Taking Charge

"Is he?" Mairwen couldn't finish the sentence. Her words caught thickly in her throat.

Eira was already checking the Emperor. The soldier's hard expression softened. "He is breathing, but barely. They are all alive." Trying to wake the men, Eira shook them but received no response.

Mairwen recognized the man next to Devrim. "This is Warin. What is Alaron's personal guard doing here with my father?" The princess recovered form her shock and gave into her more curious nature. Then like both her adoptive and birth mothers, she took charge. "We need help! Is there anything else we can do to wake them?"

Eira pinched one of the guards, but the man only groaned. She shook her head. "We need a doctor."

"Then get a doctor and alert the guards. We need to find out who did this and fast! I will stay with these men. Hurry!" Mairwen's voice was so forceful that Eira quickly complied. While she was gone, the princess looked around, absentmindedly rubbing the necklace between her fingers. "I wish I knew what else to look for…"

The pendant between her fingers fluttered and, to Mairwen's extreme awe, it disengaged from the chain as the silver fairy floated in front of her face. Its tiny forefinger called the princess toward it, and then it raced over to a bag on the floor. The bag was not with the other supplies in the storeroom and was a different color. The fairy pendant was right; the bag was out of place. The princess did not have time to marvel at the miracle of a magical necklace. She took the fairy's cue and scooped up the sack from the ground.

Rifling through the bag, Mairwen found odds and ends, a comb, a mirror, and a smaller bag with white powder inside it. In her gut, she knew these last two were significant, and she set them carefully back inside. "Thank you," she told the pixie, who attached itself back to the chain and froze just as soilders poured into the room. They immediately pulled the unconscious men from the wall and untied them. One of them groaned, but still none of them woke. Devrim's face at least looked peaceful. Mairwen took small comfort in that.

"The doctor should be on his way," Eira informed her mistress as she entered, out of breath.

"Good. Secure this bag." The princess shoved the sack into Eira's arms. "It belongs to the culprit." To the other soldiers she said, "Eira will catch you up on what happened. I need to warn my Mother. Keep my father safe!"

"I should go with you," Eira was torn. She knew someone needed to give the soldiers guidance, but her duty was to the princess only.

"I will be fine," Mairwen assured her guard. Do not let anything happen to my father, please."

"You can count on me," Eira nodded. She attached the sack to her belt and began giving instructions to those around her. Mairwen did not stay to monitor their progress. As soon as the doctor came in, she released the sleeping men to his care.

The princess turned and rushed down the hall, searching for someone who might be able to help her. She stopped the first woman that she found, a duchess. "Have you seen Her Majesty?" The blue-eyed girl almost begged.

The duchess turned her nose up at the girl's lack of decorum. Mairwen appreared disheveled, and her dress was dirty from the storeroom's floor. "I believe the Empress ran to her room with her tail between her legs, Your Highness," the duchess informed her with more than a hint of superiority.

Mairwen was too distracted to take the comment and its meaning to heart. "Thank you, your grace. Please excuse me."

"At least she had the manners to say please," the duchess muttered to her lady-in-waiting as the girl hurried down the hall.

On her path to the Empress's rooms, the princess passed many groups of people milling about. Mairwen noticed that they all stopped chatting suddenly when they spotted her. Only her strong will and her sense of urgency stopped her from pausing to see about the hubbub. Whatever it was could wait. Reaching the Empress's suite, Mairwen was admitted without question by the attending soldier. Inside, Candela was folding a blanket to put away.

"Lady Candela!" Mairwen called. "Have you seen my mother?"

Candela smiled at the girl, but shook her head. "Her Majesty was here, but left only a moment ago. I am just returning this to its place before I join her. Is there something I can do for you?" As the youngest of the ladies-in-waiting, Candela always felt it was her duty to be the first awake and last to leave. This is why she stayed behind to tidy up.

"No, I need my mother urgently. Something terrible has happened to Father, and I think Mother is next. Where did she go?" Mairwen spoke quickly.

The blonde lady's eyes went wide. "I believe she returned to the ballroom. Hurry, Your Highness! I will go with you."

"No, will you go to the Spring Garden in case Mother is there?" Tell her she is in grave danger."

Candela pulled at her skirts. "At once, Your Highness."

Together the raced across the palace, hoping to catch Aurora on her way. They were disappointed. Candela and Mairwen parted to head to their destinations. The princess realized again how large the palace was. She was tired. "I wish I knew exactly where to go or what to do," she whispered quietly. She ran her finger down the chain at her neck to fix it as she spoke. For a second time, the little pixie flew free of its chain and caught the girl's attention.

"I was not dreaming!" Mairwen gasped. Already the memory of the first event felt more like a hallucination or a daydream than reality. Silently, the tiny figure rushed toward the ballroom. Mairwen followed its lead. The normally boisterous party was all but silent. Something was very wrong. The fairy stopped her before she could enter. Pushing herself against the wall, the princess hid.

Those who she could see through the doorway were frozen in place, all staring towards the wooden dais and the thrones. The look on their faces was of pleasure. The fairy pinched the girl's hand. "Ouch!" Mairwen rubbed her palm. She could see that the little being was trying to tell her something, but the princess could not guess what is might be.

Before she could think very long, someone grabbed her shoulder and quickly put his hand on her mouth. "I found you," Junayd whispered. Mairwen, who had been well-trained, relaxed and released her knife. Her fingers brushed against the other things in the hidden compartment at her waist as she reached up remove the soldier's hand.

"You scared me!" She said softly.

"Your father sent me to find you. I am glad you are safe." Junayd placed his hand on his heart. "What are you doing here, Your Highness?"

"Something has happened in there. Everyone is frozen." Mairwen motioned to the ballroom.

"Stay here. I will check it out." Before Mairwen could stop him, Junayd peeked around the corner. His body froze and relaxed as he, like the others, was staring towards the thrones.

"Ugh! Lost another one," the princess lamented. She tugged at the man, but he was too big for her to move. She ran her hands along her waist and remembered that the pixie had been trying to tell her something before Junayd had interrupted. The creature had pinched her hand, but maybe it was trying to move her hand instead. But where? The necklace had returned to its original form when Junayd had arrived and was now as still as stone.

"I need your help again," Mairwen told the pixie. The trinket did not move. Even without the necklace, an idea formed in the girl's head. Perhaps she could use her hidden knife like a mirror and see what was happening in the reflection without being affected by what was going on. The princess was glad her seamstress always placed a secret pocket of fabric into the lining of her dresses.

Mairwen reached for the knife in the compartment at her waist, but her hand stopped as it touched another object. A look of recognition dawned as the blue-eyed girl realized what the necklace had been trying to tell her. She knew what to do.