She searched her mother's closet and pulled down the prettiest of the silvery fine gowns. She put it on over her play clothes and strapped on a pair of her mother's delicate silver sandals. Then she crossed the room to look at herself in her mother's tall oval mirror.
Though her long, silken hair was as frosty white as the full light of a winter moon - just like her mother's - and her eyes were as blue, the face and figure that looked out at Princess Jaimie from the mirror's bright surface was still a little girl all dressed up in a gown that bagged over her slim shoulders and pale arms and gathered about her feet like a gossamer puddle.
Jaimie sighed and frowned and fidgeted with the dress, trying to fit the shimmering cloth to her slender body so that she would at least look a little bit like her mother when she wore the gown to royal feasts and fancy functions. But for all that Princess Jaimie pulled the material this way and that, its form was designed for a figure with more curve and less line.
Her mother's Wishing Ring would help, she decided, and cast a quick look across her mother's bedroom to the dressing table. Of course, The Wishing Ring. The Wishing Ring would make her look the way she wanted to look. All she needed to do was hold the Ring and wish for what she wanted real hard and it would come true. The Ring would make her look like the princess she wanted to be, like the queen her mother was.
Jaimie gathered up the long skirts and crossed to the dressing table. She climbed up on the red velvet stool and reached for the blue satin box. She tried to lift the lid, but it was locked.
Oh, well, she sighed, it was just an idea. It was probably just as well that she couldn't get to it. Her mother cherished The Wishing Ring more than all the other pieces of jewelry in the box, and probably would have been very angry if she had found Princess Jaimie playing with it. Never mind. There were many other wonderful things here on the table to capture her attention.
There were bottles of graceful glass with colored liquid inside that smelled of all the flowers in her mother's garden. Jaimie picked up the green one and pulled off the cap to sniff a nose full of evergreen. She poured a little pool into the palm of her hand and set the bottle aside so she could rub the perfume between her hands and wipe it on her arms and neck. Now she smelled like a winter forest, crisp and clean, and that pleased her.
Also on the table was a cut crystal cup of silver cream that she recognized. All the ladies of the court wore it to make their eyes shine bright and shimmery like the fabric of her borrowed gown. Princess Jaimie scooped her finger through it and giggled as the cream began to glow on her warm finger. Excited, she smeared some of it over each eye and blinked hard to squish it all over her eyelids. It did make her eyes shine! She liked that, and looked through the other things on her mother's dressing table.
There was a blue powder in a chased silver dish that sparkled like star dust and smelled as sweet as winter roses. her mother, she knew, wore this in her hair to make it pretty, so Princess Jaimie picked up the little dish and poured a little on her head. But it all came out at once and cascaded down her white hair in shiny blue streaks that fell to her shoulders and streaked down her pretty silver gown.
She tried to catch it in her hands and scoop it back into its dish, but each movement shook it around and down until it covered her from head to toe and sprinkled on the floor. She brushed at it to get it off the red velvet cushion but it was as stubborn as glitter and wouldn't be swept away. Well, never mind. The maid would take care of it when she came in to make up her mother's bed.
Princess Jaimie sat down on her knees again and looked at herself in the mirror. She turned her head this way and that and decided the sparkles and cream really didn't look bad at all. She reached for the gold tube of lipstick that would make her lips as red as cherries. She picked it up, and was surprised to find behind it the silver key that would open her mother's jewelry box.
Excited by her discovery, Princess Jaimie dropped the lipstick and grabbed up the key. She held it tight and looked quickly over her shoulder to be sure her mother wasn't near. Her mother had never said she couldn't wear The Wishing Ring, Princess Jaimie thought, knowing deep inside that The Wishing Ring was not a toy. But she'd only use it for a little while. Just long enough to make her look like a real princess and not a little girl playing dress-up. She'd put it right back when she was done, she promised, and stood up on the velvet stool to reach her mother's jewelry box.
