Let Slip The Princesses of War (9 page)

We stood at the edge of the forest.  The trees thinned out a few yards ahead and passed into a field of tall grass. 

“Well,” I told them, “that was lovely, but it’s time to get back to work.  Pea, why don’t you go take a look ahead and get us some idea what we’re facing?”

Pea saluted, as usual, with her bottle, and took off through the trees.  We watched her until she reached the edge of the trees and then lost sight as she crouched down to hide in the grass.

We waited in silence, even Emily and Ben, each lost in our own thoughts, trying to hold on to the tranquility of Tom’s valley.

Pea returned about an hour later. “You won’t believe what I saw.  We’re about a mile east of the old King’s Road, but between us and the road is a village.”

“I know it.” I interrupted.  “Carn Brea, it was a lovely little village.  I assume it’s nothing but ashes and ruins now.”

“No! That’s the thing!  It’s still kind of a lovely little village, only now it’s full of Mallory’s creatures.  Mostly Goblins, but also Ogres, and Trolls, and Orcs!  And that’s not all!  There’re people there too!  Enslaved, in chains, working in the fields. 

I was stunned!  I had expected that Mallory’s lands would be, basically, a blasted desolate waste, devoid of everything but her armies of monsters.  To learn that some of my people survived, only to be enslaved, was like a knife to the stomach.  It was another reminder for how powerless I was to help those I loved. 

I wanted to ride into that village and kill every one of Mallory’s monsters and free those people.  But then what?  They couldn’t pass back through the forest and we couldn’t take them with us. 

“Ok,” I finally said, “So, what’s out best course of action?  We have to follow the King’s Road to my tower so, we have to cover the mile of field to the road and then the 45 miles of road to the tower without getting caught.  If there are villages, that’s going to mean commerce and traffic on the road.” I gestured at us, “We’re not exactly inconspicuous.”

“I’ve got an idea.” Said Cinderella. 

And, so, an hour and a half later three goblin merchants and their human servant girl rode out of the forest, thanks to Cinderella’s giant box of makeup and its endless supply of green eye shadow and false finger nails.

We rode the rest of the afternoon without incident.  We passed a small troop of goblin solders, but we kept our hoods up and they barely even looked at us. 

That night we camped off the road a ways and Cinderella was able to make the tent look like just a regular tent. 

The next morning we had covered, maybe, ten miles when we ran into a roadblock.  It was manned by a group of thirteen or fourteen ogres.  They may have been soldiers, or just bandits, it was hard to tell.  They all dressed more or less alike, but not in anything you would call a uniform.  They seemed pretty officious, but I don’t have enough experience with ogres to know if that’s just what they’re like.  I’ve killed my share, but killing them doesn’t really give you much of a sense of what they’re like personality-wise. 

We sent Pea out to talk with them because she does the best goblin accent. 

Cinderella and Emily and I stayed back.  There was no point giving them three chances to figure out that we weren’t real goblins.  I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it seemed to be going fine and after a few minutes, they opened the barricade and Pea waved us through. 

But as Cinderella passed by, one of the ogres made a grab at Emily.  Cindy had her sword out and sliced off his hand before he even touched her.  Then it was killing time.  Holding Emily meant that Cinderella had to stay out of the fight.  So, she spurred her horse forward and pushed through the partially open barricade while Pea and I dealt with the ogres.  Ogres are strong but slow.  They’re tough to kill with a sword, because they have thick skin (Cinderella’s flaming sword was, clearly, special) and because their organs are, generally, better shielded by bone than human organs.  But their brains are in their heads, just like everyone else’s, so a bullet in the eye is, generally, a killing shot.  And Pea never misses.  You might think a whip would be of relatively little use, with their thick necks, but, they tend to breathe through their mouths, so I can just send my whip down the throat and rip out the organs from the inside. 

Five minutes later we had a road full of dead ogres.

“Pea, give me a hand and let’s pull these ogres off the road a bit.  Cinderella, you guard Emily and get your mice maids to do something about the blood on the road.  Let’s try to keep Mallory in the dark about our exact position at least a little longer.”

