Fifteen

I'd begun to relax, certain that Jorge's lance had been J the magical threat Oculura and my grandmother had warned me about, when Eadric leaned toward me and said, "I saw Grassina when I was coming out of my tent. Why is your aunt strewing pieces of raw chicken on the ground? She was making a lot of dogs happy until she chased them away with her broom."

I jumped to my feet and looked toward Eadric's tent. "Where was she headed?"

"I don't know," he said. "I—"

A woman shrieked. At first I thought it might be a peacock, but when the ground shook and other people started screaming, I knew I'd let my guard down too soon.

While I tried to see what was going on, Eadric hurdled the railing. "You stay here," he said.

I slipped under the railing and started running. "I'm the Green Witch, remember?" I shouted over my shoulder. "I don't stay out of trouble; I take care of it."

Eadric yanked Ferdy from his scabbard and ran to catch up with me. "How could I forget?" he yelled.

I was still in front of the viewing stand when the tent at the end shivered. Looking up, I saw an enormous gray tentacle rise above the green roof, then smack down its peak, squashing the tent flat. A few people—unlucky enough to have been caught inside—squirmed out from under the fabric walls. I hoped that there was no one left behind.

Eadric had always been the faster runner, so he reached the pavilion first. This time when the tentacle swept down out of the sky, he was ready for it and grabbed hold with one arm, twisting his body so he could wrap his legs around it. Hanging on with all his strength, Eadric rode it up into the sky, where it thrashed back and forth, trying to shake him off.

I couldn't make up a spell to fight it until I knew exactly what I was fighting, so I ran around the flattened pavilion, hoping to get a better look at the creature. There was a whoosh of air above me and I heard Eadric shout. Looking up, I saw him riding the tentacle as if it was a wild, bucking horse. I was so close that I could hear Ferdy singing as Eadric hacked at his ghastly, gray steed.

Slash, hack, chop and whack.

Cut down the foe, he'll not come back.

Slash, hack, chop and whack.

No monster shall hurt my master.

Pieces of its flesh dropped from the sky, but the tentacle kept flailing, smashing tents and flinging tent poles and cart wheels through the air. People screamed and scattered as the creature moved toward the tilting field.

"Emma," called Eadric from somewhere above my head, "let me have that token."

"Are you sure?" I hollered. "You made me promise."

"Forget the promise," he yelled. "Just send it to me!"

"Fine," I said to myself. "And they say women can't make up their minds."

Taking the coin and scarf in one hand, I sent it to Eadric with a flick of my fingers and a few whispered words. The scarf shivered, then spread out like the wings of a bird and began to flap, carrying the coin up to Eadric. It took a while for it to reach him because the tentacle kept moving, but he finally saw the scarf coming and grabbed it as he whipped past.

Hearing a loud hiss, I dashed around one of the few tents that was still standing, past a fleeing troop of jugglers headed the other way and found what I was looking for. The enormous creature carrying Eadric lurched across the ground, dragged by tentacles that had never been intended for dry land. Half again as wide as the biggest tent, the monster had the hard-shelled body of a crab, the sharp-faced head of a shark and the tentacles of an enormous octopus. It was a composite of three different creatures. Now I knew what I had to do; I just had to find a way to do it.

Two knights were trying to drive the monster back with their lances, but the shell-covered body was too hard to penetrate and the shark's head too fierce to approach. When it snapped at them, its shark's teeth clanged against their already dented armor. Shattered lances littered the ground, and the hafts of their broken swords jutted uselessly from the monster's mouth.

Eadric must have seen this as he tore through the sky, for the next time the tentacle carried him over the monster's body he let go and leapt onto its back. The shark's jaws gaped as the body shook, trying to dislodge Eadric.

A horse screamed, and I turned to see another knight spur his destrier straight at the lurching monster. When the shark's head turned and lunged, the poor warhorse reared up, nearly dumping the knight onto the ground. The horse whirled, and the last thing we saw of the knight was the back of his armor, bouncing wildly as his steed galloped between the remaining tents and out of sight.

