A/N: Okay, first of all, to clear up the confusion. I guess I could have done a better job of this the first time around, but Chim is Snow's husband, Ella's husband will still be referred to as Charming, and the third king is (and always was) Charmant. ::sighs:: Whenever I finish this story, I'll make sure to go back and add that Chim thing in early on, but until then…
I'm glad you all enjoyed the twist. I've had that part in mind pretty much since the beginning. And I am absolutely relieved that I didn't scare any of you off with the whole "half-way point" thing. It's not like I'm in a hurry to wrap this sucker up.
PART 2
Chapter 22
"Dragon, you aren't"
With a groan, Vivienne rolled over, the softness of a mattress hitting her back. Funny, she didn't remember going to bed. She couldn't even recall the end of the ball. But it had to have ended otherwise she wouldn't be here, would she?
Raising her hands to rub her still closed eyes, the crinkle of cloth made her freeze before she completed the motion. That wasn't her nightgown—her nightgown wouldn't make a noise like that. Her eyes snapped open and she glanced down at herself, seeing the same green dress she'd worn at the ball.
How could she have fallen asleep her ball gown?
"Well nice to see you're finally awake," an unfamiliar voice commented with the slightest tinge of impatience.
Abruptly, she sat up on the bed, the memories of the ball and following events rushing back to the forefront of her mind. She glanced toward the foot of the bed, at the owner of the voice. He was lounging against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, dressed in a plain gray shirt and black pants. Fiery red hair, short but still somehow giving the impression of wildness, stuck straight up in the air in small spikes. He looked fairly young, maybe only a couple of years older than herself, maybe Valor's age.
Vivienne opened her mouth to speak, but found both her voice and intelligible conversation lacking. There were so many thoughts rushing through her head, she didn't even know where to start.
He pulled away from the wall and came closer, dropping his arms to his side. "I've already delivered the note, and he should be on his way to the tavern already. He'll find the first clue waiting for him there." Moving to the side of the bed, he reached for something on the nearby table, a piece of paper. "Here, this is—oomph!" He fell backwards as Vivienne's foot contacted his stomach, and he landed on the stone floor with a dull thud.
She launched herself from the bed, stopping a few safe feet away from the stranger and glanced about the room for a weapon. Gaze falling on the poker resting by the unlit fireplace, she snatched the iron rod up.
"What the hell was that for?!" the man demanded from his position on the floor. His eyes held disbelief, annoyance and mild outrage.
"Gee, I do wonder what," she replied, taking up a defensive position with the weapon brandished before her. "Might have something to do with the whole kidnapping thing."
Confused emerald eyes stared back at her, and slowly he lifted himself to his feet, taking the time to brush the dust from his clothes. "What? Was there something I did wrong? I followed all the instructions to the last detail. If you changed your mind about something last minute, it's not my fault. You should have let me know." Now he was looking defensive, regarding her as if he didn't even notice the poker in her hands. And still she had no clue what he was going on about.
"Look pal, I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't know why you're doing this," she eyed him carefully, just in case he planned to spring while she was distracted by the conversation, "But you won't get away with this. My parents are going to send people after me. You can't hide from them forever, you'll see."
His eyes narrowed, bringing together two eyebrows as red as the rest of his hair. "What do your parents have to do with this? I thought you were trying to get the prince… that's why you were going for this whole rescue thing." Then he shook his head, putting up his hands. "Whatever it is, I've done half my part already, and you're only paying me for what we agreed on, nothing more. So you better not go changing this on me."
Vivienne's frustration was quickly building. She simply didn't have the patience to deal with some crazy guy who refused to talk any sense. "What are you talking about?! I didn't arrange any deal with you—you kidnapped me! What is so hard for you to understand about that? Really, if you're that stupid, how did you pull off the whole abduction thing?"
That might have been a mistake, because the stranger's eyes turned hard, like jade, and his mouth thinned into a straight line. "Look, princess"—he bit the word out spitefully—"I may have agreed to work for you, but I didn't agree to put up with any of this crap. I kidnapped you because you hired me to. You were supposed to be in the garden at midnight and I was supposed to take you away—and everything went the way it was planned."
Vivienne stilled as she listened to his words. In the garden at midnight? Yes, she had been there at about that time, but that had been a completely spontaneous decision. On no, could this really just be a catastrophic case of mistaken identity? Although it left her to wonder whom of the dozens, if not hundreds of young women at the ball had arranged to have herself abducted in the midst of the celebrations. But before she could dwell any further on those thoughts, a realization hit her.
"You were the dragon!" She could even hear the wonder in her own voice as she said this and she studied him carefully, taking in the green eyes, the red hair—the very coloring of her kidnapper.
