When they arrived back at Burg Rheinfels, Friedrich crossed the storeroom and addressed them from the end of the long table. “We lost a lot of time, and we have much to accomplish to prepare for the festival and pageant. Therefore, we are breaking you into teams. I will take team one and Louisa will take team two.”
It was the first time he’d spoken since chastising them as they’d sprinted onto the dock and waved down the boatmen, who’d been busy unlashing the ferry. It had been a cold, windy trip across the Rhine, followed by a long, wet hike up to the fortress. By the time they emerged from the tunnel, Birdie was chilled to the bone. They’d taken turns changing into the dry clothes they’d packed to wear the next day, then scattering their wet things along the backs of the extra chairs. Only Friedrich looked crisp instead of rumpled.
No one objected to his pronouncement as they collected their lunch trays and huddled at one end of the long table to eat. Birdie was too tired, too lost in her own thoughts to care much about which team she ended up on or how she’d learn her role. They were back at camp, where they were supposed to be, but none of it seemed to matter.
“Okay, my team,” Friedrich said. “Follow me.”
Birdie shoved her chair away from the table and followed Sophia, Sam, and Raina out into the warm sunshine that had blossomed in the wake of the storms. The fortress was abuzz with workers erecting wooden stalls and scaffolding as they transformed the battered ruin into a colorful medieval walled town.
As they made their way across the grounds to the courtyard, Sophia scuffed her sneakers on the path. “I really wish the chest had been over there.”
“Me too. We all did. Well, except for Raina.” She glanced over at her to make sure she wasn’t listening then leaned closer to Sophia. “Besides, I’m not ready to give up yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe there’s another way to save Marielle? Something we’re missing?”
They paused as two wiry workers rushed past with boxes that overflowed with toy swords.
“Do you still think we can save her without using the aventurine?” Sophia began walking again. “I know you said it’d be too dangerous, but the more I think about it, the less likely it seems we’ll find anything now that they hid so long ago.”
Birdie sighed, loudly enough that a worker at a beer stand glanced up. He took one look at Friedrich marching ahead of them and gave her a chin-up kind of smile. She smiled back, but her heart wasn’t in it.
“We might make things worse,” she said. “I don’t have a good answer, to be honest. I’m hoping someone will come up with an idea that doesn’t get us all killed too.”
“I hope you’re right. The whole thing is just dreadful.” Sophia placed her hand over her heart. “I mean, she died. Died. Because of us.”
They’d reached the courtyard, which had been transformed from a windswept wasteland into a tournament field encircled by stalls selling all manner of medieval wares.
Friedrich pointed to a stall with a wood-fired oven. “Sam, you are to meet with the baker, Herr Becker. He will tell you what to do. You must help him figure out how to get more sales. Hiding him out back would be a good start.”
“Better customer service. Got it.” Sam shuffled off toward the bakery.
“Raina, you are to learn a traditional dance and perform with a troupe from Sankt Goar.” He pushed her toward a group of teenage girls and boys who were crossing the field. “Join them now.”
“What about me?” Sophia asked.
“I will take you to meet Frau Cheval. She runs the stables.”
“So that leaves me. The servant. Should I have been on Louisa’s team?”
“Yes, that leaves you. We must get Sophia settled and then we will take care of your position.”
Like the rest of the temporary festival structures, the stables were a makeshift collection of wooden stalls set up in the open air behind the former keep. Six horses – three white and three black – grazed in the tall weeds.
Frau Cheval was a tiny round woman with a friendly face who greeted Sophia with a strong German accent and a genuine smile. She wrapped her arm around her shoulders and took her into the fold as if she were a long-lost daughter.
“Now me?” Birdie glanced at Friedrich.
“Soon,” he replied without meeting her eyes.
She followed him as he circled back to Sam and Raina, making sure they were where they were supposed to be and imparting strict instructions as if he were their boss instead of their camp counselor. It was only after they’d returned to the stables and he was confident that Sophia had settled in with Frau Cheval that he turned his attention to Birdie.
“Where is the aventurine?”
