Vengeance of the Princess, Book One: Secrets and Slaves

By Andrew S.

The crack of the whip and the braying of the whipped; these were the unsettling sounds that accompanied the Princess as she broke her fast. She winced at the noise as she choked down her stale bread. There was no way to escape the noise in the castle; even here in the slums of the once great Mushroom Castle, the echoes of slavery could be heard.

It had cost Peach one of the charms from a bracelet that Daisy had given her on Peach's 14th birthday. Daisy might be dead now, Peach thought grimly, or maybe Bowser had taken her to warm his bed at night. Peach wasn't sure what was worse. She hoped Daisy was just locked in a dungeon somewhere. Although her Palace had never had dungeons; she supposed with the way these new Koopa folk eat, the storerooms must be empty enough to serve as a good prison cell.

Peach smiled as she thought of Daisy; she would be hammering on her cell door, yelling idle threats at her captors. Daisy had always been a fighter, even when they were little. Peach remembered one time when Luigi had taken her stuffed lamb and barricaded himself in his bedroom. At that age Peach might have just bawled her eyes out if it was her, but not Daisy, oh no; she had banged her little fists on the door, telling Luigi all the things she would do to him when he had to come out.

The smile disappeared when Peach thought how this attitude was probably only going to get Daisy into trouble now. Peach snapped back to the real world as an elderly woman, with a hunched back and ragged clothing tugged on her sleeve, "Excuse me dearie, but you couldn't perhaps spare a crumb or two o' that there bread could you? I'm famished".

Peach smiled friendlily and pressed the fistful of dry bread into the woman's clammy hands. The woman hobbled off, down the gritty street and around the corner. Peach stood up and bushed the dirt off her cloak; she had to get moving. Peach wore simple riding leathers, riding boots and riding gloves with a black cloak that had a large hood. She had cut her golden hair short to be less recognisable, but she still always kept her hood up to cover her face. A simple leather sack hung her belt and she quickly checked the contents; a few gold coins, several piece of gold and silver jewellery and her most prized possession; looking around to make sure no one was looking Peach took out the golden crown and turned it in her hands. It reminded her of home. It was a simple golden crown without inscription or much decoration apart from the three jewels that were inlaid into it. In the centre rested a large ruby and it was flanked on both sides by two slightly smaller sapphires.

HaroooooooHarooHaroooo

Peach looked up at the sound of the horn. That was a Koopa horn, and she knew what it meant; another execution.

She got up and stuffed the crown back in its sack. Peach hated it, but she forced herself to attend the executions, out of respect for her people that were wrongly punished. Pulling her hood far over her face Peach raced down the street, ducking into alleys and back ways as much as possible. Peach had quickly learnt where to avoid after the hostile takeover of the Mushroom Kingdom; in the main city she attracted looks and had been recognised more than once. There were wanted posters with her face everywhere and she had learnt to stick to the slums, where people were too worried about the next meal to wonder about who that stranger in the hood is.

Peach quickly reached a large crowd of people standing before a great platform, which was once used for public announcements. Now it was a place where innocent people were executed. Peach couldn't see who was standing on the platform so she doubled back, ran down a flight of steps into a blacksmiths and climbing out a small window facing away from the platform, she shuffled along a ledge 10 feet or so from the ground and stepped onto the small balcony of an old guest bedroom, which was fortunately empty right now. Ducking down beneath the stone wall that kept you from falling off the edge Peach took a deep breath and double checked her surroundings; yes she knew that if she went through the bedroom and across the hall, there would be a window that led to the outer wall of the palace with some gargoyles she could swing across to get into a butchers back window. The butchers had a backdoor which led to an alley and from there she could go anywhere she liked without worrying about guards. Reassured of her safety Peach peeked over the edge of the low wall and looked at the platform.

