It had been three days. Three days without the joy of Marie dancing in Marzipan Castle. What a loss for the Kingdom, and I cut the head off the gingerbread man who dared to snicker when I told him so. Don't worry, the head grew back, but my sisters looked as though they would nag me to death. I left before they could start.

Pushing the wooden doors open, I strolled into the garden. No one would find me here.

"How do you do, Pirlipat?" I asked as I walked towards the pond. It was redder than ever. Pirlipat tried to move her body away, but it was impossible. She just swayed gently. I waded into the pond, breathing in the life-giving iron scent. "How is your wound? We can't have you dying now, what would your people do?"

Pirlipat moaned softly. I picked one of the fruits and held it to her. The clear juice oozed out, but Pirlipat kept her mouth shut. I had no choice but to use my fingers to hold her nose until she opened up and drank the nutrients like a good girl. She gagged a few times, but her cheeks became slightly redder.

"Really," I said, "I see my sisters have not been listening to my instructions. Don't worry, I'll make sure you have enough food to live, even if I have to give it to you myself." I patted her stomach and she bent, trying to lift her head up to spit in my face.

She failed, but I slapped her anyway. A good King cannot show weakness to his enemies. In an even tone of voice, I told her, "behave, Pirlipat. If you're good, you might even get a nice pretty ribbon to tie your hair with. We don't need the blood getting trapped there. Now, I think red is your colour, is it not?"

"Nutcracker! What are you doing?" That piercing voice had to belong to my oldest sister.

No wonder she wasn't married.

"Clara." I forced a smile. "What a surprise. I thought you hated this place."

"I do," she snapped. "But no one else was brave enough to look for you here. You went too far, Nutcracker. Cutting off that man's head, that was unseemly." Clara did a good job of pretending to be brave, but she shuddered at the end.

"Clara, Clara, Clara," I waded out of the pond, moving towards her. She took a step back. "My dear older sister, why are you so angry? When I'm king, I'll make sure you get a good husband, assuming that someone would want a shrew like you."

Clara continued to move backwards as I moved forwards. "Stay back," she said, "I don't want that blood all over me. I um, I just wanted you to know that the people will fear you for this. Not respect brother, fear."

"Good." I smiled at her to let her know I wasn't angry at her disrespect. "Now, I want to talk to you about Pirlipat's feeding schedule. As the oldest, I think you should have all the extra shifts, am I right?"

Clara nodded.

"Excellent. Now, I —" I was about to give her more instructions, but I felt a tug. Could it be?

"Nutcracker?"

"Shush. Can't you see I'm concentrating?" I closed my eyes. The tug was coming from, it was coming from, from the glass cabinet. Because I was still an accursed doll, I was obliged to be present in the house I belonged to whenever one of its occupants was searching for me.

"Nutcracker, I don't hear anything."

"Of course not," I told her. "It's Demoiselle Marie, searching for me. I knew she'd want me back." As I spoke, my feet started disappearing, and I could feel it stiffen as it appeared in the Stahlbaum house. I was going to be pulled back there, with no way to clean up before presenting myself to dear Marie.

*******

When things came back into focus, though, who I saw was not my dear Marie, but the odious Fritz.

"There you are," he snarled. "You're even covered in Godfather Drosselmeier's blood."

Drosselmeier? How could he know? My dear Marie couldn't possibly have told anyone.

"Oh, I know about you," he continued, "threatening Marie at night. Tonight, I'll make sure you're gone for good."

That sneak.

"Fritz? What are you doing?" It was another woman, not the mother nor Marie. She looked familiar.

"Sister Luise!" Fritz said, his previous bravado gone. "I, um, I found the Nutcracker that Godfather Drosselmeier gave us. Do you think mother and father will need it?"

The woman, sister Luise, rolled her eyes, but smiled. "You act all grown up, but you're still a little boy, aren't you." She moved across the room to ruffle Fritz's hair. It was gratifying to see him cringe at this show of weakness. "Put it back. Don't tell Marie, but mother doesn't needs any more reminders of Godfather Drosselmeier, she's close enough to tears as it is."

Marie?

I wanted to hear more, but this sister Luise—oh yes, the third child present when I met Marie—walked out of the room. Instead of putting me back in the glass cabinet, Fritz brought me to the old playroom. There stood a circle of Hussars, already lined up.

"Let's see if a doll like you can run from my Hussars. I've already given them orders to keep you under guard till I get back."

He left, smirking as though he'd already won.

As I was a toy called to the house by Fritz, I was unable to move or talk until nightfall. However, as expected, Fritz did not bother burning me while the sun still shone. Instead, he left me alone even after the sun set, sealing his fate.

"You may let me go," I said as soon as I could talk, "I will not hold this insolence against you."

The Hussars remained silent. Surely they knew of me.

"Do you not remember me? I am the Nutcracker Prince who led you into battle against the Mouse King all those years ago."

"Nutcracker or not, Prince or not, Master Fritz has ordered us to guard you," a Hussar replied, his eyes staring straight ahead. It made my blood boil to be treated like a common prisoner, but I kept my calm. I needed these men on my side. I considered my words carefully.

"How long has it been since Fritz played with you?"

All the Hussars stiffened at my remark. Clearly, Fritz had not thought to play with them for a long time. He probably considered himself a grownup. A sure mark of an infantile mind in an adult body.

"Why are you so loyal to someone who only calls upon you when he needs something?" I continued. "You are proud Hussars, but you demean yourself for a mere boy. A boy who treats you with disregard. If you follow me, I'll make sure you have the place of honour as the Royal Guard when I am King."

One of the Hussars turned around. "Your Kingdom?" He asked curiously.

Success!

The other Hussars still stood at attention, but I knew they were listening to my every word. "Yes, you know I am Prince, and soon I will be King. As King, I will need an army, and who is more suitable than the Hussars that defeated the Mouse King?"

It was the perfect bait. Slowly, the Hussars put down their swords. Only one kept it up.

"This is the way things should be, Nutcracker. The humans grow up, and they pass us down to their children when the time is right. I will not follow you." A few of the Hussars put their swords back up at his words.

"Don't be a fool," I said. "What are the chances that you'll make it to the next generation. If you follow me, you'll be heroes in my Kingdom forever."

"Demoiselle Stahlbaum will take care of us, even if Master Fritz doesn't."

"Don't be stupid, Demoiselle Marie hates Master Fritz. Why would she take care of you?"

Swords were raised, swords were lowered. That fool of a Hussar kept challenging me, and his words clearly held sway.

Time was running out, and I had no choice. I drew my sword in one swift motion and ran him through, pinning him to the ground.

Instantly, all the swords were pointed at me.

"Don't be fools," I said, batting them away. "You would give up glory and riches for one stubborn Hussar? Look," I pointed at the Hussar, struggling beneath my sword, "all those pretty words, yet with that wound, what would Fritz do with him now? Throw him away. That's all. But I will make you all heroes, beloved by all."

I kept talking and talking. Slowly, the swords lowered, and this time, they were lowered for good.

Smiling, I smoothly switched gears and started talking about plans. Plans that I had made for Fritz while trapped as an immobile doll. 

Da da dum! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! And if you can't wait to read more, I'm trying a little experiment - the Nutcracker King is now FREE on all available book sites!! Check out https://books2read.com/TNK for links to the individual free sites(: