Chapter 7

"Good job, Sunny," Bog whispers.

"Don't thank me. I have no idea how the guards didn't see us," Sunny mutters.

Bog looks toward the pendant again. He had noticed that the lighter the sky had gotten with the pre-dawn light the grey stone lightened as well, now looking a cloudy pale yellow and it had shimmered as he was concentrating on not being noticed by the flying field guards. Deciding to figure it out later, Bog leads the army closer to the palace's servant entrance and sends Sunny in first to do as instructed. They charge in after Sunny shuts the kitchen door and easily subdues the frightened occupants.

"No harm will come to ye or anyone else that doesn't fight us," Bog reassures. "We mean only to stop an injustice from being done farther."

"How can we trust you anarchists," the brownie chef growls?

"Because we're not anarchists, Joshua," Bog states, smirking at the shocked creature. "Less than ye were when ye gave sweets to the princesses when they were supposed to be in bed."

"How...how do you know that," Joshua stammers?

"He's Princess Marianne's true soul-bond," Sunny insists! "Princess Marianne would never allow what is happening and you all know it!"

The kitchen staff looks at each other before nodding their compliance. Grumbling about the wasted food, Joshua shuffles the others into the pantry and allows themselves to be locked-in. Sunny exits the kitchen first and gives the all clear.

"Stuff, ye know the palace better than anyone. Take Thang, Jazz, and Gobber and find Halfling," Bog orders, getting agreement from them. "Meet us in the great hall."

Watching as the two goblins and the two forest fairies head down the corridor, Bog turns and leads the army down the other way. Each guard or unsuspecting guest gets subdued and confined in quick order as they approach the great hall. The music creates the perfect distraction as Bog divides the forest folk to cover each entrance and follows Sunny to the back entrance. On cue, the doors slam open once the music ends and the army charges in. Through the chaos, Bog and Sunny make their way to the stage where the royal family huddles behind the guards.

"How dare you intrude, you vile creatures," Roland yells, drawing his sword?

"How dare ye think to murder the innocent," Bog spits, slamming the oaf back with the pendant?

Sunny ignores the fight and heads toward the king but the king's dark glare stops his progress. Dawn squirms in her father's tight hold, barely resisting the temptation to slam her foot down on his.

"Sunny, why are you betraying us," the field king growls?

"I'm not, King Dagda," Sunny insists! "They just want Halfling back and to talk to you. They swore no harm would come to anyone who didn't fight back and would go back to the forest kingdom once they finished."

"They're anarchists. As if they would keep their word and you're a fool to believe them," King Dagda remarks. "Guards, seize him for treason!"

Bog punches Roland into the approaching guards and turns his attention to the shocked king. King Dagda loosens his hold to rub his eyes before looking at the man again. He could have sworn something was different a second ago. Dawn manages to wiggle out of his embrace during his confusion and runs to the happy Sunny, eagerly hugging him before flying them both on the other side of Bog.

"Daddy, you need to listen to Boggy," Dawn orders!

"Bog," Bog growls, lightly glaring at the giggling blonde! "Ye're as bad as Aunt Plum. I can't believe Marianne told ye about that terrible nickname."

"Oh believe it. She also told us that you wore a skirt," Dawn giggles.

"A kilt is not a skirt," Bog insists, fully glaring the laughing duo.

"I don't care who you are or what you wear but you have no right to barge in here," Roland comments. "If the forest creatures wanted peace then they would have obeyed the laws. Begone back to your world, human, before you get the same punishment those lawbreakers get when the army returns."

"The army is locked in the forest castle's dungeon," Sunny mutters before pointing toward the room. "And you're the only soldier left."

Roland loses some of his bravado as he looks upon the subdued field fae. Several smaller forest fae grin from their place sitting on top of some field guards while others keep the non-fighting field folk together. Looking back to the grinning Bog, Roland growls before charging and brings his sword to take the taller man's head off. Dawn shrieks as the fighting pair trade blows, each more savage than the last.

"Rip his wings off," Stuff yells, coming in the main entrance!

