Someday My Prince Will Come (Chapter 7)
A continued De-anon.
As a child, Alfred asked Arthur to let him into a fairy tale book, but the adventure never happened. 400 years later, Alfred accidentally gets sucked into the tale and Arthur has to go after him.
This Chapter: BATTLE!!!
Thank you for all the reviews!
That Evil Die and Good Endure
The ride through the forest had been long and exhaustingly uneventful. Arthur was tense in his expectation, but as of yet the princes were right, and nothing had happened. Arthur scanned the path and the surrounding trees as they traveled. He had yet to see a single creature and he wondered where all the animals had gone. His question was shortly answered.
Out of nowhere and down the path ahead of them came a veritable herd of animals. Birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, wolves and more came running, flying, hopping in their direction. The horses actually reared up as the creatures ran about their feet, forcing Arthur and the princes to try desperately to calm them.
When most of the animals had cleared, the five men sat startled on their steeds, staring at the backs of the retreating animals. One last beast lumbered down the pathway, causing Arthur to turn his head back in the direction of the castle. A large hairy bear stopped as it passed by them. It locked eyes with Arthur in a way that made the nation feel uneasy. It continued to stare for what felt like a very long time, and then it roared quietly before continuing to flee from the castle.
“That didn’t seem right…” Turquoise said quietly.
“No. The animals always know. They are wiser than us, and they say to flee,” Topaz answered. His voice wasn’t quite so poetic as usual; he sounded frightened.
“Yes, they may be wiser when it comes to recognizing danger. But what makes us human isn’t our ability to recognize danger, but our ability to judge what’s truly important. Are you more afraid of the danger, or never seeing your beloved again? Because I’m still going forward.”
The princes looked guiltily at Arthur.
“We’ll go forward,” Quartz answered for all of them. The other princes nodded determinedly. They continued forward and it wasn’t long until the castle came into view.
It was a humongous black castle and its towers twisted up high above the trees and stood out against the pale gray sky. Perched all over the roofs were thousands of crows, and they all stared down at the would-be rescuers with soulless beady eyes. There was a tremendous flash of lightening and a man appeared on the front steps of the castle. He had long dark hair and was dressed in a flowing robe. In his hand was a tall staff. He smiled stiffly in a way that did not reach his eyes.
“Welcome heroes. I’m sure the fight will be valiant,” the Wizard nodded curtly and raised his arms like Moses parting the red sea. Two large red dragons flew up over the castle and landed between their master and the adventurers. Arthur gripped the hilt of sword and rode forward.
oOoOo
“I see them! I see them!” Rose shrieked; Alfred and the other three princesses hurried to the tower window. From their high view it was difficult to see precisely what was going on far below. There were, however, clear as day, five white horses ridden by five men dressed all in gold. Alfred squinted his eyes behind his glasses, trying desperately to see which one was Arthur.
“There are five…” Daisy said quietly, but her voice sound happy, “Alfie, there’s one for you!”
oOoOo
The Dragons flew towards the princes who scattered immediately in all directions. Arthur stood his ground, holding his sword out. The dragons, however, did not seem interested in him. They wanted the princes.
“Don’t run, you twits. Turn and fight like men!” Arthur barked. The princes tried to look at him as they dashed pass.
“But they’ll kill us!” Garnet shouted.
“Listen, there are four of you and two of them. Fight together and you can confuse them. Garnet, you and Topaz take that one! Quartz, you and Turquoise take the other. I’ll take their Master,” Arthur ordered. The princes nodded and did as he said. With direction they seemed less frightened, and they turned on their attackers. Confident that they weren’t simply going to get themselves killed, Arthur turned his attention towards the Wizard.
The man was watching him stoically from the stairs of the castle. His eyes were eerily fixed on Arthur alone, as though he’d known from the beginning who it was that he would be facing down.
