“It’s a stone heart,” she said.
“Why do you wear it?” Emmerich asked.
Little Bo didn’t know what to tell him since no one had ever asked before. “I lost someone I loved very much once,” she said. “I wear this necklace to remember them. In a strange way, it helps me from missing them too much.”
“Did they die or just run away from you?” Red remarked with a snort.
Little Bo didn’t respond. She played with the necklace in her hand and just smiled at the former queen. Her presence alone aggravated Red much more than anything she could say.
Things weren’t quite as lively in the first carriage but the passengers were starting to grow restless. Princess Hope was very agitated from being cooped up for so long and began to cry. Cinderella held her daughter tenderly in her arms and rocked her until she fell asleep. Sleeping Beauty admired her mothering skills as she sat across from her.
“You’re so good with her,” Sleeping Beauty said. “It makes me miss my own mother so much.”
“Me too,” Cinderella said. “There are so many times I wish my mother was still alive so I could ask her if I’m doing the right thing.”
“If a better mother existed in the world I certainly haven’t seen her,” King Chance told his wife. “And that includes our own mother.”
King Chase laughed at his brother. “Yes, our mother was a good person at heart but she was rather cold at times,” he said.
Sleeping Beauty smiled and then gazed out the window sadly. The subject of mothers had recently become a very sore one for her.
“Do you think if all the chaos ends—” Cinderella said but quickly corrected her choice of words. “When all this chaos ends, will the two of you want to start a family?”
Chase placed a comforting hand over Sleeping Beauty’s and she fought against the tears forming in her eyes. There was something they hadn’t shared with them yet.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—” Cinderella said, but she didn’t know what she was apologizing for.
“No, it’s quite all right,” Sleeping Beauty said. “Unfortunately, due to the effects of the sleeping curse, I and many women in our kingdom have been left unable to bear children.”
Cinderella and Chance were devastated to hear this. “Oh, my dear friend, I am so sorry,” Cinderella said, but there was nothing she could say to comfort her.
Sleeping Beauty looked back out her window before their sympathetic faces awoke any more of her pain and frustration. “Some things are just not meant to be, I suppose,” she said.
The carriage became very quiet. The secret path curved across the border between the Northern and the Eastern Kingdoms and Sleeping Beauty recognized the landscape around them.
“We’re home,” she announced to her husband. “I would recognize these hills from miles away—”
Her voice faded and her mouth fell open. Something suddenly came into view in the distance that sent shivers down her spine. Before she could tell the others what she was seeing, she opened the window and stuck her head through it.
“Stop the carriages!” Sleeping Beauty yelled up at Jack and Goldilocks.
Jack and Goldilocks pulled on the reins and the carriages started to slow down but Sleeping Beauty had jumped out before they came to a complete stop. She ran straight toward what she had seen as fast as she could.
“Wait! Where’s the fire?” Jack called after.
“Where are you going?” Goldilocks asked. But the queen didn’t respond to either of them.
The others in the traveling party stepped out of their carriages to see what all the fuss was about. Once the royals saw Sleeping Beauty running in the distance, they sprinted after her but didn’t go very far. Sleeping Beauty stopped at the edge of a village no one else had seen and stared at it in horror.
The village had been viciously attacked. Most of it had been burned down but smoke still filled the air from parts of the village still ablaze. Not a living soul could be seen or heard. The damage was so severe all the kings and queens knew it must have been caused by the Grande Armée. Only their weapons could have left such an ugly mark on an innocent town.
“I don’t understand,” Sleeping Beauty said. “Why does my kingdom seem to suffer the most during times of crisis?”
Snow White stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “The Eastern Kingdom may be the first to see the sun set, but it’s also the first to see the dawn,” she said.
Her comforting words were unheard as Sleeping Beauty was distracted by a noise among the flames. It was a sound so faint she couldn’t tell if she was actually hearing it or if her mind was playing a trick on her.
“Did you hear that?” Sleeping Beauty asked.
“Hear what?” Snow White asked.
“It sounded like crying,” she said.
The others didn’t hear anything. The sound came again and this time Sleeping Beauty bolted toward the village.
“Beauty, come back!” Chase called after his wife.
“It’s too dangerous!” Cinderella said.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get her,” Goldilocks said, and she and Jack ran after the queen.
Sleeping Beauty let the sound guide her; the closer she got, the louder it became. She pushed through the door of a crumbling and burned-out home and stepped inside. She had to cover her mouth from all the smoke in the air. The crying was so loud she knew it must be real.
Jack and Goldilocks found the queen and heard the noise themselves, as clear as day.
“What is that?” Goldilocks asked.
“It sounds like a baby,” Jack said.
“Over here!” Sleeping Beauty called out.
A small chest was buried under a pile of debris that had fallen from the ceiling. Jack and Goldilocks helped Sleeping Beauty lift the rubble off the chest and open the lid. An infant girl had been hidden inside the chest and was surely the sole survivor of the Grande Armée’s raid.
“I don’t believe it,” Goldilocks said in amazement.
“How did you hear her crying?” Jack asked.
Sleeping Beauty couldn’t explain it, either. “I suppose I was meant to hear her,” she said. She scooped her up into her arms and the crying infant went silent.
