(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to krikanalo for reviewing! :)
Chapter Thirteen
Violet was distraught.
She was stood behind Lemony on the drawbridge leading out of Bladeridge Castle, looking out into the stormy afternoon, and wondering where they could go to find her family now.
"She's gone," Lemony said quietly, to nobody in particular, although Violet was listening to him.
"We can try again," Violet said encouragingly, although she felt just as angry and upset as Lemony did.
"There's nothing we can do for her now," Lemony said pessimistically. "At least, not at the moment. We have to help Jacques," he said with a little more determination in his voice. Then he reached down to pick up his hat, walking inside the castle walls to where his injured brother lay.
As much as Lemony did not want to admit it, his older brother was past saving by the time he returned to him. Arlo and Klaus were doing their best to treat his wounds, using strips of Arlo's shirt as a makeshift bandage to stop the bloodflow from Jacques' stomach, but to no avail. They simply didn't have the medical equipment that they needed. It was a lost cause.
"Jacques!" Lemony cried, dropping to his knees in the mud beside his brother, grasping his hand desperately, as though if he let go, he would never see his brother again. Jacques seemed almost delirious, which could be considered a good thing if you hadn't seen his condition. The blood loss was getting to him. "We need to get you to a hospital," he said desperately, but Jacques shook is head.
"I'm past saving, Lemony," Jacques said grimly. "Surely you can see that."
"No, there's still time," Lemony insisted, but before he could say any more, Jacques reached up to his face with one hand and but a finger over his lips, and Lemony understood.
"My time is gone," Jacques continued. "I've offered myself to the cause, and this is a final sacrifice that I am willing to make."
"You don't have to do this," Lemony said, frantically trying to think of a way to save his sibling. "I'll bring the car, and we'll drive you to town, and there'll be a doctor, and-"
"I doubt he'll survive the journey," Arlo said truthfully. "Look how much blood he's losing," he continued, causing Lemony to stare into the growing pool of blood in horror.
"No," Lemony replied resolutely, although he no longer sounded certain. "We'll find a way."
"Listen to me," Jacques said in a voice far stronger than any of the volunteers had expected, and everyone paused for a moment to listen to the dying man's words.
"I've had my time," Jacques said, coughing. "There's no point worrying about me,Lemony. You have the Baudelaires to worry about now. Find Beatrice and Sunny, and rescue them once more." He looked up at the circle of people who sat around him, tears forming in all of their eyes. "Today, we didn't lose the battle. Today is a good day for V.F.D.," he laughed, until he was interrupted by a fit of coughing. "The Firestarters may have escaped and Beatrice may still be within their clutches, but we have gained more than we have lost. I've served my time, and I hope that I've served it well in the eyes of the powers that be, but you three-" he gestured at Violet, Klaus and Arlo "-are the future. Lemony, if I ask just one thing from you, make sure that no harm comes to these three children. Make sure that they are well-trained in the ways of the organisation, and that they lead V.F.D. to a brighter future."
"Of course," Lemony nodded, crying. "I promise."
"Good," Jacques said faintly, and Violet saw that he was also crying. She wondered if he was finally on the way out of the world as he lay quiet for a couple of minutes, before speaking up with one more request.
"Tell Dewey and Peter to continue my work," he told Lemony. "Our file is almost complete. Another six months and they will have enough evidence to alert the authorities and end the schism once and for all, in the name of all who are noble. I hope that Kit can continue the work in my place. I'm sure she will do a far better job of it than I ever did."
"I will," Lemony promised once more, gripping his brother's hand even tighter.
"I don't have long left," Jacques said sadly as the clouds finally parted, letting the weak autumn sunlight fall down into the courtyard at Bladeridge Castle. "May I just have a few moments, Lemony?" Jacques asked, coughing once more.
Lemony looked at the three children with tears in his eyes and he didn't have to say a word as Violet, Klaus and then Arlo all understood, leaving Lemony alone to say his final goodbyes to his brother.
"Hey."
"Oh, hey," Violet replied, smiling sadly, looking out along the lonely road. Arlo crept up behind her and put his arms around her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder.
"You alright?"