Arthur charged, sword drawn and raised. Yet as he got closer, the wizard began to change. He grew taller and wider, his skin grew red and scaly and wings sprouted out of his back. Arthur’s eyes widened in horror and he pulled his horse to a halt. He was face to face with a dragon twice the size of the others.
“Dear… God…” Arthur breathed. The dragon smirked at him before taking to the air and swooping down on him. Arthur dodged, directing his horse to the side. He found himself narrowly escaping a sudden shot of flame. He pulled his horse to a stop and leaned low over his horse’s mane. The beast flew over his head, and Arthur reached up with his blade and sliced at its belly. The dragon roared and flew straight up to escape further injury. It sneered cruelly down at the ancient nation and prepared to dive again.
Arthur readied himself for the attack. He dodged quickly to the right just as the creature was about to hit him. It barely had time to turn back towards the sky before hitting the ground. It twisted out of the way, and Arthur scratched his sword along its right side. There was another horrific roar.
The creature flew up and perched upon the castle looking angrily down at him. Arthur watched carefully, wondering what the dragon was planning for him. Behind him he heard a loud pained roar and a cry of “Take that foul beast!”
Quartz rode up beside him, but Arthur refused to move his eyes from his own scheming attacker.
“Do you need assistance, or should Turquoise and I help our other fellows?”
“Leave me to this. He’s not so clever a fighter as he thinks he is. I can take him myself,” Arthur answered. Quartz turned and left him. Arthur, despite himself turned and glanced as he left. The Wizard took the moment.
The dragon dove at him again; Arthur readied himself and once again dodged to the side. This time, however, the beast’s claw flew out and snatched him off his horse. Arthur clung desperately to his sword as he felt himself lifted high into the air. He used the blade to hack madly at the large fingers that were wrapped about him.
“Do you really want me to drop you?” The dragon growled smoothly. Arthur glared at the creature, readying himself to attack again. Suddenly, however, he found himself slammed into the tower wall. He yelled out as he felt his body wracked in pain.
oOoOo
Alfred was trying desperately to watch the battle over the heads of the four princesses. The five of them were all looking in different directions, moving around as they tried to keep their eyes on their personal rescuers.
Alfred was struck by what he saw. Arthur seemed so calm and so cool. He looked right with a sword in his hand. He seemed so elegant and strong; Alfred was impressed and he could feel his face flushing with excitement. There was no way that Arthur could lose.
Suddenly, however, he saw Arthur lifted bodily off his horse. Alfred’s heart caught in his throat, and he gasped as he saw Arthur slammed into the wall of the castle again and again. Alfred couldn’t simply stay where he was. Glancing about the room, he tried to find anything he could use as a weapon. All he could find was a number of spell books stacked in the corner. Desperately Alfred grabbed as many of them as he could carry and made his way back to the window.
“Alfie, what are you doing?” Bluebell asked in confusion, as the nation forced the girls aside.
“Can one of you open the window? And hurry!” Alfred asked. Violet looked at him in confusion, but she quickly complied just the same.
As carefully as he could, Alfred stepped out on to the flat stone ridge that ran around the tower. He could see Arthur and the Dragon a little way off; he aimed a book at them and threw. The book made it about half way there before plummeting towards the ground. Cursing his weakened strength, Alfred swallowed nervously and inched his way closer.
oOoOo
Arthur was in horrible pain. His body was rattling around in his armor and he screamed out in pain. He wanted desperately to fight back, but could only just manage to cling desperately to his sword.
When was it that he’d become this weak? He’d grown soft these past few decades. There had been days when he could fight brutal battles with the best of them. Now a little pain was practically stopping him from doing anything at all.
Then, suddenly, he felt the dragon flinch. It stopped mid-smash, only just managing not to drop its prey. Arthur opened his eyes in weary confusion. What was it that could have distracted the beast?
