," she murmured, setting down her knitting. Her sisters didn't even notice when she slipped out of the room. They were too busy listening to Alexandra as she explained her plan.
#
Within three days the royal proclamation had been sent everywhere in Marilon. By the end of the week it had gone out to the surrounding kingdoms of Arenia, Beldanie, and Jussen as well. It read:
Let it be known throughout the kingdom of Marilon and the surrounding countries that King Frederick VII of Marilon proclaims a competition, due to the strange activities of his twelve daughters. The princesses have been dancing in a mysterious location and wearing out a pair of dancing slippers each every day. Any eligible young man who comes to the palace and solves the mystery of the princesses' worn-out shoes within three days will marry the princess of his choice and become the heir to the throne.
On the eighth day of the month, three princes and twenty noblemen from Marilon, Arenia, Beldanie, and Jussen had arrived at the palace to participate in the contest. They were all given rooms in the castle but only one man was allowed to compete at a time. When it was his turn, the man was allowed to spend three days with the princesses, including eating his meals with them. At night he was given a room connected to the princesses' suite, which had once been their dressing room, and told to stay awake and follow them if he saw them leave their rooms to go somewhere.
The first prince to try his hand was Prince Eldon of Arenia. He was tall, handsome, and broad-shouldered. He was also confident and outspoken. He spent the evening meal on his first day bragging about how he was sure to solve the mystery.
"I know you princesses are hiding something," he said with a chuckle, "and I intend to find out what it is. I shan't let you out of my sight for an instant. I expect to solve the mystery tonight."
The princesses looked at each other with a mixture of disgust and amusement. Alexandra raised her glass with a smirk. "I wish you the best of luck, sir," she said. "I toast your success."
Her sisters raised their glasses as well. "To your success, sir," they chorused.
"Thank you," said Prince Eldon and took a great gulp from his own goblet. The princesses giggled.
Prince Eldon found out absolutely nothing that first night. He told the king the next morning that he must have been more tired from his journey than he had thought, as he had slept the night away without waking once. The princesses' shoes were worn through again. The same thing happened the next two nights and Prince Eldon was sent away in disgrace.
The next two princes had as much luck as Prince Eldon had. Every night they slept like babies and in the morning the princesses' shoes were still worn clean through. The noblemen fared no better. All of them were sent home in shame. So it went on for five long months, as the king's cobbler bills grew higher and higher and the list of failed contestants grew longer and longer. People began to say that the princesses were well and truly cursed.
#
It was around this time that the war with Kiral officially ended, with Marilon the victor, and the soldiers were discharged and sent home. One of these soldiers was a man named Colin Weatherby. He had joined the army at the beginning of the war ten years earlier, when he was just eighteen. He fought bravely and rose to the rank of Captain. Unfortunately, in one of the final battles he was severely injured in the right leg. The healers managed to save him, but he would always walk with a limp and need the help of a cane. He was discharged from the army with honor but very little pay. There just wasn't much in the royal treasury for the army, what with the explosive expenses the princesses were causing. So it was that Captain Colin Weatherby ended up walking down the road toward the capital city with nothing but his sword, his cane, a sack containing the last of his provisions, and a few orlans clinking in his pockets.
Around noon he stopped on the side of the road and leaned against a tree. He rummaged in his sack and pulled out a hard roll and a bit of cheese. A meager meal, but it would have to do. He dug a hole in the roll with his finger and pushed the cheese in, then opened his mouth to take a bite. Just then someone spoke, startling him so much he nearly dropped his roll.
"Excuse me, young man. Would you mind sharing a bit of food with a poor soul?"
Colin looked around to see who was speaking to him. An old woman, bent nearly double and wrinkled beyond belief, stood a few feet away.
"I'm afraid this is all I have, Grandmother," he said. "It's not much."
"Surely there's enough there for two," said the old woman, drawing a bit closer. "Give it to me and I'll divide it equally."
Part of Colin wanted to stuff the entire roll into his mouth instead of giving it to her. But another part of him, the part that remembered his mother's teachings from so long ago, warned against it. Hadn't his mother always said to be kind to strangers? Especially to older men and women? It would be foolish and rude to eat the roll himself while she was watching. Slowly, he handed it over to her.
The old woman lifted the roll close to her face and sniffed at it for a moment. Then she broke it in two with a snap. She handed one piece back to Colin, who was surprised to see not a meager half-roll but a thick slice of brown bread with a great lump of cheese upon it. You see? His mother's voice echoed in his head. Helping someone in need often brings great rewards. Colin grinned at the old woman.
