The Two Princesses of Bamarre Read Online Free Page B

banquet hall that evening. They agreed to meet three days hence, which would be Thursday. I could hardly wait. I wanted Rhys to become better acquainted with Meryl and for the three of us to be friends.
    On Tuesday Bella had one of her headaches and couldn’t give us our lesson. Meryl seized the opportunity and persuaded me to ride with her to Lake Orrinic.
    I rarely ventured beyond the fields that bordered Bamarre castle, but the lake was only five miles away, and monsters had never come so close as that. I was eager to go because I wanted fresh views for my embroidery, and Lake Orrinic bordered a pine forest and a cliff.
    The day was sunny and hot. We spread our blanket on the lakeshore.
    “I’m off to explore.” Meryl pointed at a cave in the cliff and brandished Blood-biter. “Perhaps the bats know how to fence.”
    After she’d gone, I began to sketch an episode from Drualt . In my drawing Drualt stood on a rock in the middle of Lake Orrinic, battling a flock of gryphons. The air was full of feathers, and Drualt laughed as he fought. One of the gryphons had a hurt wing, and a wound over its eye dripped blood.
    Sometimes my images of gore and mayhem made even Meryl uneasy, but they never troubled me. A real monster battle would have caused me to die of terror, but a painted or stitched one gave me only pleasure.
    I forgot everything while I drew, but after I finished, I began to worry about Meryl. She should have come out of the cave by now. I ran to its mouth and called into it. My only answer was a ripple of echoes. As I took a few steps inside, I made out the bones of a dead squirrel in the shadows a few feet away.
    A passageway led deeper into the cave. I hoped Meryl hadn’t gone exploring in there. I called to her again. The echoes sounded despairing. I backed out, telling myself that she had probably left the cave anyway.
    I hurried to the pine forest, the only other place she might be. The trees were huge, some taller than our castle battlements. I stood at the forest’s edge, peering in and feeling as tiny as a mole. I saw no movement and heard nothing. The silence frightened me. It seemed to be holding its breath, waiting.
    Meryl is fine, I told myself. I started back to the lake, wondering if I should gallop home and return with guards to search the cave and the forest.
    “Lady!”
    I turned. A child stepped out of the shadows several yards into the woods.
    “Lady!” He ran to me and bowed clumsily.
    He was about six years old, in torn breeches and a dirty shirt. He was a comely child, with a sweet plump face. His hair was amber ringlets, mussed on top, as if he’d been caught in brambles. I wondered what he’d been doing in the forest. Perhaps his father was a woodcutter.
    “Are you the other princess? Princess . . .” He shook his head. “I forgot.”
    My heart started pounding. “Have you seen my sister?”
    “What’s your name? She made me promise—”
    “I’m Princess Adelina, Addie. Now tell me.”
    He dimpled when he smiled. “That’s the one. She said—”
    “Tell me! Is she all right?”
    He nodded. “She wants you to come. She found something. She said you have to see it.”
    Thank heaven she was all right. “What is it?”
    He dimpled again. “I mustn’t say.”
    My fear of the forest receded. Meryl would never send for me if there was danger. I was so glad to know where she was!
    He held his hand out to me, and I took it. It was moist and surprisingly cool, considering how warm the day was.
    He began to talk, while holding my hand confidingly. I smiled down at him. He’d seen Meryl doing something, he wouldn’t say what, and she’d paid him to find me. He opened his other hand and showed me a silver coin. “I’m going to buy gingerbread.”
    He led me a few steps into the forest. The pine needles underfoot made a soft carpet.
    I stopped short. There could be spiders.
    The boy looked up at me curiously.
    Meryl wouldn’t have sent for me if there were spiders. She