Free The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine Page A

I wrote, “your valiant attempt to save my sister has moved me to emulation. I cannot let her die without trying, as you did, to save her. I am leaving on a quest for her salvation and the cure to the Gray Death. I consulted The Book of Homely Truths , and it spoke to me with these words. . . .”
    I took my copy down from the shelf in my wardrobe and thumbed through it. “Peril recollected is superior to peril evaded.” Not quite right. “The sickroom is a battlefield; take command or forfeit.” Not right either. Ah. “An endeavor undertaken in the fullness of need is its own imperative.” I didn’t know exactly what it meant, but it seemed urgent and portentous enough.
    I copied down the moral and continued, “Please do not send a party after me, lest you go against the wisdom of Homely Truths and bring trouble down on us both. If I do not return, I hope you will remember me as a dutiful and respectful daughter.”
    I’d give the note to Meryl to deliver when Father returned. I sat in my window seat and watched the starry sky, and fell asleep. At midnight I awoke. I stood and stretched.
    Meryl was lying on her side, facing me as I opened her door. Moonlight poured in her window, and I saw that her eyes were open. She smiled at me. “I was thinking about you. I was thinking—”
    “I came to tell you. I’m leaving Bamarre castle.”
    “Where are you going?” She struggled to sit up.
    I hurried to her.
    “Don’t help me.” She panted. “There.” She straightened her shoulders and sat erect. “That’s better. Where are you going?”
    Tears streamed down my face. What if I never saw her again? “I’m going to find the cure.”
    “You’d leave home for me?” I heard tears in her voice. “Oh, Addie.”
    We hugged and didn’t speak for a few minutes.
    Finally she whispered bitterly, “Sir Gray Death robbed me of my adventure and gave it to you.”
    I hugged her harder. “He has a lot to answer for.”
    She said, sounding more like herself, “We’ll make him regret it.” She pulled out of my arms and looked at me. “You’ll have a better chance than Father. You’ll put your whole self into it, and that will help you.” She thought for a minute, and then her face lit up. “You can take Blood-biter. It will help you too.” She shrugged. “At least I threatened your specter with it. I used it that much.”
    I took the sword down from the mantelpiece and put it on the floor by the door. How would I use it? I knew nothing about swordplay.
    “Where would you have gone on your quest for the cure?”
    She smiled. “Everywhere, since it was to be a grand adventure. But first I would have looked for fairies.”
    “How?”
    “I was planning to catch a specter and ask it how to find them. When are you leaving? Tomorrow morning?”
    I nodded and gave her my note to Father.
    “What did Bella say?”
    “I haven’t told Bella, and you mustn’t either.”
    “You have to tell her. She’ll never forgive you if you don’t. She won’t tell anyone she shouldn’t. Besides, you can order her not to. She’ll help you. Tell Milton too.”
    I didn’t argue. We said good-bye and hugged again. I might have continued to hold her for the next nineteen days, but she said, “Go, Addie. I need sleep to do battle again tomorrow.”
    I started for the door.
    She said, “You’re the bravest sister in Bamarre.”
    “I wish I were brave.” I went back and hugged her one more time. “I wish I were like you.” I picked up Blood-biter and ran out.
    I stopped at the bottom of the staircase that led to Bella’s bedchamber. It was time for me to think for myself, and I thought it best and safest not to tell Bella or Milton.
    But I had the guilty feeling that Meryl was hearing my thoughts.
    In my room I fell asleep instantly and slept deeply.
    I awoke before dawn. My first adventure was going to be slipping out of the castle and crossing the drawbridge unnoticed. I picked out my plainest gown. It was finer than I