The Bard and the Beast Read online

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Music Lessons

  Chapter 2: The Feather

  Chapter 3: The Bard

  Chapter 4: Our Guest

  Chapter 5: The Bard’s Tale

  Chapter 6: Substitute Teacher

  Chapter 7: A Lullaby

  Chapter 8: The Cave

  Chapter 9: A Duet

  Chapter 10: Promises

  ‘The Pegasus Quest’ Excerpt

  About Jordan Quinn and Robert McPhillips

  Music Lessons

  * * *

  * * *

  “Yes! Sir Archie won!” Prince Lucas shouted.

  “No, Sir Fred won!” cried Clara.

  “Squawk!” crowed Ruskin, Lucas’s pet dragon. He was definitely on the prince’s side.

  “Okay, let’s call it a tie!” Lucas said.

  “No way!” argued Clara. “Sir Fred won fair and square!”

  Prince Lucas and his best friend, Clara, had just had a toad race. They argued and laughed as they ran down the castle halls.

  Then, all at once, Lucas’s muddy leather boots skidded to a stop. Clara didn’t see in time and bumped into Lucas. Ruskin smacked into the back of Clara’s knees. Queen Tasha blocked the hallway. She tapped her black velvet shoe on the stone floor and stared disapprovingly at the mud-covered children.

  “Where on earth have you been, Lucas?” she said sternly. “You are late for your first music lesson!”

  Clara peeked out from behind Lucas. “Um, I’d better be going,” she said uncomfortably. Then she turned and hurried toward the door.

  The queen kept her eyes on her son. Lucas wiped some toad slime on his pants and sighed heavily.

  “Come on, Mother,” he complained. “You know I don’t want to play a musical instrument!”

  “It’s not up for discussion,” his mother said. “Music is part of your royal education.”

  Then she grabbed Lucas by the hand and marched him to the music room.

  Lucas stumbled along behind his mother.

  Master Aldrich, the royal music teacher, greeted them at the door. He had dark shoulder-length hair, a pointy nose, and a swirly mustache. He bowed to the queen. She nodded and left the room. Then Master Aldrich slid his glasses to the bridge of his nose and glared over them.

  “You’re tardy,” he declared as if Lucas didn’t know. The teacher sniffed. “Well then,” he went on, “shall we pick an instrument?”

  Master Aldrich walked—rather like a duck—across the room and sat down with a floating golden harp. The instrument hovered in the air as the music teacher began to pluck the strings with his long, skinny fingers.

  “Heavenly, isn’t it?” he said.

  Lucas shrugged. “Too many strings for my taste,” he said.

  Master Aldrich got up and pulled a recorder from a shelf. “Here’s a simple instrument that’s easy to learn,” he said, putting the pipe to his lips.

  Lucas watched his teacher’s fingers cover and uncover the holes on the recorder as he played a short tune.

  “Well?” Master Aldrich said, looking at the prince.

  “Too many holes,” Lucas replied.

  Master Aldrich waddled across the room and grabbed a bagpipe from a hook on the wall. He tapped, pumped, and blew on the pipes. Soon the instrument began to whine.

  Lucas stuck his fingers in his ears. “Too earsplitting!” he declared.

  Master Aldrich set down the bagpipes, cleared his throat, and adjusted his glasses.

  “How can you hope to master a kingdom if you can’t master something as simple as a musical instrument?” he said.

  Lucas shrugged again.

  “Music brings joy and happiness!” his teacher said excitedly. “It brings kingdoms together. It can even save lives!”

  Save lives? Master Aldrich sounded a little bit loopy to Lucas. I’d better pick an instrument to get him to stop talking, he thought.

  He settled on a stringed instrument with a long neck and a body shaped like pear sliced lengthwise.

  “Ah, splendid, my prince!” said Master Aldrich. “You’ve chosen the lute! It will take years of hard work to master, but the reward for playing beautiful music is priceless!”

  Oh no, thought Lucas. Years of hard work to master?

  What had the prince gotten himself into this time?

  The Feather

  * * *

  * * *

  The next day Lucas and Clara went berry picking on Primlox, the island of fairies. The fairies grew the sweetest fruit in the kingdom of Wrenly. Clara filled her bucket to the top with black raspberries.

  “How many have you got?” asked Clara.

  Lucas wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His fingers and mouth had purple berry stains.

  Clara shook her head. “Did you collect any?” she cried.

  Lucas blushed. “A few,” he said sheepishly.

  Clara peeked into his bucket. “Cook will need more berries than that to make his pies,” she said. “Let’s pick some more, but we’d better hurry or you’ll be late for your music lesson again.”

  Plink! Plink! Plink! Lucas and Clara picked berries and dropped them into his nearly empty bucket.

  “Well, I don’t care if I’m on time,” said Lucas. “I hate music lessons.”

  Clara stopped picking and threw a berry at Lucas. It pinged his cheek and fell to the ground.

  “Hey!” said Lucas, wiping his face clean of the berry stains.

  “Do you want to get in trouble again?” Clara asked.

