CANDY

Chapter Eleven

Vandon awoke halfway up and cried out. I sang to him and he calmed down (his wriggling was taking us away from the cliff and out toward the sea). "Look at us," I sang, "we're flying, flying! Look at us, we're flying! We're flying so far, we're flying so far, we're flying so far we're back, we're back, we're back! We're flying so far we're coming home!"

"You came and got me!" he shouted, against the wind and rain. "I knew you would!"

We reached the top of the cliff and alighted. Vandon's pack was still running, so I had to hold on tight after unbuckling myself, or we'd have been dragged back over the cliff. I got his pack turned off just in time.

The prince was still woozy but I couldn't carry him and the packs at once and was hesitant to leave them behind. I left his on him and put mine back on, and he agreed to walk; we kept as far from the edge as we could, but the path was narrow. Eventually we came upon the pan I'd left for Haliford, who, of course, was gone. The rain had filled it; I picked it up and drank from it, "We have a long way to go," I told the prince. "I think we should fly." I showed him how to start and stop the pack, and the cord that had bound him behind me now tethered him loosely to my left so we could both see where we were going, and if he had difficulty, I could reach him. Off we headed, at first too high, and then, as I figured things out, just skimming the sugarcane. This delighted Vandon.

"I have always wanted to fly!" he declared.

We were back In the palace in time for tea.

First I took Prince Vandon into the TARDIS, suffered Nyssa and Tegan to fall all over me (as Felsy did with the prince), crying and clutching at me until I raised my hands as if in surrender and cried "Enough!" I asked Nyssa to examine the prince and took Tegan, who looked quite herself again apart from her near-hysteria upon my appearance, to the dining room, where I expected to see the princess. Tea was indeed being served but the princess was absent. The kitchen staff made a fuss over me too, amusing Tegan (who ate modestly) and I confess I drank gallons of tea, murdered a number of cucumber sandwiches, scoffed down scones with jam and asked for more tea. I asked numerous times to be taken to the princess but each time I asked I was met with agreeable nods and more food. Finally I stood up and insisted, so two attendants came and took me not to the princess' suite but to Vandon's room, where the princess lay quietly, all cried out, I thought, from the tear stains on her face when she rolled over and saw me. She immediately sat up and smiled so sadly that I had to blurt out "He's fine! He's back!" At this the princess leapt up and ran into my arms, weeping openly. "He's in the TARDIS. Nyssa is making sure he's okay, but he seems okay!"

By the time we entered the TARDIS, the princess had her royal demeanor back and her face under control. She lost it again when she saw her son standing at the console, trying to figure out all the buttons and switches under Nyssa's careful eye. "Mama, I flew!" She was speechless but not tearless.

"Two soldiers won't be enough," I said. "You need to make more of these." The princess, who looked at lot healthier, as Nyssa had kept providing her with Prussian blue and charcoal in my absence, nodded and looked at me expectantly. "But there isn't time. By now they know the prince has been recovered. You need to keep him well guarded. May I suggest we keep him here in the TARDIS until this is all resolved?" The princess nodded again, hugging her son to her. Despite her agreement, she didn't seem inclined to let him out of her grasp, much less out of her sight, so I added, "You are welcome to stay with him too. You should be safe here."

"How many?" asked the princess. "What kind of invasion are we expecting? We don't have an army to speak of. We have been very peaceful… not historically of course, but since we lost our empire. No one has tried to capture us. All we really have is sugar and candy! No one needs this land."

"Someone obviously thinks they do," I said. "I saw four, but one of them was Norell and he is on your side." To my surprise, she blushed. "What do you have in the way of defense? Will your neighbors come to your defense?"

The princess thought. "You are right that there isn't much time, but the sea is wide. Unless troops are already on the way, all we need to worry about immediately are three men. Surely they are just an advance patrol, and more will come, but not right away."

"Not at all," I mused, "if we can be sufficiently discouraging. But now I know why they wanted the prince alive." Then, thinking I'd been insensitive, I looked anxiously at the princess but she was betraying nothing. "They would have brought him to use as a shield. Three men, or four as they think they are, can accomplish a lot if no one dares to shoot them."

"I see," said the princess. "Yes, that makes sense. And you…?"

"I just got in the way. I am sure they were concocting some use for me, too. Maybe I would have been a good shield too, though certainly not as effective as the prince. In fact," I further mused, "They may or may not have known who I am. It makes a difference, actually…. Oh!"

"What is it, Doctor?" Tegan was alarmed; she and Nyssa were clutching my arms again.

"No, I'm fine, it's just that…. Princess, remember those three men who got me out of the tree?"

"Yes, Doctor. They are no longer in my employ."

"But they were in your employ, not strangers, right?"

"They were new, it is true, but yes, we had taken them on recently, which is odd, now that I think of it, but three of our cane-cutters had become too ill to work."

"Really! I don't suppose…?"

Princess Regent Vanessa seemed to read my mind. Her eyes grew large. "But we determined, did we not, that my poisoning was accidental, that my pretty glass disc was responsible?"

"Actually," Nyssa interjected, "the glass itself was fine. It was coated with something that was infused with thallium."

"Where did you get the disc, Your Highness?" I asked.

"I had it made upon Norell's recommendation… but he cannot have known."

"I agree," I hastened to say. "I trust Norell!" Then I asked, "Where was it made? Who made it?"

"Someone back in Barcla. I don't know the name of the artisan."

"You know," I said, "whoever made the disc may not have been the same person who coated it with poison."

Prince Vandon, who had been deep in conversation with Felsy, apparently had not been paying attention when poisoning was first mentioned but he certainly heard the word "poison" when I said it. "Poison!" he repeated, frightened.

"I'm getting better," his mother told him. "I didn't want to scare you. These kind people… oh, Vandon, I don't even know how to say how much they have helped us, are helping us!"

"Your mother will get better," I told him. "She is already getting better." To the princess I said, "I have some investigation to conduct. Nyssa will show you to a comfortable room." Nyssa nodded and began to lead the prince and princess out of the console room. "I have a couple of ideas and not much time to pursue them… but I promise I will do my best!"