Forty-Five || Rally
Mint was the eldest scion of East Heaven Kingdom. She had been taught from an early age manners befitting a monarch. She had been taught how to negotiate, how to plan, how to instruct. She had been taught how to be a leader, how to pull people together, assess your strengths and weaknesses. She had been taught how to rule.
She had not been taught to climb on top of fountains to make her point, but Mint had always had a flair for improvisation.
"Hey!"
The townsfolk were still milling outside of their homes, talking in nervous whispers and hushed tones, moving through the rubble. Moving the rubble itself; she could see a number of more industrious townsfolk trying to clear out some of the larger pieces of debris.
Mint had been taught how to rule. She had been taught how to be a queen. And of all the lessons she had been given, one of the few she hadn't bothered discarding out of hand was that the queen should not be ignored.
She raised the halo in front of her, charged the air within it, and shouted again, "Hey! Everyone!"
The ring amplified her voice tenfold, blasting her message across town square and ceasing all conversation at once. All eyes turned upon her as she stood on the top rim of the courtyard fountain, her ring glowing faintly as she charged it with magic. She raised it over her head, trailing a thin line of light with the motion.
"Right! Yes! Look at me, thank you!"
She suppressed some of the magic working through the halo, and when she continued speaking, it was not quite so loud.
"Listen," she said. "We're in a situation here."
"You think!" somebody shouted. She ignored them.
"Trap Master's going to be back," she said. "He isn't bluffing. We all know he isn't bluffing, and we all know what he's willing to do." She looked pointedly toward Klaus' house, but didn't bother to mention what had happened. They had all seen it; they all knew it. "That means one thing."
Nobody shouted. Nobody even really raised their voice. But she could hear snatches of conversation and words, and she put together a tapestry of conversation in her mind. She didn't much care for it.
"Handing him Prima isn't an option!"
She waited for it. Silence around her, silence through the town, and finally somebody shouted back. "Why not!"
"Because it's the wrong thing to do," she said. "He says he's looking for the Prima Doll. You know what that is?" She raised her hand to about waist height. "Little kid. You might've seen him around, hanging out with Elena? That is what he's after. A little kid. He already beat Klaus trying to get at him before. We can't just hand him over."
A ripple of agreement. A murmuring of something else.
"Besides that," she said, "that won't be the end of it. He needs Prima 'cuz the kid's got..." She considered the situation. This was delicate; she had to let them know the danger, but she wasn't quite ready to give up the nature of their quest. She didn't want to panic the town; and, perhaps more than that, she still didn't want to openly admit there was a Relic involved, or that Prima was integral to retrieving it. She knew the town had a lot of good people in it, but if they managed to kick Doll Master and his entourage out of town, it wouldn't do for somebody else with a bad idea to come forward instead. Still, she could tell the truth.
More or less.
"Magic," she said. "He's got some kind of magic Doll Master could exploit, and let me tell you this– doesn't matter how cooperative you are. If Doll Master gets his hands on that, that's not the end of the trouble. Things'll get a hell of a lot worse."
She knew it was indistinct, and worrying all on its own; she could hear a few questions about specifics, but nobody raised their voice against her point. Instead, from the base of the fountain, somebody called up, "What can we do, then?"
She looked down, and saw the trader Marcum.
She looked across the crowd, and saw others– old adventurer Graham helping the townsfolk haul away the largest chunks of rubble, Hobbs standing at the alley entrance, flanked by Jargen and Annette from the bar. The harbor master Davis had come in all the way from the docks, standing well apart from the rest of the crowd; the weapon peddler Tonio was leaning out of the window of his own home, which stood just over his shop. Mrs. Cartha stood by her inn, alongside Neil, juxtaposing the opposite side of the street, where the hotelier twins Solin and Leeson were watching. Belle and Duke and Mira had all shambled out of Klaus' home, keeping apart from the greater crowd. Nearby, not quite watching her, she saw the cathedral priest in basic robes, identifiable by the way he was lost in prayer, interrupting his vigil to comfort those who sought him for it.
Her thoughts were wheeling, trying to make sense of what came next, solidifying the plan that had been fomenting in her mind.
