Born to Rule by Kathryn Lasky Page A

clockwise, then swim under the drawbridge and back to the starting point.
    It seemed like no time since Kristen and Myrella had started, but suddenly they heard “A-ten level!” Lady Gussie shouted this as Kristen and Myrella raced under the drawbridge in the last stretch toward the beach.
    “Tie!” Myrella called out.
    A tie it was indeed. Myrella had almost beaten Kristen, but Kristen had pulled even at the very last second.
    “Let’s do it again,” Kristen said.
    “No, I want to do tricks,” Myrella replied as she clambered up on a rock in the middle of the moat. She dived off in a stunning upside-down twist. Ringlets of hair sprang out from her bathing tiara in a bright golden flurry.
    “One might think she had scales,” said a nasty voice behind them. Alicia turned to look. It was the Duchess of Bagglesnort. She smiled her rather grim smile and said, “But then again, what would one expect from a princess of the Marsh Kingdoms?”
    Alicia and Gundersnap exchanged looks.
    “Omigod, does she suck or what?” Kristen muttered.
    Alicia shivered in the sun at the test of bravery confronting her—the swim test. “If Kristen and Myrella are A-tens,” Alicia whispered to Gundersnap, “We’re probably Z-subzeros.”
    “I don’t see why we have to take a test. We told them we can’t swim. What’s there to test? How bad we are?” said the ever-practical Gundersnap.
    But the time was coming. The two princesses stood on the small beach with a dozen other princesses waiting their turns.
    And then Alicia and Gundersnap were called.
    “By the frosty breath of Saint Bertie, it’s really cold,” Alicia gasped as she waded in cautiously. Then she sent up a quick prayer to Saint Addie of Vernon, the patron saint of swimmers.
    “Not so cold when you have as much padding as I do,” Lady Merry said. “Come, come, miladies. Follow me. The water wings will support you.”
    “Lead them once around the moat, Lady Merry. We just want to see their form with the wings,” Lady Gussie called.
    Her teeth chattering, Alicia felt her feet leave the sand as the bottom of the moat slanted downward toward the middle, where the water would be over their heads. The water wings held her up! It was not quite as scary as she had imagined.
    “Now, stroke toward me, girls,” Lady Merry instructed.
    Lady Merry cut a large wake through the water. The waves she made lapped gently over the two princesses, but they managed to keep up. They circled around the castle, by the blacksmith’s shop where they heard the hammer and tongs as he fitted the shoes to horses, by the kitchen where the wonderful fragrance of plum tarts baking wafted out across the moat.
    As they swam, Alicia looked up and wondered where in this castle might an unfinished tapestry be. Aside from the turrets for the princesses, there were many more towers and spires than she would have ever guessed. They continued swimming and were soon passing under the drawbridge. It was all shadows and strange echoes.
    “Woo, woo!” Lady Merry called out, and the hollow sounds of the echoing drawbridge wrapped around the two princesses. “I’m a ghost!” Lady Merry giggled as if she were one of the campers. “I’m a ghost!”
    “Holy monk bones, is she trying to scare us?” Alicia paddled faster as she approached the beach where they had started. Lady Gussie waded out to greet them.
    “Bravo, Your Highnesses,” said Lady Gussie. “Now for the final test.”
    “What’s that?” Alicia asked.
    “Faces in the water,” Gussie replied.
    “No!” both princesses gasped.
    “Oh, yes!” Princess Myrella said. She was jumping up and down on the beach. “It’s fun. Just close your mouth and open your eyes. You’ll see the loveliest little fish.”
    Princess Alicia had no desire to see lovely little fish. She had no desire to get her face wet. All she could think of was getting water up her nose. The whole idea was appalling. Who would dare to go first? She turned to