A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(52)

“So you can talk,” he said.

“Yes, I can talk,” the lion admitted. “I’ll answer whatever questions you have, just please don’t call that woman here.”

Conner found his dislike of Mother Goose wildly amusing. “Why are you so afraid of Mother Goose?”

“I’m not afraid of her; it’s her stories I can’t stand.” The lion shook his head. “Over the years she’s told me some outlandish secrets that I never wanted to know—and she never spares any of the details! If you knew half the things I know, you would look differently at her, too. It’s too much for one lion to bear!”

“Is that why you look so concerned all the time?” Conner asked.

“That’s part of it,” the lion said, and his face suddenly grew very sad. He whimpered, like he was about to cry. “I’m also afraid of heights and these people keep putting me on top of very tall things! And they separated me from my brother when the Red Lion Brewery was demolished and I don’t know where he is!”

The stone lion sniffled into his large paws.

“Oh, you’re talking about the second lion statue,” Bree said. She had regained her confidence and stepped out from behind Conner. “He’s still around! They painted him gold and put him on display at some sports arena.”

The South Bank Lion was happy to hear this and looked a little less concerned than before. “That’s such a relief,” he said. “He always loved sports.”

“Can he talk and move like you?” Conner asked.

“No, he’s just a normal statue, but we’re made of the same artificial stone,” the lion said. “I was the only lion Mother Goose enchanted.”

“Why did she enchant you?” Conner asked. They had several important questions to ask but he couldn’t resist hearing the story.

“In the mid-1800s Mother Goose used to visit her friends at the Red Lion Brewery every Sunday night,” the lion told him. “Around the same time she had just started training that horrible gander of hers to fly her around. He was a horrible flyer and every so often they would crash right into me on the roof. One night they were a little too careless and hit me so hard I was knocked off the roof and shattered into pieces on the ground. She magically put me back together and cast an invincibility spell on me so I wouldn’t leave such a mess the next time they knocked me off the roof.”

“Ah, so that’s why you stayed in such good condition during the war and the demolition,” Bree said.

“But that doesn’t explain why you can talk,” Conner pointed out.

“Well, after a few years Mother Goose’s brewery friends started dying off,” the lion explained. “She wanted a friend who would stick around and give her an excuse to come back to the brewery. And unfortunately she chose me. Although I still don’t understand why she gave me the ability to speak when all I ever did was listen.”

“Speaking of listening,” Conner said, “do you remember her mentioning anything about the Brothers Grimm and sabotaging a portal?”

The lion scrunched his forehead and tried to remember. “It rings a bell,” he said. “Was this the same time she led the French soldiers into a trap?”

“Yes! That’s it!” Conner said with a happy jump.

The lion’s eyes grew wider and he nodded his giant stone head. “Oh boy, do I remember that story,” he said. “I wish I could forget it! It gave me nightmares for fifty years!”

Conner knew he needed to be very clear and careful as he got the information out of him to avoid making any mistakes later.

“Do you remember where the portal was that she trapped the soldiers inside?” he asked.

“I do,” the lion said confidently. “It was deep in the Bavarian woods, between twin trees that grew between twin medieval castles. The only reason I remember is because I’m a twin myself.”

“Where is Bavaria?” Conner asked.

“It’s an old country that’s now a state of Germany,” Bree said. “Two trees between two medieval castles seems pretty easy to find.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t find the trees and the castles anymore,” the lion told them regretfully. “They’re gone.”

“What?” Conner and Bree said together. “What do you mean they’re gone?”

“After the Brothers Grimm tricked the soldiers into entering the tampered-with portal, Mother Goose grew paranoid that the soldiers would find a way out, back into this world, so she asked her friend Ludwig for a very large favor,” he said.

“What was the favor?” Conner asked.

“She asked Ludwig to build one of his elaborate castles on top of the portal, so if the soldiers were ever to re-emerge from it they might be tricked into thinking they had arrived in the fairy-tale world.”

“He built a castle for her?” Conner asked in disbelief. “That is a big favor.”

Bree gasped and clutched her hands together. “Wait a second, are you talking about King Ludwig II of Bavaria?” she asked.

“That was his official name, I believe,” the lion said. “Mother Goose always just called him Ludwig or Wiggy.”

Conner was the only one who had never heard of Ludwig. “Who was he?” he asked.