Unlike the monsters Grassina had created before, this was a composite monster created out of three innocent creatures. Leaving them in this form would not only make them miserable for the rest of their lives, but would introduce a new, more horrible beast into the world of monsters. I needed a spell that would separate the monster into its individual forms.

While Eadric tried to drag himself onto the back of the monster's head, I pointed at it and said,

Take this monster. Make it three

Separate creatures. You will see

They'll be happy once again

When they live in their own skins.

The monster lurched again and the spell missed its mark. I was trying to think of a way to get the spell where I wanted it to go when Eadric threw himself forward and landed on the shark's head. The monster snapped at him, but Eadric ducked, jamming Ferdy into the spot where the shark's head joined the shell. He was trying to drive Ferdy in farther when one of the monster's tentacles wrapped itself around his waist, plucked him off and tossed him aside like a broken doll. I cried out as he flew through the air, his arms and legs flailing.

Eadric was yelling when he hit the ground, but instead of a solid thump, he hit with a squishy kind of sound and immediately bounced back onto his feet.

"Wow!" he said, when I ran to make sure he was all right. "That was incredible!"

"Eadric, I know what we need to do—" I began.

"Yeah, but did you see that? I was flying, and then I hit the ground, and I bounced and then—"

"Eadric, are you listening to me? That's a composite monster. I can render it harmless if I can break it up into its individual parts again, but I need you to help me deliver the spell."

"I can handle that," said Eadric.

"I'll put the spell in a ball like the ones we used when we fought King Beltran and turned his soldiers into frogs and mice. You'll need to aim for a spot where you'll hit parts of all three creatures. Do you think you can do that?"

"With the charm you gave me, I think I can do anything."

"Then here goes," I said. Shaping a ball with my hands, I repeated the spell that would break the monster apart. The whole time I was working, I could hear two knights fighting the beast. I was almost finished when the monster flung them into the sides of a tent. The tent broke their fall as they flattened it to the ground. They were wallowing in the fabric when I handed Eadric the spell-filled ball.

"How sturdy is this thing?" he asked, taking it from my hands.

"Strong enough," I said. "Just don't drop it."

A high-pitched cackle grated on my nerves. Glancing toward the tents, I spotted Grassina peeking out from behind a shattered cart, watching her creation with a mother's pride. When the monster noticed Eadric's approach, it turned its head to snap at him. Grassina chortled and rubbed her hands together. When Eadric dodged aside and tried again, she fairly danced with joy. But when he ran straight at the monster's head and tossed the ball with all the strength he could muster, she stopped laughing, her eyes clouded over and she began to mutter a spell of her own.

"Oh, no you don't!" I said and recited a binding spell.

Grassina's hand froze in mid-gesture. Her face turned nearly purple as she realized what I'd done. The only things she could move were her eyes, but she glared at me with a fierceness that said everything. The binding spell was an old one that I was sure Grassina knew, but it would take her a minute or two to break it, giving my own spell enough time to work.

The ball hit the monster, bursting with a shower of green droplets. Eadric tried to jump out of the way, but he'd underestimated the monster's reach, and the daggerlike teeth closed over his back and shoulder. Then, between one breath and the next, the monster shivered and dissolved in a lavender puddle.

Eadric stumbled and nearly fell while Ferdy clattered to the ground. Grassina howled wordlessly, the binding spell not fully broken.

The monster was gone, leaving a tiny crab, a baby octopus and a miniature shark floundering on the hard-packed dirt. They would die if we left them on the ground, so I sent them home with a quick spell. They disappeared in a green haze smelling strongly of salt water.

"How dare you?" screamed Grassina, finally getting her voice back. "That was the best monster I'd ever made! You ruined it! Now I'm going to have to start again and—"

"No, you're not," I said, glaring back at her. "Your monster-making days are over."

Grassina sneered at me. "Oh, really? And I suppose you're the one who's going to stop me?"

"If she doesn't, I will," said my grandmother, who suddenly appeared beside me. "Why did you have to ruin this tournament, you good-for-nothing, spoiled brat? You know how much I love tournaments! I used to watch your father joust before you were even a twinkle in his eye. You did this just to spite me."

"Maybe I don't like tournaments and all the noise and partying. Did you ever think of that? Or maybe I wanted to see your expression when my monster ate those precious knights."