Bog ignores the helpful suggestions being sounded off and curses as Roland takes flight. Snarling with determination, Bog jumps and slams the pendant against the shocked meadow fairy, sending him to the ground. He pays no attention at the oddity of him jumping such a distance or of the smooth descent back toward the ground, instead focusing all his attention on disarming his opponent. With a quick move, the sword goes flying and Bog presses his foot onto Roland's chest to keep him on the ground with the added threat of the pendant's deceptively sharp head against the fae's throat.

"Now ye will listen, King of the Field," Bog yells to the bewildered monarch! "Ye have violated yer oath to the King of the Forest and have declared war unto him! Ye have robbed, ye have enslaved, and ye have murdered the forest folk! Marianne warned ye of yer actions and its consequences but instead of heeding her, ye sentenced her to die!"

In astonishment, the field fae stops cowering to turn their attention to the stage, even the field guards stop their struggling at such an accusation and look to their king for his reply. The forest fae pays no mind to them but looks on in concern as Jazz and Gobber assist the battered Halfling toward the spectacle.

"I did no such thing," King Dagda denies! "I have done what I was supposed to do concerning the forest folk. Marianne was too young to understand the responsibilities concerning the crown and let her youth overrule the correct order of things. I loved my daughter and would never harm her but that creature took advantage of her naivety. Sir Roland saw Marianne's last hours at the hand of Halfling."

"He saw, did he," Bog questions, mockery dripping in his voice?

"You humans would not know of such things but my daughter was connected to Sir Roland in a unique way that allowed them to see each other's lives each day. You've been lied to, human," King Dagda insists.

"No, ye've been lied to," Bog remarks, pressing harder against the shiny armor under his boots. "Did he also see Queen Theresa dying in yer arms when Marianne was four? Ye didn't know that she didn't go to bed that night but she hid in the wardrobe and it was her crying that made ye realize what she had seen. Did he see the moonlight walks ye and Marianne took that day every year? Neither of ye could sleep that first year and then it became a tradition. Did he also see and overhear yer counselors using yer youth and yer grief to take control of the kingdom? Ye really should get the draft tunnel plugged when ye have council meetings, little feisty princesses know how to crawl in them. Or maybe, he told ye about the day of the last vernal equinox when he confronted her about marrying him, telling her that she had no choice in the matter, that either she would do so willingly or be forced to do so when the meadow kingdom invaded. How about when he tried to dust her with a love potion and then lost her when she flew off blinded? Did he also see her passing out exhausted in a hollow tree and then waking up the next day disorientated and scared?"

With each word, the field king's face changes from its unyielding expression to shock and then to anger as he turns his gaze onto the struggling fae trying to get free. Roland freezes at the hostile atmosphere directed toward him.

"Don't let him deceive you, your majesty," Roland manages! "Surely the forest creatures told him all this, as well as that treacherous elf! He's just trying to save his own skin!"

"Is that so? Well, then how would I also know that the reason ye confronted her that day was because she had just discovered that counselors James, Wesley, Amber, and Gwen are not true citizens of the field kingdom but are actually from the meadow kingdom," Bog points out. "That's not hard to believe since they were the ones who suggested this alliance in the first place and are the only ones still around who witnessed the oath of the field king to the forest king. I mean, it is a large coincidence that all the other counselors of both the field and the forest died off by the second year."

Bog motions the forest fae to let go of their own prisoners, who in turn take prisoners of the aforementioned counselors at Bog's command. The beaten guards also take control of Roland and drag him to his accomplices, using the offered ropes from the forest folk to bind each one of them. King Dagda opens his mouth to protest but silences in shock at another glance toward Bog as he heads toward Halfling.

"Are ye alright," Bog softly questions?

"Head, shoulder, wings all good," Halfling murmurs, her bloody lip ruining her weak smile before she squints at him. "Oh man, they must have beaten me harder than I thought."

"What do ye mean," Bog asks, running his hands gently over her?

"What she means is that your glamour keeps shifting on and off," a voice giggles out. "Not surprising really since she magicked your coat and upset the delicate balance but with Loch unable to fix it, it'll just keep deteriorating until it vanishes."

"Aunt...Plum," Bog stammers?

"Hello, Boggy," the blue shimmering field sprite waves from on top of the high windowsill with Puck laughing beside her! "I told you I would explain your clan heritage but I find that something visual is so much better than just hearing it. Also, happy eighteenth birthday!"

