A Summer Of Missing Princesses

As Mór and I approach Snyvolon Castle, some guards greet us.

“We’ve been waiting!” one of the guards says.

“Look and see, I have recovered Princess Mór!” I say.

“Hello, you guys! Please do not give us any trouble!” Mór says.

The guards form a circle around us and escort us into the castle. The king of Snyvolon is sitting up straight, expecting our return. He grins when he sees his daughter, but when he notices Pete is no longer with us, he gets frustrated.

“I say! Did Pete bail on you?! That scum! I should never have trusted him!” the king yells.

As he is yelling, he is also slamming his scepter aggressively into an indention in the floor. I suppose he gets angry often and has created a dent from scepter stomping.

“No, no! You must listen!” I say.

“SILENCE!” the king yells.

“Father, please... Let her speak...” Mór says, pouting at her father.

“Mór, you stay out of this...” the king grumbles.

“But dad! This concerns me too!” Mór says.

The king sighs in annoyance and runs a hand across his face, rolling his eyes. He sits a moment, glaring first at his daughter and then at me.

“Fine. Start telling,” the king says, pointing his scepter at me.

“Pete is not with us because he is frozen at the bottom of the dragon pit. He risked his life to save your daughter from an Infernore,” I say.

“Infernore?” the king asks, “I didn’t know those actually existed...”

“It was just as the book described! Huge and red with a frozen tail!” Mór adds, waving her arms for dramatic effect.

“So then Pete won’t be coming back... At least, not any time soon...” the king says with a sigh.

He glances at a pedestal next to his throne that has a set of four paw prints. He bites his lip and looks back at me.

“You, take Mór! I meant to give her to Pete, but he cannot have her if he is frozen!” the king says.

“Uh... I can take her on a trip, but I do not intend on keeping your daughter,” I say.

In my head, I am thinking about how weird and awkward that request came out.

“Whatever, get her out of here. I’m just happy she’s alive,” the king says.

“Father!” Mór whines, “Why do you hate me?!”

“I don’t hate you, Mór! I love you! I can’t risk keeping you here because I’ll kill you like I’ve done to everyone I love!” the king cries out.

“Oh, father...” Mór says, holding her father’s hand, “I trust you...”

“Then go!” the king yells.

Mór reluctantly lets go, tears wailing up in her eyes. She turns to me. I say nothing, but extend a hand, welcoming her into my adventure.

“Goodbye, father...” Mór whispers.

The king turns away. He is likely crying. A few guards come with me to escort us out, and it’s a good thing they did, too, because I don’t think I could memorize the way back out.

“Come on, we need to pick up the others before we can go... And I have to find some way to get a boat...” I say.

“A boat? Boats are easy!” Mór says.

“Maybe we can work together and build one, then. I nearly started building one awhile ago,” I say.

“Build? Oh no! No way! Chisel is the way to go!” Mór says, giggling.

“Chisel? But, why?” I ask.

“The best boats are made from stone,” Mór says.

“But stones sink!” I say.

“Some do, yes, but not these ones!” Mór explains, “I heard that they came from a long time ago when the volcanoes were erupting. They’re all extinct now, but they left the best float rocks!”

I look at the rows of mountains. Seems like a pretty dangerous place to be; in a valley with two walls of erupting volcanoes. You’d think it would always be on the edge of destruction. Anyhow, we eventually make it back to the house where I left Aleena and Sìneag.

“Hello,” I say, knocking on the door.

The door gets opened by a Wolf Person.

“Are Aleena and Sìneag still here?” I ask.

“Yes they are, ma’am! They are quite the handful, that’s for sure!” the Wolf Person says.

“Oh good, that means they are awake!” I say, “May I come in?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the Wolf Person says and steps aside.

When I enter, the Wolf Person shuts the door behind me.

“Oh! Selima! You’re back!” Aleena says, stopping her running.

The wolf pup she was chasing laughs and escapes.

“Yes, and I’m bringing Princess Mór with me,” I say.

“Oh! She’s so little!” Mór exclaims.

“That’s Princess Aleena of Fairwood, that’s where I came from. And, uh... Princess Sìneag should be here somewhere...” I say.

“Last I heard of her, she was begging for some entertainment,” Aleena says.

“Entertainment? You guys get entertainment on command?” Mór asks.

“Princess Sìneag is from Mycono Kingdom, things are a bit different there. In fact, none of the islands seem to have much in common...” I say.

“Nice to meet you, Princess Aleena,” Mór says, bending to shake hands with her fellow princess.

Aleena shakes hands gently and smiles. All of a sudden, Princess Sìneag bursts out of a room followed by a group of Wolf Kids.

“OH!” Sìneag exclaims upon seeing me.

“Hey, Sìneag, are you ready to leave?” I ask.

She looks back at the kids and frowns.

“I gotta go, guys... Be good, okay?” Sìneag says.

The kids nod so she tosses some fruit to them.

“They earned it, they were very entertaining,” Sìneag explains when she sees Mór.

“I worry for them, honestly,” Mór says, “Father never let me have a say in slave matters.”

“Alright, well, it is Tellis time!” I say.

“And the four of us are going to chisel a boat!” Mór says.

“Aw man!” Aleena and Sìneag exclaim.

“You’ll become experts quickly, it’s easy!” Mór says.

“Thank you, everyone, for looking after the girls for me,” I say.

“No problem, ma’am! Good luck!” one kid says.

