by Walleye
The dragon veered to the side and started to circle the castle. Maryellen had never seen an attack from the air as she had grown up under the sea as a mermaid. But she had survived one attack by a neighboring kingdom when her Father had sealed the castle up tight and thirty mermen and mermaids had swam around the castle throwing spears and trying with their magic to break down the castle’s defenses.
The dragon was doing just what that war party had done. They had circled the castle looking for weak points to make their attack against.
The dragon completed its circle and paused in midair. It howled and its undulating cry, promising death to all who opposed it, sent shivers down Maryellen’s spine. She gripped the hilt of her sword tighter in her fist and waited for its first move.
The dragon began maneuvering in its circle again and Maryellen realized that this time it was spiraling inward, coming closer. Her sword began to glow with a blue light in response to the dragon’s magic which also began to glow yellow and pulse around its body.
The dragon suddenly turned and charged right at one of the towers of the castle. It opened its fanged mouth and sent a blast of white fire at the top of the tower. There was a scream and a figure wreathed in roaring flames fell shrieking out of one of the windows.
As the dragon pulled up arrows flew from the other towers. They just bounced off its armored hid. The dragon threw back its head, roaring its derision at their puny efforts. It stopped laughing when a crossbow bolt struck just below its lower jaw and ended up with both ends sticking out of its scaly hide.
The dragon screamed its pain and rage at them as it beat its way backwards. More arrows flew up to strike it. Most bounced but again one crossbow bolt did not.
If the dragon could’ve uttered curses it would have done so. It retreated and began circling again but this time as it came in closer it was much more cautious. However, this just made it a better target and the archers could aim their arrows better.
Arrow flew once more and this time one slammed through one nostril out the other, sending a bloody spray, and two more almost penetrated its eyes.
The dragon screamed in pain and sent a blast of fire against the top of the nearest tower before it backed up again as arrows flew and bounced off of it.
It turned its head to look downward and sent a blast of fire into the courtyard which sent rolling waves of flames into the passage leading to the attached stables.
“Oh, God! The horses!” One of the soldiers in Jerome’s tower shouted as he made a move to run down the stairs.
Jerome’s meaty hand fell on his shoulder. “Hold, lad. Fire from the outside is why we built the passage with an el shape so that flames couldn’t easily reach the horses and the hay. The horses should be fine.”
Maryellen watched the red dragon circling again and this time it was much slower. It was like it was thinking things over. Could it be? Was it looking for a weakness in their defenses that it could exploit?
The dragon paused and faced the castle once more but this time it was staring right at her tower. Her sword’s blue glow intensified and in response the dragon roared.
“Oh, the fairy queen save us.” Thistledown the fairy exclaimed in her ear. “It’s coming for you. The Sidhe want you dead.”
Maryellen didn’t bother even nodding. She wished she could scream back at the dragon. ‘Come and get me if you dare!’ But since she couldn’t she hopped up onto the windowsill, used her left hand to grip the side of the window and raised her glowing sword in threat in the other hand.
The dragon charged and this time it came like it had been launched from a ballista. It was almost on her when Maryellen dropped down behind the windowsill and huddled against the stone wall.
Almost instantly a blast of white fire shot through the window and roared up the sides of the stone wall behind her. Maryellen held her breath as the heat washed over her.
She expected to hear the beat of its wings as it arrested its motion. But this time there were no wing beats. There was a huge crash and the tower rocked as the dragon collided with it. This was followed by the sounds of rock being torn apart by its claws, causing the stretched out chains to vibrate like they had been plucked.
Maryellen realized the dragon was attacking the chain defense and at the same time it was trying to get her out where it could get at her. If she hid and refused to come out, then it would by flying from tower to tower and breaking the chains fastened there render the castle helpless.
She was not about to let that happen. She began to climb the stairs with the sword gripped in one hand. She winced as she crossed the heated stones where its breath had struck but she hurried up the heated stairs to challenge it.
She paused at the top of the stairs to see where the beast was. While she was looking Timothy the blacksmith came up behind her, carrying a heavy iron spear that was nearly six foot long. They exchanged a glance as they heard stones being ripped from the peak of the tower.
Maryellen knew the blacksmith would follow her and she hoped that this muscular but gentle man would survive to produce men and women with his courage and strength.
She could see one of the dragon’s scaly claws of one of its rear feet gripping the protective upper wall of the tower and so she knew where it was. She took a deep breath and charged out the door with her sword raised above her head.
She slammed the glowing sword into the scaly hind leg gripping the outer wall. The sword cut right to the bone and the dragon screamed as magic forces fought each other.
The sorceress Morgin struggled to feed her creation enough power to keep it stable and in this she succeeded. The dragon swung its head and fixed its angry glare on Maryellen
Its long, thin neck struck like a coiled snake in her direction and its mouth opened wide to unleash a deadly blast of fire. Maryellen brought the sword down with all her strength on the dragon’s upper jaw forcing its mouth towards the stone floor and causing its magic to flicker all over its body as its magic encountered the magic of the glowing sword.
