Originally I was going to keep on going, but I thought I shouldn't make my lovely readers wait any longer
Thanks guys for the reviews! They really do help! Thanks for my anon readers - i know i will make alot of mistakes in my stories and i'm happy i recieved constructive critisizm from you all :)
At first its always a bit hard for me to stomach down all the reviews down (good and bad) but it is very helpful anyway, thank you again!
This chapter i cut short but i hope you all enjoy it!
BRAVE belongs to Pixar – not me! *weeps in a corner*
The four came back to the DunBroch castle after trying and failing to catch up with the queen's captor, instead returned empty handed with heavy hearts.
After what they had just witnessed they were still unsure of what was to become of their clans and the kingdom of DunBroch. Of course coming back to Merida's home wasn't any uplifting sight to see...
The four made it inside the castle walls leaving their horses outside,
Merida hesitantly entered into the throne room with a broken heart, following the young lords not too far behind
The throne room was dead silent as it was now filled with cold stone statues of the diverse clan members. Everyone that Merida knew, from the kitchen cooks, to Maudie... even her little brothers were turned to statues.
Each of the four went to their respected family members to quietly lament
Merida's tear stained face stared at the stone statues of her younger brothers, her warm soft palm came in contact with the cool rock surface that was each of their small faces. Pensive at how to find a solution to this mess, she then slowly gazed up seeing her father's crystallized confine above his throne.
The young lords each stood in front of their fathers turned to stone caused by the hex. They all stood in preoccupied thoughts
"What should we do know...?" Wee Dingwall's voice interrupted as it echoed in the room. He was in front of his father Lord Dingwall's statued form, as he held a sword above him and mouth agape.
For a brief moment nobody answered.
"Ay lads, ya reckon we should just figure out a way to find a cure for this spell?" young Macintosh wondered as he crossed his muscular arms trying to figure something out,
"And how would we do that?" the young Dingwall asked skeptically
"I-…" he gave a quick sigh while he pushed back his thick wavy locks from his eyes, "I have no idea" Macintosh said sincerely, he was just as stumped at the situation. He always so used to his father leading the clan proudly with his head held high. Now without him he felt a piece of him had gone astray with his father.
Young MacGuffin studied his father's statue form and didn't utter a word. He looked up to his father greatly and with him being like this he was stricken with a mixture of guilt at the pit of his stomach, his eyes darted down and his posture became slightly limp
"But we can't leave any of them like this…" Young Macintosh looked at his stone father, who was in a scuttle sort of pose.
Merida was listening on their conversation as her contemplative expression melted into determination. Her thin brows narrowed and her mist blue eyes became fierce. She refused to simply give up and let her kingdom lay in ruins while that madman had his selfish way,
"No!" she declared in a stern tone, her fingers curled into a fist, catching the young lord's attention to the red head as she turned to face them, "We can't let things stay like this. I am the princess of this land, and its next ruler. It is my ultimate duty, for when my kingdom is in danger I'll do whatever it takes to restore my home, and our clans!" a flare of determination lit inisde her, the young lords walked closer and were stirred by her words containing strength of will.
However one small problem remained…
"Oy, uh, princess," Macintosh called out, "How would you anticipate that? We have no idea where that man took yer mother..." looking a bit disheartened
Merida looked down for a bit to think and answered back, "Should we band together to save our clans and my mother," self-assurance ignited in her eyes,
"I propose we journey and visit an old acquaintance of mine I met in the forest six months ago. Perhaps then we will understand what to do from there. It is the only chance we've got." Merida believed, "What do you say to that, my young lords?"
The boys looked at each other for confirmation, they didn't know who their princess was talking about, but if she felt confidence with this person to help solve their problem then they agreed to each other with a reassured nod to accompany their princess and resolve this chaos to save their clan and her kingdom.
