Ella woke up alone in Mrs. Wollens' bed to the sound and smell of sausages sizzling in the adjacent kitchen. In her own room she would have snuggled deeper under the covers until called to breakfast, but Mrs. Wollens' room had no fireplace and the chill winter morning drove her out of the bed and into the kitchen. There she found Mrs. Wollens making breakfast and Bruno lying at her feet, enjoying the warmth of the stove and waiting patiently for scraps to fall.
"Good morning, Ella," said Mrs. Wollens as she entered. "Any nightmares last night?"
"No," lied Ella. "Thanks for letting me sleep with you again."
"It's no trouble," said Mrs. Wollens. "I'm glad you slept better."
Ella found a cup and busied herself with the teapot to avoid meeting Mrs. Wollens' eyes.
"Do you think we might hear from Papa today?" asked Ella.
"I imagine these things just take time to sort out," replied Mrs. Wollens.
"Today makes one month from the Jubilee," said Ella. "Surely anyone who spends a month with Papa would know that he wouldn't hurt anyone."
"I'm sure they're just being careful. When you rush things, you make mistakes."
"They already made a mistake when they kept Papa."
She said it quietly, but Mrs. Wollens heard the catch in her voice at the end.
"Oh honey," she said, turning away from the stove and pulling Ella into a hug. "I know they did." Ella felt her face crumble, but finally, after weeks of tears, her eyes stayed dry. "They made a mistake, and it was a big mistake, but it's going to be okay. I promise." Mrs. Wollens held Ella tight and stroked her hair, and Ella tried her best to believe her words.
"Okay," Ella finally said. "It's going to be okay."
"That's right," said Mrs. Wollens, as one of the bells on the wall began to ring. "Your stepmother's up. Run along and get dressed, I need to take breakfast upstairs."
"Can I help?" asked Ella, wanting to stay near Mrs. Wollens.
Mrs. Wollens laughed. "What, in your nightgown? You most certainly may not; bringing breakfast is my job. Run along and get dressed, then if you still want to help, you can wake your sisters. I'll be bringing up breakfast for the three of you when I finish with your mother."
"Stepmother," corrected Ella, pulling a face and rising to rinse her teacup.
"Stop stalling, dishes are my job too," said Mrs. Wollens. "Off you go."
"Drizella," said Ella tentatively, "it's time to get up."
The lump beneath the blankets didn't move. Ella glanced back at Anastasia, who had been awake and talking to her doll when Ella entered.
"She doesn't like to get up," said Anastasia. "But I know what to do. Stand back!"
Anastasia stood up on her bed, bounced a few times on the mattress, then hurled her porcelain doll at Drizella's bed with all her strength. Ella winced as the doll struck Drizella's unprotected head.
"Ow!" exclaimed Drizella, sitting up. "That hurt!"
"Sorry, Drizella," said Ella. "Mrs. Wollens says it's time to get up, she's going to bring up –"
"I don't care!" said Drizella, throwing back the blankets. "I'm telling on you!"
"But it wasn't-" Ella tried to protest, but Drizella shoved past her and left the room.
"Ooh, you're in trouble now," said Anastasia.
"I didn't do anything!" exclaimed Ella. "You threw it!"
"Did not!" said Anastasia.
"You did!" said Ella in disbelief. "I saw you!"
"Prove it," said Anastasia, sticking out her tongue.
"You said you knew how to wake her up, and you stood on your bed, and you threw it! And now you're lying about it!"
"Mother!" said Anastasia, looking over Ella's shoulder. "Ella called me a liar!"
"Goodness Ella, what a morning." Ella's stepmother stepped into the room, followed closely by Drizella. Ella suddenly felt very small under her stepmother's gaze.
"Good morning, Stepmother," she ventured at last.
"Drizella tells me that you attacked her with a doll this morning."
"I didn't!" replied Ella quickly.
"I don't understand, are you calling Drizella a liar too?"
"No!"
Her stepmother raised an eyebrow.
"I just mean, I didn't throw the doll."
"Mother, look, she broke it!" Drizella had retrieved the doll from where it had fallen, and now presented it to her mother, showing a sharp crack running from one pale blue eye down to the jaw.
"No!" wailed Anastasia. "She killed Princess Buttercup!"
"Oh dear," said Ella's stepmother. "Ella, this is unacceptable behavior. Apologize to your sisters at once. Then you and I will have a little chat this afternoon about the consequences of your actions."
