Princess in Disguise by E. D. Baker
“What do you want to do?” asked Annie.
“See who comes out.” Cupping his hands around his mouth, he threw back his head and shouted, “Hello, the gate!”
After what seemed like a very long time, a man appeared on the parapet to look down at them. “What do you want?” he said in a rude voice.
“Is Godfrey there, or Thurmont?”
“No one here by either of those names. Go away and stop wasting my time. You can’t come in no matter who you know. Can’t you see that the drawbridge is closed?”
“It’s awfully early in the day for that,” said Liam.
“No one asked for your opinion! Go away if you know what’s good for you.”
Annie was incredulous when Liam turned the horse and rode away. “I can’t believe he talked to you like that!”
“He has no idea who I am,” Liam told her. “I have a feeling that if he did, we would have gotten a very different and highly unpleasant reception. I don’t know who he is, either, but I do know that neither Godfrey nor Thurmont would let a new recruit handle the drawbridge by himself. And if he doesn’t even know their names … something is definitely wrong here.”
“Where are we going?”
“To find someone who should be able to answer a few questions,” said Liam.
They rode away from the castle, heading toward the town of Casaway, but they had only just caught sight of it when Liam turned Otis onto a side road.
“I thought we were going to the town,” said Annie.
“We were until I saw a group of mounted men posted on the street just outside. As far as I could see, they weren’t wearing uniforms, but they sat their horses like military men and are probably there to question new arrivals. I’d prefer to avoid being questioned, so we’re going somewhere else.”
The road took them between an apple orchard and a hayfield before crossing over a stone bridge and the sparkling brook below. “This is the Old Stone Bridge,” said Liam. He pointed at a run-down shack yards from the base of the bridge. “And that is Meckle’s house. Godfrey is his son. I met Meckle when I was just a lad. He’s a good man, although he’s getting up in years and tends to repeat himself.”
“He lives alone here?” Annie asked, eyeing the shack with distrust. “It looks as if it’s about to fall down.” All four walls were leaning and the roof was sagging so badly that she wondered how anyone could walk around inside. An old dog that was missing half an ear lifted his head from the ground he was lying on, gave a halfhearted woof, then laid his head down again as if it was too heavy to hold up.
“It’s looked like that for years, but he refuses to let anyone fix it. Don’t worry, we won’t be going in. Meckle prefers to entertain outside.”
While Annie held the rope and let Otis nibble the grass by the foot of the bridge, Liam knocked on the cobbled-together door. A few seconds later an old man shorter than Annie threw the door open to glare at them. He had to be the oldest man Annie had ever seen. Sparse white hair surrounded a bald patch on the crown of his head. His face was a map of wrinkles, and his eyes were a watery blue.
“Do I know you?” the man asked, his voice surprisingly deep. He eyed Annie and turned to Liam before studying Otis for just as long.
“It’s me, Liam,” said the prince, keeping his voice down.
“Liam who?” asked Meckle.
“You know—Prince Liam,” Liam said in a fierce whisper.
The old man peered up at Liam for just a second before saying, “Nope, can’t be. Prince Liam is in Treecrest getting married. Just as well, considering what’s going on at the castle.”
“What’s going on?” asked Liam.
“Don’t know. Nobody does. Drawbridge has been up for the last five days. Did I tell you my son came to see me six days ago? Good boy, my Godfrey. Always checking up on me. Promised to bring me eggs the next day, but he never did bring ’em. Not like my Godfrey at all. I taught him if you make a promise, you darn well better keep it. When he didn’t come by the day after that, either, I put on my shoes and walked over there. Thought he might have caught some sort of ailment. Never did see him, though. Drawbridge was up. The fool posted there wouldn’t tell me what was going on. I’d taught half the boys in that castle how to fish and catch crawdads in that creek,” the old man said, nodding toward the stream behind his shack. “Prince Liam, too.” He gave Liam a meaningful look. “But not that fool. Never seen him before, nor any of the others riding around in packs making nuisances of ’emselves.”
“And none of your friends have been inside the castle?” asked Liam. “What about food deliveries?”
Meckle shrugged. “No idea. For all I know they could be conjuring up food with magic.” He laughed so hard that his little potbelly bounced. “Imagine that! I’d like to try that one myself.”
“It sounds as if someone is hiding something in the castle,” said Liam.
“Seems that way,” the old man replied, wiping tears from his eyes.
“If we were to leave our horse here for a few hours, would you take care of him?” Liam asked him. “Make sure that no one steals him and that he’s fed and watered? I’ll see you get those eggs you wanted if you’ll do that for me.”
“Well, young man who claims to be Prince Liam, let me give you some advice. Don’t tell anyone what you told me. If Prince Liam really was here, people would be looking for him, and not to do him any favors. Leave your horse. I know of an out-of-the-way pasture where he can eat alfalfa till he’s fat as a tick and no one to bother him. And I’ll take those eggs. No saying when my boy will be bringing any to me now.”
After handing Otis’s rope to the old man, Annie and Liam were walking away when Meckle called after them. “If you happen to find a way in, check on my boy if you would. I’d help him myself, but my bones are too stiff for climbing.”
