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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
At the Front
Wendell called his staff together that same day to tell them of the message he’d
received the night before from the Chancellor. "Queen Matilde is in residence at my castle," he said.
"She’s received word from Snow White through the Mirror of Truth that a great war is coming and that it’s
going to affect the Second and First Kingdoms as well as ours. I know it’s been quiet here these last few days,
as if the trolls had finally accepted defeat. And I know some of the men have been asking to go home. But we’ve
got to stay in readiness." The King’s blue eyes looked at each of them in turn, willing them to realize how
serious this was. "The trouble is, we don’t know what the trolls are planning. But we know it’s going to be
something special. The First Kingdom has taken this warning with equal gravity and they have also set up troops
at their border."
"Has the Second Kingdom done so as well?" Lieutenant Burke asked.
"I don’t know," Wendell said. "I haven’t received any word from them. But I sent out a messenger
first thing this morning to the Chancellor to inquire. Pass this information on to your troops, so they’ll know
we’re not merely having them stay here on a whim."
"Yes, your Majesty," Lieutenant Burke said.
"You can go now. But Rose, I’d like you to stay for a bit."
"Yes, your Majesty," she said.
Wendell waited till the others had gone. Then he pulled the Chancellor’s message from his pocket and handed it
to Rose. "There was other news in the Chancellor’s message that will be of personal interest to you,"
he said. "It seems your brother has gone on a quest for truth. The more I see of him, the more impressed I
get."
Rose read the letter in silence and then said, "He had to go, of course. For his wife and our people."
"You’re always talking about ‘your people.’ Are all wolves as devoted to the common good of their kind as
you are?"
Rose laughed. "I guess I do tend to lay it on a bit. But, no. Wolves can be just as good and bad and divisive
as anyone else. Being a hated people has helped to unite us sometimes, but we still war against each other. And
although I would give my life for those fighting here, there are wolves that I’ve met through time that I knew
couldn’t be trusted. To our own families, though, we are always loyal."
"Am I family? I mean, uh, your people are here serving the state and I, uh, guess for all intensive purposes,
I am the state."
"You mean are they loyal to you? Unquestionably. You’ve given them a new chance at life here. Of course, not
all the wolves in your kingdom chose to come. But a great many did. And the ones who are here are willing lay down
their lives for you, no matter what great war is ahead." Rose handed Wendell back the message.
"That’s a great burden, you know. Being King isn’t quite the lark of a job I once thought it would be."
"Only a fool would think of ruling as a lark," Rose said, smiling warmly at him. "And I don’t think
you’re a fool."
"Thank you." Wendell returned her smile and their eyes held for just a moment. "You can return to
your troops now."
"Yes, your Majesty," she said with a bow. And she was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Entertainments
It was quite a night that night at Queen Red Riding Hood the Third’s palace. The Queen had called for a Night of
Entertainment. That was something she did often. And on those nights, the palace was filled with all the gaiety
of a carnival. There were clowns and balloons and magicians by the score. There were puppet shows and acrobats
and trained animals doing tricks. Then, in the later hours, there were plays and dancers and impressively dressed
singers.
The Queen herself was of course in attendance, wearing a new gown of deep red velvet decorated with a multitude
of little golden spiders with sparkling yellow stones for eyes. The spider idea had come from the Royal Soothsayer.
The Queen had told him of a dream she’d had recently of a spider with golden eyes that had come toward her, reaching
out with its long arms. At first she had been frightened by the dream. But the soothsayer told her the spider was
a lucky omen, come to embrace her with great fortune. So instead, Red had decided to celebrate the spider by ordering
a gown made in its honor. And she’d called the Night of Entertainment, so she could honor the gown.
It was almost midnight and still the party raged. The Queen was watching a lively group of acrobats, when the Chancellor
came to her side and asked to speak with her.
"Not now," Queen Red said with a wave. "Can’t you see I’m busy?"
"But, your Majesty," the Chancellor said. He was a much older man whose job weighed heavily on him. His
white hair had receded to well below his ears and his eyes were almost lost in the myriad of wrinkles on his face.
"We’ve just received a note from King Wendell. He wants to know if we’re going to send troops to our border
with the trolls as he and the First Kingdom are doing."
"Well, have I ordered any troops?" the Queen asked, still watching the performers on the little make-shift
stage at the front of the room.
