Slannen was a green blur as he scrambled frantically back and forth barricading his door and windows in case his loopy, singing neighbours decided to barge in.
He'd apparently done this several times before, for he was finished in under a minute.
"Sorry about that," he apologised to his guests. "You know how all Elves are forced to sing and dance?"
"The Elfin restrictions Sir Edgar passed," answered Hattie.
"No Elf shall be engaged in any occupation other than singing, juggling... " quoted Ella.
"And/or tomfoolery," Olga finished bitterly. "That Edgar is descpicable! First, oppression and now humiliation!"
"That's right!" Slannen nodded sharply, jabbing his index finger at the floor for emphasis. "It's humiliating! It's demeaning!"
"Then what do you want to be?" asked Olive.
Slannen grew uncomfortable at Olive's question.
He bit his lip, averted his gaze, twiddled his thumbs nervously, and started drawing an imaginary line on the floor with one foot.
But remembering that these five women and their talking book seemingly went out of their way to save his life gave the Elf the courage he needed.
"I wanna be a lawyer," Slannen finally said.
A muffled cacophony of boots, jangling chains, hoofbeats, iron hinges and locks immediately disrupted the conversation.
Sensing danger, Hattie snapped her fingers and dimmes all the lights in Slannen's house.
Ella squinted through the peephole.
Outside were Edgar's soldiers rounding up Elves and forcing them onto carts in chains.
"What's going on?" she whispered.
"Edgar's soldiers are rounding up Elfin singers to perform at the coronation!" Slannen hissed back.
Ella remembered her brief meeting with Prince Char somewhere near the mall that other day.
Maybe...
"Slannen," she said to the Elf. "You've got to go to Lamia and petition the Prince!"
"For what?" Slannen cocked his head to one side, as though Ella had grown an extra head.
"To go to law school!" clarified Hattie.
"You've got to stop this!" agreed Olga.
"We're going to Giantville," Olive cut in. "It's on the way. Come with us!"
Slannen crossed his arms and shook his head. "The Prince will never grant an audience with an Elf. They think we're a joke!"
"I've met Prince Charmont," Ella objected. "And I think he might be different than his uncle."
"Lacking courage as well as height, are we?" deadpanned Benny.
Taking offense, Slannen instantly changed his tune. "Count me in! Elves aren't that short, you know!"
Mandy volunteered to check whether the coast was clear.
The Fairy wriggled up through Slannen's chimney, the pitch black soot camouflaging her perfectly in the darkness.
Once she gave the all clear, the group resumed their journey with their newest member.
The following morning, Slannen shared with them that the stereotype of all Elves being short originated with the Grimm Brothers story, The Elf And The Shoemaker.
Olga pressed her lips together tightly.
She saw this as nothing more than Sir Edgar's discriminatory propaganda disguised as a popular children's story.
He was brainwashing the children of Frell into spreading his toxic mindset.
Soon, future generations will be continuing Edgar's diabolical work long after he is gone.
Everyone halted when they heard Mandy scream.
It all happened so fast.
All they saw was the Fairy squirming on the ground with a pair of bolas wrapped around her arms and waist.
That was when the Ogres emerged.
Large, brutish-looking humanoids surrounded them from all sides, armed with crude weapons and an appetite for human flesh.
"I am the Ogre, Nish," rumbled their leader, picking up Mandy with one hand. "How do you like to be eaten? Baked, boiled, shish-kebabbed?"
Ella was about to answer, but a telepathic message from Olga stopped her.
"Ella, no! Put both your hands up and stay silent!"
Another one, from Hattie.
"We can't fight our way out of this one without risking Mandy's life!"
A third, from Olive.
"Do these guys ever bathe? I hope they don't try to marinate us in their B.O.!"
At least half an hour passed since Ella, her stepfamily, and her friends were bound with their backs to the trunk of a great oak tree.
Olive was looking rather green around the gills from the thought of being served up as an Ogre's brunch and resisting the stench wafting from their captors' unwashed armpits.
Ella couldn't help but overhear Nish talking with the other Ogres.
"Humans took everything from us!" Nish snarled in disgust.
Ella felt sorry for Nish.
Judging from the way he talked, Ella wondered whether Nish might have once been a nice and friendly Ogre.
But at some point in time, something horrible must've happened to him.
Her eyes darted to the small handbags belonging to her stepfamily.