"But I didn't break it! It wasn't me!" Ella looked desperately from her stepmother to her stepsisters, and felt tears begin to fall. "I promise, I didn't do anything!"
"Oh, I suppose Anastasia broke her own doll then? And Drizella attacked herself? You are the liar, Ella, now apologize to your sisters!"
Ella was spared answering by Mrs. Wollens clearing her throat at the door.
"Not now, Mrs. Wollens, we are busy," said Ella's stepmother without turning around.
"Of course Madam, I wouldn't interrupt, except we've just received word from the palace. About Lord Tremaine."
Ella's tears stopped immediately, and she hastily dried her eyes with the backs of her hands. Mrs. Wollens handed a letter to Ella's stepmother, whose face had become tightly drawn.
"Please, what does it say?" asked Ella, unable to bear the silence as her stepmother scanned the letter quickly.
"He has been found guilty," said her stepmother hollowly. "We are permitted to go and see him today… and he will be executed tomorrow at dawn."
In the years to come, Ella would reflect that she had been extremely lucky that Drizella and Anastasia had blamed Ella for breaking the doll that day. Distracted by the news of her husband's impending execution, Ella's stepmother had merely banished Ella to the care of Mrs. Wollens for the day. Thus when she declared that the family would show their respect and support for the royal court's decision by not visiting Lord Tremaine in his final hours, Mrs. Wollens was spared the burden of finding an excuse to steal Ella away from her studies to make the journey in secret.
For the moment however, luck was the farthest thing from her mind. Fearful of rousing Lady Tremaine's suspicions by readying the horse and cart, she and Mrs. Wollens had made the trek to the castle on foot, bundled and wrapped tightly against the frigid cold, fighting a howling wind every step of the way. They walked in silence, Mrs. Wollens preoccupied with a torrent of thoughts and Ella's mind trapped in a thick numbing fog.
And then, after an infinity or after a moment, Ella couldn't decide which, they found themselves at the castle gates.
"State your name and business," said the guard dully.
"N-nellie Wollens and Ella Tremaine, here to see Lord Tremaine," said Mrs. Wollens, teeth chattering.
The guard frowned. "I don't believe His Majesty is entertaining a Lord Tremaine at the moment."
"But of course he is!" exclaimed Mrs. Wollens. "If he's not here then he's not anywhere! Well no," she amended herself, her mind slowly catching up, "That's not quite right. That is, entertaining isn't quite the word. I don't think you'd call it that when he's been- You see, he's not so much a guest as a- Well, that is to say-"
The guard's frown deepened.
"He wasn't allowed to return with the family after the Christmas Jubilee," said Mrs. Wollens, finally finding the beginnings of an explanation. "They said he was arrested, and then we didn't hear anything more until this morning, there was a messenger came to the house and delivered a letter saying today was to be our last day to see him alive on this good earth!" Her voice rose hysterically at the end, and she paused to gather herself. "Please, sir, I've brought his daughter. We were told we could see him if we came today."
"Wait here." The guard disappeared, returning with a short, grim-faced man.
"Follow me," he said.
In they went, quickly leaving the broad walk leading to the grand main entrance in favor of smaller, rougher paths winding around sharp, irregular corners, through what appeared to be a miniature village inside the castle gates. They saw no nobles, but people bustled everywhere, despite the cold, carrying loads, leading horses, shouting back and forth, all squeezed together tightly into the bailey between the downward sloping side of the castle proper and the outer wall. Ella kept her head down and pressed close to Mrs. Wollens.
They stopped in front of a plain wooden door set unobtrusively into the base of the wall of the main castle. Their guide pounded on the door three times.
It was opened by a pale man with a hunched back that brought his face down nearly to Ella's level. He examined Ella and Mrs. Wollens suspiciously, squinting through the wind.
"For Lord Tremaine," said their guide.
The hunchback sniffed disapprovingly, then turned back inside. Ella and Mrs. Wollens paused on the threshold.
"Go on," said their guide. "Gunther will see you through."
They stepped inside and hurried to catch up to the hunchback's retreating form. Once they were inside, the door swung shut behind them, plunging them into darkness. Ella grabbed for Mrs. Wollens, who let out a small shriek, before they heard a match strike and saw a torch flare up ahead. Gunther chuckled.
"Down we go," he said, tottering off again.
The passageway was narrow and became increasingly damp the longer they walked. Ella kept her eyes fixed on Gunther's torch and tried to ignore the rustlings and squeaks coming from the shadows at her feet. "Almost there," murmured Mrs. Wollens. "Almost there."
