"Woah Sash, this is so surreal, I can`t believe you are really here!" said refreshed Anne sitting in a bathrobe on a comfortable couch in what was apparently Sasha`s personal palace room. How fortunate of her to stumble upon such helpful and generous toads. The experience she had with them was almost the opposite, but there are always some jerks around. By the looks of things, Sasha gained a lot of respect from the tower's inhabitants. They listen to her orders and build statues of her. It seems she wound up on top of whatever hierarchy the toads have in a matter of three months.
"Yeah, I know, right! And after all of this is over we can finally go home from this slimy gross world," said Sasha with a darkened face.
Anne suddenly stopped and focused on what was just said.
"Once all of this is over, what are you talking about?"
"You know, the rebellion," said Sasha like it was a thing that everyone knew about.
"What rebellion? I was never interested in politics but I think I would have found out if there was any rebellion around here?" Anne was perplexed. From what she knew, which admittedly wasn`t very much, rebellions are unheard of in Frog Valley and Amphibia in general. Only when toads tried to steal from frogs that were falsely accused of not paying taxes by their corrupt mayor did they try to resist. Even then after hidden money was found they agreed to give all of it to toads.
"You don't know anything about it? Very strange considering who you live with." Sasha changed her tone and carefully watched Anne's reaction to her words. "Well, I shouldn`t talk about that. Grime asked to keep it a secret from you. I`ll explain but promise not to freak out."
"Okaaaay." Anne already didn`t like where this conversation was heading.
Her friend stood up and walked to the wall with the map on it depicting Wartwood, Toad Tower, and nearby settlements.
"You probably already noticed that toads in this Valley have one job - to rule over the frogs. And lately, those frogs have been stepping out of line. Turns out these rebels have been inspired by one particular frog." She went back to the table and grabbed something that looked like a folded sheet. "You might just know him. Stood up to the tax collectors, even ran for mayor against the local toad."
Sasha unfolded the paper to reveal it was a propaganda poster depicting Hop-Hop of all people.
Anne nearly choked from astonishment.
"What?! He is not a revolutionary, rebel, or anybody apart from a simple farmer making a living for himself."
"It doesn't matter." Sasha tossed some papers onto the table. They depicted old Planter as someone who finally dared to stand against toad oppression, in reality, not related events and pictures were woven into the quite compelling narrative for the reader not familiar with them. "Word has traveled like wildfire and we got to make an example out of him."
"And how are you gonna do this?" Awful thoughts crossed Anne`s mind. Confiscation of everything he had, imprisonment, torture, or...
Sasha led her to the window and pointed her attention to a captured giant carnivorous plant on the ground. "We feed him to this thing." She said like she wasn't talking about murder. Anne gasped, her worst suspicions were proven true but this elicited no attention from Sasha and she continued. "So, I struck a deal with Grime. I help him capture Hop-Hop and crush the rebellion in return he gives us the resources, his soldiers, and knowledge to help us find Marcy and find the way back home. The banquet trick? Obviously my idea. Now we have all of the frogs right where we need them and all that is left is to spring the trap. Isn`t this great?"
Sasha`s enthusiasm was not contagious as usual and Anne totally was going to break her promise right now.
"This is insane! You are gladly ready to execute an innocent person in cold blood only for help from some toad dictator? Does Grime know that Hop-Hop is not even close to the rebel leader? Surely not, because if he did, he would not go with this stupid plan." Anne suddenly stopped after hearing the sounds of something very close to a battle from downstairs. She quickly ran to the door and then turned to Sasha that followed her. Things fell into place in her mind, Anne knew what she must say and do right now. "Please, stop the fighting! Nobody should die tonight. I, we can solve this whole thing peacefully. Tell me, where do toads keep the tax records?"
"...Tax records?" Other girl didn`t understand Anne`s reaction and especially her question. It is just a frog. What`s the big deal? But she did need to check what happening down there and she hoped there will be no large harm from her friend meddling. "Oookay, they are in the second room to the right on the third level. But why do you..."
Sasha couldn`t finish her question. Anne was already gone.