  “No,” said Lucas, flinging a berry back at his friend. “But I still don’t want to take music lessons.”

  Just as an all-out berry war was starting, they heard a great flapping of wings. Ruskin, who had been napping in the crook of a nearby tree, began to growl. He jumped down from the tree and scampered into the underbrush.

  “Ruskin!” Lucas shouted. He and Clara left their buckets and raced after him. Ruskin stood on the other side of the thicket and squawked at the sky.

  “That’s strange,” said Clara, studying the sky. “I don’t see anything. Do you?”

  “No,” said Lucas. “But look at this!”

  He pointed at the ground. There, at their feet, lay a magnificent emerald green feather with shimmering silver and gold speckles.

  Lucas picked up the glittering feather and measured it against his arm. “It’s longer than my forearm!” he said.

  Clara ran her finger down the length of the feather. “It must have come from a very large bird.”

  They both studied the sky for more clues, but all they saw were dark clouds rolling in.

  “Wait,” said Lucas. “Listen. Do you hear that? What’s that other sound?”

  The Bard

  * * *

  * * *

  Clara stopped searching the sky for clues and listened.

  Someone was playing a merry tune on a pipe nearby.

  “It’s coming from over there!” she said, pointing to another thicket of berry bushes.

  The children crept quietly around the thicket and pulled back some branches. Ruskin burrowed under the brush to get a better look. There, in a clearing, stood a slender young man. He had chestnut brown hair tucked under a green felt hat. He wore a wool tunic and trousers, had a number of instruments hanging on straps from his belt, and had a guitar case by his feet. Two fairies fluttered on either side of him.

  “It looks like a bard,” whispered Lucas.

  A bard was a traveling musician. Lucas had seen them come to Wrenly before. They traveled throughout kingdoms and played music in the castles and inns along the way.

  Clara nodded.

  The bard played his pipe for a small bird in a tree above. Clara thought it might be a fairywre
n. The sandy-brown bird cocked her head as she listened to the music. Then she chirped and twittered the same tune back to the bard in response.

  Ruskin let out a growl and leaped through the bramble. He bounded up to the man with the pipe and sniffed his trousers. The bard backed away uncomfortably. The fairies buzzed around Ruskin’s head and scolded him.

  “Down, Ruskin!” Lucas called as he scrambled through the undergrowth and into the clearing.

  Ruskin grumbled but sat down.

  “Stay,” said the prince.

  Ruskin stayed.

  “Good boy.”

  Then Lucas noticed that one of the fairies was their friend Rainbow Frost. The fairy curtsied before the prince and introduced her friends.

  “Prince Lucas, this is my sister, Amber Quill,” Rainbow Frost said. “And this is our friend William, the wandering bard.”

  William took off his hat and bowed before the prince. His hair spilled over his face. “Pleased to meet you, Your Highness,” he said. “Call me Will.”

  Then Lucas introduced Clara and Ruskin.

  “Tell us, how did you get that fairywren to speak to you?” asked Clara.

  Will lifted his pipe to his lips and played a quick melody. “With music,” he said. “I study all kinds of music—even birdsong. I’m also in search of another creature, who responds only to music.”

  Clara looked at the fairywren in the tree and then back at Will. “Do you actually know what that bird is saying?” she asked.

  “In a way,” said Will. “I’ve been listening to this mother fairywren for days. She’s teaching her unhatched eggs a special song—one only her chicks will know.”

  Lucas spied the fairywren’s nest in the tree. “Why does she do that?” he asked.

  Will put his pipe in his pocket. “So when her chicks ask for food, she’ll know it’s her own children calling and not another animal who might be trying to trick her,” he said.

  “That’s amazing!” Clara said.

  “It is,” Will agreed. “Music has many unexpected uses.”

  Lucas suddenly clapped his hand over his mouth. “That reminds me!” he exclaimed. “We have to go, or I’ll be late for my music lesson—again!”

  Our Guest

  * * *

  * * *

  “May I join you?” asked Will. “I had planned to visit all of Wrenly and would much rather travel with you and Miss Clara than all by myself.”

  “Of course,” Lucas answered. “But we need to leave right away.”

  “I’ll gather my things!” the bard said cheerfully. He swung a bag over his shoulder and picked up his guitar case.

  “I’ll be right back,” Lucas said. “I have to get our buckets.” He ran toward the thicket.

  “Hurry!” Clara exclaimed.

  “I will!” said Lucas as he disappeared into the thicket, with Ruskin close at his heels.

  Lucas grabbed the berry buckets.

  Then he noticed the beautiful emerald green feather he’d dropped. He wondered again what kind of bird or beast it had come from. He slid the feather inside his vest and ran back to the others.

  Rainbow Frost and Amber Quill waved good-bye to their friends at the dock. The ship set sail and rolled over the waves toward the mainland. Thunder rumbled and rain began to speckle the ground when they landed near the palace. Clara covered her head with a scarf and ran all the way home. Will and Lucas tramped toward the castle in the light drizzle.