She pulled the box forward, spilling the many little perfume bottles out of the way, and fit the key into place. The key clicked and the lid sprang back with a musical chime and all her mother's jewels lay there, shining green and blue, white and red. Emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, rubies. Rings and bracelets, necklaces and chains, all sparkling bright and beautiful. But most beautiful of all was The Wishing Ring, set above them all on a little silk pillow of pale blue.
The Wishing Ring was slender and fine and all colors at once and many more besides. It glowed like a bit of fire, and glinted like ice, and Princess Jaimie picked it up with eager fingers that sparkled with silver cream and blue powder. The Ring slipped easily over the middle finger of her right hand and she clenched her fingers around it, hugging it to her tightly as she wished her wish, the wish she knew would come true. She closed her eyes real tight and wished with all her might, and knew when it was done by the warm way it made her feel.
Princess Jaimie opened her eyes and looked in the dressing table mirror.
Her white hair no longer fell down her shoulders like a tangled mane. It was piled high atop her head in ringlets studded with silver pearls. The blue powder glittered gently in the hollow of each curve of each ringlet, like little slices of a blue moon. Her blue eyes looked bigger and were painted with little swirls of silver and color that made her eyebrows arch up like little butterfly wings. Her lips, too, were colored, and gleamed as red as cherries and tasted sweet, too. And when she turned her head, little ruby stars glittered in her ears.
Princess Jaimie stood up and the gown no longer reached to the floor in a tangle of gossamer cloth. It swirled out around her like a silver mist and the too-big silver sandals just fit. She wore rings on her fingers and bracelets on her wrists, and a big diamond necklace hung from her neck. She was beautiful and pretty and she turned from side to side to show herself how everything fit her as perfectly as they had fit her mother.
I look like a princess now, she thought and jumped down from the stool. She looked fine and all grown up, and she giggled to herself and curtsied, The Wishing Ring still tightly held in her hand. She looked at the ring, shining so bright in her hand. She had to show her friends, she decided. Yes, everyone had to see her like this.
Princess Jaimie returned to the dressing table to put The Wishing Ring away before she went outside, but just as soon as she climbed up on the stool and took the ring off her finger, the illusion of beauty disappeared and she looked like she did before.
Disappointed, Jaimie pouted. It was gone. No one would see how beautiful she was. Her friends would never know what a wonderful princess she really was. Or would they?
Princess Jaimie put The Wishing Ring on her finger again, and the illusion instantly returned, blushing her cheeks with the years she had yet to grow into, and Princess Jaimie smiled.
Of course. The Wishing Ring had the power. She had to be holding The Wishing Ring to maintain her beauty. Now her friends would see her. Well, maybe.
Princess Jaimie lost her smile at the thought of taking her mother's Wishing Ring outside. Her mother would be angry if she ever found out. She won't find out, the image in the mirror promised. You'll go out and show your friends real quick. Then you'll put it back, and your mother will never know.
Princess Jaimie smiled back at the beautiful princess in the mirror and nodded. Yes, I'll be right back. I'll just show my friends and then bring it right back.
She jumped down from the stool and ran from her mother's bedroom to show all her friends what a little magic could do.
Princess Jaimie played with her friends all that afternoon. They played and did not notice the doubling of the guards on the castle's walls. They didn't see the tight worried faces of the men as they looked westward, and waited. Nor did they notice when they were playing hide and seek just Princess Jaimie stopped looking like a real princess and became a giggling little girl again. Even Jaimie forgot how elegant she should have looked under the spell of The Wishing Ring, and didn't think it strange when her nanny called her inside and clucked and fussed over the dirt on Princess Jaimie's borrowed dress.
"When your mother's seen what you've done, she'll give you what you deserve, little miss thief," Nanny scolded, and pulled the gown off over Jaimie's head. "You'll not be taking anything from anyone again that isn't your own."