"Well princess," Young Macintosh answered with a smile, "If you strongly believe that, then we all are in agreement, and as a proud Macintosh ye have me superior aid" he held a fist to his chest and bowed in respect,
"And the Dingwall clan" the smallest lord said and did the same as Macintosh
While MacGuffin gave her a positive gesture replieing with a strong "Ay!", all together the three bowed in front of her as a sign of allegiance of clans. Merida was very pleased, doing a small giddy hop and bowed back with a genuine smile on her face,
"Then let us prepare for the long journey ahead!" she said, "Gather any weaponry you can fight with, food, supplies and anything that will help us along the way." she mentioned as she excused herself to dress properly and prepare for the long trip ahead.
The young noblemen nodded and watched her exit the throne room upstairs toward her chambers, leaving the young lords the responsibility to gather up the necessities around the castle to take with them for their quest.
After a couple of hours of total preparation, they headed out at once!
The day started out very cloudy, as it was only early afternoon, the weather looked like it could rain at any moment now. The fields were moist with the dew of the fog and the scent of rain was refreshing, the four were riding on horseback straight to the abundant forest,
Merida was fully clad in a dark emerald green colored version of her venture dress, a leather belt sash that hugged slantways around her waist where she carried her quiver filled arrows. She had leather arm bands around both her lower arms and her black fur cloak - wearing the hood up. She was armed with her bow on her left hand and her sword strapped on her back.
The young lords each were equipped with their weapons which were mostly swords, spears, bows, a couple of axes and extra arrows. They had on warm cloaks and blankets in their rucksacks with extra food supplies, and such.
The four entered the dense forest with keenness, the heavy thumps of their horses hooves stomped on the moist grasses, crossing over moss filled logs
Merida was looking around every corner and nook trying to find the old witches' cottage. She'd assume that the old hag would've rebuilt it in the same location, after the little accident Merida caused when her mother was a bear those past months ago.
But since it had been six long months, she had forgotten where it used to be...
She denied it to herself that she had been a wee bit lost, convincing herself it had to be somewhere around in the forest
They were riding for what it seemed like hours, and the young lords, mostly Young Macintosh, were getting impatient. He then decided to start up a conversation with Merida and rode up next to Angus,
"So, princess" Macintosh flipped his hair setting up his charisma, which didn't do much justice during the situation, "the letter our fathers received weeks ago saying you were smitten with one of us," Merida narrowed brows at him and pursed her lips,
"So which one of us are you infatuated with princess?" he said giving a smug smirk, confident that it might've been him – what with his dashing good looks and everything
This sort of conversation caught MacGuffin's attention as the listened in,
"Is this really the time to talk about this?" Merida eyed him warily
"I am just simply askin' out of curiosity, milady" letting his 'charm' do the talking
Merida let out a low groan and took off her hood letting her long red curl tresses out, "Look. Those letters were fake! That warlock 'Ambroll', or whatever his name be, said so himself! Don't be makin' up the idea that I'm in love with any of ye three! It is nothin' but a lie!" Merida replied haughtily with her head held high, to get her message out to all three boys
Macintosh knew she was right but decided to keep on teasing the princess on the subject just for his own amusement
"Ay lass, me thinks you really do fancy one of us. I bet yer just runnin' away an' denying your true feelings" said Macintosh and winked
MacGuffin frowned at him in annoyance, narrowing his brows as he tightly gripped his horse's reigns. Sickened as Macintosh was trying to woo the princess all to himself like some lovesick puppy. Dingwall looked like he was in his own little world thinking about anything but didn't react much to Macintosh's nonsense.
Merida raised both her thin brows and eyed Macintosh like he was mad,
"And I think we both know it isn't the Wee Dingwall" he whispered in, Dingwall suddenly snapped out of his daydream
"Oi! I heard that!" Dingwall fumed while he was riding alongside MacGuffin while Merida was in front taking the lead next to Macintosh
"And who was talkin' to you, Ding-bat!" Macintosh mocked as he laughed when he got hit in the back of his head with a pebble
"Ow!" he shouted looking back at Dingwall narrowed his bulbous eyes at him
"You wanna start a scuffle, Dingwall!" Macintosh stopped his horse wanting to pick a fight with the short blonde boy who just growled menacingly at him
MacGuffin just rolled his small blue eyes at them and Merida was up to her limit with tolerating this nonsense,
"Shut up! Both of you!" Merida screamed at the two boys who were instantly silenced
All of a sudden the four heard a loud rustle within the top of the forest trees and they all stopped their horses suddenly
"Did ya hear that...?" Macintosh asked quietly
There was silence. All they could hear was the soft sound of an owl hooting
Their hearts thumped fast and their breathes hitched as they all stood quietly listening for anything, the sound of thunder then came piercing through the sky
Just when the situation couldn't get anymore apprehensive it started to drizzle, Merida grumbled to herself aloud and continued to ride on until…
"SCREEEEEEEECHH!"
