Chapter 8. Nothing Is Actually Understood
Louise's POV
Nurse Sprat prepared the memory scan once more, and Relda sat into the armchair. Then there was another bright flash of light, and the screen of the magicomputer lit up again. We rushed to it. Sprat showed us the overview of the past day.
I pushed my way to look at the screen and – for the hundredth time in the last eleven days – I was amazed.
THE OVERVIEW OF RELDA GRIMM'S MEMORY DATE: TODAY The memories are mostly blurry, but the way of events can be figured out. 5.43 in the morning. Mirror wakes up and orders Mrs. Arachnid to cook his usual breakfast. She obeys and soon gives him a couple of sandwiches with a cup of hot tea. Mirror eats it and starts writing battle plans. Anthony Oldshoe comes to him and asks him for a good sharp sword. "Why do you need it?" Mirror asks. "Master, my old sword is rusty, and I need one for the next week's training." "OK. The Sheriff of Nottingham will watch you while you search the armory for a proper blade." "Thank you a lot, Master," Anthony bowes respectfully and leaves the room. 7.30 in the morning. The slaves are up, and Mirror hears Anthony shouting something. Suddenly, there are sounds of a large noise in the yard. Mirror looks out of the window. A crowd of slaves is running towards the palace, and Anthony is trying to outrun them. Finally, he succeeds and comes to Mirror. "Master! The slaves have organized a rebellion!" he cries. "Fools. They think they can defeat me," Mirror says with a chuckle. "Take out your horn and blow into it to call all our soldiers. I'll shoot lightning." Anthony takes his horn and blows a note. THEN THERE IS A LONG BREAK IN MEMORY, WHICH LASTS TILL 20.43 IN THE EVENING. 20.43 in the evening. Relda wakes up and sees only a forest around her and a brook several feet away. Since this brook - the Golden Brook - is well-known in Fort Charming, Relda quickly figures out her position and hurries to the fort. She gets there by 22.10 p. m.
"There's nothing new in the text!" Sabrina scowled as she stared at the screen.
"There is, actually," I argued. "But it only makes this case more twisted."
"Well, what did you find here, then?"
"For example, it says there that Anthony came to Mirror to tell him about the slaves' rebellion. But Anthony didn't follow the slaves to the palace! On the contrary, he and I have been in the yard, near the Crimson Tower, until I left and walked to the one and only free entrance to the palace! How could Anthony get there without being invisible or using a teleporter? I don't have any smallest guess."
"But he could turn invisible or use a teleporter," Henry said. "I have noticed another queer detail. It says here that Anthony blew a note on the horn and it caused a long memory break."
"That's possible if the horn was the one of the North Wind!" Veronica exclaimed.
"Indeed, and the horn of the North Wind is safely with us, in our armory," Jake said. "The armories and warehouses are checked several times a day. Plus, we have cameras and magic detectors there. We'd have noticed if the horn disappeared."
"And, finally, the main mystery of the whole case still remains unsolved," Henry said. "Why did Anthony do all that? If he sympathized us and freed Mommy, why wouldn't he set Louise free as well and why would he poison the girl? If he killed his Master only to take over the Scarlet Hand leadership, why would he free Mom?"
"His actions don't agree with simple logic. Unless they have some general complicated reason," Daphne said.
"He seems to be only a trickster, like me, but not so good," Puck suggested.
"Oh please stop being an idiot," Sabrina grumbled. "You're no help at all!"
"Wait, Sabrina, we don't know Anthony's psychology," Veronica said. "What if Puck's right, and Anthony's a mischievous fool?"
"Duh! It's impossible for a grown-up."
"First, there's nothing impossible in Ferryport Landing," little Basil suddenly interrupted.
"Of course," Veronica smiled. "Second, is Anthony a grown-up?"
There was silence.
"Louise?"
"Oh..." I tried to recall Anthony's approximate age. "N-no - I mean, he was quite young. Seventeen - or about eighteen - nineteen... Maybe even around twenty, but not older."
"So if Puck behaves in such a way at eighteen..." Sabrina started, but Puck cut her speech:
"I'm NOT eighteen! I'm FOUR THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX! And I don't behave like a trickster because of age! You see, I'm..."
"The villain of the worst kind," the Grimms finished in unison.
"We didn't mean it," Relda said. "Some other people might behave oddly - like you - but because of their age. Anthony Oldshoe may be one of them."
"It's possible, but hardly," Henry said. "Who else can explain Anthony's strange actions?"
"It's all part of his plan," I guessed. "But then, what's the whole plan?"
"I think we should question Anthony himself before offering random guesses," Daphne said. "I don't think we should capture him and - well, you know, bring him to the fort, imprison him - 'cause he might be secretly on our side. But we mustn't go straight to the Scarlet Fort. I think that the questioning should take place in the forest, on that well-known meadow near the Golden Brook."
"Ha, a good idea, if Anthony agrees for it," Jake said.
"I think this place is a special one in his plans, whatever they are," Daphne continued. "I just know it is. Or we can send a messenger with a white flag to the Scarlet Fort."
"Let's think about the matter, then," Veronica started, but the discussion was interrupted by a small dwarf dressed in armor running into the medical tent.
"There's a messenger... from the Scarlet... Fort!" he said, barely catching his breath. "Their... Master has... disappeared and they... think that... we've captured him!"
The Grimms, except for Relda, ran outside. I carefully looked at the gates of Fort Charming and saw the familiar figure and face of Anthony.
I quickly hid again. But Anthony noticed me.
"Oh, by the way, you're hiding an escaped slave also," I heard his voice. "Louisette Susannah Edwards is a slave of the Scarlet Hand, for your information!"
"No! She's our relative, our third cousin!" Sabrina snapped angrily.
"What allows you to think so? Her last name is Edwards. Her father is an Edwards, and her mother is a Larson. What do you have to say about this?"
"We scanned her memory!" Henry shouted.
"So what? You believed a good old fairytale story about a boy thrown into the river because of some silly predictions. 'His descendants will crash down the Scarlet Hand'! Ugh! And then that boy rescued and given another name. Good. Just wonderful. Then the boy's daughter would kill the Hand's Master, and the Hand would surrender. A lovely fairytale, like one written by the Brothers Grimms or, say, Andersen. Excellent job! But nothing's true! Read Edwin and Matilda's diaries, if you want! Not one of them has a record about a Frederick Grimm born to Matilda! Now what else do you have to say?"
"She told us that you had said: 'There's the Grimms' blood in your veins'!" Veronica cried.
"Poor girl, indeed. She believes whatever a person tells her. Louisette's a half-Everafter! The Master genuinely advised her to join the Hand, he didn't even know that we made her a slave!"
"Oh, I'm glad our soldiers obey the leader's orders," Daphne sang.
"The Scarlet Hand will crash itself with such devoted people as its members!" Jake said and slammed the gates in Anthony's face.
I sat in the corner of the medical tent, crying. I believed that I had finally found a true family! And it had been a lie as well. The Grimms were so kind and caring, but now I was once again a stranger to them.
I hardly convinced myself to listen to the noise coming from outside again.
Anthony opened the gates:
"So, you didn't answer where's our Master."
"It's you who has to answer it!" Veronica said. "We checked Relda's memory, you know."
"I don't know a thing," Anthony said. "I hoped so much that the poison would kill him, but alas, no. Listen, if you find him hiding somewhere here, murder him. He's the worst Everafter ever born."
He was going to turn and go away, but suddenly he stopped in his tracks and smiled:
"Oh, and don't forget to tell Louise that she's the niece of Jack the Giant Killer. Maybe she'll join the Hand after all."
He left the fort at last and disappeared from the view.
