Chapter 9
Monster Lover
- Look, Princess. I still don't think that is a good idea.
- You wouldn't think like that if the idea came from your gut.
Star and Rhombulus have been at it for the last ten minutes. While the Princess knew her suggestion sounded "dangerous", it was still better than beating monsters into submissions and imprisoning them. Less than a year ago, she wouldn't be so resistful of the High Commission's proposal. Either Star was growing up, or she was getting soft.
- I bet the Magical High Commission would agree with me - Rhombulus crossed his snake hands.
The girl's eyes sparkled from motivation.
- You know what? That's a great idea. Let's go ask them right now!
Star grabbed the Book of Spells and left the chamber with confidence. The situation room wasn't far away to bother getting an escort. The Princess was too focused on the current task to worry about a shape-shifting assassin lurking around. Still, she was glad Rhombulus joined her.
As ordered, two men were assigned guarding the entrance to the meeting. Star found it redundant. The shape-shifter looked crazy, but not stupid enough to try to take the whole Magical High Commission head on. Having guards was definitely River's idea. He was quite attached to his wife.
Both guards noticed Star coming their way. They stepped forward to block the entrance. The right one raised his hand to form a stop sign.
- Hold! Identification, please.
- Uh... - Star raised an eyebrow and looked at the crystal man.
- Sure... Just a sec...
Rhombulus dipped into the pockets of his pants. He nervously started searching for something. Star figured he was faking it. She heard one of the snake arms whispering something about the other swallowing the documents.
Next moment Rhombulus' hands were on his head. A sapphire blue beam got projected from the crystal head and froze the two guards in a transparent stone. Their surprise was perfectly sealed.
- When we're done, you're gonna unfreeze them, right? - Star asked while trying to push away one of the crystals.
- Definitely - Rhombulus got the other crystalized man. - When I remember. If I remember...
Inside the situation room King River, Queen Moon, Hekapoo, Omnitraxus and Lekmet sat around a wide table, on chairs with high backrest. All of them had locked their stares at Star. The attention made her forget for a moment why she was here. Scanning the room with nervous eyes, Star's gaze fell onto her mother's. Sudden anger brought back the talk she had with Rhombulus earlier.
- Members of Magical High Commission, and dad - Star looked at her father for a split second.
- Star, what are you- Queen Moon tried to interrupt her.
- Rhombulus told me what you are planning for the monsters of Mewnie. He told me that you want to hunt them all, beat them up, and lock them away.
- I never said such things! - the crystal man protested. Star thought she may have exaggerated a bit.
- But you're thinking it, don't you? You all are thinking it!
- It is for your and your people's protection, Princess! - Hekapoo crossed arms.
- What about the innocent ones? Many of them didn't follow Toffee's call to war. One even joined us in defending the castle!
- I know him. He seemed like a nice hideous creature - River supported Star. It was as much surprise to her as it was for the rest.
- Star, I understand your point, I really do - Moon spoke with calm sadness. - We wish there was another way. Better way.
- Aha! But there is! - Star energetically pointed in the air.
- Here we go... - Rhombulus sighted and rolled his eye.
- The core of the problem is Toffee, right? So we kill him, he comes back, immortality and stuff, repeat. Then we just have to take his ability to return once he's dead, right?
- And what, you know how to do this "strip him off his immortality" thing? - Omnitraxus asked impatiently.
- Yes! Well, not really - for a second Star's excitement lost some steam. - When I was Toffee's prisoner, he told me some interesting things. One of them was that his immortality was given to him by his mother.
- Mother? Some lizard with long eyelashes, pink lipstick, breasts -
- River! - Moon cut off her husband.
- Funny, I though the same - Star giggled. - But seriously, I thought about it and asked Glossaryck about Toffee's mother - she put the Book of Spells on the table. - You're never gonna believe what he told me.
- Um, some confusing riddle? This is Glossaryck we're talking about - Hekapoo shrugged shoulders.
- Wow, so true. Actually, for once, he gave me a straight answer.
Star paused. Was it because she wanted a more dramatic reveal, or because her heartbeat doubled, she had no idea. A deep breath gave her the energy to continue without thinking what storm she was going to unlock.
- It is Eclipsa. Queen of Darkness Eclipsa.
As Star expected, shock could be read all over the faces of the members of the High Commission. Even Omnitraxus' who was a giant skull. Annoyed Rhombulus just stood with arms crossed and listened.
- That is... I don't believe it! - Moon was half speechless.
- Don't believe me? Here - Star slid the magical book on the table. - Ask him yourself.
From her first attempt, the Queen turned to a pair of pages where Glossaryck lied and slept.
