The Council of Mirrors (19 page)

Then the Scarecrow discussed how small groups of soldiers had managed to defeat huge armies. He pointed out that three hundred Spartans beat back thousands during the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC by bottlenecking the army into a small space. He showed how Custer’s army was brought down at the Battle of the Little Bighorn by a small number of Indians who drove them into a canyon. He finished his lecture for the night with the American Revolutionary War, in which the military fought off a much bigger invading force by using the terrain to their advantage. By the time he was finished Sabrina’s head was so filled with facts she thought her brain was at war with itself.

“Any questions?” the Scarecrow asked.

Just then, the door flew open and a group of men pushed their way inside. The first was King Arthur, followed by Sir Galahad, then Sir Lancelot, Sir Kay, Sir Gawain, and a dozen other sirs. Then Robin Hood, Little John, and Will Scarlet made their way in. They argued noisily as they jockeyed to be at the front of the parade.

“We were told that there is war planning going on in here,” King Arthur said.

“Not at all,” the Scarecrow said, but he was ignored.

“We demand to participate!” Robin Hood shouted.

Henry pushed his way into the crowded room. “What is this about?” Henry demanded.

“You have placed the fate of this army in the hands of little girls!” Sir Lancelot roared. “Now we’re told they’re in this room plotting strategy.”

“It’s madness!” Little John said.

“What can children know about planning a battle?” Sir Kay asked.

“Send them away and we’ll take over,” King Arthur said.

The guardians of the mirrors appeared. Arden, the beauty with deer antlers, shook her head. “These little girls will save the world, gentlemen. It is prophecy.”

King Arthur’s face turned beet red. “This is no game, witch! We know what the Master is capable of, and no mere child is going to lead the charge against him and his Hand.”

“Arthur, you’re not needed in here,” Henry said.

“Your family is filled with insolent whelps,” Arthur said. “You all believe you know better. You all think you’re so wise. Well, look around you, Henry. How are your big ideas working out for you now?”

Henry stepped up to Arthur until they were nearly nose to nose. “I said go.”

“Dad, let them stay,” Sabrina said. “Let them all stay. He’s
right. We don’t know what we’re doing. If anyone in the camp has experience in combat, I need to know about it. I think Arthur and Robin and their men could be a big help.”

“Then there is an ounce of sense in this family after all,” Arthur said, then turned to the mirrors. “I need to see maps of the town!”

His request magically materialized.

“Whatever you were planning on doing, forget it. It’s obvious what you should do. We need to attack in the very center of town with something big and shocking. When the rest of Hand’s goons hear about it, they will come running. When they do, we’ll be ready for them. We’ll surround the town, cram them all into a small space, and pick them off one by one. Henry, take your girls. Robin and our men will let you know when the details of the plan are ready to be announced.”

Sabrina, Daphne, and Henry left the Scarecrow behind and stepped into the Hall of Wonders. Outside the door they found Pinocchio sitting with his back to the wall.

“They’re crazy,” Pinocchio said. “Their plan is pure drivel. I’ve heard better plans for going to the bathroom.”

“And you can do better?” Sabrina said.

“Of course I can,” Pinocchio said. “Anyone who has ever read a book of military history can tell you it’s better to stay hidden
and in small groups. You should surprise them and capture them one by one. It’s very similar to the strategy of General Marion during the American Revolutionary War. They called him the Swamp Fox because his soldiers attacked from within the swamps of South Carolina, then sank back—”

“And we should trust that you have our best interests at heart because . . . ?” Sabrina said.

Pinocchio’s face turned red, but instead of lashing out he got to his feet. “Well, I tried,” he said, then walked toward the portal.

Sabrina felt a little guilty for her attitude, but at the same time, could she really trust Pinocchio? His past was a distraction she didn’t need. Besides, Arthur and Robin Hood were leaders. They knew better than a couple of little kids. Just having them in discussing the plan gave her a sense of security. No, she was right. The army needed the smartest people devising the best plans.

She and her sister went back to their room in the castle to wait. The discussion went through the night and into the morning, but Sabrina was too anxious to sleep. Instead, she paced the room while Elvis watched from beneath a blanket on the bed he shared with Daphne. The Scarecrow came to them in the morning and led them back to the mirror room, where they were told that Robin Hood’s plan was considered the best of
several approaches. She didn’t understand most of it, but she didn’t have to. She had no physical role in the actual battle. All she had to do was put her stamp of approval on it and the men would take care of the rest.

After breakfast she gathered her army and announced that on that very night they would engage the Scarlet Hand in the middle of the town square. Then she turned over the conversation to King Arthur, who explained the plan in finer detail. Sabrina marveled at his command of the crowd. Like Charming, he had a natural charisma that made people want to follow him. She saw the same thing in Robin Hood and felt herself lucky to have two experienced people helping her with her destiny.

When Arthur finished, Sabrina asked everyone to get as much rest as they could, but that at dinnertime they should meet in the yard with whatever weapons they had. She watched the crowd disperse—some faces filled with eagerness, and others with dread. And then there was only Puck, who stood staring at her, arms crossed, with a face full of disgust.

“What?”

Puck rolled his eyes. “Would you let me know exactly when it’s my time to come and rescue you from this fight so that I can be ready?”

Sabrina threw her hands up in the air. “What is it with you?”

Puck’s wings popped out of his backs and fluttered like a hummingbird’s. “Never mind,” he said, lifting off the ground.

Sabrina was tired of Puck’s attitude. She wanted an explanation. She jumped in the air just as he was about to fly away and snatched him by the pant leg.

“Let me go, bubble head,” he demanded.

“Not until you tell me why you’re so moody,” she said.

Puck tried to shake her off, but he couldn’t. “Let me go!”

