The Micki Adventures

                                            By Linda Bindner

                                         Chapter 9: Radical Ideas

Micki found herself seated next to the Tutor on the steps to the throne the very next day.  As long as they promised to be quiet, the Tutor had received special permission for them both to watch while the Queen and Princess Rachel conferenced with the healers and royal advisers.  Micki kept holding her breath so she wouldn’t be tempted to interrupt.  A freshly scrubbed Al quietly joined them several minutes later, sitting beside them in the hushed silence of the throne room.

When several minutes went by and no one broke that silence, Micki leaned towards the Tutor to whisper, “What are they doing?”

The Tutor whispered back, “They’re studying maps of the region where Tank reported The Disease.”

“But he just made his report yesterday,” Al pointed out, whispering as well.  “All he really heard was a rumor.”

“Did some healers check it out anyway?” Micki wanted to know.

“Yes,” whispered the Tutor.  “And he was right - it’s The Disease.  The Queen is very worried that it will have spread to the rest of Ruralusia as soon as next week.”

“But isn’t it just that one family that has it so far?” Al asked.

“Yeah,” agreed Micki.  “Even the Disease doesn’t spread that fast.  What good will it do to stare at maps?”

But the Tutor’s reply was grim.  “I’m afraid The Disease does spread that fast.  So far, eighteen people have it, five of them in a neighboring town.  Ten people have already died.”

“Ten?”  Micki was astonished that any disease could possibly act so fast.  “No wonder Mom has been so worried about it.”

Al added, “I hope those healers remembered to take baths when they got back.”

“They did,” Micki answered.  “We just heard them say so.”

“Baths may not be enough,” the Tutor warned.  “We still don’t know what causes The Disease, or how it’s spread.  Baths might be no real help at all.”

Al self-consciously pushed her wet hair over her shoulder while Micki anxiously frowned at him.  “Then what can we do?”

        “Ask for help from other countries,” the Tutor said with a shrug.  “They’ve been dealing with The Disease a lot longer than we have.  One of them might already have a cure that we don’t know about.”

        Micki slowly shook her head.  “I didn’t know that being the Queen meant you needed to know so much.  I don’t know anything about other countries.”  Then she remembered something the Queen had said weeks ago.  “Except that Gawlt has a Prime Minister.  Not that I know where Gawlt is.”

        A brief smile flashed across the Tutor’s face.  “Now that you’ve both proven that you know your history of Ruralusia, perhaps we should work on Geography.”

        Al smiled.  “Geography is my second best subject in school.”

        “Then what country borders Ruralusia to the North?” the Tutor asked.

        “Furrin,” Al answered.

        “How about in the East?”

        “Hammondy.”  Al gave a knowing grin.  “They speak Hammish there.”

        Micki glanced at her friend in amazement.  “Is there anything you don’t know?”

        Al giggled.  “I only know about it because my sister Alice had to learn Hammish in school last year, and I was her speaking partner.  I can say ‘hello,’ ‘good-bye.’ ‘please,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘you’re welcome,’ and ‘where’s the bathroom?’”

        Micki grinned.  “I’m sure that last one will really come in handy someday.”

        “You never know.”  Al grinned back at her.

        The Tutor said, “I believe in this case the princess is correct.”

        Micki smirked in triumph.

        The Tutor ignored her to go on, “Hammondy is the home country of Rurlric the Red.”

        “And that means..?” Micki prodded.

        The Tutor heaved a sigh that showed his impatience with a stupid question.  “Rulric the Red, as we know, was a violent individual who happens to be from a violent country.  Knowing how to ask ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ in Hammish will most likely not be of much help in this situation.  Even if it’s a child doing the asking.”

        “What does being a child have to do with it?” Al asked.

        The Tutor whispered back, “Children are highly revered in Hammondy.”

        Just then, the Queen straightened up to point at the map spread on a table before them.  “Four people will go to each of the border countries to ask for help.”

        “Alone?” Princess Rachel asked.  “Won’t it be better to send some soldiers with them as...I don’t know… protection?”

        Micki quickly whispered, “They’ll think we’re invading.”

        “Soldiers might act as protection,” the Queen admitted in a voice that almost covered Micki’s, “or they might be mistaken for an invasion force.”