While Anne`s legs swiftly and efficiently made their way to the archive almost on auto-pilot, her mind was a garbled mess of adrenaline, despair, and laughably weak attempts at coming up with a way to convince local ruthless cruel veteran toad tyrant, whose name is enough to strike fear into the hearts of the frogs. Of course, she had time to think about other things, human brain is wonderful at working fast under the pressure of life and death situations. But her friend's willingness to kill some random grandpa to reach her goals notwithstanding, she had to focus on saving Hop-Hop. Trying to fight the toads was a very bad idea, they are soldiers and while maybe individually weaker and less agile than her they got a numbers advantage. And inevitably way more frogs would suffer from an open confrontation, not only Hop-Hop. Escape was a better option but unrealistic. They were in the toads` home, obviously, all backdoors and exits in general would be controlled. Apart from surrendering and accepting defeat, there remained only one option - negotiations. And flawless tax history of her adoptive grandfather is going to be a very useful tool for them,
Sasha didn`t lie, she rarely did, second door to the right opened to a vast darkly lit chamber filled with shelves upon shelves of papers. Toad Tover was a center of Frog Valley governance and tax records from all of the towns in it were stored right here. There were no guards that one could expect to be here, evidently, they were too busy with other stuff. She anxiously thought about what went right now with Hop-Hop, Sprig, Polly, and all her other friends. No matter what happens at the party downstairs this motivates her to be fast in her search. But right after Anne made a few first steps on her way, she was stooped by a peaceful but steadfast voice.
"Who are you?" The owner of these words revealed himself from the darkness within the room. "And what business do you seek in here?
He was an old short toad that unlike any other toad in the tower wore no armor or weapon, only a dark-colored robe and ordinary clothes underneath. His skin was clear from scars, arms from signs of manual labor, and head from any semblance of hair. If Anne saw him on the tv-screen and not in real life she would right away guess him as an old wise wizard of the kingdom. But even in this magical realm, he was surely just an archivist.
"I... was sent by Sasha's orders to bring her the tax records of one particular frog - Hop-Hop Planter"." She really hoped that this lie would work. Anne definitely didn`t want to fight some old man to save her own old man out of trouble. "And I one of her human friends, she should have told about me."
"Hmm, how very strange." Bookkeeper scratched his chin in thought. "New lieutenant was never interested in records and taxes. I tried to teach her their importance to her but she always had something else on her mind. Maybe she changed her mind? No, most likely she was ordered by Grime to collect them. But then why wouldn`t Sasha come here and execute an order personally like she always did? And why did you call the leader of the rebellion some silly nickname instead of his real name? Is this nickname became popular among soldiers? But then why I didn`t hear anything about it? And how come..."
Anne understood that this could go on forever and if she would quench his curiosity by answering some of his questions he will just shower her with countless more.
"It was an urgent order. Help me in my task or just let me through, now!"
"No, no, no, young lady, this is not how things work in my Archive." Toad shook his head sternly. "Even if Captain Grime himself stood at my doorstep right now he would still have to answer my questions. And you are not him, not lieutenant, and not even the lowliest recruit in the army. Tax records never escaped from anybody by themselves and I don`t see what urgency could be in collecting papers of the dissident that will be executed in the next hour."
"Fine... then I will tell you the truth. Planter is not a dissident, revolutionary, or any kind of rebel. He is an innocent frog that was just taken as a symbol by other frogs. Anybody who knows him from his family to all people in his town will agree with me. It is all a terrible mistake!" The girl spoke fast, almost without catching a breath. "I told all of this to Sasha and she just shrugged it off. I can`t let any innocent person, but especially my adoptive grandpa die because of this. Please, help me find his records. He always paid his taxes in full and with proof of this I can at least hope to persuade Grime."
The old amphibian stared at Anne intently while she talked and heavily sighed when she finished. "Well, I believe that you speaking sincerely. And I know that I will get in trouble for this no matter the outcome of your attempt at persuasion, but justice is something worth standing up for. Ink and paper don`t lie by themselves, they always tell what they were meant to tell and I am no liar. If truth is on your side then I and my records are already on it." He ventured back into the darkness gesturing to the girl to follow him.
