The stuffy dark corridor lacked the lavish ornamentation of the rest of the castle, but it was also quiet. After a few minutes, they emerged in the main hall. Jo Ann and Gene created soft lights that shielded them from the few remaining guards and couriers who weren't trying to make sense of the madness in the ballroom.
“Whoa!” Gene pushed everyone back into a side hall as a troop of foul-smelling winged demons and fat trolls stomped past them. “Looks like Malade finally called for reinforcements.”
Jo Ann twinkled over his head. “We have to speed this up, then.”
“We're close to there, anyway.” Lee checked around the hall before waving her hand to the others. “Follow me.”
She waved them along to a lone wooden door in the back of building near the courtyard. “This will take us to the basement.” Gene and Richard went to her side and helped her lift the thick oak slat. “Follow me,” Betty insisted as she gathered her green silk skirts. “I can take us the rest of the way.And be careful. This is more of a basement than a dungeon. This side of the Palace was only built in the past twenty years. They don't do dungeons anymore. Most of our criminals end up in the jail house in Holly Woods.”
Charles made a face as they started down the dark, dusty staircase. “How do we always end up wandering around in moldy old basements? Can't people keep prisoners in nice, bright bedrooms?”
A silvery light softened the oppressive darkness. “That's why I love this thing,” Gene chuckled as he kissed the top of his wand. “It's a tool kit, a night light, and can throw witches for a hundred yard pass.”
Jo Ann's red light lead the way. “Watch your footing, everyone. Some of the boards on those steps look loose.”
“We've been meaning to fix them,” Betty added. “I was going to call the repairmen down here, but then Malade invaded, and there wasn't time.”
“We'll call someone after we've ousted her,” the frog croaked from her shoulder. “I doubt Malade made any repairs to the Palace that didn't involve redecorating the master bedroom in basic black.”
“Shh!” Lee put her finger to her lips, pointing at the three hulking ape-like creatures skulking around the barred doors in the narrow old hall. One had a key on a chain around his waist. “We need to take them by surprise.”
Gene grinned. “That's easier done than said, Your Maidship.” One wave of his wand created a silver light that turned a troll's nose blue and made him dance right past them and up the stairs, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Uh,” he muttered, “I swear I didn't mean to do that.”
“Let me take the next one,” Jo Ann whispered as she flew past them. “Come on, fella!” Her tiny red light twinkled around his fat furry nose. “You couldn't catch a cold, let alone a fast fairy like me!”
The big troll tried to grab at her with his beefy paws, but she slipped easily though his fingers. “I could too catch a cold! Come here, you little red thingie!” She flew to the nearest door and pulled up, letting him smack into it and knock it off its hinges.
“Good...work!” The third troll grabbed the arms of the one with the keys. “I'll...handle...this guy...Your Majesty...”
“Sir Gautier?” Betty squinted up...and up...at the towering mass of coarse black fur and claws. “My God, what did they do to you?”
“Long...story.” He yanked the keys off the troll's belt and tossed them to Betty. “Get the others out...Your Majesty...before other trolls...come down here. Most trolls...not on...your side.”
Betty shuddered. “That's comforting to know.”
“Hello?” Charles stuck his head into the first room. Narrow wood walls were mostly surrounded by crates and tables and chairs with wobbly legs. “Brett?”
“Charles?” Brett looked up from the back wall as two teen boys in dirty tunics handed her sharpened bits of wood. “How did you end up here? Did they get you, too?”
“No,” he wheezed in his best gangster imitation, “we're bustin' outta this joint, see?”
“Mom,” asked the taller boy with the darker hair, “is that the goofy singer guy you told us about?”
“I thought that was good!” The smaller boy giggled and nudged Charles. “Can you do Queen Malade?”
“You know,” Charles admitted thoughtfully as he stroked his chin, “I might be able to pull her off, at that.”
Brett rolled her eyes as she gently nudged her sons out the door. “Let's get everyone out of here first, boys, then Mr. Charles will be able to put on a performance for you. Oh, by the way, this is Adam,” she wrapped an arm around the taller boy, “and David,” she squeezed the smaller ones' shoulder. “These are the lights of my life, and the best-looking men in the kingdom.”
Adam turned the color of his tattered red tunic. “Mooooom!”