"Thank you kindly, Grandmother," he said. "You seem to have made something out of nothing. Will you sit down and eat with me?"
The old woman gave him a toothless smile and sat down on the grass. "You're very welcome, young man," she said. "And thank you for sharing your meal with me. 'Tis only a kind soul who would share with a crone such as me."
Colin took a bite of his bread and cheese. "My mother always told me to give aid to those who needed it," he said after swallowing.
"Your mother was a wise woman then," said the woman through a bite of her own meal. "She raised you well. Such a fine boy as you deserves a reward, I believe." She ate the rest of her bread and cheese in three bites and stood up. Then she walked over to where his sack lay and picked it up.
Colin nearly choked on his food as the old woman opened the sack and began rummaging through it. "What do you think you're doing?" he blurted out as soon as his mouth was clear.
The old woman set down the sack again and gave him another toothless smile. "I took nothing," she said, "if that's what you're worried about. I've only added to your supplies."
"Added what?" asked Colin suspiciously.
The old woman cackled. "Open the sack and find out."
Colin eased himself to his feet, leaning against the tree for support, and then bent over carefully to pick up the sack. He opened it. There was his canteen, which he knew was nearly empty. He pulled it out. It was heavier than it had been. Had the old woman done something to it? Opening it carefully, he sniffed the top. There was no smell. He peered inside it. There was some sort of liquid inside, but he couldn't tell what. Was it just water?
"You'll be needing that," said the old woman from behind him. "Close it up again and keep looking."
Colin frowned but closed the canteen again and set it down on the ground before continuing to look through the sack. There was his old blanket, thin and worn. What was this other piece of cloth? It hadn't been in the bag before. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was an old red cloak, faded and patched in several places.
"You'll need that too," said the old woman. "Keep looking now. There's one more thing for you."
Colin dropped the cloak on the ground and reached into the bag again. His hand touched something made of leather. Boots? He pulled them out. Sure enough, it was a pair of leather boots, rather like the ones he wore now but finer. He dropped the boots and the sack and turned to the old woman.
"What is all this?" he asked, gesturing to the canteen, the cloak, and the boots on the ground at his feet.
"It's your key to happiness," said the old woman.
"Don't talk riddles, Grandmother," said Colin impatiently. "Explain yourself."
The old woman cackled again. Her eyes, deep-set within a myriad of wrinkles, gleamed strangely. "The canteen holds an antidote to a sleeping draft. Take a sip of it before every meal you eat from now on. The boots will take you anywhere you want to go if you say, 'I wish to travel to' and your destination and then take a step. I've also charmed them to help that leg of yours. The cloak is most important. It will make you invisible. You'll know when you need it."
"Why do I need any of this?" asked Colin.
In response, the old woman stepped forward and pressed something into his hand. Colin looked at it. It was a crumpled wad of paper. He opened it and read the royal proclamation about the contest and the mystery of the worn-out shoes. He looked at the old woman.
"You think I should enter the contest?" he asked. "I'm no prince. I'm only a poor soldier. They wouldn't let me enter."
"Trust me," said the old woman with another grin. "Take the canteen and the cloak and the boots and go to the palace. Tell them you want to enter the contest and see what happens."
Then, before Colin could say a word, she walked behind the tree and vanished. Colin leaned against the tree and stared at the items at his feet. "Me? Go to the palace?" he murmured. "Me, marry one of the princesses?" It seemed ridiculous. On the other hand, where else could he go? He had no family left; his parents had died the year he joined the army and he had no brothers or sisters. He had no skills other than fighting, though his mother had always told him he had a good mind.
Slowly, he bent over and picked up the sack. He placed the canteen and the cloak inside it. Then he eased himself into a sitting position and pulled off his old boots. He put them into the sack and pulled on the new ones. The first thing he noticed was that the pain in his injured leg had diminished significantly. She really did do something to these boots, he thought as he stood up. I wonder if they do everything she said. Only one way to find out.
He slung the sack over his shoulder and said, "I wish to travel to the royal city, to the palace." Then he took a step forward.
#
Colin was never quite sure exactly how long that first trip took him. It might have been a minute, or it might have been an instant. As soon as his foot touched the ground he found himself whirling through nothingness. After an uncertain amount of time he landed in a clump of bushes near the palace gates. One of the guards looked around at the noise. Colin clambered out of the bushes as fast as he could and walked up to the guard.
"What do you want, then?" the guard asked gruffly.
