Disclaimer: I do not own Barbie.
AN: Big thanks to LavernaG for reviewing! :)
Chapter 7:
"Preminger!" The Queen called out in surprise. Preminger examined her critically. She was no longer wearing those blasted glasses of hers, and she had actually let her hair down in a tight braid. How very strange.
And she wasn't squinting at him. She was glaring at him, as if she could see him and his companion perfectly. How odd.
Maybe the curse had spread to the castle as well.
He paced forward leisurely, swinging the sword idly. Madame Carp followed, looking a little more sure of herself. Erika's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing again. "Madame Carp."
"Girl." Carp sneered. "How lovely."
"You've been banished, Madame Carp." Anneliese said, her voice steady and unwavering.
"I'd be careful what I was saying, my dear." Preminger purred. "You're unarmed."
Quickly looking to the side, Anneliese snatched up a sword from a suit of armour, holding it in a defensive position with both hands. Preminger raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. But if it came down to it, he could easily best Anneliese in a fight.
Just then, there was the sound of running footsteps towards them. Both Madame Carp and Preminger whirled around, eyes wide, the former with shock and the latter with anger. Their luck just had to run out then! Even as they quickly turned back around - a mistake, they would soon learn - Anneliese had positioned herself in front of the Queen and Erika. Erika had taken the opportunity to grab a candelabra from the wall and brandished it at their rivals.
With their backs turned, Preminger and Madame Carp were taken by surprise when the door burst open and Julian and Dominick came flying into the room, their sword and dagger, respectively, out and ready to be used.
Quickly disarming the two, not that they put up much fight anyway, Anneliese and Erika yanked the rope from the curtains framing the window, handing it over to their husbands to tie the two up and leave them spitting curses on the floor. Once settled, Julian made a beeline straight for Anneliese while Dominick hurried over to support Erika.
"Are you three alright?" Julian asked, making sure that Anneliese wasn't injured. Anneliese smiled as she shook her head.
Erika did likewise. "It's good to see the two of you as well."
"Good thing we came in time, then." Dominick grinned.
"My goodness." Genevieve frowned. "Where are the guards? I wouldn't have thought that we would be left so unguarded."
"Agreed." Julian and Dominick nodded, the latter speaking.
"I wasn't even aware that Madame Carp was back in the kingdom." Erika muttered.
Anneliese shot her a worried look while Dominick hugged the brunette Queen close to him. "We'll figure it out."
"Do you think it might have to do with the Fountain of Youth?" Dominick asked.
Julian shook his head. "I'm afraid the answer is much simpler. Most of our guards and army have been sent to the north to deal with the border skirmishes. Since most of our crop import is from that area, it was important that it did not fall into the hands of the warlords."
Anneliese frowned. "I was not aware that this would be so consequential to the palace security."
"We'll look into it." Julian promised.
"For now, what are we going to do with them?" Erika gestured to the two on the floor.
"We can't send them to the dungeons again." The Queen said firmly. "Not if they are escaping so easily. We'll put them in the rooms in the West Wing, and leave them under house arrest. I will inform the guards of the change in schedule."
"Yes, mother." Anneliese nodded. She turned to Julian and Dominick. "Should we bring them there now?"
"It'd be best."
As soon as they had deposited the two in an abandoned guest room that would generally have been used for foreign visitors and dignitaries, the quartet made their way back to the library with their various satchels. Julian and Anneliese wasted no time in emptying the various vials. They started to drop the vials in numerous envelopes there for that explicit purpose, labelling each before they began their painstaking research. Knowing that they were generally useless in the field of science, Erika and Dominick offered to get food for the couple hunched over their various discoveries.
There was nods and mumbled thanks before the two foreigners exited the room.
Erika thought it best to talk to Dominick about her discovery as they made their way to the kitchen. Even though the halls were suspiciously empty, she spoke quietly. "Dominick, remember how you were wondering about King Radius?"
"Yes, I do." Dominick nodded. "Have you found out about anything?"
"Not exactly." Erika frowned. "Anneliese barely knew him, as he had passed when she was very young, presumably a short time after the scandal that tarnished his name."
"What was the scandal, exactly?" Dominick asked.
"I don't know." Erika admitted. "Even Anneliese herself doesn't seem to know. She doesn't seem to want to ask her mother, which I understand."
"With how recent the death was in terms of the scandal, it is more than likely to be suicide."
Erika gasped. "Suicide?"
Dominick nodded solemnly. "My great-grandfather was involved with a scandal regarding the pirates tormenting our ports several decades before. He hanged himself after it was found out rather than be disgraced and exiled from his own kingdom."
"How terrible." Erika murmured.
"It would explain why no one knows or would speak of it." Dominick continued speculatively. "After all, the Royal Family would not want to be disgraced. But I wonder if it was a better idea to have revealed the scandal rather than to have kept it hidden and allow the villagers to come up with all sorts of theories."
