Chapter 26

A Chapter by firabelle

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Chapter 26

Please note that any and all images are unless specified, are not mine! They are similar to my concept but are not my images. I lay no claim to them; all of that goes to their original owners.

Maleficent chose that moment to run for her life. In hindsight, I couldn’t really blame her; she had pissed off the very new Dragon Queen, and Planeto as well. I mean, Planeto is at least twenty-five feet long, soooooo…. Yeah.

“S**t!” I yelled. Even with her gigantic horns, Maleficent was really goddamn fast. How fast could she be?

“I’d suggest chasing after her,” remarked Planeto dryly.

“How did you even get in here?” I demanded.

“Magic,” he replied wearily.

I rolled my eyes and gave chase. If this lady could get a whole dragon in here, I’d hate to see what else she had up her sleeve. My heavy training boots forced clouds of dust into the air, filling my lungs as I tried to catch her before she wreaks havoc on the training grounds. Something clattered from Maleficent’s grasp, and I pushed through my exhaustion to try and reach whatever it was that she had dropped. She turned, an expression of horror on her face. I dove, pushing my pale arm as far as it would go; sure, it might be a trap, but I doubted she was a very good actress.

My chest hit the hard, unforgiving floor first, more likely than not leaving the beginnings of a nasty bruise.

“That’s not for you!” she growled.

“Fight me,” I spat, rolling to get back up.

“Oh, don’t you worry your little head about that,” snarled Maleficent.

“I can think of an Irish heroine with a small head,” I countered. “She had two evil stepsisters and had to save both of them from a witch twice as bad as you using kickass magic.”

I was finally on my feet, but so was Maleficent. The only difference now was that I was blocking her way out, effectively sandwiching her between Planeto and me. She grinned wickedly, grasping large daggers- maybe 30-40 centimeters in length; they were more short swords than anything. One white and gold, the other silver and black.

“I’d move if I were you,” Maleficent purred presumptuously.

“Are you serious?” I scoffed. “I have a dragon on my side, who happens to be right behind you.”

She cackled. “Do you know why Smallhead was called Smallhead?”

“Her sisters believed her to be stupid,” I answered.

All she did was smile sinisterly before she literally folded into her cloak, leaving nothing but the twin daggers.

I approached like a cat seeing an unfamiliar object- creeping forwards slowly on my toes, arms back, ready to flee at a moment’s notice. They sat on the floor menacingly, if such a thing was possible. They glinted coldly in the soft light from the tree, sending oil-on-water ripples across its surface.

“Can I touch them?” I asked Planeto tentatively.

He grumbled slightly. “Physically yes; there are no incantations that I know of that are on the blades. However, they are made from the fangs of one monster or another; possibly even that of a dragon or drake.”

“And what does that have to do with anything? Does that make the blades stronger, lighter, more dangerous?” I murmured, still inspecting the blades.

“If they are of a dragon, then their kin will rend you to pieces if and when your title as Dragon Queen is revoked or given up. They are even harder than the toughest of diamonds and are perfectly balanced at any place you hold them, making them ideal for throwing blades or longer two-sided weapons. That they are forged into twin daggers is quite odd at first glance, but makes more sense when one meditates on the subject. If they are light and the wielder even lighter on his or her feet, then they would make menacing adversaries indeed.”

I nodded. “I don’t know about this. Maleficent is too cunning in the stories to leave something that valuable behind, even if they don’t really match her fighting styles.” I stopped and considered what I had just said. “Are the Tales titles passed down to the next winner of the trials, or is there a different system?”

“They forge their own stories and make their own titles. Shall we call someone who can adequately deal with the teeth blades?” suggested Planeto off-handedly.

“I guess,” I sighed.

*****

Feidlimid gaped at me, or something close to it. Orenda brooded in the corner. Zeke bounced on his feet, bursting to the brim with questions. Gina was the calmest about the whole incident, surprisingly. She wasn’t even phased by Planeto, whom I was leaning against as he lay on the stone of Feidlimid’s office. His head and long neck snaked through the doorway, while he rested his body in the corridor.

My shoulders, which had been feeling fine after the first few hours of being treated by Tam, now hurt like bloody hell. I was sure that he would throw a fit once he saw me again, but it couldn’t be avoided, really; I had been writing on the ground with one of Disney’s worst antagonists of all time, so pumped full adrenaline that I hadn’t noticed the bruises that not only extended across my shoulders but now my ribcage as well.

“This doesn’t bode well, not at all,” muttered Orenda.

“What will happen to the daggers?” I asked. Were they supposed to be given back to the family of the original beast that had them in their mouth?

“They should be returned,” grumbled Planeto. “If won in a fair fight, they need to be returned to the winner. However, knowing Maleficent, she probably found a way to come by them without having to ever fight a dragon.”

“I did not ask you to speak, monster,” spat Feidlimid.

“Hey!” I barked. “He’s under my protection. Insult him, you’re insulting me.”

Feidlimid glared.

“Maleficent probably did take them,” added Gina quietly. “According to Planeto, they had no charms; don’t you think that she would put some of her own in?”

“Can we even trust Planeto?” asked Feidlimid, exasperated.

“Dragon Queen,” I refuted simply in a sing-song voice.

Feidlimid flicked her eyebrows silently. “We shouldn’t touch them,” she muttered.

“Okay, then someone will return them. Right?” said Zeke.

“I should. If one of you do, then they will assume that the bearer of the blades had stolen them. Without the full story and witnesses to verify their story, they would be shredded like leaves in a summer storm.” Planeto spoke quietly, but with confidence.

“The only person we could trust to take them would be Stella, and she’s in the Trials; if she leaves, then the whole of the Maeve Trial would be considered void. The delay would last years since we would have to find 25 more suitable candidates.” Feidlimid face was haggard, aged by the conundrum before her.

Everyone sat in silence, defeated.

“We must take action,” murmured Orenda.

“Yes, but how?” retorted Feidlimid.

Everyone thought over Feidlimid question in the tense silence.

“What I released Planeto from my bondage?” I voiced meekly.

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