Angus neighed in fright so suddenly that he raised his upper body that Merida fell off his back and landed with a thud on the wet grass,
"Angus!" Merida yelled
But soon the young lords' horses began whinning too as they tried to calm them down, their horses' sensed something coming near them
Creeping on the grass floor, they saw ghastly long black things, looking like ghostly snakes, began surrounding the group in a large circle, dancing around them in a counter clockwise motion while they were humming a tune in a strange sync they didn't understand.
MacGuffin was eyeing the strange creatures carefully at what they were doing. He personally never believed in magic or mythical creatures, though his father believed that demons learked in the forests, that led travellers astray and these might be one of them
Dingwall's eyes widened at the ghastly figures, he didn't know what to make of them and Macintosh was just creeped out and narrowed his brows in confusion
"What are these things...?" Macintosh asked
They looked like the small blue wisps, only these things were as black as tar and had circle shaped grey eyes. They looked rather menacingly even in their small size
Merida didn't like this.
"I don't know," She readied her bow, "But they don't seem to look to be very friendly"
The ghastly black wisps then stopped their little dance and turned their beady grey eyes into chilling yellow ones that screeched with their sharp teeth, growing two feet tall, taking the form of imp gremlins
Merida gasped but then took immediate action and aimed her arrow to one if its heads
The imp got hit directly in its forehead and disappeared in a smoky mist
"Aim at their heads!" ordered the princess, "That's their weak spot!" as she gathered another arrow and fired it at incoming imp that jumped shrieking at her
The boys then dismounted their horses quickly and unsheathed their swords and began slashing each black imp to their heads that came at them or their horses
One landed on Macintosh's head as the imp deviously laughed pulling on his curly hair, Macintosh then started panicking and yelling running in circles while the rest kept fighting the hoard of them off their horses
"Ahh! It's on me! Get it off! Get. It. OFF!" he squealed and continued to run past everyone in a circle
"Macintosh! Would ya get a grip!" yelled Merida slicing the head off of an imp using the end of her bow that came attacking Angus
"Get it off me!" he cried and stopped in a fetal position with the imp still on his head pulling on his dark locks laughing menicingly
Dingwall saw this and casually walked toward his position and quickly smacked the imp on its head, using a nearby stick, so hard it hit Macintosh's head too
"Oww!"Macintosh whinned, rubbing his head at the section Dingwall smacked his head with
"Now we're even." Dingwall grinned smugly and continued fighting off the hoards of black imps
Macintosh just rolled his eyes and pouted
Slash, stab, "Hiya!" one by one, MacGuffin then finished off the last one with a mighty swing at the imps head
They were finally at ease as the imp's ambush stopped suddenly, the four adolescents stood alert swords in hand and a bow in Merida's
Angus snorted as he nudged against his owners cheek to see if she was okay as she petted his mane
"It's alright Angus," she comforted large horse, "they're gone now"
Suddenly the earth rumbled violently beneath their feet, Dingwall easily lost his footing landing on his butt as they heard the cracking of trees breaking. Revealing monstrous troll, possibly the boss of all the demon imps, standing about twenty feet tall, its giat shadow casted over them as they looked up with wide expressions,
"Uuhh, ah-I spoke too soon!" Merida shouted backing away from the enormous black monster. It then let out an ear wrenching 'screech' and began coming toward the group with a watery mouth wanting to taste human flesh
"Run!" Merida yelled
As they all mounted their horses, galloping to the east side of the forest. The four raced to get away but the monster only chased them down, breaking down trees and smashing logs in its path without wearing out
Merida was taking the lead and didn't know where to go. She looked all around her as Angus was galloping at full speed. When suddenly she spotted a grotto up ahead, it was hidden in a bundle of vines and it looked like a good hiding spot
"There!" Merida called out to the three,
