Chapter Three
Peach was roughly shaken awake the next morning. "Get up!" Ordered one of the sledge brothers. She staggered to her feet. Anna was already awake. "Get moving!" The sledge brother barked.
Peach began walking, yawning as she did. She looked at Anna, who was not yet completely awake yet and yawning as well. They marched for several hours, stopping only when the sun was directly over head.
Something seemed different about their group of captors, but Peach could not figure out exactly what it was until she and Anna were sitting apart from the group of minions who were eating a hearty lunch.
"There's an extra one." Peach realized suddenly.
"An extra what?" Anna asked grumpily.
"Koopa. Look." She pointed. "Yesterday there were two sledge brothers, three koopas, one goomba, and one bob-omb. Two of the koopas had red shells, and the other had a blue shell."
"And?" Anna didn't seem impressed.
"And look. Now there's that one with the yellow shell." Peach pointed.
"Yeah?" Anna said. "Well, he's coming this way."
Indeed he was. He carried with him a bundle that he handed to Anna. Then he spoke. "Now Look, I don't know which of you is which." He spoke slowly and quietly. "And neither do they. All of us are trying to find out, but for different reasons. Which is why we are heading back the long way. They don't want to show up and have to admit they don't know which of you is which."
"But why does it matter?" Anna asked.
"Because one of you was supposed to be captured, by order of King Koopa. The other's capture was Kammy's work."
"Kammy wants to capture-" The koopa silenced her.
"It would be good for you not to mention names." He said grimly.
"So why are you here?" Peach asked. "You weren't here yesterday."
"I am here to watch you." He answered. "And help Anna escape." He added.
"Well then, why would it be bad for-"
The koopa interrupted Peach. "It wouldn't be a bad thing for me to know which she is. For her. The Princess would still be here."
"But if you can't tell which of us is which, then both of us will stay captured." Anna said.
"Anna is not to reach Koopa Castle." The koopa said.
Suddenly Peach understood. This was an ally- of sorts. He was saying that he was here to rescue Anna, but if he couldn't figure out which one she was, he would simply take them both. "Thanks for the food." She said, hoping Anna would not pursue the conversation.
She didn't. "Yeah, I thought you guys were trying to starve us."
The koopa shrugged. "No point in that. I know Kamek teaches better than that."
"Oh!" Anna said softly to herself.
"What?" Peach asked. Anna simply shook her head.
"If you will excuse me." The koopa said. "I would hate to attract attention." He slipped away from them.
"What?" Peach again, after he was out of hearing distance.
"I just realized, he's the ninjakoopa from my dream." Anna said. "Kamek sent him."
"To rescue you?" Peach asked.
Anna shrugged. "We are related, but I don't know if that would make any difference. It's probably more to mess with Kammy's plans than for my sake."
"You really think so?" Peach asked. It was sad to think that family meant nothing to Anna and her relatives.
"Probably. Either way works, as long as I don't have to face the wrath of Kammy." Anna said with a shudder.
"Is it hard?" Peach asked.
"What?" Anna asked a little too quickly.
"That they're related to you, and each other, and it means nothing to them." Peach explained.
Anna shrugged. "Well, see I didn't really know I was related to either of them until mom asked Kamek to take me on as his student. He didn't want to until she said something about him owing her that at least. And then I didn't find out about Kammy being my aunt until about a year or so later, when I got caught in one of their nastier arguments." She sighed. "I mean, I don't really think of them as family either, Kammy was just someone to avoid, and Kamek, well, Kamek was my teacher, not really anything more. I mean, our relationship was no different from his relationship with any of the other people he worked closely with." Anna was silent for a moment. "Sometimes though, it's hard to know that they are brother and sister, and grew up together, and hate each other as much as they do."
The lunch break was soon over, and they were soon on the road once again. Peach was exhausted. They had been marching since yesterday afternoon with little rest, and Peach was simply not used to it. Judging by Anna's weary expression, she wasn't used to walking this much either.
A voice from behind made Peach jump. "There is a village a day's walk from here." He said. "By tonight we will be camping near the path leading to it."
"Why are you telling me this?" Peach asked.
"I am instructed to help Anna escape," he said, "not rescue you both and escort you personally back to your castle."
"You speak as if you know which I am." Said Peach nervously. "Are you sure?"
"I have my suspicions, and the parts of your conversations I have overheard are not helping to dispel them." He said grimly. "You two would be wise to be more cautious."
"How is Kamek?" Peach asked, hoping to startle him into a change of topic. He was almost certain she was herself, but perhaps she could do something about that.
"What?" He asked sharply. Then, "Why would you care?"
