by Becky Biggs
Emerald didn’t know what was scarier—the dragon or the fact that the entire room was silent. The crowd of enchanted onlookers was not even fazed by the dragon. They just stared in their eerily blank way.
Emerald felt frozen herself, unsure what to do next. Was this the help she had asked for? King Spruce wasn’t so hesitant. He rose to his feet and held up his stone, talking slowly and in a low voice to the menacing beast.
“Hello, my beauty. Let’s be friends, shall we?” he said, putting his body between the dragon and his daughter. The dragon stared down at the king ferociously but followed the stone with his blood-red eyes.
“Move, you fool,” King Spruce hissed at the prince who stumbled away from the dragon. Fortunately for the prince, the dragon kept his eyes on the stone.
Emerald noticed Raina creeping farther and farther back down the aisle. This was Emerald’s chance. If she was going to do anything, it had to be now while King Spruce was distracted. She looked around the floor and found a large shard of glass. Grabbing it, she bounded over to Raina and seized her, holding the glass to Raina’s throat. Raina screamed.
Both the dragon and King Spruce whirled around at the commotion. The king’s eyes widened in shock.
“Just what do you think you are doing?” he hissed furiously.
“Forcing you to make a choice—the stone or your daughter,” Emerald responded, her voice sounding much more confident than she felt. “Throw it to me. I’ll take care of the dragon and you can have your daughter back.”
“Foolish child,” sneered the king. “You don’t even know how to use the stone.”
The dragon snarled and took a step toward Emerald and Raina. King Spruce quickly turned back to it and raised the stone again.
“There, there, my pretty. We’ll find you something to eat, hmm?” King Spruce cooed. “How about that stable boy over there?” He gestured toward Porter and the dragon’s head swung to look where the king was pointing. A slimy string of saliva slowly trailed from its mouth.
“Guards, bring him here!” King Spruce ordered and the guards dragged Porter toward the dragon. Emerald gasped and tightened her grip on Raina. Raina was trembling in Emerald’s arms but had been quiet since her initial scream. She emitted a little gasp and Emerald looked down, noticing in horror a small drop of blood where she’d accidentally pressed the shard of glass too hard.
“Sorry,” whispered Emerald. Raina looked up at Emerald with frightened eyes but didn’t say anything.
Porter was now at the dragon’s feet and the dragon was eyeing him hungrily. King Spruce still held the stone above his head, though, so the dragon did nothing more than salivate over his soon-to-be dinner.
“Now, my dear, it appears you have a choice to make,” King Spruce said evenly. “Your young friend here in exchange for my daughter. A life for a life.”
Emerald looked back and forth between the king and Porter, rattled. She hadn’t anticipated King Spruce calling her bluff when it came to the life of his daughter. She figured he would do anything he could to save Raina. She stole a glance down at the princess who looked pale and terrified. Raina stared pleadingly at Emerald but was too terrified to speak. Emerald forced down her feelings of pity for the king’s daughter and looked back at Porter who shook his head weakly. He didn’t want Emerald to give up her advantage. The dragon shuffled his giant feet and began huffing out puffs of smoke. She didn’t have much time, but the rush of emotion that swept through Emerald caused her to hesitate. As bad as she felt for Raina, she was devastated at the thought of losing Porter. He’d done nothing but try to help her all of her life. In return, all she’d done was put him in some pretty terrible situations. She racked her brain desperately to think of any other way to end the stalemate and still come out ahead, but she couldn’t risk appearing weak and losing her only leverage.
Emerald felt as though she was peeling her soul from her body. It didn’t feel heroic to sacrifice one of her best friends, but she couldn’t see that she had any other choice.
“I’m sorry,” Emerald mouthed to Porter, who tried to smile, though the fear in his eyes betrayed him. She looked back at King Spruce and stared steadily into his eyes. It was her turn to call the king’s bluff. “No deal,” she said with deadly calm. King Spruce looked shocked. He hadn’t anticipated Emerald’s boldness and was clearly more than a bit flustered as he turned back to the dragon and said, “Eat him.”