She pointed to the bathtub filled with warm scented water and Princess Jaimie stepped in and settle down. Nanny roughly washed all the blue sparkles from Princess Jaimie's white hair and sponged the silver smears off her eyelids. Then she briskly pulled her out of the tub and rubbed her down with a thick warm towel.
"In the morning your mother will be told what you've done, and you'll pay the price for your playing," Nanny said, and helped her into her nightgown and sat her down in front of the fireplace. While Princess Jaimie ate her supper, Nanny brushed out her wet hair and braided it. She tugged on the braid when she was done and stood.
"Finish up, little miss," Nanny said as she folded down the coverlet on the bed. "Hurry up and get to bed."
Princess Jaimie obeyed and climbed into bed. Nanny kissed her good night, and left her alone to sleep and think.
But Princess Jaimie didn't think. She lay in bed and dreamed about this wonderful day. She had looked like a princess. Everyone had said so, and for the first time in her life she had actually felt like one. And one day she would be a Queen! Jaimie smiled to herself and snuggled down under the warm covers and felt for The Wishing Ring on her finger, all ready to will up a wish that it could be like this always and forever. But her searching fingers found only skin where The Wishing Ring had been. The Wishing Ring was gone!
Princess Jaimie sat up in bed and frantically searched under the bed covers, then jumped out of bed and searched all over the room. She even looked in the empty bathtub, but The Wishing Ring was nowhere to be found. The Wishing Ring was lost.
Oh, no! What would she tell her mother? I must find The Wishing Ring!
Princess Jaimie pulled on her robe and her slippers and slipped out of her bedroom to search the garden where she had played all afternoon. She passed silently behind the honor guards standing at the head of the stairs and slipped out the garden door.
The garden was dark. All the familiar hiding places and secret little nooks were as black and frightening as wild wolf caves. The trees leaned toward her with thin, scratchy fingers and cold, empty bones. Leaves whispered around her, telling secrets, telling lies, and Princess Jaimie edged around them cautiously. She dropped to her knees and crawled into a tunnel between two flowering bushes that looked dangerous in the night. The ground was moist and clung darkly to her hands as she crawled and searched. Behind her something rattled through the branches and she whirled as that something leapt out at her and over her to land on the dark branch of another tree. It was just a squirrel.
Just a squirrel, but it could have been anything, anything at all, and she hugged herself and turned quickly to look around, but nothing moved but the clouds over the moon.
Princess Jaimie circled the dark garden, searching all the places where she had played.
Had she lost The Wishing Ring here, by the roses where she had held court and all her friends had bowed down to her? Or had she lost it by the stream where she had sipped cold water as it spilled over the rocks into her hand. If she had dropped it there it could be on its way to the sea, or down deep between the rocks where it could never be seen.
She sat beside the stream and began to cry.
That was it, then. The Wishing Ring was gone. The Wishing Ring was lost. She couldn't find The Wishing Ring and The Wishing Ring must be found. But it was too dark to find a little thing that glittered all colors in the light and no colors at night. Oh, what was she to do? What could she do?
She'd better go tell her mother. That was the best thing for her to do.
But it was not the easiest thing for her to do. Her mother would be angry. A gown soiled and torn; silver sandals smeared with mud; powders and creams used without permission: these her mother might forgive with a scold and a flashing of blue eyes, but the taking of The Wishing Ring, and the losing of it, no, her mother would never forgive her for that. Not ever, never, ever.
Princess Jaimie cried until she used up all her tears, and knew there was only one thing she could do. She must tell her mother.
Rising from beside the stream, she brushed the grass from her night gown and crossed the dark garden to her mother's room. Her mother was there in the well-lit room, but she was not alone. She sat beside the fireplace, staring deeply into the flames. Her chief counselor was there, with the Captain of the Castle Guard, both watching her with silent eyes and stern faces.
Princess Jaimie liked Lord Stephen, her mother's oldest counselor. He was a gentle man with grey eyes and grey hair and a little pot belly that looked like a little round pillow under his robes. He always spoke softly, even when others cried out in anger or shouted. He was a good friend.