Colin handed him the copy of the proclamation. "I've come to try my hand at solving this mystery," he said.
"You and every other man in the kingdom," muttered the guard. "All right. Go on in. When you get to the front doors, knock and state your business. They'll take you to the king."
"Thank you," said Colin and bowed. The guard bowed back and opened the gates. Colin walked through, marveling at how much his limp had improved since he'd put on the new boots. Even walking up the multitude of steps to the front doors of the palace didn't make his leg ache. He knocked smartly on the door.
A footman opened it and he and Colin repeated the conversation he'd had with the guard at the gate. The footman eventually let him in and directed him to the throne room, where Colin explained his purpose to yet another guard. That guard opened the door of the throne room and called in a loud voice, "Another contestant, Your Majesty. Captain Colin Weatherby, late of the Marilon army."
King Frederick sat on a tall gold throne at one end of the room. He did not look like the portrait of the king that was stamped on the orlans Colin had seen. That man had a regal, serious face and an air of having everything in order. This man's face was filled with worry and weariness. His hair was getting slightly too long and was streaked liberally with gray. His crown sat crooked on his head and when he saw Colin he only sighed.
"I wondered when the common folk would realize they were allowed to enter the contest as well," he said, more to himself than to Colin. "Goodness knows the royalty and nobility have failed miserably."
Colin didn't know how to reply to this--or even if he was supposed to reply. He was saved the trouble of coming up with a response by the king, who seemed to notice him for the first time and spoke again, this time directly to him.
"Welcome, Captain Weatherby," he said. "Do you believe you can find out where my daughters dance?"
"I believe I have a chance, Your Majesty," said Colin, bowing low.
"At least you're honest," said the king, half to himself again. "You're rather dirty, though."
"I have traveled far to come here," said Colin. "You must forgive my shabby appearance. I haven't much to my name, nor have I had the time to buy myself anything new."
"Of course," said the king. "I'll send you first to the Royal Tailor, then, and after that you will meet my daughters. I wish you the best of luck, Captain Weatherby, though that hasn't meant much to any who have come before you."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Colin, unsure what else to say.
The king waved his hand, which Colin took to be his signal to leave. He walked out of the throne room. The guard at the door kindly directed him to the Royal Tailor, where he spent the better part of the afternoon being fitted with new clothes. By the time he was finished, it was nearly suppertime. Another guard escorted Colin--now dressed in a fine suit of deep green velvet---to the room that would be his for the next three nights. Colin barely remembered to take a swig of the potion in his canteen before yet another guard came to take him to the banquet room.
#
The princesses sat on both sides of the long table. The king sat at the head. Colin took the seat at the foot, and the servants began bringing in their food. For the first few courses Colin was distracted by the quantity and the quality of the food, which was by far the most and the best he'd ever eaten. Even his mother's cooking had never compared to this. By the time they had finished the soup course, Colin remembered why he was here and began studying the princesses. They all looked relatively the same, but there were a few whose faces stood out to him. One was the eldest--Princess Alexandra, he reminded himself. Her eyes held something of cleverness and cunning, and her mouth twisted in an odd way as she spoke to him from the other end of the table.
"You are the first soldier we've had here for quite a while," she said. "Do tell us about the war, Captain."
"It is not a pleasant topic," said Colin. "I would not wish to spoil your supper, Your Highness."
The princess's mouth twisted again in that odd way but she didn't press the matter. Instead, she said, "Tell us about your family then."
"They are all dead, Highness."
"Your friends?"
"The ones I have fought in the war with me but we parted ways several weeks ago. I am not sure where any of them are at the moment."
The princess raised her eyebrows but turned back to her meal and ignored him. Colin continued studying her sisters. The next one who caught his eye was the fourth sister. Her eyes were browner than those of her sisters, brown with just a hint of green. Something about those eyes intrigued him. She looked at him throughout the entire meal, more than all the rest of her sisters did. Sometimes she looked as if she wanted to say something to him but then she would turn away and speak to her sisters or take a bite of her food. He would make sure to speak with her if he got the chance.
The only other sister Colin really noticed was the youngest one, Luciana. She reminded him of a frightened rabbit. Her eyes were large and she fidgeted in her chair every few minutes. She looked at him for a few seconds and then looked away then looked at him again.
At the end of the main course, Princess Alexandra spoke again. "Do you have a plan for solving Father's mystery, Captain?" she asked.
"If I did, Princess, I would not tell you what it is for fear that you would try to stop me," said Colin, allowing himself a grin.