The dragon opened its mouth and a ball of fire began to form at the back of its throat. The entire room filled with the smell of sulfur. Porter squeezed his eyes shut, but Emerald wouldn’t let herself look away. She made a choice and now she had to face it. Even worse, she was going to have to follow through with her threat to Raina. Tears ran down her face as she silently said goodbye to one of her best friends and tightened her grip on Raina. The princess whimpered. Emerald cringed at the thought of hurting her, but she knew she needed to steel her resolve.
“Emerald!”
A voice shook Emerald out of her horrified trance. She looked down to her right and saw a familiar face poking out between the legs of a centaur. Maple!
“What are you doing here?” Emerald hissed.
“Bia brought me. I thought you might want this.” Maple grinned, holding out Queen Ellyn’s bow and quiver of arrows.
“Boy, this sure is a dull wedding. But you look gorgeous! Here, catch! I’ll take her.”
Maple threw the bow and quiver to Emerald and scurried over to take the glass and hold it to Raina’s throat. Even though Maple was much smaller than Raina, the princess was too frightened to struggle.
Emerald looked up just in time to see the ball of fire grow brighter and the dragon’s mouth dip over Porter’s head. King Spruce was laughing evilly, still holding the stone high in the air. She took aim and loosed the string. Her arrow flew across the room and struck the dragon right in the middle of one of its red eyes.
“Bullseye!” Emerald whispered, feeling a rush of adrenaline from her perfect shot.
The dragon roared in pain and threw its head to the sky. Fire emitted from deep in its belly, searing the white ceiling black. Porter opened his eyes and looked up at the dragon, trembling. He threw himself down the steps and rolled away as King Spruce spun around to face Emerald. The king’s face was white with fury.
“How dare you!” he sputtered, his blazing eyes coming to rest on Emerald. “You’ll regret that.”
“Not as much as you will,” Emerald responded coolly. She loosed a second arrow, striking the king in his hand and making him drop the stone. He screamed in pain and grabbed his hand, the arrow sticking through it. In the midst of the confusion, Filari scrambled across the floor, grabbed the stone, and darted back to where he started. He stared at the stone, entranced.
“Filari, give that back to me,” snarled King Spruce. “If you don’t, I promise you’ll pay.”
Filari looked back at the king, clearly frightened and unsure what to do.
“That’s right, give it back,” King Spruce said encouragingly.
“You’ve always been such a big help to me.”
Filari took a step towards the king. King Spruce smiled and nodded at the imp. Filari was about to take another step but stopped suddenly. His eyes widened as he watched the dragon open its jaw and drop its head. Before King Spruce could even react, the dragon swallowed him up in one bite. Emerald, Filari, Maple, Porter, and Raina stared in disbelief, but the rest of the creatures in the room began to applaud quietly, as if cheering at the kiss of a newly married couple.
Filari was the first to come out of shock. He shouted,
“Emerald—catch!” and threw the stone to the surprised princess. Instinct made her drop her bow to throw her hands up and catch the stone. Once in her hands, it felt strangely warm and seemed to pulse.
The dragon swung its head toward Emerald and lurched forward. It was clearly furious about the arrow in its eye. Emerald whirled and ran. The king was right—she didn’t know how to use the stone and sh
e didn’t have time to learn.
“Emerald, duck!” she heard Maple cry. She hit the floor just in time to see a burst of flames above her head. Emerald heard a shriek of pain from her friend but didn’t dare take the time to turn and see if she was all right. She scrambled to her feet and began running again.
“Emerald, watch out!” Filari squealed. Emerald dove sharply to her left, hoping she picked the right direction. Fortunately, she had and she felt the heat of another burst of flames that narrowly missed her to the right. She heard cries of agony from some bystanders who weren’t so lucky.
Emerald stood to run again but quickly found herself blocked by the closed doors at the rear of the throne room. She spun around and stared up in terror. The giant, fire-breathing creature stalked closer and closer, like a cat ready to pounce on its prey. It opened its mouth, drooling. Emerald could smell the sulfuric smoke from the dragon’s acrid breath. She was trapped!