The dragon did not appear to be in pain, but it did look annoyed. It was glaring off in the direction of one the towers, as though something over there was pestering him. That’s when Arthur caught sight of him. Alfred was standing precariously on the castle ledge, aiming a book at the Dragon with one hand. He threw it with all his might and it bounced anti-climatically against the creatures arm. Unperturbed Alfred picked another book from the small pile he was holding, and made to throw that one as well.
“Excuse me,” the dragon sighed, “I’m rather fond of those books so I have to take care of this. But I do so enjoy beating you, so if you’ll kindly wait here I will be back in a moment.”
The dragon propped Arthur up in a windowsill, before flying over in Alfred’s direction. Arthur reached out desperately as though somehow he could stop the creature, but could only watch as it landed besides Alfred in its human form.
Alfred stepped back as though nervous, before defiantly dropping the last few books over the edge of the castle. The wizard reached out and slapped him across the face. Alfred reeled, almost stumbling off the edge, before the Wizard grabbed the front of his tunic and yanked him closer.
Arthur’s brows wrinkled in concern. There was something wrong with Alfred. He had seen the boy drag cars down the street without breaking a sweat, seen him as a small child swing a full grown bison around like ragdoll, and now he was practically collapsing at a single blow. Arthur watched as Alfred struggled desperately against the Wizard’s grasp, and failed.
The ancient nation leaned forward, trying to see more of the little battle. He slipped and found himself falling, only just barely managing catch himself on the edge of a ledge that ran beneath the window. Breathing heavily, Arthur labored not to fall as he clung to the ridge and his sword. He threw a glance in Alfred’s direction and saw something that terrified him even more.
The Wizard was holding Alfred against him, with the boy’s arms held behind his back. There was something in his hand, something he was trying to force into Alfred’s mouth, something that Alfred was trying desperately to avoid. The Wizard won, and he kept his hand over the boy’s mouth until he swallowed against his will. Alfred’s body went very stiff and then he collapsed loosely into the Wizard’s arms.
“ALFRED!” Arthur screamed, “Alfred! Dammit!”
He tried to pull himself up, but failed again, and he found tears of frustration coming to his eyes. He couldn’t do it. He wasn’t strong enough. He’d fail, and Alfred would suffer.
But he couldn’t stop the scene of Alfred collapsing from playing over again in his mind. If only he’d stayed where he was he wouldn’t have gotten hurt. But that was just like Alfred; he had come to Arthur’s rescue even though he was weak and knew he couldn’t do it. So Arthur couldn’t give up. This time Alfred was the one who needed a hero, and Arthur wasn’t going to let him suffer because of his own weakness. With a shout Arthur pulled himself up onto the ledge, and began to run to Alfred’s rescue.
The Wizard, in Dragon form, was moving the boy. It was currently peering in to the window of one of the towers as it carefully reached in and placed Alfred inside. To Arthur, all that mattered was that the beast was distracted. Running at full speed he leapt from the ridge and landed on the Dragon’s back with his sword facing down.
The Dragon’s roar was terrible and it arched its back in pain. Arthur carefully maintained his balance by reaching out with one hand to hold onto a wing. The dragon flailed and snapped at him, but Arthur was unreachable where he stood. The beast twisted and rolled midair, but the nation clung to its wing joint and refused to be thrown off.
When the dragon stopped this manner of attack and began, instead, to thrash with its tail, Arthur threw himself forward onto its neck. He lay on his stomach with one arm around the creature’s neck and other clutching his sword. Arthur swung the blade skyward and then plunged it, with all his might, through the skull of the beast.
The Dragon stiffened and grew still, then together Arthur and the Dragon plummeted towards the ground.
oOoOo
So the next chapter is the last chapter, although it’s a little longer than the rest.
Anyway, this chapter title is a quote from Sleeping Beauty. It’s during the final battle between Prince Philip and Malificent. I kind of stole the whole magical-badguy-warping-into-a-dragon thing from there.
The whole quote is: “O, sword of truth fly swift and sure, that evil die and good endure!” It’s said by one of the good fairies (Flora). They enchant the prince’s sword and help save the day and stuff. Because the fairies do all the real work.