"Or maybe you're just so cantankerous you can't stand to see anyone enjoying herself," I muttered under my breath.

"Mind your own business," Grassina said, scowling at me. Once again I'd forgotten how good Grassina's hearing could be. "Did you invite the old hag so she could help you spoil my fun? It won't do either of you any good. The feeble, old bag of bones hasn't helped anyone in years. Her magic is so pitiful that—"

"Who are you calling a feeble bag of bones, you lowlife fleck of pond scum," growled my grandmother. "I'll teach you to mess with me. My magic is stronger than yours any day!" Pointing at the ground beneath Grassina's feet, my grandmother muttered a few obscure words. The ground began to rumble, and a small crack opened up.

Eadric had come up beside me when I wasn't looking. "I don't think Grassina was really thinking of your grandmother when she—"

I clapped my hand over his mouth before he could say another word. "Shh, Eadric! Not now." The last thing I wanted was for two fighting witches to turn their attention to him.

Looking back at my aunt, I saw that the crack had widened, forcing her to stumble out of the way. "Is that all you can do?" she taunted, waggling her finger almost playfully. Grassina raised her arms to the sky and began to spin in place, slowly at first, then faster and faster until she was a whirling blur. A wind began to blow, bringing dancing snowflakes with it. The snow grew thicker, swirling out in a horizontal blizzard.

I turned my head to keep the snow from blinding me and saw my grandmother stomp her feet and gesture. Suddenly there was another kind of blizzard that made us back away. A swarm of insects had formed between Grandmother's hands, pouring forth in a stinging, biting, hopping, crawling, flying cloud that roiled and swirled toward my aunt.

The snowstorm grew fiercer, freezing insects in the air and on the ground, but when a few made it past her snowy barrier, Grassina slapped at them and called up another weapon, letting her snowstorm die down to a few drifting flakes. Birds of every shape and size flocked to her, dropping out of the sky from miles around to devour the insects before turning their beady eyes on my grandmother.

"So that's how you want to play," said my grandmother, and within moments an army of cats descended on us. Snarling, screeching, stalking cats—from stable cats to lions with shaggy manes—seemed to appear out of nowhere, batting at the birds as they flew and pouncing on them when they landed.

Nearly everyone had been scared off the field by Grassina's monster. When the big cats ran out of birds to chase, they began to stalk the few humans who were still around. A tawny-coated cat with irregular spots stared at me and licked its lips. I had to do something, and I had to do it fast before things got even more out of hand. I thought of turning myself into a huge dog to chase the cats away, but Grassina beat me to it by calling up a pack of enormous wolves, exactly the kind I'd chased out of the kingdom only a few weeks before. The wolves ignored Grassina, my grandmother and me, but I knew it wouldn't be long before they turned on us as well, and if we weren't there to stop them, they'd go after anyone who stepped outside the castle walls.

"Stop it!" I shouted at my aunt and my grandmother, trying to make myself heard over the fighting. Neither paid me any attention.

I had to do something to get them to stop fighting, something they couldn't ignore. There was only one creature that I knew they both respected. I'd never turned into one before, but then I'd never tried.

Dragons big and dragons small,

Fiercest creatures of them all,

Change me into one of these.

Do it quickly, if you please.

When my skin began to burn, I wondered if I'd made a horrible mistake. Maybe people were never meant to turn into dragons. When my stomach felt like it was on fire, I was convinced that my mistake was going to be fatal. Why couldn't I have chosen a nonmagical creature? Instead of the tingling or bubbly feeling that I usually felt when I changed, turning into a dragon was painful. Everything about me hurt: my skin, my stomach, my head, my muscles, even my bones. The pain grew worse until I felt as though I'd been dipped in molten lava. I was lying on the ground, writhing in agony, when the pain ended as abruptly as it had begun. / must be dead, I thought, opening my eyes, but I was still on the field between the moat and the tents. The fight had stopped for the moment, and everyone was staring at me.

