Queen Marigold had a summer retreat on the edge of The Peaceful Forest.
Her two daughters, the Princesses Philippa and Christabel, enjoyed the peaceful gardens away from the noise and bustle of the city.
Soon after Queen Marigold had acquired the property, and while she was still wondering how she could attract staff to such an isolated place, a small band of dwarves appeared, offering themselves for work as guards, cooks, and handydwarves. They were content with small wages, and Queen Marigold thought they would be a good deterrent to robbers or squatters during the winter.
The dwarves settled into a rather lazy lifestyle. While the Queen and the Princesses were away (which was most of the year), they had the place to themselves.
And they could also enjoy simple pleasures in the forest.
Mind you, even when Queen Marigold was in residence, the dwarves didn’t bother to put on much of a show of guarding her property.
They were even known to fall asleep while they were pretending to be on guard.
And it was during one of those snoozy afternoons, when the invasion came.
It was a revenge attack – not upon the royal ladies, but against the dwarves, who were
enemies of the fairies from a few years ago.
The few dwarves who had some alertness about them scrambled into action. One of them called to the Princesses to move the carriage, as it was in the way of the catapult.
Another aimed the water cannon.
‘We’ll soon repel them, Your Majesty,’ said the dwarf in charge of the catapult.
Continued below.
