The Wide-Awake Princess by E. D. Baker Page A

Let them think that that’s what you are.”
    Annie shook her head. “My first visit to another kingdom and I’m going as a boy. It’s not exactly how I pictured it.”
    “If we keep you safe now, someday you’ll be able to go on a grand tour and do it with style.”
    “Maybe,” said Annie. “But if I can’t tell people who I am, how will I get an audience with Digby?”
    “We’ll go to the castle first,” said Liam. “Someone there can tell us if Digby’s at home. If he isn’t, they might be able to tell us where he went.”
    A wall separated the town from the land beyond it. Though there were guards at the gates, none challenged Annie, Liam, or any of the other people entering on foot. Annie looked around her as she stepped into the shadows of the buildings that lined the narrow streets.
    Shops and taverns vied for space with homes that couldn’t be more than a small room wide. The second floors of many of the structures extended over the streets, blocking the sun so that it almost seemed as if night had come early. Unlit torches protruded from brackets on some of the buildings.
    They were passing one such building when a door banged open in front of them and two men tossed a disheveled-looking figure into the street just feet from Annie and Liam. The man lay sprawled on the ground for a moment, then rolled over, got up, and staggered down the street, muttering to himself.
    “Do you think he needs our help?” Annie asked, taking a step after the man. “He might be hurt. Those two men—”
    Liam set his hand on her arm and pulled her back. “He doesn’t need the kind of help we could give. That was a tavern,” he said, pointing at a sign swinging overhead, “and I’m sure they had their reasons for throwing him out.”
    “Isn’t it a little early for that?”
    “Apparently not,” said Liam.
    Walking along the streets of the town, Annie thought that the people were as interesting as the buildings. She heard accents from many different kingdoms and saw clothes that were a jumble of all sorts of styles. Because it was obvious that she was paying more attention to the people than where she was going, Liam placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her aroundthe unsavory puddles and piles of refuse that would never have been allowed to accumulate on the streets of Shelterhome.
    Although Liam seemed to know where he was going, Annie soon lost all sense of direction. When she glanced up, hoping to see the castle, the buildings so completely blocked the view that they reached the castle entrance before she was even aware that they were close.
    A long line of visitors hoping to gain access to the castle grounds waited for their turn to pass through the gate. When it was Liam and Annie’s turn, Liam stepped forward and said to the guard, “We’re here to see Prince Digby.”
    “Are you now?” the guard replied, letting his gaze wander up and down both Liam and Annie.
    Annie tried not to blush, but the man didn’t notice and had already turned his attention back to Liam.
    “And why should we let boys like you in to see the prince?”
    “Because we have urgent news about Princess Gwendolyn,” Annie said, forgetting her agreement to let Liam do all the talking. “Prince Digby needs to hear it right away.”
    “Really?” sneered the guard. “And what would that be? If it’s good enough, I’ll see about letting you in.”
    “We can’t just—,” Annie began.
    “Never mind,” said Liam. “Come along, brother. This was a waste of time.”
    Annie was still protesting when Liam hustled her away from the gate and into the jostling crowd. “What are you doing?” she asked, trying to pull away from him. “I’m sure we could have convinced him to let us in!”
    “Probably, but not to see Digby. You have a girl’s voice. He was bound to realize the truth if you’d kept talking, and we’d both have been thrown in the dungeon as spies. They’d never believe a princess would come to the castle