Much woe is seen across the land as the Snufffleorts are culled and the Willymerts are driven into the sea.
Time will tell whether the elders were wise to go to war against the Flurggermister and his minions.
“I miss silence, and sunny days,” said Saffron.
“Oh, you’ll get your silence if them devils plop a mooshmonger on this here home of ours,” replied Granny Groop.
In the Fall of Ought Nine, Count Flurggermister overran the plains of Tranquility. This brought an end to the Pax Trillii.
Trilliam had fought a long and costly battle to save the people of the Great Plains.
“She be twirling in her grave the poor thing,” muttered Granny to no one in particular.
“Who’s spinning?” asked Nigel.
“Why the great queen herself, Trilliam. Twas a time I met her during the war. Grand lady she was, so tall and elegant, but you’d never know that with her covered in muck and blood,” Granny said.
“I’ve heard she was an angel sent to our land to free us. Is that true or another bedtime story?” asked Saffron.
“She was no angel child, but that’s not to say she wasn’t angelic. No, the queen was common-born. When her husband, King Froderick, died in battle, she took up the banner and led our defenders to victory.
“Why did she allow the evil count to live when everyone sought his head?” questioned the boy.
“It might be that her heart was soft. I thinks she was wiser than the wisest sage of her day,” Granny said.
“I don’t understand?” Nigel said.
“The queen knew that if she killed the count, his kind would make him a martyr. There ain’t nothing more powerful than a dead evil man with a pair of angel’s wings,” Granny answered.
“I know what you mean. It’s like when Bill the goat gave his life to kill the Frobenglobber,” said Saffron.
“What in tarnation are you prattling on about, child?” asked her grandmother.
“Well, Bill the goat died when he hit the Frobenglober, and both fell over the cliff’s edge. Folks said he was a hero. But I knew him. He was a mean-spirited beast who loved to crash into anybody he could,” answered the girl.
“Seems you got more than air between your ears, child,” chuckled her grandmother.
“Who will step forward and carry the banner now that the queen is dead?” asked the boy.
“Can’t rightly say, child, can’t rightly say,” came the old woman’s reply.
Saffron awoke in the dead of night and dressed. She removed her grandfather’s rusty sword from over the hearth. Then, silent as a cat, she slipped out the door into the moonless night.
“I will pick up the banner for the queen. I’ll let no minion of that evil man set foot in this land for as long as I live,” whispered the girl to the sky.
The following morning, there was a silence not heard on the plains of Tranquility in a very long time.
Folksburywoods 
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