“As far as I know, there is no king of Camelot at present,” the Sugar Queen snipped. “Arthur’s will specified two contenders for his throne. I don’t care who the second contestant is, but one of them is me. The Tournament of Kings is ongoing, is it not? A sword trapped in a stone that will decide the next king? Well, when Excalibur feels my touch, I assure you . . . I will be king.”
Tedros squeezed Agatha’s arm. “What in the—” But Agatha was studying the Sugar Queen, who seemed to be staring right at her.
Meanwhile, the Foxwood king puffed his belly and stood taller. “I am loyal to the Lion. Every man here is. You have no jurisdiction on this side of the sea. Return to your sugar swamp and be gone!”
The Sugar Queen’s eyes fell on him through her veil. “You are short and incompetent. An unforgivable combination in a man. One more word and I shall open my horses, unleashing a poisoned sugar mist that will slay you and all your armies with a single breath. Then I can conquer your lands as I have all others: in silence and peace.” The king looked appalled, but the Sugar Queen went on: “That said, I am known for my fairness and generosity. If King Rhian believes he has a claim to the sword, then let him come to me and explain why, before we each take our turn in full view of the people.”
The Foxwood king was sweating so profusely it was dripping into his mouth. “King Rhian has not yet arrived . . . delayed by an attack of traitorous mongooses in the forest . . .”
“Then I’ll proceed to my accommodations at Snow White’s cottage. Snow and I met years ago before her unfortunate death. She would sail across the Savage Sea and come stay with me at Chateau Sugar. Became dear friends, she and I. Left me her cottage in her will. Now to be my royal palace on this side of the sea,” the Sugar Queen declared, her horse procession gliding in Agatha’s direction as stunned soldiers made way. “Bring King Rhian to my palace the instant he arrives. Failure to do so will result in all of your deaths, including his. And given I trust not a one of you, I shall take two hostages, who will be killed if you disobey.”
From the butterscotch horse, tiny hands suddenly reached out from its mouth and yanked Agatha and Tedros inside.
Agatha heard Tedros yowl in surprise, her hand holding his in the dark, before they were pulled apart, Agatha caught by warm bodies she couldn’t see. The smell of sweet, cloying candy overwhelmed her. She threw off her helmet: between cracks in the licorice shell, she glimpsed the King of Foxwood chasing their horse. “You’ve kidnapped Akgul soldiers! This is illegal! You have no right!”
“Bring King Rhian to me or their blood will be on your hands!” the Sugar Queen bellowed, her procession picking up pace, breaking through the last of the soldiers. The king toddled after them with his coterie of bodyguards, shouting things Agatha could no longer hear, her body tossed and jostled by whoever it was that was holding her up.
A boy gasped behind her—
Agatha whirled to see Tedros, helmet off, holding his lit finger like a spotlight. “Gnomes!” he said.
Agatha followed his glow to an entire fleet of the ruddy, cone-capped dwarves packed into the horse, jogging their tiny feet on the ground and pushing the candied procession along. They shielded their eyes from Tedros’ glow, before a toothless granny gnome cupped her fist over the prince’s finger, plunging them back into darkness. Outside, they were approaching Snow White’s cottage, nestled into a clearing. Colorful shrubs had grown around the ramshackle two-floor house made of lumpy wood with a domed roof shaped like a princess’s hat. “Oh, no, no, this won’t do at all,” Agatha heard the Sugar Queen sigh, an array of hot pink spells firing at the cottage, refitting it into a chic candy chalet, with gingerbread eaves, gumball stucco, and powdered sugar windows, along with a lethally sharp rock-candy fence around the house and a blinking sign:
Chateau Sugar East
No Visitors Allowed
(Except King Rhian)
Horses plowed forward and the door to Chateau Sugar East magically swung open, sugarcoated ponies all jamming into the dusty foyer one by one, before the licorice horse piled in last and the door slammed and bolted shut, the Foxwood king’s belligerent shouts still echoing outside.
Instantly, Agatha felt her horse bust open, the licorice shattering, as all the gnomes dispersed, wagging their bottoms and eating up the sweet debris. All the other horses erupted in a carnage of candy, not just gnomes flooding out (including a full marching band), but friends and first years too: Willam, Bogden, Valentina, Aja, Laithan, Ravan, Vex, Brone . . . But Agatha couldn’t count them all, for there was a ghostly heap of red silk sweeping towards her, snatching her and Tedros and pinning them against a wall, before the Sugar Queen flung off her veil and leveled them both with an emerald glare.
“I’m going to kill that dirty, rotten Snake and here’s how,” said Sophie.
HER PLAN WAS brutally simple.
Step 1: Bait Japeth here, already in progress. The moment he arrived in Foxwood, he’d hear of his new rival and come straight to Chateau Sugar East.
Step 2: Act like his friend. A fellow ruler simply here to iron out a misunderstanding.
Step 3: Lure him into the house alone.
Step 4: Ambush him with a hundred gnomes and students from the school and rid the Woods of the Snake once and for all.
“All done in a matter of minutes,” Sophie said, her red veil magically refitting into Evelyn’s familiar white dress. “Then while Japeth is nowhere to be found . . . Tedros appears, pulls the sword out of the stone, and voilà!—the true Lion reveals himself. An unassailable plan. The End of Ends. Absolutely foolproof.”
“You know I’m not one for Sophie’s schemes, especially one that traps me in a knockoff of my mother’s house,” said Hester, tramping in from another room with Anadil, the two having arrived before. “That said, the plan isn’t shabby.”
“Could have done without the circus, though,” Anadil grouched, gnomes around her gorging on candy.
“We have lookouts to alert us when he’s coming,” Sophie added, peeking through shutters at Bodhi and Laithan, posted at the rock-candy gates and wearing Tedros’ and Agatha’s stolen Akgul helmets. Sophie sealed the shutters once more, so no one could see into the house. She turned to her best friend. “What do you think, Aggie?”
There were things about the plan Agatha hated.
Inviting the Snake here.
Sophie taking on the burden of danger.
But there were also things that Agatha liked: Tedros would have a clear route to winning the third test. And no matter how unfairly Japeth fought, this was too big an ambush for him to survive. His death would truly be a taste of his own medicine.
Only Tedros didn’t seem to see it that way.
He had a pensive frown on his face, his back against the wall, his eyes on the closed-up windows.
“It’s a good plan, Teddy,” said Sophie. “But I can’t take all the credit. I had a little inspiration from a friend.”
She looked over Agatha’s shoulder. Agatha turned—
“Reaper!” she said.
Her cat glided towards her on a blue-velvet pillow, hoisted by two gnomes. Reaper bowed his head to Agatha, his crown slipping over his bald, shriveled ears. “The gnomes care little about the human world. But they do care about their king,” he said. “So when I found out you and your friends were in danger . . . they were willing to leave the comforts of Gnomeland to follow that king into battle.”