The Destiny Detour

Pandemonium and a Toad

Drake

Drake's knife was in his hands, and he was halfway out of bed before his eyes were even open. At least he had nearly stayed asleep until sunrise this time. Normally his hyperactive sense of danger refused to be quiet sometime before dawn, but he had gone to bed tired enough to sleep for three days straight after an afternoon of kite flying. Tansy's level of enthusiasm was exhausting even without an added ability to control wind, although her tornado may not have qualified as wind or control.

He flung the knife to the side, yawned, and closed his eyes, dropping his head back to his pillow. Nothing requiring his involvement was happening in Crystal Palace, this bed was comfortable, it smelled nice, and he was going to take advantage until Cliff dragged him from it.

Then the rustle that had woken him up the first time sent him shooting out of bed. He had an entire boot on and half laced before cursing at himself. There were dozens of people down this hallway and a palace full of industrious servants.

Since he would have no peace of mind until he investigated the sound, he settled for grumbling at himself under his breath while he finished throwing on clothes. Then he slipped a knife into his boot because he might as well be well-armed against imaginary threats.

He ventured into the dimly lit hallway, slipping around the corner. The branches of the draping willow in an alcove were trembling just slightly. Creeping up to the tree, he pushed back the draping branches with his knife.

"Croak."

Drake nearly jumped three lengths in the air while he simultaneously realized he was staring into the bulbous eyes of a toad. Some impolite words may have crossed his lips if the toad had not been firmly ensconced in the hands of a little boy.

"Are you alright?" he asked the boy.

"Shh!" was the response. "Come in."

Drake may not have been comfortable with the rules of royalty, but he did know proper etiquette for orders received by hiding children. He sheathed his knife and crawled under the branches. There was just enough room if he accepted having to bend his neck sideways and wedge his shoulder between a few branches.

Once he was pinned in, his eyes adjusted to the darkness just enough to realize he was sitting next to a little boy with frightened green eyes under a pile of messy black hair. This was Taurin, the little prince everyone called Duck. He was not a bad kite flyer. That was the extent of Drake's knowledge. Kite flying had been cut short early when Tansy's windstorm turned into a thunderstorm and lightning very nearly struck the drawbridge.

"What's wrong?" he whispered to the frightened boy.

"I don't know," the boy whispered back. "Everybody's panicking, and I don't know where Mama went."

"Croak," said the toad when Taurin hugged him.

Any more attempts at asking the boy what was wrong would produce no additional information at this point.

"Let's find out what's going on," Drake offered.

Taurin nodded, and he scrambled out from the draping willow branches. Scrambling took Drake more effort.

Even though the sunrise was just lighting the walls of windows, Drake hit commotion as soon as he rounded the corner to the entryway. The tall palace doors were thrust open, and a group of bedraggled girls spilled into the entryway. Drake had seen shipwreck victims better off.

Queen Katyrinna had just reached the entryway. She was one of the most mobile pregnant women Drake had ever encountered. If Drake was Queen, rest assured, he would be lying on a chaise eating grapes all day. A big black blur beat the Queen down the stairs. Drake realized with alarm the blur was a giant black cat, but not a single other person in the room seemed concerned by this. The cat received copious scratching and petting from the disheveled group of girls who were already being examined by servants with towels and bandages. One of the girls broke from the huddle and ran for Katyrinna, breaking into sobs as she wrapped her arms around Katyrinna's protruding stomach. Katyrinna examined the girl with her fingers.