That Dancing Princess

Chapter Eleven

 "How could he have found out?" Anette wondered aloud. "There was never anyone else there with us. We would have seen him."

 "I know. He must have concealed himself very well." Sharon tapped her fingers on the table. "To be quite honest, killing him would have been a god solution in this situation, but I also have to admit it would get rather messy. None of us have ever killed, and we would have that on our consciences for the rest of our lives. If we simply bring him down there and drain his mind, he'll never be able to tell anyone. He won't even remember who he was."

 Anette sighed. "Well, let's hope he's a good dancer. I'd like to know who he thinks he is, upsetting Kobra like that."

 "That's it," Sharon said. "Who here would know the most about him? The man who hired him. We should ask Roy."

 "Do you think he'll know anything?"

 "If they work together out in the garden all day, he must know something. I doubt Roy would have hired the boy if he thought there was anything suspicious about him. Come on, let's find him."

 Anette and Sharon hurried out to the gardens, where they heard the sound of someone singing. It was Roy, up on a small ladder clipping overgrown bushes and branches.

 "Good afternoon, gardener," said Sharon. "May we speak with you?"

 He looked down at them. "Princess Sharon, Princess Anette." He hurried down the ladder and gave them a bow. "Good day, Your Highnesses."

 "We must speak with you about your assistant," Anette said. "The boy you recently hired who calls himself the Stargazer."

 They both took note of the fact that Roy didn't very surprised to hear them ask about his assistant.

 "What do you wish to know, Your Highnesses?" he asked.

 "Who he is, where he came from. Anything you can tell us about him," said Sharon.

 "Well, I'm afraid that isn't very much, Your Highnesses. He just showed up one day, and introduced himself to me as Stargazer. I asked him what his real name is, and he wouldn't tell me. I don't know where he came from, but I know it's certainly a long way away from here. He didn't know anything about this place when he showed up. But he's good and reliable, so I've kept him on. True, he puzzles me, but he's the best assistant I've had in quite a while."

 "And is that all you know?" Anette asked.

 He nodded. "That is all."

 "Very well," Sharon said with a sigh. "Thank you, gardener."

 As they walked away, Anette whispered, "Do you think he was lying?"

 "It's not something I would have expected of him," Sharon whispered, "But I suppose it's possible."

~~~~~~

 When Kobra spotted Stargazer, she couldn't bring herself to walk over to him. She didn't want to have to tell him about her conversation with her sisters. She didn't want this to be even more real.

 She didn't have to get his attention. He glanced up from his work and spotted her watching him. He took off his cap and said, "Hello, Princess. I had hoped you would come by today. If you will accept it, I would like to apologize fro what I said to you yesterday. It was very wrong of me, and I now regret it. I feel I'm lucky that all you did was slap me."

 Kobra stared at him. His apology was genuine; he had a look of remorse on his face.

 "I...I've come to find you because...I told my sisters," she said. "About you."

 "And how did they respond to that news?"

 "Their first thought was to kill you. But then they decided upon something else. Tomorrow night, you are to go with us, no disguises. Just yourself."

 He nodded slowly, as if understanding what she meant without her having to say it. "I will be there, Princess."

 She turned away from him and quickly walked back down the lane, unable to look into his eyes any longer.

~~~~~~

 "Tommy!" Roy turned down the path to find his assistant sitting alone on the ground. "Here you are. I don't know what you've gotten yourself into, but I have had to lie to three princesses now, saying that I know nothing about you. Can you please tell me what this is about? Why are they asking so many questions about you? Have you done something?"

 He nodded. "Yes. I have. I told you, I messed with something I shouldn't have. And now...I could lose myself."

 "Well, what do you mean by that?"

 "Sit down," Tommy said. "I should tell someone, so if anything happens to me, there will still be one person left who knows the truth."