“What?” She’d expected to be bombarded with a long list of servant instructions, and his question took her by surprise. “I… I told you I didn’t bring it.”
“I thought perhaps you were lying.” His eyes were hard.
“No, I wasn’t.” She took a step back.
Friedrich closed the gap. “You must get it. You are staying at Hotel Flussufer, correct?”
“Correct, but – wait, how did you know where—”
“I will drive you there.” His body seemed to almost vibrate with energy, as if he felt more alive in that moment than he had in ages.
Birdie hugged herself and shied away. “But you said we can’t leave—”
“Nice try. “I brought a car today. It will take only ten minutes to get there and back. No one will know we’re gone.”
Birdie stilled in the sunlight. Workers skirted them on the path, too busy moving medieval props into place to care about two campers in their way.
She struggled to make sense of Friedrich’s sudden demand. He’d deserted them at the Loreley and was disinterested in hearing what happened when they returned to the ferry. Now he wanted her to get the aventurine?
“I thought you agreed it was better if we didn’t use it again.”
“Not on that side of the river,” he said. “That would have been a suicide mission.”
“But—”
“It will be fine.”
“I won’t do it.” Her voice rose as she unfolded her arms and stood tall.
Friedrich leaned in close. He spoke slowly and clearly, his accent nearly eliminated from the carefully formed words. “Go get the glass, or I will tell your mother you stole an antique from the museum.”
Her mouth dropped open.
He straightened. “Now, we go.” He started down the path.
Birdie didn’t move. “Why? Where is this coming from? What do you want to do with it?”
“I will do nothing with it.” A corner of his thin mouth lifted. “You will.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Okay, what am I going to do with it?”
“Take us to the cave so I can question Marielle. I must make sure she returns the chest to Elisabeth’s father so the wedding proceeds.”
“The wedding? Who cares about the stupid wedding? What about Marielle’s life?”
Friedrich shrugged. “They may spare her life if she returns the chest.”
“But Marielle doesn’t know where it is.”
“She knows more than she says. I am sure of it. I will question her, and then we will find the chest so she can return it to Elisabeth’s father.”
“Friedrich, the guards obviously captured her, so it would be extraordinarily stupid for us to go back to that cave right now. We could get caught.”
“It is a risk I will take.”
“But why? Why put everyone in danger like that?”
“Not all. Just you. And me, of course. You said you want to find the chest.”
“I want to save Marielle, but in a way that keeps us alive. She told us everything she knew, and she was wrong. What else would she tell you, assuming we even find her in the cave? She may already be dead for all we know.”
“We were fools to believe anything could still exist on the Loreley.”
“You didn’t seem to think it was so foolish when you agreed to cross on the ferry. Make up your mind. Maybe it was a wild goose chase, but I have zero interest in going on this new wild goose chase you’ve cooked up.”
Anger flared in his pupils. The fortress hummed with activity around them, yet it felt as if they were the only ones there.
“I have a plan,” he hissed, his patience fraying. “That is all you need to know. My plan requires you to get the aventurine and take me to the cave so I can question Marielle.”
“Okay, you have a plan. Great,” Birdie said. “Let’s hear the rest of it.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He glared at her. “Do you want to save Marielle?”
“I thought you didn’t care about Marielle.”
He stepped closer. “We must return the chest. The wedding must take place. We can fix everything.”
“I guess I’m not understanding what else needs to be fixed,” Birdie said. “Or why it needs to be fixed right now without including Louisa and everyone else? Our goal is to save Marielle.”
Friedrich fell silent as he surveyed the activity around them.
“Well?”
He returned his attention to her. “I will tell you. But you must agree to get the aventurine.”
She didn’t respond.
“The princess? Elisabeth? She was my ancestor.”
Birdie’s eyes narrowed. “She was—”
“My ancestor. A member of my family.”
She almost laughed. “Are you sure?”
“I am sure. My mother has told stories of the failed marriage all my life. Now, with your help, I can make it right.” He reached for her hand. “We must go.”
