I own nothing.
Princess Emma woke in the middle of the night with a feeling of dread in her heart. What was wrong? Then she remembered. She had promised Garten Longtreader that his bird could take her away. Away to Morbin. Emma could not imagine a grimmer fate, but if she wasn't there, Cloud Mountain and everyone she loved would be destroyed.
She took a deep breath and set about getting dressed. She put on the Green Ember, and placed Garten's whistle in her pocket. She thought of her brother, how he gave his life to the cause. Now she was about to do the same.
She opened the door and walked down the dark hallway. As she passed Heather's door, she felt a deep stab of sadness. Oh, my dear sister, how sorry I am for what you'll find in the morning, Emma thought.
She began to have second thoughts. What if everyone could be saved after all? But how could they escape, with the other half of Morbin's army lurking near, very near…
Emma shook herself. I must put these thoughts aside, she told herself firmly. I'm giving everything I can to the cause, so that my friends canlive and be free. It's the right thing to do.
She snuck past the guards and through the tunnels until she came to the standing stones. As she exited the caves she took a torch from the wall.
She was very sad and grieved at what she was about to do – but believed with all her heart that it was the right choice. Using her torch she located the seventh standing stone.
Slowly she climbed the stairs circling around and around. She dreaded having to blow the whistle; dreaded the moment when the bird's talons would close around her body; dreaded the terrors that awaited her at the High Bleaks. But it had to be done. There was no alternative.
As she emerged onto the top of the stone, she gazed towards Cloud Mountain, the home she'd always known, where all her friends were. A tear dropped onto her dress. But she held the rest back and turned to face the forbidding mountains ahead of her. As she steadied herself and prepared to blow the whistle when a shout rang out through the darkness behind her.
"Emma! You must not do this!"
Heather. Emma's dearest friend. She determined not to change her resolves as she turned toward the voice. Heather was on the sixth stone.
Emma sighed sadly. "My dear Heather, there is nothing else I can do."
"You can live. And fight."
Emma could hear the grief in her friend's voice, but she knew there was no other way. "This is my way of fighting."
"No, Emma," Heather protested. "No!"
"Go back Heather. Leave me to do what I must," Emma said, though it broke her heart.
"You must not surrender yourself. You cannot!"
"I can lay down what is mine," Emma replied.
Even in the gloomy fog Emma could see Heather's frown. "You sound like Bleston. The queenship you'll have – your inheritance – it's not your own property. It's not something you can trade or give away as you see fit. It's a duty, a calling, not a possession!"
"So I may order countless rabbits to their deaths – defending and protecting me – but I may not lay my own life down?" Emma asked, a little indignantly.
"Not like this," Heather said. "No, my dear, not like this. You may not. Even royal heirs must know their limits."
"But Heather, it's settled," Emma replied, fighting back the tears that threatened to overcome her. "If I'm not here to be carried off when Garten's bird comes, they will turn this place to rubble.
Everyone will be killed. I'm not a fool, Heather. They can do it, and they will."
"But if you're gone, what hope do we have?" Heather asked.
"You'll carry on, Heather," Emma told her. "You'll find a way to continue the struggle. You'll survive."
"Emma, you're wrong. You are the last link we have to our hope. If you are gone, then the cause is truly lost. The Mended Wood is ended in our hearts. We may survive – may remain alive – but how many of those who swore to die for you tonight would choose a life of cowering in a world without hope? I do not choose that. Please don't make this choice for us all," Heather pleaded desperately.
"There's no right way now," Emma said. She raised the whistle to her lips. "It's all darkness and mist."
"Don't Emma!" Heather cried.
The princess blew a long, shrill note on the whistle. It echoed back in shrill, high tones. She watched as Heather staggered back. A shriek pierced the night air.
"It's a good thing, Heather," Emma tried to sooth her friend. "I want you to see that I choose this. It's not a bad way to end."
"Don't do this Emma!"
"It's done, my dear," Emma said as she raised her torch high. "You bear the flame in your way, and I'll bear it in mine."
Another shriek. Closer.
Emma smiled bravely. "It's all right, Heather. I know how I'm going to die."
"I don't know how I'm going to die," Heather said, backing to the far side of the sixth standing stone. "But I know how I'm going to live."
Emma's eyes widened as Heather burst into a run and leapt over the gap between the standing stones. Heather shoved the princess hard, at the same time grasping the emerald at her neck. Emma fell with a shocked scream, landing hard on the ground below. Although her ankle was twisted, she scrambled up and tried to see Heather. With a gasp, she watched as the hawk, with a shriek, extended his talons and carried Heather off.
Emma bent over with grief, sobbing, crying, weeping. She couldn't believe it. Heather, her best friend, had sacrificed herself for Emma. Though it seemed like hours, it was really only minutes before Picket came to stand beside her.
"Carried off!" Emma sobbed. "it was meant to be me!"
Without a word Picket ran up the steps of the standing stone. Emma hobbled up after him – both rabbits hoping to catch one last glimpse of her. Finally they saw a silhouette – black against the moon.
It made Emma's eyes fill with tears afresh. Heather was carried off, she thought. Carried off.