"Bold words for a common soldier," said Princess Alexandra, raising her eyebrows again. "May your boldness, if nothing else, bring you success in this contest." She raised her glass. "To Captain Weatherby."
Her sisters and father followed her lead. "To Captain Weatherby," they echoed.
"Thank you," said Colin, bowing his head. He raised his own glass and took a sip. The wine tasted odd. The old woman's words about the contents of his canteen came back to him and he felt a rush of relief that he had remembered to take a sip of it. Someone had drugged his wine. Bravely he drank the rest of it and set the goblet down on the table.
#
The meal eventually ended and Colin accompanied the princesses back to their suite. There he feigned tiredness, causing Princess Alexandra to smirk, and retired to his room. He left the door open a crack and lay down on the bed. He breathed loudly and deeply, occasionally adding a grunting snore. If the princesses thought he was really asleep, they would be careless with what they said to each other. Colin was counting on that carelessness to give him the information he needed.
The first princess to speak was Alexandra, of course. She burst out laughing. "That fool!" she said. "He's the stupidest one we've had yet!"
Some of her other sisters giggled. One of them--Colin could not tell which one--said, "He gulped that entire glass in a matter of minutes. He might sleep through his three days!"
"I hope he does," said Alexandra, sounding disgusted. "There's something about him I don't like. And it's not just that he's a commoner, either."
"I don't like him either," said Princess Luciana. She had a distinctive squeak of a voice; Colin could tell it was her. "He scares me."
"Everything scares you, Lucy," said one of the other girls with a laugh. "Remember how scared you were the first time we went down?"
"It's not my fault!" exclaimed Lucy. "It was dark and I had no idea where we were going."
The other girls laughed again. In his little room, Colin mulled over the meaning of the phrase "we went down". Down where? He strained his ears for more and was not disappointed. Alexandra was speaking again.
"Go and get ready," she said. "We'll go early tonight so we can stay longer."
Some of her sisters gave squeals of delight. Colin heard several doors close. He lay still for a few minutes, until he was absolutely sure all of the princesses had gone into their rooms, then sat up. His mind was whirling. What had they meant by "went down"? Where were they going? There was only one way to find out.
Climbing off the bed, he knelt on the floor and pulled his sack out from under the bed. He opened it and pulled out the cloak the old woman had given him. She had said it would make him invisible. It was time now to find out if that was really true. He put it on. As soon as he fixed the clasp at his throat, he noticed that he could not see his hands anymore. He held them out in front of him, but they might as well have been behind his back. He could not see a thing. The cloak worked.
He bent over and picked up the bag on the floor. Although he could not see his hands, he could see the bag, apparently floating in mid-air. He dumped its contents on the bed, then set about arranging the old blanket and boots under the covers so that it looked as if he was still asleep in the bed. It wouldn't fool anyone if they looked closely, but he had the feeling the girls were too confident to spend much time to see if he was really in his bed. As long as it looked and sounded like it, they would believe it was true. He walked around behind the bed and continued to make the breathing and snoring sounds.
Half an hour passed before Colin heard the princesses' voices again. They were all chattering and giggling together. One of them walked across the sitting room to the door of his little room. Colin gave a loud, grunting snore just as the door swung open, revealing Princess Beatrice. She giggled and turned around.
"He's sleeping like a pig!" she said to her sisters and walked away from the room, leaving the door wide open. Colin left his spot by the bed and followed her back into the sitting room.
The princesses were gathered in a circle in the very center of the room. They were all dressed in fine gowns. When one of them moved, Colin saw a pair of dainty new dancing slippers on her feet. He stood just outside the circle and watched. Alexandra spoke in a low voice.
"Open the door, descend the stair, take the boat to my true love there," she said, almost chanting the words. The other girls repeated the strange phrases.
"Open the door, descend the stair, take the boat to my true love there. Open the door, descend the stair, take the boat to my true love there. Open the door, descend the stair, take the boat to my true love there!"
As the last "there" fell from their lips, the floor in the middle of the circle began sinking down into itself. Colin watched in fascination as the princesses stepped one by one into the hole that formed. They did not fall; instead, they seemed to sink down as slowly as the floor had. Colin hurried to join the line behind Princess Luciana. He waited until she had stepped into the hole and then did so himself.
It was not just a hole in the floor. There was a staircase under his feet. He followed the princesses down into the darkness. He had no idea how long they walked down the stairs. They stopped only once, when Colin accidentally trod on the train of Luciana's dress. She screamed. The other girls turned back to her and Alexandra's voice drifted up from further down the staircase.
"What happened?"
