“Oh, fine.Keep your secrets, you belligerent bullfrog.”
Riven waved his arms at Bella, his clawed toes dug deep in his magical mud, but the words would not form.“Wum wum wum.”
She glanced down at him, one brow higher than the other.“Are you alright, Albert?”
“Wum wum wum.”He waved his little arms again, but then he began to lose sense of who he was.“Wum....”
“Albert?Albert?”
A vacuousness settled over him; all he knew was that his stomach was full and the mud was warm.
––––––––
“ALBERT?”BELLA KNEWher voice was tinged with a bit of hysteria, but Albert was not answering.The pond was nearby, but not nearly close enough.She glanced behind herself, but most of the villagers were heading deeper into their streets for dinnertime and not coming her way.“Nocturne, I need to ride you.Your master, I assume, needs our help.”She cranked her foot up and wedged it into the stirrup, then hoisted herself into the comfortable saddle.She kicked the horse’s sides and yelled, “Yah!”
With one hand on the reins and the other hovering protectively over the bucket, Bella raced across the open fields toward the filthy pond.She pulled Nocturne to a halt as she slipped from the seat, unhooking the bucket from the saddle horn before she even knew if her feet were on the ground.
“Albert?Albert!Stay with me.”She raced toward the pond’s edge and tipped the bucket, but the frog crouched further back into the muck.
“Oh, no you don’t.”She scooped him up and plopped him firmly into the water, studying him intently.
After a long moment, the frog’s eyes blinked, then blinked again.Suddenly, a new light shone in them, and the frog looked around himself, then at her.
“Bella?”
“Oh, thank the heavens.”
“How did I get here?”
“I rode your horse.I do not believe anyone saw me, but you seemed at first frantic and then unable to speak.”
He seemed to ponder her words.“Yes.Yes.I recall now.”
“What happened?”she asked him.
“The magic faded.I recall feeling an...emptiness settle upon me.Like I had stepped out of my skin and gone elsewhere.That is the only way to describe it.”He eyed her.“What did it look like to you?”
She considered how to best capture what she saw.“You waved your arms at me, croaking away, but then you...settled.The light left your eyes.Like my mother’s....”She did not want to think of the last image she had of her mom.“You looked like an ordinary frog.”
“I did not mean to cause you distress.”
She leaned back to sit, fluffing her new skirts around her knees.“I wager the spell is not as fickle as we’d hoped.”
Albert croaked and hung his head.“It would appear not.The enchantress is not to be fooled.”
Bella studied Albert for a long moment.“You are Prince Riven, are you not?”
He whipped his head to hers.“Why would you think such a thing?”
“How can I not?The queen offers a crown for any who can produce him to the royal guard, for he has been missing all day since meeting an enchantress.Youwere turned into a frog today by an enchantress.You do not deny the horse is yours, a Mérens horse, no less.You stopped yourself from sayingcastleand corrected yourself to saypondthe moment we met.You referred to yourself as a gentleman.And of all the people in this city, you are the sole one cursed, though honestly, I presume Poisson is behind this.”
Albert leapt onto the bank, landing heavily, as if he stomped.“Wum wum wum.Wum wum wum.” Now he looked to be pacing.Angry pacing.If a frog were capable of such things.
He made an incredibly long leap into the water and stared at her.“Let me guess, you wish to claim that reward, no?Well, you will have to wade in here and find me.”And he disappeared out of view.
“Albert!Prince Riven!”She growled in frustration, getting up to pace the shoreline.“That is not what I was saying at all.Will you please come up and speak with me?”
She scanned the oily surface, but no eyes erupted through it.
