Born to Rule

Kristen muttered.
    Alicia shivered in the sun at the test of bravery confronting her—the swim test. “If Kristen and Myrella are A-tens,” Alicia whispered to Gundersnap, “We’re probably Z-subzeros.”
    “I don’t see why we have to take a test. We told them we can’t swim. What’s there to test? How bad we are?” said the ever-practical Gundersnap.
    But the time was coming. The two princesses stood on the small beach with a dozen other princesses waiting their turns.
    And then Alicia and Gundersnap were called.
    “By the frosty breath of Saint Bertie, it’s really cold,” Alicia gasped as she waded in cautiously. Then she sent up a quick prayer to Saint Addie of Vernon, the patron saint of swimmers.
    “Not so cold when you have as much padding as I do,” Lady Merry said. “Come, come, miladies. Follow me. The water wings will support you.”
    “Lead them once around the moat, Lady Merry. We just want to see their form with the wings,” Lady Gussie called.
    Her teeth chattering, Alicia felt her feet leave the sand as the bottom of the moat slanted downward toward the middle, where the water would be over their heads. The water wings held her up! It was not quite as scary as she had imagined.
    “Now, stroke toward me, girls,” Lady Merry instructed.
    Lady Merry cut a large wake through the water. The waves she made lapped gently over the two princesses, but they managed to keep up. They circled around the castle, by the blacksmith’s shop where they heard the hammer and tongs as he fitted the shoes to horses, by the kitchen where the wonderful fragrance of plum tarts baking wafted out across the moat.
    As they swam, Alicia looked up and wondered where in this castle might an unfinished tapestry be. Aside from the turrets for the princesses, there were many more towers and spires than she would have ever guessed. They continued swimming and were soon passing under the drawbridge. It was all shadows and strange echoes.
    “Woo, woo!” Lady Merry called out, and the hollow sounds of the echoing drawbridge wrapped around the two princesses. “I’m a ghost!” Lady Merry giggled as if she were one of the campers. “I’m a ghost!”
    “Holy monk bones, is she trying to scare us?” Alicia paddled faster as she approached the beach where they had started. Lady Gussie waded out to greet them.
    “Bravo, Your Highnesses,” said Lady Gussie. “Now for the final test.”
    “What’s that?” Alicia asked.
    “Faces in the water,” Gussie replied.
    “No!” both princesses gasped.
    “Oh, yes!” Princess Myrella said. She was jumping up and down on the beach. “It’s fun. Just close your mouth and open your eyes. You’ll see the loveliest little fish.”
    Princess Alicia had no desire to see lovely little fish. She had no desire to get her face wet. All she could think of was getting water up her nose. The whole idea was appalling. Who would dare to go first? She turned to Gundersnap, who was looking quite pale.
    “ Acht! This is…scary!”
    Alicia was relieved to see that Gundersnap was scared too, but before she knew it, Gundersnap had plunged her head under the water. When she resurfaced, she was indeed spouting water from her nose, and her bathing tiara was perched at an odd angle.
    Gundersnap blinked, then sputtered. “I opened my eyes. I saw a fish that looked exactly like my mother! Totally ice!”
    “Oh, it must have been the prickly blowfish,” Lady Gussie offered.
    “ Ja, ja . It was blown up like a balloon and had little stickers all over its scales.”
    “Very good, Princess Gundersnap,” said Lady Gussie. “Well, now we can put you in the advanced beginners class. Anyone who can put her head under can be a B-eight. Two more levels and you’ll be an intermediate, out of the moat, and ready for the lake.”
    Alicia stared at Gundersnap in amazement. How had she done it? B-8! If she didn’t do it, Alicia supposed she would be a B-flat! Left behind on the beach of the moat while her turretmates went off for lake swimming.
    The princess squished her eyes shut—she had no intention of seeing the blowfish that looked like the Empress Maria Theresa of All the Slobodks. She held her nose and stuck her head into the water. She was tempted to open one eye. But no. All they said was to get your face wet, not your eyeballs. She could still be a B-8 with her eyes shut. Her cheeks blew out. Air…I need air…is this long enough? Alicia thought as she burst through the water’s