As a child, Alfred asked Arthur to let him into a fairy tale book, but the adventure never happened. 400 years later, Alfred accidentally gets sucked into the tale and Arthur has to go after him.
This Chapter: BATTLE!!!
Thank you for all the reviews!
That Evil Die and Good Endure
The ride through the forest had been long and exhaustingly uneventful. Arthur was tense in his expectation, but as of yet the princes were right, and nothing had happened. Arthur scanned the path and the surrounding trees as they traveled. He had yet to see a single creature and he wondered where all the animals had gone. His question was shortly answered.
Out of nowhere and down the path ahead of them came a veritable herd of animals. Birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, wolves and more came running, flying, hopping in their direction. The horses actually reared up as the creatures ran about their feet, forcing Arthur and the princes to try desperately to calm them.
When most of the animals had cleared, the five men sat startled on their steeds, staring at the backs of the retreating animals. One last beast lumbered down the pathway, causing Arthur to turn his head back in the direction of the castle. A large hairy bear stopped as it passed by them. It locked eyes with Arthur in a way that made the nation feel uneasy. It continued to stare for what felt like a very long time, and then it roared quietly before continuing to flee from the castle.
“That didn’t seem right…” Turquoise said quietly.
“No. The animals always know. They are wiser than us, and they say to flee,” Topaz answered. His voice wasn’t quite so poetic as usual; he sounded frightened.
“Yes, they may be wiser when it comes to recognizing danger. But what makes us human isn’t our ability to recognize danger, but our ability to judge what’s truly important. Are you more afraid of the danger, or never seeing your beloved again? Because I’m still going forward.”
The princes looked guiltily at Arthur.
“We’ll go forward,” Quartz answered for all of them. The other princes nodded determinedly. They continued forward and it wasn’t long until the castle came into view.
It was a humongous black castle and its towers twisted up high above the trees and stood out against the pale gray sky. Perched all over the roofs were thousands of crows, and they all stared down at the would-be rescuers with soulless beady eyes. There was a tremendous flash of lightening and a man appeared on the front steps of the castle. He had long dark hair and was dressed in a flowing robe. In his hand was a tall staff. He smiled stiffly in a way that did not reach his eyes.
“Welcome heroes. I’m sure the fight will be valiant,” the Wizard nodded curtly and raised his arms like Moses parting the red sea. Two large red dragons flew up over the castle and landed between their master and the adventurers. Arthur gripped the hilt of sword and rode forward.
oOoOo
“I see them! I see them!” Rose shrieked; Alfred and the other three princesses hurried to the tower window. From their high view it was difficult to see precisely what was going on far below. There were, however, clear as day, five white horses ridden by five men dressed all in gold. Alfred squinted his eyes behind his glasses, trying desperately to see which one was Arthur.
“There are five…” Daisy said quietly, but her voice sound happy, “Alfie, there’s one for you!”
oOoOo
The Dragons flew towards the princes who scattered immediately in all directions. Arthur stood his ground, holding his sword out. The dragons, however, did not seem interested in him. They wanted the princes.
“Don’t run, you twits. Turn and fight like men!” Arthur barked. The princes tried to look at him as they dashed pass.
“But they’ll kill us!” Garnet shouted.
“Listen, there are four of you and two of them. Fight together and you can confuse them. Garnet, you and Topaz take that one! Quartz, you and Turquoise take the other. I’ll take their Master,” Arthur ordered. The princes nodded and did as he said. With direction they seemed less frightened, and they turned on their attackers. Confident that they weren’t simply going to get themselves killed, Arthur turned his attention towards the Wizard.
The man was watching him stoically from the stairs of the castle. His eyes were eerily fixed on Arthur alone, as though he’d known from the beginning who it was that he would be facing down.
Arthur charged, sword drawn and raised. Yet as he got closer, the wizard began to change. He grew taller and wider, his skin grew red and scaly and wings sprouted out of his back. Arthur’s eyes widened in horror and he pulled his horse to a halt. He was face to face with a dragon twice the size of the others.
