I slammed my head backward, hitting the stone wall behind me. It was a sad cell, pathetic really; small, dark, kinda stinky, and with a little bit of hay on the stone cot. Rusted iron bars lined one wall, and the rest were cold, gross, slightly discolored stone.
"Are you going to talk yet?" The tiny red gnome, Jormop, ran a stick along the bars of my cell, echoing a clicking noise through the room. "Our dear leader will give you a proper room as soon as you tell us the importance of the... "Fancy Orbs" that you call "snow globes". He said as if a snow globe was some sort of code name.
"Maybe let me out first, then we can talk." I spat in his direction, causing him to shriek in disgust. "It's not nice to keep visitors in jail you know."
Jormop sneered, "You elves think you are so entitled. You've been overshadowing us for too long. Like it or not, our kind and generous King has chosen you. As soon as you tell us your secrets he will reward you greatly." He jabbed at me with the pointed stick but I kicked it away.
Marrying a disgusting gnome was not my idea of being "rewarded greatly"... I was in a lot of trouble.
12 Hours Earlier:
The gnome village was strange, all the buildings and structures were small, and the houses were quite shabby and dilapidated, but in the middle of the streets of small shacks, was a large courtyard with a fountain. The fountain contained a large stone-cut carving of King Felpip, about two times elongated and more muscular than his regular size, the scepter in his hand shooting out several streams of water.
I could imagine that even on the bright sunniest of days, the village would still look very sad.
"Do you think that the scepter is compensating for something?" Dad whispered, causing me to groan, disgusted that I had to even think about the King in that sort of way. "You know- Because it's so much taller than him and that usually means-"
"I know- I know what it means, Dad." I gave him a grossed-out look.
Behind the fountain was a surprisingly large and well-cared-for castle. These stone walls were well-washed, clean, and almost shiny; the complete opposite of how the rest of the village looked. We took hidden allies and snuck into the shadows of the buildings to stay out of sight, but it became increasingly apparent that there was no need to do so. Not a single gnome was around.
We crept closer to the castle, knowing the King probably had our stolen goods inside somewhere... as well as the rest of the gnomes.
Loud music, clanking, and drunken cheering could be heard from within the tall oak doors. We all ducked down, Kenny and the E.L.F.S moving forward to scout out the area. Kenny eventually ushered us forwards, and we all stayed out of sight by keeping away from the windows.
There was a particularly large square window close to the ground to us. It looked easy enough to climb through using the castle stone as a ladder. I took a quick glance inside, and, although I slightly expected to see it, I was still surprised at what I saw.
So. Many. Gnomes.
Everywhere, all partying, all dancing, all drunk. The room was full of tiny bobbing swaying little men... and possibly women too, but it was hard to tell as they all looked so similar.
All around our pile of magical snow globes. They were all glowing, but dimmer than usual, which made sense, as gnomes weren't necessarily magical creatures, just annoying ones.
"Kenny, what's the plan?" Dad whispered.
"I think we should wait until the party dies down," Kenny responded. "We definitely can't storm in right now-"
I kept my eye on the commotion from the corner of the window.
A drunk gnome wandered over to the pile of snow globes, picked one up, and tossed it between his two hands.
My whole body tensed.
"Hey Lobyup, catch this!" He announced, chucking the snow globe at another one of the gnomes, hitting him directly in the face, before it fell to the ground shattering. Instead of leaving glass everywhere, it simply turned into a golden glitter-like substance before disappearing into the air. The gnome that threw the snow globe cracked up laughing, falling backward.
Lobyup, the gnome which now had a bleeding nose and a black eye, stood and angrily marched over, grabbing a snow globe from the pile and throwing it forcefully down on the other gnome's face, who was still laughing... that is, until it hit him too. This snow globe also broke, releasing its magic in a small poof.
The two gnomes began wrestling each other, knocking into the pile occasionally, and I watched with horror as the unstable tower swung from side to side.
"We can't just sit around- Kenny- We have to do something!" I whisper yelled. I clenched my fists, hoping that none of the snow globes they broke was Bernard's.
With one more inevitable cracking noise, Dad stood up. "Hey gnomes! Stop that!" His eyes widened when he realized what he had done.
Kenny and I held our breaths, freezing.
The room came to an immediate silence as a hundred eyes turned to look at Santa standing in the window.
"Everyone, go- Go now!" Kenny waved everyone forward and suddenly, elf after elf was climbing through the window, and trying to take down as many gnomes as they could, or, at least, get them away from our snow globes.