She turned Angus around and made a sharp 'U turn' slipping the beast up as it crashed into a large oak tree
Macintosh looked back, pointed and laughed heartily at the stupid brute
The four finally made it inside the wet cave, dismounting their horses hiding them behind the rocks and stayed still so the monster wouldn't find them
The troll regained itself from the tree it hit. Its eyes scanned through the forest, sniffing for its prey
"Shhh… Quiet." Merida whispered, she then heard the stomping of the troll coming closer to them. Louder and louder until they saw the troll's silhouette near the cave they were hiding in
The four held their breathes as it stopped in front of the vine covered entrance
Dingwall whimpered a bit and hid behind Merida who tried to keep still with all the shaking he was making (Macintosh did the same hiding behind the large exterior of MacGuffin)
The troll then scuffed his nostrils, as he lost their scent due to the wet aroma of the forest
Its body mass then disintegrated into tiny imps and disappeared into a black ghastly form of air from whence it came
Finally they all exhaled their tension and relaxed a bit
"Well" Merida breathed, "At least that did the trick" she said giving her group a toothy grin while they were all panting in fright and slight exhaustion
Their horses snorted as the four checked if their supplies were in one piece. Merida then examined the drenched cave they were in. It was pitch black inside and hardly any light except the one that came from the entrance
Before Merida was about to turn back to the others until from the corner of her eye spotted a small blue ball of fire. Merida wondered if any wild animals dwelled inside...
She fully turned her head, her red curls whipped around. Merida squinted closely to notice something familiar about it,
She gasped, "It's the Will O' the wisp!" she couldn't believe it appeared in the cave and walked closer to touch it – it disappeared, as more wisps began appeared lining up straight into the darkness of the cave. Merida walked further and took a hold of the moist rocks that were sticking out of the cavern wall, the gravel floor was muddy and slippery, the lack of light didn't help either,
"Oi lads!" she called them out, "Over here! I found a-" but before she finish Merida didn't see the large gaping hole just a few inches from her and suddenly fell inside - sliding through a strange channel way as her screaming echoed
"Merida!","Princess!" the young lords called out as they saw her fall through the void
They all ran toward where Merida was and looked inside the hole. It was pure darkness but Macintosh took the first jump inside, determined to find the princess, then MacGuffin concerned for Merida's well-being. Dingwall hesitated and thought about it for a moment and jumped in after them
The channel was too slippery for any one of them to take a hold of. Soon they were all sliding through the cavern passage - and all they could hear were their screams echoing
Merida finally then dropped about two feet, and landed on a patch of soft moss with a loud grunt, landing on her side,
"Oh ow, ow ... ugh" she muffled massaging her sore shoulder
It didn't take her too long to realize there was a small cottage just ahead of her. The bungalow was placed in an isle surrounded by crystal water. There was an opening in the ceiling as foggy white light bathed inside it. A stream of water was dripping down a section of green moss, due to the rain. It was growing in the area the light poured in
She awed at the gorgeous splendor but was interrupted as she heard yells coming from above the same passage way she fell through. The three yong lords then fell and landed on top of each other
Macintosh landed head first, then MacGuffin and Dingwall was the last on top
"Ahh! MacGuffin you weigh as much as a mountain!" grunted Macintosh
Merida let out a giggle at how silly they all looked toppled on each other
MacGuffin blushed furiously in embarrassment, noticing Merida, he immediately got off of Macintosh before he squished his insides, and Dingwall fell backwards
"Look!" Merida pointed at the cottage ahead of them
Macintosh grunted still regaining his breath
"A cottage?" he asked, "What is a cottage doing inside a cave like this?"
"I think I know who lives in there" Merida smiled eagerly, "Come on!"
The young lords looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. What more trouble can they get into than they already were?