        “Thought so,” Micki whispered.

Rachel’s sigh carried over to them.  “You’re right.  That would be bad.”

        “Should we assign four people to go to Hammondy, too?” an advisor asked the Queen.

        “Yes.  Even Hammondy.”  The Queen huffed in resignation.  “How can we possibly tell the people of Ruralusia that we were too stubborn to ask King Feston of Hammondy if he knows of a cure?  Or what if he knows of a way to stop someone from dying?”  She shook her head.  “I couldn’t live with myself if we didn’t ask.”

        “But surely any ambassador to Hammondy will be met with hostility,” the advisor said.

        “Probably,” Queen Madge agreed.  “But we have to try.”

        A third said, “Agreed.  When should we leave, Your Majesty?”

        “You leave tomorrow at nine o’clock,” the Queen replied.

Nine!  Mick cringed; that seemed awfully early.  She usually wasn’t even awake before nine o’clock.

“I want you all to leave that late so you’ll arrive just after lunch,” the Queen went on to explain.  “The country’s rulers will have just eaten and won’t be hungry.  Hungry rulers make crabby rulers.”  She said this with a twist to her lips, as if she had personal experience.  “Crabby rulers will be less likely to lend aid.”

The group broke up then, some leaving the throne room, some speaking quietly among themselves, and some asking more detailed questions of the Queen while Princess Rachel carefully listened in.

Micki watched her sister.  Why was she paying such careful attention?  Was she learning how to rule in situations like this?

She didn’t get a chance to ask.   The Tutor rose to his feet and said, “Let’s leave now while we’re not in the way.  We can start on a Geography lesson.”

“Can I join in?” Al asked.

“Of course.”  The Tutor smiled.

“Oh, goodie!” Al said, smiling back.

Micki scowled.  “How can anyone be so enthusiastic about a school subject?”  Not wanting to be seen as equally enthusiastic, Micki made sure to groan loud enough for the Tutor to hear, though she secretly had many questions about the countries that bordered Ruralusia.  Yet she was smart enough not to let the Tutor know that.

                                        ~~~

Micki tried not to let her fake irritation at more school lessons show when she walked with Al down to the Main Hall several hours later.  “I still say it’s dumb to learn so much Geography.”

“But you never know when you’ll need to know where something is,” Al argued back in a light voice.  It was like she knew Micki was faking her bad mood.

“By the time I learn where a country is,” Micki continued, “they have a war, and all the borders get changed.  So what’s the point?”

“The point is… is... “  Al hesitated.

“See, there is no point!” Micki insisted.  “It’s just like we’re Mom and Rachel, looking at a bunch of dumb maps.”

“Maps are many things, but they’re never dumb.”

“Now you sound like the Tutor.”

Al brightened.  “Thanks!  I like the Tutor a lot.”

“That’s because he lets you sit in on lessons so you can show off that you know so much.”

Al immediately frowned.  “I wasn’t showing off!”

“Then what was that bit about Geography being your best subject at school?”

“It’s my second best.”

“Whatever.”  Micki waved her friend’s claim aside.  “The way you like school so much - it’s not normal!”

Always cheerful no matter what Micki said, Al explained, “I like the subjects, just not the other kids so much.  Don’t you like your schooling with the Tutor?”

Instead of answering, Micki suddenly yanked Al into an empty room, shutting the door behind them.

“Hey!” Al objected.  “That --!”

“Shh!” Micki said, putting her ear to the closed door, a frown of concentration on her face.  “If anyone’s listening, hopefully they’ll think we’re just arguing, but you never know.  I don’t hear anything.”

Al rubbed her arm where Micki had grabbed her.  “Of course you don’t hear anything.  What are --?”

Micki’s slash through the air made her instantly go quiet.  “I have an idea, but I don’t think any adult will like it, so I don’t want anyone to find out,” she whispered.

Her whisper made Al jump.  “An idea?” she whispered back.

“Yeah.  What do you say to us going to Hammondy ourselves tonight and beating the four advisors sent there?”

“What?”  Al reared back again in surprise.   “I’d say you’re insane, that’s what.”

“I’m not insane.”

“Yet.”

“Will you stop joking!”

