12

10

They paddled against the flow of the stream as fast as they could, finally reaching the base of rocks and opening of the cave.

Rupret was a knot of limbs, neck and tail, fast asleep and snoring ringlets of smoke.

"Rupret get up! The princesses need you!" Francis yelled. Rupret only tightened further into his coil.

"You're doing it wrong," Danny said, licking his dry lips. "Hey! Who let these pigs in here and why are they all wearing pineapple?!"

Rupret mumbled in his slumber something about a little piggy going to market, but he did not wake.

"Exceptional hearing, my foot!" Francis shouted. He wound up his leg to kick the dragon's thigh.

"What are you, nuts?!" Danny said, halting him in a panic.

"Forget it," Francis said. "We'll wake Frederic."

They raced up the stairs to the princesses' room, but once out in the hall, they crashed into each other, determined for different directions.

"Frederic's room is this way," Francis grunted as Danny tried to get past him again.

"Yeah, but shouldn't we grab our stuff first?"

"We'll need a plan before we do anything. And back up."

"But what if Frederic throws us out?"

"Why would he?"

"Because we're going to sound crazy! Here's the thing, Fred, the girls are working for Robert, and they're going to try to kill Victor."

Francis figured they'd waste as much time arguing. "Fine. We'll get our things first," he said, trying to hurry Danny along. But the poor guy just stood where he was with a delayed, dumbstruck look.

"Holy moly. The girls are working for Robert, and they're gonna kill Victor!"

"Of all the nefarious schemes," Francis seethed, charging towards their room while Danny skipped to catch up.

"It's evil, Francis. That's what it is. He's an evil genius."

"Watching us duke it out for years, the villages destroyed, the lives lost – with this black magic plan up his sleeves the whole time."

"It would've had to have been the whole time, too," Danny said unhelpfully. "Even armed to the teeth, a bunch of toddlers against Victor's men?" He shook his head and shuddered.

Francis halted with hands against either side of the doorway. "How are we going to stop him?"

"We'll just have to get Fred to lock the girls up until Victor gets here and let him figure it out," Danny said, ducking under Francis' armpit. "We beat Robert once. We'll do it again."

He felt under both beds for his balled-up dirty socks like he was on an Easter-egg hunt. Francis stuffed his other clothes into a sack, but the wagon wheels of his mind went off-road.

"It's not Robert I'm worried about. What if Ivan gets away? He might still have access to the princesses whenever, wherever he wants. He could turn himself into a shadow, or speck of dust, or a bad breeze that blows in through a window. One whisper of those words in that song – 'good girls do as they should' or 'as they're told' or whatever that was – and they'll be under his spell again."

"That's why we keep them under guard until it's safe."

"If we don't know how to snap them out of it, they'll never be safe. Are we just going to doom them to a life of being locked up forever?"

"It's not like it'll be a tower with bad plumbing. There'll be amenities," Danny said. Francis shook his head solemnly. "So what are you saying?"

"We need to find out how he wakes the princesses up."