"No, your Majesty, you have not."
"So, that’s your answer?"
"But, your Majesty, why are the First and Fourth Kingdoms arming for war with the trolls?"
"Wendell has a personal thing with them, you know that." The Queen put her gloved hand to her face and
oohed over the trick one of the acrobats had just performed. "That was wonderful, don’t you think?" she
said applauding daintily.
"Yes, your Majesty," the Chancellor said, his wrinkles becoming more furrowed by the second. "It’s
wonderful. But about this war, I know King Wendell has been having trouble with the trolls. But how is the First
Kingdom involved?"
"Oh!" The Queen turned from the entertainment, her green eyes flashing with irritation. "Queen Matilde
sent us a message the other night saying Snow White had appeared in King Wendell’s Mirror of Truth and warned her
about some big war with the trolls."
"Really? I don’t remember hearing about such a message."
"That’s because I didn’t tell you. Snow White said the First, Fourth, and Second Kingdoms were all in danger.
I suppose because we all share a border with the trolls and their disgusting Third Kingdom. They wouldn’t have
that kingdom, of course, if Gretel the Great had handled things better."
"Yes," the Chancellor said under his breath. Of all the kingdoms begun by the Five Women Who’d Changed
History, Gretel’s had fared the worst.
Gretel the Great in her prime, was a very down to earth ruler who spurned all the trappings of royalty. That’s
why they called her Gretel the Great and not Queen Gretel. She never had any children of her own. Instead she called
her subjects her children and gave herself totally to them and their welfare. Even the trolls respected her because
she understood ways and methods of war. Her one blind side was the succession.
Gretel had always considered her brother to be a wuss. So she absolutely refused to consider any of his children
for the throne. Despite pleas from her advisors, she put off naming an heir till she was in her later years. Then,
she was a much weaker woman, some even say she was feeble minded. She easily fell prey to a conniving cousin from
some distant branch of the family. He was a charming young man with great good looks and a flattering tongue. Gretel
became quite fond of him and named him as her successor. After her death, he took control, gambled away the kingdom’s
treasury, and ignored the overgrowth problems with the Beanstalks. When he died suddenly by falling off his horse,
probably drunk at the time, there wasn’t much of a kingdom left.
And so the Third Kingdom finally went to the trolls by default, basically as a bribe to buy peace. And the original
Beantown was abandoned, till it’s rebuilding sometime later just inside the Fourth Kingdom.
"Anyway," Queen Red continued, "despite what Snow White said, I don’t think we have anything to
worry about. The trolls only interested in bringing down Wendell. What do they care about us or the First Kingdom?"
"But if Snow White said so, your Majesty, wouldn’t it be prudent for us to follow her suggestion? I mean,
she’s supposedly dead and she may know things that we don’t."
Red sighed. "I suppose that’s possible."
"And she was also a great friend of your grandmother’s. Wouldn’t you have a certain familial responsibility
to take her warnings seriously? I mean, if only to be polite."
"Oh." Red’s pretty lips drew into a pout. "I suppose. If you put it that way."
"And we could send the troops off with a big parade tomorrow. Think of it, all the people out cheering and
you waving regally from the parapet in one of the your new gowns."
"Yes," she said, smiling. "That might be nice." Queen Red loved military parades. She thought
she had the best dressed soldiers of any army in the Nine Kingdoms. Wendell’s men wore navy with brass buttons.
Cinderella’s wore black with edges of green. King Cole’s wore boring gray. The elves clothed their soldiers in
drab olive green. The dwarves wore a combination of brown and forest, with their officers in navy. The naked Emperor’s
wore boring beige. And the trolls wore dirt brown with black. How utterly common they all were next to those of
the Second Kingdom. Her soldiers were encased entirely in red with edgings of black and great tall red hats with
black pompoms. When they marched in formation you could see them from miles away and, oh, how it made her heart
pound to see them. They were a triumph of fashion! "All right," she said, convinced at last. "I
suppose we have nothing to lose. Tell Wendell we’ll send our troops to the troll border tomorrow. And begin putting
together preparations for the military parade at once."
"Yes, your Majesty," the Chancellor said with a deep bow. It had taken a bit of work, but once again
he’d cajoled the Queen into being sensible
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