Sounds of shock sounded as the elves began to crawl past Santa and into the room. I'm sure it would look a little terrifying to see unexpectedly. There was yelling and cheering and sneering and all sorts of loud noises as the battle commenced.
"Take this, you stinky gnomes!" Curtis yelled, lassoing two gnomes together with a long piece of garland from his garland gun- a new invention that he was very proud of. The two gnomes fell to the floor in a tangled heap and tried to kick their way out to no avail.
Judy and Theo, her boyfriend from wrapping, simply wrapped as many gnomes as they could up with perfect little bows and fancy ribbons. They were fast at it too.
The E.L.F.S were doing even better. They had several gnomes out cold between the cocoa bombs and the tinsel traps. Every few seconds a loud popping noise could be heard, and everyone in a three-foot radius would immediately be thrown to the ground to be tied up.
I was doing my best to grab any snow globes from the ground before any more broke. I stooped down to the cobbled floor to grab one and was met with a pair of tiny feet to the side of me.
"You??" Ronrug, the yellow gnome from the meeting, said with fear in his eyes. "How... How did elves get here?? Our kingdom is too prestigious for such creatures! I must get our leader!" He tried to scurry off to alert the king but I teleported in front of him, grabbing him in my arms and taking him down. "Get off me!" He kicked and screeched. "Jormop! Help me, brother! Go get our dutiful and handsome King! He will deliver us from the hands of these evil evil elves!"
Jormop, who had managed to fend for himself nearby quickly dodged any elves and burst through the doors into the other room. I couldn't do anything, as I was still holding Ronrug down, but he stopped struggling against me.
"Hey! Someone- He's getting the king-" I yelled backward, but nobody could hear me with all the commotion.
"Nice try, elf, but you don't even know what you are up against." He sneered as he began to cackle.
"Your king is smaller than you are. I think I'll manage." I rolled my eyes at the gnome who really was easy to tackle to the ground with our size differences.
Ronrug continued to laugh maliciously, but I couldn't tell if it was him bluffing or if he really was smug about their king.
A couple of the elves started scooping snow globes into their bags, filling as many as they could grab. Quintin would set Santa's sleigh to automatically land nearby, and we could simply fill it up once it was here. By the sound of distant reindeer noises, I could tell that it had.
I jumped up, not even minding that Ronrug was now running around kicking elves' shins, and looked desperately through the pile for Bernard's unique snow globe. I focused in on the pile, but I couldn't see anything different from the rest. I carried armload after armload of the snow globes to the sleigh outside, hoping that eventually, it would show up.
All hands were on deck now, we had just a few snow globes left, and some of the elves were beginning to climb into the sleigh to secure everything.
I bent down, about to grab one last armful of the snow globes, and starting to lose hope that I would find Bernard's, but paused. The hairs on the back of my neck went up, and I slowly turned to look behind me.
Most of the elves in the room quieted down, all looking at something next to me... their faces were shocked, angry, maybe some fear.
Jormop and Ronrug each stood on either side of King Felpip, who was looking particularly smug. My eyes darted to his scepter, and that's when I noticed it. Now I know why the elves were all staring.
"Hey that's not yours-" I snatched my hands towards his scepter but he pulled it away.
On the end of his scepter where a little red jewel used to sit on top, was Bernard's snow globe. It looked sad... which I didn't even know was possible. It was dim, hopeless looking.
"No- It is mine!" The King protested in his shrill voice, and smacked me in the face with the wooden part of the scepter, causing me to fall to the ground, scraping my hands.
"Hey!" Dad ran over, intent on tackling the King for hurting me, but I sat on the ground stunned as I watched what happened instead. "Nobody hurts my daughter!"
"I freeze you!" The King waved his scepter with a high-pitched giggle, pointing it toward Dad, who was suddenly frozen in a block of ice.
The elves, who had also been running towards him halted in their tracks, yelping and screaming in fear, as they cautiously backed up, a few falling to the floor next to their frozen Santa.
The gnomes all gave triumphant cheers, mocking the dishearted elves.
"You dare mess with my people and think there wouldn't be consequences?" The King announced to the room, pacing in a circle around my Dad's frozen body as Jormop and Ronrug spread out the train of his cape behind him. More gnomes ran into the room and helped loosen the ones who had been tied up. He walked forwards to where we had thrown all the restrained gnomes into a pile at the side of the room. "You hurt my loyal subjects, storm into our kingdom, and think I would just sit by for nothing?"
