Marmalade's Love Potion

Chapter 21 - Revelations - Part 3

"Welcome, honoured guests! The Royal House of Grimwood is humbled by your presence this night," the voice said.

"My father," Steph mouthed as they strained to hear.

"For two long decades, the great Houses in this room have supported the realm of Grimwood with steadfast compassion and generosity," the King continued.

Penelope startled at the sound of footsteps approaching beyond the curtain. It sounded as though multiple people were marching along the balcony from either direction. Penelope flinched back, anticipating that the curtains would be flung open, however the footsteps came to a halt, standing just shy of the drapes.

"Over twenty years ago," the King went on, his rich voice echoing throughout the hall, "Grimwood suffered one of the worst assaults in the history of all of Edenwood's realms. I speak, of course, of the night now known as the Battle at Great Fall."

Penelope sucked in a quiet breath as the hall below fell utterly silent.

"That cursed night, we encountered a terror, a foe, beyond all prior comprehension. We found ourselves facing a danger both unknown and untested. In the late hours of that terrible night, seven mighty spectres, dragons, rose from deep beneath the earth, emerging from the caves beyond the Great Fall. With them rose a tide of fae lights, ghostly sirens come to consume our spirits, our very deepest essences."

The King paused as horrified murmurs swept the hall. Chills prickled Penelope's skin.

"A monstrosity like none we had ever encountered, these beings passed en masse through stone and wood as though immaterial, indiscriminately claiming life and limb. No room, no cavern, no vault was safe. My own brothers, Princes Asten and Callum, lost their lives to the first wave, fighting creatures who breathed silver flame and could not be neatly felled by sword, club, stave, or arrow.

"My father, King Abram, fell against the swarming lights of ferrifae while protecting the Mid Town, saving the life of my eldest son, First Scion Ethan."

The King's voice wavered and Penelope flicked her eyes to Steph. His face had paled and his brow was pinched.

"By dawn, these monsters had subdued each other, returning whence they came through the mercy of Fate alone. Our beloved city was half destroyed, our Palace halls reduced to ruin. In the days and nights that followed, we undertook the grave and daunting task of rebuilding. We found our citizens, our loved ones, our valiant Rangers, felled without mercy or reprieve. So much death, so much anguish..."

Penelope felt hairs raise along her arms, her spine tingling with awe and horror. The Sisters had never told her the story of the Battle at Great Fall. She had known that much of Grimwood Village had been destroyed in a great calamity, though the Sisters had always avoided speaking of it.

As a child seeking stories of grand battles and happy endings, Penelope had often asked about the battle that had happened the year before her birth. One she had heard spoken of in low and frightened whispers throughout the halls and courts of Starwood Palace. One she had found vague mention of in books squirrelled from the Sisters' shelves.

The Sisters themselves had always skilfully deflected her eager questions, quietly removing any written references from the reach of her questing curiosity. Over time, Penelope had come to dread their tight-lipped unease and had stopped asking, the topic long since forgotten.

Now however... listening to the King's recount, Penelope felt sick. She recalled the great dragon that had erupted from the depths of The Tears during her ill-fated crossing with Marmalade and Marmot. That beast, or creatures like it, had caused such destruction that people feared to speak of it, even years after.