“Dear… God…” Arthur breathed. The dragon smirked at him before taking to the air and swooping down on him. Arthur dodged, directing his horse to the side. He found himself narrowly escaping a sudden shot of flame. He pulled his horse to a stop and leaned low over his horse’s mane. The beast flew over his head, and Arthur reached up with his blade and sliced at its belly. The dragon roared and flew straight up to escape further injury. It sneered cruelly down at the ancient nation and prepared to dive again.
Arthur readied himself for the attack. He dodged quickly to the right just as the creature was about to hit him. It barely had time to turn back towards the sky before hitting the ground. It twisted out of the way, and Arthur scratched his sword along its right side. There was another horrific roar.
The creature flew up and perched upon the castle looking angrily down at him. Arthur watched carefully, wondering what the dragon was planning for him. Behind him he heard a loud pained roar and a cry of “Take that foul beast!”
Quartz rode up beside him, but Arthur refused to move his eyes from his own scheming attacker.
“Do you need assistance, or should Turquoise and I help our other fellows?”
“Leave me to this. He’s not so clever a fighter as he thinks he is. I can take him myself,” Arthur answered. Quartz turned and left him. Arthur, despite himself turned and glanced as he left. The Wizard took the moment.
The dragon dove at him again; Arthur readied himself and once again dodged to the side. This time, however, the beast’s claw flew out and snatched him off his horse. Arthur clung desperately to his sword as he felt himself lifted high into the air. He used the blade to hack madly at the large fingers that were wrapped about him.
“Do you really want me to drop you?” The dragon growled smoothly. Arthur glared at the creature, readying himself to attack again. Suddenly, however, he found himself slammed into the tower wall. He yelled out as he felt his body wracked in pain.
oOoOo
Alfred was trying desperately to watch the battle over the heads of the four princesses. The five of them were all looking in different directions, moving around as they tried to keep their eyes on their personal rescuers.
Alfred was struck by what he saw. Arthur seemed so calm and so cool. He looked right with a sword in his hand. He seemed so elegant and strong; Alfred was impressed and he could feel his face flushing with excitement. There was no way that Arthur could lose.
Suddenly, however, he saw Arthur lifted bodily off his horse. Alfred’s heart caught in his throat, and he gasped as he saw Arthur slammed into the wall of the castle again and again. Alfred couldn’t simply stay where he was. Glancing about the room, he tried to find anything he could use as a weapon. All he could find was a number of spell books stacked in the corner. Desperately Alfred grabbed as many of them as he could carry and made his way back to the window.
“Alfie, what are you doing?” Bluebell asked in confusion, as the nation forced the girls aside.
“Can one of you open the window? And hurry!” Alfred asked. Violet looked at him in confusion, but she quickly complied just the same.
As carefully as he could, Alfred stepped out on to the flat stone ridge that ran around the tower. He could see Arthur and the Dragon a little way off; he aimed a book at them and threw. The book made it about half way there before plummeting towards the ground. Cursing his weakened strength, Alfred swallowed nervously and inched his way closer.
oOoOo
Arthur was in horrible pain. His body was rattling around in his armor and he screamed out in pain. He wanted desperately to fight back, but could only just manage to cling desperately to his sword.
When was it that he’d become this weak? He’d grown soft these past few decades. There had been days when he could fight brutal battles with the best of them. Now a little pain was practically stopping him from doing anything at all.
Then, suddenly, he felt the dragon flinch. It stopped mid-smash, only just managing not to drop its prey. Arthur opened his eyes in weary confusion. What was it that could have distracted the beast?
The dragon did not appear to be in pain, but it did look annoyed. It was glaring off in the direction of one the towers, as though something over there was pestering him. That’s when Arthur caught sight of him. Alfred was standing precariously on the castle ledge, aiming a book at the Dragon with one hand. He threw it with all his might and it bounced anti-climatically against the creatures arm. Unperturbed Alfred picked another book from the small pile he was holding, and made to throw that one as well.
