by Walleye
“After they start firing I want the bowmen to attack also from the west. We’ll drive this thing towards the woods and try to finish it there where it will find it hard to maneuver.”
As he directed his men into position Marshal Falk hoped the knights from the castle would arrive soon. Once out of the village his men would have little shelter to protect them from the beams of fire issuing from the creature’s mouth.
Back at the castle Belle, Gwen and their Father watched from the castle walls and the two girls waved handkerchiefs as the three armored knights rode off. “I hope they’ll be all right.” Belle said with another forlorn look after Johnathan.
“They’ve all fought battles before.” Her Father reassured her. “They should be okay as long as they are careful.”
“I hope so.” Belle waved for the last time.
“It’s good to be optimistic, sister.” Gwen put in. “But I’d be willing to bet that none of them has ever fought a creature like that wurm before.” She looked around. “How would we defend ourselves if such a thing came here?”
“Well.” Her Father reassured her. “For a wurm they’d just raise the drawbridge and pour boiling oil on it.”
“And if it was a dragon?” Belle asked out of curiosity.
Her Father pointed towards one of the castle towers. “See the metal chains hanging off the peak of the tower?”
They looked and saw at least three rusted chains fastened to a metal circle at the tip of the rooftop that were hanging down the sides.
“Each tower has at least four chains which are interconnected with the other towers.” Their Father told them. “When a dragon is spotted, the chains are reeled in and form a net to block the dragon from getting in.”
“Does that actually work?” Gwen asked.
Her Father said with pride. “I saw it work once when I was in Tarragona on a trading trip. The raised chains actually stopped a wyvern from getting inside the castle. But the flying beastie still did a lot of fire damage. It just walked along the chains shooting streams of fire until the defenders drove it off.”
“That tells me to stay back from the windows.” Gwen observed. She yawned and stretched. “I better go and relieve Ella. I’m sure she needs a break by now.”
Ella was cleaning up Maryellen with a damp cloth when Maryellen’s eye lashes fluttered. She yawned, stretched and opened her eyes. Startled Ella drew back. “You’re awake.”
Maryellen smiled at her before she sat up in the bed. She looked around for a moment. She saw Thistledown sleeping on the hilt of the sword and decided to let her rest. She began peering over the sides of the bed.
“What do you need?” Ella asked. Then she struck her head. ‘Of course.’ She thought. ‘This poor woman can’t speak and so she needs her board and chalk.’
She bent and picked up the slate and chalk from under the bed and held them out to Maryellen. “Is this what you’re looking for?”
Maryellen nodded her head and took them with a smile. She wrote. Thank you.
“You’re welcome.” Ella replied. “Do you want something to eat? Maybe soup?”
Maryellen wrote. Yes. Tell John I awake.
“Oh dear.” Said Ella. “The Prince just left with the knights and the soldiers to fight a wurm which is attacking the Eastern Village by shooting out fire. The castle is pretty quiet right now with all the soldiers gone.”
All? Maryellen held her slate up.
Ella blinked as she considered this. “Maybe not all of them but I’m pretty sure most of them are gone.”
This deeply disturbed Maryellen. She and the Prince had been nearly killed by a Sidhe magic attack while on a boar hunt and this sounded like another such attack.
She knew the Sidhe wanted to punish both her and Johnathan for messing up their plans and by drawing the soldiers off this left the castle vulnerable. Did this mean they would be attacked here too? She couldn’t take the chance they wouldn’t be.
She leaned over and grabbed her magic sword, awakening Thistledown at the same time.
The fairy leaped up and threw her arms out. “You’re all right!” She flew over and kissed Maryellen on her forehead.
Maryellen took her slate and wrote. Beast left. Wurm. Sidhe?
Thistledown nodded rapidly and said. “Yes. I detected Sidhe magic. I could’ve gone with him but I felt you needed me more.”
Maryellen wrote. Sidhe attack here?
