Other Fan Fiction ❯ Reprise ❯ Fly on the Wall ( Chapter 27 )

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CHAPTER 27: Fly on the Wall

Eric held out his torch, guiding them through the lightless tunnels. Ariel had never been in this part of the castle. Not because it was forbidden, but because it led to the dungeons. Or so she thought. But Eric assured her those were in the other wing. The cobwebs and roots seeping through the brick and mud walls did little to convince her. Not even Sir Grimsby was accompanying. Eric said he needed "plausible deniability" if anyone was captured.

They reached a heavy wooden door with a double lock. Two guards stood on either side, holding partisans. A key dangled from each of their belts. "Halt!" one said.

Eric reached into his shirt and pulled out a small medallion tied around his neck. One of the guards pressed a gem scope into his eye. He examined the medallion while the other held his partisan ready to spear Eric at moment's notice.

"Clean," the examining guard said. The other relaxed his spear. Together they inserted their keys at the same time and unlocked the door. Eric nodded his thanks and entered.

The same rock, overgrown with dirt and mold, made up this cavern. At a lone table, four military men rose at their entrance. They were all Eric's closest advisers--Colonel Jensen, Overseer Dahl, High Constable Holm, Commodore Krogher. In fact, they'd been in attendance of their wedding. And thus, knew her secret.

Eric placed his torch in a nearby sconce. Overseer Dahl approached the locked oak door. "Hey! Let us out! Come on!" he shouted.

Nothing happened. The guards on the other side didn't attempt to open the door. He returned to the table. "We appear to be in blackout."

Eric took his place at the table. Ariel stood behind Eric, unsure of where she belonged. "Gentlemen. Present your articles."

Each of the five dug through their pockets and held out various items. One was a medal, another had a metal rod, another was a charm of crossed bones. Eric held out his royal signet ring.

"And her?" Colonel Jensen asked.

"She can be trusted. Anyone who doubts her identity can consult with me," Eric said.

"Um, hi," Ariel said.

The men took their seats. Ariel remained standing as there was no chair for her.

"Thank you all for coming," Eric said.

"Princess Ariel, why did you come here?" one of them asked.

"I... I thought it was time I started taking more of a role in the kingdom. Making decisions, learning things. After all, I'm going to be ruling it someday."

"Good answer," Dahl said. "Wise."

"Are you recovered from your transformation?" Holm asked.

"Yes, fully."

"Do you know what caused that?" Commodore Krogher asked.

"Um, yes..." Ariel said. "And it's... I'm working on that. But I won't be turning back into a mermaid against my will, that much I know."

Krogher nodded, satisfied.

"The longer we stay here, the longer we risk losing privacy," Eric said. "What are our updates?"

"I'm sending scout ships with new orders for battalions four and five. When they'll arrive, I'm not sure. But estimate a week."

"Assuming they're still on the water," Dahl added.

Krogher nodded gruffly.

Dahl turned to Eric. "Our letter to install an Ambassador to the Southern Isles is ready. The contract has yet to be signed."

"They won't agree to that," Colonel Jensen said. "They want to win this war first, before they start accepting changes in their congress."

"The best time is while they're distracted. They won't give much thought to our representation. And the faster we can enter the bakery, the faster we can start stealing pies."

"They may have won already," Krogher said. "And we don't know it yet. News travels slowly on the sea."

"Go ahead and send it," Eric said. "I don't mind making plans for the future. But right now, our focus is backing the armada. We've been asked for full support and that's what we'll give."

"Speaking of," said High Constable Holm. "Councilors Roderick, Gunsen, and Skold."

Eric and the others nodded. They knew who they were talking about, even if Ariel didn't. But she felt too alienated to interrupt.

"We think we've found a way to... take care of them," Holm said.

Ariel put her hands to her mouth. "What are you going to do?" she whispered.

Holm eyed her. "Send them far away. Investigate mineral deposits, busy themselves with diplomacy."

"Will they protest?" Dahl asked. "They'll know that's no work for a councilor of the kingdom."

"They can protest all they want. They're still going," Holm said. "The last thing we need is separatists with convocation seats. They'll slow everything down. The more loyalists there are, the better. And Roderick, Gunsen, and Skold are the most vocal. Without them, resistance will break down."

"Whatever happened with the Viscount of Glowerhaven?" Eric asked.

"No updates," Colonel Jensen replied. "We're still trying to convince them to join us. I think we're past the point of negotiation and have to try something more artful."

"Could we convince them that Arendelle and Corona are coming for them next?" Dahl asked.

"Maybe. I was more hoping an opportunity would present itself. The Viscount has a daughter-in-law that is... well, often running into trouble. Consorting with commoners, disappearing when she's needed. Rumors abound that she's purchased spells from a circle of witches."