I just stared, mouth open. The cut on my cheek from the King's scepter went numb as pure rage took over. I stood up and scrambled over to my frozen Dad. "Help me move him- Help me now!" I shouted orders at the elves, who started to recover from their shock and lift him up and out the window to the sleigh.
The King patiently watched as we moved my dad out of the room through the window. I shook the weird feeling I got and looked back out.
"Get these last snow globes inside the sleigh and fasten Santa down safely." I said as I helped give the elves a final shove out the window. "I'm going back in to give the King a piece of my mind-"
"Angie, we need to go!" Kenny yelled through the window, but I was too angry to listen. I may be hotheaded but I learn from my father, I guess.
"I need to get Bernard's snow globe-" I shouted back, running towards the King who just smiled a nasty smile. He didn't seem to be trying to stop me either, he just stood there waiting as I went to take him down. He waited until my face was just inches from him, my arms extended outwards, to freeze me too, but not in a block of ice, just in motion.
I could hear everything, see everything, but no matter how much I struggled, I couldn't manage to move myself at all. I should really have seen it coming.
The King stayed lingering close to my face, a new expression crossing over it... "You know what? I changed my mind. I want her instead." The King gave me a smirk, placing a finger under my chin. A few elves were trying to help me from a distance but got taken down by some of the gnomes who were now free.
My heart dropped. What did that mean?
"Let them go- the elves. They can take the rest of the snow globes, I just need this one and the girl." He waved his hands to the gnomes who let the elves go. "It seems like a reasonable trade for the damage you all have costed us."
"No!" Judy tried to crawl back in through the window but Theo and Curtis tugged her back.
"We need to go now before they change their minds-" I watched Kenny speak reluctantly, looking between them and me. "Now- Let's go!" He made up his mind, leaving me alone.
Surely they'd come back for me... they'd have to.
"Jormop, Ronrug, take my bride-to-be to the dungeons. We need to keep her secure in case they come back." He unfroze me as the two gnomes by his side fasted my arms together and drug me out of the room.
I took one last glance out the window, and in the distance watched the sleigh fly away.
Bernard's POV
I paced back and forwards in my office. My mind was racing.
I should have gone, I probably could have helped a bit at least. But no, I was here... I wasn't even being helpful here because I'd been too worried about Angie to focus.
I didn't even know how long it had been, but my feet began to hurt from walking in circles, and my fire was beginning to die down, causing my office to progressively grow colder as the minutes ticked by.
There was a knock at my door, which I assumed was one of the elves here.
I opened the door up, but instead of an elderly elf or one of the children, there stood Kenny. He looked pretty beaten up and tired. I took a quick glance out my window and realized it was in fact morning.
They were back, thank goodness.
"Kenny- Where is she?" I leaned over his shoulder and looked both ways in the hallway. "Where's Angie?"
"Bernard, we got most all the Santa Snow globes back," Kenny took a shaky breath, pausing, his eyes looking scared. "They took Angie, I'm sorry."
Momentarily all the air in the room left and I couldn't breathe. "You didn't go back to help her?? You just flew off into the sky??" I yelled. "You left her there with the Gnomes?? Do you even know what they could be doing right now? They're probably torturing her!" I clasped my hands on his shoulders, shouting directly into his face.
"We had no choice!" Kenny yelled back defensively, "The King- He's using your magic... He has your snow globe, and he hurt Santa... We had to prioritize the North Pole and Santa rather than an Elf, no matter who that elf is- We didn't even get my soldiers back from them-" Kenny clutched his hands together, obviously holding back a lot of emotion.
I stumbled backward, shaking my head. "No- I should have gone." I pulled at the hair on my head. "I have my brains, I can outsmart them- I'm going back right now-"
"Bernard, we're all exhausted, we can't go back right now, it'd only end worse- And Santa still hasn't defrosted completely."
"Defrosted?"
"Just come see," Kenny ushered me down the hall to the medical wing.
There, in the middle of the very white clean room stood five nurses with hair dryers attempting to thaw a Santa-sized block of ice.
In the beds nearby were several other elves, mostly with cuts and bruises. Thankfully nobody seemed to be too injured... Which made me angrier in a selfish way. They surely could have waited a little bit to figure out how to get Angie back safe.
I shook my head.
No, I needed to focus on what was in front of me.
Santa was frozen, he was my first priority as Head Elf... I had to get him thawed. It was my duty to watch out for him.
I shook my head again.
What was I thinking? I needed to help my girlfriend. She was probably alone and scared, and knowing Scott, not as Santa, I think he'd want me to prioritize her too. Wasn't it also my duty to make sure she was safe as her boyfriend?