Thistledown considered this for a moment before she sighed. “You’re right. It’s entirely logical they would strike here. It makes perfect sense as all the women who could end the curse are here too. With you four dead the curse continues to its bitter end.”
Ella had been staring with a perplexed expression as the girl seemed to be talking with her slate to something or someone she couldn’t see. “Who are you speaking with?” She asked.
Maryellen looked intently at Thistledown. Show yourself.
“Why?”
Fairy u r for all 4 girls.
Thistledown felt a surge of magic running into her body and felt the confirmation of the Magic Council. She had just been promoted. “Darn. You’re right. But you know the Superintendent Lark will be angry with me.” Thistledown complained sadly.
She raised her wand and with a touch to her own forehead she undid her magic concealment spell. She did it knowing that these four young women were going to need all the help she could give them.
Ella gasped as a glowing two inch fairy appeared in front of her. “You’re a fairy.” She extended a finger and as Thistledown landed on the tip of it Ella breathed out. “And you’re beautiful too.”
The fairy made a little curtsey on the tip of her finger. “Ella, my name is Thistledown and I’m the fairy godmother for Maryellen and you and your other sisters.”
Ella was shocked. “Oh, my God. If you’re our fairy godmother why didn’t you show up when that crazy king tried to make us spin straw into gold?”
Thistledown looked sheepish. “Would you believe administrative difficulties and that I hadn’t been appointed yet?”
She flew up to Ella and settled on the palm of her hand. “But that’s not important now. What’s important is that I think the Sidhe are going to attack this castle while the Prince is gone. You girls, all four of you, are going to have to organize the defense.”
Just at that moment Gwen came through the door. She froze startled when she saw the invalid standing with her sword in her hand and a glowing fairy sitting on her sister’s hand. “Oh, my God.”
“Good observation.” Thistledown responded sarcastically. “But not quite correct.” She flew over to Gwen. “Please, go and get your sister Belle as she needs to hear what I have to say too. We have a lot of work to do. Hopefully nothing happens before the Prince gets back but we have to be prepared.”
Johnathan was staring down the hill at the burning Eastern Village. Half the village was either completely burned or in the process of being burned to the ground. The Marshal was slowly driving the fiery wurm from the town with his carefully placed crossbowmen and archers.
Cousin Elliot was holding her helmet under one arm as she watched the battle going on below them. “What’s the plan, Sire?”
Johnathan had been running different scenarios in his head on the way over here. Now he had a plan. “You and Sir Rathbone will attack with drawn lances from the two open sides of the town square and force the fire wurm towards the forest. When it starts to move I will charge it from here. It’ll try to burn me but with my magic made body I should be more fire resistant. Hopefully. We’ll either drive it away or catch it against the trees and kill it.”
“A simple plan.” Sir Rathbone observed wirily. “Why does no plan ever survive contact with the enemy, Sire?”
“Because the enemy is not known for his desire for cooperation.” The Prince replied with an evil grin. “That’s why he’s the enemy.”
“Good point.” Sir Rathbone put his helmet on and accepted his lance from one of the squires.
Cousin Elliot put on her helmet and did the same. Then the Prince rode out in front and shouted at the soldiers. “Marshal, execute Plan D.”
The Marshal raised his hand in acknowledgement. Sir Rathbone looked back at the Beast. “Plan D? Do you have a plan memorized for everything?”
The Beast chuckled. “In this case it means I’m sending you help. You’ll explain the rest to him when you get there.”
“Good plan, Sire.” Sir Rathbone said as he kicked his horse into motion and he and Elliot cantered down the hill.
The two knights joined the attack and just as the Prince had planned their presence confounded the Wurm and it began to back away from them, not liking the sharp points of their lances.
Soon it was outside the burning village with the forest at its back. Once there it refused to move backwards any more.
“Time to play my part.” The Prince declared as he closed his helmet, lifted his lance to its attack position and spurred his horse down the hill, shouting to get the fire wurm’s attention.
