“May I ask why we are in such a hurry?”
The queen looked at her then.“It appears word has spread that there is treasure at the pond.If my son is truly a frog, and I offered a crown for his return, why, they could easily kill him fighting over him or trying to capture him for the reward.”
Guilt crawled up Bella’s throat.Shehadtold Bouleau that there was treasure at the pond.Was this chaos her fault?
“Drive faster!”the queen demanded, and the horses picked up speed to the crack of a whip.
When they arrived, dozens of men were already there, hauling away rubbish and filth from the shoreline.And one hundred more spilled out in orderly fashion from the castle, each team of horses pulling a cart, while well-dressed servants walked alongside.
“Phillippe leads them,” the queen said, a note of puzzlement in her voice.
“Prince Riven’s servant?”
“Yes.What is that?”the queen asked, pointing with her chin toward the large tower in the pond’s center.
“That is Prince Riven’s castle.He made it himself from the items that had sunk.”
“He...built that?”
“With his own two hands,” Bella added, proudly backing him up.
“It’s...huge.”
“It is a castle fit for a frog prince,” Bella said loyally.
“Indeed,” the queen whispered.
But Bella saw no sight of him, even with her hand shading the sun as she scanned the oily surface.All three women watched the industry of the men for a moment while still seated in the carriage, then Bella followed the queen out of the conveyance to the ground.While Riven’s mother remained formally distant from the muck, Bella knelt in the gritty sand and called, “Prince Riven?Are you here?Your mother wishes to speak to you.”
After a moment, two eyes popped out of the water mere feet away.
“Riven?”she smiled.
“You came back,” he breathed as he kicked closer to shore.
“I did.”
“I am so sorry for what I said,” he told her as he emerged, standing on his hind feet with his arms spread wide.“I did not want you to leave.You have been the best part of my life, regardless of it being spent as a frog.”
She smiled.“And you mine.”
Riven looked around, his demeanor turning somber.“I told you to leave because I cannot have you wasting your time on me, Bella.The enchantress has given me but a week to complete the cleaning, yet the task is futile.No human can see under this water to clean it, and the bottom is riddled with waste.I am too frail in this form to haul all that which needs to be removed, and absolutely nothing will live here.”
“I was thinking we could drain the pond.My father had used fireplace bellows to draw air to breathe while he walked the pond bottom, but the bellows could also be used to siphon the water out of the pond.Once it is empty, we could all remove the waste.”
Riven shook his head.“It would take days to empty it, and longer to clean it.Even if we used multiple siphons, we have no time to clean it and refill it.The enchantress expects this pond to hold life.”He shook his head again.“’Tis beyond futile.Nothing lives here.”
Bella leaned back onto her heels and brushed off her hands, noting how dry and scratchy they were.“Nothing lives here,” she echoed as she stared at the residue on her hands.“Nothingwilllive here!”she exclaimed.
“Why does this make you happy?”Riven demanded.
“Because this is salt water!”She looked to Henriette, who nodded.“Salt has been dumped into this pond.It is not the pollution that has killed everything, though it certainly did not help.The water itself does not support inland life.”
He held her eyes.“What do you suggest?”
Bella looked at her companions as she determined the best way to proceed.“This pond will never be usable.I suggest we dig another one, over there,” she pointed a short distance away, “and use the soil removed to fill this one in, therefore burying the waste.”
“I shall happily take a few dozen barrels of the water,” Henriette added, “if it helps.”
