CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE MASKED MAN OF PINOCCHIO PRISON
Pinocchio Prison had just been restored following the Enchantress’s vicious attack when it was faced with yet another threat. Like a swift bolt of lightning, the Grande Armée charged toward the fortress in the early hours of the morning and unleashed the full power of its nineteenth-century artilleries.
The heavy, spiked front doors of the prison were blasted into smithereens by the army’s cannons. Only two hundred enchanted wooden soldiers guarded the prisoners inside and they were no match for the thousands of Frenchmen invading the prison. The Grande Armée forced its way inside and the wooden soldiers were blown into pieces by volleys of rifle fire.
After the wooden soldiers were completely obliterated and the smoke began to clear, General Marquis stepped inside the prison and had a look at his newest conquest. Pinocchio Prison was thirty stories high and open on the inside like a cylinder; from the center of the ground floor the general could see floor after floor of various creatures locked in their cells above him.
The prisoners were a rowdy bunch, consisting of ogres, witches, trolls, goblins, elves, animals, men, and women alike. Some welcomed the French soldiers who had destroyed the wooden guards by banging their chains against the bars of their cells. Others cowered in fear, afraid they would be targeted next.
Nothing was known about these intruders. They spoke and dressed differently from anyone the prisoners had ever seen. Judging by their weapons, the prisoners could only assume these men were soldiers of very dark magic.
The remains of the wooden soldiers were piled in the center of the prison. Many pieces, such as the legs and hands, still twitched. The general poured lamp oil over the pile of the fallen and lit it on fire so the prisoners above could watch the guards who had held them captive burn.
General Marquis circled the flames and a hush fell over the prison.
“Good morning,” the general said to the prisoners above. “I am General Marquis of the Grande Armée of the French Empire. I am certain many of you have never heard of the empire and its army before, so I would like to change that now. Where we come from, we are known as one of the greatest military forces in history. We have dominated every territory in our path and have defeated every nation that stood in our way. And now we have come to your world to claim it as our own.”
The prisoners grew uncomfortable in his presence. The general didn’t need to say anything further to convince them that he was a cunning and powerful man; they could sense it.
“Where we come from, we have a phrase,” the general continued. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, we say. Today I would like to give each of you a chance to make friends with the Grande Armée. We offer you a chance to join our conquest and be cleared of your crimes. Help us fight against the people who imprisoned you—help us seize this world in the name of France and become part of the French Empire!”
The majority of the prisoners cheered at what he was offering.
“Or you can stay here and rot as intended,” the general said. “The choice is yours.”
The prison vibrated as the prisoners roared with delight. Anything was better than spending another day in the prison—even joining an army. Finally they could experience the freedom and revenge they had only dreamed about.
Colonel Baton, along with Capitaine De Lange and Lieutenant Rembert, recruited the criminals one cell at a time. The inmates were given the options of pledging their allegiance to the French Empire or remaining locked in their cell. And to the general’s pleasure, almost all the prisoners waited with bated breath to pledge their allegiance and be freed from their cells.
Only one prisoner gave the commanders an answer they weren’t expecting. His cell was at the very top of the prison and he supplied them with a message for the general that was too enticing to ignore.
“General Marquis,” Colonel Baton said. “There is a prisoner who wishes to speak with you, sir.”
The general was irritated Baton would even bring him such a request. “And what makes this man worthy of my time?”
“He wishes to help you,” Baton said. “And he says without his help, you cannot conquer the fairy-tale world.”
Hearing the prisoner’s message infuriated the general. Who would dare be so bold as to give General Jacques Marquis an ultimatum? But the general was so determined in his quest for domination, he allowed his curiosity to outweigh his ego. He decided to speak with the prisoner and see if he had anything worthwhile to contribute.
Baton led the general to the very top of the prison and showed him to the cell of the daring man. A large plaque displayed on the wall beside his cell read:
THE MASKED MAN
SENTENCED TO LIFE IN
PINOCCHIO PRISON
FOR ATTEMPTED ROBBERY OF THE
FAIRY GODMOTHER
The general peered into the cell to see the prisoner for himself. The Masked Man was tall but very frail. He wore a tattered suit and his tie was torn in half. A gray sack over his head concealed his face; holes were cut around the eyes and mouth.
