Alastor couldn't recall a time when he was more surprised and impressed by someone. Seeing Charlie successfully take on a group of men all by herself was astonishing. This charming belle was definitely not your average princess.
"Whoa, whoa, hang on a second." He called after her. "Where did that come from?"
"What?" Charlie said trying to look innocent.
"That! Back there! That was amazing!"
Charlie just blushed.
"Where did you learn that?" He asked, impressed.
"Well." Charlie tried to look regal. "As I said earlier, I did a lot of reading in that tower and one of the books I read was one on combat. I would also pick up somethings when watching Vaggie she fight against intruders."
"Uh...I thought that left hook looked familiar." Vaggie said.
"When one lives alone." Charlie further explained. "One has to learn these things in case there's-"
She stopped short, a shocked look on her face.
"There's an arrow in your butt!"
"What?"
She pointed downward, an arrow was lodged right into his behind.
"Oh would you look at that." He said twisting to inspect his lower area. "Don't know how I didn't feel that going into me."
"Oh no! This is all my fault! I am so sorry!" Charlie cried.
Alastor tried to pull it out.
"No wait!" She protested. "Have you ever pulled an arrow out before?"
"Can't be more difficult than dislodging a bullet."
"But it's behind you. Can you even see what you're doing?" Vaggie asked.
"Let us help you." Charlie said. "You could make it worse."
"Hey what's wrong?" Angel asked upon catching up with them.
"Alastor's hurt." Charlie said.
That was all Angel needed to hear. Now he was frantic. He began to scamper around hysterically.
"Alastor's hurt? Oh no he's gonna die!" He panicked.
"Angel I'm okay." Alastor assured him.
"You can't do this to me Al! I'm too young for you to die! Keep your legs elevated! Turn your head and cough! Does anyone know the Heimlich?"
"Angel calm down." Charlie said, quickly realize that he would only get in the way of this. "If you want to help Alastor, run into the woods and find me a blue flower with red thorns."
"But I'm color blind."
"Then you go with Vaggie." She winked at the adze. "To make it easier for all of us."
Vaggie nodded, understanding the hint.
"Okay we're on it!" Angel said. "Blue flower, red thorns. Don't die Alastor and if you see a long tunnel, stay away from the light!"
"Angel!" Alastor and Charlie yelled together.
"Come on let's go!" Vaggie pulled Angel along, marching into the trees.
"What are the flowers for?" Alastor asked Charlie.
"For getting rid of Angel." She replied.
"Ah." He said getting it.
"Now you hold still and I'll yank this thing out." She grabbed the arrow and began to pull.
"Ow!" Alastor yelped. "Hey! Easy with the yanking!"
"Well I'm sorry but it has to come out."
"With all due respect, I would prefer to do this on my own." He said hiding his caboose from her. "I don't like to be touched. Especially there. Remember when Angel tripped?"
"But you can't see your behind well enough to take it out on your own. You could give yourself an open wound. Now let me-"
"No it's tender!"
Charlie tried to grab the arrow again and each time she did, he moved away from her.
"Stop running away!" She insisted.
"Stop trying to touch me!" He said.
"You're acting like a child!"
"And you're invading my personal space!"
As for Angel and Vaggie, they did locate a bush full of the flowers Charlie requested but Angel was color blind and Vaggie chose to with hold information in order to keep Angel from making things further difficult for the princess.
"Are these the right flowers?" Angel asked.
"No." Vaggie lied. "These are orange flowers with purple thorns."
"Purple thorns? I've never heard of purple thorns."
"Well that's what they are so let's keep on looking."
"Vaggie what if we never find the right flowers? What if Alastor really does die? How can I go on without him?"
"Will you take a chill pill? It's an arrow in the butt, not in the chest. He's not going to die."
"Ow!" They heard Alastor yell.
"Oh screw this! We'll just have to work with the orange and purple." He pinched a flower off the bush. "Hold on Smiles, I'm coming!"
"Wait! That won't work! It's uh...Not hyper allergenic!" Vaggie fibbed. "You could give him allergies!"