“I will when you stop with the insane ideas.”

“It’s not insane.”

“You heard the Tutor this afternoon!  Hammondy is as violent as Rurlric the Red was.  We’d never make it a mile passed the border.”

“Sure we would,” Micki protested.  “He said kids are revered there.  Kids can do things that adults can’t.”

Al laughed in disbelief.  “Like what?”

Micki said, “I bet we can at least get an audience with the Hammondy king.”

“Of course we wouldn’t,” laughed Al.  “We don’t speak Hammish, so he wouldn’t even understand us.”

“He would if we take your sister with us.”

Al drew back in surprise for a third time.  “What’s my sister got to do with this?”

Micki smiled her most persuasive smile.  “She can interpret for us.  She does speak Hammish, after all.  You said so.”

“But even with Alice, it’s still insane!”

“You heard the Tutor,” Micki continued.  “Children are revered there.”

“I also heard the Queen and her advisors as well as the Tutor,” Al hissed.  “Hammondy’s a violent country full of violent people!”

“How do you know?” Micki asked doggedly.

“Because they are!” Al hissed in indignation.

“That’s a huge assumption.”

“You’re the one making the huge assumption!”

“I’m not assuming anything.”
        “You’re assuming we won’t immediately get killed!”

Micki leaned back against the door, trying to look thoughtful.  “You’re right.  I bet there’s nothing they’d like better than to kill the princess of a neighboring country.  Then they’d get a war, and that’s what violent people want, right?”

“Though you’re not in line for the throne,” Al objected, then gave another jump.  “Wait a minute!  What am I saying?”  She glared at Micki.  “You’re getting me to argue for your suggestion rather than against it!”

Micki tried to look innocent.  “I am?”

Al’s glare intensified.  “Stop it!  That’s not what I mean!”

Micki rolled her eyes in a show of confusion.  “So, what do you mean?”

Al looked confused now as well.  “I mean… I mean, I…”  Then she met Micki’s eyes, glaring again.  “You know what I mean!”

“That’s why it’s perfect,” Micki then said in her most logical voice.  “Won’t King what’s-his-name be impressed when he finds out he’s talking not just to any ambassador, but to a princess of Ruralusia?”

Al paused, her breath hitching inside her throat.  “That does sound logical,” she admitted at last.

Micki added, “He’ll especially like that we’re both so young.”

Al hesitated.  “I suppose.”

“Won’t it look good that Ruralusia sends its own princess to ask for help?”

“I suppose,” Al repeated, still sounding unconvinced.  “But what if..?”

“‘What if’ nothing,” Micki said enthusiastically.  “Come on, Al.  This is our chance to do something for Ruralusia.  Like the Queen said, how can we live with ourselves if we don’t at least try?”

“Oh!” Al groaned and covered her face in distress.  A minute later, she lowered her hands in resignation.  “You’re right.  I could never live with myself.”  She groaned again.  “I can’t believe I’m even considering this.”

Micki wisely left her to her own thoughts, and Al finally agreed.  “Okay.  I just hope no one finds out about this.  They might feel duty bound to stop us.”

Micki smiled.  She couldn’t help herself.  “You get Alice.  We’ll leave in an hour.”

“No.  Let’s leave at dawn tomorrow,” Al suggested.  “That way, it’s light out so we can see where we’re going.”  Thoughtful excitement suddenly sparked in her eyes.  “If you can get us a vehicle to use, we’ll get there a lot faster.  Alice is old enough to drive.”

A vehicle?  The palace had several vehicles, but they were all kept in the vehicle house, guarded by the three dogs that had barked and growled at Micki more times in the past than she could count.  She gave a nervous swallow.

But after taking a breath, she threw back her shoulders in determination.  She’d just have to face them.  Mean dogs shouldn’t be enough to stop such an important mission.  “There are vehicles in the vehicle house behind the palace.  We can use one of those.”

        “Good.  And we should leave a note that says where we’re going so no one worries.”

        Micki didn’t like this idea so well.  What if someone found it before they managed to get away?

At last she said, “All right, fine, but I’ll leave it in a place where nobody will find it until it’s too late to stop us.”

        “Like where?”

        A devilish grin spread over Micki’s face.  “The school room.”