“Not a chance, bug boy,” Sabrina said, and then she was rocketing into the sky, hanging on with all her might. “Puck! Put us down!”

“You had your chance, loser,” the boy said as they sailed over the castle and out into the woods, skimming the tops of trees.

“Puck! I was up all night. I’m too tired to hold on,” Sabrina cried. Her arms felt like rubber bands stretching to the point of snapping. She looked down. Too far. She would never survive the fall.

“Wah! Wah! Wah!!!! Help me! Save me!” Puck mocked.

“Puck, please put me down,” Sabrina said. Her lack of sleep and the surge of panic was causing black spots to appear in front of her eyes.

“Poor Donkeyface can never do anything for herself,” Puck said.

And then her aching fingers gave way and she fell. The air whipped through her hair and she saw the tops of trees pass her, and then a limb smashed into her leg. She opened her mouth to cry out, but the wind stole the sound. She was sure the next thing that slammed into her would be the ground, but then something had her—something warm and soft and strong. She looked up just as Puck set her on the ground. He looked angry.

“Don’t you ever do that again!”

“I told you I was too tired to hold on,” Sabrina said.

“Well—then—stop being too tired to hold on,” Puck said.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I could ask you the very same question,” Puck said. “In fact, I will. What’s wrong with you?”

Sabrina sighed. She didn’t have the energy to fight with Puck. She needed to get to bed. “Puck, just tell me. I’m exhausted.”

“What’s wrong is how you just gave up,” Puck said.

“Huh?”

“Every time I think you’re going to stop being pathetic you just throw in the towel and surrender,” he said.

“Sorry to be such a disappointment,” she replied as she dusted herself off. She looked around the woods, unsure of where she was or which direction to walk.

“Ever since you came crawling into my life you have done
nothing but complain about your lack of control! ‘No one listens to me. No one pays attention. Everyone treats me like a child. Boo-hoo-hoo!’ Well, of course they treat you like a kid, because every time you get a chance to grow up, you choke.”

“Look who’s talking!”

“I’m a trickster! I’m supposed to act like a child. It’s in my blood! You, on the other hand, don’t want to grow up because you enjoy having everyone look after you.”

Sabrina wasn’t too tired to be angry. She picked a direction and stomped away from the boy fairy without a word. He followed close behind.

“Look at what’s happened since you came to town. You’ve come face-to-face with every kind of monster there is and—”

“And I’ve lived to tell the tale!” she shouted.

“Because someone else had to save you, Sabrina. It’s been me, or Canis, or your grandmother, or your uncle. But now, when you’ve got the chance to actually take control, you hand it over to those nutters Arthur and Hood!”

“I know you can’t possibly understand this with that tiny pea brain of yours, but we’re in the middle of a war and I need help from people who know what they’re doing. I can’t run around using your ‘fake it until you make it’ approach. People will die.”

Puck leaped over her and landed in her path. “I’m sorry, but
you were at the whole mirrors speaking prophecy thing, right? They said that you would lead this army. Not the king. Not the thief. You! Hey, I don’t like it any better than you do, but the mirrors see the future and they say you’re the star of this show.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing!” Sabrina said.

“When it comes to saving the world, no one knows what they’re doing,” Puck said. “But they don’t pass it off onto someone else when it’s their responsibility. The old lady is out there in those woods, and you are going to place her life in the hands of people who don’t care about her? Sabrina, it is supposed to be you. If it wasn’t, the mirrors would have said so.”

Sabrina pushed past him and kept on walking toward where she thought the castle must be. “Well, I know one thing I don’t need help doing. Telling you to go jump in the river.”

“The old lady would expect more from you!” he shouted after her.

ctober 20

So the army leaves for the first attack tonight. The plan is fairly simple. The soldiers are going to encircle the town. When they’re in place, Robin Hood will command Baba Yaga’s chicken house to run toward town square. The noise and shock of seeing that house will get the attention of the Master’s thugs, who will run to it, and as they do, my army will surround and capture them. My father has demanded that no lives are taken. I’m just hoping that’s possible. Everyone who is taken prisoner will be tied up with the help of Mallobarb and Buzzflower and then brought back here to be locked in the Hall of Wonders
.

Mr. Canis was preparing to go until Robin Hood told him to stay behind. He’s not happy. I just don’t know what to tell him. I know he wants to help, but I don’t want him to get killed, either. Red and Wendell are sticking around as well
.

As I write this I’m sitting in the courtyard watching the preparations. I’m super-worried about this plan. Pinocchio’s words still ring in my ears, as do Puck’s. I don’t know what to do and because I don’t know, I think that putting the decision in more experienced hands is the right thing to do. My family and I are going to watch it unfold in the mirror room. I just hope that all these people—who have become my friends—return here when the battle is over
.

Baba Yaga’s house arrived in the town square as planned, and as predicted, word spread fast. The Hand raced to confront it, shelling it with rocks, sticks, clubs, and magic. Sabrina and her family cheered as they watched through the mirrors. They saw Baba Yaga and the Wicked Queen sweep away dozens with the magical assaults, they saw Robin Hood’s men rain arrows down from atop buildings, they saw the Pied Piper and Beauty lull beasties away from the fight and watched Goldi command her bears to stomp through approaching villains. Even Puck transformed into an African elephant and used his pearly tusks to swat aside anyone foolish enough to charge him. For a brief moment it appeared that Arthur and Robin’s plan was going to work, but then a flood of red-handprinted Everafters swept into Main Street like a deadly tsunami, destroying everything in its path. There were too many trolls and goblins and ghouls. There
were too many knights and princes and witches. There must have been nearly three thousand members of Mirror’s army, and when her own feeble forces attacked, they were quickly overrun. Within minutes Sabrina’s entire army had scattered with members of the Hand chasing them down.