Abduction
"The Scarlet Hand is advancing." The Widow Crow landed in camp, on one of the weapon racks, in front of the entire fencing class. She preened her feathers as the sentence sunk into the listeners' ears. She sighed as pandemonium broke out. "For once I'd like to deliver some good news." She grumbled.
Charming shouldered his way through the crowd and planted himself in front of the crow. "Are you sure?" He demanded.
The crow wished dearly that she could roll her eyes. "Saw it with my own two eyes. I give it about an hour and a half, then they'll be knocking on our door."
Sabrina dashed forwards. "Damn. They're at it again? But it's only been a week!"
"Battle knows no time." The Widow pointed out sagely.
"No, but men sure do." Sabrina muttered. Around her, the crowds pushed, trying to gear up and be ready for war before Charming issued orders.
"Hey, cool it." Puck snapped as someone shoved him aside to reach for their weapon. "Running around will only make you impale yourself." The fairy had been short tempered and withdrawn ever since Wendell had died. Neither Mustardseed nor Sabrina were able to reach him.
The man stuttered, and took greater care in his running.
Puck strode up to Sabrina and Charming. "Where's everyone else? We have a war council. Where are they?"
Charming eyed Puck like he was a wild animal. Something untamed, crazy. Unpredictable. "You have to give it time to gather. We've known for all of two minutes."
"Cut it out, Puck." Sabrina snapped. She was tired of the fairy bullying people. He wasn't the only one grieving. "Ever since Wendell died, you've been a right pain in the butt. I miss him too. But yelling at everyone won't bring him back."
Puck looked down at her, his face hardening. "Nothing will. I know that. Contrary to whatever you think, I'm not an idiot."
"Then stop acting like one!" Sabrina yelled. Her hands curled into balls at her hips, and she leaned forwards, telling the fairy off like she had wanted to for days.
"When this stops, I'll stop!" Puck roared, his hands waving. "Don't you see? We're too soft. If we had been harder, more of us might be alive."
"Idiot!" Sabrina fairly spat the word, ignoring the crowd gathering around them, watching the argument. "If we had been harder, how many would have deserted? We were doing twelve hour days. You might be a fairy with a truckload of energy, but most of us aren't. We wouldn't have been able to go-"
"Go win?" Puck laughed hollowly. He too ignored their audience. "We were slaughtered, Grimm. Killed like dogs. We would have been no better off."
"Then why be harder?"
"WE WOULD HAVE SAVED LIVES!" Puck bellowed.
"The Scarlet Hand would have run us over. Made us all slaves. We knew the risks. You or I could be buried just as easily as one of them." Sabrina shouted back. "Get over yourself!"
"I'm not thinking about me!" Puck glared. "I'm talking about Wendell. Alan A Dale. Rick. They're dead."
"And fighting is bringing them back, I suppose?" Sabrina screeched. "This is pointless. We're not doing anything." Her voice quieted. "Go away. Come back when you're Puck." She turned and disappeared into the crowd, heading to get her sword.
Puck stood still, shell shocked. He and Sabrina had never fought to that magnitude. Ever. He wondered how bad he must have been before shoving the thought away. Grimm was just being unreasonable. That had to be it. Right?
~Sisters Grimm~
"We can't make battle plans without seeing their formation. That's what got us last time. Rather than the neat rectangle we were expecting, they were split up into three wings, like we were." Charming announced to his assembled warriors. "And their army was quite a bit larger than ours. As many as we lost, I believe we were able to take out a large fraction of their own fighters. That should help us win today."
Sabrina stood on his right, surveying the crowd. They weren't entirely sold on Charming's speech. But what could she do? They didn't want more speeches. They needed to win. She had to kill as many as possible. She looked up, and realized that the prince knew this too. His jaw was set, one arm clasping a helmet to his side. Sabrina reached up and touched her hair bun. Letting her hair hang loose during a battle could kill her. She knew that when she was fourteen. An enemy could creep up behind her and jerk her to the ground, killing her as she fell.
Her eyes sought Puck out in the crowd. He was glowering at her, eyebrows drawn tightly together, mouth pulled downwards. His eyes met Sabrina's, and a flicker of apology passed in them. Then it was gone.
