This chapter I promise you is the best yet! One thing I like to do in most of my chapters is leave the reader hanging, wanting more. That will definitely be happening in this one! So, grab some popcorn and a Coca-Cola and read read read! And, of course review! Ha ha, you thought I forgot about the review, ha! I fooled you all! Enjoy!
Wendell's castle, one day ago...
"We're late!" Queen Cinderella stated firmly. "Wendell was expecting us an hour ago! Where is that boy?" She stood with her son, her grandson, and many servants outside her royal estate. Their carriage pulled up and her servants helped her inside. Her son followed, and her grandson looked away from the carriage behind him, towards the gardens.
Just then, a handsome young man riding a white horse at a full gallop rode steadfast towards the carriage. He halted right before the man and was greeted by many servants. "Damien! You careless boy! We've been searching for you for an hour! You've made us late for the meeting at Wendell's! What have you got to say for yourself?"
The young man looked confidently into the gentleman's eyes and stated, "I was enjoying the countryside! And I don't regret going, not even if King Cole was running around the castle grounds naked!" The man turned red in the face and scorned the cocky boy, "If you keep this attitude up, then you can forget becoming the King of the First Kingdom!"
Smiling, the boy said, "That doesn't matter! I have everything that I want! Royalty fills my blood, and no one can take that away from me!" The man grew almost to a dark purple and yelled, "You turn into a gentleman this instant or I'll throw you into the Disenchanted Forest and leave you for the wolves! And that's a promise!" Sighing, Damien replied, "Alright, Father! Don't need to get pushy!" The young prince stepped up and into the carriage and his father followed. Then at the crack of the horseman's whip, they were off.
In the carriage, the Queen sat next to her son, and her grandson and great-grandson were across from her. Feeling the tension, she spoke to the youngest, "Damien, I know that it's hard to embrace the decision I've made. But, getting much older, I realize that I need to step down from the throne. Your grandfather, father, and I have decided that you are the most suitable to become King. You will be turning twenty in ten months, you're the smartest and wittiest young man I've ever known. It's very important that you are to take over my throne." Damien looked out the window, pondering. Cinderella sighed and told the other two, "He'll be ready. He just needs some inspiration."
The older men looked at her dumbfounded, "And what exactly would that inspiration be?" The Queen thought a moment, then mumbled, "I don't know."
"Well, how do I look?" Wendell was in his room looking into a mirror. His servants were just finishing polishing his shoes when he turned to ask his best man's opinion. He waited patiently as his friend thought for a moment.
Looking at the King with a grin, Tony said, "You look like a King to me!" They laughed and walked out of the room together. "Antony, I just want you to know that no matter what happens today, I will still be ready to make the bouncing castle!" "Then why are we having all the kingdom's rulers come and have me talk about it? Why bother bringing them over if we're still going through with the project?"
"Because," The king explained, "If they like what they hear from you, then it's likely they will want you to build bouncing castles for them as well. You can make quite a bundle with this circle!" Grinning, Tony thought about all the money he was about to make. He suddenly was very excited about this meeting. "And who exactly did you invite again?" "All of the kingdoms rulers are invited!" Tony laughed greedily as they entered the meeting room. It was very full, with every ruler from each kingdom present. "Is everyone here? It looks like we can begin!" Wendell stated. But, one of his advisors came up and said, "Sir, we're still waiting on-" But right before the man said who, the announcer spoke from downstairs, "Queen Cinderella has arrived!"
The carriage pulled up to the castle, and Wendell's servants came out to let their guests out. The Queen was first, and after the son and grandson, came Damien. However, he wasn't very eager to go inside. He knew that this was his first step of becoming a king; his great-grandmother would announce it to everyone upstairs, and then he would be stuck. He needed a way out, he needed-
"That horse!" Damien exclaimed. He went over to one of the horses attached to the carriage and saw that one of it's back legs was bleeding. It was cut around the ankle. His father, grandfather and great-grandmother had already entered the castle with their escorts. The escort that waited for Damien said, "Your highness, your horseman can take care of that. Come with me please." But the young man refused, "No, I am an expert at horses! Go inside with the others, tell them to start the meeting. Now!" The escort when in, somewhat scared on the young prince.
Going around to the back, he unhooked the horse from the others. His horseman said, "Sir, I'm needed inside. Please come in, I don't want to leave you unattended!" "No, thank you Bruce! I can manage on my own! It's alright, I know what I'm doing!" His horseman sighed and went inside. Then, he got to work on the horse.
"There you go! Good as new!" Damien finished with the horse's ankle, and then realized that he was alone. Everyone was inside the castle. So, putting the hurt horse in the barn, he looked around for a faster one. Then, he noticed a brown horse. It looked friendly, and it looked fast. So, he took it out from its box and saddled it up. As he was getting ready to get on, he heard a scream. But it wasn't just any scream, it was Cinderella's!
He led his horse to the edge of the barn, peeping out to see what was happening. He looked up into a mirror in the castle and saw the room turn to ice. People were screaming everywhere. Then, he heard a booming voice, "I am Molefescent, the Ice Queen of the Eighth Kingdom! And soon, I will rule all of the kingdoms! No one can stop me now!"