The wurm had lifted itself off the ground on its two rear feet and was eyeing the two knights and the soldiers as if it was about to strike back. Then it heard the shouts of the armored knight who looked like a hairy beast and was galloping down the hill with his lance bearing down on it.
This immediately magically triggered a sequence in its brain. The prey it was supposed to attack was here. With a roar instead of turning to run into the woods like it would’ve done if it had been what it looked like, a brainless animal, it charged the bestial knight bearing the symbol of the ruling house of Harkins
“Oh crud.” Marshal Falk could only look on helplessly as the wurm and his master came together in a terrifying collision. Shooting crossbow bolts at it would endanger the Prince too and so he ordered the archers to hold their fire.
The wurm let loose a burst of fire which blew the lance bearer off the back of his lucky horse who only was slightly singed. The Prince struck the ground and rolled to his feet. He bent and picked up the smoking lance. “Now you’ll pay for that!” He shouted. Holding the lance like a pike the smoking Beast charged the wurm.
It tried to avoid him by rolling away but the Beast redirected his lance and drove the point deep into its chest just as the shouting crossbowmen arrived and started shooting again.
The wurm roared in pain and spun around with its tail, clearing a space for itself by knocking the soldiers over as the second stage of its magic programming kicked in. Red cracks radiated quickly across its back from its neck to almost its tail. The cracks gaped open and transparent yellow membranes burst forth that grew and hardened as they thrust into the air.
Within seconds they had folded out to become gigantic yellow wings which began to beat so hard that the wind blasts blew the soldiers off their feet. Only the two knights on horseback had sufficient mass to keep erect but before they could reach the creature against the force of the howling winds with a scream it had risen into the air under the force of its thrusting and beating wings.
As it hovered there it threw its head back and with a roar spouted fire that splashed across the ground in front of the soldiers’ feet and set the grass on fire.
“God help us.” Marshal Falk cried out as the soldiers fell back in horror. “It’s not a wurm. It’s a dragon!”
The dragon took no notice of the few arrows or crossbow bolts shot at it but rose on its beating wings even higher into the sky. It made a lazy turn over their heads and ended up facing to the south. Its wings began to beat rapidly and it tore off to the south shrinking in size as it flew away from them in the direction they had just come from.
“Oh God, no.” Cousin Elliot put up her visor and stared with horror after the rapidly vanishing dragon. “It’s headed for the castle.”
“We’ve been tricked.” The Beast tore off his helmet and slammed it into the smoking ground so hard that it bounced once and rolled away clattering. “The damn Sidhe wanted us out here so they could kill the women who could lift the curse.”
“My Prince.” The Marshal said. “We now have two problems here. First, we have the fire to put out and second we have trapped people to rescue here.”
“And third we have the people back at the palace who are about to be attacked and they don’t even know that a dragon is coming.” Johnathan snarled.
“Here’s what we are going to do, Marshal. We’ll split the men between the two of us. I’ll take the two knights and all the crossbowmen as they can hurt the dragon the most. As soon as you’ve rescued everyone and put out the fires here, then head for the castle immediately.’
“Very good, Milord. We’ll join you as soon as we can.” The Marshal turned and started shouting orders for the soldiers who were staying to form bucket lines.
As Johnathan rode off with the two knights and the crossbowmen the villagers were already joining the lines and bringing extra buckets. Johnathan shook his head in despair. He was afraid the whole Eastern Village would soon be burned to the ground. He was going to have to do something about providing shelter and food for the people he was responsible for. But first he had to save the people back at the castle.
At the castle the three sisters and Maryellen when they inquired about who was in charge found there were only ten soldiers and five of them were recovering from injuries and this didn’t include the gatekeeper Stanley. The man in charge was the Constable Jerome who was the Marshal’s subordinate when he was in residence.
