Samantha R. Cichella - A New Successor

“Show them in.” Wendell took his place on the other side of his desk.

“You know, maybe we should wait out in the hall or something.” Virginia asked. Apparently she wasn’t too comfortable with being in the same room as the three trolls yet.

“Nonsense, you and Antony will remain here by my side during the meeting. Besides, you don’t want to leave me outnumbered do you?” Wendell grinned, but his eyes gave it away. He was a little nervous about this meeting. Who knew what the troll king had planned?

“Of course not. We’ll stay, Wendell.” Virginia couldn’t help but giggle at the look on Wendell’s face as he tried to hide his sigh of relief.

The door opened and Burly the troll and his two siblings walked in. Virginia wasn’t surprised to see that they were heavily clad in leather. They had a variety of weapons hanging from their belt, including four different types of knives and a big axe. As they neared King Wendell’s desk, Virginia heard Bluebell whisper to his sister, “There she is, there’s the witch!”

“Welcome King Burly, Princess Blabberwort and Prince Bluebell. Please take a seat.”

Burly didn’t bother to return the greeting. He just grunted and plopped down on a chair; his brother and sister following. They didn’t waste any time getting to the point.

“So why did you call this meeting, Wendell? Are you going to hand over the little witch to us?” Virginia looked over to Wendell. What were they talking about? She looked over at her father, but he just wrapped his arms around her again and watched the two kings.

“As a matter of fact, no.”

“No?”

“No. I’m afraid I must refuse your offer. You see Virginia is not responsible for your father’s death.”

“OH, is that right?” Burly was starting to get impatient. He didn’t like being here and he didn’t like how King Wendell was standing up to him. Didn’t these people realize who they were dealing with? Whether they liked it or not, Burly was going to take Virginia and have himself a nicey-nice torture.

“Yes. The Evil Queen poisoned your father. Not Virginia.”

“That’s not what the queen told us.”

“Yes, well, think about it. Who told you that Virginia killed your father? The queen did. Do you think that she could have been lying so that you would go after Virginia for her?” Wendell decided to see if that would sink in.

Burly, Bluebell and Blabberwort huddled together. Wendell tried to make out what they were saying, but failed. When they were done, Burly looked at Wendell and then over to Virginia.

“How do we know that you aren’t lying?”

Wendell didn’t reply. Burly just grinned. But then another voice spoke up.

“Wendell, didn’t you get a truth mirror for your coronation? A gift from the dwarves of Dragon Mountain.” Virginia had wanted to keep her mouth shut through the meeting in case she said something stupid. But this seemed like a good idea. “Won’t it show you the truth?”

“Yes...Brilliant! King Burly, Prince Bluebell, and Princess Blabberwort, if you would be so kind as to follow me. I know of a way to prove to you the truth.”

Burly frowned. He looked over at his brother and sister but they also had no clue what they were talking about. How could they prove it? They reluctantly got up from their chairs, and followed Wendell to the other side of the study. Tony and Virginia waited a moment before they joined them. They stayed as far away from the trolls as possible.

“Dad,” Virginia whispered, “Has Wendell had a chance to use this mirror yet?”

“No, I don’t think he knows how. This should be interesting.” Tony grinned a little at Wendell who was now standing in front of the mirror, searching for a way to turn it on.

“Mirror, ON!” Wendell decided to take the direct approach. But the mirror stayed the same. “Mirror of Truth, Turn ON!” There was a loud crack and a quick flash. The mirror’s surface suddenly became all cloudy. “It worked!” Wendell grinned excitedly at his discovery.

“Wendell, ask it to show us the truth of how Relish died.” Virginia didn’t want any more time wasted. She wanted the trolls taken care of so that they could get back to finding out what happened to Wolf. Virginia’s heart ached every time she though of him. She wanted him back in her arms. She was never going to let him out of her sight again after this.

“Okay, Mirror of Truth, Show us how Relish the troll king died!”

The mirror slowly formed an image of Relish and his troops eating apples in an orchard. Relish told his men to stay hidden until he gave the order that they surround the queen when she showed up. The mirror’s image faded and a new image appeared with Relish and the Evil Queen surrounded by Relish’s troops. “...and if you had arrived here TWO hours earlier, you would have found me. Poisoning the apples!” Relish and his troops fell to the ground choking. After they were dead, the queen cut off Relish’s head and put it into a wooden crate. The image faded until it showed the six of them back in Wendell’s study. Wendell gulped, afraid to see what the three trolls' reaction would be. They had been shown the truth, but would they accept it? Wendell slowly turned around so that he could see the trolls. He could see that there were many different emotions going through them. Their faces contained a mixture of sadness, fury, and uncertainty. They looked like they were about to cry.

“Suck an Elf! It was the queen that killed Dad.” Burly didn’t know what to think. They had been tricked into working for the person who had really killed their dad. If the queen was still alive, he would kill her himself. But she was dead, killed by her own daughter...The Witch! She killed her own mother, and by doing that, she had helped the three trolls. So as much as Burly hated to admit it, he was wrong. He owed the little witch. Even if Burly would have preferred to kill the queen, at least she was dead. Suck an Elf! His father would be yelling at him from his grave right now because of his foolishness. He had been blaming the wrong person the whole time. Without even bothering to consult his brother and sister, he made a decision. He turned to face Virginia, who had been silently watching the whole thing. “The queen killed Dad. If she were still alive, I would kill her myself. But since she isn’t, there isn’t anything I can do. I-I’m sorry we blamed you for killing my dad. Suck an Elf,” he muttered, “I guess we owe you. You killed our father’s murderer. So anything you need, I guess we can help you. But don’t you dare go and tell anyone that I said this! After all, I am a troll. Dad always said I was softhearted.” He looked over and saw that Bluebell and Blabberwort were a little surprised at their brother. But he could tell that they agreed with them.

“Thank you King Burly. But I don’t think we need anything that you could give us. You see Wolf was kidnapped. So unless you could tell us who took him...” Virginia broke off, looking hopefully at the three trolls.

Blabberwort was looking at her two brothers. The three trolls huddled together again, and Virginia distinctively heard Blabberwort say, “I told you it was him!” Wendell, Tony, and Virginia all shared a hopeful glance before returning their attention on the trolls. The three trolls looked up after another minute of debating.

“We know who took him.”