Morgin fed almost all her power into her creation, trying to keep it from being destroyed.
In that critical moment the blacksmith stepped forward and launched his iron spear at where its neck joined its body. Hurled with the strength of an arm that could lift anvils with one hand and pound heavy steel for hours a day, the spear still should’ve been deflected but the magic the dragon possessed was in a state of flux and instead of being deflected the iron spear tore its way through its back, ripping the artery and vein system connected to its heart into ragged streamers.
The dragon reared back and flung itself from the tower. For a moment its wings still beat and it gathered itself for another blast but then the moment passed and the dragon folded up and fell dead to the courtyard below, bouncing off two of the chains and ripping them right out of the peak of the groaning tower before its massive body struck the courtyard paving stones with a wet sounding impact of a dead body.
It lay there stretched out on the courtyard stones dead even though smoke still trailed feebly out of its nostrils.
The result was not good for Morgin in the Land Under The Hill as she went to her knees with a groan of pain. Her eyes glazed over and she pitched forward onto her face dead.
The Sidhe Princess made a shooing motion to her courtiers. “Someone, please remove this failure from my sight.”
Aftermath
The closer they got to the palace the more the Prince felt his fears increase. It was taking too darn long to get back. This would mean the dragon would have had plenty of time to have torn the castle down to the bedrock and burned to ashes what was left.
Johnathan was furious that he had been played so well by the Sidhe sorceress. He had acted like a gullible fool instead of the leader he was supposed to be. Because of him his guests and his people who depended on him were in life-threatening danger and might even be dead
The only thing that kept him from losing complete control was that he couldn’t see any column of smoke bil
lowing into the sky ahead of him. “Please, God, let them be all right.” He prayed as he rode up the hill that was about a mile from the castle.
He crested the top of the hill and paused to survey what was happening at the castle. He saw only a single column of smoke rising from the castle and it was grey and already starting to fade away as the wind dispersed it.
He could see that the drawbridge was up which meant the castle was still in a state of defense. “At least it’s still standing.” Cousin Elliot offered to reassure him as she came up beside him and raised her face guard so that she could see better.
Sir Rathbone joined them with his visor already up. He squinted as he shaded his eyes. “One of the towers has been badly damaged.”
“We’re wasting time.” Johnathan declared as he kicked his horse back into motion.
As they rode down the hill The Prince dreaded what he would find there. They were halfway to the castle when with a rumble of chains the drawbridge came back down revealing the great doors were open. This helped relieved some of his fear as it meant someone in the castle still lived.
They clattered across the drawbridge and were greeted by Stanley. “We are glad to see you’re okay, Milord.”
The Prince just nodded his head and asked. “Did we lose anybody?”
Stanley looked away. “I’m afraid we did, Sir. But you should talk to Constable Jerome. He’s overseeing the cleanup.”
The first thing they saw when they rode into the courtyard was the dead body of the red dragon. It was sprawling across the square with a huge iron spear embedded in its back with its yellow wings spread out around it like a pinned butterfly in someone’s collection.
Smoke was still rising from its nostrils but its tongue was hanging out of its mouth and lying on the flagstones. It was quite dead.
“Well, if you like to eat dragon.” Sir Rathbone observed wirily. “The castle doesn’t have to worry about meat for months.”
Have you really ever eaten dragon before?” Elliot asked him as she dismounted.
“No.” The knight replied as he got down from his horse. “But I bet that someone will claim that it tastes like chicken.”
Constable Jerome came hurrying up accompanied by the wizard Garland. “Sire, we are all glad to see you are all right.”
“Never mind about me.” The Prince snapped. “How many did we lose here?”
The Constable came to attention and saluted before he said sadly. “I am sorry to tell you that we lost two, Sire. One man, a groom identified as William, and an unidentified young woman. Both were killed defending the North Tower against the dragon’s attack.”
The Prince felt like his heart was trying to climb out of his throat. Was it Belle or one of her sisters or even, God forbid, Maryellen? Thank goodness she was still asleep.
That hope was dashed when Constable Jerome continued. “If it hadn’t been for the Fontaine family and Lady Maryellen we would have been caught completely by surprise.” He hung his head. “I failed you, Sire, in not planning ahead.”
The Prince knew Jerome always suffered from stomach pains but that he would never use it as an excuse. He put his paw on the man’s shoulder. “The fault is not yours, man. It is mine alone to bear. I acted like a complete novice when I reacted to the attack. Maybe my Mother the Queen is right and I don’t deserve the honor of ruling here.”
“Sire.” Jerome replied. “I am privileged to serve under you. This is not your fault. Every one of us believed the report that it was a wurm and not a dragon.”
“Yes, Sire.” The wizard Garland added. “It was not your fault that you did not know it was a dragon instead of a wurm. Even using my magic I could not tell it was a dragon until it revealed itself.”
Johnathan was surprised. Garland was actually taking responsibility for a failure of his own. The proud and irritating wizard was willing to admit he was wrong? What was the world coming to?