- Wake up, Glossaryck!
The tiny man yawned, sat and slowly stretched.
- Can't an all-powerful, all-knowing magical man get some sleep around here?
- Glossaryck. Is Eclipsa Toffee's mother? - Moon emphasized each word.
- What? Ah, yes, sure. Toffee and Eclipsa were one happy... - he yawned casually - ... family.
- You're serous?!
- Why didn't you tell us?! - Hekapoo's flame was burning wildly.
- You never asked - Glossaryck calmly answered.
- Really? That's your excuse?
- It's not an excuse, if it's the truth.
- Whatever.
- Glossaryck, is there any way we can stop Toffee from coming back? - Moon impatiently asked.
- I don't know. Maybe you should ask Eclipsa herself.
- Great idea! - Star clapped. - I'll go get Janna's Ouija board.
- What's an "Ouija board"? - Omnitraxus curiously asked.
- It's this game humans use to talk to the dead. You're gonna love it.
- Fascinating. But there is no need for such complex devices.
- Eh? Why not?
- Because... - Moon nervously sighted - ...Eclipsa is alive.
XXX
Morning rays of light shined inside Star's room. Wearing a not too long dark green dress, the girl grabbed the Book of Spells and left. Acting as a keeper of the book was one terms she had agreed to. With a few others conditions in mind, Star had earned a position on the trip to visit Eclipsa. It was a surprise when without any resistance Moon allowed her to come. To Rhombulus' question why she had agreed so easily, the Queen simply answered: "Even if I've stopped Star, she would still find a way to sneak in. It's better to come under our supervision, then alone."
She passed through Marco's room. He and the rest of her friends also wanted to go, each with its own reason. Buff Frog got used to the idea of protecting Star. "Dads" she thought. Kelly wanted to see this adventure through its end. Pony Head was simply excited to meet the evil queen. Marco wanted to make sure Star won't do anything stupid. The Princess could not decide if he was overprotective or just cared too much. When she had to convince the boy and the rest to stay, her semi-repressed feeling did not helped.
The royal courtyard wore the scars of a battle. Mewnian soldiers were busy asserting damages from the siege, and cleaning up whatever they could. Star was greeted by her mother. Lekmet, Rhombulus, Hekapoo and Omnitraxus were already waiting impatiently.
Queen Moon was glad to see Star sticking to their agreement. Lastly, two mewnian knights joined up. The Princess recognized them as men from the Royal Guard, whatever was left of it. River had to stay and watch over the castle, so he had convinced his wife to have some personal guard for their only daughter. Again, Star found them redundant.
Moon told Rhombulus they are ready to go. A confirmation came from him, followed by pulling out a pair of dimensional scissors. The rift he opened looked different from what Star was used to seeing. The Chancellor entered first, escorted by Rhombulus. Hekapoo and Omnitraxus followed them. Star gave her mother a puzzled look. The Queen responded with a sigh and a nod. With careful steps and holding the book with both hands, she passed through the whirling portal.
On the other side a familiar landscape of sharp crystals welcomed Star. The Princess was too consumed by the view to notice the Royal Guard joining her. After all, the last time she saw this side of Rhombulus' dimension was through the transparent walls of a crystal. Next to Star, Moon was looking around with narrowed eyes.
- Some of the crystals have... melted?
- They all are on the fritz! - Rhombulus said and closed the rift. - Who knows how many criminals are running around freely.
- Some of them probably deserve to be free - Star whispered to her mother.
Suddenly the Queen's serious expression got replaced by a horrified one.
- Eclipsa!
A shocking realization struck Star and the rest. If the Queen of Darkness was also unfrozen, then the almost impossible task of finding and capturing her awaited.
The High Commission, led by Rhombulus, dashed at the entrance, shaped by two giant crystals. Star was ready to follow them, but Moon raised a hand and stopped her. Conflicting thoughts ran through the girl's mind about whether to listen to her mother or not.
In the end the decision didn't matter as the Magical High Commission did not get through the entrance.
Two creature jumped from behind the crystals and blocked the path to the rest of the dimension. One of them had round body and three heads, each with different expression, and supported by long neck of its own. The other had a masculine body, wore a pair of bat-like wings, and a face of a cat.
Star stepped behind Rhombulus and whispered at him:
- Who are those guys?
- If it isn't Rhombulus and his all-knowing gut. What a surprise - the round creature spoke through one of his heads.
- That's Rogg, Bogg and Togg - Rhombulus explained. - For a monster with three heads, they're not very smart.
- And he brought his friends from the Magical High Commission. Very nice - the cat man continued.