Mock salutes all around, but everyone got to work.  Pea and I tied the corpses together with my whip and used the horses to pull them into the field.  Then we did our best to hide them from sight.  It wasn’t perfect, but a casual passerby wasn’t likely to see anything. 

When we got back to the road, we found that Cindy had killed a passing goblin, so I dragged him off the road too.  Then when I returned, they’d killed a pair of trolls, and I had to drag them into the field too.  Still, somehow, the thing got finished at last, without much loss of temper. 

By now the sun was at midday.  “Ok, it’s about noon now.  We should be able to reach the tower by late afternoon if we push the horses, and Ben, a little.  I think it would be best to wait until full dark to attempt any kind of rescue, but I’d like to have an hour or two of daylight to scout the situation.” Nobody objected, so Pea passed round some bread and dried fruit and we had a riding lunch. 

It took longer than I’d hoped, and of course the tower was a few miles off the road and that was slower going and we needed to be careful and quiet.  So, we reached the tower just as the sun was setting. 

This wasn’t the first time I’d been back to the tower.  When I was queen here, I’d visited a couple of times, the twins liked to see it.  But it never failed to move me, even now, after all this time and after all that had passed.  I’m not sure in which direction it moved me, but move me it did. 

We split up to scout the defenses quickly, and when we met back at the starting point, everybody reported the same thing. “Nothing.” Said Pea, “Not a single guard, no signs of dragons, just nothing.”

“Did you notice the window?” I asked them. 

Cinderella nodded.  “Open, no bars. It’s like she’s NOT holding the most dangerous woman in the eleven kingdoms.  It’s like she’s hoping Beauty will escape.”

“Or it’s a trap.” Pointed out Pea.

“Or it’s a trap.” I agreed. “Ok, let’s set up camp where we won’t be seen and we’ll wait for dark then I’ll go up there and find out which it is.”

“You can’t go up there alone!” objected Sweet Pea. “I’ll go with you and Cinderella can watch Emily.”

“Emily can watch herself!” Added Emily.

“Yeah, Emily can watch herself in the tent, with Ben.  She can watch Ben.” Cinderella never missed an opportunity to boost Emily. 

“Well, first, thanks.  I appreciate the offers, but secondly and more importantly, I’m going up alone.” I held up my hand as they started to protest. “I’m going alone, because I have to.  My hair is the only way up.  So, I have to go first.  It won’t let you up if I’m not there holding it.  That’s just how it works.  And once I’m up, either there really are no guards and Beauty and I will just swing down, or, more likely, there are guards and I’ll be too busy with the guards to escort you guys up the tower.  There is a reason Mallory put Beauty in my tower.  It’s a secure prison.  Besides, Beauty and I, we get along.”

Cinderella gasped in surprise. “Rapunzel!  You’re a Beautyist! I never imagined!”

I shrugged, “We were just friendly.  I leave politics to the politicians.”

“Politics to the politicians?  You’re a gad dammed queen, you’re a fucking politician!” 

We set up camp and waited for dark.  About an hour before midnight, I drained my cup (just water, I’m not like Pea, I need to be sober for a fight), and stood up.  “Well, I better get going.”

They all stood up too.  “We’ll go with you, at least as far as the tower.” Said Pea. 

Cinderella added, “Yeah, I figure we can set up the tent outside the window and if you have to you can jump and the tent will break your fall.  I’ve done it. It hurts, but not like the ground hurts.”

I was going to argue, but that actually sounded like a good idea.  Who knew what I was going to find up there and having a quick escape seemed useful.  “That, actually, sounds like a good idea.  OK, let’s go.  But keep Emily and Ben in the tent and both of you get inside at the first sign of trouble.  No point in us all getting killed.”

They nodded their agreement.  They’re such terrible liars and such wonderful friends.

Midnight found us looking up at the tower window.  The lights were on.  I wondered how many were at home.

Cindy set up the tent extra wide and just a few feet from the tower base. Then I took my whip and prepared, for the first time ever, to go UP the tower.  I lashed with my whip, the hair stretching, growing.  The tower sides are smooth and sheer but my whip knows its way home.  It finds the window ledge, individual hairs spreading out, searching, finding and embedding into the tiniest cracks, making a hold where there is none.  Then I climb. The magic of my whip means that I weigh almost nothing, and scaling the wall is easier than I can imagine.  Is this what they felt?  The witch and my prince.  This freedom from gravity?  This sense of promise? 

