A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(93)

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 joy 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.”