Of Fear and Trembling

  “Dwarven powder comes, most often, in tiny packages. Yet when it explodes, the world itself trembles.”

  — Axle Dwellingstone, Historian of Briben’s Forge, The Last Ember

  “Draefus, you come out from underneath that bed this instant!” Aehyl practically hissed from the prince’s private bedchambers.

  “Or should I turn you into a creature more befitting your timid personality and brave overtones? Yes… perhaps a heel-biting poodle with little white curls.”

  Of course, she had no command over transformational magic, and the threat was entirely empty—but right now, tone was everything.

  The elf’s lip curled upward in a malicious grin.

  Behind her stood Prince Talose, who, for some reason, found the entire situation absurdly funny.

  Upon entering the large room, the two youths had discovered that the enormous cave bear had somehow wedged himself between the prince’s massive ashwood bed and the wall, tearing down a quilted mural in his frantic attempt to escape from Aehyl. The mural now draped from the wall to the far edge of a towering waterclock, creating a dim cave from which two nervous, walnut-shaded eyes peered.

  Another wave of poorly stifled laughter shuddered through Talose’s body.

  Aehyl spun on him, her tone sharp. “Would you please tell me, good prince, what is so insanely funny, so that I may join your revelry and perhaps encourage the great lummox to repeat this behavior in the near future?”

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  When Talose finally managed to catch his breath, he wiped tears from his eyes and stood, barely composed.

  “Ugh, yes, I suppose I could try to explain,” he said in a choked voice. “But I doubt you’d see the humor in it, dear elf.”

  Another fit overtook him, and he clutched his sides like a man wounded.

  At last, straightening, he said, “It’s just… I never imagined I’d walk into a tavern, order a stout ale, and tell them that a gigantic bear made a bed-fort in my room.”

  The giggles persisted. “He hid in it. And wouldn’t come out—for fear that his four-and-a-half-foot master was going to thrash him.”

  His last few words escaped between gasps of breath as he struggled to regain composure.

  “And—and the ball’s already begun… I’m going to have to tell my father I was late because I had to help discipline a squatting cave bear.”

  At this, the prince collapsed to the floor, rolling in helpless laughter.

  Aehyl glared down at him in disbelief. “...I mean it,” the prince managed between wheezes. “I’ve told my father some whoppers in my time, but surely—even you must admit—this situation is unprecedented.”

  The elf’s scowl deepened as she looked between the rolling prince and his equally unrepentant guardian, Seltzer. Since they had entered, the indignant tiger had shown no shame for the chaos he’d caused. He sat near the window, licking a paw, glaring at the quivering bear like a judge passing sentence.

  Aehyl met the feline’s unblinking gaze. Her jaw clenched, heat rising through her chest.

  “I honestly don’t know which is worse, good prince—the utter lack of discipline you show, or the same attitude you’ve taught your guardian.”

  At this, Seltzer’s ears flattened and a low growl rumbled from deep within his chest—stifled only by the prince’s slender hand laid gently across his head.

  “Seltzer, you know better,” Talose said, voice mockingly paternal. “You’re a feline, after all. I’ll allow you your selfish demeanor, but I demand you treat our guests with respect.”

  Then he turned to Aehyl and offered her a weak shrug and a lopsided grin. “Please, good elf—accept my apology. I sometimes get carried away. It wasn’t my intention to offend you. And since we are, regrettably, already late… I suppose we should start thinking of a solution.”

  Now that the prince had finally pulled himself together, Aehyl turned back toward the draped mural-cave and studied the pathetic shape within it.

  The trembling eyes blinked at her from the shadows.