My hands grab the ledge and I pull myself up.  I can see inside.  The room, my room.  It seems smaller than I remember.  It used to be as big as the whole world, now it’s just a small room, circular, with an open curtain dividing the sleeping area from the sitting area.  And empty.  No guards, no Beauty. 

I pull myself inside and look around again, as if I could have missed her, in that tiny space.

I stick my head out the window, Pea waves, like we are tourists on vacation.  “She’s not here!  There’s nobody here!” I yell down. 

“What!?” They both yell up. I can sense their confusion, it’s the same as mine.  Our whole mission is based on this, so-called, intelligence, and it’s clearly wrong. 

“I’m coming on up.  Let down your hair!” Shouted Pea.

“No, better if you all come up.  Cinderella, pack up the tent and you climb up with everybody inside.”

“Ok!” She yelled back.

So, Cindy became only the third person (fourth if you count me, which I don’t) to climb my hair into my tower.  Once inside, she opened the tent and everybody came out.  My little room was crowded with so many. 

“So,” I asked them, gesturing around at the crowded, but empty of the expected occupant, room. “What do we do?”

“I think the question is, where the hell is Beauty?”  Asked Cinderella.

Pea shrugged to acknowledge her ignorance.

“Well, Beauty is missing and she could be anywhere.  I don’t see how we can hope to find her.  So we have a decision to make.  Do we go on?  To Beauty’s castle, and try to rescue the mystery prince without her?  Or do we go back?”

Pea and Cinderella both said in chorus, “We go on!”

I nodded, “I agree, we’ve come this far and maybe we can find some way to rescue the prince without Beauty, although, I don’t see how at the moment.  Ben!  Quiet!”  He was barking at something.  He and Emily were exploring my old room.  “Sorry boy.” I don’t like to yell at him.  He’s a good dog!

“Let’s stay in the tower tonight, but in the tent, and in the morning we’ll continue on to Beauty’s castle.”

In the morning, Everybody, except Cinderella and I, got in the tent and she shrunk it to its acorn size and put it in her pocket, then I lowered her down the tower and followed after her.  Once everybody was safe on the ground, we mounted up and headed towards Beauty’s castle.  That meant riding north, through my old capital, past my old palace, past the place where my children died. 

We were about a day’s ride from the capital when I saw the first flag.  I stopped dead in my tracks, and the others soon bunched up beside me. 

“What?  What is it?” Emily whispered, fairly loudly, to Pea.

“The flag.” Answered Pea.  “It means the queen is in residence in the capital.  Queen Mallory.”

Emily broke the silence again.  “Then, let’s go there and kill her.” She said, more grimly than I’d ever hoped to hear a 6 year old speak.   

“We can’t honey.” Cinderella told her. “Mallory is too strong.  She would capture or kill us and our mission would be a failure.”

Emily shook her head emphatically. “No!  You can win.  You three are the strongest and best fighters I’ve ever seen!  You killed all those monsters!  Well, Ben and I helped, but we’ll do it again! Right Ben?”

Ben barked his agreement.

Sweet Pea smoothed her hair. “Oh sweetie, unfortunately, the world is wider than your experience.  Trust us. Mallory is too strong.”

“She is Emily.” I agreed.  “We just have to keep our heads down and pass through as quickly and quietly as possible.” I could see the disappointment in her eyes.  How often our heroes let us down.  But we were no heroes.

We rode on to the capital.  The flags a constant drum beat in my head.  We were no heroes.  In the end we just wanted revenge.  We were broken.  There were no happily ever afters for us.  We weren’t going to end our days in a palace with a prince and hordes of happy children.  We were soldiers now, and that was all we knew how to be. 

We camped that night about two hours ride from the capital.  Maybe it would have been better to press on, try to go around the city in the night.  Maybe I let a personal matter influence a command decision.  Maybe I couldn’t bear the thought of riding past the spot where my children died, in the dark.  Maybe I couldn’t bear the thought that I might pass right over it and feel nothing.  Just another stretch of road in the night. 

