The queen closed her eyes and took a long breath. "I could make you forget you ever knew that, but I won't if you promise to bring me the sugared head of the Mouse Queen."
None should ever make the mistake of forgetting the Sugar Plum Queen was primarily a warrior queen. Clara stared hard at Zucker's mother and tipped her head in that cute thinking thing that she did. "You aren't by any chance the Vivandiere, are you?"
The queen eyed Clara with a new appreciation. "Who told you about her?"
"A story-teller from the human realm." That's all she said. The curiosity of all the rest of us was palpable in the air around us.
The queen looked over her shoulder as if she was worried someone else might be listening. "I am not the Vivandiere, but I will tell you this. The stories are all true."
"I knew it." These were the answers Clara had been seeking and we didn't have any more time. "Where is she now? Why isn't she here to help fight against the Mouse Queen?"
I sucked in a sharp breath as another wave of Konig's emotions struck me. He wasn't just here to for a battle, he was here for Clara. "We have to go, now."
Leb picked Clara up and pushed his way through the crowd toward the towers of the castle, opening a way for the rest of us to follow. "One of these days we are going to quit running and bring the fight to that bastard."
"We will," Nuss held out his arms to hold back the revelers that knew nothing of the approaching army. "Once we have the crowns and can rightfully take back the throne."
Zucker went next. "Shit. Mother, I've had the guards put the Prince of Spirit and Magic in the south rooms. He's in league with the Mouse Queen. See what you can find out from him about—"
"Holy sugary snowflakes. Go, already. I'll take care of the stinking traitorous prince."
I wasn't sure if she meant Friedrich or the Mouse Prince. Both, if we were lucky.
I sprinted ahead of Leb and into the first tower. While I'd only ever been in the tunnels and caves outside the castle, the schematics of the building itself were seared into my mind. Zucker joined me an opened a big wooden door before I had to reveal exactly how much I knew about his home. Someday I would have to come clean.
The room he led us into looked like a very average sitting room, with a whole host of plush chairs, antique tables, and tapestries all decorated in sweets, desserts, and sugary treat motifs. I'd laugh, but the DewDrop castle was just as decked out with flowers and other flora.
Zucker grabbed the edge of a wall-length tapestry and pulled the bottom half away from the wall. If I didn't know there was a hidden door there, I never would have guessed. The whole thing was expertly painted to look like the stones around it. "None of you ever saw this."
He pushed against the stones and they sunk back, then popped open, revealing the secret passageway. Just inside, was a cache of weapons which I was thankful for because it included a quiver with arrows and a bow. I slipped the quiver over my shoulder and tested the tip of an arrow. Sharp. Good, because we might need them.
"Oh, my giddy aunt. This is all very cloak and dagger fabulous." Clara ducked under Zucker's arm and into the darkness.
I followed next and took her hand. I let the flower power inside of me that gave me a sparkling green aura push up and out of me, and the hallway lit up enough for us to see our way forward. Leb and Nuss followed me and soon Zucker's purple aura added its light from behind. The passageway sloped down in long spirals until we were well below the castle grounds. We stopped at the bottom, where the tunnels split off into six different directions.
"How do you know where to go from here?" Clara asked, looking around the darkness.
Zucker came forward and pointed to some symbols carved into the walls. "Each tunnel takes us toward one of the other Lands. The axe for the Gingerbread Kingdom, the snowflake for the Land of Snowflakes and so on. We'll go this way."
He pointed down the tunnel marked with the flower. Clara hesitated and stared at the other arches in the stone. She pointed to a spot that had been scratched over, obliterating the symbol beneath. The tunnel went even more silent as we all swallowed our next breaths.
"Is it someplace bad?" Clara whispered.
I pulled one of the arrows from the quiver on my back and forfeited the sharp arrowhead. I scratched the symbol that had represented the Land of Spirit and Magic, an elongated eight-pointed star with a wisp flowing behind it, that now reminded me of the way our princess looked when she danced, curvy and elegant. When I was finished, Clara stepped closer and ran her fingers over the mark.
"This is for the Land of Spirit and Magic, isn't it?"
I nodded.
"No one goes there anymore?"
"There isn't anywhere to go. Your Kingdom was destroyed long ago."
"No." She shook her head and tipped it to the side looking down the dark hallway. "I don't think that's right. There is definitely something still there. I can feel it, right here."
Clara took my hand and placed it against her chest. Magic, just like that which we felt last night during the consummation of her bonding with Leb tingled across my knuckles. She reached her other arm out toward the rest of the guard. "Each of you, give me your hands."
One by one they put their hands on top of and beside mine. Swirls of magic lifted off her skin and lit up the darkness even brighter than either of our Fae auras. Leb groaned and Nuss closed his eyes. Zucker looked at me and I could read the heat in them.
