A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(76)

“You are the Masked Man, I take it,” the general said.

“Hello, General,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed your speech down there. Boy, you sure know how to make an entrance. Did they teach you that in your military training?”

The general glared at this ridiculous man. “I do not have time for games,” he said. “Make sure this man stays in his cell.”

The general stormed off but the Masked Man desperately reached for him through his bars and begged him to stay.

“No, wait, General!” he pleaded. “I apologize! I didn’t mean to offend you—I’m only trying to help you! I have information that will lead you to a certain victory!”

On this the general turned on his heel and faced the prisoner. “And how can a man like you possibly help a man like me?”

“Because you’re not from this world, and I am!” the Masked Man said. “I know my way around it and how it operates. You have a very impressive army, but that won’t be enough to take over. You’re going to need something bigger, something much more powerful if you’re going to stand up to the fairies. And I know where you can get it!”

The general took a step closer to the man, his interest sparked although his face didn’t show it. “You have two minutes of my time,” he said. “Explain yourself.”

The Masked Man rubbed his hands together and began. He was a very odd and animated man and used lots of hand gestures as he spoke, most of which didn’t go along with what he said. It was like his hands and mouth were describing two different things.

“The first thing you should know about this world is its history,” he said. “The past is divided into three ages: the Dragon Age, the Age of Magic, and the Golden Age, which we’re living in now. Hundreds of years ago, during the Dragon Age, this world was a mess! It was filled with tyrant kings and evil sorcerers and obviously dragons, lots and lots of dragons—they were nearly unstoppable and reproduced like rabbits!”

“What value does this history lesson have to me?” the general asked. He was starting to feel like his time was being wasted and it angered him.

“I’m getting there, General,” the Masked Man assured him. “Like I was saying, there were dragons everywhere destroying everything—then the fairies got together and put a stop to them. That’s how they came to power and the world entered the Age of Magic. They formed the Happily Ever After Assembly and there was peace on earth and yadda, yadda, yadda.… Now the Fairy Godmother, the head of the assembly, and her fairies have been in charge since the dragons went extinct and no one has been able to overthrow them because…”

He was hoping the general would play along and finish his sentence but Marquis didn’t break his stoic expression.

“Dragons!” the Masked Man said with mystical hand gestures. “No one has been able to overthrow the fairies because you need a dragon—and I know where to get one!”

General Marquis had expected his left eye to start twitching from the moment the Masked Man started speaking—but it didn’t. There must have been some truth to what he was saying.

“So where do we get this dragon?” the general asked.

The Masked Man dropped his hands and an equally serious expression grew on his own face. “Let me out of this cell first, and then I’ll show you.”

General Marquis was impressed by the Masked Man’s quick and calculated scheme. But he figured there was much more to this man than met the eye. He wanted to know more about him before he unlocked the door of his cell.

“How long have you been in this prison?” he asked.

“A decade,” the Masked Man said.

“And why were you sentenced to life for attempted burglary?” the general pressed. “Surely even in this world that’s an awfully harsh punishment for such a little crime.”

The Masked Man lowered his head shamefully, not for committing the crime, but for failing to accomplish it. “It was what I was trying to steal that cemented the sentence,” he said, and then looked into the general’s eyes. “You and I are very similar men, General. We know an opportunity when we see one; otherwise neither of us would be standing here now.”

There was eagerness in the Masked Man’s pale blue eyes that the general found alluring. Perhaps this man could be of service after all.

“One last question,” the general said. “Why do you wear that bag over your head?”

The Masked Man smiled coyly. “The same reason you wear that uniform,” he said. “To cover something I don’t want the rest of the world to see.”

Normally a statement like this would outrage the general, but this time it made him smile. The Masked Man was a strange man, but he was one of the few the general could identify with.

“Colonel Baton,” General Marquis ordered. “Remove this man from his cell. As soon as we leave the prison we will organize a traveling party and he will guide us to a dragon.”





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN





THE ONLY WITNESS


Alex and Conner sat by their grandma’s bedside all night. Neither of them could think about sleep at a time like this. They were afraid if they left their grandmother it would discourage her from waking up. They hoped that if she felt their presence for long enough, it might activate that last bit of magic inside of her.