Eric nodded thoughtfully.

"It's only a matter of time before she gets into some trouble she can't get out of. Then we can offer her asylum in exchange for their coffers," Commodore Krogher said.

Overseer Dahl scoffed. "So she can cause trouble here?"

"I don't know," Eric said. "It's not much of an exchange. Do more groundwork. See what it'll take. Commodore Krogher?"

Krogher leaned forward. "We've recruited twenty new ships for privateering. More than I expected. Good thing about a fishing village with no fishing--there are plenty of ships with nothing to do."

Privateering... Ariel searched her mental word bank. She'd heard of it before.

"They're clear on the rules, right?" Eric asked.

"Yes, but they wanted a monetary stipend in addition."

"What?" Eric said. "Those greedy freebooters. You must be kidding."

Krogher shook his head. "Said it's for the dangerous work. Plus there's no guarantee they'd get what they need. Said there's just as much chance of looting a vessel full of flour and cloth as anything valuable."

Looting? That's where Ariel heard the term. It was another word for piracy.

"You're sending out pirates? You're making your own citizens into pirates and sending them against the enemy?" She gasped. "They're not going to kill anyone, are they?"

Overseer Dahl snickered. "It's a war, milady."

Eric held up his hand. Immediate silence. "The deal is they can take any and all cargo they want. Dump the rest over the side, empty the stores. But kill no one."

"Whether or not they'll follow remains to be seen," Krogher said. "My hopes aren't high. There are no laws on the sea."

Ariel looked desperately at Eric.

"It's the best we can do," he told her. "I want an end to this war as fast as possible. I mean, we weren't coerced into this alliance, but we didn't volunteer either."

"Eric, I keep telling you. This war is the boost this country needs," Colonel Jensen said. "We're tumbling into oblivion. This economic blight is-"

"I don't want a throne built on blood," Eric answered.

"You may not have a throne at all, if our enemies surmount us," High Constable Holm said.

"Or our allies. They could take advantage of our weakened state to add another colony to their empire," Jensen added.

"Have you... considered what we've talked about?" Overseer Dahl asked. His eyes made the briefest glance at Ariel.

"The answer is still no," Eric said. He crossed his arms and glowered at Dahl.

"What?" Ariel asked.

"Don't worry about it," Eric said.

"She's here right now. We can ask her herself." Dahl gestured to Ariel.

"Don't you dare," Eric said.

"What? What is he talking about?" Ariel asked.

Eric remained tight-lipped and steely-eyed, staring at Dahl across the table.

Ariel said, "If you want me to take charge and act mature, then you have to treat me like it. Don't tell me 'not to worry' like I'm a child."

Eric sighed. "Overseer Dahl wants to know if you could employ the sea kingdom to strengthen our station."

Ariel frowned at Overseer Dahl.

"It could prevent the loss of lives," Dahl said. "There has to be untold wealth we can't reach, sunken treasure or loose gems. And other merpeople, we could train them to destroy enemy ships. Tear them apart from the bottom."

"The answer is no, Overseer." Ariel crossed her arms.

"There must be vast numbers of scuttled ships from past centuries, just sitting there. Merpeople have no use for human things. You've said it yourself. It could pay for this war."

"My kingdom... I mean, the sea kingdom, is not a place you can exploit," Ariel said.

"But-"

"The issue is dropped, Dahl," Eric said. "You heard straight from her. She said no."

He leaned forward, and clasped his hands together. In that moment, Ariel couldn't look at Eric the same. She always saw him as a young, handsome prince who loved the sea, loved his dog, loved her. But he had a dark side. The side responsible for a country. A country with a questionable ability to survive.

"I want to know about our land defenses. We've talking about the sea this whole time," Eric said.

Colonel Jensen unrolled the map. "I believe we're covered. No one thinks an invading land force will take us. Neither Corona or Arendelle have one to boast of. The biggest difficulty is transport." He pointed to several expanses of plains. "Our contingent battalions are here, here, and here. But you can see the path for resupply isn't exactly straight. We have to go around the Wittemore Bluff or Dugway Rim."

The four of them studied the map.

"If we could occupy one of the nearby villages, we could set up a station depot," Jensen said.

"I don't like that idea," Eric said.

"Why don't you take this path?" Ariel asked. She traced her finger through a green mass. "Where it diverges in the forest?"

"What path?" Eric asked.

"This. Right here." She stabbed at the amorphous moss-colored circle with her index finger. "Just go through. You can avoid the cliffs. It seems simpler."

"What are you talking about?" Krogher asked.

"Right here! Don't you see it?"

