The Crybaby and the Elf Part 5

Just as clarification, this is not my usual writing style, but I like it for these comedic stories.

The Crybaby and the Elf

(And also a really mean dragon)

Part 5

By

Hannah Williams

           The roaring of the dragon shook the castle, and Wailie stumbled up against her fellow princess. “Fellfang!” Now that the moment had finally come, her heart dropped down into her stomach. “What do we do?”

            “We fight!” Colletiatessa said with a grin, the fight between them now forgotten.

            Wailie trembled. “I don’t know how to fight.”

            “That’s okay. You can stay in here.”

            But Wailie steadied her shaking and said in determination, “If it’s necessary for me to come out, I need to know how fight.”

            Admiration glowing from her face, the wildcat princess, the brave and the bold Colletiatessa nodded. “We might have time for a little practice. Come on!” Grabbing her by the hand, she ran down the hall and into a room with a big shiny black box standing against the wall. She opened something that seemed to be a shelf near it and popped in a small silver disc. The black box suddenly lit up, displaying a picture on its surface.

            Wailie jumped.

            “Cool, isn’t it? Colletiatessa beamed. “A nerdy cousin of mine invented it. Here.” She handed her a short white stick, then selected something on the picture that said, Training. “Now, that little guy is you. Hold your sword like this. No, no, yes, there. Now block like this.”

            Wailie’s mind whirled as instructions were fired rapidly at her, sometimes difficult to hear over the commotion outside. All at once, she realized her little warrior was lying flat on the ground in a puddle of red. “Um. What happened?”

            “You died,” Colletiatessa informed carelessly. “Wait a few moments, he’ll revive.”

            She swallowed hard, trying to moisten her dry throat. “Can you do that in real life?”

            “Of course not, silly.”

            The door burst open, and there stood Bill, armed with a shining sword. “Honey!” he yelped. “What are you doing playing Wii Battle when we’ve got a real dragon outside?!?”

            She flashed a charming smile. “Just giving Wailie a little lesson until the dragon lands.”

            “Well, he’s landed!” Bill exclaimed.

            Shaking, Wailie dropped the stick. “On second thought, I think I will stay inside.”

            “Very well! Now to vanquish the enemy! Come, Bill the Brave! Lead me to his foe of flesh and blood!” She brandished her sword in heroic drama.

            “Uh, darlin’, that’s your Wii controller.”

            “Oops! Yeah.” She drew her real sword. “To death or destiny!!!” With this shout, she charged from the room, Bill following at a sensible pace.

            Wailie was left all alone, listening to the thunder outside and trying to ignore the flashing red words on the picture that said, DEFEAT. She wondered if Sharenth was in the battle and if he was doing well. Was the plan working? What if it wasn’t and they were all getting slaughtered?

            Not able to stand it any longer, she trotted down the hall and stopped in an archway over stairs descending into the courtyard. Her eyes were hit with a kaleidoscope of action.

            The dragon, a terrible shimmering red beast, dominated everyone in size. He thrashed in the midst of a tangle of foliage, roaring and flaming, but the nyads threw water upon his fire. Just as he’d tear his leg out some trailing blackberry, dryads would rush in and snag him with vine maple. A troll squeezed his tail and when he whipped around to snap at it, a phoenix flew by and called him names, thus distracting him. The elves danced in and out of his reach, singing happy little songs that drove him nuts. And the entire time, humans were shooting arrows and javelins at him.

            Fellfang was furious. Never had the world dared to show such insolence to him before. His gaze swept over the swarm of inferior creatures, then abruptly fixed on an elf tending a dyrad he’d burnt. This might not have caught his attention, but as soon as he saw the elf, he knew one thing. This was the elf who had ruined the surprise of his coming and had developed this plan of offense.

            Now how on earth did he know that, you ask?

            “Dragons just know these things.”

            Mr. Fellfang, if you don’t mind, the readers were asking me, the author, the question, not you!

            “I don’t apologize.”

            You wouldn’t. Now back to my story.

            Fellfang ripped himself out of a web of rhododendron and started towards that pesky elf.

            A phoenix zoomed past. He snapped.

            Missed.

            Irritating phoenixes.

            From her look-out on the top of the stairs, Wailie had spotted Sharenth as well and she was now running towards him in the hope to help out. But as she glanced over at Fellfang, she saw the dragon lurch forward, his gaze fixed on the elf. Terrified, Wailie shouted to Sharenth, but the chaos around them drowned out her voice. If she could only read him in time—

            She was jerked back.

            Her hair! Her beautiful seven-foot long hair of spun sunshine was caught in a thick bramble! She tugged, she yanked, but she would not be able to free herself in time! Stooping down, she caught up a fallen sword…and cut off her lovely hair of which she was so proud.

            Slicing the other end tangled in the branches, she scooped up all its gleaming glory and threw it up and towards the dragon.

            Fellfang, just extending his crushing jaws, saw the wave of gold dance past his eye, and his dragon greed jerked his head up to stare.

            At that moment, Sharenth at last heard Wailie’s scream of warning and he rolled out of the way of the dragon, disappearing into a thicket.

            Colletiatessa and Bill (who was just following his wife in case she needed help) jumped down from an overhanging balcony onto the dragon’s neck and began stabbing and hacking with their swords. With a roar, Fellfang shook them off and took to the air, splashed by nyads as he went. His great wings propelled him far out of their reach, but he could still hear them cheering. As he flew off in defeat, his entire body seethed with rage. That girl! That girl had thwarted his vengeance on the elf! He would have vengeance on them both; both would burn!