- And that's Mr. Fluffles. He likes wool balls - the crystal man's remark made Star laugh. He turned at the two creatures. - Guys, what do you want? We're kinda in a hurry.
- You've froze us for hundreds of years! - the middle head yelled.
- And now we're gonna destroy you, take your scissors, and rule the universe! - the cat man raised his clenched paw.
- Look, after we talk to Eclipsa you can have your -
- You're gonna unfreeze the Queen of Darkness?! - all three heads were shocked.
- Mew no! If she is going to be awake, then I don't wanna be here! - the cat monster's voice trembled!
- Me too. Quickly! Crystalize us again! - one of the heads suggested.
- Yes, yes! We'll even make it easy for you - the cat man hugged his fellow creature.
- Um, OK. But can you move out of the way?
The monsters nodded and steeped next to one of the crystal walls, freeing the exit. Rhombulus put his snake hands on the forehead and blasted the creatures. A sapphire colored crystal surrounded both of them, freezing Rogg, Bogg, Togg and Mr. Fluffles together.
- Tell me, why did you freeze them in the first place? - Star asked.
- My gut told me they are evil. - Rhombulus continued to lead the way. - And they lost a little girl's doll.
XXX
Not all crystals had melted from the magical leakage. Rhombulus made a remark that the stronger the crystals were, the less they were affected. That still left him with dozens of creature running around his dimension, and even more half unfrozen.
Halfway through the walk of a reflective cliff, Star saw a melted edge peeking in the distance. Several seconds later, a bigger, wider part of the crystal revealed itself, with a shadowy figure inside. The closer they were getting the clearer the crystal became, and the thinner the cliff got.
Rhombulus' theory received another proof when the party reached their goal.
In a row of two, the members of the Commission stopped, with the Princess right behind her mother. A few meters away from the end of the cliff, a woman with curly dark green hair stood frozen in a crystal prison. The tapestry Star had seen not too long ago was a perfect match. She also noticed how young the Queen of Darkness was and wondered what a woman like her had to do to get frozen for hundreds of years.
Queen Moon stepped forward and approach the crystalized prison. Her doubtful reflection was clearly visible even from where Star was standing.
- Do it - the Queen ordered.
- You sure about this? - Rhombulus approach her.
- Just the head. We're here to talk, not to grant her amnesty.
The crystal man raised his hands. A beam from his forehead slowly started to melt Eclipsa's prison from the top. When her neck was free, he stopped.
A moment passed, before the woman took a loud deep breath. Second later Rhombulus projected another beam and froze her again.
- Rhombulus! What the heck? - Star managed to yell at him before the others.
- She was about to turn us into goats! You all saw it! - the crystal man tried to defend himself. Then he realized something and with embarrassment turned at the Chancellor. - Not that there is anything wrong with it, Chancellor.
- She wasn't going to... - Moon sighted. - Just... just let me talk to Eclipsa.
A bit irritated, Rhombulus repeated the unfreezing process. Once Eclipsa's head was free, she continued taking a breath, and several more. The woman turned at Rhombulus with an offended look.
- How very rude of you, Rhombulus.
- Rude?! - she triggered him. - You know what I have-
- Shut it! - Hekapoo raised a finger at him.
With hands behind his back, Rhombulus lowered his head and went back to Lekmet. Star felt a little sorry for the crystal man.
Eclipsa threw a quick look at each of the visitors. Her eyes stopped at the silver-haired woman in front of her.
- You're the current queen of Mewnie?
- That's right, Eclipsa. I am Moon Butterfly.
- How long was I frozen?
- Three hundred years.
The Queen of Darkness paused. Her eyes were staring in the distance, trembling. Star decided to cheer her up.
- Hey, grand-grand-grand-grand... - she stepped joyfully next to Rhombulus.
- Star! - Moon gave her an angry look.
- Sorry. Hi, gran-gran!
- Gran...gran? - puzzled, Eclipsa's attention shifted at Star. - Who are you, my child?
- That is Star Butterfly, my daughter - Moon gave a cold answer.
- Delighted to meet you, Star Butterfly. I see you brought a mewnian monster with you. Is he a friend of yours?
Failure to understand Eclipsa was written of High Commission's faces. Star did not get it either. "Is Buff Frog following us? I bet Marco put him to this."
The girl wanted to turn around and look for the toad man, but somebody pushed her sideways. She fell head first on the crystal ground and nearly dropped the Book of Spells. Looking up, Star saw one of the guards running past the Rhombulus and Hekapoo. The armored man made one step and his sabatons changed into dark boots. With the next step his body armor morphed from a shining plate into a rough leather. Then the mewman head melted into a serpent face with purple marks on it.
