Born to Rule

shock.
    “Berwynna!” Alicia said with relief.
    “No! The Duchess of Malta! Who else wears spiderwebs, leaves, and a moss tutu?”
    Kristen and Gundersnap stared in disbelief at the peculiar figure standing in front of them. She was plucking at a short, fluffy moss skirt that she had pulled over her bark tunic. “How do you like it? I think it becomes me. Now, what are you grousing about this time?”
    “My bird, my bird.” Alicia had meant to be brave, but she found herself in tears.
    “Here, blow your nose.” Berwynna handed her a wad of cobwebs.
    “Eeeew!” Gundersnap and Kristen wrinkled up their noses at the sight of the cobwebs.
    Alicia, for the sake of being polite, took the cobwebs and tried not to make a face as she pretended to blow her nose in the icky things. Then she remembered her royal training.
    “Berwynna,” she said, “I’m pleased to introduce my turretmates, Princess Kristen of the Isles of the Salt Tears in the Realm of Rolm, and Princess Gundersnap from the mighty Empire of Slobodkonia.”
    “I know,” Berwynna said. “Continue.”
    “My weeb flew away, and tonight is the songbird contest and it had just begun to sing last night and…and…” It was again hard for Alicia to talk.
    “And, and, and,” Berwynna said in a mocking voice.
    “Are you going to help Alicia find it?” Gundersnap demanded.
    Berwynna did not answer the question but stepped closer to Alicia. As she had before, she rose on to her tiptoes. She looked directly into the young princess’s eyes with her own clear ones that now reflected not the stars but patches of clouds drifting over the treetops. Then as before the scratchy voice began its song, or was it perhaps a riddle, Alicia wondered.
“A golden knight with heart so broke,
A ghostly princess with one great hope .
You’ve sewn some stitches, yes, my dear ,
But while they have made some things clear
Your needlework has just begun .
A cage is empty, a song unsung,
But the song is not the end in sight ;
For this you need to stitch a knight .”
    Berwynna stepped back with a satisfied grin. The princesses waited.
    “Is that it, no more?” Alicia asked desperately.
    “That’s all, my dears.” And, still grinning, Berwynna began to dissolve into the mists of the forest.
    Kristen turned to Alicia. “Princess Alicia of All the Belgravias, would you puleeeze explain!”
    “ Ja , explain,” Gundersnap said.
    “It’s a long story.” Alicia sighed.
    “I bet it is!” Kristen exclaimed.
    “I’m not sure where to begin.”
    “The beginning, naturally,” Gundersnap said.
    “Well, the beginning was on the day I caught the weeb and then—do you remember when I asked you if you believed in ghosts the first week of camp?”
    Kristen and Gundersnap both nodded. “I said they weren’t practical,” Gundersnap said.
    “And I said they were nothing to be afraid of,” Kristen added.
    “Well, guess what—there is a real one.”
    And so Alicia told the long story of Princess Kyranala, the weeb, and the strange little crone named Berwynna who had told her of her destiny.
    As she was concluding the story, she said, “But there is one more thing. The ghost princess told me that it was not merely my destiny to finish the tapestry. You both are a part of this as well. She told me it was almost as if destiny had made us turretmates.”
    The three princesses looked at one another. And they knew that the ghost princess was right. They shared more than a turret. They shared a destiny.

Chapter 19
    THE SONGBIRD CONTEST

    “So, dear princesses, the time has finally come.” The Queen Mum paused dramatically. “We are gathered for the most important event of the Color Wars for this session: the songbird contest.”
    A roar of applause and shouts broke out from the princesses. Then the chanting started. “Go Crimson!” “Go Purple!” Frantically the Queen Mum waved her arms and tried to quiet them. Finally the blast of a trumpet split the air, and there was silence.
    Color Wars banners decorated the Hall of Music. The two huge candelabras were specially fitted for score keeping. They each held a hundred candles, one all purple, the other all crimson. The scores could range from one to five, which was the highest. The Queen Mum, Princess Roseanna, and the Master of the Hawks were the judges. There was always great tension as the scorekeeper footman walked silently with his long torch to light more candles.
    Alicia sat glumly between Gundersnap and Kristen