Liam nodded and waved back, which seemed to satisfy the old man.
“What did he mean by climbing?” Annie asked as they headed toward the stream.
“I grew up in this castle and I know it better than anyone, inside and out. When I was a lad, I told only one person about some of the secret passages I’d found, and that was Meckle. He may be old and pretending not to know me, but he knew exactly who I was and what I plan to do.”
“But climbing?” said Annie.
Liam laughed. “Don’t worry. It won’t be up the side of a tower or castle wall. We’ll be climbing some steep stairs and going places no one has gone for a very long time to find out what those men don’t want anyone to know.”
Instead of crossing over the bridge, they walked along the stream bank, heading back toward the castle. “Why are we going this way?” asked Annie.
“We’ll approach the castle from a different direction, one that no one ever watches,” said Liam. “This stream goes through the woods and loops behind the castle. I used to follow this path a lot when I was a child. Anything to get out of the castle and away from my mother and brother. That’s how I got to know Meckle.”
“Your brother didn’t play out here as well?”
“Clarence spent all his time in the castle. Mother was always pampering him, so he already had everything he ever wanted.”
They followed the stream through the woods, crossing to the other side in the narrowest part of a loop, then creeping through the trees and around the side of the castle to a vast and smelly pit nearly full of refuse. The castle rose high above them, and Annie could see from the discolored stones exactly where people dumped the trash out of openings in the walls.
“This place reeks!” she said, holding her nose.
“It smells worse in the middle of summer when it’s hot out. I’m thankful that it does smell bad. The stench is the reason this is such a good spot to sneak in. No one wants to breathe this if they can help it.”
Annie tilted her head back to look up at the castle. “You said we didn’t have to climb the wall. So how are we getting in?”
“Through the door,” Liam said. “Follow m
Annie waited while Liam slipped into the dark interior of the castle. She could hear him bumping into things and knocking things over. When she heard rustling behind her, she turned in surprise and spotted a large rat nosing through the garbage not five feet away. Her eye caught more movement and she realized that there were rats everywhere, scurrying from pile to pile, gnawing on bits and pieces of things. Spotting a medium-size rat watching her, she edged closer to the door.
The rat was motionless except for its twitchy little nose. Suddenly a big black snake shot out of an opening in the trash and swallowed the rat whole. A moment later, the snake flowed from the first opening into a gap a few feet away. Although Annie never saw it exposed all at once, she noted that it was as big around as her wrist and seemed to go on forever. She edged even closer to the door.
“Found it!” Liam said as he emerged holding an unlit torch. Taking a flint from his knapsack, he lit the torch and gestured toward the door. “Now we can see what everyone is trying to hide.”
Chapter 11
Annie was getting used to walking through narrow passages with only torchlight to show the way, although she didn’t like it. After climbing stairs that were so steep and shallow that the toes of her shoes barely fit on the step, she was glad to be on a level floor again.
She almost tripped over Liam when he stopped suddenly and bent down to lift a stone out of the floor, revealing a hole as big as his fist. “What is that?” she asked.
“This looks down through the ceiling in the great hall. You can’t see much from here, but it’s surprising how much you can hear. Hold on. Let me listen.”
Liam held his ear close to the opening for nearly a minute before he sat back and shook his head. “It seems there’s nothing to hear—no talking or footsteps or snoring or anything. I don’t think anyone is down there, which is very unusual. Let’s go check the kitchen.”
They descended another narrow set of stairs and reached a short corridor that smelled strongly of old smoke and stale food. Annie found the skeleton of a dead rat in the middle of the floor and stepped around it. When she heard a scraping sound, she thought it was another rat, but it was Liam taking the cover off a tiny peephole. Pressing his face to the wall, Liam peered into the kitchen. Annie held her breath and heard the faint sound of metal banging against metal.
“What did you see?” she asked when he closed the peephole.
“A guard rooting through the pots and pans. I heard someone else moving around, too, so there were at least two of them.”
“Could I get to look sometime? Even if there isn’t much to see,” said Annie.
“Oh, sure. Sorry! We’ll go back upstairs now and see if my father is in his room.”
They walked for what seemed like miles, climbing more stairs and following paths that zigged and zagged around oddly shaped rooms, public stairwells, and hidden niches. They passed outlines of doors cut into the walls as well as peepholes and sliding panels, both large and small. Annie felt as if Liam was giving her a tour of all the secret passages in his father’s castle, but she was certain he had a destination in mind.
They were walking down yet another narrow, dust-filled corridor when Annie sneezed. The dust they stirred up tickled her nose and throat, and she sneezed again and again.
“Shh!” Liam whispered. “We have to be extra-quiet through here. There are bedchambers on either side of us.”
Annie fought to get her sneezing under control. She pinched her nose and held her breath until her eyes watered. When she didn’t sneeze again, she gave Liam a weak smile, took a shallow breath, and coughed. “It’s the dust,” she said. “Sorry.”
Liam took his knapsack off his back and reached inside. “Here, we’ll tie this over your face. It might cut down on the dust.”