So we rode on towards the capital in the morning.  The flags so close together now that they were more like a wall.  And then I saw it.  A spot in the road, like any other, within sight of the city walls, but in my memory stained with blood.  And I stopped my horse, and I waved the others on.  I dismounted and I knelt down in the dirt and I wept.  And, maybe, I lost my mind for a moment, my face on the ground and the ground turning wet with my tears, just like it had been wet with their blood. 

So, when the ground around me suddenly erupted with bodies, I was slow and I was caught before I even put my hand to my whip.  Two trolls held me in iron grips.  Cinderella and Pea turned back but it was hopeless.  These weren’t the random monsters we had dispatched in the forest.  They wore the uniform and badges of Mallory’s personal guards.  Two, even two as tough as Pea and Cindy, had no chance against more than a hundred.  And Pea had Emily.  I caught her eye as she struggled to break free from an ogre who had a grip on her horse’s mane.  “Go!” I told her.  “Save Emily, save the mission.  For the fuck’s sake, save yourself!”

She didn’t want to. I could see that, but she did.

One of the trolls, smashed me in the face.  My nose broke, blood streamed into my mouth.  Then the other one hit me and they took turns until I could barely see, until I couldn’t hold my head up.  Just as I thought I was about to pass out a pair of boots entered into my blurry, bloody field of vision.  Dragon-hide boots.  Even in my current state, I recognized those boots.  I’d commissioned those boots, gone personally to the boot makers, chosen the design, the silver phoenix chasing the gold dragon.  The ruby eyes were from my own earrings. 

I looked up.  And there she was, the last person I’d expected to see, Jinjur.  The General of my armies, the person I’d entrusted with the defense of my people.  Wearing the boots I’d given her the day I’d made her general, and the insignia of Mallory’s guard over her breast. 

I tried to speak, but my mouth wouldn’t form words.  Maybe it was the beating I’d just gotten, I had a tooth rattling around in my mouth.  Maybe it was shock. 

“Queen Rapunzel!  I never expected to see you again.  And under such wonderful circumstances!  We are going to have such fun together!  We’d had reports of Snow White’s people in our territory. When I finally managed to get Queen Mallory to use her magic to locate the intruders, imagine my surprise and delight when she told me it was you and that you were heading to your old capital!  It’ll be just like old times, except, you know, with me in charge.”

I spat the bloody tooth at her.  I’d hoped to hit her in the eye, but it just bounced harmlessly off her cheek.  It was that kind of a day.

“Bring her!” and she turned and strode away.  And I followed, dragged by my new companions.   

They took me to the dungeon and chained me to the wall with a cuff around my ankle.  Like most dungeons it was dark and dank and damp.  It stank of mold and death.  It’s funny because, when I was queen here, we’d converted the old dungeons into a play room for the twins and the children of the castle.  They had reconverted it back into a dungeon, it was impressive how they’d recaptured that old dungeon ambiance in just a few years.  I wondered if they’d had to import the mold. 

I sat in the filth.  It was too dark to see much, the only light came from a single torch that shone through the small grate in the door.  My whip hung on a peg on the far wall, out of reach.  I stretched out my hand and willed my whip to come to me.  Straining with the effort.  I gave it everything I had and then a bit more than I had.  Calling it to me.  But, nothing.  That never works. 

A rat came over to investigate me and finding me uninteresting, left.  I thought, idly, that one day soon, I would find him more interesting, but not just yet.  It’s always best to leave your food alive until the last possible moment.  So somebody once told me. 

I must have slept, because I woke up. I don’t know how long I was there, in the dungeon time slips away.  Once, when I woke I found a bowl of rancid soup placed just within reach.  “You live another day.” I told the rat. 

I woke to the sound of footsteps in the distance.  I counted five individuals.  It’s odd, here I was in the dungeon of the witch who had taken everything from me and the general who had betrayed me, killed my children, and all I could think was ‘it’ll be nice to have some visitors’.  I resolved to visit Tom again, if I lived through the day.