The other man, however, was tall and fierce. His name was Talon and he always wore his Falcon Helm of Command so that only his sharp black eyes and pointed black beard showed out between the curved cheek-guards of dark metal. He frightened Princess Jaimie, but her mother trusted him, and that was enough for Princess Jaimie to know.
Her mother looked up from the fire and stared at the two men.
"He comes," she said softly. "He comes to us himself."
Talon's hands clenched into fists at his side, making his leather gloves stretch and squeak over his knuckles. Lord Stephen looked tired.
"We cannot stop him," the counselor said.
"We are not lost yet, old friend," her mother said. "I have The Ring of Light, and by its power, we may yet stand free of His domination."
Her mother stood graceful and tall and her gown shimmered around her like mist and frost as she crossed the room to her jewelry box. The mess Princess Jaimie had made earlier in the day had been cleaned up by the maid and everything had been set back in its place. Her mother opened her jewelry box with her little silver key, lifted the lid, and stared down into the box. She touched aside some of her jewels, glinted in the box, then closed the lid and looked at her friends.
"The Ring of Light is gone," she said quietly.
"Lord of Light," the counselor said and sat heavily in the empty seat by the fire. "Could His agents have breached our walls and taken our only hope?"
"No, that's not possible," Talon said sharply. He crossed to the Queen's side to look into the box himself. "None of His scum could pass my guards undetected."
"Yet, the ring is gone," her mother said. She sat down on the red velvet stool and touched at the bottles and dishes atop the dressing table, searching for The Ring of Light, yet knowing it would not be there.
"With The Ring of Light gone, our chances are gone," Lord Stephen said. "He will come and He will tear down our walls. He will kill us all."
"We will die fighting," Talon snapped and grabbed the hilt of his sword, as if to draw it. "He shall not take us without a fight."
Her mother covered Talon's hand and held his grip down so that he could not draw his weapon.
"No. The sword is not the way. Not this time," she said. "He shall arrive by the morrow, but we have this night. I command this castle to be abandoned. Let us take our people away, through the night and across the land to a place of safety until we can recover The Ring of Light."
"Flee from our homes?" Talon shook his head fiercely. "No, my Queen. I shall not send my men from the walls. This is our home. I will not give it to such evil as He who comes. Not without a fight."
"Your time to fight Him will come, I promise you, Talon, but on this night you will obey and stand by me. You will guard my people as we flee for our lives."
"My Queen, this does not sit well with me," Talon said harshly.
"Nor with me," she agreed quickly. "But this is what we must do. Do you agree, Stephen?"
"Lady, it shall be done," the old counselor said and pushed himself out of the tall chair. "I shall see to it. Come, Talon. We have plans to make, and too little time to make them."
"Aye to that," Talon said and bowed to the Queen. "We obey, my Lady."
They left her mother alone in her room, and Princess Jaimie, standing in the shadow by the open garden door, hugged herself in fear, and took the first step toward telling her mother the truth.
"Mother?"
Her mother's head turned to her in surprise, startled by her daughter's sudden appearance.
"Jaimie, dear, what are you doing out of bed? Are you ill?" She crossed to Princess Jaimie and touched her forehead with a long, cool hand. "You don't feel fevered."
"I am not sick, mother," Princess Jaimie said, and trembled.
"You're chilled," her mother said and frowned. "Come to the fire. Come."
She led her daughter to the fireplace and sat her down in the tall chair. She rubbed her small, child hands with her graceful woman hands and touched her forehead again.
"What brings you out into the night, Jaimie? What is wrong?"
Jaimie couldn't look at her mother's face, and couldn't keep her terrible secret to herself a moment more.
"I took The Wishing Ring! I took The Wishing Ring!" She cried and spilled out her fears and tears in gasps between breaths. "It's my fault we're in danger. I was playing. I didn't mean to lose it. I didn't know. Everyone will die and it will be my fault!" She cried and her mother shook her sharply.
