CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE BATTLE FOR THE FAIRY KINGDOM
Emerelda and Mother Goose paced on the grand balcony of the Fairy Palace. One by one, the other fairies of the Fairy Council appeared beside them. Xanthous was the last fairy to arrive after retrieving the others and immediately ran to the railing and searched the gardens below.
“Have Alex and Conner arrived with the other armies yet?” he asked the others.
“What do you mean ‘with the other armies’?” Emerelda asked.
“Xanny, calm down for a second and tell us what’s going on,” Mother Goose said.
Xanthous turned back to the other fairies and his flames flickered as he grew anxious. “Alex and Conner were going to collect the armies of the other kingdoms and bring them here before the Grande Armée arrived.”
“But it would take days for all those soldiers to travel here,” Violetta said.
“Alex was going to cast a spell so they would all arrive at the same time,” Xanthous explained.
“What kind of spell could do that?” Skylene asked.
“That would take more magic than all our powers put together,” Tangerina added.
Xanthous was frustrated by their lack of faith and his flames rose. “Ladies, we’ve trusted her since the beginning; we can’t start doubting her now.”
Mother Goose went to the railing and became fixated on something moving in the trees beyond the gardens. “Well, I sure hope whatever spell she tried works, because the Grande Armée is here!” she said.
The fairies joined her at the railing and looked into the distance. Two thousand of the remaining Grande Armée soldiers appeared through the trees. They came from all directions and completely surrounded the gardens and the Fairy Palace. Soldiers positioned themselves in rows and raised their rifles. They wheeled cannons and directed them toward the palace.
At the edge of the gardens, a dozen or so soldiers planted seven tall poles into the ground and stacked piles of hay and dried twigs around the base of the poles.
“What on earth are they doing?” Rosette asked.
Three carriages appeared and were steered to the poles. Only the first carriage had horses while the other two followed behind it magically. The fairies on the balcony screamed and covered their mouths as soon as they realized they were the same carriages that had been sent on the secret path. They could see the kings, queens, and others trapped inside them.
The kings and queens were yanked out of the carriages and taken to the poles. Princess Hope and Princess Ash were forced out of their mothers’ arms and thrown into a carriage with Emmerich and Bree.
Queen Cinderella and King Chance were tied to the first pole, Queen Sleeping Beauty and King Chase were tied to the second, Queen Snow White and King Chandler were tied to the third, Queen Rapunzel and Sir William were tied to the fourth, and Queen Little Bo was tied to the fifth. Jack and Goldilocks were even included, and were tied to the sixth pole. Froggy and Red were tied to the seventh.
“If you would just listen to me for one second, I could explain I’m not the queen anymore,” Red tried telling one of the Armée soldiers. “She’s the queen now—she won the election and therefore being publicly executed is one of her responsibilities, not mine!”
She rapidly jerked her head in Little Bo’s direction, but the soldier wasn’t listening to a word she said.
A handful of the Armée soldiers began drumming while others lit torches and stood near the royals. The Fairy Council was about to witness a horrible execution. General Marquis stood on top of the center carriage and made an announcement to all the fairies in the gardens and at the palace before him.
“Fairies! This is your one and only opportunity to surrender to the Grande Armée!” he declared. “Take this opportunity and I will spare the leaders of your world. Fail to surrender and you will watch them die horrible deaths!”
“Choose the first option!” Red cried up at the Fairy Council.
The fairies living in the gardens peeked out from the plants and trees. They were horrified by what they saw, but there were too many soldiers for them to do anything.
“You have until the count of three,” the general shouted. “One…”
The fairies in the gardens looked up to the Fairy Council members on the balcony. They silently pleaded with them to do something.
“Two…”
The Fairy Council whispered among themselves but no one had a solution.
“Three!” the general shouted with a dissatisfied frown. He had been expecting the fairies to surrender but to his surprise, they stayed on the balcony and did nothing. “Your time is up! Les graver sur!”