And then they were. Gunther stopped in front of a door made of thick metal bars, rested his torch in a bracket on the wall, and then drew a large brass key ring from within the folds of his cloak. He opened the door, and then Ella saw her father.
She disentangled herself from Mrs. Wollens and ran to him, burying her head in his chest and hugging him tight. He smelled of cinders and sweat, but she could feel his warmth and hear his heart beating strongly as he held her close. Mrs. Wollens watched father and daughter for a moment, then when neither of them looked up, sat down on an upturned bucket with a heavy sigh and leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes.
"Are you alright, darling?" he asked at last, pulling back just enough to look down at her.
Ella sat up in his lap and faced him, frowning.
"Are you, Papa?"
He held her gaze as long as he could, then drew her close again.
"I will be," he said at last. "Don't you worry about me."
"But Papa-"
"Shh," he said, smoothing her hair. "Don't you worry about me."
"Too late," she murmured into his chest.
He sighed.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Life can get complicated. I'm sorry it turned out this way. It wasn't supposed to, things got out of hand, and I'm sorry for that. I have a price to pay, but I never meant to hurt you with it. I'm sorry."
"I don't understand," said Ella.
"I know you don't," he said. "Just understand that I'm sorry."
"I forgive you," said Ella.
He was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice came thickly.
"Thank you, Ella."
"Papa?" she asked.
"Yes, Ella?"
"What's going to happen next?"
"Don't you worry," he said. "You are going to be just fine. Mrs. Wollens and your stepmother will look after you and Anastasia and Drizella. And you will grow up and become a beautiful, kind, thoughtful young lady, just like your mother was. And then a young man will come along, just as I did, and he'll see your beauty and kindness and thoughtfulness, and he'll find himself unable to think of anything but you. And you'll find the same in him. And he'll ask you to marry him, and if he is very lucky, you'll say yes, and then the two of you will live happily ever after."
"But what about you?"
"It's time for me to make my exit," he said. "I've played my part on this stage, and my curtain is about to fall. It's the natural order of things."
"I don't want you to go," said Ella.
"I know. I'm sorry. I love you. I'll always love you, no matter where I am or where you are. You know that, right? Remember that."
"I love you too, Papa."
Ella stayed in her father's arms until two guards arrived.
"It's time," one said. "Will they be accompanying you to the green?"
"No," said Ella's father quickly. "No, they won't be."
"Then this is where you part."
At his words, Ella clung all the more tightly to her father.
"I'm not ready," she said.
"I know Colonel, neither am I," he admitted. "But sometimes we don't have time to be ready. Then we must have courage and trust in the Lord to see us through."
Still she clung to him, desperate to remain in his arms.
"I love you always," he said. "Never forget that. You will be just fine. I promise. And so will I," he added, as much to himself as to her.
The guard cleared his throat.
"I love you, Ella," he said again, rising to hand her off to Mrs. Wollens. "You're getting too big to be carried- you're growing up into a wonderful young lady- have courage- be kind- you will be just fine. I promise. I love you always."
"I love you," she managed.
He turned to Mrs. Wollens.
"Thank you," he said. "Thank you for bringing her today, thank you for looking after both of us so well. Keep her safe, raise her well."
"Of course," said Mrs. Wollens. "I'll look after her, she's in good hands."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wollens. For everything."
"Of course," she said. She paused, then asked carefully, "Is there any message you'd like me to give to Lady Tremaine?"
He sighed. "Tell her goodbye, I suppose, and the girls too. They should be able to live comfortably enough with what's left if they're careful."
"Yes sir. I'll tell them that. And the very best of luck to you, sir."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wollens."
"It's time sir," said the guard again.
"Yes, of course," said Ella's father. "Here we go then." He kissed the top of Ella's head and squeezed her hand. "Have courage, Colonel," he said.
"Yes, Papa," said Ella. "You too."
Something Ella couldn't read passed over his face, then he straightened up and turned to the guard.
"I am at your service, gentlemen," he said, and they escorted him out, one before and one behind.
Ella and Mrs. Wollens watched him as far as they could in the dim torchlit passage. Then they turned away and followed Gunther once more, through the tunnels and out into the first piercing winter rays of the new dawning day.
AN: Whew! Tell me what you thought - I know I broke format a bit in this one, was it noticeable or did it blend well enough? And how are you guys doing with this whole treason-sub-plot-deviation from the typical storyline? Is it still believable? In character?
Thanks for reading!