"Something stepped on my dress!" said Luciana.
"Don't be a ninny!" came Alexandra's voice. "You probably caught it on the edge of a step. Let's keep going. We're nearly there."
Luciana whimpered but she started walking again. Colin continued following them. He wondered how they could see where they were going. The staircase was pitch black. He only kept from falling by listening closely to the rustle of the girls' dresses and the slight patter of their footsteps.
At last they reached the bottom of the staircase. A dim light shone somewhere in the distance now, an eerie reddish glow that made the hair on the back of Colin's neck stand on end. The princesses didn't seem to mind it. They swept on, moving toward the light.
As far as Colin could tell, they were traveling through an underground wasteland. There was nothing around them. The red light pulsed ahead and the blackness seemed to push them from behind. Colin kicked at the ground under his feet and was surprised to feel his boot connect with something that moved. A moment later, Princess Luciana screamed again.
"Ouch! Something hit my foot!"
The princesses stopped again. Alexandra called back, "Don't be a fool! You probably just caught it on a root!" Luciana murmured something about knowing the difference between catching her ankle and having it hit by something. None of her sisters paid her any attention. They moved on toward the red light. Colin wondered how Alexandra had come up with the idea of a root when there was nothing growing here that could have roots and what exactly he had kicked.
After a while, the princesses stopped. The light was bright enough now that Colin could see they were standing at the edge of a black lake. They seemed to be waiting for something. Then Colin heard it: the sound of something moving over the water. The princesses gave happy cries as twelve black boats pulled up to where they were standing. Colin bit back a cry of surprise and disgust as he saw the creatures standing in each boat.
The creatures looked almost human, but they were too tall for men and they were misshapen, like humans that had been tortured and then frozen in the most grotesque positions. Their skin was reddish-black; some of them had jagged silvery scars on their bodies. They had long black hair, lipless mouths, and eyes like burning coals. There was only one thing these could possibly be: demons.
The demons stepped out of their boats. Each one bowed to a princess. Each princess swept a curtsy in response. Each demon held out a hand. Each princess took one and the demons helped them into the boats.
Colin forced himself to stay where he was, though he wanted to rush forward and stop the princesses. It was obvious that they did not realize what the demons were. Anyone who did would never climb into a boat with one. As Colin watched, the demons climbed back into the boats, which began moving away across the black lake, though the demons weren't rowing.
"I wish to travel to the place where the princesses are going," Colin murmured, and was swept into nothingness again as his boots responded to the magic phrase.
He landed in the middle of what appeared to be a ruined castle. Four walls of crumbling black stone surrounded a floor of deep red stone. A horrible stench pervaded the entire place. Colin had to swallow the bile that rose in his throat as he heard twelve bumps outside the castle. A moment later he heard the princesses' voices again. They were talking with the demons, who spoke back in harsh voices that sent shivers up Colin's back. Once all the princesses and demons were assembled, Alexandra and her demon--who was by far the ugliest and most frightening of the bunch--moved to the center of the floor.
"Let the dance begin!" they said as one. The other princesses and demons joined them and a horrific dance began. The only sound besides the movement of the dancers was a distant chiming that rang out every once in a while. Colin figured it must be a clock of some sort, keeping the time.
Colin watched it all, unable to tear his eyes away, and tried to put all these new pieces of information together. The princesses came down into an underground realm inhabited by demons every night. They obviously did not see it for what it was, and they did not realize that the demons were demons. They danced in a ruined castle across a black lake. What did it all mean? More importantly, what could he do about it? He was sure that telling the king would not be enough. Demons were known for their powerful magic, their crafty minds, and their vengeful spirits. Even if the king forbade the princesses to go down to the demon world again, even if he moved them to a new set of rooms and kept them under lock and key at all times, the demons would find a way to get to them. Worse, they would go after the king too for spoiling their plan. There was the potential for the deaths of the entire royal family if these demons lost the princesses.
Colin was no closer to a solution by the time the princesses and demons stopped dancing than he had been when they began. He waited until the demons had taken the princesses back to the boats then said, "I wish to travel to the room I've been given in the palace", took a step, and let the boots drag him into nothingness. He had no wish to travel through the dark demon realm again.