"That's easy," she said. "We fight."
She could hear the various responses washing through the crowd– indignation, fear, uncertainty, even whoops of agreement. A cacophony of voices rose up to protest, or object, or demand explanation, or shout their support. Mint waited for them to die down before she continued.
"Look," she said. "I know you're all used to peace. This place is out in the middle of the ocean, you're all pretty free from– you know, wars or battles or anything bad that happens on the mainland. I get that. You've all got a right to be nervous or scared 'cuz, gonna be honest, this is nuts. This is crazy. These people– these people are after us." She thumped her chest for emphasis. "Me n' Rue. And Klaus, too. None of this has anything to do with the rest of you and you're all getting dragged into it and that sucks.
"And they know that, too. They know you guys haven't had t'fight anything in a long time. They know you've got nothing to do with this and no stakes in here. They're counting on it. They think you won't fight– they think you can't fight. But, hell, you guys live in the middle of the ocean. You've got... do you know what you've got?"
She spread her arms.
"You've got this little, dinky town out here, and you've got your farms and your livestock, and you make it work. Somebody built this town to last in the middle of nothing, and there've been crazy wizards and monsters and all kinds of ludicrous things that could be knocking down your down. You all know the legends around here, right? And you still live here and keep your families here and raise your children and make your lives and next island over there's a big thousand-year-old dragon just chilling and you're totally fine with that! There's a crazy witch who lives down the road and hey, that's cool, no big deal! There are monsters in the forest and skeleton dragons underground and what do you do? You go out there and tend your fields, or defend the livestock, or, hell, some of you wander right out into the woods and kill stuff to eat, giant saber-toothed cats be damned.
"Trap Master's rough, not gonna lie. They all are. And when he says he's got friends, he's talking about monsters. Puppets. Stuff that one of your crazy wizards made a couple hundred years ago. But he thinks you're worthless, he thinks you're not a threat. You know what I think? I think he doesn't know anything about this town."
There was a stirring around her, ignited conversation. She grinned to herself. She had them.
"I've heard your own stories!" she said, her voice strident, rising to a shout. "I've seen what some of you can do! And I figure, hell, if you can live with all this crazy right on your own island – if this town can be razed by dragonfire and just fix itself up and keep right on going – if you can oust tyrannical wizards – if it can survive! – it's gonna take a lot worse than Trap Master and an army of dolls to break you!"
Cheers, applause, but not nearly as many as Mint had hoped for, and in spite of herself she felt some of her resolve wavering. It was a response, but it was a tepid one; too many people didn't know her or trust her, didn't understand the authority she wielded. Too many people were scared.
But the heavy rock crashed to the ground, and Graham leaned on the stone, chewing at the end of a pipe, looking up to Mint.
"Yer fulla shit!" he shouted. "But yer not wrong!"
"Graham!" she yelled, pointing the halo at him. He nodded to her, and she said, "Think you can teach people some basic swordfighting?"
"How much time I got?"
"Eight hours, probably."
He grinned. "Yeah, that's plenty."
Her attention snapped around. "Tonio! What kind of weapons stock you got?"
He seemed surprised to have her attention, but quickly adjusted his glasses and looked down, thinking. "A few dozen swords," he said. "A lot more daggers. I have a selection of bows, three lances, some–"
"Plenty of implements of pain!" she cried. "Can you loan them out to the town?"
"O-of course!"
"Marcum!"
"I have a few artifacts," he said. "They aren't too useful on their own, but you could probably catalyze magic through them to create traps."
"Excellent. Neil!"
"General supplies," Neil said. "People've bought most of my stock, but I still have remedies and elixirs, food as necessary, and some incendiary devices."
She stared at him. "You have explosives?"
"They're ornamental," he said. "But, properly applied..."
She grinned. "I like how you think."
"I got some good stuff!" Hobbs shouted. "You want explosives? I'll give you explosives!"
"What the hell do you even sell in your store!"
"Magic supplies," he said. "Weapons, armors, artifacts. Explosives."
She considered that. "Let me look through your stock," she said. "I'll bet we can find some things to use."
"You'll have to pay for it later!"