Jensen, Dahl, Holm, Krogher, and Eric peered at the map below her finger, as if searching for an ant. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, dear," Eric said.

"Are you serious? This spot right here where I'm pointing." Under her finger, one path branched from the main road. It cut through the forest until it met with the route around the perimeter. "Can't you see it?"

Eric chewed his upper lip. "Well... I see... hmm... anyway, what were we talking about?"

Ariel's jaw dropped.

Dahl opened his pocket watch. "We're running out of time. You need to meet with the navy commanders."

"Right." Eric reached into the cloak slung over his chair and produced four leather-clasped envelopes with wax seals. "New codes and instructions." The four generals secured them in pockets or handbags. Eric stood up. "This meeting is adjourned."

Jensen approached the door. He knocked with an arrhythmic pattern for ten or twenty seconds. The others gathered behind him, waiting, until he finished and the door opened. All except Ariel, who remained looking at the map.

"Am I missing something?" she muttered to herself.

"Ariel? We need to get down to the city."

"Coming." Ariel rolled up the map and headed after him.

The best thing Elsa could say was that she hadn't lost control of her powers yet. But she felt close.

Not only did she have to ask all these strangers if they'd seen a girl with a round face and big green eyes, but she had so little information to give. Seventy feet of blond hair--that could have been it. But no, one slip would reveal their identity. So she was stuck describing characteristics which applied to everyone here.

A tavern was an unlikely place for Rapunzel to go--indoors, full of ruffians willing to take advantage of strangers--but she had run out of possibilities. Tired and lonely, she wished she had some silver to buy some food. Instead she asked the passing waitress. "Excuse me. I'm looking for a woman about my height, but with blond hair and light freckles. She's dressed like me."

"Dressed like you?" The waitress scrunched her nose. "Lady, the only people dressed like you are at the laundry pool."

"Yeah, where the washerwomen are. What'd you do? Steal their clothes?"

"Washerwomen..."

"Yeah, Minchin's working them to the bone right now. Best you don't let her catch sight of you, she might think you're one of them. I assume you're not, otherwise she'd be tearing the town apart looking for you. Best you stop taking fashion tips from them."

Elsa's eyes glazed over with thought. Ariel had fetched them washerwomen's uniforms. If that was the case, then maybe Rapunzel got...

She stood up and grabbed the waitress's arm. "Quick, where's the laundry pool?"

Confused, the waitress replied, "In the south quarter, behind a bamboo fence. You can't miss it."

Elsa ran out of the tavern, not hearing the waitress's final words, "Just listen for the shouting."

Rapunzel had only felt like this once before--when she saw Flynn escaping with the satchel. Now it was because she had lost their only lead to a sinister conspiracy of ancient magic and power. They had nothing. And it was because of her.

She had gone on this grand adventure thinking she could handle herself. It was such a little thing to take care of too. But without it, the world was doomed. She might as well stay here darning socks until she grew tired and old. She deserved it.

"Get those through the wringer!" Minchin yelled. "You know what one drop of moisture means? It means mildew. Mold! Plague! Do you want to be responsible for the death of the royal family? Because you couldn't push your elbows a little harder? At Rummersland I had to haul forty pound bags of grape shot. On each shoulder." She reached into her hip bag and produced a bronze medal. Shoving it into a girl's face, she said. "If I can do it, you can do it."

One woman with a dull expression dumped an oversized basket on the pile, then gathered the finished garments behind them.

Minchin approached a girl at a table, attending a large mortar and pestle. "Susanne, why isn't the lye and soapwort mixed up yet? It's essential for cleansing stains."

"I'm sorry, Miss Minchin. I'm trying. To be honest, the fumes are making me dizzy."

"Making you distracted, you mean."

"No, it's-"

"Don't make excuses. Do you want everyone to run behind because you were too slow?" She stood behind the girl and put her hands on her shoulders. "I'm saying this because I don't want you to end up on the streets. I'm trying to protect you all. You're my girls."

She patted the lye-mixer and walked off.

Rapunzel believed it. The world was a dangerous place. Maybe it was better to stay here and work hard than return in shame to Corona. At least she had a job here.

Minchin approached a girl at a folding table, fiddling with a never-ending pile of clothes. "Lykke, I don't know how you untie and retie these knots all day every day."

"It's nothing, Miss Minchin."

"Then why does it take you so long?" Minchin shouted.

Rapunzel stopped. Glassy eyes returned to sparkling. She recognized that phrase. She recognized this whole thing. She lived it for eighteen years. Brow-beaten into submission with passive-aggressive insults. Demeaning under the guise of nurturing. This is what she would have been if she'd never left the tower. Imprisoned, toiling, enslaved.

Rapunzel stood up. She dropped the clothing she was working on. "That's enough," she shouted.

