Babes In WENNLand, Part 14

Scott had run in front of Barnaby just as he reached the gate with Betty. He put out his sword. “Barnaby, if you touch a hair on her head, so help me, I will stick this through that fat gut of yours!”

Barnaby smirked. “Look who's run off to become a toy soldier!”

“I'm not running anymore. I know who I am.” Scott raised his chin. “And I don't care what Betty owns. I still love her.”

“Oh Scott...” Betty started towards him, but Barnaby pushed her at the trolls.

“Oh no, you don't.” He reached for his cane. “I knew you were going to be trouble, Piper.” Scott narrowed his eyes as Barnaby yanked a sword out of the cane's shell. “That's why I wanted to get rid of you.”

Scott glared at him. “That whole thing with the sheep and the toys was a set-up from the start. I just knew you framed me!”

“Of course, I did.” He lunged at the young man. “You kept getting in the way of my wonderful plans!”

Scott ducked around the gates as their swords flew. “Someone had to. You're through, Barnaby. The toy soldiers are already taking care of those trolls of yours. We're not gonna let you touch Santa or the toys. Christmas will go on as planned.”

Barnaby sneered. “What about Mother Goose? She doesn't want Christmas to go on. She wants me to take it over. This was her idea.”

“What?!” Scott was so surprised, he just stared at Pruitt. Stopping for even a moment didn't prove to be wise. Barnaby slashed Scott's hand with the sword, cutting open his knuckle. Scott let out a cry and dropped his weapon, clutching his bleeding hand.

Pruitt shoved his sword under Scott's chin. “Oh, yes. I'm only following orders. Mother Goose wants Christmas gone. I want it to belong to me. After all, they're only children. Children need discipline, rules, organization. They don't need foolish toys.”

“Oh yes, they do!” Barnaby looked up just in time to see the old head of the factory and his two grandbrats standing right behind him. The children aimed slingshots at him. The old man held up one of his toy soldiers.

Barnaby sneered. “What can your little weapons do? They're only toys.”

“You'd be surprised, Barnaby.” Mr. Eldridge aimed the toy soldier's gun. “You should never underestimate a child or a toy. After all, they'll be grown-up someday, too.”

“That's right!” Lisa nodded at Barnaby's hand. “Come on, Alan! Let's get him!”

Barnaby let out a howl as a hard candy flung from a slingshot hit him directly in the knuckle. He was hit by another, then another. He finally dropped his sword...just as Mr. Eldridge pulled the lever on the toy soldier's gun. Everyone was surprised when the soldier let off a massive BANG! It knocked half the square off their feet.  

“What was that all about?” Mother Gloria Goose swatted her way through the remaining smoke, pushing past Toylanders and toy soldiers who were tying up trolls or chasing them off. Betty ran to Scott, who still held his hand. “Barnaby?”

Two toy soldiers were already tugging him to his feet. “Mrs. Goose,” he puffed, “I want this old man placed under arrest for nearly taking my head off! This...this half-breed wastrel,” he glared at Scott, who glared back, “was fighting with me over a silly little idea I had...”

“Mother Goose...” Lisa started, tugging at her green skirts.

“I think she's a 'highness,'” Alan added uncertainly.

“Your highness,” Lisa added, “could we talk to you? Please?”

She knelt down by the two children. “Yes, little ones?”

Lisa gulped. She'd never gotten an adult's attention like this before. “Please...please let Christmas go on.”

She frowned. “What?”

“You have to!” Alan nodded. “What about every kid on Earth? We love Christmas!”

Gloria Goose frowned. “You don't understand. I'm doing this for everyone's good. I want to go to one place where it doesn't feel like Christmas. Where I don't have to remember...”

“What it's like to be alone?” Lisa nodded, too. “I know how you feel. My dad left. I'm alone, too. Well, except for my mother and brother.” She took a breath and continued. “Please. I know you're sad. It's not fun to be sad. You have to remember, you're not the only person who's lost somebody.”

Mr. Eldridge nodded, taking Lisa's hand. “That's right. Life goes on, my dear. I lost my own wife many years ago, and I thought I'd never go on, but it did happen. Sometimes, it happens in spite of ourselves.”