A giant ball of fire formed at the back of the dragon’s throat. Emerald could feel the heat of the flames even before they erupted from the dragon’s mouth. Not knowing what else to do, she flung the stone toward the back of its throat. She then hit the floor and curled into a tight ball as the flames engulfed her.
There was a loud bang. Then silence and darkness.
Chapter Twenty-One
AS THE DUST SETTLES
Smothering darkness and a ringing in her ears. That was all Emerald could sense as her eyes fluttered open. She felt numb from head to feet. Why was everything so dark? Had she been killed by the dragon’s flames? She tried wriggling her fingers and toes. Good, she could still feel them. Slowly, her mind began to clear and sensation began working its way back into her limbs. The ringing in her ears started to die away and was replaced by the sounds of shouts, crying, and pounding feet. She could also hear someone calling her name.
“Emerald! Emerald! Are you okay? Emerald?”
Emerald pushed herself up and felt some kind of heavy material fall from her shoulders. She stared down at it. It was her godmother’s favorite robin’s egg–blue cloak. Apparently, it was not only pretty—it was dragon fire–proof. It didn’t have a burn on it. But wait, if she had her godmother’s cloak, that could only mean—
“Godmother!” Emerald said, her mind finally clearing enough to make sense of what was going on. She rubbed her bleary eyes and looked up to meet her godmother’s concerned violet eyes.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Elyria said, relief heavy in her voice.
“I was afraid I wouldn’t be in time.”
“You saved me!” Emerald cried, throwing her arms around her godmother, who looked a little more disheveled than normal. Her curly white hair was sticking out in various directions and she had smudges of soot on her face and hands. Still, she looked unscathed.
“And you saved them,” her godmother responded, pushing Emerald back after a moment to gesture toward the confused mass of fairytale creatures around them. Some were crying and hugging, others were staring around in confusion. A couple of centaurs were trying to organize help for the injured. The body of the dragon lay unmoving in the middle of the room and a shimmering green haze hovered in the air.
“The stone?” Emerald asked, still trying to make sense of what happened.
“It exploded when you threw it into the dragon’s mouth,” Elyria explained. “It was strong enough to stand up against magic, but apparently not strong enough to withstand dragon fire. The dragon didn’t make it either.”
“The people of Eseland? They’re all back to normal?” Emerald looked around at fairies, elves, pixies, centaurs, imps, and nymphs who, though shocked, seemed to be fully functional again.
“Yes, thanks to you. Once the stone was gone, the spell was broken,” Elyria said.
“What about you? I mean, I have your cloak.” Emerald held out the cloak with a worried look on her face.
“Fortunately, my wand has better aim than my arm,” Elyria said, winking. “Bia brought me through the open window after she left Maple on the castle stairs. Bless that unicorn—she does fly fast. We flew in just as you threw the stone in the dragon’s mouth. A quick flick of my wand and, poof, you were covered by my cloak.”
“Thank you,” Emerald said, gratefully. Suddenly she remembered something else. “Maple! Porter! Filari!” Where were her friends? She tried pushing herself to her feet but found she was a bit unsteady. Her godmother put her arms around Emerald and helped her up.
“Let’s find them,” her godmother said.
They pushed their way through the crowd toward the front of the throne room, Emerald still holding on to Elyria a bit for support. As they did, many of the creatures bowed reverently out of Emerald’s way. Some even touched her gently on the arms and whispered, “Thank you.” Emerald tried to smile and nod back, but she was too worried about her friends to focus on much else.
When they neared the stairs, they found Raina huddled over a small form. Her slender shoulders were shaking as she sobbed. Porter was next to her, thankfully untied and looking the best he had in days. He was on his knees and stroking the head of whomever lay in Raina’s arms. Filari stood with his hand on Raina’s shoulder. He looked up, meeting Emerald’s eyes with a mournful expression.
“Maple,” whispered Emerald, dashing over to the little group. Raina looked up as Emerald reached her and Emerald could see the limp body of the little imp in her arms.
