A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(116)

“That’s sixteen for Chandler, fourteen for Chance, and twenty for me,” Chase declared.

Jack hit the ground and kicked a soldier’s legs out from under him. “Nice try, boys,” Jack teased. “But that was my fiftieth!”

Mother Goose flew through the air on Lester’s back. She couldn’t stay cooped up at the palace any longer and had decided to join the fight.

“All right, Lester! Just like that time we narrowly escaped those kamikaze pilots during World War II!” she instructed the gander.

The giant goose stretched out his wings and spun in the air like a fighter jet. Mother Goose held a basketful of empty bottles of bubbly she had been saving and threw them at the Grande Armée soldiers as they flew over them. Cannons were aimed at her but Mother Goose snapped her fingers and the cannonballs were transformed into big soapy bubbles.

One of the cannons fired at Mother Goose went astray and blasted a hole in the side of the carriage Rook was locked in. Had he been just a few inches to the left, he would have lost his life. Instead, Rook climbed through the hole in the carriage and rolled onto the ground. He ran into the woods away from the battle zone. He had tried to warn Alex but she wouldn’t listen—the fairies were no match for what was coming their way.

Alex and Conner were a few yards from the front steps of the Fairy Palace when they saw Little Bo run past them. She was followed closely by Froggy and Red and didn’t show any sign of stopping.

“Your Highness—” Froggy called after her.

“Your Elected Highness,” Red corrected him.

“Little Bo, please stop running!” Froggy pleaded.

Alex and Conner chased after their friends. Little Bo sprinted just as determinedly as ever.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked them.

“Isn’t it obvious? Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn’t know where to find them!” Red yelled back at them.

“That’s not funny, Red!” Froggy reprimanded.

“And by sheep I mean her mind! She won’t stop running!” Red said.

Little Bo frantically raced through the gardens on the search for someone or something. She scanned row after row of Grande Armée soldiers; once she realized whoever she was looking for wasn’t among them she would dart across the gardens toward another row.

“Where are you?” Little Bo said to herself as she ran.

Froggy and Red were starting to lose energy and they slowed down. Little Bo’s pace never slowed and she broke free of the group trailing her and ran farther into the gardens.

“It’s no use,” Froggy said, and stopped running. “She won’t listen to reason.”

Red and the twins caught up to him. Conner glanced back at the palace behind him and saw a cluster of Grande Armée soldiers had snuck through the gardens and were now battling the troblins on the front steps. Trollbella sat on the steps just behind Gator and cheered him on as he fought off a soldier.

“Go, Gator, go! Go, Gator, go!” she chanted and happily clapped like she was at a sporting event. “Get him with your sword! Get him with your sword!”

“Oh no,” Conner said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this!”

Conner bolted to the Troblin Army’s aid but didn’t get there fast enough. Gator was too small to fight the soldier off alone and lost his balance. The soldier stabbed him in the stomach and Gator fell to the ground.

“GATOR!” Trollbella screamed.

“Nooo!” Conner yelled. He lunged toward the soldier with his sword. The soldier was much stronger than Conner and he nearly suffered the same fate. Alex pointed her wand at the soldier dueling her brother and a bright red blast erupted from the tip and hit him in the chest. The soldier flew into the air and the other Grande Armée soldiers retreated in fear.

Trollbella placed Gator’s head in her lap while he took his last breaths.

“Don’t leave me, Gator,” Trollbella said with tears spilling from her big eyes.

“Trollbella?” Gator said, looking up at her. “Before I go, I just needed to tell you—”

“You want to marry me, I know!” Trollbella cried hysterically. “Yes, Gator! I want to get married, too!”

Gator was shocked the troll queen had interrupted his dying words. It wasn’t what he had intended to say, but the little troll died before he could say another word. Trollbella rocked him in her arms and tears rolled off her face and onto his.

“Come back, Gator!” she cried. “Please, come back!”

Alex, Froggy, and Red joined Conner and the troblins at the front steps of the palace and they all stared quietly at the sad troll queen.

“No war is without its casualties, I’m afraid,” Froggy said.

As the twins looked around the gardens they saw more and more Grande Armée soldiers retreating into the woods. Xanthous appeared beside them, followed by Tangerina and Skylene.

“The Grande Armée has fled from the south gardens,” he told the twins.

“They’ve left the east side as well,” Tangerina said.

“And they’ve retreated from the north and west, also,” Skylene said.

Xanthous looked sadly to the ground. “Many of our men were lost, but I think it’s safe to say this battle is over.”

Rosette reappeared from the Elf Empire with good news to share as well. “It was a bit of a mess when we arrived, but the soldiers and the ogres accompanying the Grande Armée fled into the Dwarf Forests,” she told the others. “The empire’s tree is severely damaged and a lot of the elves lost their homes, but Empress Elvina is safe. Violetta and Coral stayed behind to help them clean it up.”