He rolled his eyes. "Of course I was. You didn't really think I would be able to get my hands on a real live dragon, did you? Even if I did manage to find one, how would I go about convincing it to get in on a phony kidnapping?" From the expression on his face, it was clear just how little he thought of her intelligence at the moment.
She shook her head, more than a little annoyed at his condescending tone. "Don't you get it, you dolt? You've got the wrong person. I did not hire you to kidnap me. I didn't hire anyone to kidnap me, or anyone else."
It took a moment, but finally her words sank in. His green eyes widened. "Oh please tell me you're just kidding," he replied. But even as he spoke, it was obvious he didn't really doubt her words.
It was then that he seemed to notice the poker in her hands and they both froze as they realized the position they were in. She had the weapon; he had magic enough to transform himself into a dragon. But who would get in the first move?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Are you sure we aren't going to lose him?" Lillith inquired worriedly from her place behind Virtue on their horse. "He has a couple of hours' head start on us and we aren't moving all that fast."
Virtue and Lillith having to ride double, and Luke riding with his hands tied onto the front of the saddle, wasn't working in their favor in terms of speed.
"Relax," Virtue assured her. "We have plenty of time to catch up to Val before he reaches the tavern."
"How can you know that?" David questioned from off to their left.
Luke was making muffled noises through his gag, and vague motions as best as he could manage with his hands bound and trapped before him. They all knew he was attempting to tell them to remove the piece of cloth, since they were no longer in danger of having him blow their covert rescue operation, but no one wanted to spoil the welcomed silence by freeing his tongue. "Just a little while longer," David had murmured to the other pair, and both had heartily agreed.
"I just know," Virtue answered now, unable to explain to them how since she had somewhat vaguely once agreed not to bring that reason up to anyone, and she had no intention of embarrassing her brother in front of others by revealing his little secret.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You stupid beast!" This was ridiculous, Valor thought to himself as he inched along on his horse. Yes, he had named it "Cautious" for a reason, but this was beyond acceptable. The idiot creature took each step like he was carefully picking his way through a floor covered in shards of broken glass.
The note had said for him to be at Drunk Man's Dive this morning. He had only a couple of hours left until noon and if this horse did not pick up its pace, he wouldn't make the deadline. The mere thought of what might become of Vivienne if he failed made him shudder. It wasn't only concern for her that made him so apprehensive, but what the idea of what might become of him. He couldn't return home a failure, and all simply because his horse was too damn slow.
How did one go about making his horse travel faster? Ah yes, they usually kicked it slightly in the sides, like this. Valor prodded the animal gently with his feet. Nothing.
Okay, maybe he hadn't done it hard enough. He repeated the motion, with a little more force. Still nothing.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" he exclaimed, bringing his feet down for a third time, much harder than his previous attempts. With a loud whinny, the horse launched forward, and Valor clutched the reins tightly to keep from falling off. After a moment, he decided that wasn't enough, and he threw his arms around Cautious' neck, making sincere, heartfelt apologies into the animal's ear.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Virtue studied the tracks from the ground, brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't get it, why is heading off in this direction? The tavern is that way," she pointed to a route that led in a perfect ninety degrees from where Valor's trail led away.
"Do you suppose we should follow him?" David asked as she hoisted herself back up onto her horse.
"I guess," she answered. "Maybe he knows a shortcut."
David glanced toward his brother, who was looking a little worse for the wear after his prolonged period of silence. "And we should probably take off Luke's gag." Interest suddenly piqued, Luke nodded enthusiastically. "Untie him too, since we're far enough away now. Even if he did go back, it wouldn't matter. That is, if he could find his way back."
At his words, Luke visibly deflated. Then he let out what they interpreted as a sigh from the slight heave of his shoulders before gesturing toward his hands. Getting no objection from either of the girls, David removed the rope. Once freed, Luke's first task was the removal of his gag.
He took a deep gulp of air and opened his mouth—
"One smart remark and the gag goes back on," David inserted.
Luke's mouth snapped shut.
So they took Virtue's lead, following the tracks left behind by Valor and his horse as they wound about in an erratic path. Finally, after several minutes, Virtue came to an abrupt stop, halting the procession along with her. "He's going in circles," she declared with a shake of her head. "There's no use following him—we'll just waste our time. If we go straight, we might be able to get there about the same time he does. Maybe even before him."
"Why would he be going in circles?" Lillith remarked, perplexed.
Unable to rely, Virtue merely shrugged. He was a bad rider, all right, but certainly he couldn't be that bad. Could he?
TBCNext time: Fun at the tavern!