The little fairy could have explained it to him. In this fairytale the magic of the tale brought out the good side of men and women. Thistledown knew she never wanted to be a part of a dark fairytale as there everyone would be evil and treacherous.
There had been darkness in the Little Mermaid fairytale because that had involved torture and mutilation and in the very end, failure in getting her happily ever after for the heroine who had still triumphed in never giving in to the dark side of her being and choosing her own death over murder of her prince who had rejected her.
Maryellen was helping the soldiers remove debris when they found the body of the woman who had fallen from the tower. She drew back with a gasp after she shoved a beam off the pile to reveal the corpse of a young woman. She knew her. It was her maid Tillie.
She knelt and stroked Tillie’s face and tears began to pour down her cheeks. Tillie had been more than a maid. She had been a friend.
Two soldiers came followed by the Prince. They put the body on the remains of a door and covered her face before they bore her into the castle. The Prince put his arm around Maryellen’s shoulders and comforted her while she cried.
The Prince blamed himself and said so. “This is all my fault.” He declared.
Maryellen shook her head. She wrote on her slate. My fault. Not yours.
“What? Why?” The Prince demanded.
Maryellen wrote. I don’t belong here.
The Prince stared at her in shock and then he grabbed her by her shoulders. “You don’t belong here? The Hell you don’t!” He shouted. “I heard how you fought a dragon and saved almost everyone in the castle. Heavens, woman, you saved me by killing a magic boar. Never say again you don’t belong here.” He said as he crushed her to his chest. “I will hold you in my heart forever. God, woman, I love you.”
She looked up and saw the love in his eyes. He loved her and she loved the Beast. Slowly their lips came together and touched and then he was kissing her fiercely. They broke apart and stared at each other. There was no blast of magic.
“I don’t understand.” Constable Jerome said. “I thought when he could learn to see beyond someone’s outer trappings and find love that the curse would be lifted.”
Belle who was standing behind him and who had finally figured out what the curse entailed shook her head and said to her sisters Gwen and Ella. “For the curse to be lifted she has to say the words out loud and she cannot as she’s mute.”
Gwen and Ella sadly nodded their heads. Between the three of them they had figured out basically how the Beast’s curse could be lifted. There were too many clues not for them to have figured it out as they were all very intelligent women.
The three followed the sad procession inside where they all offered what comfort they could to Tillie’s weeping mother, Marjorie, who had her head buried in her husband Philip’s shoulder.
While everyone was sobbing Thistledown flew away as fast as she could until she reached the Magic Council’s building. She used her wand to send bolts of energy smashing into the ivory door. She kept this up until a dwarf answered.
He looked half asleep and scratched carelessly at his armpit under his long-sleeved nightshirt as he mumbled. “Whad du u want?”
“I want to see Lilith, the head of the Magic Council immediately.” The distraught fairy demanded.
The grey-bearded dwarf yawned, showing a couple of broken teeth. “About what? It’s the middle of the night if ya didn’t know.” He wiped his snotty nose. “Come back in the morning.”
He stepped back and pulled the door shut with a bang. “Imagine the nerve of that little thing. Demanding to see Lilith at this time of night.”
A bright light flared up so bright in front of him that he was almost blinded and then he was thrown backwards by the concussion from the magic blast. As he groggily looked around from lying on his back the front of his shirt collar was seized in two tiny hands and his head was jerked a foot off the floor.
“Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” The tiny fairy declared, letting him see her anger. “It’s you
r choice as it makes no difference to me.”
“Uh.” He said. “I hate multiple choice.”
“I recommend the easy way.” The fairy told him. “But the other is more fun for me. But as I said before that it is your choice.”
He ventured a feeble grin. “The easy way?”
“Good boy.” She let his head hit the stone floor with a ‘thunk.’ “Now take me to Lilith.”
The dwarf got shakily to his feet. “Mistress will not be pleased on being wakened.”
The fairy stared him right in his grey eyes. “She’ll be even more displeased if you don’t and if you don’t awaken her then you’ll have to deal with me.”
“Good point.” He conceded. “This way if you please.” He toddled off down the hall followed by the glowing little fairy.
They went up three flights of stairs and down a long hall with statues of elven thieves until they reached a large bronze door with a two headed black dog sleeping in front of it. As they approached the dogs two heads came up and one yawned.
The dog got to its feet. “Who dares disturbs Lilith’s slumber?” The left head asked.
The dwarf jerked his dirty thumb over his right shoulder at the fairy behind him. “Not me. It’s this little bit’s fault here.”
The dog’s right head asked. “Who are you and what’s the problem?”
“Make it short and sweet.” The left head demanded.
Thistledown flittered forward until she was facing the right head which seemed the one most likely to be cooperative. “I am Thistledown, a fairy godmother. We’ve had several deaths in a major fairytale called Beauty and the Beast where there are supposed to be none. Lilith has to act quickly before they become permanent.”
“Wait here.” The right head told her.
As the dog turned and used its right head to open the door, the left head turned back to her. “Don’t go anywhere off the rug or touch anything.”