Peach smiled sweetly. "He may or may not have been my teacher for a time." She said. "And he may or may not have kept me safe from Kammy last time I was captured."
He looked thoughtful. Then he shrugged. "Kamek is," he paused, thinking, "Kamek. There is no telling how he is personally. But you should know that if you are Anna."
"In which case I would be inquiring as to other areas." Peach replied.
The koopa grinned. It was not a comforting sign. "Clever, aren't you?" The grin vanished as he continued. "Kamek is rapidly losing power in King Koopa's Castle. Kammy has slowly been turning King Koopa against him for years, and it is getting alarming, at least for those who have sided with Kamek rather than her in their war."
He walked in silence for a while, deep in thought. "But Kamek won the last battle. You saw that, the deal with the koopaling."
"I didn't quite understand all of it." Peach admitted.
"Kamek has been in charge of the koopalings as long as they have been alive. Kammy convinced King Koopa he was incompetent in that area, so he put her in charge of it. Then Iggy goes and disappears and turns up days later at your castle."
"And Kammy said Kamek was involved."
"And Iggy said he was lost." Said the koopa. "And Bowser will believe his own children over either of those two any day of the week."
"So, Iggy was lying for Kamek?"
"Not if he actually didn't know where he was when he was found by you."
"Found by the Princess." Peach corrected. "Whom I may or may not be." A thought occurred to Peach. "Are the koopalings on either side?"
"Kamek or Kammy's?" The koopa frowned. "I believe, though one cannot be certain, that Iggy, Lemmy, and Ludwig are on Kamek's 'side,' so to speak, and Wendy, Morton, and Roy are on Kammy's side."
"That's only six." Anna pointed out.
"Yes, well, Larry is wishy-washy, he doesn't stay on either side, and sometimes he's mad at both of them."
"Is that safe?" Peach beat Anna to the question.
"As long as he's Bowser's kid, it's safe." Said the koopa. "At least, safe from the two Magikoopas. Whether his siblings decide to do something about it or not is yet to be seen. Of course, I don't think any of them really take it seriously. Except possibly Iggy, but he's still young."
"They all are." Said Anna. "Why would they take it seriously?" The koopa threw her a warning glance.
"It's a fair question." Peach pointed out. "I was thinking the same thing."
"At any rate," said the koopa. "be ready tonight, Anna." He did not look at either of them as he spoke. Then he slipped away again.
"We'll both be ready." Anna said softly. Peach nodded.
They walked on in silence, marching along with their captors. They walked through the afternoon and into the evening, not stopping until the last light of the setting sun was fading away.
"We'll camp here!" Growled the sledge brother who seemed to be in charge. Everyone threw down their stuff and, after a quick meal, settled down for the night.
Peach and Anna lay quiet in the darkness, waiting. They listened as their captors slowly drifted off to sleep, one by one.
Finally, a figure leaned over them. He silently untied them, and motioned for them to follow them. He led them into the trees. They walked in silence for quite some time.
They stopped suddenly. And the koopa knelt down. "Here, look." He said. "This is the trail to the village. Follow it closely, quickly, and quietly. Go now."
"Thank you." Said Peach.
"Yes, thank you." Anna agreed.
"No need for that." He said gruffly. "I work for Kamek. You know what that means." He said to Anna.
"I do?" She said "Should I?"
He laughed. "Fine. Now, go." He turned and walked off into the night.
"What does it mean to work for Kamek?" Asked Peach.
"It means that you do what you're told. And, in this case, what he wants you to do but doesn't come out and say,"
"What's the difference?"
"If you get caught, he never told you to do it, you were acting independently, and he will deal with you later." Anna said. "If the stakes are high, he doesn't need to be incriminated."
"So it's for public display."
"Exactly." The Magikoopa nodded. "For the greater good. Better for you to take the rap than him. And he takes responsibility for 'taking care of you,' except for the rare occasion when Kammy catches on to what he's doing, which isn't very often."
"What happens then?"
Anna didn't answer, instead turning to follow the trail. Peach followed her, and the two walked on in silence.
The exhaustion from the day seemed to have disappeared with her release, and Peach found the strength to walk on through the night.
They stopped after some time, at the edge of the trees. A village lay quiet in a clearing, surrounded by the forest. The moonlight shone down peacefully onto the village.
"Will we be safe here?" Peach asked. "How will we get home?"
"We will be safe here." Said Anna simply. "But we cannot enter until morning."
"Why not?"
"It is protected." Ann pointed to the ground. A deep line had been cut in the dirt. Peach guessed that it went around the edge of the trees. "No one enters by night."