She stood up straighter, glad that her bruise was gone. One of the nurses had healed it a day after the battle. It might have proved fatal. She could barely walk the day she had gotten it. She certainly wouldn't have been able to pull off her usual style if she had been bent over in pain half the time.
"I have rearranged the troops." Charming continued. "We are now more spread out. I want you to divide yourselves up according to your numbers and strengths."
That was smart of him, Sabrina noted. The soldiers would feel more in control and calmer if they knew they had played a part in the strategy. They would have more confidence in themselves than a prince, that much was certain.
She watched as the crowd began to split up. Charming turned to her. "We need five generals. You and me, obviously. Mustardseed, Henry and Snow?" He suggested.
"Yeah. Sounds right. What set of troops do I get?"
"Right wing. I think you can employ your guerilla war craft techniques from there before you really join the fray."
Sabrina smiled. "Sounds great."
~Sisters Grimm~
"Charming's plan didn't quite work out." Sabrina muttered, ducking as a huge club tried to smash her. The giant pig man only managed to knock down two of his own before Sabrina beheaded him.
"No kidding." A nameless face, but one that she recognized, popped up beside her, dancing with a dagger.
Sabrina spared the breath she would have wasted by answering, choosing to instead slash a wizard with red glowing hands across the chest. More kept pressing in around her, closing in as she fought. It wasn't as desperate as it had been the last time, but this was no picnic either.
Screaming and shouting still filled her ears, and more than once she had almost slipped on bright, fresh, red blood. She ignored it. The only thing she could do to change it was fight it. And she was fighting as hard as she could.
Several hours had passed, and she could feel her sword swipes slowing, her hand to hand packing less power. Usually she could go for eight hours straight. Curse them! They would pick the day that she had had less than six hours of sleep before hand.
A screech, high pitched and resounding sounded out behind her. Against her better instincts, Sabrina whirled around to see the person she had been talking to less than five minutes ago fall to the ground, blood pouring from a wound in her chest.
Sabrina cussed loud and long. No one was close enough to help or cover her. Puck and his fairies were at the other end of the battle field. But even as she worried, the girl drew a shuddering breath and was still.
Sabrina didn't have time to grieve, or to acknowledge much more. A shot of rage passed through her, mutating into energy with which she attacked the enemies closing in around her.
She was alone, isolated from the army, lost in a sea of Scarlet Hand members. And the fighting was becoming worse. They were packing closer and closer around her, almost lining up to fight. She grit her teeth, slashing and jabbing, injuring and killing in a deadly dance. She was keeping them at bay. But if someone didn't get here soon… She was toast.
A wave of motion passed through the tightly packed group. They were becoming still, then bowing as someone advanced towards her. Sabrina nervously readjusted the grip on her sword. They had stopped fighting too quickly, as if someone had ordered them to.
Her instincts screamed at her to bolt, but where would she go? She was surrounded. She'd have to wait.
She didn't have to wait very long. A huge ogre stepped forwards, dressed in armor with a large piece of what looked like burlap tied around his waist.
"Grimm girl." It smirked at her. Something about it tugged a corner of Sabrina's mind, but she shoved it away, studying the weapon the thing carried instead. It was a huge mace, spikes that were several inches long protruding from the head. "We fight now."
Sabrina scowled at him. She had fought bigger. And she could remember it. This thing wouldn't be as tough as he was making himself out to be. "Bring it." She raised her sword, holding it away from her at shoulder height.
The ogre lunged towards her, swiping sideways with the mace. She blocked quickly, the iron and steel of the weapons clash vibrating painfully through her arm. Sabrina ignored it, pulling her sword up quickly to try to twist the mace from its grip. The ogre knew what she was trying to do, however, and pulled away, this time slashing downwards at her head. Sabrina stepped back to avoid it.
On and on they went, both trying their hardest to disarm and defeat the other. The crowd around them chanted 'Kill! Kill! Kill!'. Sweat trickled down Sabrina's face. The monster had stopped smirking, and his own face was glowing with heat.