Some other inquisitive Ogres were busily rummaging through them.
Despite their small size, the handbags were magical and could store much more items than their outward appearance would suggest.
The evidence lay in the already massive mountain of broken stuff looming behind the Ogres.
Ogres were much stronger and tougher than the bandits they encountered.
Even with their magic powers, Olga, Hattie, and Olive needed many of those items (now rendered useless by the Ogres' rough handling) if they wanted to fight their way out.
Was this the end of the road?
A horse's sharp neigh shattered the ambient silence as Prince Char and his men thundered in, riding their mounts hard.
Nish and his Ogres were caught completely by surprise.
Even so, their thick hides and brute strength gave Prince Char's cavalry a tough fight.
With speed that belied his sheer bulk, Nish charged at the Prince's steed, tackling the horse and sending it crashing to the ground.
Prince Char managed to jump off the saddle just in time, rolling to a stop once he hit the dirt.
Four of his men kept the hulking Nish occupied, giving Char an opportunity to free Ella and her companions.
A slash from his sword and the ropes slackened, falling limply at their feet.
Olga, Hattie, and Olive joined in the fight, tag-teaming with Char and his men as they retaliated against the Ogres.
Mandy clutched Benny tight as she hovered above the fight and saw a spear lying near where Ella was standing.
"Ella," shouted Mandy. "Grab that spear!"
"Use it!" yelled Benny.
Ella quickly gripped the shaft tightly with both hands, wielding its gleaming double-edged blade at one end.
Slannen stood a ways back behind her, barking out various instructions to lunge, parry, and swing whenever he saw an Ogre stomping her way.
With his help, Ella had managed to hold her own twice already.
This time against an opponent easily five times her size and with no compunctions of having her for dinner.
With help from the three Witches, Prince Char finally gained the upper hand.
He disarmed Nish and pointed the tip of his sword at him.
Knowing he was beaten, the Ogre put his hands up in surrender. "Truce! Truce! Can't we just get along?"
"Are you one of the monsters who killed my father?" glared Prince Char, keeping his grip steady.
"King Florian was a good man," Nish answered quickly and with sorrow. "We lived in peace during his reign. Why would we kill him?"
"I'll spare your lives where you didn't spare his," Prince Char replied. "You take your friends and find breakfast elsewhere."
The Ogres obeyed without question, leaving with empty stomachs but lucky to be alive.
With the drama well and truly over, Prince Char walked over to Ella.
"You know, we really got to stop meeting each other like this."
Prince Char was more interested in Olga, Hattie, and Olive, the trio of Witches who assisted them in driving off the Ogres and were now tending to the wounded.
"I've always thought Witches were nothing more than stories," the Prince commented as Olga helped treat some of his injured men. "I'm not sure whether anyone in living memory has ever seen one in the flesh."
"You have now, Your Highness," Olga replied, keeping her voice even.
Ella and her stepsisters could tell that, although Prince Char was a decent young man who'd just saved their lives, Olga clearly does not enjoy being in the presence of the Royal Family who widowed her and left Hattie and Olive without a father.
Despite the tension, Prince Char offered to go with them to Giantville.
Since he and his men were headed for Lamia, they could afford to stop by on the way.
Char's men were fiercely loyal to him.
Even if they had anything against Witches, the very fact that Olga and her daughters had helped them and tended their wounds was a good enough reason for them to accept them as travelling companions.
Prince Char had spare horses for them.
Ella paired up with Slannen.
Hattie with Olive.
Olga saddled up by herself, keeping a close eye on the Prince.
As they trotted down the trail, Ella talked with Prince Char.
She told him about Slannen wanting to become a lawyer and the unfair laws against the Elves.
"It's not like I asked to be King," Char sighed. "I've had no say in the matter."
"You're about to become King and you don't even care!" Ella glared at Prince Char. "Well, thanks to your uncle, there are a lot of people who have no say in the matter! Nobody should be forced to do things they don't want to do! Take it from somebody who knows."
What none of them were aware of, was that Heston, Sir Edgar's snake, had hitched a ride in a satchel attached to Char's saddle.
He was sent by Edgar to keep an eye on the Prince.
Heston was closely eavesdropping on everything they said.
"Sir Edgar will want to hear of this... "
A/N
Prince Char has returned!
We haven't seen him since a couple of chapters ago!
Other characters will also be returning, so stay tuned!