Goldilocks was eyeing the roof above them. “We need to get out of here fast.”
The three of them ran out of the home with their new discovery just as the roof collapsed. Sleeping Beauty had saved the baby’s life seconds before it would have been lost. They returned to their traveling party, which was still waiting at the edge of the village. They were all just as astonished to see the surviving infant.
“Whose baby is that?” Bree asked.
“As far as we know, she’s an orphan,” Sleeping Beauty said.
“Well, I know of a great castle you can send her to if you need an orphanage,” Red said, and gave Little Bo a dirty look.
Sleeping Beauty was smiling down at the baby she cradled with a warmth in her eyes the others had never seen. “I do, too,” she said. “She’s coming to live with us.”
Chase stepped toward his wife to talk sense into her, but once he saw the infant’s face he felt what his wife was feeling. The child had been waiting for them to save her.
“What about the royal bloodline?” Chandler asked what the rest of the group was thinking.
“If any of you are concerned with blood, I invite you to take a look around the village and see all the blood of my people that has been spilt,” Sleeping Beauty said. “This child is a survivor and a child of this kingdom and therefore a worthy heir to our throne.”
Although Cinderella and Chance were the only royals who knew Sleeping Beauty couldn’t have a child of her own, none of them objected. The child was a beacon of light in a very dark time—if she could survive the wrath of the Grande Armée, they could, too.
“What will you name her?” Cinderella asked.
Sleeping Beauty exchanged a smile with all the kings and queens around her and tears of j
oy came to her eyes. They all accepted the child of this spontaneous adoption as one of their own.
“Since she was found in the ashes of her village, I think I’ll name her Ash,” she said.
“Princess Ash of the Eastern Kingdom; it has a nice ring to it,” Froggy said.
“She’s beautiful,” Rapunzel said.
Red stared at the ransacked village and a heavy pile of guilt filled the pit of her stomach. All her anger and woes about losing her throne seemed so small in comparison to what the world was facing. This attack could have happened in her kingdom, and that thought angered her more than anything ever had.
Red marched up to Goldilocks. Everyone expected her to start an argument but she surprised all of them with a request.
“Teach us to fight,” Red said.
“Excuse me?” Goldilocks asked.
“I want to learn how to fight this army myself,” Red explained to the others. “This could have happened to any village in any of our kingdoms—this wasn’t an attack on the Eastern Kingdom, it was an attack on us all. I refuse to sit back and watch this Grande Armée destroy everything we love so much. If I die, I don’t want to die in a cozy carriage or throne room, I want to die fighting alongside our people.”
The royals all looked to one another as her words touched each of them. They were surprised, impressed, and, most important, inspired by what Red said. They all took a step toward Goldilocks, united in the request.
“I do have pretty decent upper-body strength from cleaning my stepmother’s house every day,” Cinderella bragged.
“And we could use a break from being cooped up inside those carriages.” Snow White shrugged.
Goldilocks was impressed by their interest and withdrew her sword from its scabbard. “All right, then,” she said. “Your Majesties, each of you please find a large stick. The first thing I’m going to teach you is how to use a sword.”
Mother Goose stood on the grand balcony of the Fairy Palace and gazed at the stars in the night sky. She quietly prayed that wherever the twins and Lester were, they were succeeding in their efforts to recruit the armies. But most of all, she prayed that they were safe.
Emerelda rushed onto the balcony. “Mother Goose,” she said breathlessly. “It’s the Fairy Godmother, she’s awake.”
Mother Goose’s spirits soared so high she almost floated into the air. “For good?” she asked.
“From the looks of it, I would say only momentarily,” Emerelda said. “She seems extremely tired and she’s asking for you.”
Without wasting a second, Emerelda and Mother Goose ran to the Fairy Godmother’s chambers. Mother Goose kneeled by her bedside and took her hand into her own. Her eyes were open but very heavy, as if she had just awoken from a deep sleep and was about to fall into another.
“Hello there, my dear friend,” Mother Goose said softly to her.
“Emerelda, would you please give Mother Goose and me a moment alone?” the Fairy Godmother asked weakly.
Emerelda nodded and left the chambers.
“Mother Goose, I have something I need to ask of you before I go,” the Fairy Godmother said.
“Go? But where are you going?” Mother Goose laughed. “The Poconos? Martha’s Vineyard? Palm Springs?”
“You know where I’m going,” she said.
“I do,” Mother Goose said sadly. “But I was hoping there was still a chance you’d be sticking around. What is it that you need to ask me?”
The Fairy Godmother’s eyes grew heavier the more she tried to speak. “Over the years I have kept many secrets for you,” she said. “I’ve only asked you to keep one of mine, and I’m asking you to keep it even after I’m gone.”
Mother Goose knew what her friend was referring to without having to ask. “I assume you’re talking about the other heir,” she said.
“Yes,” the Fairy Godmother said with a deep breath. “If Alex hadn’t proven herself to be the true heir of magic, I wouldn’t be lying in this bed. Her compassion is both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. If she ever knew there was another—if she ever found out who they are—she would be fooled the same way I was and it would destroy her.”
