Stefan hacked at the goblins in front of him with his sword, blind to everything but his own desperate struggle for life. He remembered seeing Hubert shouting instructions at the generals earlier before being swallowed up in a black and brown mass of goblins. Occasionally an arrow would rip in front of his face from either allied or enemy bow. For now there was only the fight, a particularly large goblin in front of him waving an axe at his head. Stefan ducked the axe and pushed his sword through the creature's chest, shouting in disgust as the black blood spurted over his face, blinding him for a moment. As he cleared his face, he saw a shadow running to his right side and tried to block it with his sword. He had not moved quickly enough however and the goblin's lance caught Stefan in the right thigh, bringing him screaming to the ground. The pain forced his surroundings into slow motion. Everywhere he looked, someone was dying – a goblin here, an ally there. He looked at the goblin who had skewered his leg and slashed out with his sword, cutting off the squealing animal's head and buying himself some more time. Pulling the lance from the thigh muscle, Stefan tried to stand but found himself unable to move. A group of goblins saw his plight and headed towards him, various weapons of carnage drawn in readiness for the attack. Stefan held his sword firm, checking behind him for any danger from that quarter and wondering vaguely what had happened to his shield. There were six goblins, armed to the teeth. One of the goblins started swinging a chain around its head, grinning at Stefan. The king prepared himself for the worst.
Hubert looked over to his knights, each of them slashing at the sea of goblins in front of them with deadly efficiency. Stefan's troops were green, with little battle experience. Hubert's on the other hand had recently returned from another campaign against a neighbour who had refused to recognise the legitimacy of Hubert's border. His seasoned troops made short work of the goblins in front of them, but the sheer numbers meant that they were offering little support at present to Stefan and his soldiers, who were pinned in the centre of the courtyard. He signalled to his left and called over a general.
"Order ten men to ride along the top of this wall," he ordered, pointing to the reasonably level wall he was standing next to. "Kill all the enemies' archers before they kill our allies. Ride quickly and kill them before they notice you." The general saluted in response as Hubert ran towards a group of Stefan's archers. "Over here!" he ordered. "Onto the wall – that group on the ground blocking my knights – as many rounds as you can spare. Clear a passage for the knights to ride through!" Unlike Stefan's knights, Hubert's were still mounted, giving them a slight advantage over the goblins but making them an easier target for the goblin archers. Hubert tried to rally his forces and watched as ten of his knights rode out along the castle walls, cutting down goblin archers as they rode by. The goblin archers were so intent on firing at the humans below them, they had not looked sideways or upwards for danger and made easy prey for the knights. Finally, with the archers defeated, Hubert could concentrate on the battle on the ground – a battle Stefan appeared to be losing. Hubert could not see his ally anywhere. To his delight, Hubert saw his knights punching through the goblin defences and cutting down a group of goblin lances. At last the battle was turning.
Stefan looked up through bloodied eyes, his sword broken, twelve dead goblins at his feet. Another two goblins were advancing on him, but he had no strength left to react. He watched as they got closer, axes raised for the final attack. Four white horse legs appeared in front of Stefan and he saw the goblins back off hurriedly. He heard a woman's voice trying to shout above the chaos and realised Maleficent had arrived. The goblins around him backed away, forming a large circle around the horse. Maleficent dismounted and crouched down next to Stefan.
"What took you so long?" asked Stefan, trying to smile. Maleficent helped him to his feet and onto Samson.
"They'll recover from my entrance in a moment – get to the back of the line and out of harm's way. You three – protect the king and then find me something I can use as a staff." The three fairies nodded and started to lead Samson away.
"You're fighting unarmed?" asked Stefan.