He turned out to be a heavy set man with a black beard and he’d been left behind because he had a sickness in his stomach. He listened carefully to what the three women had to say about a possible attack on the castle before he replied. “I’ve listened to what you ladies have to say and I have only one thing to say.”
The four women tensed. Behind them the three girls’ Father who’d been listening frowned. Would they get the typical reaction of a male to women?
Constable Jerome continued. “You’re totally correct.” The four women stared at each other in shock. They had not expected this. Their Father started before he nodded in pride. Some men might be fools but the Constable was not one of them.
The Constable came to his feet and winced as his stomach rumbled. “I was sick and not thinking clearly when Marshal Falk gave me his orders or I would have protested them. You are right. The castle is vulnerable right now as the Prince didn’t leave enough men to defend it.”
He looked at the four women and one man. “You people are now my sub officers. We have six towers to defend and from which we have to release the cable defenses if there is an air attack. I want you to each recruit five men or women capable of hard work who can at least shoot a bow or handle a spear.”
“Now, to activate the airborne defenses you will find a large iron lever sticking out from the wall in the upper rooms of each tower and you must depress this lever by putting your weight on it. Now get going as we can’t waste time.”
“This Prince has both his faults and his virtues.” Mister Fontaine declared to his daughters. “He appoints good people who can use their brains but he himself can be a victim of rash behavior.”
“Not now, Father.” Belle chided him. “We don’t have time for this now.” He nodded and they all dispersed to try and gather the people they needed to man the towers.
Each one ended up with an assortment of the people who tend to make up the staff of any well-run castle. In this case they had a few soldiers, several grooms and stable boys, some of the stronger maids, and a few of the older retainers among them people like Richards and Phillips and their wives and daughters. Then there was young James who was anxious to help.
“When you hear three short blasts on the trumpet.” Jerome told the six leaders, then an air attack is starting and we need to drop the weights holding down the cables. I have six young men and women who are good archers and Stanley is an excellent crossbowman and as soon as the cables are in place we’ll start shooting.”
He clasped all their hands. �
��May God be with you.”
Maryellen raised an eyebrow and looked at her fairy friend who smiled sheepishly. “All right. I did use a little magic to encourage everyone so that they would listen.”
Maryellen rolled her eyes. Thistledown sighed. “All right I used a lot as I’m getting very bad vibrations of Sidhe magic heading this way.”
Maryellen nodded as if saying. ‘I thought so.’
Constable Jerome was in one of the towers with the trumpeter, the wizard and James and all three were peering off into the distance. To the north east they could see the faint column of grey smoke which was no longer black but turning a whitish-grey, indicating that the fires were being put out.
“If it’s going to happen, it’ll be soon.” Constable Jerome remarked. “Do you detect anything yet, Wizard?”
Wizard Garland who was still not yet at full magic strength was looking very worried. “Unfortunately I do. There’s a huge concentration of Sidhe magic to the north of us and its coming right at us through the air.”
“You’re sure that it’s in the air?”
“I swear to God that it is coming in the air.” The Wizard exclaimed. “It’s like a dagger aimed right at us.”
“Very well.” Jerome turned to the nervous young man waiting beside him. “Trumpeter, sound the warning for an air attack.”
The bugler put his lips to the mouthpiece and sent out three quick blasts which sent those at the tops of the towers into a frenzy of activity.
In Maryellen’s tower Tim the blacksmith and two grooms threw their body weights on the lever. The lever gave a groan and then dropped. There was a sharp ‘SNAP’ followed by four crashes as the counterweights fell, drawing the four cables fastened at the top of the tower taught with a clashing ring of metal against metal.
All above the courtyard a network of metal cables sprang up, vibrating and ringing as the metal flexed and the chains collided.
“Dragon! Coming from the north.” Tillie who was in one of the towers shouted.
Everyone that could turned to look in that direction. For a moment most could not see anything and then a black dot appeared which grew in size. As the creature got closer the dot resolved itself into a red dragon with yellow wings beating up and down.