"Jaimie, stop that. Stop that! Look at me!"
Princess Jaimie lifted her face, wet with tears and flushed with her fears and her mother hugged her tightly.
"No one is going to die. We will all be all right," she promised and kissed her daughter's wet cheeks. "Now, Jaimie, you must tell me where you think you lost The Ring of Light. Where were you playing?"
"I was playing in the garden with Luke and Regina and Mark. But I already looked there. I couldn't find it."
"We'll find it," her mother said and stood. She crossed to the main door and opened it wide. The two guards that always stayed near, ready to protect and to serve, turned to face her, awaiting her command. Princess Jaimie curled up in a ball in the big chair by the fire, terrified that her mother was calling in the guard to take her away, to punish her as Nanny had said.
Would she sent her to the dungeon or far, far away? Would she punish her this way?
"Tell Captain Talon to meet me in my garden with men and lights. Tell him to come at once," her mother said and nodded in return to the one guard's salute. She turned back to Princess Jaimie. "You must show me where in the garden you were playing. You must show me now."
Her mother pulled a white fur wrap from out of her closet and laid it about Princess Jaimie's shoulders. Then together they went out into the dark, chilly garden. Princess Jaimie showed her the place among the roses, and the stream that gurgled in the dark like a slender strand of light-touched black satin. Talon came with torches and men and her mother quickly told them what PrincessJaimie had done and what they must do. The searched both places, and others beside, covering the garden carefully until all the places Jaimie had been that day were sought out and searched, but The Wishing Ring was not to be found.
"I don't know where it could be!" Princess Jaimie cried and burst into tears again. "I don't know where it is."
"Could one of your friends have found it, Princess?" Talon asked. "Could one of them have taken it. We must rouse them, my Queen," he said.
"Yes, send men at once, but do not frighten them," She commanded and reached for her daughter's hand. "Come with me, Jaimie. This night is not good for you."
Princess Jaimie slipped her small hand into her mother's and walked with her back to her mother's bedroom. There, between the large oval mirror and the dressing table, her mother gathered her up in her arms and tucked her into the big silken bed.
"Don't fret now, Jaimie," she said. "We will find the Ring of Light."
"And if we don't?"
"We'll find it," her mother promised and blew out the candle by the bed. "Now sleep and don't worry."
Princess Jaimie watched her mother cross to the garden door. Beyond her, the light from the searchers' torches bobbed up and down among the roses and the flowering trees like fat fireflies. Her mother joined the searchers and Princess Jaimie pulled the covers high over her head and closed her eyes. She tried to sleep, but couldn't. She kept thinking about where she could have lost The Wishing Ring. Where it could have fallen from her finger. What was going to happen now? She wondered.
"My Queen," Talon said by the garden door, and Jaimie heard the rustling of her mother's skirts. "None of the children remember seeing the Ring of Light. It must still be in the garden."
"Leave these men her to continue to search," she said. "You go and finish what you began. We must still make plans to leave the castle before dawn."
"My Queen, is there no other way?"
"He is coming, Talon. He is coming to take what he wants, and we have not the power to stand against him. Make ready. I will continue the search."
Jaimie curled herself into a tight ball beneath the covers of the big bed and shivered though she was not cold.
He was coming.
No one had spoken His name aloud this night, but Princess Jaimie knew who they meant. She knew His name. Everyone knew His name, but no one ever spoke it. Names were power, and the speaking of names invokes the power. His name was an evil name and His power was an evil power, so no one spoke His name aloud. No one spoke it, but it was true. He was coming. He was coming back to break down the walls that encircled her home. He was coming to burn down the home she had known all her life. He was coming to kill them all.
No! No, that would not happen. It could not happen. Her mother and the guardsmen would find The Wishing Ring. They would find it and she would be forgiven, and The Wishing Ring would keep them safe from Him.
