Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

“So,” Blabberwort the troll said to her two brothers, “are you ready to meet our new allies?”

“I just need to straighten my armor,” Burly said. He was polishing himself in front of the big mirror near the entrance to what had once been Gretel the Great’s castle. “There. Do I not look like a great warrior?” He struck a terrifying pose.

“Yes, fine,” his sister said, unimpressed. “You’re keeping everyone waiting.”

Burly admired his profile and smiled broadly at himself.

“Come on,” Bluebell said.

“Just a minute.” Burly adjusted his helmet and waved his sword in the air, while simultaneously giving his reflection an appalling grimace. He wanted to see how frightening he looked. He must have liked what he saw because his sneer changed to a smile. “Nicey nice,” he said approvingly.

“Can we go now?” Blabberwort asked.

“Yes,” Burly said, turning in the direction of the door. “We go!”

Blabberwort and Bluebell exchanged looks and followed their big brother out into the late morning.

The troll castle had a raised road leading down from it. Relish’s three children marched out of the castle and right onto this road. A crowd of their people were waiting a little distance down from the castle to hear them speak. And right in front of the raised road, at shoulder level to it were three great male giants.

“My people!” Bluebell began, standing at the center of the raised road.

The giant standing at the center, a blond with a thick beard and matted hair, put his hand out for Bluebell to step on. Bluebell stepped boldly forth and the giant lowered him to the ground directly in front of the gathered trolls.

"This is Hoban the Horrible!" Bluebell shouted. "He is going to help me destroy the Fourth Kingdom!"

Hoban flexed his forearms to show off his muscles and gave a giant roar. The crowd of trolls cheered.

Now Blabberwort stepped forward on the raised road. “And this is Marron the Terrible!” she shrieked.

Marron was a redhead with bad teeth and a bulbous nose. He reached forth a hand and lowered Blabberwort to the ground at the foot of the raised road.

“He will help me flatten the First Kingdom!” Blabberwort yelled. "Two red heads to kill a redhead." She meant, of course, that they would kill Cinderella.

Marron smiled a wicked smile and drooled through the gaping holes in his teeth. The trolls cheered again.

Next Burly stepped forward. “And WE will crush the Second Kingdom,” he announced waving his battle-ax in the air.

The third giant put out his scarred hairy hand for Burly to step onto. He had cruel amber colored eyes and thick black hair.

“This,” Burly said, “is Spider the Merciless!”

The cheer was even louder from the trolls now. The soldiers among them raised their weapons in the air in imitation of Burly.

“This is just the beginning,” Blabberwort said. “After we have conquered the First, Fourth, and Second Kingdoms, the other giants will join us and we will obliterate the rest of the Nine Kingdoms.”

The cheering from the trolls was unbelievably loud now. As far as they were concerned, victory was already theirs. They were too busy celebrating to notice the lone elf buzzing at the back of a dead sycamore tree nearby. Nor did they see her fly off in the direction of King Wendell’s castle.