Luckily for Anne Wartwood was a small village and not a blooming trading town, and after finding its section in the archives, finding specifically Hopediah Plantar`s records was a matter of tens of minutes not hours. She just had to hope that she had this much time.
Sasha was frustrated. Not only her friend ran from her hour after their reunion, but she also had to get up from her comfy couch and march down to look what happened at the "banquet" so cleverly arranged by her. With each step sounds became louder and louder while not getting any clearer. In the cacophony of frog voices, there were only three words that were repeated enough to be recognizable - "LET! US! OUT!". Did Anne already come down there to tell them about her plan while she put on her armor and searched for a sword? Or couldn't toads once again do a simple task without inconceivably failing it somehow? The Lieutenant was about to find out.
Chaos in the hall was certainly well underway when Sasha finally arrived there. Agitated frogs threw various food items at the toad guards that held on and only defended themselves while holding the perimeter but the whole situation was on the brink of violence. Lieutenant forcefully opened the doors pushing her way through the toads guarding it.
"Everyone, stop! What happened here?" She turned to Bog. "Report to me, now!".
Bog and others saluted to her. "Everything was going as intended until one frog got suspicious, found out that they can`t leave their "party" and started this mess. Lieutenant, allow me to disperse this riot."
"This riot?! You betrayed and captured us and when we try to free ourselves you call this a riot?!" Sprig was furious about the gall of this toad. "Release us, now!"
Shit. How these toads can fail even the simplest of tasks. There would be enough to just make up some silly excuse or lie about some danger outdoors, but seemingly this is beyond their capabilities. She should have given them a few pointers or the whole damn script. Well, Sasha will have to deal with the consequences of others' mistakes, not the first time for her. She made her face as charming as possible and turned to the troublemaker, whose name was heard by her but already forgotten.
"Don`t worry little frog, did you forget, I am the best friend of Anne. Why would I ever want to harm her friends? This is all a big misunderstanding. Toads are bad at communicating aside from military commands. Of course, you can leave at any moment, they just didn`t want you to miss out on the special announcement from Captain Grime that will happen quite soon." Sasha intensely looked at the toads. "Right, guys?"
They immediately took the hint and almost in unison began apologizing. "Sorry, guys. You heard her, big misunderstanding, Such things always happen to us. We will set everything in the hall in order."
Frogs looked at this sudden display of humility with great suspicion but the reassuring presence of Sasha with the spectacle of the toads that were so mighty and snobbish just a minute ago, cleaning and asking forgiveness, finally calmed them and they were ready to continue the party.
"What was it about Captain Grime?" asked Sprig that still cling to his suspicions.
"Ah, it is a surprise. Don`t want to spoil it for you. And you soon will have the pleasure to learn about it yourself on an apex of the tower," answered the girl while pretending to enjoy a feast by taking very small bites from the cooked alien fauna of this world.
Finally, the work of tying up this monstrous plant was done. If Grime could he would choose a more ordinary method of execution with slightly less show and more safety, but traditions remained no matter what he thought about them. The very social order that Grime was trying to restore and protect was based on them. At least his newfound lieutenant found an easy way to capture not only the rebellion leader but his whole town which was assumed to be the center of tensions that spread through the valley like wildfire. He almost felt sadness at the thought of letting her go afterward. The deal is the deal and he wouldn`t renege on it, but where he would someone who could be a suitable replacement, someone as manipulative, as inspiring, as strong and brave. Yes, he did went on before without any second-in-command for a long time, yet it still was a miserable experience.
When he entered the hall party was still ongoing, but something felt noticeably off. There was something major going on here not so long ago based on many marks left on the floor. walls and table. Also, Sasha was here and not in her chamber talking with her friend. Did something happen between those two? Or rather something took place here and she was forced to come downstairs? While he was thinking about the possibilities, everybody took notice of his arrival. Toads saluted but the lieutenant didn`t spend time on this and rushed to him, lowering to his level and whispering about a disturbance at the banquet, how she solved it and what he needed to say. Ha, always playing flipwart while everyone else plays bogjump. Sasha then turned to the others and began to speak.
"And here he is, Captain Grime! Don`t judge him based on his reputation if you get to know him he is quite a charmer. Our Captain has a very important announcement to make but..." She turned to the toad.
