Hello, everyone! welcome to Trail of Fire and Shadow! just in case, please note that there are some darker themes in upcoming chapters. not anything serious, but darker themes. well, enjoy!
Brainy Smurf stood on the walkway of the wooden wall his subjects had built. He looked down at the rebels outside. They ran inside through the gap in the wall, only to meet several troops standing in front of them. Smurfette, the leader of the rebels, stopped her cohorts.
"I don't think we'll be able to take all of them on our own." she said.
"No, you won't, because you're under arrest!" Hefty Smurf proceeded to trap them in a circle of guards.
"Now go! The king is going to judge you in ten minutes. Guards! get the other rebels." Hefty said. Smurfette and her cohorts walked inside the circle to the palace, where Brainy was waiting on his throne. The guards lined the rebels up in front of him. Before brainy could speak, another voice came from the shadows.
"Well, well, if it isn't the rebels who ruined the village. I'll deal with you." the voice echoed throughout the room, chilling everyone. It sounded like a girl's voice, from what wasn't echoed and distorted.
"Haha, for your crimes you deserve a life sentence." she said.
"What's a life sentence?" Brainy asked.
"You don't know? Well, i suppose i'd better tell you, seeing as i have nothing else better to do. A life sentence is when the accused and/or convicted are forced to stay in prison for the rest of their lives. Occasionally, they can get out, but that's a rare occasion." she said.
"Oh." Brainy said.
"That IS what they deserve. After all, they did commit treason to the crown." she said.
"What's treason?" Brainy asked.
"You really need to learn about laws, crimes, and punishments. But anyways, treason is an attempt to overthrow the king or queen, and is punishable by life in prison, or death in severe cases." she said.
"Oh." Brainy said.
"Um, hello? We're right here you know." Jokey said.
"Oh, someone's getting annoyed. Well, that's a strike for you, Jokey. I'll leave the sentence up to you, Brainy. Oh, and when you're done, meet me in the library." she said.
"Since i and the voice that's echoing in here decided your crime, and all of my guards saw you do it, your punishment is life in prison. Guards! Take them to their cell." Brainy said.
"We don't want to spend our lives in prison!" Smurfette said. Her cohorts agreed while they were being led away. The guards took them to the jail tower and took their rebel clothes off, leaving them in their regular clothes.
Smurfette was chained to the wall by her neck, jokey had a chain ball chained to his leg, grumpy had his stomach chained to the wall, and the others were left alone. They all sat down on the few benches there were in the cell.
"I wish Papa Smurf was here. He'd help us." Smurfette said.
"Yeah! He'd stop brainy." Jokey said.
"But he's not, and we're still stuck here." Smurfette said. She sighed sadly.
"This is all my fault! If I hadn't decided to rebel, none of this would've happened. I feel so stupid! We're going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives because of my stupid decision." Smurfette folded her arms and looked down. She felt greedy put his arm around her shoulder and pull her closer.
"It wasn't your fault, and you know it. It was brainy's fault. He decided to stick us in here for the rest of our lives. If you hadn't decided to stand up, then all of us would've felt guilty for doing nothing when we could've done something." Greedy said. Greedy held and comforted Smurfette, who leaned in to Greedy.
Papa Smurf walked up to the Smurf Village. He stopped short when he saw the wall around it. He looked around for a gate. The gate was just a pew paces away, to the left of him. On the top of gate, Hefty Smurf stood, watching.
"Hefty! Hefty! Let me in!" Papa smurf called. Hefty looked down.
"Hey! Papa Smurf! Back up so i can open the gate!" Hefty called down. Papa Smurf backed up. The gate lowered to form a bridge inside the village. Papa Smurf looked at the open gate. Papa Smurf looked at Hefty. Papa Smurf walked in.
That night, Smurfette sat awake on the bench in the cell. No one else was awake. She stared down at the square of floor where the moonlight shone. The shadow of the bars reminded her that she was trapped here. Forever.