"I hope not," answered Maleficent, turning to face the majority of the goblins. "Now, which one of you is going to tell me what is going on here?" She scanned the faces of the goblins around her, waiting for an intelligent response. She heard a lot of grunts and other animal noises, but no voices. They've forgotten how to talk, she thought. My power has failed here already. "Anyone?" she pleaded. A few goblins sensed her uncertainty and made a brave dash forward – they were quickly repelled with a wave of Maleficent's hand, but she knew without a staff there would be a limit to the number of goblins she could dispose of before her magic failed. Uncontrolled hand magic took more concentration than shooting lightning from a staff and part of her was aware that the goblins knew this. The circle around her tightened. "Wonderful," muttered Maleficent, forming her hands into a prayer position and drawing them apart slowly, creating an orb of lightning. She threw the orb at the nearest group of goblins as another group tried to advance from behind her. This group was brushed aside by a wave of her hand, but the goblins were starting to realise their advantage and edged closer. "Help!" whispered Maleficent under her breath.
Stefan reached the back of the lines and was helped off the horse by the field medic. He saw the three fairies turn to leave.
"What does she need?"
"A staff. Any straight pole will do really, it serves simply to concentrate the spell she's thinking of at the time. Just like our wands," answered Flora. Stefan pulled a spear from a pile next to him and removed the pointed tip.
"Will this do?" he asked.
"Yes – but how are we going to charge it up ready for her to use?" asked Merryweather, turning to Flora and Fauna. The three watched the spear for a few seconds. Flora and Merryweather continued to look blankly at the spear and each other, while Fauna snatched the spear, laid her wand along the grain and whispered a spell over it. The wand sank into the spear and disappeared without a trace. Flora and Merryweather repeated the action with their wands. Once all three wands were incorporated into the spear, Flora grasped the spear in her fist and flew off to deliver it to Maleficent.
"Are you going to help in the battle?" asked Stefan, looking at Merryweather and Fauna.
"We cannot – without our wands we cannot perform any powerful magic. We're not as accomplished as Maleficent in hand magic. We're more useful here, staying out of the way and healing the wounded. Speaking of which," Fauna extended a hand over Stefan's injured leg and chanted the healing spell, the lance wound healing immediately. He stood to mount Samson and return to battle, but was stopped by Merryweather.
"Maleficent promised the queen you would return safely. She risked her life to get you out of harm's way – do not repay her by risking your life again."
"Charlotte knew of Maleficent's disobedience?"
"Yes," replied Fauna. "She told Maleficent where the horse would be."
"Why is it everyone else could see that Maleficent was changed apart from me?" asked Stefan, laying his head against Samson's flank.
"You hated her from the moment you first laid eyes on her – she only confirmed your opinion of her by cursing Aurora. I still don't trust her if that's any comfort to you," said Merryweather.
"Why not?" asked Fauna. "What does she have to do to convince you that she's on our side?"
"I'll let you know when she's done it," replied Merryweather.
Hubert watched his troops press forward and scanned the battlefield again for any sign of Stefan. His searching eyes caught a flash of light to the far side of the courtyard and he headed along the wall with some guards to investigate. He laughed with relief when he saw Maleficent fighting the goblins, but quickly realised she was outnumbered. He sent a guard back to instruct the knights to make a beeline for Maleficent and watched as the circle of goblins around her drew closer. Hubert signalled to his archers and they made their way to the walls surrounding Hubert.
"Give her some support – keep them back from her! For God's sake, don't hit Maleficent!" The archers provided some air support and the goblins' attention was slowly diverted away from Maleficent. This gave her an advantage – as did the arrival of Flora with the new staff. Maleficent tested it out by throwing out a circle of lightning around her as Flora hovered above, out of harm's way. The goblins at the front of the circle were killed instantly, those behind them pushed back. Hubert saw Maleficent shout her thanks to Flora and watched as the fairy flew back to the outskirts of the battle. Maleficent whirled around maniacally, blasting goblins from around her with deadly efficiency. Hubert stood admiring her skill for a moment, then turned his attention back to the rest of the battlefield. With any luck, this might just work, he thought. The allied archers were making definite progress in cutting down the goblins below them, while Hubert's knights were cutting through the goblin ranks at random, causing chaos. Maleficent was standing in the middle of a pile of goblin corpses and Stefan's infantry were pressing forward, trapping the goblins in the centre of the courtyard. Now if only he could find Stefan...
