Elizabeth Jumps To Her Likely Demise
A blonde girl in a pale teal dress hung from the ceiling rafters, watching the strategy meeting below her convene. Her grandmother, Queen Snow White, and grandfather, King Charming, were leading a war meeting about the latest villain to plague the Enchanted Forest. A necromancer who could summon and control shadows and wraiths. The girl knew all the other members of this meeting. Her mother and father, Princess Emma and Prince Killian. Regina, Robin and Roland of Locksley. Lady Belle, who had acquired the largest library known to man in Avonlea. Rumplestiltskin, the former Dark One, whose knowledge and experience is useful. Will Scarlet, the White King. Ruby, the werewolf, and her elderly grandmother. The seven dwarves. The girl's elder brothers, Prince Henry and Prince Liam. The blue fairy, Ruel Ghom. Tinkerbelle. And General Mulan.
"Rumor has it that the Shadowman originates from a realm heavily involved in culture and magic like african mythology, known to us as voodoo," Belle was explaining. "His necromancy stems from physical talismans of a soul. The more he has, the more souls he can acquire."
"How do we disable his talismans?" Charming asked.
"We can't, once his talismans are created, the souls are his, even after the talisman is destroyed. Barely anything has been able to withstand the wraiths and shadows. Emma's light magic is powerful, but they just keep coming back." Belle said.
"There is another option, if we were able to use light magic on the talismans, before their creation, it would enable something akin to a self-destruction protocol," Rumplestiltskin spoke up.
"Again, a way to prevent more from being created, but not a way to destroy the ones already built," Emma sighed. "How would one perform such a spell?"
"The Shadowman uses talismans of the bodies, if a user of light magic would enchant the bodies with a crystal before the Shadowman could get to them, it would work." Belle said. "But even then, we need to cast the enchantment on every dead body. Every mass grave. Every casket. Every cemetery. And there are thousands in the Enchanted Forest. You would have to enchant everybody in the entire forest and unfortunately, Emma, you couldn't pull that off."
"What about Liam?" Robin asked. "He's a fine user of magic."
"Thank you," Liam said. "But magic across the entire realm is something that requires a curse. Or a lot of light magic. And neither my mother nor I could perform that. And even then, how do we get rid of the previous shadows that he has? Do we just fight them until he dies?"
"There is an option," Regina sighed, "Time travel."
"To when? To where? And how would we even do that spell? The only time-travelling spells I've ever seen involve a baby. And we are not taking somebody's baby," Snow said.
"I think we should adjourn this meeting, thank you for your help," David told everyone. They nodded and everyone filed themselves out, and so the girl was hanging alone from the rafters of the war room. Once she was sure the room was empty, she rolled off of the beam she was hugging, and fell on her back towards the ground, but languidly. She corrected herself in mid-air as she slowly descended, getting a vertical position and landing on her feet. She walked out of the room as well and down the hall to her tower.
The girl was Elizabeth. She was the middle child and only daughter of Princess Emma, and Prince (and Captain) Killian. And she was magically talented. She was a product of true love, and from a young age, was able to use her magic. Magic is powered by strong emotion, but instead of anger or fear, she used happiness and compassion. That made it easy for her to control. Elizabeth herself was a very happy, compassionate, optimistic and even a little naive. She had no reason not to be, because for most of her life, she was surrounded by peace, goodwill, and loved by her family and friends.
She made her way upstairs to her bedroom which was in one of the castle towers. Portraits of possible suitors hung on the way up, none of which interested her, they were all lovely young men, she just wasn't interested in marriage or even thinking about it at the moment. Her grandparents understood, the priority at the time was for her to find true love. She opened her bedroom door, and walked inside. She jumped when someone spoke to her.
"How was the meeting?" Melanie asked.
Melanie was the daughter of Belle and Rumplestiltskin, and was Elizabeth's closest friend.
"Your parents discovered a way to stop the shadowman, but we can't do it," Elizabeth replied.
"Why not?"
"Because someone needs to cast a spell on the entire Enchanted Forest, before the Shadowman has a chance to start creating shadow talismans, and to do that, we need time travel."
"What if you don't cast a spell, you alter one?" Melanie asked. "We already have time travel as a factor. The Dark Curse, if you, at the source, cast an extension of light magic, it would do whatever spell you want."
"So… you think I should go back in time to when the Dark Curse was initiated? How would I even get back in time?"
"There are a few very rare relics that exist," Melanie said. "I know of a magical hourglass."