Smurfette remembered the scene of a few hours ago, when Papa Smurf had come to see her. Brainy had let him, but, with the help of the thing in the throne room, hadn't let him free them. They had hugged, each of them, smiling and crying tears of joy and sadness. She told Papa Smurf what had happened, and he'd said he'd find a way to free them all.
Smurfette couldn't help but smile at Papa Smurf's remarks. How he planned to get them out, she had no idea. Smurfette's smile faded. She folded her arms, stood up very carefully, and went to the window next to her. It was a clear night, and the moon was full. It's calming, silver rays of light shone over the little town the smurfs lived in. There were no lights on, save for the torches of the guards patrolling the town and Papa Smurf's lamp. Smurfette never could understand why he slept with his light on when he stayed up late.
Ah well. Not like it bothered her this high up. The only way the light could bother her was if it was the light of a guard coming to check on her. Smurfette looked up at the moon. She sighed. She remembered the events of yesterday. How they all were arrested, put in here. She squinted her eyes. She started to cry.
"Why does it all have to be this way? Why can't it all go back to normal? Can't we all just be friends again?" Smurfette asked.
She was about to sit down, when something moved behind her.
Smurfette spun around. Whatever it was seemed to smile at her.
"Hello, Smurfette." it said. Smurfette stopped crying.
"You've caused quite the ruckus in the village, now haven't you? Well, i happen to have something to solve that. To get this entire thing to go back to normal."
"H-huh?"
"Let me explain. You sitting in here, regretful doesn't do much good for me. In fact, it only hinders my plans for Brainy. So, i have decided to help you a bit." the thing said.
"But… why should i? You helped Brainy imprison us, so why should i?"
"Don't you want to be free? Don't you want your friends to be free? I can help you with that! I can give you the power to free yourselves and your friends! Don't you want that?" Smurfette gasped.
"Y-yes, i do, but…"
"But what? But you're too afraid of hurting your friends? Trust me, this power can only help you."
"Ah… okay… but only to free my friends!"
"Good choice." the thing pulled out a red heart. "This is a SOUL. it will grant you the power you need to free your friends. Take it. Absorb it. But be careful, it's very delicate." Smurfette took the SOUL. she held it in her hands. It glowed red.
"Pull it towards your chest." Smurfette pulled it towards her chest. When she stopped, it kept going. It went into her chest, and Smurfette felt it join her consciousness. When it finished, she felt it powering her. She felt it growing stronger. It lifted her up, slowly, freeing her from the chain. It surrounded her in a sphere of red and white light. It healed any wounds she had. It fused with her, empowering her mind and steeling her emotions and resolve. She then slowly fell to the floor.
"I… i feel… determined, all of a sudden."
"Yes, that's the SOUL's power. Determination. It grants you the ability to use magic. Well, Determination magic at least." it said. "I must go. Good luck." the thing left the cell. Smurfette looked around. No one was awake. Smurfette tested her power. A sword and shield appeared in her hands.
"Huh." Smurfette said. She despawned the sword and shield and spawned a skeleton key. She unlocked the cell door. She was about to free her friends, when she heard a guard coming. She locked the door, stopped using magic, sat back down, and hid her neck with her arms. The guards passed by. When she was sure they were gone, she unlocked the door with her magic again.
"I better get out of here before they find me. Then i wouldn't be able free my friends at all." Smurfette grabbed her cloak and black hat and followed the guards, matching their steps. When they passed a stairwell, she turned downstairs. She made her way to the back door of the castle, and slipped out into the night.
Hefty walked by the cell in which the captors were being held. He looked inside. Smurfette was gone. He ran to the king's bedroom, and woke him up.
"...Mmuh…?" Brainy asked.
"Your majesty, it's Smurfette! she escaped!"
"Get me the officers!"
Smurfette looked down at the town below the tree limb on which she stood. She saw a guard pass by the cell once more. The light were turned on in the castle. She heard, yet didn't hear the shouts of guards.
