Chapter 10 — Peace or Blood
Marianne found she had much less trouble going home in daylight than in the evening dark. Somehow, the patterns made more sense.
She hurried back to the castle with renewed hope that everything was not lost with the Dark Forest after all, that there was still hope for forgiveness, and that they could still find common grounds to share while living peacefully as neighbours. To make that a reality, she first had to prevent the violence from escalating. Convincing her father (and prepare counter-arguments against Roland) that fighting back isn't a good idea was the main issue.
She arrived as the sun reached the middle of the sky. The village had not yet slowed down, except for the brownies' quarters, which were entirely deserted. The elves were running left and right in small groups and she first assumed they were still counting people, but when she stopped to observe them more closely, she noticed they were gathering objects and pieces of metal. In silence, nonetheless, with resolute expressions. As much as she didn't want to see it, it absolutely looked like they were preparing a counterattack.
Her first stop was at the library's window, but the curtains were closed, and the lock was on. Not one to knock, she glided rapidly to the other side of the castle and entered through her room's window, where her sprites joined her. She peaked in his room on the way, not quite surprised he wasn't there either.
To be sure he hadn't locked himself in again, she went to knock directly on the library's door. They were locked as well, and she heard nothing inside. And now that she thought about it, the castle seemed empty. There was really no one she could turn to for a hint.
Where had everybody gone to? Hopefully they hadn't already departed for the Dark Forest? No, she supposed, a swarm of fairies would have been noticeable. She would have seen them on her way back. Unless they had travelled on foot? Her simply not seeing them outside: how much of a guarantee was that?
Thinking her sister might know what was going on, she ran to the infirmary.
As soon as she started slipping down the stairs to the underground level, she heard the distant echo of a man's voice in the ballroom, like someone was giving a speech. Picking up on the sound, Marianne skipped several steps at once and pressed her ear to the large doors in the corridor. Indeed, that was her father giving a speech.
" … It's not difficult to understand, is it not? Or is it just me? We are a kingdom of warriors. Coming after us is a declaration of war. Not think we'd be able to get back what was stolen from us is condescension at its finest." There was a short silence. "And for us, not to immediately stand up for ourselves is to reaffirm those prejudgments."
This was bad. She hadn't thought her father would go as low as try to enroll the wounded soldiers into an attack.
Then again, it was her chance to get them on her side instead. Maybe she could knock some basic pacifism into their heads.
She decided to make a grand entrance by slamming the doors open, making everyone jump. The crowd turned toward her automatically; the king was the first one to gasp.
"Marianne! Oh, thank goodness! Come here, come and tell me what happened!"
She slowly made her way to him, back as straight as her focus. The fairies parted to clear a path in front of her.
Across the room were scattered lines of large flowers on which soldiers were sitting. They were wearing nothing but their undergarments, wings spread around them and patches sticking to random places. The king was standing near the central fountain, at the lowest level of the room, wearing a black uniform that she had never seen and golden medals and insignias she realized she never heard him talk about. "You managed to escape the Dark Forest?"
Marianne frowned at him as she stepped down each level with a carefully controlled rhythm. "Escaped? I was never captured in the first place."
He placed a hand on his chest. "Thank goodness. I'm so relieved to hear that. Did you see what they were doing? Were you able to spy on them?"
She finally stopped in front of him. Her sister was sitting on her own flower, next to him, holding hands with a pale-looking Sunny. "No need to. I talked to their leader, the King." The crowd let out surprised gasps. The older princess crossed her arms and smirked. "I've arranged a peace treaty for us. Aren't you relieved about that as well?"
The Fairy King was staring at her with a thunderstruck expression. Whispers started travelling the room. "A… A peace treaty?" He repeated weakly.
"That's right, a peace treaty. That means they won't come back. In return, we mustn't bother them."
"But … but the food! We can't just let them…!"
"The King agreed on that. But apparently, the troops ate it on their way home, so it's pointless to go look for it now." The whispers grew louder and her father scanned the room rapidly. She then decided to throw herself into a risky bet: "I convinced him to promise they would give something back. He said yes and apologized."
The older man turned instantly back to her. "What? He apologized?"
She shrugged. "Pretty much. If trying to make up for one's mistake is not a way of apologizing, then I don't know what is."
He seemed scandalized and confused. His tone rose above the whispers. "That doesn't make sense. The Bog King is a merciless killer."
So his name was Bog.
