Beauty and the Magician (Tales of the Red Witch Book 1)

Chapter 41 - Two idiots walk into a palace

It was morning by now and quite sunny which was in complete opposition to Eben's foul mood. He had not slept in over a day, Demelza had gotten away, and he had a cyclone of uncomfortable thoughts and emotions swirling around in his head. But first things first, Andri needed to go home and then he would ponder the rest. He would ponder the rest after a long nap.

"Oh what a glorious morning. Is it not a most excellent day to not be a pig? I am most excited to be able to sleep in my bed again." Andri said beside him. There was a pronounced bounce in his steps as they made their way through the early morning city. There were only a few people out and about, but when they saw the nearly naked prince and the disheveled magician, milk jugs were dropped and gasps flittered off into the morning breeze.

Eben cut off the prince's thought with a look. "Ah, sure." He tucked his hands in his pockets and marched toward the White Towers. His hands were jingling the various odd items in his trouser pockets playing the song of his perturbed thoughts. He glanced down at his dirty torn-up blue tail coat that he had remembered to put back on before leaving Other. He was going to the palace. One should not appear at the palace in shirtsleeves. Not that it really mattered, he was still filthy and he was sure that he looked exactly how he felt at the moment. But propriety being what it is, it was better to show up in a dirty coat than no coat at all.

They advanced on the castle and strolled up to the front gates. The guards gave them quizzical looks. It was to be expected looking the way they did. But recognition of the missing prince soon hit the men around the gate making all their eyes widen into the size of dinner plates. Soon a mad scurry ensued as they sent a runner to rouse the king and quickly ushered the two of them into the courtyard.

The prince had returned and word spread from the gate like an out-of-control fire in a barn full of dry hay.

Andri didn't need anyone to show him the way, he only commanded that everyone be woken up and told to meet him in the great hall. The guards, servants, and even the grooms were more than happy to oblige. And so even the horses were roused to be told of the prince's miraculous return.

They were met a few moments later by Hendrik who was stilled dressed in a nightshirt and dressing gown and Karlotta who wasn't. She wore breeches and a long coat suitable for riding. Stefan came in a moment later, he was also dressed for riding.

Eben watched as Andri seemed to assess the two in their matching attire but was shaken out of it when all three ran at him crying and hugging and patting his face. The wriggling crying mass very nearly crashed to the floor in it's enthusiasm. It was as if they needed to reassure themselves that what they were seeing was real. That the prince before them wasn't a dream, or a spell, or a ghost.

Eben couldn't help but smile just a little bit. It was hard to stay in a foul mood when faced with such a scene as the one before him. He only wished that Rose was here to see it. He could picture her whiskers twitching and her bouncing on her toes as she tried to maintain a steady countenance amongst her joy.

He had succeeded in finding the prince...well sort of. He knew he didn't deserve all the credit, or really even a small part of it. It was all Rose and sheer dumb luck. Rose did deserve credit for bringing the pig to him. Though how any of them would have known that Mr. Pig was really a prince in disguise... well they just got lucky with that one. He would make sure that after he returned to Other, she would receive anything her heart desired. He owed her so very much.

Pieter came in a moment later dressed for the day and near fainted at the happy scene. His mouth hanging open in shock. He cleaned his spectacles twice to make sure he wasn't seeing things.