Damien watched in terror as people were running from left to right, screaming. Then, he saw his father run out to the open patio on the third floor. He was followed by the most horrid creature he had ever laid eyes on. Then, with the wave of a hand, the creature known as Molefescent turned his father to ice stone.
He was petrified; he didn't know what to do. Thinking of only one thing, Damien jumped onto his horse and galloped out the back way of the barn, away from the castle. He made his way up and over a hill, and then looked back at the ice castle one last time. The kingdoms as he knew it were over. There was no hope left, not for any of the kingdoms.
After he had finished telling his story, the other three sat in silence around the fire. Virginia's eyes were wide, thinking of Wendell and her father, scared of who else was frozen. And Wolf was angry, trying to stay cool, but couldn't help but want to rip the witch's throat out. Then, there was Leora. As much as she hated this guy, she couldn't help but listen. This world that she was now in was coming to ruin because of some psycho lady. But somehow, this sounded familiar.
Then, Wolf gasped, "I still can't believe this! You're...you're him! You're the next King of the First Kingdom! I've heard great things about you-" "Wolf, stop! We have to focus on this! These people are in trouble! This psycho bitch is taking over! Why don't we do something? We can't just sit here!" Leora exclaimed.
The young prince, who felt that this girl had interrupted a great compliment Wolf was giving him, asked her, "What are you planning on doing about it? You're just a silly girl! You can't defeat this witch!" Leora stood up and walked around the fire to him. "Listen buddy, I'd rather be a silly girl trying to help save these lives than a coward who's too spoiled to rule a country! Too spoiled to even listen to his father, and to help him when he was dying!" The prince protested, "There was nothing I could do! Molefescent would've killed me! I'd rather live than die! You should be in a madhouse!"
Leora got into his face, "Hey princy, I swelled up one of your eyes, want me to do the same for the other? I'd be glad to!" "Guys! Guys! Hold it!" Virginia said. "It's alright, I have a plan that just might work!" Leora and Damien looked at each other crossly, and slowly sat down on the log.
"Well, remember the story of Molefescent? And how she had that magic mirror that could kill you with just a piece of it? We can use that, fire with fire, it could work!" Wolf agreed, "Yes! Brilliant thinking! She has the mirror at her ice palace! It's in the Eighth Kingdom, and we're not far from there! It would be a few days journey! A week at most! We can sneak in and take the mirror, and kill her with it!" The prince and Leora looked at him worriedly, "It's worth a shot! What do we have to lose?" Wolf stated. Leora agreed, and Virginia did too. But Damien protested, "Our lives! That's what we've got to lose! And I know that I-"
"You you you you you! That's all you ever think about isn't it? Well listen up your royal pain in the ass! You are going to help us! As much as I don't like to admit it, you're smart, at least from what I've heard! We'll need all the help we can get! So, you're in, whether you like it or not!" "FINE!" He yelled. "FINE!" Leora returned. She jumped up when she screamed and stomped off. Virginia was about to get up to follow her, but Wolf told her, "She needs to cool off, I wouldn't go if I were you. Again, nice going your highness!" Damien turned his nose up to Wolf and took off his coat. He got on the ground and started to drift off into sleep.
Virginia did the same. But Wolf couldn't. He didn't know what it was, but something about Leora made him very protective of her. He felt she was more valuable than the others thought. He knew Molefescent wanted her, must what he couldn't figure out was, why?
Grunting annoyingly as she walked away from the fire, Leora thought about the prince. 'How could I think he was handsome? He's such a jerk! He's just like the guys in New York! God, they're all the same! If I could just have a magic key that could open the door to that one guy that was perfect-' she stopped. Magic key. That's right! The key her Aunt had left her! She bent over and lifted up her left pant leg. Reaching inside of her shoe, she felt the key.
Leora pulled it out and looked at it. She knew it would fit her locket, and she knew that this was the perfect moment to do it. Leora picked up the golden circle locket on her chest that had the initial 'L' on it. She put the key in, turned it, and then, there was a silver flash.
Blinded by the light, Leora struggled to see what was happening. As far as she could tell, she was still in the forest. The silver light calmed to a dim, and she could see everything now. Suddenly, she gasped. There, standing in front of her, was her Aunt Connie. She was so bright, she looked like an angel. "Connie!" She gasped and ran towards her. She gave her aunt a big hug. Chuckling, her aunt said, "It's alright. I'm fine my dear! Sit down, I have much to tell you."
She did, and her aunt sat down next to her on the log. "Leora, I want you to know, that I am dead. What you see now isn't real, I'll disappear once I've told you what I need to." Just then, Leora noticed that her dear aunt had something strange sticking out of her back. Her eyes widened, and Leora asked, "Aunt Connie, why do you have wings growing out of your back?" Her aunt corrected her, "No Leora, my name isn't really Connie. I am Constance, your fairy godmother." Her deep greens eyes seemed to pop out of her eye sockets, Leora felt like she was dreaming.