“She saved me,” Raina whispered hoarsely, tears streaming down her face. Her blonde hair hung in tangled strands around her head and her pretty white dress was torn and dirty. Surprisingly, Raina didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Maple! Maple, wake up!” Emerald cried, sinking to her knees next to Raina and grabbing Maple’s cold hand.
“What happened?” Elyria asked Raina.
“The dragon, it . . . it nearly stepped on us. Maple, she pushed me.” Raina’s voice cracked as she spoke. “She pushed me away. He got her though.”
Emerald’s godmother put her hands gently on the little imp’s body and shook her head softly. “Crushed,” she murmured.
“He missed her chest and head, thankfully, but her legs . . .” Elyria’s voice trailed off and a look of utter sorrow filled her eyes.
“Wait—you have powers!” Emerald said frantically. “Can’t you do something?”
Her godmother shook her head no.
“I used to be able to . . . before . . .but now . . .” She held up her hands, helplessly. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Emerald collapsed in tears, feeling her heart breaking even more than it had when her friend was ordered to leave her. This couldn’t be real, it just couldn’t. She had come to save Eseland for Maple. Now Maple was gone.
The bang of the throne room doors flying open jolted everyone. All eyeballs turned to see the new arrival. A half-dozen knights came charging in on horseback, their swords drawn. They were flanked by four trolls, one of whom Emerald recognized as Mavis, the troll they’d met in the cave.
“King Spruce, lay down your arms. We have you surrounded!” the knight at the head of the pack exclaimed, his voice trailing off as he saw the scene before him.
“Daddy!” Emerald exclaimed in surprise as she stood up. Things were getting more surreal by the moment.
“Emerald?” Her father took his helmet off and looked closely at his daughter with concern. “Emerald, are you okay?” Then King Argos jumped off his horse and ran to his daughter, gathering her up in his arms as he reached her. “We got the wedding invitation from the king and came straight away,” he said, pulling away and searching his daughter for any injury. “Your mother—she’s a mess. We met up with the trolls in the woods on the way and they helped us get through Ortland.”
“What about the giants?” Emerald asked, worried that Medina might still be under threat without the evil king to reverse his orders.
“Giants?” King Argos looked confused.
Relief swept through Emerald. King Spruce must have been bluffing about
the giants. “Never mind.” She smiled at her father. Better not to add any other worries to his plate right now.
“Your daughter is a hero, your Majesty,” Emerald’s godmother said, putting a hand on the king’s arm. “A hero?” King Argos slowly looked around the room, his eyes widening in amazement and stopping on the motionless dragon’s body.
“You did . . . all this?” “Well, er, yes,” Emerald said, with almost as much bewilderment as the king.
“All hail Princess Emerald!” called out Filari suddenly. Slowly a chant began building throughout the room. “All hail Princess Emerald!”
Emerald stared around dizzily but managed to raise her hand and wave. The reality of what had happened with King Spruce and the dragon was slowly starting to sink in.
“Yes, yes, all hail the great Princess Emerald.” The sound of a croaking voice rising above the chanting caused the crowd to fall silent. “Now where is my son?” Mavis stepped forward and looked accusingly at Emerald. The creatures standing nearest to the troll fell back in fright. Even the knights’ horses pawed and snorted nervously.
Swallowing, Emerald took a step closer to Mavis and said,
“I’m sorry, but we don’t know where he is.”
Mavis looked like she was about to hurt someone. Fortunately, a small voice perked up beside Emerald. “Actually, we do,” said Raina. “He’s in the dungeon. My father put him there when he, um, took over.”
“And how do we know yer telling the truth?” Mavis asked suspiciously. “Yer the evil king’s spawn, after all.”
“I . . . it’s the truth,” Raina responded helplessly. She looked frightened.
“Is there someone who could go down and see if he’s there?” Emerald asked, looking around the room. She had to do something to control the situation. A pair of muscular centaurs stepped forward.
“We’ll go,” one of them said.
“Thank you,” Emerald replied. They bowed and left the room. Emerald turned and once again noticed Maple in Raina’s arms. She felt the air go out of her as she collapsed next to the princess and imp.