Chapter 10
The guards and a smiling Kip led Winnie back to the interrogation room. This time soft overhead lights replaced the blinding spotlight. The guards directed her to sit in the wooden chair again. At least this time, they didn’t strap her in.
Part of the wall, which appeared solid, opened inward. Four man-sized toads entered through the secret door. They sat at the table facing her. Queen Bogen entered last, settling her toad-shaped bottom into the fanciest seat between three toad advisors and Kip.
Ordinarily, facing a bunch of toad people would have unnerved Winnie. Seeing Kip with them, though, turned the situation from scary to annoying. She still hadn’t forgiven him for the stolen-locket incident. Everything about him bugged her. From the gold hoop, glistening in his left earlobe, to the way his hair, the color of an undercooked waffle, curled up so naturally. Even his long lashes got on her nerves.
“Your Majesty,” said the tan toad man directly on the queen’s right. “Are you satisfactorily convinced this creature is not a lurk in spy?”
Queen Bogen inclined her head. “Master Wizard, further allay Zyke’s fears.”
Kip leaped up. “I would be honored, Your Majesty.”
Winnie just shook her head. How could he act so nonchalantly in this weird world? He almost looked like he fit in.
“This particular wand,” he said, as one materialized in his right hand, “possesses the ability to detect lurk in no matter what form they take.”
The toad people “oohed” in delight. The green one even applauded lightly. Winnie rolled her eyes. She knew Kip didn’t possess a magical bone in his body.
“If I strike the subject with it and she disappears, that means she’s a lurk in spy.” Kip strolled to Winnie’s chair. “If she remains, we’ll know she isn’t.” He thumped her on the head with his wand.
“Ow!” She rubbed at the sting on the side of her head.
“See? Still visible. In fact…” He held the wand to his ear as if listening for a message. “What was that?” He listened again. “Me wand just said that the young lady is indeed a general. She’s called General Winnie, er, Winifred.”
“Windemere,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Right. General Windemere. Really? Is that a family name?”
“Mom’s maiden name, if you must know.”
“Smashing. Now, as I was saying, Your Majesty, Windemere is world renowned. Takka did, indeed, send this great general to us.”
“Are you telling us he sent the both of you?” the queen demanded.
“Precisely, Your Majesty. Being as clever as Takka is, the good general wanted to provide Your Majesty with a backup plan in the unlikely event that the first one, i.e., me, failed. You see, under certain atmospheric conditions, me wand isn’t always reliable.”
The queen let out an indignant whiffle. “Not reliable?”
“It’s quite all right. It works perfectly well indoors, as I’ve just demonstrated. Outside, where the enemy will be, it’s a bit dicey, I’m afraid.”
“We expect you to correct that before the enemy arrives.” Queen Bogen turned to Zyke. “Our wizard and Takka approve this new general. Maggenta also recommends her highly.”
Zyke grunted.
“We certainly understand your skepticism, Councilman Zyke.” The queen thumbed through a short stack of papers in front of her. “When we examine the general’s contradictory behavior since her arrival, we cannot help but question her intentions.” She stared across the table at Winnie. “We’ve a report before us which states you introduced yourself to the palm as a harrik, then proceeded to save two of their colts from a harris attack.”
“I introduced myself as Harris, not harrik.”
“Drinking sacred water, escaping punishment.” Her bulging pink eyes frowned over the paper at Winnie again. “One doesn’t dash off mid-stoning. It simply isn’t done.”
Winnie leaned forward. “They wanted to throw rocks at me.”
“You did, however, redeem yourself when you returned a runaway mel-yew cub to its father. This report also states that you led a snaps to a hunting party. For that we are grateful. Mel-yew hadn’t eaten properly in weeks.”
Zyke coughed. “Begging your royal pardon, but she also made an attempt on your life.”
Winnie huffed. “They were binoculars, Your Majesty.”
“Did you or did you not intend to assassinate us with them?”
Her back stiffened. “You can’t kill anybody with binoculars. Ask your new BFF, the wizard.”
“That is true, Your Majesty. Binoculars are perfectly safe.”
“Takka asked me to bring them,” Winnie said to Kip. “What did he ask you to pack?”
He grinned. “Me charm and me wit.”
“I can understand sending a wizard,” Zyke said, “but a female warrior?”
“We had hoped for Takka’s return,” said Queen Bogen. “However, in our grave moment, we must not be too particular, must we?”
Winnie stood. “If you think you can handle your lurk in problem with a wizard whose wand doesn’t always work, be my guest. I’ll just go home.”
“You must stay.” The corners of the queen’s lips lifted into an ingratiating smile. “We declare you General of All Armies. This title puts you in charge of our military advisor, Commander Fynn, and all of his subordinates. You also rank above our personal advisor, Zyke, and our Councilmen Jebb and Steed. You are authorized to give orders to the royal guard, civilian volunteers, and to the palum. In fact, General Windemere, our decree makes you almost as important as we are.”
Winnie sat back down. “Okay, then. That sounds more like it.”
“From heretic to general,” the voga named Commander Fynn muttered in his gravelly voice. “Only in Frama-12.”
“What about me?” Kip said. “Do I get to order anyone about?”
