Alfred was still in shock after Catherine and the others had told him everything. He was in even more shock when he returned to Castle Tauna and saw it over-run by Goblins, and the Vampire Aefar, and the Minotaur, and the BugBear, and the giant serpent.
“Catherine,” he said to her, his voice audibly shaking, “Catherine, what have you done to Castle Tauna?”
“I’ve not harmed it in any way,” Catherine said. “The stones and the hallways are exactly the same as they were fifty years ago.” But despite the defensiveness of her words, the tone of Catherine’s voice was hurt. After all these years, Alfred had come back only to criticize her.
“Castle Tauna was always supposed to be the forest’s protection against monsters,” Alfred said. “You have turned it into a fortress of monsters.”
“These?” said Catherine gesturing at the goblins around her. “These are not monsters. They’re not the monsters I’m worried about. You haven’t seen the real monsters yet, Alfred. The ancient monsters. The ones my mother warned us about. Those monsters exist, and those monsters have come back out of the portal to which they were shunted years ago.”
“So this is what it’s come to,” said Alfred sadly. “We have to tolerate these monsters so that we can be saved from the other monsters? Oh, what desperate times I find the old castle in.”
“Alfred, there are many things that are going to be difficult for me to explain to you,” said Catherine. “I’m not the same person I used to be, for one thing. The magic has changed me. Years ago, you noticed what was beginning to happen. But since you’ve been gone, it’s only gotten worse. I’ve done things that you wouldn’t understand. I’ve done things that only make sense if you can feel the power of the magic in you. But I have saved this castle, Alfred. I’ve saved the castle and the forest from the ancient monsters. I’ve saved it many times over in the last few months.”
“So we’re still on the good side, after all,” said Alfred, trying to smile weakly.
“We’re still the good guys,” said Catherine.
“Okay, that’s a start. Now, tell me Catherine, why keep the goblins and the rest around?”
“I protect the forest, but who protects me?” answered Catherine. “I’ve told you what they did to me--Carlyle and the rest.”
“Carlyle isn’t here at the moment.”
“They’d do the same thing to me again if they had half a chance. Midor doesn’t trust me. George and Rufus are always scheming to get rid of me. The only one I trust in this castle is Vivian.”
“I’ll protect you,” said Alfred. “I’ll bring in all my men. All the ones that are still left anyway.”
“Lots of them are left,” Catherine chuckled. “But they aren’t your men anymore. You’ve not aged for the past 20 years, but they have. They’ve got children and grandchildren now, and tend to their houses and gardens.”
“They’ll answer my call if I ask them to,” said Alfred. “I’ll assemble a guard to keep you safe. We’ll watch you day and night in the castle.”
“For how long?” asked Catherine. “This isn’t just a temporary situation. My own family is my enemy in this castle.”
“Well, how long will the goblins and the vampire and the rest of them be here?” asked Alfred.
Catherine didn’t answer.
“Catherine, you can’t keep them here forever. This goes against everything Castle Tauna stands for.”
“I must have some protection,” said Catherine.
“I will protect you,” said Alfred. “I pledge my sword to you. If anyone attacks you in the middle of the night, like they did last time, they would have to attack me and bind me up as well. Now, granted, I’m not an army. I’m only one man. But I can pledge to you that the two of us will either rule the castle together, or die together. Is that not enough for you to always have me by your side?”
“And what if you decide to betray me?” asked Catherine.
There were two whole seconds where Alfred didn’t know what to say. “Excuse me?” he said at last.
“Have you forgotten that once before you tried to take the side of the forest against me?” Catherine asked. Her voice was not angry, but sounded hurt. “Have you forgotten why I had to transform you in the first place?”
Alfred was silent for another couple seconds. Then he said, “The truth is, I don’t really remember well what happened to me right before I got transformed. Maybe the memories will come back to me later, I don’t know. We were arguing about something, you and I. And I had been upset because of all the ghosts and spirits you were releasing into the forest. And then I don’t remember clearly after that. But Catherine, did you not apologize to me earlier today? Did you not say that it had been a mistake, and that you would never do it again.”
“I had missed you so much,” Catherine said with a tear in her eye. “In your absence, I remembered only the good times and forgave the old. I guess I didn’t expect you to come back and immediately start trying to boss me around again.”
“Catherine, I have no wish to be transformed back into that worm,” said Alfred. “If you wish me to leave you alone, simply tell me that you have tired of my company, and I will go out that door, and never trouble you again. I assure you, this time there is no need to turn me into a monster. Do you wish me to go?”
“You know I do not.”
“But if I stay, I will voice my opinions. Friends are equals with each other, or they are not friends at all. And so if you wish me to be your friend again, do not tell me to be silent.”
“There are boundaries even in friendship,” said Catherine. “Not everything I do concerns you.”
“But it concerns you. And I am your friend.”
“Then why,” said Catherine, anger rising into her voice for the first time, “do you take the side of the forest against me?”
“You are Queen of Castle Tauna,” said Alfred. “You are the protector of the forest. If the forest is destroyed, then what happens to you? I do not take the side of the forest against you. I only remind you that your interests and the forest’s interests are the same.”
“I am sufficiently able to judge what is in my own interests.”
“Catherine, you said yourself that the magic is corrupting you. Do you not want a friend to offer his advice?”
“Your advice has been offered,” said Catherine. “And it has been rejected. I will not get rid of my protection. The goblins and the rest of them are here to stay.”
Alfred remained silent.
“This isn’t how I wanted our conversation to go,” Catherine said. “I wanted for us to talk of our friendship in times past, and renew our friendship for the future. But I am now too upset to continue the conversation with you tonight. Let us both go to sleep, and in the morning we will forget this unpleasant conversation, and talk only of pleasant things.”
Alfred nodded. “Very well, Catherine,” he said. And he left.
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