#
Colin spent the few remaining hours of that night mulling over what he had seen and working out a plan to do something about it. The first thing he would have to do, he decided, was to find out more about demons. He knew only what he had heard in old stories from his parents and his fellow soldiers. One of the first rules he had learned in the army was "know your enemy". These demons were different from the Kiralan soldiers in that they were much more dangerous and powerful, but that did not change the rules of war. And this was a war, at least in Colin's mind. Wars happened when someone else had something you wanted and they wouldn't give it to you without a fight. In this case, Colin wanted the princesses freed from whatever compelled them to travel into the demon world but the demons were unlikely to give them up without a fight. So it was to be a war, with the army of Colin against the army of demons. So be it. As he watched the sunrise through his window, Colin swore an oath to himself. He would do whatever it took to save the princesses, even up to sacrificing his own life. It was his duty.
He joined the princesses for breakfast and was surprised to see that none of them looked tired. He was not surprised to hear from the king that their dancing slippers were worn through again. He had known they would be. Dancing for hours on end on a smooth ballroom floor would tear those little silk slippers to shreds; the princesses had been dancing on a rough stone floor. It was a wonder their feet weren't cut and bruised.
"Did you manage to find out anything last night, Captain?" asked the king.
"No, Sire, I'm afraid I did not," said Colin. He had decided to keep everything he knew to himself until he was sure he had solved not only the mystery but also the problem. "I fell asleep almost as soon as I crawled into bed and slept soundly. I will try again tonight."
"I wish you better luck on your second try," said King Frederick.
"Thank you, sire," said Colin In the meantime, I was hoping that your lovely daughters might give me a tour of the palace today."
Princess Alexandra answered for her father. "We are not allowed out of our suite, Captain Weatherby," she said. "If you want to spend any time with us, you will have to do it in there."
"I will do that this afternoon, then," said Colin. "This morning, I would like to see the palace library, if there is one."
"A soldier who likes books?" asked Princess Danielle, speaking for the first time since Colin had arrived. She had a pleasant, gentle voice. "How curious."
Colin inclined his head to her. "I admit it is unusual," he said, "but my mother always taught me that books can answer your questions better than some people. They aren't always of use in a war, but in times of peace, when I have the leisure, I would consult a book before charging headfirst at a problem."
"How sensible of you," murmured Princess Danielle and turned back to her breakfast, though not before giving him a strange look. Colin made a note to speak with her first that afternoon. She might know more than she was telling, and she seemed like the sort who would be willing to help him.
"I will arrange for you to be taken to the library as soon as the meal is over, Captain," said the king, "and may you find what you are looking for there."
Half an hour later, Colin found himself in the largest room he have ever seen. It was completely full of books. The walls were hidden behind wooden shelves that reached from floor to ceiling, all of them holding books on every subject imaginable. The middle of the room, too, was filled with smaller shelves. In one corner of the room an ancient librarian sat at a desk, reading an enormous tome and paying not attention to Colin whatsoever.
It took Colin most of the morning to find anything even vaguely useful. The books were not organized in any way that he could tell. At last he found two books with information on demons in them. He sat down on the floor between two of the shelves to read, but found that the books merely contained the old legends he already knew.
Surely there must be more about demons in a library this size! He thought. He walked over to the old librarian and cleared his throat. The woman jumped a foot in the air and slammed her book shut, sending up a cloud of dust.
"What do you want?" she demanded when the dust had cleared.
"I was hoping to find a book about demons," said Colin. He regretted the words almost immediately. The librarian's eyes flashed behind her spectacles.
"Demons?" she repeated. "What do you want to know about demons for?"
"I...I can't tell you, madam," said Colin. "Private business."
"Hmmph," sniffed the librarian. "Well, I'm afraid that my only book on demons was borrowed months ago and it hasn't been returned yet."
"Who borrowed it?" asked Colin, half hopeful, half despairing.
"Princess Danielle," said the librarian.
Colin left the library without another word to the woman, heading for the princesses' suite.
When he arrived at the suite, however, he was unable to speak to Princess Danielle right away. Princess Alexandra insisted that he must speak with each of them in age order, from youngest to oldest. So it was that Colin spent most of the afternoon talking with the younger princesses and, by the time he reached Princess Danielle, it was nearly time for the evening meal.
He knocked on her door. She opened it and swept a curtsey.
"Please come in, Captain," she said with a smile.
"Thank you," said Colin. He walked into the room. It was decorated simply. The only furniture was a four-poster bed, a desk with a chair, a vanity table, and a large trunk in one corner. Princess Danielle closed the door behind him.
"Sit, please," she said, gesturing to the chair at the desk. Colin sat. Danielle walked over to the trunk and opened it to reveal a large amount of yarn in various colors. She pulled out a ball of green yarn that had a pair of needles stuck in it and closed the trunk again, then sat on it. Pulling the needles out of the yarn, she began to knit on the scarf that was already attached to them. They sat in silence for a moment. Then Danielle spoke over the sound of her clicking needles.