"Maybe the scandal had something to do with something that we would've needed today." Erika suggested.
"But what though?" Dominick frowned. "Maybe we could take a look at the official documents."
Erika shrugged. "I'll have to check with Anneliese, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with that. She loved her father, I'm sure she'll want to know what happened as well."
An hour later, the couple was sitting side by side as they went through stacks of parchment, all including finances, political situations, treaties, and the like. They had gone through less than a tenth of the documents, yet Erika's eyes were already starting to blur the words in front of her. Her back ached terrible and her fingers were smudged with ink from more recent documents.
"Have you found anything?" Erika asked, standing up to stretch. They were in a little alcove in a corner of the library, far away enough from Anneliese and Julian so that they would not stand in each other's way.
Dominick shook his head. "Everything is clean so far. There's nothing to suggest of a scandal of any kind."
"Should we look further back?" Erika asked. "After all, the scandal may have been further back, in King Radius' early days instead of the days in which the news was released."
"Good thinking." Dominick smiled. "I think it's the stack over there." He nodded at the one near the end of the table.
"I'll get it." Erika said, but even as she was closing her arms around the parchment, there came a triumphant noise from the other end of the library that had both royals looking up.
Anneliese turned to them, beaming as she beckoned for them to come.
She revealed her findings, gesturing to the vial of water that was marked as having come from the water well that all the villagers drank from. "I found something! The water in this has different properties as compared to the vials of water coming from all the other water sources."
"And it is used enough that it would affect everyone." Erika finished, eyes wide.
"Not everyone." Julian shook his head. "The Royal Family doesn't get their water from there. They get it from a smaller well further up the hill, that is guarded day and night."
"Maybe the wells are linked." Erika suggested exuberantly. They finally had a lead to go on.
Anneliese suddenly stopped, sighing. "There's not much we can do though, is there? There isn't another well that the villagers can use. If this is the Fountain of Youth, we can't do anything about it without killing the villagers."
Erika stopped, frowning at the suddenly despondent tone that her friend had taken. Julian placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Let's not jump to conclusions so fast. We can examine the water in closer depth. Besides, the mine ran out of gold, yet you managed to find a replacement, did you not?"
Anneliese managed a weak smile, but kept her eyes fixed on the vial.
The next day was worse. It was almost as if someone was trying to stop them from finding out what exactly the Fountain of Youth was doing. When Anneliese and Erika woke up the next morning, it was to find that they had suddenly regressed several years.
Julian and Dominick had woken up and stopped just short of having a heart attack at seeing their youthful faces lying beside them. After waking them up, it was clear that while Anneliese and Erika could remember - for the most part - where they were and who they were, there were other important gaps in their memory. The doctor was called upon, and he examined the two princesses quickly.
It wasn't until Dominick wondered aloud if the de-aging was intentional that the doctor stopped and peer at him strangely. "What would make you suggest such a thing, your majesty?"
Dominick frowned, looking at Julian, who shrugged in return. "We had been looking into possible causes of the Fountain of Youth, and we had just made a breakthrough last night." The doctor frowned as well, tilting his head.
"I'm afraid that unless you were intentionally experimenting or attempting to control the influence of this...Fountain of Youth, it is a highly unlikely scenario."
Julian sighed, crossing his arms. He looked at the two girls, who were looking worried, as if the gravity of what was happening was finally dropping down on them. Where they had previously been in their early twenties, they were now no older than nineteen or eighteen, if Julian's memory served him right. "Doctor, what is the diagnosis?"
"Well," The doctor said, rolling up his supplies and tucking them into the bag he carried with him. "Personal memories are intact, but general knowledge is starting to fade. At the rate they are going, it might become disastrous, but I do not want to bring bad news unless I am absolutely certain."
"Is there anything we can do?" Dominick asked, concerned.
The doctor sighed. "Not much, I'm afraid. Try to keep their environment constant, and frequently have them memorise or use places, names and objects that they would use everyday. This is the best you can do for them in these circumstances."
"Thank you, doctor." Julian smiled at the man.
He returned the smile as he stood up, and, coat swishing about him, exited the room.
"What do we do now?" Anneliese asked, sounding unbearably young.
"For one, we have to find you some new clothes." Julian said. Dominick smiled, amusement colouring his expression. Both girls had worn dresses that they would usually wear, but the dress was hanging just a little too long now. Not long enough that it was obvious, but it would be dangerous if the girls had to run or walk for a great distance, and ended up tripping over themselves.
"We could ask Bertie." Erika suggested brightly.
"But if this continues," Julian frowned. "We can't exactly be constantly ferrying her or us to and fro from the castle."
"Maybe we can have her stay here?" Erika asked, not at all daunted.
Julian and Dominick exchanged a look. "We'll ask her."