“Hey, I'm your mother.” Brett chuckled and kissed his cheek. “It's my job to embarrass you guys.”
Everyone jumped as a heartbroken howl rattled the bars. “Mooom,” whined David, “can't we get that dog to stop?”
“I still say it's a werewolf in there,” Adam grumbled.
Gene made a face as he took the keys from Betty. “I've heard that howl before. Remember the Summerlands?”
“Gene? Is it really you?” Bill the wolf fussed the moment he opened the door. “Or am I dreaming?” He lifted his paws, which were chained together. “You wouldn't have the keys to these too, would you? I have to scratch my...parts...and I can't get to them!”
“Let me help with that.” The little frog hopped onto Bill's back, stuck a rubbery leg into the lock, and twisted it around. “I think I...have it...” No sooner had he said that than there was a “click,” and the lock dropped to the stone floor. “Here you go, boy.” He tugged his legs from Bill's fur, leaving a thin trail of slime. “Whomever did that to you ought to be horsewhipped. There's rules in this kingdom about animal abuse.”
“Dick?” growled a gruff Yorkalia-accented voice from the last room as the frog unlocked the rest of Bill's paws. “Your Majesty? Is that...you?”
“Yeah!” added a second, higher growl. “Could someone...get us...out? It's...stuffy...in here! We can't...breathe!”
“I'll do...it.” Sir Gautier slammed his leathery brown fist into the door knob, knocking the entire door over. Three trolls moaned under the splintered entranced. Dick somehow turned red under his fur. “Sorry...guys.”
“Next time...boss...” Sir Robert Walden growled with a smirk, “warn someone...when you open doors...like that.”
Lee made a face from the staircase. “If the guards didn't hear that, they're deaf and dumb. Let's get going, before they figure out we're down here.”
“Good...idea.” Dick shifted Charles onto his back. “Come on...buddy. I'll give you...a ride.”
He gulped. “Well, all right. I'm not going to argue with someone whose bicep is the size of my head under normal circumstances!”
Adam tugged at his mother's sleeve. “Can we ride the trolls? I've never ridden a troll before!”
“We'll...take good care of them..Your Highness,” Sir Walden rumbled. “Come on...boys. We'll bring up the rear.” He shuffled Adam onto his back, while David climbed onto an older devil with graying black fur and a wide, bright smile.
As soon as he finished scratching, Bill rolled over and dashed to Gene. “Have you seen Marcia? Do you know where she is?”
“Princess Marcia?” Maid Lee managed to make herself heard over his howls. “I heard Malade talking. She's sleeping in the Rose Room in the tower.”
Betty grabbed the furious wolf by the ruff on his neck. “I know where that is. It's one of the guest suites upstairs, where the rose vines on the side of the castle end.” He took off for the nearest staircase as soon as he could yank free of her hand. “Hey! Hey, wait up! You don't know where you're going!”
“The password is 'whoa!'” The frog scrambled up to her torso and clung to her silk sash. “Darling, please don't go so fast! Remember some of us are a lot smaller than you are!”
“Wait!” Jo Ann fluttered after them. “I'll go with you. You may need a little magic help.”
“Gene,” Brett said quickly, “could you and the trolls keep an eye on my boys? Someone has to watch the Queen, and I need to release their father.”
Gene saluted her. “I'll have the trolls take them to the cottage I share with Helen in Televisa City. They'll be safe there.”
Richard fingered his sword. “I'm going after Ira. I have a score to settle with him.”
“I'll go with you,” Maid Lee added as she slid a long knife from a scabbard hidden in her dress. “You don't know the Palace. I do.”
“I'll go with Brett,” Charles grumbled. “Someone has to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get in trouble!”
Brett made a face at him as they dashed down the hall after the queen and the wolf. “I'm a grown woman. I won't get into trouble!”
“Who got carried off by a troll?” Charles grumbled. “Whose stepmother poisoned her twice?”
She glared at him. “Who saved you and Richard from the trolls at Malade's candy house of horrors? Who helped stop Ira from ambushing your buddies on the road three weeks ago?”
“Enough!” Betty snapped as she flung open a door. “Save it for later, after we've helped Bill wake up Marcia.” She rushed up the steep staircase, with the frog still clinging to her sash and begging her to slow down.
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