I looked down and saw why. I was a dragon just as I wanted to be, but I wasn't quite like any dragon I'd ever seen. From the tip of my pointed snout to the end of my ridged tail, my body was an iridescent peridot green. My finger-length claws were a dark emerald color, and my pale green wings were translucent. As I'd learned months before, there were no green dragons, yet that was exactly what I had become. I was nearly twelve feet long and covered with scales, but for the first time in my life, I felt beautiful.

While everyone stared at me, I raised my wings and flexed them to see if they really worked. I didn't move them very much, but I still created a wind strong enough to send some of the smaller cats flying and blow away the last of the insects.

"Emma, is that you?" asked my aunt.

"Yes," I said, my voice sounding like a hiss.

Grandmother scratched her head. "That's not possible," she said. "No witch has ever been able to turn herself into a dragon. It must be an illusion."

"Does this feel like an illusion to you?" I asked, spreading my wings again and beating them one, two, three times. Grandmother's gown streamed out behind her, and she had to brace her feet to keep from being blown over.

"I guess not," she said, blinking at the dust I'd blown into her eyes.

Grassina sneezed, then blew her nose on her sleeve. "How is it possible?" she asked.

"It's magic," I told her. I didn't really know, either, but I suspected that it had something to do with my being a Dragon Friend.

Neither Grassina nor Grandmother protested when I herded them together and said, "No more fighting with magic. If you don't agree about something, you're going to have to learn to talk about it. Do you understand?"

They nodded, their heads wobbling as if pulled by cords. "Now go to the castle and stay there until you can work this out." They stumbled off together, glancing back at me now and then to make sure I was still behind them. I followed them as far as the drawbridge, then sat down and watched them trudge inside. "Go get started," I called after them. "I'll be right there."

My voice must have been loud in the enclosed space, because they flinched when I spoke, then scuttled away like pages caught stealing tarts from the kitchen. I flexed my wings once more, enjoying the supple way they stretched. Unfortunately I didn't have time to try them out, but I promised myself that I would turn back into a dragon as soon as I had the time to experiment.

When my aunt and my grandmother were out of sight, I repeated the spell to turn myself back into my human form. Eadric had stayed behind, but now that I was myself again, he joined me at the drawbridge. "That was easier than I expected," I said. "Did you see how they listened to me?"

Eadric licked his lips and tried to smile. "Anyone would have listened to you when you looked like that. You scared them so badly that they couldn't do otherwise. To be honest, you scared me, too!"

"Sorry about that. I just wanted them to stop fighting. It seems that's the only way those two can relate to each other anymore. I wish I could order Grassina to kiss Haywood, but I doubt it would help now. She wouldn't really mean it, and I think it has to be heartfelt to work. We'd better go see what Grassina and my grandmother are up to," I said, kissing Eadric on the cheek.

I could hear them arguing long before I reached the Great Hall. Their voices were shrill and carried well. When I entered the room, I saw that I wasn't the only one they'd attracted. Oculura and Dyspepsia were seated on a bench at the back of the room, sharing a trencher of roast goose and onions while listening to the argument. My parents were also there along with Queen Frazzela and King Bodamin, both of whom were dressed for travel.

"A forest of stinging nettles," said my grandmother. "That's what I would have tried next if Emma hadn't been there."

Grassina snorted. "You are so old-fashioned. Stinging nettles went out of style years ago! I would have tried quicksand or maybe a fog so dense that—"

"Not around my castle, you wouldn't," said a hollow-sounding voice as my grandfather materialized in the center of the room. "This isn't a testing ground for new spells. It's a home and a seat of government, which you two seem to forget. Grassina, I found out about that dust you've been using on the ghosts in the dungeon. I'm acting on behalf of the Council of Ghosts when I say that you may no longer use it under penalty of personal haunting. I've sent the affected ghosts to be purged of the dust. There will be no more tomfoolery like that around here again. It's time you and your mother grew up and started to help Emma instead of making things harder for her. Curse or no curse, you're still family."

Everyone turned their heads when Queen Frazzela groaned on the other side of the room. Her face was pale and she had her hand pressed to her throat, but that didn't stop her from speaking her mind. "This is a horrid family!" she said, her voice turning as shrill as my aunt's and grandmother's. "When I came inside to lie down, I heard the commotion, so I climbed up to the battlements. I saw everything that's gone on here today. Witches for relatives, monsters in the moat and ghosts in the castle! Even that girl is a witch," she said, pointing an accusing finger at me. "After meeting all of you, I will never give my son permission to marry into such a horrid family, regardless of how much he says he loves your princess."