"Did you find what you wanted in the library, Captain?"
"No, I'm afraid I didn't," said Colin. He hesitated for a moment, then added, "The librarian seemed to think you might have the book I was looking for."
One of Danielle's knitting needles slipped out of her hands and fell to the floor. She went pale. "What?"
Colin pressed on. "The librarian told me that you borrowed a book from her months ago that happens to be the one I was looking for today. Do you still have it, Princess?"
"No, I lost it," she said. Then she shook her head. "That's a lie. I do have it. It's in this trunk. I hid it under the yarn."
"Will you take it out and give it to me?" he asked.
"No! I can't!"
"Why not?"
"I...I...I don't know why." Her eyes were filling with tears.
"Did you read the book, Princess?" Colin asked, deciding to try a different route.
"Y...yes."
"Then you know what it was about."
"Yes."
"What did you think of it?"
"I...I...I..." Suddenly she slid off the trunk and knelt on the floor. "When I read that book it was as if something broke in my mind," she said shakily. "Something that had been there blocking something else. It broke and I realized everything and suddenly I knew why I couldn't tell Father the truth. It was because they made it so we couldn't tell. But now I can tell only I dare not! If I do, I know they'll kill me! I've seen them for what they are now. I've seen what that place really is. But I have to keep going or they'll suspect and they'll come here and kill me. Please, you have to help us. You're the first one I've trusted enough to tell. I think you're smart and you must be brave if you survived that war. You have to help us, please!"
She buried her face in her hands and began to sob. Colin knelt on the floor beside her and gingerly put an arm around her. She leaned into him and continued weeping. Colin had no choice but to comfort her. He stroked her hair and whispered the sort of nonsense his mother had used on him when he had been very small and frightened. He held her close. She smelled of honey and roses and her hair was soft and warm. He never wanted to let her go.
At last, however, she cried herself out and sat up. "Thank you," she said shakily.
"You're welcome," he said.
"Will you help us?" she asked.
"Of course I will, Princess. But first I need that book. Will you give it to me, please? I promise, I won't let anything harm you."
She nodded and stood. She walked to the trunk and opened it again, burying her arms up to her elbows in the yarn before pulling them out again. She clutched a thick book with a blood-red cover in both hands, which she brought to him. She dropped it in his lap as if it was a hot coal.
"Thank you," said Colin.
"You're welcome," she said and closed the trunk again. She sat on it and watched as he opened the book.
Colin read for another hour, absorbing all the information in the book. At last he looked up at Princess Danielle again and smiled.
"I know what I have to do now," he said, "but I'll need your help."
"My help?" she repeated, going pale again.
"You're the only one of your sisters that knows. It has to be you."
"I'm not brave enough," she said. "I wouldn't be able to do it."
"You've gone down there and danced with them every night for months. You've kept this secret to yourself all that time. You told me about it, and you touched the book again. You are very brave. I believe you can do this."
"Really?" she asked.
"Really," he said, and explained his plan.
#
By the time Colin emerged from Princess Danielle's room they had both missed the evening meal and the other princesses had returned.
"We missed you at dinner, Danielle," said Princess Alexandra. "Did you really have so much to talk about with the good Captain that you forgot about the time?"
"Forgive me, Your Highness," said Colin before Danielle could answer. "It was my fault. I brought up the topic of books and before we realized it the time had flown. Is there any way we could still get a meal?"
"Of course," said Princess Alexandra with a wink in Danielle's direction. "I'll go to the kitchens and get you something."
"But we're not allowed out of the suite after supper," protested Danielle.
"Nonsense!" said Princess Alexandra. "Father will never know I've gone and I'll be back in a few minutes." She swept out of the sitting room before either Danielle or Colin could protest further. True to her word, she returned a few minutes later with a tray holding two plates of food and two glasses of wine. She handed one plate and glass to Danielle and gave the tray to Colin.
"Thank you," he said. "I'll eat this in my room if you don't mind. It's quite late and I expect I'll go to bed right after I finish it."
"Yes, I expect you will," said Alexandra with another smirk. "Go on then, Captain. We'll see you in the morning."
Colin walked into his room with the tray and closed the door. Then he took out his canteen and drank some of the contents before applying himself to the food and wine on the tray. The wine had the same strange taste as the night before.
