The Dragons' Lair Chapter 2.

 

Chapter Two.

 

A Bored Princess.

 

Princess Sarriette picked up her embroidery ring and hurled it across the room.

“I am fed up with this silly sewing. I want to do something exciting.”

Her friend and companion, Rose, daughter of Thomas and Mary, the Butler and Housekeeper, sighed and retrieved the embroidery.

“It isn’t fair,” stormed Sarriette. “Our brothers are allowed to go out and do things, but we have to sit indoors on a lovely day like this and sew.”

“But it’s raining,” Rose pointed out.

“That’s not the point,” said Sarriette angrily. “Even if it were a bright sunny day, we still wouldn’t be allowed to do anything.”

“We went out for a ride yesterday, when it was nice,” said Rose.

Princess Sarriette snorted, a most un‑princess‑like sound. It was just as well her grandmother, Queen Jessamy, was not in the room.

“Some adventure that was,” she said. “Up and down the beach on big, fat, slow horses that have never managed a gallop in their lives.”

Rose nodded. “You’re a Princess. Princesses aren’t supposed to go off on adventures.”

“But you’re not a Princess,” said Sarriette. “And you’re not allowed to go off on adventures either.”

“I know,” replied Rose sadly. “My parents want me to learn how to run a Palace so I can take over when they retire. I spend most of my free time learning how to cook and mend and clean.”

“But there are servants who are paid to do those things,” protested Sarriette.

“Yes, I know,” said Rose. “But Father and Mother think I need to know how to do them myself, so I can properly tell others how to later on.”

She put her hands behind her back and imitated her mother’s voice.

“‘You cannot tell a cook how to make a pie until you can make one yourself.’”

Both girls giggled.

“I’d like to learn how to cook,” said Sarriette. “I’m not even allowed to boil an egg.”

“I don’t think you’d enjoy the things I have to do,” said Rose thoughtfully. “I get awfully hot and dusty sometimes, and some of the jobs are hard work.”

“Probably not,” agreed Sarriette. “But I’d like to try. I wish there were a way we could swap places.”

“You’re thinking of that book we read last week,” said Rose. “The one where the Prince and the poor boy get mistaken for each other.”

Princess Emma, Prince Emdan’s mother, had spent years establishing Libraries in as many towns and cities as she could. She said it was silly to have Libraries full of books if people couldn’t read them. So now, in most places, all children went to school and learned to read.

“See?” said Sarriette. “You got to go to school with other children, and I had to stay at home with a stuffy old tutor.”

She paced up and down the room. “I wouldn’t mind so much if my mother hadn’t been on an adventure,” she said.

This was one of the girls’ favourite topics. Princess Jasmine had met Prince Emdan on an adventure, which they thought wonderfully romantic. But no matter how often they asked, no one would tell them the whole story.

“I’d love to know the truth,” said Sarriette. “Grandfather says she was kidnapped by a Dragon and rescued by Father. But if that’s true, why are the Sea Dragons so friendly? They showed Father how to make the seaweed stuff, they wouldn’t do that if they weren’t our friends.”

“I know,” agreed Rose. “And where does Calizone fit into it? She came to your Naming Day, from what I’ve been told, and was as pleasant as anything.”

“No one tells us anything,” sniffed Sarriette.

“And another thing,” said Rose. “Your mother and my father are supposed to have used magic once.”

Sarriette stopped pacing. “I didn’t know that. Where did you hear it?”

Rose blushed. “I overheard my parents having an argument, and Mum let it slip.”

“You see?” said Sarriette bitterly. “Our parents do all these strange things, but they won’t let us have adventures.”

If the weather had turned sunny, things might have gone differently. But it rained steadily for a week. The fires under the seaweed vats refused to burn, and Prince Emdan grew very short‑tempered. The two girls kept well out of his way. Instead, they decided to explore the Castle, every room, from the topmost attics in the highest tower down to the deepest, darkest cellar.

Most of the rooms were dull and dusty, full of old furniture.

“Nothing is ever thrown away here,” said Rose. “It’s just stuffed into a room and forgotten.”

Sarriette agreed. “‘Well, it might come in handy one day,’” she said in her grandmother’s voice.

But one room was different. Very different.

The door was locked, the only locked door in the Castle. Rose “borrowed” her father’s set of keys. As Butler, it was his job to keep all the Castle keys safe, especially the big one that opened the Castle Gates.

Excitedly, the girls tried key after key until at last the lock turned. Breathlessly, they stepped inside.

There was no dust. The room looked as if it had been cleaned recently.

“Strange,” said Rose. “The corridor outside is covered in dust. If someone had come in here to clean, they’d have left footprints, like we have.”

The walls were lined with bookcases, filled with books and glass jars. In the centre of the room stood a table. On it were several neatly labelled boxes, an open book, and a magician’s wand.

“This must be the Court Magician’s room,” said Sarriette excitedly.

“We haven’t had a Court Magician in my lifetime,” said Rose.

“There used to be one when my mother was young,” said Sarriette. “I’ve heard them talk about him. He left for some reason and never came back.”

“We should leave,” said Rose.

“No,” said Sarriette. “I’m going to look in the book. This might be the one my mother and your father used when they cast that spell all those years ago.”

She read the open page: How to Turn a Container Over.

Next to the book was a glass jar. Sarriette picked up the wand, pointed it at the jar, and read the spell aloud.

Nothing happened.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

Angrily she thrust the wand at Rose. Rose pointed it at the jar and read the spell.

There was a flash of light, and the jar neatly flipped itself upside down.

“Do it again!” ordered Sarriette.

Rose obeyed. The jar turned itself the right way up.

“I can do magic,” Rose whispered.

Sarriette danced round the table. “You can do magic! Now we can have an adventure.” She stopped, took a deep breath. “We must think seriously about how to use your power, though.”

Rose shook her head. “I don’t want to do magic. If Calizone finds out, she’ll do terrible things to me. She hates other people being able to do magic.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t want to be a Witch. I like being me.”

“Oh, fiddle,” said Sarriette, rather rudely for a Princess. “The only ones who know are us, and we’re not going to tell her, are we? Stop crying and come back to my rooms. We can come back tomorrow and look through all the books to see if there are any useful spells.”