Chapter 2
All of the princesses have been sneaking out of the tower at night for several months now to go dancing and the guards outside of their doors or Uther were none the wiser. Their complaining had stopped (well, lessened to mere protested mumbles) so Uther started to think that they realized that he was keeping them safe. He couldn't have been more wrong about them.
After Ygraine left the room and the doors were closed and locked, an illumination would light up the room and eleven princesses would reach under their beds for their shoes and sit up to put them on. When they removed their shoes they were tucked back under their beds. This made it faster to put them back on and hurry up and leave the tower room.
Esmeralda came every night and led them to the boats and they would sail to the magical spot where they would all get out and dance for hours on end until they had to return to the castle tower. She would lead them back to their room and give a 'ghost kiss' to each and every one, tell them that she loved them and then she would disappear. They received very little sleep but they were very happy.
Ygraine became suspicious after a couple of month when her daughters were noticeably happy but quite sedate. At first she became concerned at their sudden change in behavior. She had Gaius the court physician check them over. They all were given a clean bill of health. So she thought maybe Uther was having Cook 'slip' something in their food and drink. Uther was furious that she would think such a thing about him and no! he did not have anything put in their food. Gaius confirmed what Uther told Ygraine.
She waited outside their room for a while and when she didn't hear any more noise she figured they were falling asleep. The guards confirmed this every morning. They were outside the tower room all night long and no noises could be heard.
One night when Ygraine went to the princesses' tower room to 'tuck' them in and to kiss them all good night, she noticed a pair of beige colored satin slippers poorly hidden under Kars's bed. The slippers showed wear and tear in the toe and heal area. The sides were dirty and small little tears were starting. One shoe was tipped to its side and the bottom was worn and very dirty.
This made the queen very curious but she did not ask her daughter about it. Not yet, at least. Although it was a mystery, she still wasn't suspicious enough to ask her daughter. No evidence could be found that they were leaving the castle. Ygraine did not approve of Uther's locking up the princesses or his treatment of them but she still, didn't want them sneaking out of the castle or going outdoors unescorted.
The shoes started to create a serious problem within the kingdom. Even though the princesses had been locked in their castle tower for several months, Uther started to receive bills from the local cobbler for shoes that had been ordered for the princesses. At first he just refused to pay. He knew that there was no way his daughters went through shoes like that because they were not allowed out of the castle. Shoes would last them for years. Uther asked Arthur if Gwen was the one in need of shoes and why was he letting her out of his sight. When Arthur denied that he ordered shoes Uther asked Ygraine. He knew she really sympathized with their daughters but Ygraine denied these claims too. Uther then decided that someone was trying to take advantage of his generous- all though somewhat still grieving- nature. He demanded to see the order form.
The cobbler was shown to the king's chambers. He was nervous and shaky and felt that the king would probably kill him instead of paying the bill. When the king called him into the chamber, the cobbler almost passed out with fear. The guard goaded him to enter and brought him before the king. He cobbler bowed before the king.
"Your, Majesty." He said shakily. His head was still bowed and his eyes were focused on the floor.
"Rise," Uther demanded. When the man looked up at the king there was fear in his eyes. "Show me why I shouldn't have you hanged for trying to steal from your king." His booming voice echoed throughout the chambers, into the halls and filled the entire top of the castle.
The cobbler's hand was shaking when he handed over the shoe order to the king. Uther took the bill and inspected the parchment paper. It was the royal stationary all right. The Royal Seal was integrated into the manufacturing of the parchment paper with special pigments so that no imitation ink could copy it. The order itself was written with a special inks and drying sand that was only supplied to the Royal Family. It was specially formulated so as to not bleed through the parchment and it could not be removed with any kind of chemicals.
Uther looked at the order form and read the contents written on the page. Twelve satin slippers with harden leather soles. The sizes were listed as: four large, four medium and four small. They were listed in various colors: three pink, three blue, one green, two beige and three red. When he looked at this bill, Uther became suspicious.
"I have only eleven daughters left. Why would anyone order twelve?" He asked.
"Maybe the Crown Prince also had a pair of slippers ordered for his wife." The cobbler defended. He was still fearful of the king's reaction to the bill. He felt like just writing off the debt but since the cost of the materials, special dyes for the colors and the leather for the soles were expensive, not getting paid would cause a hardship and he seriously felt he would have to leave Camelot and go somewhere else where he could make a better living.
"I doubt that," Uther said. "Cobbler, I will pay your bill this time but believe me I will want information on who keeps ordering these shoes." Uther paid the bill and the cobbler quickly bowed to the king, and left in a hurry lest the king changed his mind and threw him in the dungeons or worse.
Every couple of weeks, Uther kept receiving a bill for more shoes. He was angry but paid the bill because Uther started to notice that his daughter's slippers were dirty and worn one day and brand new the next day. Everyone denied leaving the castle or why their shoes looked like they did. They also denied any knowledge of who was ordering new shoes.
"This is outrageous," A furious Uther yells at the council. He slaps yet another bill from the cobbler on the table. "I want to know how this keeps happening." The cost of new shoes about every couple of weeks was starting to add up to quite a large sum of money and Uther felt that the kingdom was not going to start paying for this. He told the cobbler to refuse the next orders. They will not be paid for anymore.
Uther told the Council that he came up with a plan to find out why he keeps getting bills for new shoes. He sent some undercover castle guards to keep an eye on the cobbler's establishment so they could find out who made these orders. The king also would send up some guards and masons to the princesses' tower chamber and have it inspected for hidden rooms, doors or any secret passages that might lead out of the castle. A guard would spy on the princesses and report back to Uther. It was all for naught; nobody could come up with the information that the king was looking for.
0o0
Back in the Tower Chamber, Ghost Esmeralda was talking to Morgause and Helen about the princes in the boat.
"It is almost time for your soul mates to show themselves so you need to be ready to say good-bye to Erling and Bryan. Uther grows more suspicious of your activities and he is also growing more unstable and he is going to start doing rash things and the entire kingdom will be in great peril." Ghost Esmeralda told them. "He is going to do more than slaughter magic users and those that are only accused of using magic." Her warnings were dire but she seemed to have hope in her words.
"Sister," Helen began, "how can we stop him?"
"These coming events, although harrowing, will start to bring peace and happiness into the kingdom again. Trust in the one that will bring about changeā¦" Ghost Esmeralda was interrupted by Kara.
"What?" demanded Kara, "what will Uther do?" Her rising temper was making her hair stand on end and she unconsciously grabbed for a dagger that was stashed under her bed. "I say we stop him and his madness now!"
"Kara!" Ghost Esmeralda warned, "put away your dagger. You will not do anything rash. Right now a change is coming and if you harm Uther, it will put a stop to the good that has tried so hard make to make it past his madness. You yourself are putting your future at risk because of revenge. You will never get to be with your soul mate if you go through with your thoughts." Ghost Esmeralda looked around to all her sisters and pleaded for more patients. "Please, all of you, be patient. It will be trying but it will finally get better."
Ghost Esmeralda was getting concerned. Kara wasn't the only one getting restless and frustrated with Uther and his protection (read: imprisonment), she only hoped everything starts coming together before one of them does him any harm. "Please be patient. Let's go dance."
Everyone agreed and was eager to go dancing. They left the castle, rode on their boats with their mystery princes and landed on that magical spot where they danced the rest of the night.
The dawn approached fast and the princesses hurried to their tower/chambers/prison before it got much later. They were just settling in and barely had enough time to hide their shoes, when in through the door; looking very regal and determined, came Uther Pendragon.