She would be safe, and she would be forgiven and all would be well, and with these thoughts in her head, Princess Jaimie finally found sleep.
It was still dark when Nanny came and shook Princess Jaimie awake and told her to get dressed. Princess Jaimie sat up quickly and looked to the garden, dark and empty beyond the tall windows.
"Did they find The Wishing Ring?" She asked eagerly, and looked at Nanny hopefully.
"The ring?" Nanny turned from lighting the lamps and blew out the candle she held. "I know nothing of a ring. Hurry now, get up and get dressed. The carriage is waiting."
"What carriage?"
"Didn't your mother tell you last night? You're going on a journey."
"You mean everyone is leaving the castle because He is coming," Jaimie said and reached for her clothes.
"Lord of Light, whoever would tell you such a thing?" Nanny demanded.
"Captain Talon. Counselor Stephen. And my mother. I heard them talking."
"Well, never you mind what they said. Just get dressed and be quick about it. It's almost dawn," Nanny said and left Princess Jaimie alone.
Dawn. He would soon be here and The Wishing Ring was still missing. There wasn't much time.
Princess Jaimie dressed quickly and slipped out into the dark garden. The sky was changing. The stars were fading and the black was not so deep, not so dark as it had been. Nor was the garden as quiet as it had been. From beyond the enclosing walls came all the noise of a castle in confusion and fear. They knew He was coming, and were just as frightened as she was.
Princess Jaimie hugged herself against the cold and her fear and began her search all over again. The bushes and the trees changed shape and color as she poked and prodded into places that had been poked and prodded into many times during the night. Flowers had been crushed. The grass had been trampled and the soft earth packed down hard in places that had hardly ever been touched by footsteps. The garden looked as worn out and abused as the dress Princess Jaimie had worn the day before. But Princess Jaimie didn't give up. She looked and looked until the sun came up and painted the treetops gold. Nanny came then, looking for her, calling her name, but Princess Jaimie ducked down behind a bush and waited for Nanny to give up and leave. When she did, Jaimie continued to look for The Wishing Ring. She wasn't going to leave without it. She was going to find it.
The noise beyond the garden wall quieted and a chill, empty silence took its place. For the first time, the castle felt old and huge. There was no laughter. No talk. Nothing.
Even the birds that came to sing in the garden were still as the sun's light streamed down over the garden wall. Princess Jaimie listened hard, but could hear nothing but the stirring of the leaves above her and around her as she searched beneath a rose bush. The castle was dead, she thought and shivered. Because of her, the castle was dead.
Princess Jaimie choked back a cry, and froze as the sun slanted down over the wall and sparked a glitter of light and color like no other sparkled right next to her hand. It was The Wishing Ring!
She snatched it up and held it tight. She'd found it! She'd found it!
She pushed herself to her feet and hurried across the garden to her mother's bedroom, but her mother wasn't there. Where was she? Princess Jaimie wondered and ran out of the room to find her.
The castle was as empty as it sounded. The rooms she passed were silent and littered with belongings left behind. The main hall was hollow and huge without people to fill its vast corners with laughter and talk. Even the courtyard was empty when she burst out the main door. The great doors were closed and barred, a thing she had never seen done. Always the gates had stood open, welcoming anyone to come out of the night, to share the heart and home of her people. And they were closed as tight as possible and the walls were lined with warriors, waiting and watching the valley beyond. And with them was her mother, standing slim and silent among the armored men.
Princess Jaimie climbed the stairs to the high walkway at the top of the wall and looked out over the green valley, and saw the glint of metal as His army filled the space between the groves of trees. Like a dark cloud, a shadow across the land, His army stretched in front of her home, and at its head, He sat astride His black horse and laughed at her mother.
"I take what I want, Lady," He said. "And I want what you have."