“Wizards don’t give orders. They vanish unwanted enemies. You said yourself the wand doesn’t always function properly. A warrior, on the other hand, can be relied upon.” The queen turned to Winnie. “What is your first order of business, General?”
Remembering Mikey’s Frama-12 game, she said with confidence, “We need to recruit more fighters. The army you have isn’t strong enough to stop a lurk in attack.”
Queen Bogen nodded. “Sadly, we are limited by the small mel-yew population.”
“Your…um, Majesty? They aren’t your only subjects.”
Fynn bobbed his gray head up and down. “That is true, Your Majesty. A herd of palm may have small brains, but they have great strength.”
“Denied,” said the queen. “We mustn’t go killing off the workforce.”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty,” Winnie said in her most polite voice, “I’m hoping to win this war with as few casualties as possible.”
“And I’ll fix me wand,” Kip added. “That should count for something, right? Besides, I’ve been around longer. Shouldn’t I get a decree as well?”
“Let’s decree that the wizard has to be quiet. About those palum, we don’t need all of them. Just a few to kick the lurkin.”
“Yes, and that is where we run into difficulty,” Zyke said. “The palm can’t be trained to do anything but pull carts and carry heavy loads.”
“Then what about vogan? They look strong. Why can’t a few of them join the front line?”
“Front line?” sputtered the green toad named Jebb. “Never. We are royalty.”
Winnie’s muscles clenched. In her dream someone had uttered that same pompous remark. A moment later, the spiders had crashed through the castle gates.
“Being royal doesn’t make you immune to the dangers of war.”
“My dear general,” Queen Bogen said sweetly, “is it not possible that the lurk in merely wish to reach the portal that will open up in our region? Perhaps they’d simply pass our subjects by if we let them march through the time tear. Then we’d be shot of them once and for all.”
“Your Majesty, the time tear opens into my world. We don’t want the lurk in any more than you do.”
Queen Bogen sighed. “There we are, then. I suppose we must fight.”
“Not us, surely, Your Majesty,” said Jebb.
“Certainly not us. Someone expendable shall do it.”
“What if I transformed a few dozen blunt into fighters?” Kip suggested.
Jebb gasped. “Queen Bogen, forbid that! Glunt are a culinary delight.”
“If you ask me—” Winnie said.
“Which we didn’t,” said the fourth councilman, a beige toad with brown freckles.
The queen faced him. “Careful, Steed. You are addressing a general sanctioned by the oracle and by Takka.”
Winnie smirked at Freckles. To the queen she said, “Even if we just got a few of them, it would be good for morale if vogan, palum, and mel-yew all trained side by side.”
“Just one moment, please,” Steed demanded. “Vogan are superior. We do not stand beside palum. We stand above them.”
Winnie stared down her nose at him. “Then we’ll have to change that.”
The four councilmen sputtered in protest.
“This is highly irregular!” Fynn, the gray military advisor, shouted above the din.
“Begging your pardon, Your Royal Highness,” Zyke said, “but Maggenta has made a grave error, sanctioning this outsider. I cannot tolerate such blatant disrespect for the royal name of voga.”
“Yes,” Steed said. “She must follow our ways or lose her command.”
“Never heard such blasphemy,” Jebb muttered.
“Generals shouldn’t be the only ones getting decrees. Wizards deserve them as well.”
Queen Bogen banged her scepter on the floor until the room went quiet. “Maggenta erred only once when she sent Takka into the wrong time frame. We must believe the oracle when she tells us this human person is our salvation.”
“Maggenta was wrong once,” said Zyke. “She could be wrong twice.”
“Highly doubtful. This discussion is over. We command that you follow our new general’s instructions or be tried for treason.”
All four councilmen pinched their mouths closed.
Winnie beamed, enjoying her position. “There’s one more thing we should do as soon as possible. We need advance notice about the invasion. Since we know the lurk in are coming by sea, let’s set up a watch post on the beach. The palm can man it. I’ll give them my binoc—my black medallion.”
“The palm will never learn to use your magnifying medallion,” Zyke grumbled. “I had difficulty operating it myself, and I’m highly intelligent.”
“I don’t mind teaching them.”
“Teach them?” said the green toad named Jebb. “They wouldn’t even know they had bums if it weren’t for their tails!”
Winnie, who loved horses, gave them her harshest stare. “Stop making fun of palum.”
Queen Bogen straightened her papers. “We shall decree the recruitment of more mel-yew and station a palm lookout post on the beach as the general requests.”
Winnie nodded, appeased.
“General, the army shall be assembled for your inspection first thing in the morning.”
She stifled a yawn. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“This concludes our meeting,” said the queen.
“But, Your Majesty, don’t I get a decree?”
“Very well, Master Wizard,” the queen said. “We decree that you direct the general to her quarters. She looks tired.”
On the way out, Winnie overheard the queen say in a low voice, “If the new general causes any more trouble, we’ll simply lose her to the hunt.”
She didn’t know what the hunt was, but nobody was going to “lose” her. She pressed her lips together in determination. Warriors never got lost. The expression “forewarned is forearmed” came to mind. Winnie would be ready. She wasn’t sure how, but she’d think of something. She hoped.