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16

When Sir Frederic threw a party, he really threw a party. That is, so long as someone else was paying for it. For the royal reunion festivities, the fortress was decked out in so much finery that a mystical Avalon appeared out of a parking lot for rocks. Fires warmed every room and hall; a million lit candles mingled to glow, unmeasured, and unhindered. The great banquet hall dripped in new blooms, in old tapestries, with flowing wine, and tables spilling over with food. It also dripped with drips like the nobility balking at being seated next to Fredericton's most upstanding commoners. But for such a happy occasion, they soon got over themselves.

King Victor and Queen Betina sat centre of the raised king's table, flanked by Prince Richard and his wife Marguerite. The rest of the princes and their partners were sat at the two royal tables in order of line to the throne, with the exception of Edward who sat lower because his wife Ondine was prone to vertigo. Behind them, stalwart guards stood along the wall like carved columns while other off-duty soldiers had the luck of attending simply as honoured guests.

Sir Frederic had hired servants from the village to see to everyone's needs. They made him pay them up front, and he did it gladly. He conducted the flow from the kitchen to the tables and back like a giddy maestro. It had been a long time since he'd indulged in a glass of anything more grape than prune juice. Let's just say his wine cellar didn't know what hit it.

The kitchen also had never seen such activity. A lot of plucking and peeling and scaling and straining went into feeding over a hundred guests, and thanks to Fred hiring help for the cook too, we're not talking about the man's nervous breakdown. He oversaw his culinary opus with the sharp eyes of a master builder. No pot went unused, no ingredients were substituted. There was an excess of gravy and no succulent roasted thing which needed it. It must have been agony for Rupret, sniffing all that deliciousness down in his lair, especially if beyond the surf and turf he could smell the giant cake being baked using Danny's family recipe.

As for the princesses, they were dressed and de-stressed, but abuzz with nervous excitement. They took turns peeking around the corner from the hall where they were preparing to perform a small song and dance as a means of entertainment and introduction. They peered hopefully at the couples who would claim them, making best guesses about their parents based on physical appearance, but it was still impossible to know. For example, the tallest pair sitting head and shoulders above the others might not have been Rosalind's parents. They were, but for all she knew, their legs might have been short behind the table cloth.

Lena passed a sheet with lyric changes to one of the performing musicians nearest to their rehearsal spot. She didn't recognize him in his costume as one of the dancers from the barn, and she certainly didn't know him as one of Robert's soldiers. All the soldiers mimed playing their instruments while Ivan, from his band leader's stand, worked his magic to convince everyone of the dining music they were producing, even though the sliding part of Robert's horn slid clean off during a solo.

For his part, the traitor had finally stopped grimacing beneath his oversized velveteen musician's beret. All of his hard work, all of his scheming had finally delivered him to this moment of triumph. His surprise attack was mere moments away, and victory was within his rotten reach while he was still relatively young enough to enjoy it. He had only to wait now for revellers to become full and drunk enough to let their guards down, and for the girls to sing their song, and for Ivan to do the voodoo he did so well. Then no one could stop him.

*****

Outside the fortress, Francis dug a fish hook into a groove between the rocks inside the lie-detecting hole in the wall, then let the line fall and pool to the ground.

"What's that for?" Danny asked.

"So we can climb up after we shrink."

"You mean if we don't explode or disintegrate?"