Stefan looked across to the battlefield at Maleficent, watching while she cut down goblin after goblin.
"She's amazing!" he said to the night in general. Merryweather raised an eyebrow.
"She's good at thinking of quick ways to kill a large number of people. In this case, goblins. I cannot be impressed by genocide."
"Nevertheless, she is a fantastic fighter. We could use her in our army," pondered Stefan.
"That's what your grandfather thought," warned Fauna. "Perhaps you should think of her as less of a weapon and more of an ally."
"Of course," said Stefan. The moon slipped out from behind a cloud and Stefan saw the battlefield in stark black and white, Maleficent's silhouette spinning madly as she fought off the goblins. He watched as the number of goblins slowly diminished and as his army closed in on those remaining who were still fighting. He turned to Fauna. "Find Hubert and tell him that I am safe – try to get him out of trouble as well."
"Of course," said Fauna, heading off as Flora arrived on the scene.
Exhausted, Maleficent looked around her at the endless hordes of goblins. She was grateful to see the archers on the old walls firing down at the circle around her. She could just make out the approaching knights who would give her some support. She fought hard, draining the last of her strength as she cleared a path to the knights. Maleficent stopped fighting as a protective circle of knights surrounded her, driving the goblins into the centre of the courtyard. One knight backed away from the others and held down a hand to her. Maleficent took the offered hand and was pulled onto the horse, the knight riding out to Stefan's hiding place. By the time the knight reached Stefan and received the king's thanks for rescuing Maleficent, she was asleep on the horse's back, the effort of fighting with the most powerful of her magic draining her. Stefan helped the knight to lift Maleficent down onto some furs and watched over her while the battle rounded up. The remaining goblins were bound into small groups of prisoners. As dawn broke, the infantry scoured the passageways and gathered up the wounded for treatment by the three good fairies, the worst cases being stabilised by the fairies for further treatment later when they had more time. Hubert marched over to Stefan and the two kings embraced, relieved to have made it through the night.
"Where is she?" asked Hubert. Stefan pointed at the ground behind him where, against all probability, Maleficent was curled up and snoring quietly. Stefan kneeled down next to her and shook her awake. Hubert kneeled to the other side of her and looked down into her eyes as they fluttered open.
"What?" she asked irritably. "Did we lose?" The kings laughed.
"No. We won. And it was thanks to you," said Stefan, helping Maleficent into a seated position.
"And you woke me up because?"
"We had to thank you for saving our lives," said Hubert. He leaned over and kissed Maleficent lightly on the forehead. As Maleficent pulled a face of false disgust, Stefan leaned over and repeated Hubert's action, drawing surprised looks from the three good fairies.
"You're forgiven," said Stefan. Maleficent nodded quickly as the kings stood. She held up both hands for help standing up and the kings took one each, pulling her up. The three turned and surveyed the carnage before them. The goblin casualties were already being stacked to be burned, the human casualties were being moved onto makeshift carts to be taken home for proper burial. Maleficent laid a hand on both of the kings' backs.
"So many dead," said Hubert sadly.
"But so many will live because of what we did today. The goblins would have started raiding local villages if you had not acted," Maleficent reassured him.
"Then we should be proud of this mess?" asked Stefan.
"No. But it was necessary." Maleficent looked out over the battlefield and the kings felt her relax her grip on their backs as the tension of the night dispersed. For a moment, they were no longer old enemies but new allies standing together in the midst of their first victory. Then they felt her tense up, before her hands flew to her mouth in horror. "No!" she whined, before running towards a group of stretchers. The three good fairies moved forward and looked to where Maleficent had headed. They watched as she took a soldier's hand in hers and started weeping. Flora and Merryweather stopped Stefan and Hubert from moving forward as Fauna turned to them to explain.
"It's Captain Chevalier. He took an arrow to his chest. Without our wands, we could not heal him fully. Maleficent more or less implied she was in love with him."
"And now he's dead?" asked Hubert. Fauna turned her head towards Maleficent and the soldier whose hand she was still holding.