  The queen greeted them at the door. She had been waiting.

  “Lucas!” she cried. “You’re late for your music lesson again!”

  “If you’ll excuse me, Your Majesty,” Will said, bowing. “The prince is late because of me.”

  “And who might you be?” asked the queen.

  Lucas introduced Will to his mother.

  “Well then,” said the queen, “I’ll take care of our guest, and, Lucas, I want you to get to your lesson—now.”

  The prince handed the berry buckets to Will and ran all the way to the music room.

  At dinner Lucas glared at his sore fingertips. They had dents from pressing the strings on his lute. The music lesson had been miserable. He wanted to complain to his parents, but that would only remind them that he had been late to his lesson. Besides, his mother and father were more interested in their guest, Will, the wandering bard.

  “Tell us, Will, where have you traveled recently?” asked King Caleb.

  Will set a forkful of potato on his plate. “This trip has taken me to the kingdom of Bearwood, the Tower of Lyon, and the Fortress at Fenwick Falls. I’ve also traveled to Primlox, and now I am here in your fair palace.

  No sooner than he said “fair palace,” thunder boomed outside.

  “Make that the stormy palace of Wrenly,” the king said with a chuckle.

  Will laughed. Then he talked about his travels while they ate a meal of potatoes, roasted meat, fish, warm bread with a hearty soup, and black-raspberry pie for dessert.

  “Would you like me to play some music?” asked Will as the plates were cleared.

  “Very much!” said the king.

  “Let’s have tea and music in the great hall,” the queen suggested.

  “Will you tell us a story too?” asked Lucas.

  “First we will have music! Then we’ll have a story,” Will said. “How’s that?”

  “Perfect!” said Lucas.

  All the people in the castle gathered to hear the music. Will sat in a chair in the middle with the floating harp. He played a song about a faraway princess locked in a tower. Then he sang about a black-smith’s daughter, who was tough as iron. His voice was gentle and he played the harp like an angel. He also played his pipe and guitar.

  “And now,” said the bard, setting down his guitar, “I shall tell you ‘The Tale of the Bard’!”

  The Bard’s Tale

  * * *

  * * *

  “Long ago, when I was a wee little bard, my mother misplaced my rattle. As I lay howling in my baby basket, she reached for the nearest thing she could find—a musical pipe. I grasped the pipe in my fist and put it straight into my mouth. From that day on, I played the pipe every day. I played for anyone and anything that would listen: cats, dogs, and field mice—even garden snakes. I discovered I could get animals to follow me just by playing music!

  “When I grew up, King Ashwin of Meadowlark made me the minister of pest control. I led the kingdom’s rats and snakes away with music. All was well until a deadly pest was found in the kingdom. It happened like this:

  “King Ashwin loved to fish. Every weekend, he fished on the Snake River, a river that squiggled across the countryside like its slithering namesake. There had long been a legend of an enormous beast that lived in the winding river, but nobody was sure if it was really true.

  “One afternoon at dusk, the king and Sir Gavin, his closest companion, paddled home after a day of fishing. As they glided along, a huge snake swam up to the boat and lifted its head above the water. King Ashwin yelped in horror! He lifted his paddle and whacked the snake on its head. The snake bared its fangs and rose higher to attack them. It towered over the little boat. Sir Gavin waved his hands to confuse the creature. It shook its head wildly and then lowered itself into the water and disappeared.

  “The king and his friend paddled to shore and hurried back to the palace. Little did they know, the snake watched from the river’s edge. That night, the snake slithered through the farmers’ fields. It glided across the schoolyard and through the village. The castle guards saw the serpent coming and summoned Sir Gavin and the knights.

  “ ‘It’s too big for the knights!’ Sir Gavin exclaimed. ‘It must be more than a hundred feet long! And six feet wide! There is only one way to stop this savage beast.’

  “That was when Sir Gavin summoned me. And it was just in time too. For when we entered the king’s sleeping chambers, I gasped at the sight! The giant snake stood over the king with its jaws wide open. He was about to swallow the king whole!
I lifted my pipe to my lips and played. The snake turned its evil red eyes on me. I played on. The snake began to listen. Its jaw relaxed and its face became dreamy. Soon the snake was in a trance. The king was safe.”

  Then the bard placed his hat over his heart.

  “Thanks to music, all was well once again in the kingdom of Meadowlark. To this day, I still search for beasts that can be tamed with music, which is why I have come to Wrenly.”

  The castle crowd stood up and clapped and whistled for the bard.

  Well, he won’t find any beasts in Wrenly, thought Lucas. But at least I can offer to show him around.

  Substitute Teacher

  * * *

  * * *

  Lucas lay in bed and listened to the birds chirp happily along the castle wall. I wonder if Will’s up? he thought. The prince hopped out of bed, changed his clothes, and ran down the spiral stone staircase to the dining room. Will and the king were already having breakfast.

  “Good morning, Will,” said the prince. “How would you like me to show you more of Wrenly today?”

  “I’d like that very much,” Will replied. “I had planned to do some exploring.”