Birdie pulled away before he could touch her. “That seems, um, unlikely, Friedrich. How do you know it’s true? And why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“It is no one’s business.” He wrapped his hot hand around her elbow and, gripping hard, guided her to a fortification wall near the back of the fortress. “Enough questions.”
Her mind raced. She considered yelling, alerting the workers scurrying around them. But what would it accomplish? Nothing, except to make her mom pick her up early, for stealing.
That couldn’t happen.
She had to figure a way out of this. If only she could get back to the others.
A pair of workers barreled toward them in a golf cart weighed down with supplies, forcing Friedrich and Birdie from the path.
That gave her an idea. “What about your job? You can’t just ghost them, especially today when everyone is so busy. I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble.”
“I will not get in trouble.” He motioned toward an opening in the wall. “Go through there. It is a shortcut to the parking lot. Ladies first.”
“I—”
“Now, Birdie.”
She dug her heels into the sandy path. There had to be a way to keep from leaving. “What do you think will happen if we go back to the cave?”
“I told you, I have a plan.”
“Share it with me. This isn’t a game. What if we get stuck? The aventurine held us in the past longer than before.”
He patted his polo. “I will use the whistle.”
“Wait.” Her eyes grew bright. “Here’s a better idea. Let’s share your plan with everyone else first. They may be able to help. And I’ll make you a deal. If everyone else is on board, I’ll go get the aventurine.”
“I am not concerned about the others,” he growled. “This is not their business!”
“It’s not?”
“Don’t you understand? My family would have ruled all the land between the rivers if Elisabeth had married the right man.”
Birdie felt the shock wash over her face. “Oh, wow, okay.” She checked to see if any of the workers had heard him, but no one was paying attention.
She locked her knees so he couldn’t pull her any further. “Friedrich. Are you serious right now? That was centuries ago. How do you know what would have happened? If Elisabeth had married a different man, you might not have been born.”
“I am descended from Elisabeth’s sister.”
“I doubt it matters,” Birdie said. “There’s been so much change, so much history, so much war – none of this family’s power still exists. This place is literally in ruins!”
“You will not go?”
“We can’t use the aventurine again unless we’re absolutely positive we can save Marielle.”
“You said that. And I told you I do not care about Marielle other than making sure she returns the chest. I must go back because I must talk to Elisabeth.”
“The princess?”
“Yes, the princess. Don’t you listen?” He released his grip as he threw his hands into the air. “I must make Elisabeth understand why this marriage is so important.”
“But…” She tried to process the warped idea that Friedrich thought he could become, what? A prince? A duke? He seemed willing to ignore all of history – never mind that there was no way he could just mosey up to a medieval princess – to see if it would work.
“But what?”
She steadied her voice. “It seems like a long shot. What makes you so sure Marielle knows where the chest is? Peter didn’t lie to us yesterday. He believed it was across the river.”
“She knows something that she has not told us. I am sure of it. And if she returns the chess piece, she may be saved.”
“And Princess Elisabeth? How would you get close enough to talk to her?”
He glared at Birdie for several moments. When he finally spoke, it was through gritted teeth. “What if I agree to talk to the others first?”
She hadn’t expected that.
“That is what you want, correct? To include the others?”
She nodded.
“Okay. But we cannot stand here any longer. We must go now to get the glass. There will be no other time when we will not be missed.”
“What are you saying?”
“I am saying… I will include the others. I will share my plan with them and with you.”
“And your plan is about making Elisabeth marry the prince?”
Friedrich nodded.
“And we will tell the others before we use the aventurine?”
He nodded again.
“Swear it.”
“I swear it.” Friedrich stared into her eyes but she couldn’t read him, couldn’t say for sure if he was telling the truth.
She had to decide.
“Okay.” She poked at his chest. “But I will only do this if the ultimate goal is to save Marielle. We can’t be concerned with whether you become a real-life prince in this fantasy you’ve dreamt up for yourself.”
His eyes flashed again, but his voice remained calm. “We are agreed.”
He bowed, and Birdie slipped through the opening to the parking lot.