They marched up to my cell and opened the door.  For a moment, I was blinded by the light of their torches.  Jinjur, of course, and three troll guards stepped into my cell, the fifth member of their party waited outside.

“We’ll catch your friends, you know.” Said Jinjur.  “As soon as I can get Queen Mallory to turn her attention to the matter.  She’s so busy you know.  What with ten kingdoms to run and that pesky war with Snow White, but someday soon, she’ll have time to look for them and then they’ll be joining you here.”

I didn’t answer.  What could I say?  She was probably right. 

“There’s someone here to see you.” She continued and stepped aside to let the person in the passage come in.  A young man I didn’t recognize entered the cell.  More a boy really.  Maybe it was the dark, or maybe it was the years that had passed, or maybe it was because I’d thought him dead.  “Flynn!” I jumped to the limit of my chain!  My son!  Alive! 

He jumped back and hid himself behind Jinjur. She smiled a big smile.  “How touching, a mother and the son she abandoned to die, reunited at long last.”

I barely registered her words.  “And Rose?”  I asked.  “Where is she?”

Flynn stepped forward. It was a moment of purest pleasure.  My son, alive, so different but so much the same, his reddish hair, made redder by the torch-light, falling over his face, obscuring one eye, as was his habit since he was just a child.  And then he killed me.

“She’s dead.  Just like she was when you abandoned us!  Do you know how long I lay there with her dead body over me, waiting for you to rescue me? Waiting to die?  While you ran.  Saved yourself and never even looked back.” He spat in my eye. My boy has better spit aim than his mom.

“I’ll do whatever you want!  Just don’t hurt him!” I yelled.

“Hurt him?” Jinjur asked, surprised. “Why would we hurt him?  He’s a favorite of Queen Mallory.  She is grooming him to rule this kingdom as viceroy when he’s of age.”

My head slumped on my chest.  “Then what do you want?”

“Oh, you’ll do what we want, Queen Rapunzel.  Because all we want is for you to suffer.” She gave me another broad smile and they walked away.

I called his name over and over, but he never stopped, never even looked back. 

When he came again, some time later, I called his name over and over as he calmly, almost casually, stripped the skin from my flesh, and he never stopped.  I’ve been tortured before, but my Flynn, is the best I’ve ever seen.  A mother’s pride knows no limits. 

Time passed and he came to see me many times.  How long was I there?  Bloody and filthy, starving and thirsty.  I don’t know. Days?  Weeks?  Months? 

I was asleep, more like passed out, when someone whispered in my ear.  “Queen Rapunzel.” And I jolted awake and jumped to my feet, chains rattling.  I looked around, in the dark, and saw nothing.  I was back on the ground, when I heard it again.  Right in my ear.  Awake now, I turned my head.  It was my friend the rat!  But a moment later I saw that it was a mouse instead.  And it spoke to me again.  “Queen Rapunzel, I am here to set you free.  We all are.” The little mouse began to work on the lock on my chains and I saw another working on the lock to the cell.  The door swung open.  Cinderella!  And Pea! And Emily!  And Ben!  They rushed in, Pea took me in her arms and lifted me.  I doubt I could have walked.  Cinderella deposited my whip in my hand.  I can’t describe the comfort it gives me. 

The hall outside my cell was littered with dead guards.  I grabbed Pea’s collar.  “Flynn” I rasped.  Were they just going to leave without Flynn?  Suddenly the hall was filled with guards.  Trolls and ogres and goblins.  Everywhere.  I saw Emily shoot a troll in the eye and then turn and skewer a goblin through the belly.  And Ben was a scythe through the creatures.  Maybe the gnome had been right that he was dangerous, but then, so were we all. He was in good company.

Suddenly the fighting stopped.  The monsters fell back and we were alone in the hallway, just us and Jinjur and Flynn.  Cinderella was already on the attack.

“No!  Cinderella!  Don’t hurt him!” I surprised myself with the strength of my voice.  But she stopped. 

“Flynn!  Come with us!” I pleaded. 

He smiled and waved a folding razor, “Stay with me, dear Mother.  We have so much more to talk about.”

Then Cindy opened the tent, filling the hallway between us and them, and Pea took me inside and I don’t remember anything else until I woke on a soft bed.