The laundry pool froze.

"Honey, what are you doing?" Agitha whispered.

In the dead silence, Rapunzel turned to Minchin. "You are mean, manipulative, and selfish. You only care about yourself while we do all the work. Well, it's not going to work that way. Not ever again."

Minchin approached her, silent as the rest of the crowd. She towered over Rapunzel, but the princess kept going.

"You can't treat people like this. Not to me. Not to anyone. I am going to the castle and telling everyone how they're getting their laundry done. By an abusive tyrant."

Minchin shoved Rapunzel with her tree trunk arms, thrusting her into the ground. Rapunzel's already red and raw hands stung the stones.

Minchin glowered. "You dare talk back to me like that? You don't know what it's like out there. The countryside is starving. Buildings are falling apart. The port is a trash pile of empty ships. So you count your blessings you've got a job and a bed. All of you."

Rapunzel realized Minchin had a point. Women didn't have a lot of opportunities to work, especially in the city. She shouldn't have talked back.

"All of you owe me. I'm the one who keeps you safe. They wanted to dock your pay, but I said no. I said no one could produce the kind of quality I can. I may take a little more than my share, but that's because no one else can. I'm not selfish and cruel. The world is."

Rapunzel's eyes filled with tears. Why did she think this was a good idea?

Minchin fished the bronze medal from her pocket. She held it in front of Rapunzel's eyes so she could get a good look. "You go ahead and tell the castle what's happening here. I'll remind them that I'm the hero of Rummersland. What do you think they'll say?"

"You're a liar," Rapunzel whispered, addressing no one particular.

"What?" Minchin raised the medal over her head, as if to strike her with it.

Rapunzel's eyes flashed from tears to scowl. She spun back up. Minchin moved to push her back down.

Rapunzel pulled back her headscarf. She yanked out her braid of blond hair and whipped it at Minchin's leg. Once it wrapped taut, Rapunzel pulled.

Minchin seemed to hover in the air for a second, then landed hard on the cobble stones. Rapunzel pulled the medal toward her, close enough to read.

"'Presented for honor and bravery in the first battle of Rummerslund Fort'. How did they know it was the first? How did they know there were going to be more?" She rattled the medal. "It's a fake. How many other things you've said are fake too?"

Minchin said nothing.

Rapunzel pulled the frock off her neck and threw on the ground. "I might have lost everything, but I'm still here. I'm still alive. So I can still get it back." She looked up at the gathering crowd. "So can you. And it starts out that door."

Rapunzel marched toward the bamboo gate. She undid the latch and pulled it open. But before she left, she took a look back to see if anyone was following.

They weren't. They were gathering around Minchin. At first, Rapunzel was afraid they were going to help her up. But they weren't. They were approaching slowly, malevolently. And Minchin was begging for forgiveness. Rapunzel shut the door behind her, confident she would receive none.

It took Elsa another half day to cross town and find the laundry pool. Just when she lost the trail, the smell of soap wafted by.

Then she spotted it--a tall bamboo fence blocking off the alley behind two storefronts. Elsa rushed against the gate. The door rattled and remained locked from the other side. Her powers could break down the door or make a tower of ice to stand on, but there were too many people around.

Elsa ran around the storefronts, searching for a way in. Her temper rose as she pushed past pedestrian after pedestrian. Idiots. They all had nothing better to do but stand around.

She was about to step into the street when a shopkeeper's hand stopped her.

"Whoa, lady, careful."

Elsa glowered at him. She contemplated jabbing him with an icicle.

Then he said, "You don't want to run into the street when there's cartage going by. Specially this one."

"What's special about-"

She stopped. Her eye caught someone across the street. Bright blond hair, big green eyes. She was looking down the street for the approaching carts.

Elsa raised her hand. "Hey! Hey!" Elsa pushed her way to the curb.

Rapunzel, along with the people around her, met her gaze. Her eyes lit up like fire.

"Els-" She hiked up her long dress and stepped into the street.

Elsa did the same as the shopkeeper again tried to reach for her. They met in the middle of the street and hugged.

"So glad I found you," Elsa said. "I thought I was going to be lost forever."

"Me too," Rapunzel said. "Do-"

A child screamed. Then a woman. A horse chortled close enough they could feel its hot musty breath in their ears. The animal raised on its haunches, becoming a terrifying monster with unwieldy claws. Rapunzel and Elsa fell back, landing hard on the street.

The horse's wrangler yanked the reins. Its hooves landed a foot from Elsa's toes.

"Watch out!" he said. "Have you lost your minds? Running in front of the royal carriage like that?"

"We're sorry, we're sorry," Rapunzel said. "Wait... royal carriage?"