It was all peaceful in the courtyard of the palace. The birds were chirping and the breeze rattled the leaves in the trees. That was until a portal opened up on the stone wall by the entrance and dumped the group into a heap. The two spirit girls had landed on the bottom while the royal couple fell on top of them followed by their guard-horse on top of them.
"Yow!" Ashley yelped as she felt the weight on her back.
Lena hissed as she felt someone had landed on her wing. It sounded almost like a cat and her fangs appeared a bit.
"Sorry!" Yelped Eugene as he got up and inched away from the peeved dragon girl. It was only after Maximus rolled off that Rapunzel and himself could have gotten up. Then Ashley and Lena started to stand up as well.
"It's fine, it's just the wings are very sensitive," Lena sighed as she brushed off her wing a bit.
Eugene nodded before hearing doors opening, he looked towards the sound to see the King walking out followed by Demitri and his guard Lance.
"What happened? The guards told me that you fell out of the wall!" The King said worriedly as he came to the small group.
"There was a slight complication at the tower…"Lena muttered as she pinched her hand slowly to exaggerate what she meant.
"What kind of complication?" Asked Demitri as he came to a stop at his father's side.
"Well...Pitch and Eris made a friend…" Ashley said with a sigh and a shake of her head.
"A...friend?" Lance asked as he folded his arms and watched the two.
"Yeah..they brought back Gothel...out of dark sand.."Ashley stated flatly.
"That's not all they did," Lena snorted. "They brought back part of her soul, it wouldn't have worked otherwise. It's not exactly her, it's just the piece of her that was obsessed with the flower. Think of it as a ghost with unfinished business,"
The king paled, while his son and his guard thought deeply.
"At least she won't be back for a while," Lena finished.
"What do you mean?" Demitri asked.
"Oh, Ashley dropped the tower on her," Lena said casually as she pointed at Ashley.
"Yeah, though it only gave us time to get back to make a plan" Ashley muttered as she shook her head. In the background Rapunzel was standing with Flynn. Her face full of shock and a bit of terror as she was quaking. She was getting a bit better as her husband whispered calming words into her ear and also had the help of Maximus who was rubbing his head against her arm. The king spotted Ashley turn her gaze to his daughter and he motioned for her to come to him.
"Let's get you inside my dear. You need to rest," The king said softly as Rapunzel started to make her way over to him.
"O..oh ok," Rapunzel whispered softly.
"We'll talk to you later Rapunzel," Ashley said as she looked to the princess, she only gave a nod in agreement.
King Charles then looked to the girls and to his son. "You two, please rest. I would hope you talk to Demitri and Lance to come up with a plan. I would like to protect the kingdom…..together."
"Sounds good, hey Demitri, Lance, would you like to spar later?" Lena asked as she turned her gaze to the two boys.
"Yeah, as we discuss and plan strategies?"Ashley asked.
Demitri nodded as well as Lance. "Yeah, that sounds great." The prince said with a small smile.
"Good, now come on inside., you all need some rest. You have been through a lot today," The king said as he made his way over to the giant oak doors that he had came through recently. The two servants who stood by each side opened the doors for them. As soon as they passed the doorway, they started to close the doors behind them.