Bog looks around as the first rays of the sunrise shine through the window and illuminates the great hall. Looking over the collection of fae creatures still gathered and then at the dull amber gleaming in the pendant, he nods before turning his attention to the king.

"Now, we return to yer transgressions," Bog growls. "This was the oath ye swore. I, King of the Field, do swear to ye, King of the Forest, to treat yer subjects as ye would until yer return, on crown and kingdom do I pledge. The oath was only to protect them and care for them since the law demanded that a ruler oversee but it was never to rule over them. The forest counselors were left to govern the forest kingdom, a job they did well until ye and yer counselors' interference. Do ye still deny that ye failed to uphold yer oath, an oath ye sworn on crown and kingdom?"

"Don't try to deny it, Dagda," Plum warns. "You were told to report any trouble to me or Puck and we would report it to Loch. For seventeen years you lied to both of us about the state of the forest kingdom, claiming hard winters and poor crops as the cause of death for so many. You swore to us that you were helping the survivors. Had Loch known, he would have returned years ago like he planned and ignored the consequences of such an action. Had I known, I would have never given a love potion to a poor love-stricken fairy who came to me for help."

King Dagda looks to his daughter and subjects, their eyes now reflecting their own distrust in him. Slowly, his hands remove the crown upon his brow. Marianne had warned him of the dangers of the oath and he knew she was right. By crown and kingdom he swore and at his failure, crown and kingdom he forfeited.

"The Loch King is dead, the border proves it," Wesley remarks over the silence. "Therefore the forest kingdom belongs to the field kingdom now. This whole demonstration is practically useless, so unless you release us and continue this marriage, the meadow kingdom will take control through force by spring since neither kingdom has a ruler."

"What makes you think that, usurper," Plum purrs?

"Come on, both of these archaic kingdoms have the laws so that no child can take the throne," Gwen scoffs. "If Princess Marianne is still alive she won't be eighteen until after the spring thaw, long after the meadow kingdom's invasion, and poor sweet Princess Dawn is only fifteen. Even if she married the elf, she still wouldn't be able to be queen since he's sixteen."

"You misunderstand these archaic laws, fool," Plum laughs, floating down and grabbing the field king's crown! "Roland wouldn't be king even if he married Marianne or Dawn because they are no longer a princess, in fact, Dawn wasn't even really born one. When trying to take over a kingdom, at least try to know its laws because you overdid it, just a little. He swore on crown and kingdom and when he didn't keep his oath as you persuaded him to, he forfeited crown and kingdom. Meaning, the field kingdom and its de-throned royal family is a subject to the forest kingdom and its royal family forever. You have to deal with the new ruler of the forest kingdom."

"What? Halfling," Amber sputters? "Even if the rumors are true about her being Loch King's daughter, she admitted that she is only seventeen and that means that she is too young to take the throne!"

"Halfling isn't the daughter of Loch, although she is going to be his daughter-in-law," Plum giggles. "Tell me, Boggy, have you decided who you are?"

"I am the Bog King," Bog yells, slamming the pendant's base to the ground!

Everyone closes their eyes against the immense light flooding the room from the bright amber stone and several hit the ground from the power rushing through the kingdoms. Tentatively, eyes open and immediately widen at the figure standing before them. Gone is the human clad in a heavy coat and pants, instead, standing tall and proud is a forest fae with the ash-brown carapace armor of a forest sprite. Translucent wings of a forest fairy catch the dawn light and send rainbows over the stunned crowd as goblin-like claws grip the golden staff.

"Bog," Halfling questions?

"Aye, it's me," Bog grins, showing off his goblin teeth. "Da wasn't kidding when he said a few weeks ago that what he was going to tell me about his clan was life-changing. He said I had to choose whose son I am and which clan I fall under. I choose being the son of Loch King."

"Your mother and I knew you would," Plum cheers, sitting on Bog's armored pauldron! "But Loch, he was such a worrier, saying that it was only fair to make you decide when you became an adult. Then he gets killed by a tree of all things as he was getting ready to come back here. I can't really figure that one out. Oh well. All hail the King of the Forest and Fields!"