"He doesn't care about us. It's clear he made that up to lead us into a trap. Who knows how long ahead he's planning his actions. My only true relief, right now, is that it implied that he let you go home free and unharmed." He turned to the crowd. "I don't know about you, but I get a bad feeling from this. The Bog King already showed immense disdain toward us. He imprisoned our own Sugar Plum Fairy. He closed the borders and rejected my every attempt for diplomatic discussion. Now, he hears we have a short moment of weakness and he immediately jumps on the occasion to steal resources from us. That doesn't strike me as a peace-loving neighbour willing to negotiate a treaty."
Marianne matched her voice's volume to his. "It turns out it was a mistake on his side. He hadn't intended on doing anything to us. He lost control of his military, so they went on their own initiative. Which is why we didn't see him today."
He turned toward her. His speech kept echoing loudly in the room. "Of course, that would be a convenient excuse. Did you know, Marianne, that the Dark Forest doesn't actually have a military?"
"I do, yes. Only if you want to argue on the terminology, though."
He seemed to ignore her answer. "Do you know how they defend themselves?"
"Spontaneously."
"Exactly. If there is no significant gain for them, they will have to be convinced. And who do you think has the power to convince them? To gather dragonflies, to bring empty bags and travel all this way into enemy territory?"
"No significant gain? Food, Dad! There was free food on the line for them! That's a pretty decent incentive, is it not? And they live so far away, they have no affinities with us, nothing that could … morally prevent them from doing anything questionable to us."
"And he made you believe that he had a reason to go to all the trouble of keeping them home. That even a monster like himself giving orders was not persuasion enough for them to change their minds."
"A monster? First of all, he's not a monster!"
Her father rolled his eyes.
"He tried to explain to me that—"
"He tried to trick you, my dear. And I see he succeeded." He sighed and placed both hands on her shoulder to steady her. "But I don't blame you. It must have been a frightening experience, to have him right in front of you like that. You did your best, darling, and I can't tell you how proud of you I am."
"But—"
"Now, Marianne, heed my words: you are not to return to the Dark Forest." He let go of her and his face became grave. "If you do, you run the risk of being held against your will … and possibly used against me. Therefore, I forbid you to go. And I know you, my daughter; I know you want to go back and find a way to discuss this! But for goodness' sake, if I must tie you up in the dungeon to keep you from going, I will –and I will not regret it."
"I swear, Dad, he was being honest. He was visibly shocked when I told him about it this morning, and I believe him when he says he didn't want them to go. He simply failed to keep it from happening. In fact, I caught him by surprise because as soon as I saw him, I attacked him without stating my reasons clearly, so he was taken aback and—'
"You what?' The fairies gasped again, along with the king. 'You attacked the Bog King? And… And he didn't kill you?'
She let out an amused laugh and gave her fingernails a playful glimpse. 'Heh, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I handled that situation pretty well.'
Her father slapped his hand to his face. 'Marianne… You're going to be the death of me. It's official: you're grounded to the castle."
"What? Come on, how old do you think I am?"
"I'm serious. Your windows are to be locked and no one is to let you out of the doors."
She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him. "If only there actually were soldiers guarding the doors."
"And you're going to listen to me. I'm your father, I know what's best for you and I need you to trust me on that.
She took a deep breath. "No, I can't. I'm going to go crazy if I don't do something! How do you expect me to stay at my window and do nothing but watch while my own people turn this landscape into a bloody battlefield, against those who used to be our kin?"
Nobody said anything.
"I'm not saying we should forgive them," she continued. "In fact, we have to remember this day and step up our precautions, especially on the way we present ourselves. For the moment, war has been avoided because I went to have a dialogue with them."
He tried to add something. She didn't let him.
"However, as you now know, the Bog King's will and his people are independent entities. He did commit to making sure it wouldn't happen again, but obviously, he can't be trusted with his own people. At the same time, we can't very well convince them ourselves right now, can we?" She turned to the crowd. "Or are you telling me you're willing to show them the large bandages on your wings? The Bog King is our ally, at least for now. Let's try to keep it that way, because they, the goblins, are unpredictable and hostile. If we do retaliate against them now, we are not giving him a chance to rectify the situation, and we are being distrustful. He will not be likely to want to work with us again in the future. Let's give him a day to think and act, and then we'll see if it was a trap or not. So above all, we have to believe in the power of discussion and reunification before we make a move that destroys all possibility of a peaceful cohabitation."
"No, I'll tell you why that won't work," the king interrupted her. "There's a chance that we are giving them a day to organize troops and come back."
"Well, let's strengthen our defences, then. Keep the people in the castle, along with everything they deem of importance. But we can't run at them like this. It's suicide."
"We're not alone. Roland is with the elves and they should be waiting for us to depart tonight."
Next to Dawn, Sunny dropped a terrified "What?!"