Fast as ever, the shape-shifter was already next to Moon, with a dagger in his right hand. But instead of attacking the Queen, the serpent leaped away. He prepared the blade for a strike at the half frozen woman.
A sapphire blue beam reached him first and almost instantly locked him in an eternal prison. The newly formed crystal stopped midair and fell on the ground, leaving a sounding echo.
Except for Eclipsa, everybody was still shocked from the failed assassination attempt.
- Well... we found our shape-shifting spy - Omnitraxus broke the silence.
- Spy? - the half frozen woman raised an eyebrow.
- This - Moon waved a hand at the crystalized creature. - This is what Toffee is trying to do. He wants to kill the royal family and get rid of all mewmans.
The Queen's words made Eclipsa's eyes widen.
- You know who Toffee is, don't you Eclipsa?
- He is my monster son. But if you are here, then you already know that.
Neither Star, nor the High Commission were surprised. Dark thoughts flooded her mind, and she couldn't help it. Eclipsa noticed the Princess was getting gloomy.
- Oh, don't worry, my child. He is adopted. Can you imagine giving birth to such creature?
- Then why do something so awful as making him immortal? - irritated, Star asked.
- Do you have any idea how many times the Queen and the Princess killed him? And he always comes back! - Hekapoo was also angry.
- Toffee was supposed to succeed me, not go against the royal family! - Eclipsa sighted. - All I wanted was to one day see mewmans and monsters live together, instead of constantly going to war against each other. You know that this is not such a wild dream, don't you, Star?
- Um... - she caught Star off guard. The girl felt the High Commission's gazes locking onto her.
- But my life is of a mortal one, and the inhabitants of Mewnie needed a lot of time to accept the change. So, with the help of my husband, we fled, raised Toffee as our successor, and granted him the gift of eternal life. He was supposed to continue our deed for the good of Mewnie.
A vague memory surfaced in Star's mind. From back when she and Buff Frog were helping at the mewman city. He had mentioned a legend about a creature, destined to unite all monster and mewmans.
- Unfortunately, Toffee never really accepted our ideas and he betrayed us. Thanks to him, my husband lost his life and I was forced out of hiding. Then the Magical High Commission came after me and three hundred years later, here I am.
- I am sorry to hear that - Moon said saddened. - But since then, Toffee has become stronger, a bigger threat to our people. Isn't there some way we can stop him for good?
- I can open you a portal to where Toffee's real body is. Destroy it, and he will be no more.
Star was amazed by how casually Eclipsa offered a solution to the unstoppable threat the Queen of Darkness had created.
- That's it? - Rhombulus stared at her with disbelieve.
- It won't be easy. Due to the nature of the spell I've casted on Toffee, only a member of the Butterfly family can enter.
- It's fine - Moon used her left hand to set up the right gauntlet in place. - I've killed him before, I will do it again.
- I'm afraid I'm going to need your help with keeping the portal open and stable. The only person who can go inside is your daughter.
- You just made that up! - Hekapoo yelled.
- Absolutely not! - the Queen waved her arms in disagreement. - I'm not leaving my only child alone with that treacherous monster even for-
- Mom! - Star ran next to Moon. - I can do this! Like you, I've also have defeated Toffee before.
- No! There must be another way!
Right now, the Princess needed to her mother to calm down and listen. She dropped the book and grabbed the silver-haired woman's hands. A sad smile grew on her face.
- This time, there is none - she tilted her head at the High Commission. - They know it, - then, at Eclipsa - she knows it. We both know it.
- But Star, you don't have your wand! - worry twinkled in Moon's eyes. - And you still haven't learned how to use magic without it.
- The wand is gone? Where is it? - Eclipsa interrupted them.
- I used the Whispering spell to blow Toffee with it. Twice.
- Oh, dear. Then you're gonna need help, my child - the half frozen woman paused for a moment. - Take the Book of Spells with you. Glossaryck will guide you on how to stop Toffee.
- I find that hard to believe - Star expressed her doubt.
- So now Glossaryck can go, but we can't? - Hekapoo crossed her arms.
- He is the one who helped me with the spell - Eclipsa simply explained.
All of the sudden Moon wrapped her hands around Star and pressed her with all the strength she had. The Princess' surprise went away and she hugged her back. Everybody was silent.
- I really hate to do this to you, Star.
The girl did not understand what her mother meant. Moon broke the embrace. She shifted both hands on Star's shoulders and looked at her with concern and determination.
- You have to promise me. If Toffee is too powerful to stop, you will return to me.
- I promise.