"That's good, isn't it? Where is it?"
"Not here, and while we may be able to travel there, it's in a temple in Agrabah."
"Agrabah? That's not too sail there, since I don't want to travel through a desert, We go to the temple, get the hourglass, and then come here, and go to a time just a few hours before a dark curse was cast!" Elizabeth exclaimed eagerly. "We can go get Merida, and the three of us can go get the hourglass."
"Maybe we should just tell your grandparents are plan and let someone more… experienced do it?" Melanie suggested.
"We can do this, Melanie, you, me and Merida? We've been preparing for something like this, we always knew we would end up saving the world from evil sorcerers like our parents do, you and Merida are now adults and I'm almost an adult, now, too! We can do this."
"Fine, if Merida is onboard, we'll do it, but if she agrees with me, then we talk to the King and Queen."
"Deal," Elizabeth agreed. "Where is Merida?"
"In the Sherwood forest, likely," Melanie replied.
"Grab my arm," Elizabeth said to Melanie.
"You're teleporting?" Melanie asked.
"Would you rather ride in a carriage for five hours?" Elizabeth asked, smiling. Melanie sighed and interlocked her arm with Elizabeth's. In a funnel of white mist, the two vanished.
They appeared in a wooded area, they jumped as an arrow whizzed past their heads. Laughing came from behind a tree, it was Merida. "God, your faces!" She chortled, slipping her bow around her shoulder.
"Very funny," Melanie sighed, Elizabeth smiled.
"Did you come from the palace?" Merida asked. "You're both in gowns."
"We have a way to stop the Shadowman," Elizabeth said. "Melanie wants to tell our parents and I think that the three of us can handle it. What do you think?"
"I think it'll be fun, and that I need a break from my family. Roland keeps trying to make me babysit his triplets so he can go fight the Shadowman with Dad."
"We can go into the past, to when my grandparents cast the dark curse, and alter it so it enchants all the dead bodies. Then in this time, my mother can use the enchantment to destroy all the talismans that are created of those dead bodies, and destroy the shadows and the wraiths that were created in this time. But we need to go to Agrabah to get an hourglass that can turn back time." Elizabeth explained.
"When should we leave?" Merida asked.
"I can't believe you two are planning on doing this," Melanie sighed.
"You don't have to come along, Mel," Elizabeth told her friend.
"And have the two of you die in Agrabah somewhere? God no," Melanie replied. "We'll leave before dawn, and convene at the royal docks. We can take Elizabeth's ship to Agrabah, it's in this realm, luckily. Once there, we have to find the temple, don't worry, I have a map. And find the hourglass."
"How will we get back after the spell is cast? Can the hourglass come with us?" Merida asked.
"I think not," Melanie sighed. "But I'll think of something. Liz and I need to get back before someone realizes we're missing. We can work more on this plan when we leave tonight."
Merida nodded, I'll go pack a bag, see you two tonight."
Melanie and Elizabeth went back to Elizabeth's room in a funnel of mist.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Elizabeth opened her wardrobe, pushed back all the nice dresses that she owned, and grabbed her outfit for adventuring that was tucked near the back. She wore it whenever she went sailing with her family. They tended to do that a lot, her father being a former Navy Lieutenant and pirate, and all. As she pulled on her leather breeches, she wondered how someone spelled "Lieutenant." L-E-U? L-I-U? She shrugged, she would just ask Melanie. Once her shirt was tucked in and her vest was buttoned, she pulled on her favorite part of her ensemble, a red leather overcoat. It wasn't oversized and heavy, nor was it too light and skimpy. The red-stained leather fitted her torso, and then became looser at the waist, the hem ending at her mid-thigh. The way the jacket was styled, it was almost like an a-line skirt.
The last thing she equipped to herself before climbing out of her window and scaling the tower was her sword. Elizabeth was trained in magic, but she loved sword fighting. What if her magic was disabled? Or what if she was drained magically? But her expertise in swordfighting wasn't inspired by common sense, but by being pissed off at her brother Liam. She remembered fondly when she was five and her brother was almost seven, and he and friends were sword fighting with sticks at the docks. She ran over asking to play with them, and the boys told her she couldn't because she was a girl. She decked the instigator, her brother's friend, she can't remember his name, and then ran off. Later her mother was disappointed and her dad thought it was hilarious. Her mother told her wise words, "Don't punch unless they punch first." And her father started teaching her to sword fight the next day. twelve years of training later, and she could duel with sabers, foils, rapiers, falchions, broadswords, longswords and katanas, General Mulan taught her the last one.
