CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Not Good Enough
"Such a pity, really." Queen Zuleika picked up a parchment and fanned herself, a pout of pretend regret on her flabby face. "And I had such high hopes for you, Arwen Evenstar."
"Do what you want to me," the elf-maiden cried defiantly, tugging against the ropes that kept her tied to the chair. "Only please, don't leave Ling Kray . . . like that!"
"Ribbit!" croaked the big green bullfrog on the marble floor. A moment ago the frog had been the fierce pirate Ling Kray.
"Got you, you warty little monster!" Captain Gwenna pounced on the frog with a cry of triumph, holding the poor creature up by one green, kicking leg. "Do you want me to tear the animal's legs off, Your Majesty?" the evil blonde warrior cackled, a cruel grin on her face. "Or should I just choke the life out of the ugly creature right here and now?"
"Don't hurt him, please!" Tears ran down Arwen's cheeks. It was her fault that Captain Gwenna had caught the two of them going through Zuleika's magic scrolls. Ling Kray might have killed the blonde with his sword, only Arwen had clutched his arm and begged him to show mercy. And then the queen arrived and turned Ling Kray into a frog! Arwen had grabbed his sword and tried to fight, but Gwenna knocked it right out of her hands. So now Arwen was helpless, tied to a chair, and blubbering like a baby because a frog she loved was about to be put to death.
A frog she loved? It was ridiculous, but sobbing, helpless Arwen suddenly realized it was true. She loved Ling Kray . . . the pirate who had both kidnapped and enslaved her.
"There, there," Queen Zuleika patted Arwen's cheek, (in a very humiliating and totally insincere way) and then popped the frog in a big round glass bowl. She clapped a lid over it, and put it on the window ledge. "We'll just leave our little green friend to bake in the sun until his skin dries out and he dies. That will give the Lady Arwen plenty of time to think about telling us where the other frog-creatures are."
"There are no other frog creatures, I swear it!" Arwen tried to shut off her tears, but instead she just kept on crying. If she had to tell on the frog-creatures to save him, she would do it. She knew now that she would do anything to save Ling Kray. But the fat queen and the mean blonde just laughed at her.
"The sun will be setting in an hour," Zuleika said, putting an arm around her companion. "The creature in the glass will last until morning. Why don't you stay up all night and watch over him, Arwen Evenstar? Then in the morning he can die, or you can tell us everything." The laughing queen left the room with shapely Captain Gwenna at her side.
Arwen was alone. Dusk was approaching. At least her poor trapped frog was protected from the sun. But in the morning, she knew she would spill everything. Then Queen Zuleika would know about the frog-creatures in the caverns below the city. She would probably try to hunt them down and kill them, just like Captain Margo.
Captain Margo! Arwen straightened up in her chair, suddenly gripped by a new worry. Margo and all her friends were still down in the caverns. Hadn't the queen noticed they were missing? The women warriors of Zin Zaraboob feasted together every night. They were all very close to their queen. As soon as Zuleika found out, she'd be back to question Arwen. She might not wait till sunrise to hurt Ling Kray . . .
With fear jolting through her system, the elf princess tried to tug herself closer to the glass vessel on the window sill. Night was falling now. The frog in the bowl was just a dark shape. Yet Arwen strained her slim shoulders, wrenched her body back and forth, and finally succeeded in moving herself forward. It was a bit like frog-hopping, making her chair jump just a tiny fraction of an inch each time. It seemed hopeless. But she kept trying. Exhaustion wracked her aching body, and sweat drenched her slender form by the time she got close enough to peer down into the bowl.
"Ribbit!" croaked the frog encouragingly. "Ribbit!"
That was Ling Kray, Arwen thought with a faint smile. Even in his frog form, he was probably teasing her or challenging her or ordering her not to give up. What an arrogant, annoying person her pirate captain was. Now all she had to do was lean over as far as she could, and nudge the glass lid aside with her nose. After that it was just a matter of turning Ling Kray from a frog back into a man again.
Arwen knew exactly how to work that spell.
The one thing she had not counted on, however, was the cruelty of the blonde Captain Gwenna. Arwen's hands were tied behind the back of her chair, but there was another rope bound tightly beneath her breasts as well. No matter how she strained, she couldn't quite lean over far enough to reach the lid of the glass bowl with her nose. Arwen tried and tried, until her muscles ached and the ropes chafed her tender skin. But even when she broke down and cried, her tears just fell harmlessly on the lid of the glass bowl. And the minutes were ticking by. Soon it would be dinner time . . .
Arwen made one last effort. Her body strained, her muscles ached, and she nearly nudged the heavy glass lid of the bowl. Almost . . . almost . . . almost!
No. Not good enough.
Not good enough. Arwen sank back in her chair, trembling from her efforts, too exhausted to even cry.
Not good enough. That was the story of her whole life, really. Not good enough to be a wise queen like Galadriel. Not good enough to live up to her father Elrond's high expectations, or the strict elven standards of female conduct. Not good enough to be worthy of a man like Aragorn, whose purity of spirit and devotion the elvish ways far exceeded her own. Not good enough to accomplish anything she set out to do from the moment she left the golden halls of Lothlorien.
Arwen Evenstar was a complete failure. And she was alone.
"Ribbit!" said the frog trapped in the glass bowl.