I immediately turned on my heels, not saying another word, and walked back to my office. I couldn't sit around waiting for Santa to go back for her. I grabbed a piece of parchment from the piles I had lying around and quickly scribbled where it was I would be going, knowing that I'd probably be gone for a while. I signed my name off in the glossy green ink, and before I knew it I was in the stables looking for a reindeer to fly me over.
Vixen was looking particularly antsy, probably because they were used to flying such long distances, that a short flight westward only got the reindeer warmed up. I grabbed his lead and led him out the large barn doors. Grabbing the map out of my brown leather bag, I studied where it was I needed to be heading.
"Alright Vixen, bring me to the Gnome Village."
Angie's POV:
"You know an elf wasn't what I was thinking our Dear Leader would choose for a bride. Afterall, there are so many suitable young maidens right here in his kingdom." I heard two squeaky female gnome voices coming down the steps to the dungeons.
"I know, it's not as if we haven't been working in these very castles for him all these years. I've been reserving myself thinking he would surely choose me... But an elf? That's low of him."
Claude and Ramsey, the two other captured E.L.F.S. elves in the cell next to me scoffed.
The tiny pittering footsteps drew closer.
"Okay, give us your name, elf." One of the female gnomes spoke. She had long red braided hair and was wearing a bright green dress.
The other gnome was a bit shorter than her red-headed friend. She was blond, freckled, and wore a red dress. She reminded me of what Shirley would have looked like if she was a gnome... a mean grouchy gnome.
"If I am to become your queen, shouldn't you be talking a little better to me? Maybe keep me out of the dungeons?" I looked away from the two of them, still sitting on the floor with my head leaning on the wall.
"We were coming to fetch you. The King wants you ready for the wedding tonight, so he wanted us to pretty you up." The red-headed one crossed her arms. "We'll just call you elf if you don't tell us your name."
My heart started pounding. I didn't say anything. I didn't want any of them to use my name.
I didn't want to follow them, but I knew that I couldn't escape if I was stuck in an actual cage... A nice room would be easier to sneak out of.
I glanced over at Claude and Ramsey as they led me out of the dungeons. They gave me a knowing look. Their expressions still seemed hopeful that someone would help us, despite my feeling that the situation was going to end badly.
The two gnomes brought me up several flights of stairs and down the hall to a large room.
The bedroom they brought me to was bright in comparison to most of the castle. Its walls were a pale yellow, with large windows and many pictures of the King, and what I assumed were the King's fathers and grandfathers plastered on every open space. Despite that, there was a large comfortable looking bed with tan covers and floral silk pillows. There was a vanity with a little stool and a tall mirror to the side, and on the wall opposite was a large fireplace with a brick chimney leading upwards.
Hung on one of the curtain rods was a long white dress. It was simple, with long sleeves and a scoop neckline. It looked almost medieval, with a golden belt that wrapped around the waist, with the extra slack hanging down to the ground. There was also a pair of plain white flats, and a plain veil to match the dress. I would have even thought it was pretty if it wasn't for the fact that I was being forced to marry someone.
"Sit here elf," The blonde gnome pointed to the vanity stool. She patiently picked through each wave and curl on my head with a brush, so that my hair grew about twice in size and looked like a big frizzy mane. It looked like they couldn't decide whether they wanted to keep the Renaissance or the 80s alive. Next, she pinned the front section backward, creating a large voluminous bubble on the top of my head.
All I could think about was how ridiculous the style looked on me. She practically remade Sarah's hair from The Labyrinth, and I was not a person who could pull it off.
Proud of her work, the blonde gnome took a step back for the ginger gnome to take over my makeup. She plucked my eyebrows, powdered my face, and added so much of this and that, that I could hardly keep track. It was all, "Look up", "Look to the side", and "Stop moving".
It took several hours between the two of them to finish up.
"I think we did a good job for an elf... still ugly though. Poor thing."
"All elves are though," They whispered loudly, and I rolled my eyes.
"Elf girl, we were ordered to stay here until someone fetches you for the wedding." The blonde elf said more clearly looking at me. "So there's no escaping for you." She turned back to her friend and the two continued to whisper to one another. "We'll help you get the dress on after you eat."
"The King really just wants a son, so I'm sure he'll get rid of her as soon as he has one-"
"You don't think he'd really pollute his precious clean bloodline though, right? Surely not, he'd need to take a second wife- He'd have to."