"I guess," Violet sighed sadly. She was standing on top of the gatehouse at Bladeridge Castle, watching the sun set over the woods that had concealed her home for the previous fortnight. Lemony had told her that he wanted to leave that evening, and put the whole experience behind him. But for that afternoon inside the deserted castle, Violet had managed to find somewhere peaceful, just for once.
"We're going straight back into the middle of things, aren't we?" she asked Arlo, who shrugged.
"I suppose so," he replied quietly, staring out at the view along with Violet. "The schism is far from over. The Firestarters may have escaped today, but there is still time to bring them to justice."
Violet paused for a moment, remembering that Jacques said that his work with Dewey Denouement and Peter Quagmire would be able to bring Olaf and his associates to justice. Was that the purpose of the Snicket File, that she remembered Klaus saying that the Firestarters were hunting for? She simply didn't know. There were still questions to be answered.
"I feel as though this whole thing has been for nothing," Violet said, speaking her thoughts aloud for the first time. " We didn't rescue mother and Sunny, and now Jacques is dead." Violet remembered watching Lemony taking the time to bury his brother in the woods that afternoon, desperate to put any memories of this place behind him.
"Maybe we couldn't help your family, but we helped ourselves," Arlo said optimistically. "We've become better volunteers. We will learn from our mistakes, and start over with better plans and better support, and we'll get them back somehow. I promise," he said, and kissed Violet on the cheek.
"I don't know, Arlo," Violet sighed, still staring out at the view. "It feels as though we're back to square one," she said glumly, and it was true.
And it was true. Despite all the effort that they had put in in the last few weeks to make life take a turn for the better, they had found this chapter of their lives to be just as unfortunate as the one before it. And so as Violet Baudelaire and Arlo Thursday stood together watching the sunset on that October evening, Violet knew that she was back in the same situation that she had begun this chapter of her life with, and wasn't sure if she had enough energy left to start over again.
(Fictional) Author's Note:
Dear Gamemaker97,
I am writing to you from a café in the city, not far from the site of the Quagmire Mansion, where I have learnt of the adversity faced by the members of V.F.D. - and in particular the Baudelaires - in the next unfortunate chapter of their lives after the dangers of the mission to Bladeridge Castle.
I understand that you experienced difficulties with my covert attempts to send my last manuscript to you, and so this time, I propose a simpler arrangement. Arrive at my house in the city on Thursday morning before noon, where I will have left a large parcel in brown wrapping behind the second largest shrub in the front garden. Inside, you will find the manuscript detailing the travails of the Baudelaire children in the weeks that followed the death of Jacques Snicket. Entitled THE INESCAPABLE INFERNO, this draft is not for the faint of heart. I suggest that you spend as little time comprehending the manuscript as possibly as you spend your evenings typing up the grim tale for all to hear. It does not do the heart or mind good to trouble oneself with such upsetting circumstances as those within the pages of my third tale.
Along with the manuscript, you will find an assortments of items which I wish to be passed on to my illustrator, Mr. Harper, to help him with his illustrations should a publisher ever take up my offer of printing this tale for sale to the general public. You will find, among other things, a bag used as part of a disguise by the nefarious Count Olaf, a photograph of the three Quagmire triplets (although, in the photograph, they were a few years younger than when they first met the Baudelaires) and Lemony Snicket's commonplace book, which has proved itself to be most valuable in my research.
Remember, as my search for a publisher remains to be fruitless, you are my only hope that the desperate and unfortunate plight of the Baudelaire children is told to the general public.
With all due respect,
A.T.
(Serious) Author's Note: And so ends 'The Frightening Fortress'! I hope that you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to review and let me know exactly what you think of this short story. I'm always open to criticism :)
I can now confirm this this story is the second of seven in a series that I shall call A Series of Alternate Events, and I have the five remaining stories all planned, and hopefully you'll all find the next instalment, 'The Inescapable Inferno', to be just as good as these first two have been, if indeed you have enjoyed them.
The school term begins again tomorrow, so I doubt I'll be publishing the first chapter of the third story for a few days. It's all planned out, it's just a question of finding time to put pen to paper and get it uploaded.
Again, thanks for following the series so far, I really appreciate the support :)
GM97 :)