“Excuse me,” the dragon sighed, “I’m rather fond of those books so I have to take care of this. But I do so enjoy beating you, so if you’ll kindly wait here I will be back in a moment.”
The dragon propped Arthur up in a windowsill, before flying over in Alfred’s direction. Arthur reached out desperately as though somehow he could stop the creature, but could only watch as it landed besides Alfred in its human form.
Alfred stepped back as though nervous, before defiantly dropping the last few books over the edge of the castle. The wizard reached out and slapped him across the face. Alfred reeled, almost stumbling off the edge, before the Wizard grabbed the front of his tunic and yanked him closer.
Arthur’s brows wrinkled in concern. There was something wrong with Alfred. He had seen the boy drag cars down the street without breaking a sweat, seen him as a small child swing a full grown bison around like ragdoll, and now he was practically collapsing at a single blow. Arthur watched as Alfred struggled desperately against the Wizard’s grasp, and failed.
The ancient nation leaned forward, trying to see more of the little battle. He slipped and found himself falling, only just barely managing catch himself on the edge of a ledge that ran beneath the window. Breathing heavily, Arthur labored not to fall as he clung to the ridge and his sword. He threw a glance in Alfred’s direction and saw something that terrified him even more.
The Wizard was holding Alfred against him, with the boy’s arms held behind his back. There was something in his hand, something he was trying to force into Alfred’s mouth, something that Alfred was trying desperately to avoid. The Wizard won, and he kept his hand over the boy’s mouth until he swallowed against his will. Alfred’s body went very stiff and then he collapsed loosely into the Wizard’s arms.
“ALFRED!” Arthur screamed, “Alfred! Dammit!”
He tried to pull himself up, but failed again, and he found tears of frustration coming to his eyes. He couldn’t do it. He wasn’t strong enough. He’d fail, and Alfred would suffer.
But he couldn’t stop the scene of Alfred collapsing from playing over again in his mind. If only he’d stayed where he was he wouldn’t have gotten hurt. But that was just like Alfred; he had come to Arthur’s rescue even though he was weak and knew he couldn’t do it. So Arthur couldn’t give up. This time Alfred was the one who needed a hero, and Arthur wasn’t going to let him suffer because of his own weakness. With a shout Arthur pulled himself up onto the ledge, and began to run to Alfred’s rescue.
The Wizard, in Dragon form, was moving the boy. It was currently peering in to the window of one of the towers as it carefully reached in and placed Alfred inside. To Arthur, all that mattered was that the beast was distracted. Running at full speed he leapt from the ridge and landed on the Dragon’s back with his sword facing down.
The Dragon’s roar was terrible and it arched its back in pain. Arthur carefully maintained his balance by reaching out with one hand to hold onto a wing. The dragon flailed and snapped at him, but Arthur was unreachable where he stood. The beast twisted and rolled midair, but the nation clung to its wing joint and refused to be thrown off.
When the dragon stopped this manner of attack and began, instead, to thrash with its tail, Arthur threw himself forward onto its neck. He lay on his stomach with one arm around the creature’s neck and other clutching his sword. Arthur swung the blade skyward and then plunged it, with all his might, through the skull of the beast.
The Dragon stiffened and grew still, then together Arthur and the Dragon plummeted towards the ground.
oOoOo
So the next chapter is the last chapter, although it’s a little longer than the rest.
Anyway, this chapter title is a quote from Sleeping Beauty. It’s during the final battle between Prince Philip and Malificent. I kind of stole the whole magical-badguy-warping-into-a-dragon thing from there.
The whole quote is: “O, sword of truth fly swift and sure, that evil die and good endure!” It’s said by one of the good fairies (Flora). They enchant the prince’s sword and help save the day and stuff. Because the fairies do all the real work.