"I bet he's only marrying her to show the elves that they can't control us any longer then. It's a warning if anything... I'd just kill the poor thing honestly-"
I moved slightly away from them, not wanting to overhear much more about the King or murdering me. I stood and inspected the windows, pretending just to be looking outside. They did have latches on the inside that swung open, but I was several stories above ground, and a fall from that height would only kill me.
The hallways we had walked down were pretty blank, but a few gnomes seemed to be everywhere, and I was too noticeable to go that way either. I didn't want to risk teleporting either, as I felt weak as it was, and that type of magic takes a lot of energy or it could easily go wrong. I had a feeling that my magic was starting to fade as well without the magic of the North Pole keeping me an elf.
I heard a weird creaking noise above me in the ceiling, looked up, but couldn't see anything.
How was I going to get out of here?
Another hour passed as I paced pondering.
"Elf girl, we are going to fetch you some food, your door is locked, so you'll need to stay here." The gnome ladies left the room, and I immediately ran to the door, but of course, by the clicking sound on the other side, I knew they had locked it. I jiggled the handle and hit the door out of frustration, then kicked it again for good measure.
"Unlock," I aimed my hands at the handle and instead I shot some garlands at it.
"Unlock!" I demanded again, and some ornaments were thrown towards the door and shattered.
"Do something useful!" I bargained at my hands as if they controlled what my magic could and couldn't do.
I sighed again, flopping back onto the bed, not even caring if I messed my hair up.
Creak
I looked up again, realizing the noise was coming from above the fireplace. I got up, crouching to look inside, where dust and soot from the inside was being kicked down by something.
Creak
I took a step back right in time before.
Creak Creak, Thump!
"Ah!" I screamed, jumping backward even further, grabbing one of the stirring sticks from the mantle, and waving it towards whatever just fell down my chimney in a big cloud of dust.
A hand reached out, grabbing the metal stick before I could hit it, and pulled it away forcefully, causing me to tumble forward. I started slapping my hands out making contact with a face, after which, another hand grabbed both of mine, so I couldn't do anything.
"Gosh darn it Angie, I'm trying to save you!" I heard Bernard's voice whisper yell. "Stop making such a ruckus!" He stood, and, milk and cookies he was tall. Not just in comparison to the gnomes, but in comparison to his normal self... he had to be at least a foot taller.
"Bernard-" I gasped, as the soot cleared.
He was absolutely covered in black dust, coughing a few times. He still held the metal poker out of reach, and my hands up and together in the opposite direction cautiously, as if I might start slapping him again if he let me go.
"You look ridiculous! Are you okay?" He finally let go of my hands and set the fire poker down. His eyebrows furrowed, "They didn't hurt you, did they?" Bernard's eyes found the cut on my cheek and I could see him clenching his jaw.
"You think I look ridiculous? You look- Goodness why are you so tall?" I gasped, a little in disbelief. I guess he was "regular human height" but it was such a strange contrast. "I'm okay- It's just a scratch," I said, even though it was a pretty deep cut. "Bernard, you need to hide-"
"I was listening for a while, it's not true, is it?" He put a dirty hand on my cheek, and I placed mine on top of his. "They aren't actually going to make you marry that guy,"
"Not if we can figure out a way to get out of here... How did you find me anyway?"
"I took Vixen and we landed on the roof. I went down every chimney until I found you-"
I shook my head with a small chuckle, "Going back to your roots were you?'
"I'm not as good at it as I used to be." He motioned to the black dust covering him. "But I suppose most humans don't spend their time in chimneys... But come on, we can leave right now,"
"No, Claude and Ramsey are still locked up downstairs, we can't leave without them." I shook my head, digging my heels in as he tried to pull me back towards the chimney.
He sighed, his face turning into pleading, "Angie it might be our only chance,"
We could hear the pittering sound of footsteps coming down the hall.
"Go back up the chimney. You'll find a way, but you need to get Claude and Ramsey. They'd be able to help you," I pushed him back towards the chimney, "Don't worry, it'll be okay," I leaned in and kissed him, and although I had a little hope now, I couldn't help but feel it might be the last time I ever got to kiss him.
He quickly scurried back up the chimney as the door clicked open.
"Goodness gracious, what in earth happened here?" The two gnomes about dropped the plate they were carrying up for me.
"Were you playing in the fireplace? Why is there a hand print on your face? I'm going to have to redo your makeup-"
"At least she wasn't in her dress, but you know how elves are with their fireplaces"
They continued to talk, as they rushed over and cleaned off my hands and face.
"And we only have a few hours-"
"Such pesty things elves are-"
I couldn't help but allow a small smile to cross over my face. I knew what I needed to do, but for now, I had to wait.