“Your highness, this has gone too far.” She scowled. “You’ve just insulted a good friend of mine and one of the people who’s worked diligently to save your kingdom while you and your nobles were laid low. I must demand an apology for her.”

  “Apology? Huffed the king. “I’ll do no such thing.”

  “You would be wise to do so.” The prince said, stepping closer. “You would be wise to gather your allies where you can. I’ve placed my trust in Hoxley and the witches and the others and they’ve fought with their own lives in peril to keep me safe so that I could arrive here safely.”

  “Prince Damron?” said the king with some surprise as he looked around the room as if to find more people. “What ARE you doing here? Where is your father to present you? Where are my guards?”

  “That’s what Hoxley’s been trying to tell you, sire.” The prince added. “All your guards and nobles and subjects have been laid dumb and helpless by a terrible magic that sweeps the land. Only those of us who’ve traveled between the storms have kept our skins and sanity. Many are dead. To make matters worse, we’re being followed by my uncle’s men.”

  “Your uncle?” asked the king. “Your uncle is a wanderer and a do-nothing.”

  “Not true, sire.” Prince Damron said. “He’s killed my parents, imprisoned my sister and uses my father’s army to hunt me for this.” He reached into his pack and produced his crown to show the king. “To help him fulfill his plans, he has an undead sorcerer, a lich to send black magic across the land in search of.”

  “Undead using black magic?” the king said with some skepticism as he cringed and grimaced with the pain in his gut. “How can you be sure?”

  “We believe it’s the same one who’s done this to your daughter. The things she could remember when she was kidnapped were almost the same as the words told to me by Idris, my own personal manservant, almost the same!”

  “Where is your man?” the king asked. “Forgive me this question, but I see a room of young faces and no men or women to add some validity.”

  “My man is buried on the peak of Faustacon mountain, your highness.” Said the prince with a pained expression. “Were he here or if his soul could speak it would back our claims. Dangerous, dangerous forces are aligned against all of us. There is little time to argue. Something must be done. We have to make a plan to fight back and free my kingdom.”

  “But what can be done?” asked the queen as she looked to the princess “If we take back your throne will my daughter become as she was before?”

  “We don’t know for sure.” Said Hoxley as she looked to the king with a furrowed brow. “But right now, all lands and people not under Lord Baltus’ control are in danger; humankind and witchkind alike. Take your rest if you must, but do it quickly. Hard decisions must be made to ensure the existence and survival of your kingdom and people. Come,” she said to Atticus, Morell and Prince Damron. They obeyed and filed out the door past her. In the meantime, she watched as the princess climbed up into her father’s bed where he tried to put his arms around her only to fall through the ghostly form. Both the king and queen gathered close to her but could only weep as they could only look upon their only child but not touch her. Once the others were out of earshot, she turned back to face the royal family.

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  “Forgive me if I seem out of line, you highness.” She said, thumping the butt of her spear upon the ground. “But you’ve bestowed with not only one blessing to have at least half of your daughter returned, but the subjects of your kingdom nursed back from death. One of the very witches who’s labored alongside the rest of us all night long to keep your kingdom’s subjects alive is nursing a burn because you swatted away the tea she was bringing you to aid with your gut pain. I am not royalty, your highness; I have no education of high and stately things, I know nothing of stately protocols or traditions…but one should ask themselves if they have the right to ask more of others who have already done so much and been repaid with so little.” The king said nothing. Hoxley curtseyed and backed out of the room.

  Outside, Ignatius sat upon the edge of a large balcony overlooking the rest of the kingdom with Siouxsie wrapped up in his arms and cloak. She sniffled and continued wiping the reddened skin on her hand with a green leaf while he cradled her and swayed side to side, whispering sweet songs and kissing the top of her head. A few feet away, Robert fumed as he stood on the ledge overlooking the courtyard with broom in hand. The tips of his winklepickers suspended themselves forty feet over the ground.

  “We keep them from dying…” Robert hissed, his eyes looking upon the width and breadth of the kingdom with disgust. “We nurse their babies…I buried their innocent dead… and what do they do? They spit on us the first chance they get…like they always do, like I knew they would. Ignatius we should go, leave this place. Let’s fly back to Spellvale, or the caves, find the others. We’ve fulfilled our part of any bargain we have agreed upon to help deliver Prince Damron to safety.”

  “No one is safe, Robert. We once thought that only Lord Baltus was to fear but now there’s much more.”

  “I know the true why you want to stay.” Robert said, looking back at his brother and sister. “You fancy the faun.”

  “Robert, it’s more than that I assure you.”

  “Is it?” he asked with a biting tone. “Every part of this disaster started with her.”

  “That’s not fair.” Said Siouxsie. “Hoxley did nothing more than stop by Spellvale for supplies. She didn’t ask us to join her. We were traveling in the same direction.”

  “But now it’s all become something else. Every time we stop to rest another burden finds its way onto our shoulders. Let’s be rid of them. Let’s leave. She doesn’t need us anymore. That wretched king doesn’t need us anymore. If the broth works on the rest of the people like it did him this whole land will be on its feet in a day or so.”

  “And if it doesn’t?” asked Ignatius

  “Then I don’t think it’s our problem.”

  “Robert, please don’t be this way.” Said Siouxsie “We helped these people. We saved lives…you’ve saved lives. That counts for something.”

  “He burned you with his ignorance.” Robert said looking away. “I’m not going to let that stand one bit.”

  “I’m not burned.” She corrected him. “It’s just a bit of hot tea and Ignatius’ aloe leaf is already healing it.”

  “A trespass is a trespass.”

  “Roberrrrrt.” Ignatius said. “Mind your mouth. If you anger a king, we’ll all pay for it somehow.”

  “Why should we? How can you be so accommodating?” Robert spat. “They dismiss us for what we are, and you won’t stand up for us because your mind is in the clouds hoping for kisses from Hoxley.”

  “Robert, don’t say such things!” said Siouxsie. “You care for Hoxley just as much as we do! I bet right now she’s in there speaking up for all of us!”

  “Open your eyes, sister! Do you think there will come a day when that human like that stoops low enough to invite us into his home and treat us as anything other than oddities? If people like him had his way he’d have us as slaves and use our magic as parlor tricks to act as fools for his court. I wish I could find the person long ago who started all the trouble between the tribes. I’d see to it that they suffered.”

  “Robert, calm down.” Said Ignatius. “You’re getting ahead of yourself and angry for no reason. You know nothing of what the king’s like, you’ve never met him before or anyone in his court. Don’t become as judgmental as those you’re accusing. Admit that you’re angry that the man knocked away a tea cup. He’s frightened because bad magic has befallen his kingdom and he awoke to find a magic user at his bedside! Anyone would be frightened! Be reasonable!”

  “There’s nothing for us here.” Robert said, staring to look far away into the distance. A swift breeze found him and rustled the scarf below his nose as it rippled the wide brim of his hat. “I don’t like it here, I want to leave.”

  “If you’re going to help us, then try and be helpful.” added Ignatius. “But if you’re going to act sour then perhaps you should go for a flight to improve your disposition. Why not fly out to the edge of the land and tell me what you see? The steep cliffs of the western shore are likely safe, but it couldn’t hurt for us to know if anyone might be approaching from the east. If you refuse to help the king, then at least be of some use to me for my piece of mind.”

  “Fine, I’ll go.” Said Robert. “But only for you and Siouxsie.” With that, Robert tipped all the way forward, falling headfirst off the balcony and vanished from view.