The soldiers threw torches onto the piles of dried hay and sticks around the poles and the executions began. Many of the queens screamed, and the kings yelled for help. The flames climbed higher and higher. They were seconds away from being burned at the stake unless the fairies helped them.
“Mother Goose, stay here and watch over the palace,” Emerelda said. “The rest of you, follow me. We will not surrender but we must stop this before someone gets killed.”
“Please hurry, Alex,” Xanthous whispered to himself.
Several flashing lights appeared at the edge of the gardens and Emerelda, Xanthous, Tangerina, Skylene, Rosette, Violetta, and Coral appeared in front of the soldiers. All the cannons and rifles were raised at them, waiting for orders to fire. Emerelda lowered her hands and the fires at the base of the poles faded.
“Stop putting out those flames unless you want my men to open fire!” the general yelled.
There were too many guns and cannons pointed at them for the fairies to properly shield themselves in time. If the general ordered his men to fire, there was no way the fairies would survive.
“You are an evil man, General Marquis,” Emerelda called back to him. “And unfortunately for you, you’ve attempted to dominate a world that does not tolerate the wicked. We may not be able to stop your Armée from taking our kingdom today, but you will be stopped. You will not win this war—this world will not let you! This world doesn’t want you here! Untie these men and women at once and admit your failure with dignity, or suffer the consequences when the other armies arrive.”
The Grande Armée soldiers looked around the fairy gardens nervously, but the general’s attitude was not affected in the slightest. Emerelda’s warning only made him angrier. He had been given so many ultimatums he couldn’t tolerate one more.
“Fire at will!” he roared at his men.
The Armée loaded their cannons and cocked their rifles. The gardens buzzed with panic as the observing fairies feared the Fairy Council were about to be murdered in front of their eyes.
Suddenly, a bright light filled the sky as a shooting star appeared. It caught everyone’s attention, especially that of the general and the Grande Armée soldiers. They had never seen anything like it in their world—but neither had anyone in the fairy-tale world. It was too bright to be an average star and it grew bigger and bigger as it traveled closer and closer to the Fairy Kingdom.
“Take cover!” the general ordered his men, and dove off the carriage. All the Grande Armée soldiers fell to the ground and covered their heads. The Fairy Council and the fairies in the gardens stayed still as they stared up at the star in amazement—they knew this was an act of magic. Alex and Conner had arrived.
The star hit the center of the fairy gardens with such a strong impact it caused a massive breeze to sweep through the plants and extinguish the flames growing around the poles. Once the breeze faded and the dust lifted, the Fairy Council could see Alex and Conner aboard Lester in the center of the gardens and they were surrounded by the armies of the Charming Kingdom, the Bo Peep Republic, the Eastern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom, the Corner Kingdom, and the Great Troblin Lake. The twins’ spell had worked.
It was one of the most spectacular things anyone in the Fairy Kingdom had ever witnessed. Everyone looked around in astonishment—especially the incoming soldiers. Only seconds before this they had been in their own kingdoms.
“That was one heck of a spell, Alex!” Conner said. He was a little dizzy from the journey himself.
Alex looked around their new surroundings and a big smile came to her face. “We did it, Conner! We brought the armies here!” she said, and gave her brother a giant hug.
“It looks like the Grande Armée beat us, though.” He pointed ahead of them.
All the pride in their accomplishment drained away when they saw the Fairy Council standing in front of the Grande Armée at the edge of the gardens. To their absolute horror, they saw the Armée had captured the kings and queens and their friends, too, and they felt sick to their stomachs.
“They have everyone from the secret path!” Conner shrieked.
“How is that possible?” Alex gasped. “Someone must have betrayed us! The only people who could have found them were the people who saw them embark on the secret path!”
The Armée soldiers quickly got to their feet and aimed their rifles and cannons, not just at the Fairy Council, but at everyone they surrounded in the gardens.
“I think that’s a mystery we’ll have to save for later,” Conner said.
“You two come up with a plan and take cover! I’ll hold them off for as long as I can!” Emerelda yelled at the twins over her shoulder.