He set up the bed the same way as the night before, put on the cloak, and made snoring noises. He heard the princesses' doors shut and open again. He heard Alexandra begin the chant. Then he slipped out into the sitting room again. The floor had already sunk into the floor and the princesses were descending. Colin walked to Danielle's side and took her hand. She gasped slightly, but he whispered in her ear, "It's me. I'll be at the ruins waiting for you. You know what you have to do."
She gave a barely perceptible nod and gave his hand a slight squeeze before following her sisters down into the darkness. Colin waited until Luciana had left before saying, "I wish to travel to the place where the princesses and the demons dance." He took a step, whirled through darkness, and arrived in moments.
He waited a considerably long time for the princesses and demons to arrive. When they finally did, he rushed and caught Danielle's hand again before her demon could claim her for the dance.
"Did you ask the question?" he whispered.
"Yes," she said, "but you won't like the answer. I asked him why we have to come down here to dance with them, why they can't come up and meet our father and court us properly. He said that after tonight, if all goes well, they will be able to come up and meet Father and we will be able to stay together forever." She shivered. Colin wrapped an arm around her.
"You'd better go and dance," he said. "I'll be here if something goes wrong."
She nodded and walked away to her waiting demon, who swept her into the dance. Colin watched and waited. The strange chimes sounded once, twice, three times. The dance stopped abruptly and all the demons fell to their knees before the princesses and spoke as one.
"Fair ladies," they said, "we have brought you down to this place for a year and a half now. We have danced with you every night and have fallen in love with you. Now we have a question to ask all of you. If you give the right answer, we will not have to dance down here anymore; we will be able to dance in the day, and your father and all his subjects will dance with us. The question is this: will you marry us?"
There was silence for nearly a minute. Then Danielle screamed.
"No! Never!" She turned to her sisters. "They're demons!" she said. "They mean to kill us!"
"She lies!" cried Danielle's demon, but it was too late. The other princesses' mouths fell open and they screamed as they saw the demons for what they truly were. They backed away from the demons, who sprang forward at them. Most of the girls escaped them, but Danielle's demon managed to grab her by the wrist. It was then that Colin threw off his cloak and pulled his sword from its sheath at his waist.
"Unhand her!" he cried and ran at the demon. His sword flew through the air to slice through the demon's flesh. Danielle bit back a sob as the sword cut the demon's head clean off, spattering her with its black blood. The hand that had been around her wrist fell limp as the demon's lifeless body collapsed on the floor.
"Run!" Colin shouted at her. "Take your sisters and go! I'll handle the demons!"
Danielle nodded and shouted to her sisters. The demons paid them no notice. They had turned their attention to Colin and were advancing on him, their eyes blazing. Colin's sword flashed again and again as he struck at the monsters. They fell one by one until there was only a heap of bodies in the center of the dance floor. Then Colin stood alone, breathing heavily, his silver sword coated in the thick black blood of the monsters he had slain.
He stepped back from the corpses and picked up the invisibility cloak from where he had thrown it. He did not bother to put it on. Instead he said in a clear voice, "I wish to travel back to the princesses" and took a step.
#
Colin found the princesses huddled together in the sitting room. When they saw him, they all began clamoring at once. Colin just shook his head at them. "In the morning," he said and walked into his little room, pausing only long enough to give Danielle a reassuring smile.
The next morning, as promised, Colin and the sisters spoke for a long time. They decided that it would not be prudent to tell King Frederick everything that had happened. For one thing, he wouldn't believe all of it. They came up with a story that told most of what had happened but left out the demons and the battle Colin had fought. When they told him at breakfast, King Frederick was surprised but pleased to hear that Colin had solved the mystery. He asked him which of the princesses he wanted to marry. Colin thought he already knew, but he asked politely if he might have one more day to spend with the princesses to get to know them so that he might make a fair decision. King Frederick agreed.
Colin and the princesses spent the rest of the day together. He learned more about all of them, including Alexandra, Beatrice, and Christine, whom he had not spoken with the day before. They were all very nice, but by the end of the day Colin found that his choice had not changed. There was only one of the princesses he really wanted, and he proclaimed his choice that night at dinner. If she would have him, he would like to marry Princess Danielle. Danielle agreed and immediately began work on knitting her wedding dress.
#
Three months later, Captain Colin Weatherby and Princess Danielle of Marilon were wed. All of her sisters danced at their wedding for the first time since Colin had solved the mystery. After King Frederick VII died, Colin was crowned king. King Colin I and Queen Danielle I were two of the best-loved monarchs in Marilon history. And so, they lived happily ever after.