I leave the house with three princesses in tow.

With Mór’s help, we find a huge rock that surprisingly weighs very little.

“This is a good rock, I can tell!” Mór says, gently patting the rock.

“And it looks like we could all fit in it if we cut it deep enough!” I say.

“But why should we have to work?! We are princesses!” Sìneag whines.

“Because we can,” Mór says.

“I hate this! I wish my servants were around! They’d get us a great boat!” Sìneag continues whining.

“Whining doesn’t chisel a boat,” Mór points out.

Sìneag pouts and stomps her foot. Aleena stays quiet and helps prepare the rock for chiseling. As we are shaping the rock into a boat, I look over and notice that Sìneag has joined us. I say nothing, not wanting her to know I noticed.

“A true princess grade boat! Chiseled and refined by princesses...and a knight?” Mór says, looking at me.

“I’m not much of a knight, but that’s fine,” I say, smiling.

She smiles back. The time passes and it is nightfall by the time we finish the boat.

“Well, we’ll set out at sunrise... It’s not easy to boat at night,” I say.

“Good idea, but are we really going to sleep out here?” Sìneag asks.

I lift the boat and prop it against a tree, shaping a tent, sort of.

“Some shelter,” I say.

“Ew... I wish I was back home in my bed!” Sìneag sighs, “But... There isn’t any fun back home... I can only get fun out here...”

“Well, maybe we’ll have enough fun for a lifetime,” I say.

The princesses and I all climb under the propped up boat and go to sleep. We’re all exhausted from boat building.

When I wake up in the morning, I find that Mór went and collected some reeds for us.

“What good is a boat if you can not control it?” Mór asks, smiling.

“Oh, yes! This is perfect!” I say.

I look over and find that Sìneag and Aleena are still asleep.

“Hey... Sìneag... Aleena... Wake up...” I say.

Sleepily, they begin to awaken. Perhaps they have just remembered the adventure we have ahead of us.

“I’ve never ever been to the east before!” Mór says.

“You’ll love it!” Sìneag says.

The four of us carry our boat to the water along with our reeds.

“Remember, row the opposite direction of where you intend on going,” Mór says.

“If you row backwards, how do you go forward?” Aleena asks.

“Eh, I don’t know, but it works...” Mór says.

“Do we have any supplies? This might take a few days...” I say.

“Yes, I was up way before the sun and I got a lot of stuff!” Mór says, “It’s right here.”

I then notice Mór has a large bag strapped around herself.

“Oh! Perfect!” I say.

Carefully, we guide the boat away from the sharp rocks and hop in.

“Away we go! Adventure awaits!” Aleena cries out.

Unfortunately for Aleena, not much happens as we row our way to Tellis. In fact, many times we grew tired and had to rest, hoping to not drift too far off course. As fate has it, though, we stayed relatively close to where we were supposed to be heading. Four times the sun rose and then set and our supplies started to dwindle.

“Are you sure we have enough stuff...?” Sìneag asked.

“I’m certain of it. Unless you’ve been taking more than you need...” Mór said.

“What? I’d never!” Sìneag cried out, sounding offended.

“Okay, then it should be enough,” Mór says.

“I may have taken an extra apple...” Aleena piped in.

“Oh, Aleena!” Mór exclaimed.

“I’m sorry! I was hungry and they tasted so good!” Aleena cried.

“Hey, it’s all good. If we run too low, I’ll stop eating,” I said.

“Aw, thanks... But you shouldn’t have to suffer because of me...” Aleena said.

“It’s a thing I have chosen to do,” I said.

Then we waited, and we rowed, and by the morning of the fifth day, Tellis was in sight!

“Land! Land! I see land!” Sìneag exclaims.

“Wow... It really does exist!” Mór exclaims.

“This is the kingdom I was born in,” I say, smiling.

The farm air once again catches on a breeze, calling me in. This time, I accept the offer and row the boat ashore.

“Hey, it’s not too much different from Snyvolon... Just flatter and with rivers...” Mór says, examining the land.

The clamor of workers and shopkeepers rings out. The princesses and I stash our rock boat away in case we need it again, then, we continue on into Tellis Port Town.

“Hiiiiiii! Welcome! Welcome!” people cry out.

“Hi!” Aleena cries out, giggling.

“Fresh bread! Made with 100% Tellis wheat!”

“Try our ham! The pigs were raised here!”

“Over here! Beautiful fruits! They’ll make you feel beautiful!”

“Come on over! Come on over!”

“Don’t miss out on our fantastically sewn wallets!”

The shopkeepers continue begging for our attention and all of us are hungry so we decide to stop for lunch.

“So...” Mór says, chewing on a ham sandwich.

I wait for her to finish chewing.

“Where is the castle?” Mór asks.

“I honestly don’t remember,” I say, sweating nervously.

“They sell maps here,” Aleena points out.

I look over and see the map vendor straightening his collection.

“That would be helpful...” I say.

“And what are we to do while you are away? I don’t imagine you’d like to take us with you,” Mór says.

“You’re old enough to look after your fellow princesses. Pete said you were my age,” I say.

“Probably so,” Mór responds.

“Would you be willing to do so?” I ask.

“Sure, somebody has got to do it,” Mór says.

“Yay! We can party!” Sìneag cries out.

“If partying means not wandering off and getting hurt or kidnapped...” Mór says and then glances at me again.

“Yeah, that would be bad!” I reply.