            “Thank you,” Sharenth said, when he was finally able to find Wailie in all the excitement. Exhausted, she stared at him, unsure quite of what to say and wishing she could kiss him and wishing he wouldn’t mind if she did.

            Before she could respond, Colletiatessa grabbed her arm and dragged her up onto a terrace, then shouted to everyone, “This is one of the many heroes of the battle, Princess Wailie! I hope you treat her with all the respect and admiration she deserves!”

            Blushing, Wailie snuck away from the fanfare and crept back to her room. Relieving silence floated softly around as she stood lost in the middle of her floor. At last, she tottered over to the mirror. Her face was smudged with soot and her dress was torn. Like any of that mattered. Her hand rose to touch the golden ringlets that fell only to her shoulders. For a long moment, she fought back tears and tried to think positive. Her head was so light without it; maybe she wouldn’t get as many headaches. And after all, it didn’t look so very bad.

            Thancolen, lord of the elves, was not at all convinced that one good whupping was going to keep the dragon away.  A few elves and dryads were sent to spy him out and when they came back, they reported that one elf had been bold enough to sneak up to his cave and had seen old worm inside, looking miserable. A dragon bearing a grudge is a terrible thing, but they have a habit to brood over it for an extensive period of time, so it was judged it was fairly safe for people to return to their homes. Another more permanent end to the dragon would have to be arranged. Not even Colletiatessa felt like fighting him in his lair.

            “Glorious!” the nyads said when Wailie informed them they could go back to their stream. “You know,” the same stream nyad she had met said, coming up to the bank while the rest turned somersaults. “It was quite nice meeting you all. But this pond was getting rather cramped.”

            The dryads returned to their forests, carrying the jars of nyads, and then the trolls took their departure. “I’m going you to miss you, you sweet little midgets!” Aunt Agetha sobbed, hugging Wailie.

            And then the elves announced that they were returning home. Colletiatessa cried, because she liked elves so much. Even Bill snuffled a little.

            As for Wailie, her eyes didn’t even moisten. For her heart was in too much turmoil. She had indeed fallen in love with Sharenth and it wasn’t the silly little crush she’d first had. This was true love and it hurt. She couldn’t stand the thought of him leaving her, yet she flinched with fear that perhaps he did not want her around.

            “Lord Thancolen,” she wavered, as the elves were about to leave. “Can I come?”

            The lord halted in surprise. “Lady Wailie, shouldn’t you be returning to your kingdom?”

            She shrugged, unwilling to show how much she hated that idea. “I…I really love Eretheal Wood.”

            The elf considered. “You have done a great service to us by saving our Head Botanist. I suppose you could at least come for a visit.”

            Her face lit up like a sun coming from behind clouds, but at moment she saw Sharenth’s eyes widen in alarm, and her smile faded. “Actually,” she stammered, her heart jerking so hard she thought she might cry. “I…I guess I just stay here and go home later.”

            “If you so wish,” Thancolen replied, surprised at her sudden change.

            So the elves departed, vanishing into the trees aglow with the last light of sunset. Wailie remained on the wall watching them go long after they’d disappeared. Colletiatessa came to join her at one point and laid a hand on her shoulder. “That was brave,” she said.

            They didn’t say anything else.

            Well, you say, that was a strange ending. I thought the elf was going to fall in love with her after all! What type of story is this?

            Dear reader, who is writing this story?

            You are.

            Then, dear reader, it may interest you to know that the story isn’t over.
 

            Wailie remained in Zelray for another few weeks, now accepted by the people, and made fast friends with Colletiatessa. But one day she was suddenly hit with a terrible ache for home. What exactly did her parents think had happened to her? “Colletiatessa, I’m going home,” she announced.

            The princess bounded past, munching on a bag of chips. “Sure.” She pause, held up one finger, and swallowed. “We’ll get you there tomorrow.”

            But Wailie simply couldn’t wait for tomorrow now that the idea was in her head. She wasn’t afraid of traveling after trotting around with Sharenth so she left a note explaining her disappearance and wandered away.

            Birds were trilling and bugs were humming in appreciation of the cloudless blue day, and Wailie skipped along cheerily, her heart rising for the first time since Sharenth’s abandonment. To keep herself company she began speaking aloud to herself. “Mom and Dad will sure be surprised to see me. I hope they’ll not be too angry; after all, I’ve come back a better person. That will shock them. Wait till they hear about the nyads, the dryads, the dragon, and Sharenth.” Her pretty blue eyes welled with tears at the thought of him. “Stop that!” she scolded. “Do you want to be called a crybaby again?”

            At last she rounded the hillock blocking her view of home and there it was! Home!

            Or at least, that’s where it should have been.

            Instead there was a plain of smoky ashes.

            Her heart snagged in her throat, but before she could scream or faint or do anything of that sort, she noticed a rickety, not-yet-complete camp with villagers milling around in it. Was that her mother and father bent over a collapsed tent?

            “Mom! Dad!” she shouted. “I’m back! I’ve returned!”

            Looking up, they squinted at her still distant figure and then their faces took on an expression of horror.

            Boy, she thought. I didn’t think that they’d take my return that bad.

            That was when the heavy shadow blanketed across her and the dragon’s talons snatched her off the ground.

To Be Continued...