The Fix-it Princess by Janeen Brian

Author:Janeen Brian [Brian, Janeen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781760654849
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Published: 2023-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

There was a crash, a zinging sound and a loud bellow from Dragon. A large yellow tooth flew from his mouth and ended up hanging like a pendulum from the rope.

“YAY!” Shona cheered. “It worked! Oh, I love knots.”

Dragon looked too dazed to speak.

Shona awoke next morning with mixed feelings in her tummy.

“Nana,” she said. “Are you lonely up here by yourself sometimes? I’m missing Mum-Queen and Dad-King so much and I’m trying to fix things so I’ll find them, but …” She sighed. “It’s lovely having Dragon here. He’s so nice. And he has a beautiful singing voice. You’ve heard him, so you know. But he might want to go back to the woods now his tooth is out. I was wondering, perhaps he could stay here some of the time. And stay in the woods some of the time. What do you think? You’re not sure? I understand. I’m hungry. Boiled eggs again. Bye, Nana.”

Dragon lay stretched out in the courtyard. He rose when he saw Shona.

“Morning, Shona,” he said with a yawn.

“Morning, Dragon. Just seeing to the chickens and Wildfire. Would you like a few eggs for breakfast?”

“Yes, thank you.” Dragon paused. “Shona, I want to tell you something.”

Shona’s heart leaped.

“Yes, Dragon?” She lowered her head.

“I know you made the henhouse,” he said, “but some of the roof strips have come off. They’re over there. Maybe they were shaken with everything that went on yesterday. But the chickens could fly out. If they’re high-flying chickens.”

“Yes.” Shona took a quick glance in the general direction. “Thank you. I’ll fix them.”

“Shona,” Dragon went on. “There’s something else.”

Shona gave a small, uncertain nod.

“Would I be able to stay at the castle a little longer? I still feel woozy from yesterday’s tooth pulling. I understand you’d probably have to check with your parents first.”

Parents?

“Oh.” Shona chewed her lip. “They’d understand. They wouldn’t mind at all.”

“Wouldn’t they want to meet me before they agree?”

“Like I said before, Dragon, they’re a bit busy presently. There’s a lot more to running a castle than people realise. There’s always something to do, like, they have to pay for window tax and moat managing. Then there’s flag rental and turret tidying. And the special Castle Feast at the end of autumn and–”

“Shona,” said Dragon softly, “I noticed the picture and the sign hanging outside the castle wall.”

Shona put her tongue to the side of her mouth. After a moment’s silence, she said, “I … I didn’t want to tell you.”

“And those marks on the wall?”

“Yes.” Shona nodded. “Five marks so far. Today would make it six. That’s the number of days that Mum-Queen and Dad-King have been missing.” She rubbed at a rough patch of skin on her thumb. It sounded so much more real telling Dragon. Now, what would he do? Would he leave? If he did, she’d have no one.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” he said.

Shona told him everything. When she finished, he said, “Shona, is there anything I can do to help?”

Shona smiled.

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