Annie held her breath while he tied a clean handkerchief just under her eyes, knotting it behind her head. “I feel like a bandit,” she said when he was done. “Wearing a mask and lurking behind the walls.”
“Prettiest bandit anywhere,” Liam said, kissing her cloth-covered nose. “Now watch and learn. This is my father’s room. I can tell by the mark I made on the wall years ago. Let’s see if he’s in.”
Annie looked at the circle with the star drawn on the wall next to a full-size outline of a door. She thought Liam was going to open the door, but instead he stepped about three feet to his left and slid a small panel to the side. After peering through the opening for a moment, he moved aside, saying, “No one is in there, but you can take a look if you’d like.”
Annie peeked into the room. From where she stood, she could see part of the drapes that surrounded the bed, a sizeable cabinet, and a small table with a single chair. As far as she could tell, nothing was moving in the room and the only sounds she could hear were her own breathing and heartbeat.
“You’re right,” she told Liam as she slid the panel shut. “There’s no one there.”
“I’ve never heard silence like this before,” said Liam. “There’s usually some noise even in the middle of the night.”
“Now you know what it was like when Gwennie touched the spinning wheel and everybody in the castle fell asleep except me,” said Annie. “There were people everywhere, yet I never felt so alone in my life.” She turned from the panel to the outline of the door. “Why is there a panel here when there is already a door into the room?”
“As far as I can figure out, these passages were built into the castle for the first king of Dorinocco. He probably used the door to go places in secret. The panel was probably put in so he could make sure no one, like the queen or even a maid cleaning his room, was there when he returned.”
“Ah,” said Annie. “So why were there doors and panels to other rooms?”
“I suppose it was so he could spy on everyone else, or visit people without anyone else knowing.”
“He sounds very sneaky,” said Annie.
“Or very shrewd,” Liam said as he glanced down the length of the passageway. “Let’s check some of the other rooms. You take that side and I’ll take this one.”
Annie nodded. Reluctant to spy on people and invade their privacy, she was nervous and slid the first panel aside slowly and carefully. She held her breath as she peeked inside, but it was just another furniture-filled room with no one in it. Moving on to the next, she slid it aside more quickly and found a nearly identical room. While Liam peered into one room after another, Annie took her time. After checking a few rooms, she began to think that none of them were occupied and she and Liam were wasting their time.
Annie and Liam both looked up when they heard the faint sound of a door slam somewhere nearby. “Sounds like someone isn’t in a good mood,” Liam whispered. “Let’s see if we can find out why.”
They heard voices then, muted by the wall, but still distinguishable as the higher-pitched voice of a woman and the lower pitch of a man. Moving as quietly as they could, Annie and Liam located the room by following the voices. The panel covering the opening to the room was set back in a little alcove. The dust was thicker there, tickling Annie’s nose despite the handkerchief. She looked up when she heard Liam’s indrawn breath.
“This is my mother’s room,” whispered Liam. “See the mark on the wall?” Annie nodded when she spotted the circle with an X through it that marked the door. “This means she got out of the
The voices were louder now, as if the people inside were shouting, but Annie still couldn’t make out what they were saying. When Liam slid the panel aside, Annie stepped closer. “It is my mother,” Liam breathed as he peeked into the room. “And Clarence! My dear brother is back from his travels in time to cause trouble. I should have guessed.”
“Shh! Let’s listen!” whispered Annie.
“It isn’t right!” the queen complained to her son Clarence. “I should never have promised the wizard that I’d stay in the castle until his return. Now his men think they have the right to keep me here. And it isn’t at all the way I thought it would be. You said that Dormander’s wizard would help him take over Treecrest in days, but he still isn’t back!”
“He’s a very powerful wizard,” said Clarence. “They’re probably on their way back now.”
“Powerful, you say? Then why did the spell he cast on everyone last only a day?”
“Everyone but us, Mother,” said Clarence. “You know I wouldn’t let him use his magic on us.”
“I know, dear boy, and everything would have been fine if the spell had lasted as long as he promised. The wizard told us that everyone will think we’re the rightful rulers. ‘They’ll turn on Montague and lock him in the dungeon,’ he said. And then he left and a day later the spell started wearing off and we had to make the last few loyal guards lock everyone in the dungeon, then lock themselves in as well before they remembered the truth. Now we have no servants to cook or clean.”
“But that guard—”
“Don’t you dare tell me again that the guard who took over the cooking is doing a decent job, because he isn’t! The fish last night was burned and not at all fresh. I’m surprised it didn’t give me stomach issues. To think I don’t even have any ladies-in-waiting to help me dress, or courtiers to entertain me, and the only guards who aren’t locked away are the few men the wizard left here. And those guards won’t let us leave even though we ordered them to. I’m a prisoner in my own home! I need a bath and a decent meal. Going down to the dungeon to talk to your father is my only entertainment, and he hasn’t been pleasant to me in years. I was better off locked in the tower, Clarence. I’m not saying I don’t want you home, because I’m delighted that you’re back, but did you have to bring that wizard with you?”