My grandfather's color deepened to a rich blue as he floated toward Eadric's mother. "You have no idea what you're talking about," he said with more feeling in his voice than I'd heard in a long time. "This family may be unique, but it's not horrid." Raising his transparent arm, Grandfather pointed at my grandmother. "This woman was the best wife any man could ever have, king or not. She loved me with all her heart, but I was too busy to notice. We argued over something inconsequential, and I thought I'd make up for it with a silly bouquet of flowers. It was my fault that she fell prey to the awful curse that changed her life. If I'd known her better, it would never have happened. I loved that woman then, and I love her still. If there is such a thing as a soul mate, then this woman is mine. Any man could count himself fortunate if he could marry into this family, and he'd be a fool to think otherwise."

"Aldrid?" said my grandmother.

Grandfather turned to face her, floating back across the room until his aura nearly touched her. "I should have told you how I felt years ago, but other things always seemed to get in the way. However nasty you might have been, I've always known it was the curse talking and not you. I love you, Olivene. I always have, and I always will."

Grandfather moved toward her again, the blue of his aura engulfing her as his arms seemed to wrap around her body. Although we could see through him, we could also see when he kissed her full on the lips, and she responded, trying to kiss him back.

Tears pricked my eyes, and I was wiping them away when Eadric nudged me and said, "Will you look at that!"

A hole seemed to have opened in the ceiling, and through it streamed a shower of flower petals of every description. They fell around us, drifting onto our faces, our clothing and down to the floor. My mother shrieked and hid her face in my father's shoulder, but for the first time in centuries flower petals had no power to change the women of the royal family of Greater Greensward.

Someone laughed, a light tinkling sound that brought a smile to everyone's lips. It was my grandmother, her face restored to her former beauty—older, sadder, but still the face that my grandfather had loved. I looked at my aunt and she had changed as well, her face the one that I had missed so much. Hearing the laughter, my mother looked up, and I saw her face transform. Years seemed to drop away from her as she realized the truth. The family curse was over.

Everyone started to laugh, a joyous sound that hadn't been heard in the castle for far too long. Still laughing, I turned to Eadric, the words I'd wanted to say already on my tongue.

Something thudded by the door, and I heard a voice cry out, "Stop it! Let go of me!" A moment later Olefat the dog backed into the room, his teeth clenching someone's sleeve. Instead of letting go, Olefat snarled and shook his head, then braced his feet and pulled even harder. With one last yank, Haywood popped through the door. When he saw everyone, he looked around sheepishly and said, "I didn't mean to intrude. The dog—" And then his eyes fell on Grassina. The astonishment on his face lasted but an instant, chased away by a look of such longing that I felt as if we were the ones who were intruding. "Grassina?" he asked. "Is that really you?"

"Oh, Haywood," she said, and suddenly they were holding each other. Olefat yipped and hopped up onto an empty bench. "And that," he said, "makes three!"

"What does he mean by.... Oh!" said Haywood as a tiny whirlwind danced around Olefat the dog, leaving Olefat the wizard in his place.

"Awk!" said Metoo the parrot, perched on the old man's shoulder. "It's about time!"

"Why are you complaining?" demanded Olefat. "I was the one who did all the work. You were just my flea!"

Taking Eadric's hand in mine, I led him to an empty corner of the room where we could have a little privacy. "The curse is over," I said before wrapping my arms around him.

"Mmm," he said. "Does that mean that we can get married now?"

I nodded. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Nothing?" he asked.

"Well," I said, "I would like to hold the ceremony in the swamp. We'll have to invite all our friends. You know who I mean. There's Li'l, of course, and Garrid if they're still together and some of the ghosts in the dungeon. Then there's Fang and—"

"What about my parents?" he asked.

"We'll have to invite them, too," I said. "They may not like me now, but you know they'll love me after they get to know me a little better."

"Of course they will," he said, kissing me on the forehead. "People always do."