“I understand,” Mother Goose said. “You have my word: I will keep your secret and Alex will never know.”
The Fairy Godmother smiled at her oldest friend. “Thank you,” she said with relief. Her eyelids became too heavy to hold open and she drifted back into a very deep sleep. She slept even more peacefully than before, now that this had been addressed.
Mother Goose sighed and squeezed the Fairy Godmother’s hand. Keeping the Fairy Godmother’s secret would be the hardest challenge she would ever face.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
TO THE CORE
In the middle of the night three villages in the south of the Eastern Kingdom found themselves under attack. Soldiers of the Grande Armée invaded the towns and robbed the villagers of all their supplies. The villagers themselves were imprisoned and taken back to the soldiers’ camp.
Only one village had the courage to stand up against the Armée and it was destroyed in the process. As far as the soldiers knew, not a single soul had survived the ruthless attack. When the enslaved villagers arrived at the camp, they were lined up and each given a shovel. Their only instructions were to dig.
“How far do they dig?” General Marquis asked the Masked Man. They watched the villagers work from the general’s comfortable tent.
“Until they hit magma,” the Masked Man said. He cradled the dragon egg in his hands and never let it out of his sight. “It shouldn’t take them very long to reach it. During the Dragon Age the Eastern Kingdom was consumed with volcanoes. Dragons laid their eggs in the magma because their offspring grew at rapid rates in the heat.”
“And what happens after the egg is placed in the magma?” the general asked with a sideways glance at him.
“I’ll let you know,” the Masked Man said, and held the egg even tighter. He was very tight-lipped, knowing his knowledge of dragons was the only thing keeping him alive.
“You’re smarter than you look,” the general said.
“General Marquis,” Colonel Baton called from the back of the tent. “We have finalized our plan of attack for tomorrow.”
The colonel and Capitaine De Lange were standing over the general’s desk. A large map of the fairy-tale world had been spread out across it with several flags and figurines placed in strategic clumps throughout the kingdoms.
“Does the plan follow what we discussed?” the general asked him.
“Yes, sir,” the colonel said. “Tomorrow at dawn, we will strike the kingdoms and seize their capitals. Capitaine De Lange and his men have successfully spied on the kingdoms’ armies and we’re pleased to inform you our army of soldiers and recruits is more than twice the size of their armies put together.”
“Go on,” the general instructed.
“The ogres and one thousand soldiers will be sent to the Elf Empire to defeat their army—we didn’t obtain the exact number of the elves in the Elf Empire’s army, but we estimate it’s only a thousand or so. The witches and three hundred soldiers will be sent to the Corner Kingdom to defeat their small army of two hundred or so men. The goblins and one thousand soldiers will be sent to the Northern Kingdom to defeat their army of one thousand men. The fugitive animals and four hundred soldiers will be sent to the Red Riding Hood Kingdom to defeat their army of four hundred men. The trolls and five hundred soldiers will be sent to the Charming Kingdom to defeat their army of five hundred men. The remaining criminal recruits and eight hundred soldiers will be sent to the Eastern Kingdom to defeat their army of seven hundred or so men. The Troll and Goblin Territory is worthless to us—they have no authority in this world so we won’t waste our men on them.”
“We outnumber each of the armies, sir,” Capitaine De Lange said. “That will leave you two thousand soldiers to lead into the Fairy Kingdom and seize the Fairy Palace.”
“And a dragon!”
the Masked Man reminded them. “You’ll have two thousand soldiers and a dragon.”
“How soon will the dragon be ready?” Baton asked.
“Raising dragons is all about timing,” the Masked Man told them. “Depending on the temperature of the magma and how much we feed it, it could grow to full size in a couple days—as long as you keep me around to properly raise it, that is.”
The general carefully looked over the map on his desk. The other commanders in his charge were practically claiming victory already based on the information they had, but the general wasn’t pleased. There was something about their strategy that didn’t sit well with him.
“Are you sure we haven’t miscounted the armies?” the general asked. “When the Brothers Grimm described each of the kingdoms to us, their forces felt much bigger.”
“My men returned only yesterday, shortly after you returned from the north, sir,” Capitaine De Lange assured him. “The armies of the kingdoms have been seen preparing for war in the capitals and they were all accounted for.”
The general still wasn’t sold on the idea. He had a hunch they would need to charge the Fairy Palace with more than soldiers and a dragon if they wanted to succeed.
“Very well,” the general said. “But I want more leverage than soldiers and a dragon before we strike the fairies. I want each of the rulers brought back alive once their kingdom is seized, is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Colonel Baton said. “We will attack the Fairy Kingdom last—once all the rulers of the other kingdoms have been successfully retrieved.”
“Capitaine De Lange, make sure the villagers are digging as quickly as possible,” the general ordered. “I want to put the egg in the magma no later than sunrise tomorrow.”
Capitaine De Lange saluted and headed to the digging site. General Marquis rubbed his bald head, worrying there was information his men had missed. Lieutenant Rembert hurried inside with wide eyes and exciting news to tell the general.
“General Marquis, a discovery was made in one of the nearby villages. I thought you would like to see it, sir.”