And there was Bowser, his huge hulking figure was hard to miss. The man looked to be in his 50's, but he had the strength of 10 youths. As King of the Koopa people, he always wore that hideous costume, as was traditional with his savage people. Bowsers skin was painted yellow, on his hands he wore terrible clawed gauntlets, made of some tremendous beast never seen in the mushroom kingdom. His back was covered by a monstrous green shell that was covered in deadly spikes, kept on with black spiked leather straps around his neck and arms; it was said to come from a creature now extinct. He had a long scaly spiked yellow tail that hung from the shell. But his headdress was the worst. He wore the decapitated head of some ferocious monster, with a shock of red hair, between two large white horns, on a green head, with two huge empty eye sockets. It had a cream coloured muzzle that had been stretched so it seemed Bowsers head was inside its mouth that was lined with terrible, razor sharp teeth. Other than the costume he wore only a loin-cloth.

Bowser was muscled and stocky, from what Peach could see of his face it was attractive, but he gave a menacing look that scared her more than she liked to say. For a second she was mesmerised by Bowser, but then she saw who else was on the platform; held by two guards, next to a bare-chested executioner, axe in hand, stood Marion Toad.

No, Peach mouthed. Marion, or as she preferred to be called, Toad had been Peach's handmaid and steady friend and confidante. She had saved Peach herself on the day of the invasion, holding the door shut with all her life as she screamed at the Princess to run. Peach had tears in her eyes as she escaped down the hidden tunnel beneath an old chest. As she slid down she saw the door burst open and Toad fall, hitting her head on the floor as Koopas flooded in, "No!" she had screamed, but too late; she slid down the tunnel and landed outside on the huge compost heap.

Toad still wore what she had that day; two brown shoes, a simple white dress with a blue and gold-trimmed waist jacket and the white and red mushroom hat that was worn by all servants of the Mushroom Palace. Peach had heard that Toad was being interrogated as to Peach's whereabouts, but that was just rumours; with the bruises on her face Peach fought it might be true after all.

Toad's clothes were dirty and her auburn hair was a mess. Toad was a short girl, the same age as Peach and had been her maid since they were both 12. Peach's heart was in her throat at the thought of her being executed. Toad had a brave face on though, no tears, just like her.

Then they brought out the block; Toad was pushed down, her neck resting on the block, and the executioner raised his axe.

Silence.

Somewhere a baby was wailing. The executioner brought down the axe and Peach screwed up her eyes and- Thwack!

It had happened, Toad was dead.

Peach broke down into silent tears. Then she heard the sniffling. She opened her eyes and saw that Toad was, alive? The axe was stuck in the floor next to the block and Toad was crying in relief. Bowser picked up the axe with a splintering noise, and resting it on his shoulder he looked over the crowd and speaking in the language of the Mushroom Kingdom, with his heavily accented voice said, "No. This is not the appropriate punishment for subordination is it my friend".

The executioner gruffly replied, "No, it ain't", and gave a chuckle.

Peach could tell something was wrong. The two guards picked up Toad again and pulled her back into a standing position. From a door on the side of the platform marched out more guards dragging people behind them, and four more executioners. Toad shrieked. "No! No not my family! No please, please not my family! Kill me! Kill me instead! Nooo-".

A gag was stuffed in her mouth. Five blocks were placed down and onto their knees were pushed five people; a man with black hair and a flat-face, who was expressionless. A woman who was heavily pregnant and sobbing loudly. A girl of 17 or 18, Peach had never bothered to learn the names of Toad's sisters, another that looked 12 and a third that couldn't have been more than 4. The girls all looked like younger versions of Toad. They were Toad's mother, father and three sisters.

Their necks were on the blocks and Toad was fighting the guards, but losing, they just held her and kept her mouth gagged. Tears ran down her cheeks as she fought. The executioners raised their axes.

Bowser turned to the crowd, "This could be stopped, Princess". Peach looked up her eyes wide.

"Turn yourself in now and neither the slave nor her family will be harmed". Peach began to stand up, to raise her hand, clear her throat when- "NO!", Toad had spat out her gag, "Don't you dare Peach! Don't you- oof", Toad was punched hard in the stomach by a guard and dragged off.

Peach crouched again and whispered to herself, "I am so sorry, I am so sorry Toad". Tears were in her eyes and she had cover her mouth to prevent herself crying out when Bowser ordered in his harsh accent, "Kill them", followed by five loud thuds…