"This will wait till we get to the more dramatic scenery, the apex of the tower." He tried to sound less threatening but by the looks of the audience, he was not as successful in it as he would have hoped. He stood up at the first step in the stairway and called. "Let`s go!"
Toads accepted this as an order and still somewhat uneasy but full of food frogs followed suit. Sasha of course was right behind him, as always.
Deceit was not the way of toads and he still felt bad because of using these underhanded schemes and even personally taking part in them. But there are more important matters than what Captain Grime thought. He needed to restore order in the valley at any cost. He failed to imagine what these frogs hoped to gain by revolting and harboring leader of the mutiny. If the toads couldn`t collect enough taxes then the next year there will be an army of newts and they will take what is due and more, And even before that if his men stopped gaining wages and supplies they will stop defending this valley from outside threats. Do these frogs really think that they can defend themselves with their hoes, pitchforks, and rakes? It`s all good that he can finally put stop to all this nonsense.
As he relished this thought they reached the top of the tower. Grime got into the place of execution right over the floral predator and ordered the toads to let the frogs in and then surround them.
"As you may know frogs across the valley became unruly in the last few months. You are not the exception. You picked fights with my tax collectors and more importantly kept the head of the rebellion hidden under your collective wing.
"What?!" cried frogs in utter surprise.
But Grime didn`t have time for all the obvious denying that goes first out of every betrayer`s mouth.
"Seize the traitor!" He shouted while pointing at the old orange frog that while not looking as tall as he was on propaganda posters could be nonother than spiritual leader of the mutiny.
Anne was close. She knew that it would be hard searching for someone specifical in a quite large archive without any modern technologies but she still certainly underestimated the time needed for it. Even with help of an old archivist, Hop-Hop`s tax records were out of her reach. Of course, she would not be here forever, if Anne couldn`t find the papers she would try to solve this situation in some other way, yet it looked like her best chance to deal with this peacefully and without any victims slipping from her fingers.
"So, are you really sure that you don`t have any index or list with which we could find it faster?"
"My mind is my catalog, young lady. It is getting rusty, sure, but I am certain that it is here." The old toad reached one of the scrolls laying on the first shelve from the floor and put it aside revealing a medium-sized book underneath it. "Here it is. How many times have I told my help not to put scrolls over books and they never listen". He gave Anne his find.
"It`s the whole book. I guess it makes sense he is a really old frog." Anne hugged the Bookkeeper that was clearly not expecting a such display of emotions. "Thank you so much! I will not forget this."
"You`re welcome. I just what I meant to do." Suddenly the sound of many footsteps was heard outside. "And you better get going, most likely they are going right where you want to be."
Anne said to her, she hoped not last, goodbyes to the old frog and ran to the stairway, She will not be late.
When Anne got to the door at the apex, she heard Grime making his accusatory speech. After the words "seize the traitor!" were spoken she knew that it was her moment to step in.
"You are about to commit a dire mistake!" Captain grinned, frogs cheered seeing her here and Sasha incomprehensibly stared at her.
"Huh, and can I ask you why?" Grime decided to listen to this creature. She was ultimately the same species as his lieutenant and this alone gave him the right to be curious about her.
"He is not in any way, shape, or form a leader of rebellion or rebel at all. He never had anything against the toads and your right to rule and collect taxes. You can ask anybody from his town or family and everyone will tell the same thing." Voices of agreement sounded from the crowd. "Yes, he did stand his ground against your tax collectors but only because he already paid his taxes and they were stolen by a corrupt mayor. Then he did run against this very toad but again only because of his corruption. All people in Wartwood agreed with him on this and the mayor only remained mayor because of your election system that for some reason lets the whole valley decide who should rule one small village. One small village that is so isolated that nobody there including me heard about any rebellion going on. If he was made some symbol of the resistance it was only by chance" Frogs loudly supported her, Sprig, Polly, and Hop-Hop were obviously the loudest.
"You gave a good speech girl, yet you have nothing to prove it. Even if I would for some reason be inclined to believe you, why I should let this "symbol of resistance" live even if he became it unintentionally." Grime shrugged and got closer to Anne. "I know why are you doing this creature but there is no other way. Our very way of life is at the stake. I don`t expect an outsider like you would understand.".
