#2: Bowser Hath Come
By Emerson Kluge

The warm, yellow sun rose over the mushroom kingdom. In the township below the gates and battlements of Mushroom Castle, smoke rose from the baker's chimneys and early peddlers trundled down the cobbled streets to market.

Dust flew in the pillars of light that poured across Mario's room and crept down the bed, inching toward his face. Mario grumbled and rolled as the sunbeams illuminated his face, but tossed the sheets aside restless seconds later, finding no further comfort in sleep.

He sat in a catatonic daze until the morning lethargy gave way to rising wakefulness and a vague urge to action. From the bedpost he donned his shirt and overalls. He pulled his steel toed boots from under the bed and slipped them on, the leather creaking with the first few steps.

He would patrol east today for Koopa Trooper scouts, the ever-present reminder the Koopa Kingdom remained a threat. Goomba's too, but their random, brainlessness wandering made them by far the least menacing of Bowser's freaks. Mario dreaded the long solitary patrols, but he could do no more to keep Peach safe.

Peach. The very thought of her weakened Mario. He palmed his face and squeezed back tears of joy and sorrow, steadying himself until the shaking passed. With a deep sigh he brushed his brown hair back and snugged his cap in place.

He would need to eat before the patrol. Yesterday's cake sat on the desk, the frosting cracked and crusted in the dry air. Around his room other cakes shriveled as they grew stale. Mario shook his head. He couldn’t bear to cut them. Each one was Peach's love to him, each a thing to be cherished.

He imagined one day he could taste one of Peach's cakes. In a garden there would be a small, round table with a white cloth and napkins. Tea would steam in a bulbous pot with cream and sugar waiting beside. Peach would cut the perfect wedge and hand it to him on bone china. She would smile and the sun would glow in her hair as he forked a bite. With her the moment would be perfect and the cake would taste...

A muffled yell from the hall brought him from his daydream.

He waited as it drew closer before realizing he was clenching a fistful of his pantleg.

A hand pounded his door with a high pitched cry and moved onto the next.

Mario peered into the hall toward the yelling, a hot tension grew in his spine.

"Bowser, Bowser!" called the mushroom person, pounding doors with his tiny fist, panic cracking in his voice. "Bowser has come!"

At hall's other end a crowd of mushroom people gathered at the stairway leading up to the royal bedrooms. Mario recognized some who should have been attending the princesses. They milled about, aimless, their routine disrupted, worry and fear painted on their faces.

The mushroom people parted silently to let Mario pass, the heat in his chest growing to a razor iron spike as he climbed the stairs. Each step grew higher and his legs quivered, his knuckles in a white grip on the banister. He forced himself to breath, willing away the thousand racing nightmares in his head; it could never be as he feared. It couldn't be.

Mario's eyes fell upon the upper hall landing. Two mushroom guards should have been stationed here to block him from entering, but only a tiny bronze spear lay bent in his path. Farther down, an arterial spray of white-foam mushroom blood arched on the wall. Dribbled stains on the carpet accompanied dark, clawed paw prints leading from the stairs. Bowser's paw prints.

The first guard had been caught unaware and eaten without a fight. The second would have fought back - or at the very least knew his fate - but went down the Koopa King's gullet regardless, spear and all.

Mario's knees weakened and his head swam. His hand shook on the rail and the mushroom castle seemed to rock in spiraling circles. Through grit teeth once again forced his lungs to work.

Mushroom guards had always been unimportant to the maniacal Bowser. They were always just something in the way, at least a nuisance and at most a snack and never what he was really after.

The smell caught Mario next; a dank concoction of rotting eggs and seafood. He staggered forward, his eyes watering more as he neared.

Halfway down the hall a solid streak of feces terminated in an ample mound of earthy stool, flecked with yellow metal shards from the spear. A pool of bile-black urine soaked the carpet and spread on the stone floor, following the cracks and joins in the masonry.

Bowser may have moved slowly, but his gut didn’t. The guards had been ingested, digested and evacuated in a few short steps, one of the many insanities about this world that Mario had never come to grips with.

Another small crowd of mushroom people with down-turned faces parted as Mario approached Peach's bedroom. The doors stood open and a fresh, cool breeze wafted from inside, carrying with it a subtle hint of Peach's perfume.

"Where...?" Mario squeaked to himself, stepping inside. The sheets on the Princess's bed were rumpled from sleep. "Where is...?" He slowly circled the room, coming to the open double paned window. The pink curtains billowed in a soft breeze. The fire in his spine faded, but left only a black, empty hole. Mario dropped to his knees and gripped the bedframe. "Oh, Peach!" He sobbed, his brow knit in pain. "Peach."

A mushroom guard strode through the open doors. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Mario ignored the questions. "What's happening?" he asked, the black pit in his chest filling with hot adrenaline.

"The Princess has been kidnapped," the Mushroom Guard answered, unconcerned. "That's clear enough."

Mario stood and wiped a fleck of moisture from his eye, glaring at the guard. "I meant, what are you doing to find her?"

The guard looked puzzled. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Look for her," Mario growled, annoyed at the lax attitude the castle guards took with their work.

"We have!" the Mushroom Guard protested. "We can't find any sign. We've searched the entire castle!"

"The castle?" Mario asked. "Do you know what you do when Princess Peach is missing and you've searched the entire castle?"

"What?" asked the guard.

Mario's rage boiled inside him. "You search the grounds!" he bellowed and flung a heart-backed chair through the remaining unopened window. Shards of glass cascaded down the short tiled roof just below. The chair free-fell to the courtyard floor and splintered.

The guard stepped back in shock, his mouth agape.

"My, my! What a temper we have today." Toad sauntered into the room, swinging his scepter in lazy circles.

"What have you done with her!" Mario demanded, charging at the King's advisor. He planted a solid boot in Toad's chest, knocking to the ground. "What have you done with her?" Mario bore his weight on Toad and twisted, pressing against the advisor's throat.

Toad smiled. "I've done nothing," he squeaked. "And, I suggest you release me. King Toadstool is coming and this position is rather..." He smirked. "...compromising."

The wavering voice of Old King Toadstool came from the hall. "Where is this? I want to see Mario! Where are you taking me? Stop touching me!"

Mario huffed and his jaw flexed. He released Toad.

"That's a good boy," Toad whispered as he stood, regaining his composure in an instant.

Attendants swarmed around King Toadstool, herding him into the bedroom. "Let go! No! I don't want to go here. What is this place? Where's...?"

"Your highness!" Toad's raised voice echoed in the room. "Mario."

King Toadstool looked first at Toad and then at Mario. The gears in his sawdust filled head turned, skipping and hobbling their way to a conclusion. "Mario!" he finally cried. "Bowser has kidnapped the Princess. Please, rescue her."

The attendants cringed at the phrase.

Toad looked at Mario and raised an eyebrow.

Mario dropped his head and blinked away tears. He nodded.  "I will, I will."

"Good then." Toad concluded and clapped his hands. "You're off on another adventure!"

"Bowser has kidnapped the Princess," King Toadstool cried, staring at a bare castle wall. "Please, rescue her."

Toad flicked his wrist at the attendants who shuffled the King from the room.

"Bowser has... Where am I? Let go! I don't..." King Toadstools voice faded down the hall.

"If I find out you've had anything to do with this..." Mario warned with the King out of earshot.

"You'll do what?" snapped Toad in anger. He waited, his face sliding to a smile again as Mario remained mute. "Nothing," said Toad. "You'll do nothing. Because you would never, ever see Peach from a dungeon."