“You are the Masked Man, I take it,” the general said.
“Hello, General,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed your speech down there. Boy, you sure know how to make an entrance. Did they teach you that in your military training?”
The general glared at this ridiculous man. “I do not have time for games,” he said. “Make sure this man stays in his cell.”
The general stormed off but the Masked Man desperately reached for him through his bars and begged him to stay.
“No, wait, General!” he pleaded. “I apologize! I didn’t mean to offend you—I’m only trying to help you! I have information that will lead you to a certain victory!”
On this the general turned on his heel and faced the prisoner. “And how can a man like you possibly help a man like me?”
“Because you’re not from this world, and I am!” the Masked Man said. “I know my way around it and how it operates. You have a very impressive army, but that won’t be enough to take over. You’re going to need something bigger, something much more powerful if you’re going to stand up to the fairies. And I know where you can get it!”
The general took a step closer to the man, his interest sparked although his face didn’t show it. “You have two minutes of my time,” he said. “Explain yourself.”
The Masked Man rubbed his hands together and began. He was a very odd and animated man and used lots of hand gestures as he spoke, most of which didn’t go along with what he said. It was like his hands and mouth were describing two different things.
“The first thing you should know about this world is its history,” he said. “The past is divided into three ages: the Dragon Age, the Age of Magic, and the Golden Age, which we’re living in now. Hundreds of years ago, during the Dragon Age, this world was a mess! It was filled with tyrant kings and evil sorcerers and obviously dragons, lots and lots of dragons—they were nearly unstoppable and reproduced like rabbits!”
“What value does this history lesson have to me?” the general asked. He was starting to feel like his time was being wasted and it angered him.
“I’m getting there, General,” the Masked Man assured him. “Like I was saying, there were dragons everywhere destroying everything—then the fairies got together and put a stop to them. That’s how they came to power and the world entered the Age of Magic. They formed the Happily Ever After Assembly and there was peace on earth and yadda, yadda, yadda.… Now the Fairy Godmother, the head of the assembly, and her fairies have been in charge since the dragons went extinct and no one has been able to overthrow them because…”
He was hoping the general would play along and finish his sentence but Marquis didn’t break his stoic expression.
“Dragons!” the Masked Man said with mystical hand gestures. “No one has been able to overthrow the fairies because you need a dragon—and I know where to get one!”
General Marquis had expected his left eye to start twitching from the moment the Masked Man started speaking—but it didn’t. There must have been some truth to what he was saying.
“So where do we get this dragon?” the general asked.
The Masked Man dropped his hands and an equally serious expression grew on his own face. “Let me out of this cell first, and then I’ll show you.”
General Marquis was impressed by the Masked Man’s quick and calculated scheme. But he figured there was much more to this man than met the eye. He wanted to know more about him before he unlocked the door of his cell.
“How long have you been in this prison?” he asked.
“A decade,” the Masked Man said.
“And why were you sentenced to life for attempted burglary?” the general pressed. “Surely even in this world that’s an awfully harsh punishment for such a little crime.”
The Masked Man lowered his head shamefully, not for committing the crime, but for failing to accomplish it. “It was what I was trying to steal that cemented the sentence,” he said, and then looked into the general’s eyes. “You and I are very similar men, General. We know an opportunity when we see one; otherwise neither of us would be standing here now.”
There was eagerness in the Masked Man’s pale blue eyes that the general found alluring. Perhaps this man could be of service after all.
“One last question,” the general said. “Why do you wear that bag over your head?”
The Masked Man smiled coyly. “The same reason you wear that uniform,” he said. “To cover something I don’t want the rest of the world to see.”
Normally a statement like this would outrage the general, but this time it made him smile. The Masked Man was a strange man, but he was one of the few the general could identify with.
“Colonel Baton,” General Marquis ordered. “Remove this man from his cell. As soon as we leave the prison we will organize a traveling party and he will guide us to a dragon.”