85. A Bright Idea
Getting an unnerving feeling from the window vine shortcut, Rosella decided to proceed around the corner and down
the hall to the next door. Poking her head inside she found the hulking form of one of Lolotte’s goons making his
rounds. With a whisper of thanks to her unbelievable luck and two skips of her heart, was glad to see his back to her.
While some of the important details were that the goon was probably 10 times stronger than the slender princess, had
giant batwings in his back, and razor sharp claws on his hands, the seemingly glaring detail the nosey princess took
away from the observation was the key ring jingling at his waist as he walked. She had no doubt those keys unlocked a
dungeon cell somewhere in the castle. And where there was a dungeon there would most likely be fairies under duress.
Spotting a vase on a table in the corner, an idea hatched in the princess’s little mind. Tip toeing over; she picked it up
noting the obviously dead flowers inside. “They probably never even watered these poor guys,” she thought to herself
disapprovingly. Keeping her mind on the prize, the snatched up the vase and crept up behind the goon as he walked.
Padding along in her stocking feet, he never heard her coming. With the vase held high over her head ready to smash
him over the back of the head, a feeling suddenly overcame Rosella.
“You are NOT a violent girl, Rosella!” said the voice inside her.
The internal scolding stopped her cold in her near violent act, but she didn’t have time to waste, so she did the next
thing that popped into her pretty blonde head. She tossed the vase lightly over the goon’s head so it would descend
right before his eyes. The trick worked, because the goon was so surprised by the vase seemingly falling out of
nowhere, that he scrambled to reach grab and catch it. The surprise mixed with the awkwardness of his actions caused
him to trip and fall flat on his creepy face, knocking him out cold!
Satisfied that “she” had not done anything, Rosella crouched down, and daintily removed the key ring from the guard’s
belt. Tip toeing away; she left the goon to his unexpected nap.
Wasting no time, she slipped into the next room and found herself in a small dungeon area. It seemed temporary
holding area, with only one cell in the room. Peering inside the barred windows, Rosella spotted a tiny fairy fluttering
back and forth in visible distress. The sound of the rustling keys set her into a fit of panic, but surprising sight of
Princess Rosella soon quelled any of the fairy’s fears. While questions flooded the tiny creature’s mind, she did not
speak a word to her rescuer. After the fairy did not answer the third time, Rosella asked her if she was okay, the
princess suspected something was afoul. With crude reenactment skills, the fairy tried to communicate to the confused
princess was had happened. Not entirely sure that she understood the tiny fairy’s gestures, Rosella pieced together
that Lolotte had used her foul magic on the uncooperative fairy and stolen her voice!
This new turn of events was unexpected, but Rosella was quite certain that Genesta would know what to do for her little
sister, so the princess assured her they would get the lost voice back. But for now, the safest thing for her to do would
be to fly as far away from the castle as she could and wait for Rosella and Genesta to return safely. The tiny fairy’s
eyes betrayed her doubts and fears, but ultimately she nodded obediently to the seemingly wise and noble young
princess. With that, she fluttered out of the dingy cell and far away.
With the state of things, there was not a moment to lose. After Rosella watched the last of the fairy’s glitter fade away,
she turned her attention back the quest and headed…
Further into the castle