"I promise, everyone… as long as I live, I will search for a way to free you." Smurfette closed her eyes.
"I swear it." Smurfette opened her eyes. They were red.
The next day, King Brainy was exhausted. He had spent most of the night planning to recapture Smurfette. He trudged to his bedroom, and fell onto his bed.
Hefty came in.
"Your majesty, i'll take care of the rest."
"Nuh… thank you, Hefty." Brainy pulled the covers over himself and fell asleep.
"You're welcome. See you later." Hefty left. Down in the throne room, Papa Smurf was pacing worriedly.
"I don't understand! How could she have escaped?" Hefty wondered, walking into the throne room.
"No one got her out, we've already interrogated them all. They didn't help each other, they were all asleep. Excepting Smurfette, obviously." Hefty started pacing. Papa Smurf stopped pacing.
"What i'm more worried about is the fact that she's out there all alone! Who knows what could've happened to her by now!" Papa Smurf paced anxiously.
"Yeah! Even though i'm supposed to be worried about her escaping, i'm more worried about that. Where could she be?"
"I don't know, Hefty, but… i hope she's okay."
Smurfette walked in the darkness of the forest that surrounded her former home. She looked around. The treetops blocked the sunlight out from above, making it nearly impossible to see for a normal person. But she was no normal person. She had Determination magic. And right now, she was using it to see in the dark. Various animals watched her with a combination of curiosity and fear. One timid little bunny finally gathered up the courage to hop up to her. It cocked it's head, wondering. Smurfette looked at the bunny. The bunny hopped a little closer. Smurfette almost smiled. Almost. She gave a small, mirthless laugh that only betrayed her sadness.
"You're quite the brave little fella, aren't you?" Smurfette gave a small smile. The bunny nervously nodded.
"Heh. then maybe you can help me." Smurfette said. The bunny nodded, now less nervous.
"Can you ask one of your friends if they can find me Enchanter Homnibus please?" Smurfette asked. The bunny gave a quick nod and left. Soon after, a hummingbird flew away.
"Thank you." Smurfette said to the bunny once he came back. The bunny nodded and left. Smurfette's smile faded.
Hours later, in the smurf village, king Brainy smurf woke up. He sat up, yawning and stretching. He then stood up, put his day clothes on, grabbed his scepter, and went downstairs to the throne room. Hefty was giving orders to various guards to search though the nearby woods to find Smurfette. He turned around and noticed Brainy.
"Your majesty! Good afternoon!" Hefty saluted. "How was your nap?"
"It was good, thank you. What's the situation on Smurfette?" Brainy asked.
"We haven't found her yet, but i've sent patrol groups 4, 5, and 6 out into the surrounding woods to search. if they don't find anything by dusk, i'll go out myself the next morning." Hefty said.
"Good. the sooner we find her, the better, and not only because she's a rebel. As much as i hate to admit it, i'm worried for her too." Brainy said.
A female voice laughed sinisterly.
"Good, good. Things going exactly to plan. Soon, i will have brainy right where i want him." the voice giggled, and booped the magic screen she was watching with one of her black tendrils.
"Mistress…?"
"Yes?"
"K-king Brainy r-requires your p-presence in the throne r-room…"
"Good. i can set the next stage of my plan in motion." the voice made a soulless grin with her tendrils.
"Where is she!?" Brainy almost growled. He was bent over a map of the surrounding forest, and his face was clenched in anger.
"We look, and look, but no matter where we look, she just moves and leaves no trace of where she's been. I KNOW SHE'S OUT THERE!" Brainy pounded the table map with his fists and squinted his eyes shut.
"Your majesty, if i may, maybe we should call the voice. She'd be able to find Smurfette far faster and more effectively than we can." Hefty suggested. Brainy stopped.
"Hmm… good. I'll call the voice, have her scout." Brainy stood up fully.
"Voice!" Brainy called out.
"Yes, my dear king?" the voice answered after several seconds.
"..."
"Find Smurfette."