Gloria shook her head, looking at them. “I...well...”

Lisa looked up as they heard whooping from the square. “The gypsies!” she and Alan said in unison. Maple let out a happy yelp as the sound of little hooves paraded into the square. Great balls of gray and white and black fluff followed Floretta and her carts into the area where the tree had been. “Oooh,” said Lisa in delight, “they found Maple's sheep!”

“My poor babies!” Maple threw her arms around all of them as they gathered around her. “Ginger...Fleecy...Millie...oh, you poor darlings! I'll never let you out of my sight again!”

The tiniest lamb tugged on Lisa's skirt. She giggled and patted its head. “Hi there, Woolie!”

Gil shook Vardon's hand. “Where did all of you blokes find 'em? We searched the whole bloomin' woods for 'em!”

Floretta waved her chocolate truffle-filled basket. “They were in a pen in the yards surrounding Crooked Manor!”

Scott glared at him. “That's your domain, Barnaby.”

Mother Gloria Goose was the one glaring now. “Why would you steal your own sheep?”

“I think these blokes can explain that.” Gil nodded as Gonzorgo and Rodrigo stumbled over, followed by C.J Grumio.

“Thank goodness we got outta that closet!” Rodridgo whined. “It was getting' kinda stuffy in there!”

“No thanks to you,” Gonzorgo grumbled. “All you did was complain about your arm bein' sore.”

“Me?!” Rodrigo looked indignant. “Who's the one who figured out how to roll down the hallway and get back on our feet?”

C.J groaned. “You're lucky I came back and untied you. I'm starting to regret it.”

Mother Goose groaned as the toy soldiers and gypsies took their arms. “Gentlemen, enough!” Two of the toy soldiers pushed them before her. “Would you please tell me what your plan with the theft of the sheep was about?”

Rodrigo kissed her hand, ignoring Barnaby's loud groans. “For a good lookin' ol' dame like you, I'd tell you every single crime I ever committed.”

She grinned. “I just need to know about one.”

Gonzorgo opened his mouth first. “It's like this, Your Goose-ness. We were hired by some guy named Barnaby,” he waved a hand at him, “to steal the sheep an' plant the sausage in Scott Piper's office to make it look like he did it.”

“We stole some papers for him, too,” Rodrigo added. “Something about the owners of the factory and that Betty Blue dame.”

Betty turned to Barnaby, glaring razor-sharp hard candy shards at him. “You knew all along! Why didn't you tell anyone before?”

“I didn't want you to know.” Barnaby gave her another one of his sneers. “I wanted to take over the factory myself. If I got you, it was a...bonus.”

“Mr. Barnaby,” Gloria Goose started, “where are those papers now?”

“They're in his safe at Crooked Manor.” Rodrigo pointed towards the Parched Mountains. “We saw him put it up there!”

Barnaby groaned. “Don't tell her, you fool!”

“It ain't nice to lie to a lady.” Rodrigo kissed Mother Goose's hand again. “Especially one as charmin' as this.”

Mother Goose gave them a wan smile. “Thank you, gentlemen.” She turned to Barnaby. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“Yeah!” Alan added, his hands on his hips. “You're not Santa! You'd never be Santa!”

“If you don't like Christmas,” Lisa asked the older man with the slick black hair, “why do you want to be Santa?”

“Because I don't understand any of this!” Barnaby waved his hands at the decorations. “I was raised to know business, not play. I can't see how any of this could make anyone happy.”

Betty was wrapping part of her petticoat around Scott's bleeding hand. “Maybe most kids aren't like you, Barnaby,” he pointed out. “Most of them just want to be kids. They're still learning.”

Jill looked up as the sound of jingle bells rang through the square. “It's time! He's coming!”

Gil and Maple exchanged worried looks. “What are we going to do, mate?” Gil asked. “Everything's a mess, and there's still trolls here.”

“Santa will know what to do!” Alan looked up at Mr. Eldridge. “Right, Grandpa?”

His grandfather gave him a hug. “Of course he will.”

Lisa only hoped he was right. Everyone in Toyland cheered (except the trolls) as the bright red sleigh seen in every illustration of The Night Before Christmas made a smooth, tinkling landing right next to where the Christmas tree had been in the center of the square.