Once her sword was in its sheath and the sheath was on her belt, she opened her window, crawled onto the ledge, closed the window, and stood, her back against the stone walls of the tower. She took a deep breath and leapt off the tower, swan diving. as she neared the ground, her magic kicked in, she spread her arms, body parallel to the ground, and she flew through the air, just above the castle walls. Once she was out of the castle walls, she landed, and walked to the docks that were just outside the walls. Melanie was already there, leaning against a tree trunk. A brown roughspun cloak hung off her shoulders, underneath it she wore a blue blouse, a black and gold corset, and black breeches. She had a satchel slung over one shoulder.
"There you are, Merida should be here soon."
A funnel of dark green smoke erupted six feet from the pair, and Merida appeared. She was also dressed up. A green tunic that reached her knees, brown leather breeches, a chain metal vest, and an arm brace. Her magically refilling quiver and bow were strapped to her back, and she had the hilt of a dagger poking out of her laced boot. Her curly hair was braided back and out of the way.
"We ready to go?" Merida asked, walking towards the other two. Elizabeth looked at Melanie and back at Merida, and smiled, "I think so."
The three girls made their way to Elizabeth's ship. They passed the infamous brown, blue and gold three masted barque, known as the Jolly Roger, and made their way to the ship right beside it. It was a smaller caravel with square sails and three masts, known as a caravela redonda. The name of that specific ship was the Black Swan. The ship itself was painted black, with white sails, and a sculpted swan as the figurehead. Elizabeth, Melanie, and Merida made their way up the gurney plank onto the ship. Elizabeth went straight to the steering wheel. Magically, she pulled up the anchor, and the lowered the rigging, the sails unfurling. The wind picked up and the ship left the harbor. The Black Swan was made of enchanted wood akin to the Jolly Roger, it was smaller though, quicker and better at maneuvering. But it wasn't as heavily armed, nor was it equipped for a large crew. But Elizabeth didn't need a large crew.
"Agrabah is a day's journey by ship." Elizabeth called. "Sit tight until then. Or get some shut eye in the cabins below deck, if you wish."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Merida and Melanie both rested in the cabins downstairs and had some of the stored food for breakfast. Elizabeth had been at the wheel all morning.
"Liz," Melanie walked over, "We're good, I can keep an eye on the ship, you should rest and eat."
"Those are autocumulus clouds, that means it may rain soon." Elizabeth said.
"We'll wake you if anything happens," Melanie says. "I promise."
Elizabeth nodded and went down to the Captain's cabin. Three hours later, she woke up and resumed her position on the deck. Melanie entertained herself with trying to decode the maps. And Merida was relaxing in the crow's nest. They were only an hour from Agrabah when the storm that Elizabeth had noticed finally caught up to them. The waves became larger and rain poured onto the deck. The trio was thoroughly soaked. Merida and Melanie hung onto the railings for dear life. But, like most storms on the sea, it quickly passed and they arrived in Agrabah at the docks. A man in a large white turban who had a book and a quill ran up and started speaking Agrabah's native language to them.
"Mel?" Elizabeth asked, turning to her.. "You're the smart one."
Melanie sighed, and approached the man, her knowledge of the language was broken, but they seemed to reach an understanding when she handed him a purse full of golden coins. He smiled happily and walked.
"What did you say?"
"I bought us enough time at this port for the month," Melanie replied. "That or I actually bought the port." She sighed. "I have some maps, all I have to do is decode them and we can teleport to the desert just outside the temple."
"Well, I'm hungry, so maybe we should go find someplace to eat." Merida spoke up. Elizabeth nodded in agreement. The three girls entered Agrabah.
EDIT: I've gotten three reviews, some even rather angry, because Prince Neal wasn't at the war meeting. Since this is apparently the most fascinating things so far in this story, I will explain where he is so you can all stop getting your panties in a knot. He's in Arendelle, he married the eldest daughter of Anna and Kristoff and she's currently under duress because she's having an extremely stressful pregnancy and needs her husband by her side. He's staying with his wife and unborn child which is why he couldn't deal with his parent's problems in the Enchanted Forest. So for the three guests, from July 1, July 8, and July 14 respectively who asked where Neal was: now you know. Why didn't I explain it in this chapter? It wasn't relevant, the focus was laying exposition for Elizabeth, Melanie and Merida's quest, not for saying where all the family members are. So, thanks for your concern.
