A Tale of Shadows - THE OUTDATED VERSION

Chapter 4 - Surrender

The following day, after the Jones family had been notified of it, Melinda came over to their house with several guards. When she came in there, the first thing she saw was that everyone but Ingrid was shivering, although they had been warned. They were all standing close to each other, including her, and she understood it completely. That fear in her deep brown eyes, which made her look as if she were on the verge of falling into strong sorrow, that abnormally broad gaze, those things spoke more clearly of her undying bond and respect she had towards her family than anything else in the world could have.  In the meantime, the guards sat on nearby chairs, wearing stoic expressions on their faces. It was apparent that they were not very patient, and the proceedings had to begin at once, and so Melinda began to ask the Joneses questions after they all bowed down to her.

"Good morning I bid to each and every one of you. Now that that is done, I beseech you to tell me, how did your business with magic enhancers commence in the first place?" she inquired, furrowing her eyebrows. They had never seen her face emit so much coldness. It must have been from all the makeup she had covered it with, especially her cheeks, and, of course, they would never have thought of judging anyone for wearing makeup, particularly in this case, for it made her appearance even more beautiful than before, which they thought impossible. They simply feared it for reasons they could not fully comprehend. There was also the way she held her staff with her right hand, which was tightly wrapped around the top of it, and from the position of her fingers, it seemed as if she wanted to suffocate a person by pressing their mouth shut as intensely as she could. As usual, she wore a white dress, but this time, it reached her high-heels, had a stuffed and wide bottom part and sleeves, and was covered by pretty flower patterns made of golden glitter, pearls and lace. She was still the same friend they knew in essence, but parts of her felt foreign. 

"Will any of you answer my question?" she asked in a lifeless, yet irritated voice.

"Oh, I apologize most sincerely, my queen," Jack, better known as Mr Jones, spoke. "I have merely been thinking about how the formulate the answer, and I shall say it without hesitation. We wouldn't have known of this substance if we hadn't found it in the woods. We couldn't find the owner of the bag anywhere, so we took it for ourselves. After months of research, we found out all about what the substance can and cannot do, fully aware of the consequences it brings, still unwilling to give up on our plans to use it."

Melinda crossed her hands. "The answer was formulated rather well, but I am not satisfied with the contents of it. I cannot hope to get a grasp on what you had thought would happen, as if you could just rise up to the higher ranks of our realm and no one would mind it. Also, the substance takes away either your soul, or your life, or both. I shouldn't have had to point this out to you. You have read many books on the subject matter, I assume, and you appear to not understand the consequences at all."

Jack wanted to say something, but Melinda raised her hand as a gesture for him to stop talking, which he did in an instant.

"One more thing. This substance needs to be given to me so it can be studied in case something has been missed or changed and then destroyed permanently. Speaking of which, your crime is quite large, and thanks to that, you can either surrender and join my army or go to jail. This is me being merciful. Do not waste this opportunity."

Finn ran over to the pantry to gather the remnants of the substance, and Ingrid followed him close behind. Their parents waited and their patience waned, and enough time had passed for Alice to offer to make them tea, make it, and then serve it, leaving them to anticipate both the tea getting colder enough to be drinkable, yet still proper tea, and the return of Ingrid and Finn. 

"This is the best tea that I've had in years that was not made by me, but I suggest that you see what the goners are up to. We can never know what occurs next," Melinda remarked.

Alice smiled broadly. "I love your wise and kind words, my queen. I shall go and so as you said."

Just as she stood up, Ingrid and Finn returned, seeing that several people were staring at them while drinking tea and that two cups of it were left for them as well. However, that did not matter. They would drink tea later, even if it got cold. They had to solve their problems first.

"I offer to you this bag of magical enhancers, Your Majesty," Ingrid told Melinda, bowing down to her. "You shall do with it whatever you wish, and we will join your troops. There is no outcome I could desire more."

"Good. We may leave now," she said, looking at the guards.

The Joneses followed closely behind her and her guards as they walked out of the house, after which they were teleported to the palace, which they had to prepare a few minutes for.