The two opponents circled each other warily. Sabrina was revolving in a slow circle when her ankle caught in a hollow from a missed swing of the mace. With a cry she fell, just as the ogre swung his mace again. Sloppily, Sabrina blocked it, but the angle was off. Her sword, the one she had carried since she fought in her first battle, shattered. The metal broke off, splintering as it fell. Sabrina squeaked in horror, looking at the stump in her hand. She reached for a dagger just as the ogre smiled and raised his mace.
"Nighty-night." He leered, before driving the butt of his weapon down onto her head.
Sabrina saw stars, then the world faded out, the victorious cries of the crowd dying as she drowned in a pool of darkness.
The ogre smiled and untied the burlap from his waist. He tossed it to someone in the crowd. "Shove her in that. The boss will be pleasantly surprised tonight."
He watched, amusement flickering in his features, as several people scurried out from the crowd and shoved the limp body, bleeding from the head, into the sack. A troll advanced and slung the sack over his shoulder. He grunted to the ogre.
"Fall back! Retreat!" The ogre called. They had no more need for war today. The Scarlet Hand had got what they came for today.
~Sisters Grimm~
"They're running!" The shout sounded out from the army. Puck smiled grimly. Fleeing targets were easier to hit than those that fought back. He whirled, killing anything in his path, working out his frustration from the argument and Wendell's death. He had already more than paid the army back for it, but he was nothing if not generous.
A cheer rose up from his group of fighters as they beat back the Scarlet Hand. Puck didn't want it to end yet. He wasn't done hacking and stabbing. He followed the Scarlet Hand.
~Sisters Grimm~
Hours later, Puck flew back into camp, his tired wings barely beating, a smile stretched across his face. The rest of the army was already back.
He landed, and was immediately hit upside the head by Mustardseed, who was right next to him.
"Ow. What was that for?" The fairy protested, rubbing the sore spot.
"How could you?" Mustardseed looked livid. "We were already worried. Why did you suddenly decide to go on a joy flight for hours?"
"I got a lot of them." Puck grinned, feeling alive for the first time in a while.
"That's not the point." Mustardseed hit him again. "Unless you don't know?" He asked, freezing, his hand raised to hit his brother again.
"Know what?" Puck asked cheerfully. "C'mon, hurry up. I need to go find Grimm so she can beg forgiveness for arguing with me. And to tell her of my most marvelous wonderful self." He puffed out his chest slightly.
"Puck," Mustardseed paused, then continued. "Sabrina isn't here."
"She's still fighting?" Puck asked.
"No. She's… Gone." Mustardseed explained carefully. "She wasn't among the dead or wounded. Puck, she's gone."
~Sisters Grimm~
Am I the most evil writer ever or what?
Thank you for your numerous and wonderful reviews! They were very encouraging, and the main reason you got a chapter this week. I've been working at a camp all week, and it shouldn't be as exhausting as it is.
Also, this Thursday is my birthday! Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me! I'm going to be… Wait for it… Sixteen! Yep, the day before Independence Day, I was born. You can give me a review for my sweet sixteen. Please?
Review replies:
Guest: What do you want to know about getting a fanfiction account? Basically, you need an email address, a username and a password. Let me know what else you want to know!
Your review didn't sound like an 'All About Me' poster. I asked about the rabbits, you answered. Hardly a me, me, me! Thing.
Reviewers aren't usually mean. But that chapter where I made Puck pass out at the end? Someone called me a mean name (and I left it on the reviews. They wanted to say it, let them look like jerks), so I wasn't sure of what to expect for this chapter.
Mrs. S: Well, the war is going to end soon. I won't give anything else away, but that is definitely going to happen soon. Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!
Hailey: Tell you what: I'll make your idea into a short story. Not a one-shot, but not a fully fledged story either. But here are the twerks: It will be a spin off of this story. The guy will be Pinocchio (because I can't bring myself to ship anyone else with Daphne). The dater won't have been Sabrina, but one of Daphne's friends. Also, since it is a spin off and a short story, the Scarlet Hand won't be rising again. But, other than my multiply and heavy changes, it will stay the same, okay?
Please review!
'Til next time!
-The Irish Lass
