Princess in the Rough
Chapter 17

Amber

I don’t get all the fuss. They both want to see the front of their books. What’s the big deal!

“What is it?” I asked, eager to get a look.

“You have the same book as me? Yours has a lot more stories, though.” Echo said in bewilderment.

“I found this book in the very back of the castle’s library. It’s all dust and dark back there, but that’s also where the most important books lie. It was filled with every story our world was built on. I’ve been using the back pages to take down some good notes.” Zavana flipped to the back pages. I still don’t understand.

“What’s so important about all this?” I asked cluelessly.

“My favorite one was by my friend, the Cheshire Cat. If you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter where you go! When I heard that, I wrote it in the back so I could save it for later.” While Echo flipped to the back of her book, Zavana got up and grabbed various items. A mixing bowl, a mixing stick, some greyish-green leaves, a purple liquid, red powder, and many more unexplainable things.

“Really? That quote appeared in my book about two days ago. Look!” She held up her storybook for Zavana to see. Hey eyes widened as she took the book from Echo and held it in her hands.

“Curious and curiouser.” Zavana mumbled, stroking the page with her hand. She handed the book back to Echo and picked up her quill. She wrote something in the back of her book and to everyone’s surprise, the words appeared in the back of Echo’s book! The words were:

Looks lie on the outside, courage lies on the inside, and secrets hide deep within.

“What does it say?” Curse me and my illiterate self.

“Looks lie on the outside, courage lies on the inside, and secrets hide deep within.” Echo recited for my benefit. “Where’d you get that one?”

“It came to me in a dream. I was floating in a place of pure white, nothing was there but me. Then a heavenly woman, I would’ve called her an angel, walked up to me, placed a finger on my heart, and told me those words. I was going to write it down sooner but I had to leave for the parade.”

“Who do you think it’s talking about?” I asked.

“Or what.” Zavana said.

“Maybe it’s about you Zavana. It did appear in your dream. Not mine, not Amber’s, yours.” Echo thought out loud.

“But what does it mean?” I asked. Zavana and Echo looked deep in thought. What was I missing? “You girls are the ones with the books. I can’t even read. You think of, book stuff, I’m going to take a walk, check up on Green Paw and Night Cry.” I said, frustrated that I couldn’t do anything a normal person could.

“If you really want to go, I won’t stop you, I’ll even send a guard to help you replace your way through the castle; but be careful, there’s something special about you and Echo, I can feel it!” Zavana said to me not even looking up from her book as she flipped the pages and compared them to Echo’s.

“I’ll be fine. I have wolves to protect me.” I nodded, anger boiling up inside me. Who did she think she was, my mother? I can take care of myself. Zavana walked over to the doorway and pulled a rope hanging from the ceiling.

There was a faint ringing sound and soon there were three knocks on the door.

Zavana opened the door. “Wait about three minutes, then I want you to escort Amber out of the castle.” She told the guard in the doorway.

“Yes, Sorceress Zavan.”

Zavana shut the door and walked over to an acacia dresser and rummaged through its contents.

“Put this on. It’ll look good on you.” She tossed me some real clothes, not plants, cloth that goes on your body.

The clothes consisted of a rather simple forest green dress that flows from top to bottom and has a modest neckline, with a rope belt worn slightly below the waist. Below the rope belt the dress opens up wide and reveals the royal blue dress below. The front of the top dress is longer than the bottom dress and curves outwards.

The sleeves are the length of my arms and very wide, the flow of the sleeves stops beneath the elbow with a golden band. The fabric below the band is black, to match the forest green and royal blue.

“It’s pretty big on me.” I complained and tugged at the large neckline.

“Oh! Silly me! You probably don’t wear the same size as me.” Zavana giggled, mumbled something, then touched my outfit. It magically shrunk to my size.

I looked up at her with wide eyes. “Can all people do that?” I looked at Echo, did she have this power?

“Oh no. Just me. You can go now; put on some sandals on your way out. They’re by the door.” She said after waving to me, she went back into her book.

I walked to the door, slipped on a pair of leather sandals, and followed the guard past the door. After a final glance back at Echo, I left.