“Fire!” General Marquis demanded as he got to his feet. “Kill them! Kill them all!”
Emerelda raised her hands and the gardens and palace were surrounded with a thick sheet of emerald light. The sheet acted as a temporary force field against the firing cannons and rifles. It took every last bit of Emerelda’s strength to conjure it.
“Hurry!” Emerelda grunted. “I can’t hold it for very long!”
Alex couldn’t think—she was in a state of shock knowing one of their own had told the Grande Armée about the secret path. Conner didn’t wait to consult with his sister; he jumped off Lester’s back and began instructing the soldiers and the fairies around them. They had to strategize as quickly as possible.
“All right, men, I know I’m half your age and size but listen to me!” he shouted. “I want all of you to line the edge of the gardens and don’t let the Grande Armée through. The soldiers from the Northern Kingdom will guard the north side with Skylene. The Charming Kingdom army will protect the south side with Xanthous. The Eastern Kingdom army will protect the east side with Tangerina. The Corner Kingdom army will take the west side with the soldiers from the Bo Peep Republic. We cannot let them get to the Fairy Palace.”
The armies were hesitant to take orders from a fourteen-year-old boy.
“What? Did I stutter?” Conner asked.
“You heard the boy!” Sir Lampton said, coming to Conner’s rescue. “Let’s surround the gardens!”
The armies followed Lampton’s lead and separated into the directions Conner had instructed. Conner felt a tug on his shirt. He turned around and saw Queen Trollbella standing behind him.
“What about us, Butterboy?” she asked, and batted her eyelashes. “What do you want the Troblin Army to do?”
“Trollbella? Who invited you to this war?” Conner asked hysterically.
“I couldn’t stay home while my troblins came and had all the fun, so I joined my own army,” she said, and then pulled him down closer to whisper in his ear. “I also couldn’t let my Gator go to war by himself—he would miss me too much.”
Trollbella blew a kiss to Gator, who stood a few feet away, and he gulped—the relationship he had never agreed to had gotten way out of hand. Conner eyed the anxious Troblin Army around him and thought of the perfect assignment.
“Rosette! Violetta! Coral!” he called to the remaining fairies. “Before the Elf Empire was attacked, they agreed to help us—we have more than enough men here but since they didn’t arrive with us I assume it means they’re still fighting the Grande Armée in their own territory. I want the three of you to take as many troblins as possible to the Elf Empire and help them.”
Rosette couldn’t stop herself from shaking her head at his request. “You want us to help the elves? But they would be outraged if we showed up—”
“They can file a complaint later!” Conner said. “We’ve got to get rid of all these guys no matter how many bridges we burn!”
Rosette, Coral, and Violetta shrugged and agreed to the task.
“All right, troblins, everyone grab hands and hold on tightly,” Coral instructed.
The Troblin Army joined hands and formed three groups, one around each fairy. They slowly disappeared into sparkling clouds of colorful dust as they traveled to the Elf Empire. Trollbella had joined hands with them, too, but Conner grabbed her and Gator out of the group before they disappeared with the others.
“Not you, Trollbella!” Conner said. “I want you, Gator, and the remaining troblins to wait by the Fairy Palace. It’ll be safest there.”
Trollbella looked at him like it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever told her. “Even during war, my safety is your biggest concern,” she said. “I feel your love like a warm blanket over my body, Butter—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah—just go!” Conner pushed her and Gator toward the palace.
“Everyone take cover!” Emerelda screamed. She couldn’t hold off the bullets and the cannons anymore and collapsed to her knees. The sheet of emerald light faded as quickly as it had appeared. The armies of the Happily Ever After Assembly took cover behind trees and boulders as they moved to their positions between the Grande Armée and the gardens.
Conner jumped back onto Lester, and with one large flap of his wings, Lester flew the twins to Emerelda’s side. Alex pointed her wand at the soldiers shooting at them and their rifles turned into large snakes that wrapped around their hands.