"Tonight?" Marianne's anxiety started clawing at her chest. "Okay, you know what, Dad: I'll make you a deal. If you allow the Bog King only one day to show us he meant what he said, I promise I'll do as you say and ground myself to the castle. But, if you refuse, nothing will hold me back from flying to the Forest myself and warn them."
"Why would you do such a … such a downright reckless thing?!"
"Because I refuse to let useless murder take place!"
Everybody stared at her with wide eyes. Then, with growing confidence, someone started clapping their hands.
Soon, the whole room was cheering for her. Both the princess and the king gaped left and right at the crowd. Marianne noticed Dawn and Sunny were staring at the floor together in silence.
Suddenly, he turned to her, his face almost crimson with anger, his badges briefly catching the light. "Fine. One day. If by tomorrow, when the sun is highest, nothing has happened, I'll reconsider my strategy. Until then, I expect you to stay within these castle walls. But if there is an attack, both you and your sister will be imprisoned away from danger and blood will be shed to protect our kingdom."
With that, amid the continuing applause, he stormed out of the room.
Dawn followed him with her eyes, visibly shocked. "Wait, why me? I don't want to go to the dungeons!"
Marianne sat heavily on her sister's flower, still digesting the fact that she had managed to convince her father to postpone his plans. Around them, the clapping faded. "Me neither."
Then, an idea hit her. She stood up again and raised her voice. "What about you, soldiers? Don't you agree that we should resolve this conflict without the use of force?"
At first, they only exchanged glances, but she waited long enough for someone to try. "I think I agree with that, but… I'm not against giving them a taste of their own medicine."
Another soldier spoke up. "Me too. If they don't do anything anymore –which would be great— then we can rest and find a cure… But if they do, then I don't mind going after them, no matter what I look like."
"Yeah, me too. I have a son; I would never let anything happen to him."
"Exactly, we all have loved ones we want to protect."
"I don't care about my wings! Give me a sword and I'll fight them if I need to!"
Passionate voices travelled across the room. Marianne sat back on the flower and sighed loudly. So much for basic pacifism. "Okay, this is unexpected."
"How?" her sister asked over the other voices. "I'm with them, I don't want the goblins here."
"I just hope the elves are going to stay out of this…" said Sunny.
The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully. Marianne stayed by her sister's and Sunny's side, lazily lying next to her.
She sometimes caught soldiers glancing her way. Some of those stares were simply curious while others seemed to be holding a grudge. She returned them with an eyebrow raised but didn't confront them on it.
She also noticed the underlying tension between the two friends. Although they were able to talk normally, Dawn didn't turn toward him much. Their conversations were thin, almost polite, and she was sure it wasn't because of her own presence, or because of Dawn's wings.
A bit later, tired of being bored, she went back to her room to get her sword, and trained with her sprites as hard as she could to make the night fall faster.
"Griselda."
The goblin stirred in her sleep. Was it already morning? No, her surroundings were still dark. Better pretend she hadn't heard anything.
"Griselda."
That was Stuff's voice. If she ignored them long enough, maybe they'd go away.
"Griselda! Wake up!"
She growled loudly and pulled her blanket of braided feather grass over her face. "What? What do you want?"
"Do you know where the king is?"
She paused, confused by the sudden question. "How should I know?" She cleared her throat and freed her face. "He doesn't tell me where he goes. Ask the mushrooms."
"Err… I already asked. They haven't seen him, nobody's seen him."
"Threaten to make an omelette with them."
"They looked like they meant it."
"Can't help you either then." She turned the opposite way.
"We need to show him something. It's urgent."
She sighed. "Then wait for him to come back. The sun should rise soon anyway."
"It's just… Something got trapped in the carnivorous plants near the borders. The patrollers captured it."
"Then throw it in the dungeon and wait for him! Stop nagging me, and don't you dare try to convince me to—"
"You should come see it. You won't believe what it is. I'm sure you'll be happy."
The female goblin grumbled some more, then tossed the blanket aside in a quick, resigned motion. "Fine. But it'd better be really important, or he's going to hear about how you disturbed his royal mother's beauty rest."
They both descended to the castle's main entrance in silence, Griselda still in her pajamas and drunken with sleep. Down the stairs leading to the throne stood a small crowd of goblins and trolls, one of them carrying a large bag on his shoulders. Thang joined the duo as soon as they arrived.
"So? What is it that you guys captured?" Griselda asked in a lame tone, scratching her lower back.
They put the bag down and pulled the top slightly, revealing the head of a gagged fairy brunette with impeccable eye shadow and a furious look on her face.
"It's the fairy he was fighting with a couple days ago!" Thang proclaimed proudly.
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If you're a native English speaker and have a moment to spare once in a while just to help me give this a more natural flow, please message me! m(_ _)m