"Wait! I have proof." Anne desperately cried to once again capture Captain`s attention. She took the book out of her pocket and gave it to Grime. "This is Hopediah Planter`s tax records. Why resentful frog, a leader of the rebellion would always pay his taxes? Especially while his alleged followers-rebels making a point out of not doing this?" Actually, Anne didn`t know about what was inside this book, she obviously didn`t have time to do anything apart from checking that it indeed was what she tried to find. Anne could only hope that he didn`t lie about never skipping the tax day. The time has come for her to say her last rhetorical bullet.
"And if you will believe me, better think about this way. What will you gain by killing the leader of the rebellion before his relatives and acquaintances all of whom know that he is not revolutionary? You will give rebels a martyr and make more enemies for yourself. Neutral and loyal frogs may change sides if they will hear that toads are ready to execute them."
"Get to the point. What do you propose as an alternative." Toad leader already flipped through some of the pages in the book but was far from completion.
"Make an ally out of him. You can have him, the supposed "leader of the rebellion" traveling from town to town and telling rebel frogs that what they are doing is wrong." By the looks of it, Hop-Hop tried to say something against this idea but was quickly stopped by everyone around him. Anne understood what he wanted to say. "Of course, he is a farmer so he can't just leave his fields unattended for so long for free. You can give him some wage while he is working for you." "What is wrong with this deal? Everyone will benefit and you can end the rebellion while not lifting a sword?!". She was clearly at her emotional peak.
"I need time to think and more importantly check the tax records, because they are the proof that your whole deal is based on" Captain Grime sounded... unsure. This was very rare for him but this whole situation was not very typical. "While I do this nobody should escape. Last thing we need for it all to turn out to be a distraction that I fell for. Sasha, be on it and be careful. Your plans don`t work, you easily spill classified information, and your friend whose loyalty was assured by you turned to be quite independent in her decision-making. Our deal rests on cooperation from you and your friends, without it there can be no agreement. "
For all dialogue, Sasha seemed on edge and finally, she got her time to speak.
"Why are you doing this, Anne? You hated frogs on Earth and now you are suddenly in love with them? You risk everything for some talking amphibians?"
"But I am alive and well only because of their help. They are my friends and what if they are frogs. Would you gladly stand by while someone wanted to execute one of your toad friends here because they are not human?" It was hard for Anne to talk back to her friend. It felt like being underwater while drawing her last breaths. Useless attempts to delay the inevitable.
This question interested many toads in the wall of soldiers and definitely Grime as well based on his chuckle.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don`t, does it matter? I found our way home. We do not belong there, Don`t you wanna come back there, see your cat and parents? Don`t you want to find Marcy? She can be in danger right now and by doing this you delay the time when we can set out to go find her." Anne couldn`t find an answer to this. At the same moment, Sasha prepared to land a killing blow. "Stop what you`re doing now and get to me now! END. OF." Anne lowered her head in grim acceptance - everything is going to go Sasha`s way like it always does.
"Actually, Anne is right." Her savior`s voice came from a very unexpected place - Captain Grime`s mouth. "Hoppediah Planter is not the leader of the rebellion. He is an upstanding citizen that paid into our treasury even more than necessary. I ask forgiveness from all Wartwood residents that were involved in this mess by nothing but a terrible misfortune." He turned to Sasha. "Stop this lieutenant, there is no more need for your manipulation skills here. I assign you as leader of a squad of toads that will escort respectable speaker Planter in his work around Frog valley in the coming month. You will fulfill your part of the deal this way and then I will fulfill mine."
Frogs cheered, especially Planters. Of course, there were problems with this arrangement but for now, they could be happy that they are alive and weren`t eaten by a giant plant.
"Yeah, I did it!" thought to herself, Anne. Everything did end in a peaceful compromise. But she will have to speak to Sasha, that now trying to pretend that she isn`t mad at Grime for interrupting her in such a manner, about her "manipulation skills" and readiness to kill an innocent stranger in the future. Anne hoped that this was a strange fluke, maybe influence by living with toads. Perhaps she will find out in the coming month.