"What do you think I can do?" Merrigan wondered if the king still had that handkerchief. Once magical objects with a wish limit went into a new set of hands, the magic started all over again. What she could do with three wishes ... She wondered what the king had wasted his three wishes on. Definitely, one wasn't making the queen and his daughters smarter, or trying to unravel the spell affecting them.
"Teach the soldier how to act like a prince, and dress him up like a prince," Bib said, when Merrigan looked at the dog and the dog looked back at her, leaning closer. She cringed away, expecting drool to fall on her at any moment.
"Talk to my master and convince him that it isn't so hard being king. Dulcibella only had to mention once that whoever she marries will be king, and my master panicked. She didn't say anything more about it. She's actually clever when it comes to wheedling and teasing and wearing people down to do what she wants. But in a nice way," Rolf hurried to add. "You might even like her, if she didn't think she was utterly stupid. It makes her cry a lot. My master is the only one who can make her laugh, lately."
"Sounds like she's in love," Bib offered in a cheerful tone.
"Why would you think I could convince a battle-hardened soldier that he wants to take on all the drudgery and finicky, headachy work of being king of Seafoam?" Merrigan asked.
"Your father is a powerful king and you were married to a king. Surely you picked up something along the way."
"My late husband made quite a few stupid mistakes," she retorted.
"Then tell my master all the mistakes he made, so he can avoid them," Rolf responded and grinned at her.
Merrigan wished dogs wouldn't grin. It always entailed their drippy tongues hanging out. She didn't want to know what the floor looked like underneath Rolf's mouth.
Still, so many possibilities had opened in front of her. Rolf had some freedom to move about. Could she borrow him to help her? Could she get him to look for the knife that would let Elli's hair grow back? Could he find the wishing handkerchief for her? Could he bring them out of the palace? Or since his master sent him for the princess, was she all he could retrieve from the palace?
"Oh, there he goes," Rolf said, sitting up and glancing toward the other side of the inn, as if he could see through the walls. "He's getting ready to strike the tinderbox and light the candle. Tonight is my turn, so I'll have to be going soon."
"Can you get me into the palace?" Merrigan asked. "Since you're going in to get the princess, could you take me with you, leave me there, and pick me up when you bring her back?"
"Don't see why not," he said, and a second later turned transparent and dashed through the wall.
"What are you going to do?" Bib asked.
"Look for Elli's knife." Merrigan slid off the bed and went to the pegs on the far wall where her and Elli's few changes of clothes had been hung up to air out and lose some of their wrinkles. The dark gray was perfect for pretending to be a servant in the palace. No one paid attention to servants, except other servants. This late into the evening, chances were good most of the servants would be settling in for the night, or they had gone home.
First, she would determine if there was a uniform for the servants. If so, she would take a set for herself, to help her blend in better. Then she could walk about more freely. Merrigan doubted the palace would be even one-fourth the size of her father's palace. She doubted it would take her very long to locate the throne room or the treasure chamber in the Windward palace. Likely this little country of fishermen might not even have enough treasure to require a treasure chamber. Probably the king kept it in a large chest. If she was lucky, the knife and the magic handkerchief would be stored together.
"Ready?" Rolf said, sliding to a stop in the room again, just as she finished buttoning the high collar of her gray dress.
"Umm ... how ..." Merrigan stepped up close to the big dog and gulped delicately. His back was higher than her head. She supposed she could step up on the bed to climb up on his back, but how was she to hold onto him? He did have a collar under all that tangled hair, didn't he? Falling off him before she got into the palace, or even while going through a solid stone wall, would be highly inconvenient.
"Just hop up and touch my collar. I tuck the princess's hand under my collar and she stays on with no problem at all."
"Very well." Merrigan raised her skirts and stepped up onto the bed. The mattress sagged slightly under her feet, but she had no fear of stepping through the gaps between the ropes that supported the mattress. With a hop, she got up onto Rolf's back, digging both hands into the thick, tangled fur around his neck. She found the collar and immediately stopped sliding.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Good luck!" Bib cried, before Merrigan could respond.
Then they were off, moving in a blur. Every time Merrigan thought she could see a wall coming toward them, they were through it before she could brace herself for impact. It was a somewhat exhilarating way to travel, but she wouldn't recommend it to anyone. In what felt like only a few
