The Nutcracker's Queen

Chapter 6

We both ran up to each other, embracing tightly as I inhaled the familiar smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. I sob into her shoulder and we stayed that way for almost five minutes. Then I pulled back and she cupped my face. "You look every bit as beautiful as I envisioned." She tells me, reaching up to stroke my face. I giggle a little as I let her study me. Then I remembered why I was here, to begin with. 

"Clara is coming, here, to get her key." I say to her hurriedly, ruining the peaceful silence. "You never tried to take control of the four realms did you?" I ask, almost rhetorically. She shakes her head but before we could start talking the clowns that had harassed me when I had entered the four realms rolled over to me. The littlest one held out my crown and I smiled kindly at him, accepting it from him. 

"I have to return, I just wanted to warn that there was an attack coming." I tell her and she nods before shooing me out of her tent. She pulled out a pocketwatch that told me I had been gone a little over an hour. Crown in hand, my feet pounded against the leafy forest floor. I jumped over tree roots and fallen trunks until I reached Darla. I took her back to the castle and I was let back into the castle, my crown hidden in one of my saddle bags. 

I removed it from the saddle bag when I returned Darla to her stable before I headed back up to bed. I slept for a little while until the morning. I pulled on a corset over the top of my outfit from last night, tucking my crown under the bed to hide it from Sugar Plum. I met Clara at the top of some stairs and I smiled at her. She was dressed just as Phillip was except her jacket was green and not red. And she was wearing a beautiful red skirt.

"Very well, let's go." I tell her, slinging on a bright red Jacket that matches the rest of the Nutcracker soldiers around us that we would be leading. "Clara, (y/n)!" Sugar Plum gasps at our outfits as I spot Phillip with Darla, Jingles, and an additional horse. "Oh, I wish I could come with you, you understand. But you'll both have my tippy-top top-notch handpicked troops to protect you." She informs us as we look over the men.

Each Nutcracker Soldier was dressed appropriately and I shook my head at them as I pulled myself up onto Darla. I shake my head at Sugar Plum as Clara is helped onto her horse. Two of the Nutcracker soldiers came up to me and started talking, but I wasn't truly interested in what they had to say, so I let them talk. And once they were finished I smiled at them, only because they were volunteering to join the war party. 

I shake my head a little, smiling. "Attention!" I bellow and they quickly rushed off to fall into line with the rest of the Nutcrackers. I giggle a little and Clara joins me as I watch them rush off. Once the bridge was lowered, I straightened my back. "Squad March!" I tell them, letting the two lines of soldiers to lead us onward into the Land of Amusements. We followed the path and I felt something climb up my horse and onto my thigh. 

I quickly glance down to see Mouserinks who rushed to hide in my jacket. But he was quick to go back the way he came as other mice started to peek their noses out. I smiled at the mice that were starting to grow in numbers. "Phillip, Clara, before we go any further, there's something I should tell you." I say coolly, catching even the attention of some of the Nutcracker Soldiers around me. But Clara was leading this raid, my voice was just louder.

"What is it?" Clara questions and I look over her as I stop Darla and climb off her. I sent her on her way. We had reached the entrance to the Land of amusements. "If Sugar Plum does what I know she is planning then I want no part in it and it gives me great pleasure to do this." I tell Clara as I march straight forward toward the Clown entrance. Both Clara and Phillip called me back but I wasn't worried. Being the daughter of the regent protected me. 

Clara climbed off her own horse and rushed over to me, Phillip watching. "You're not making sense." She cried as I pulled her into a hug. "I'm a traitor to the crown. I told Mother Ginger we were coming." I whispered to her and she shoved me away violently. "Why?" She demanded and I smiled at her. "She's my mother." I state before running into the fog that surrounded the entrance to the Land of Amusements. 

I could hear Clara crying my name but I didn't stop. It felt like running through an abandoned Circus. I was pulled up so that I sat on top of the carousel by the clowns and I smiled at them before I rushed to the opposite side and made a jump to another amusement. "Gather at the carousel." Phillip shouted as I peered over the side of a container that I often associated with lions and tigers. 

Clara lit the carousel in time for everyone to see wave after wave of mice rushing towards them, mice which took down the carousel until it looked more like a pancake than something children would play on. The soldiers scattered and I walked through the mayhem until I saw Clara go under. "Captain! (y/n)!" She calls for us and I run over, grabbing one of Clara's hands as Phillip grabbed the other. But the mice won out. 

They pulled Clara down into the depths of the earth and I looked up at Phillip. "Good thing I know where they're going." I mutter as I climb back onto my feet and take off. "But you betrayed us." Phillip counters, pointing his sword at me. I held up my hands and sighed. "We can do this later. Clara is more important." I told him. Then he lowers the sword and nods before placing it back in his holster.

I took off running deeper into the Land of Amusements. Phillip's footfalls follow me as we both run towards the Big Top that was my Mother's home. "Well, if it isn't Clara Stahlbaum." My Mother's voice rang through the Land of Amusements through the speaker attached to the giant replica of her. "I've been expecting you." She tells Clara before tossing her into the tent that made up her dress. 

When we arrived at the base of the dress, Phillip didn't wait to go through the front door. He just tore it open with his blade while I entered through the front of the skirt. I giggle a little as the clowns freeze momentarily before they begin skipping around the dowl in the center as though it were a maypole. Phillip looked incredibly confused before a sixth clown jumped on Phillip's back, covering his eyes and blinding him.

"Clara!" He shouted for her. I started laughing as Phillip began fighting. "Clara, no!" Mother Ginger shouted at her as she began lowering down the center dowl. Clara grabbed Phillip's arm before running out of the tent. And I followed after her. "Bring it back!" My mother bellowed at Clara as we kept running. Clara obviously had the key or we wouldn't be leaving my Mother behind like this. And this was dangerous.

Clara was walking right into Sugar Plum's trap and she didn't even know it.