She tried to stop him but it was already off and he proved to be a much faster runner than her. Speaking of running, Charlie was now chasing Alastor around and around a tree. Her determined to get the arrow and him determined not to let her.
"Stop it! This is harassment!" He said.
"It is not!" She said. "This is for your own good you know, so why don't you just stop being such a baby and let me help you?"
"Why can't you respect that I don't anyone touching me?" He asked.
"Well aren't you the world's biggest hypocrite?" She argued. "You want me to keep my distance but you had no problems manhandling me yesterday."
In his haste to escape her, he tripped over a tree root and fell down.
"Gotcha!" Charlie took hold of the arrow stem. "Now don't move."
"No!"
He rolled over to try to get away again but as he did this he knocked Charlie off her feet, causing her to land directly on top of him. Their eyes accidentally met and the situation turned awkward. They were now speechless and red in the face, their heart rates picking up slightly. They couldn't help it, this was the closest either one of them had ever gotten to someone of the opposite sex.
"Ahem!"
Angel and Vaggie had just raced into the clearing, him sporting a smirk and her looking appalled.
"What is going on here?" She asked. "You wanted me to keep Angel busy so you two could do this?"
"No!" Alastor and Charlie yelled at the same time again.
"Nothing happen!" Alastor pushed Charlie off of him and stood up. "We we're just...Uh..."
"Look if you two wanted to be alone all you had to do was ask, okay?"
"Oh don't be ridiculous Angel." He chuckled nervously. "That is the last thing I have on my mind. I wouldn't be caught dead associating myself with such vulgarity."
Charlie looked insulted.
"The princess was only-"
But in one great pull, Charlie ripped the arrow out of Alastor's butt which caused him to once again let out that horrendous howl. But this time it was so loud that it caused birds and smaller mammals to flee in terror, Angel and Vaggie had to cover their ears again, but Charlie only looked at him smugly while twirling the arrow between her fingers.
When his howling ceased, he turned to look at her in utter disbelief that she had actually made such a bold move.
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" She asked.
Alastor kept silent in order to retain his dignity.
"I'm is that blood?" Angel asked, referring to the red on the arrow's tip.
"Just a little bit." Charlie answered.
That was all Angel needed to hear before fainting dead away. Vaggie stood over top of him, shaking her head.
"Heart of a lion this one." She observed sarcastically.
"Is he going to be alright?" Charlie asked.
"He'll be fine." Alastor assured the two ladies. "I'll get him in a minute."
He took a moment to rub his posterior in order to numb the pain from the arrow. Charlie, absentmindedly stared at his behind with a slightly pleased expression on her face. Luckily though, only Vaggie noticed this.
He then picked up Angel and threw him over his shoulder, leading the way down the road.
"I saw that." Vaggie whispered to Charlie once Alastor had moved ahead enough to where he wouldn't hear them.
"Saw what?" Charlie spoke in a whisper as well.
"Back there, after you took the arrow out, you were checking him out."
Charlie's redness returned.
"No I wasn't." She denied.
"Yes you were." Vaggie argued.
"No I wasn't."
"Yes you were. Your eyes were all over his ass."
"I was...I was...I was only checking to see if his wound was more serious."
"Oh please Charlie, a five year old wouldn't believe that lie."
Charlie tried to think of a better lie but in the end she would have to confess because she was one of those individuals who just couldn't tell a good lie no matter how hard she tried. Especially if the person she was telling the lie to knew her very well.
"Alright so I did a little harmless staring." She admitted quietly. "Is that a crime?"
"Do you actually find him attractive?"
"No. Heavens no. But you have to admit he is kind of a catch. I mean he's tall, slender but sturdy, has a nice..." Her blush increased. "Back area."
"So you do find him attractive."
"No. I'm just noticing that he looks nice. Why are we even talking about this? It's stupid and we're getting left behind."
"I assumed that you'd like that." Vaggie teased. "As long as you're behind Alastor that is."
"Oh ha, ha, ha." Charlie said unamused and she quickly moved further ahead while urging Vaggie along.
