The False Prince

In a fit of total exhaustion after his time in the dungeon, Sage sleeps through the evening and the night, stirring only when Imogen comes to check on his bandages. Returning to his lessons is difficult. He is behind in both his reading lessons with Master Graves and history lessons with Mistress Havala, as well as horseback riding and sword-fighting lessons. Because he is injured, he is excused from joining the physically taxing activities of horseback riding and sword fighting.

At dinner that evening, after the boys’ lessons are completed for the day, Conner asks Sage what he intends to do to catch up with his lessons. Sage says that he plans to study Tobias’s notes that very night, after he falls asleep. Tobias denies having any notes, but Conner alludes to the fact that he does not believe him: “‘If you did have notes, Sage could get them and perhaps even read them. You had better be careful, Tobias, or Sage will end up as my choice’” (153).

When the boys return to their room, Sage is exhausted and lies on his bed fully clothed with his eyes closed. He can feel Tobias glaring at him in anger, still upset that Sage exposed his secret notes to Conner.

Conner informs the boys after their history and reading lessons the next day that, instead of horseback riding, they will have a dancing lesson. Each of the boys is paired with a servant woman for practice, and Conner teaches them the basic steps of a minuet. On a break from their dancing lesson, Conner asks Sage if he will play a song on a fippler (a Carthyan woodwind instrument), given that Sage’s father was a musician. Sage “[takes] the fippler. It [needs] a bit of tuning, which [is] awkward for me at first. [I’ve] actually never played a fippler, but it [is] a basic wind instrument, and with only a little trouble at first I [can] guess at the fingering” (157). Sage plays a sad song that disrupts the somewhat jovial mood of dance lessons. At the end of the lesson, Conner reminds the boys that Princess Amarinda will arrive that evening and that the next day, they should be ready to act the part of servants so they can observe the princess during dinner.

As training to be servants, the boys join the Farthenwood kitchen staff to learn the ropes. They are taught the correct way to hold a serving tray and how to bring and/or fetch dishes left on the table. Sage is assigned bread-kneading duties alongside Imogen. When the head chef accuses Imogen of kneading too slowly, Sage defends her, which earns him a slap from the chef. Mott rushes in and chastises Sage for aggravating every person he meets at Farthenwood and beyond. The boys retire to their rooms for the night.

Sage and the boys are in their room when Princess Amarinda arrives that evening. As they ready themselves for bed, Sage and Tobias snip at each other, though Sage feels that “mocking Tobias [is] risky, and probably unfair. But it [is] usually too hard to resist. I [grab] one of the books off his desk and [bring] it back to my bed, letting it fall open somewhere in the middle” (163).

Hours later, Sage sneaks into the secret passageways. Because of his explorations, “I [am] gradually learning the exit points of the passages. They [run] throughout Farthenwood, or at least to areas where Farthenwood’s architect felt a person might want to secretly travel” (165). Sage is on his way to the vantage point of Amarinda’s room when “while feeling around for any place to view into the room, I [feel] a hand on my arm and the point of a knife at my back” (166). The person wielding the knife, it turns out, is Tobias, who takes this time to air his deepest grievances against Sage: “‘I saw Conner’s admiration for you while we practiced our dancing. But how can he? You’re the least worthy of the title, the lowest of us three’” (167). Sage eventually gets Tobias to admit that, once he takes the throne as Prince Jaron, he will banish Conner so that he may have complete control. Sage then reveals that he positioned them in the secret passageway so that they would be right behind Conner’s bedroom wall for this conversation—meaning that it is likely that Conner heard every word of Tobias’s nefarious plot. Sage knocks Tobias unconscious with the butt of his knife.

Sage awakens the next morning to see Tobias sleeping soundly in his bed, as if the incident in the secret passageway did not happen. Roden notices that there is blood all over Sage’s shirt, and he asks how it happened. When he sees the gaping wound from where Tobias’s knife pierced Sage in the back the night before, Roden seems to know that Tobias was the one to do it and, when the servants exit the bedroom, “leap[s] across the room, grab[s] Tobias by the shoulders, and shove[s] him hard against the wall. ‘You did that to him? Were you going for me next?’” (172). Tobias denies it, but Roden lifts his mattress to find a knife with dried blood on it. Roden says that he must tell Conner about this, and Tobias begins pleading and begging. Tobias knows that Conner is aware of his plot to kill him if he should ever ascend the throne, so he will never be chosen to be Prince Jaron and, in fact, will likely be killed. Realizing this, Tobias is doubly terrified and asks for Sage’s help. Sage says, “‘Back off and I promise that you will live, or else I’ll die trying to save you’” (174).

Mott returns to their bedroom and observes the boys before they begin their lessons for the day. He notices Sage’s fresh back wound and asks where it came from; Sage lies and says he a jagged window shard on the frame cut him when he attempted to sneak out. Mott says that, as punishment for leave, Sage will miss all his meals today.

Princess Amarinda opts to remain in her bedroom chambers that morning, leaving Conner, Tobias, and Roden to have breakfast themselves. Meanwhile, since Sage is not eating, Imogen is sent to his bedroom and “immediately [goes] to work on washing away the blood. Her manner [is] cool and businesslike, but her touch as she clean[s] my back [is] as gentle as ever” (175). Imogen suspects that Sage is lying about his new wound being just an accident, and she demands to know who inflicted it upon him. She scolds him for keeping the person’s identity a mystery, but he does not tell her. Imogen wants to protect him; she thinks he will make a fine king someday.

Sage and the boys are confined to their room for their usual lessons, what with Princess Amarinda staying at Farthenwood. Now that Tobias is indebted to Sage, he gives Sage his food. In this state, Tobias is more subdued and acts less intelligent than he is. Sage actually “[feels] a little sorry for Tobias, watching him pretend to be less than he [is]. But unfortunately, that [is] his situation now” (181).

Errol and the other servants come into the boys’ bedroom earlier than usual to begin preparations for the dinner with Princess Amarinda that evening. After the boys have been bathed and clothed in servant attire, Mott inspects them. He also gives them a few pointers on how to behave: “‘Never address a master first and never look them in the eye unless they are speaking specifically to you. You follow my directions and never take any initiative with the princess unless I order it’” (182). Mott notes that Sage still has a cut on his face; Sage expects that it will be healed before he is presented at court, demonstrating that he presumes he will indeed be chosen as Prince Jaron.