Page 9 of Protected

"Thank you again, little friends. Now, let's see if you can help me find someone more my size who can explain where we are. Barring that, maybe some better shelter than under a tree, somewhere I can build a fire." I stood and brushed off the skirt of my dress. The brilliant red material was soaked both from the tumble in the snow when we landed here and from sitting in it with Nuss. The fairies' drink may have warmed me for now, but wet clothes in a deserted winter forest with no shelter was a death knell.

My life up to this point had not prepared me for surviving in the wild. I knew how to politely ask the cook to make me some dinner and argue with my brother, not make a shelter, and give a dying man first aid. I didn't know much of anything other than how to dance and say please and thank you.

I walked a few paces in one direction, then circled back and walked the other way just to see if there was anything to indicate human life. I did find a small clearing where tall spindly trees formed an almost dome-like canopy overhead, protecting the ground from quite so much snow. It was the closest thing I'd found to shelter and a did a little dance around in a wide circle feeling a modicum of joy that we could at least sit on dry ground here.

I rushed back to Nuss and found the pixies dancing and twirling around too. They'd been joined with another fanciful creature. While the little pixies didn't appear to fit into my world's binary gender, this slightly larger golden one had distinctly feminine features and wings more like a bird than the butterfly-like ones of the fairies. She reminded me of the angel that sat on top of the Christmas tree.

One of the golden girls floated down as if on a breeze and landed on Nuss's chest. She held a piece of paper in her hands and nodded and tipped her head to me as if she wanted me to take it. Nuss's name was scrawled in a heavy block print across the front.

Someone knew we were here. Or at least that he was. I spun around in a circle and peered through the trees to spy who might have sent this messenger. Whoever it was had to be nearby to have seen us spill in through to this place. I saw nothing but more trees, more fairies, and more angels. "Please, if you're hiding, come out. Nuss is hurt and unconscious. He can't read your note."

I waited but no one came. Fine. Maybe the note would give me directions or a clue as what to do next. I gently took it from the tiny angel and lifted the flap. Inside, in the same rough hand were five little words.Where the fuck are you?

I turned the card over and there was a neater, slightly more flowery scrawl that read -And do you have the princess?

The Ire of the Mouse Queen

Konig

Iknelt before the Queen of the Winter Realm. I had failed her, failed to bring her the lost princess of the Land of Spirit and Magic, failed to follow her orders.

All of which I would be punished for. Yet it wouldn't be me receiving any lashes, or reduced rations, or sent to sleep out in the frigid winter storm her ire brought down upon us. No, my punishment was to watch my people suffer for me.

Had I been able, I might have stayed in the gentle human world where at least my kind could scavenge table scraps and crumbs, and sleep in the walls of opulent houses. Like the one Princess Clara had been hidden in all these years.

Deserting all those who depended on me to defend the realm and bring peace was never an option. Even if Clara's allure had made me forget that for a brief shining moment. I would not give up my place as the Mouse Prince, even for one delicious moment with her.

The Queen remained quiet and that more than anything else foretold the severity of what was to come. If she'd yell and scream and throw chairs at me, I'd be happier than sitting here while she stewed in silence.

Her voice started low and at almost a whisper, but there was no mistaking the pure command in her tone. "You will not fail me again, Konig. Because if you do not bring ClaraMarie to me by the time the clock strikes twelve again, you'll regret you were ever born."

As if I didn't already.

"Get out of my sight. I don't even know if I can count on you anymore." She dismissed me with a wave of her hand as if I was the most boring thing to cross her path today. She signaled to one of her attendants and though she whispered, I could still hear her say, "Bring the boy to me, when my son has gone."

I knew better than to think her apathy for me was anything but feigned or that I'd escaped her wrath. I pitied whoever this boy was that she was summoning. Perhaps he would serve her better than I ever had.

"Oh, and Konig. Send twelve of your best trained warriors. I'd like to have a little fun with them. One for each day of Christmas until either you bring me ClaraMarie or the portal closes." Her voice was sweetness and light. Her meaning, death and despair.

Shit. There was the punishment I'd been waiting for. She'd destroy our army one by one just to hurt me. "If you take my best warriors, it will take me longer to capture the princess."

The Mouse Queen exploded from her throne and landed behind me. I could have turned and defended myself, but I would only suffer more consequences. She extended the claws she normally kept so well hidden and scraped one across my throat.

If it wasn't the coward's way out and would leave my people without a barrier between them and her machinations, I'd tell her to kill me now. I lived a half-life as her pawn as it was. The image of ClaraMarie in her Christmas dress, hearty and hale, so full of spirit and magic helped me keep my mouth shut.

"Don't ever call her that again. She is no princess of this Realm, she has no claim to my throne. She is nothing more than a symbol to the rebel Nutcrackers and I won't dignify her with a position of power." Her protests rang through the empty hall of Christmas Castle, echoing off the barren walls and spotless floors.

We both knew her denial was false, yet she clung to it harshly. "Of course not, my Queen."

"Now go and take your warriors with you, but know that if you return empty handed again, their lives will not be the only ones forfeit." She released me and marched back to her lonely throne.

She hadn't always been this way. Once upon a time, she'd been the stern, but loving mother of so many. Now there was only me and memories of the day the Winter Realm froze her heart.

I hurried off to the barracks that had once belonged to the soldiers of the Nutcracker guard. I'd been proud the day I'd first walked in to find my bunkmates already fast friends. Five princes of the Realm, all born on the same day, choosing service over the easy life.

The stench of urine, moldy bread, and unkempt bodies, smashed together in the only serviceable building left standing after the last rebel attack was a shadow of its former glory. Still, I would cram more in to give them shelter from the storms ahead.

I gathered six of my most trusted warriors, near the entrance where we could breathe the fresher air. I would not ask any of those with families to join me on this mission. If they had nothing and no one they loved, it was harder to hurt them. "The lost princess is here in the Winter Realm, but we have no good indication as to where the portal spit her out. She didn't have a solid intention on where it should take her, so she could be anywhere."

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