"Leave us alone!" Princess Jaimie screamed and all eyes turned to her standing on the wall with The Wishing Ring like a star in her hands. "Go away! Go away and leave us alone!"
Princess Jaimie wished with all her might, but this time her wish was not one of illusion, the temporary changing of her appearance from that of an awkward little girl to a beautiful young princess. This time she was wishing five thousand men as far away as her imagination could conceive. She wished it and willed it, but she was still a little girl.
"You let children guard your walls, Lady Queen?" He laughed. "You make this too easy for me!"
Her mother ignored Him and hurried along the wall to her daughter's side.
"Jaimie."
Princess Jaime opened her eyes and saw the army still watching below, laughing at her.
"Why doesn't He go away? Why can't I send them away?" She cried and turned to her mother. "I found The Wishing Ring. I wished really hard. Why don't they go away?"
Her mother answered her by putting her arms around her, holding her tight and covering her hands so that they both held The Ring of Light.
"Wish with me, Jaimie," she said. "Wish hard."
And Princess Jaimie did. With all her fear and all her heart, she wished.
"Ring of Light, Lord of Light, Thy Brethren are gathered, kin and kind, to protect this place from those not thine," her mother whispered in her ear, and wished, and Jaimie felt the surge of warm power rise from The Ring of Light and fill them both. "Let Thy Light shine bright upon these creatures of the Night. Let them know the power and the might of Thy presence."
The Ring of Light ceased to be a ring. It became a star, a small sun, a burning ball of light that rose from out of their cupped hands and hovered above the wall, growing and glowing with brilliance that filled Princess Jaimie's eyes, but did not burn. She thought she heard a voice, rumbling deep in her bones and in the stones of the wall, but the words spoken meant nothing to her ears. Only the Light was real and the feel of her mother's arms holding her warmly from behind. The Light grew until there was nothing else - no wall, no sky, no valley. Only the Light lived and was real around her.
And then it was gone, with a flicker like that of a candle flame snatched out by the wind, and all that remained was the wall and the sky and the valley beyond. He and His army was gone. And so was the Ring of Light.
Princess Jaimie turned around in her mother's arms and her mother lifted her and held her in a tight hug.
"Where have they gone?" Princess Jaimie asked.
"The Light has taken them," her mother said, and looked out across the empty valley. "Your 'Wishing Ring' was a gift given long ago to be used on such a day as this, against such a power of Kavka."
"You spoke his name," Jaimie said in surprise. Her mother laughed.
"He is no longer a power to be feared," she said and looked to Captain Talon. "You may send for our people. The danger is over. Kavka is no more."
"Aye, my Queen," Talon saluted and turned to obey.
"Kavka is no more," Lord Stephen said and looked out across the valley. "And so easily it could have been us to be destroyed." He looked directly at Princess Jaimie. She ducked her head guiltily, wanted to hide, but her mother hugged her.
"The Ring of Light was found in time, Stephen," her mother said.
"I shouldn't have taken it," Jaimie admitted weakly.
"You were wrong to take what was not yours," her mother agreed.
"I won't do it again, I promise," she cried and hugged her mother tightly. "I'm sorry."
Her mother kissed her cheek and set her down.
"I know you're sorry. I know you won't do it again. But that's not enough," she said, and Princess Jaimie looked at her mother bravely, knowing it was time for her to be punished. "Hold out your hands."
Jaimie obeyed, though her hands trembled. She flinched as her mother touched them, and then she stared at them, for on her palm was the Wishing Ring, whole and beautiful with all its bright colors.
"From this day forward, the Ring of Light is yours. You must keep it safe from harm for the day that will come, as this day came. It is for you to protect us on that day. Can you do that?"
"I don't want it! I'll lose it again!" Jaimie cried and held The Wishing Ring out to her mother.
"If you do lose it, then our people will die, as they almost did this day. But you won't let that happen. I know you won't let that happen," she said. "Now, put The Ring of Light on your finger, and we will go together to welcome our people home."