"Just send me the bill. Belle!"
From the back of the crowd: "What!"
"You make pretty decent veils!"
It was a statement, not a question, and it seemed to catch her off guard. After a moment of confusion, she shouted back, "Yeah I do!"
"I'm gonna need to talk t'you later!"
"Whatever!"
How enthusiastic. Mint clambered to the second tier of the fountain, splashing in the shallow water as she approached the edge again.
"This is how it's gonna go down!" she said. "I need as many of you who are able to pick up a weapon. You don't need to be good with it. Graham'll show you how to stick the pointy thing in the guy you don't like. The puppets have numbers, but they're dumb as a sack of hammers and not too threatening if you've got something to defend yourself with. Trap Master's a problem, but he's only one guy and we can handle him if we need to." Probably. "We're going to have the element of surprise on our side. Trap Master's expecting to all to roll over. Let's prove him wrong!"
"What if we can't fight?" somebody asked. The follow-up, or won't, was left unsaid.
"We're still gonna need you. Not gonna lie– this can still get dangerous, people can get hurt. We'll need the rest of you to provide medical support– transporting, treating wounds, whatever." She frowned. "We'll need a place to–"
"You can use the cathedral," the priest said, finally looking to her directly. "We'll move the pews aside to allow for more room as necessary. Hopefully we won't require all of it."
"Perfect. Everybody got the basics?"
Nods, assent, yes-ma'ams.
"Right." She clapped her hands. "First order of business though– get some sleep. It's been a rough few days and this one isn't gonna be much easier. When you're all up and at 'em, we get this started!"
She vaulted off the fountain, careful not to land in the base, and charged through the crowd. She could sense there was still an uneasy, nervous tension in the air– there was doubt, confusion, fear. But even if her speech had been insufficient, even if it had been an ass-pull, even if the people knew that and doubted their own abilities– even if it wasn't enough, they had a purpose. They had something to work for. And that grounding might just be enough.
She threaded through the crowd until she had returned to Klaus' house. Belle looked at her curiously, anticipating a conversation, but Mint's attention was all for Mira.
"Mira," she said. "I need a favor."
"Just ask."
"Elena has this little bottle of healing elixir that she got from Mel. I think we used the last of it on Klaus, and we're gonna need more. Maybe a lot more. Much as she can get from Mel. Can you pass on that message?"
"You want her to go out in the forest, where those monsters may still be waiting, to see Mel and retrieve medicine, after which she comes back through the forest where the monsters may be waiting."
Mint nodded. "Yeah, exactly."
Mira closed her eyes for a moment, exhaling. "Right," she said. "I'll go with her."
Mint almost objected, realized it was foolish, and nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. You two can handle yourselves. We just need that elixir, just in case."
"Understood."
The door to the Adler residence eased open, and Rue stepped out.
"Is that wise?" he asked. "Asking the entire town like that?"
"You got a better idea?"
"No," he said. "I don't think we have much of a choice." He paused for a moment, his eyes flicking to the ground, his lip twitching into a faint frown. Then, slowly, he looked up. "Do you have anything specific you need me to do?"
"I need you to get some sleep so you can kick some ass," she said. She thought for a moment, and added, "Which is also my plan, not gonna lie."
He nodded. "Fine. Look, tomorrow..."
"Later today," she corrected.
"Later," he said. "Just so you know, I might disappear for a little bit." When Mint cocked an eyebrow, he raised a hand and said, "There are a few things I need to take care of. For the town. I'll be back, just... if you can't find me, don't come looking. It's fine."
It seemed to her a strange thing to say, but she nodded all the same. "That's fine. Just be sure to be around when things go down."
"Yeah."
"Now what?" Duke asked.
"Now?" Mint said. "Now, we rest, and we get ready." She looked between all of them. "Not gonna lie. I need the town to rally, but they're a distraction. We're the real army. Everybody needs to be ready to do that. Belle?"
"Yeah?"
"You especially."
Belle arched an eyebrow. Mint afforded her a faint smirk.
"Element of surprise," she said.
Belle grinned wickedly.
"Not a fan of you, Mint," she said. "But I like how you think."