Maleficent - Diaval Fanfic – I'm Alive by Raven Diablo
Chapter 10 How She Trains Her Dragon
Four months passed on the Moors and Diaval gave the news to Maleficent of Queen Leila's passing. She apparently passed away from a severe hemorage which was predicted by the doctor.
At the time of her death, King Stefan was having his own problems. He appeared to be slowly going mad. Diaval saw through a small opening in the wall of the west wing that King Stefan would retreat to a room there that didn't have any windows. There appeared to be only one door to the room. There were no other points in. Diaval had no idea what was so special about that room but he spent quite a bit of time in there. Often the king had one of his gaurds outside the door keeping watch while he was in the room. On the night of her death a guard explained to Stefan that his queen was in her death throws and he chose to be in that room instead of by her side. He was withdrawing more and more and appeared less and less outside of the castle. His beard grew thick and hair was unkempt. He had a desheveled look most of the time. He spent his days either sitting on his throne or in that room. He looked like he was getting older and weaker by the day. Whereas by contrast, he noticed his mistress seemed to become stronger, more powerful and more beautiful with each day.
"So...She finally croaked, huh?" she said with a menacing smile.
"Like a Hop Toad." Diaval added, but wasn't too happy with the words that exited his mouth.
Maleficent chuckled a bit and then turned around with a proud smile holding her hand up with her fingers all togther. "Why Diaval, you made another funny! Ahhh, I always knew you had an evil streak in you too. You just like to hide it. But both of us share the same feelings for those wretched humans."
As she said that, she subconciously reached out her hand and placed it on his shoulder and ran her fingers part way down his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze and she laughed. But as Diaval looked at her hand, she quickly wihdrew it. Diaval had noticed that lately she liked to do that in addition to the rare occasion when she put her arm around his neck or waist. But when she realized what she did, she would quickly withdraw her hand. It was almost as if her own rule number three also applied to her as well.
She looked out towards the castle as she did before when Diaval gave her the news that the queen was ill.
She yelled out again, mocking the king. "Awwww, poor Stefan all alone now?" she gritted her teeth.
"Now you are alone just like me! You could have lived a long time had you stayed with me, you bastard! But you tossed me aside! Soon the curse will play itself out and then you will be next!"
Once again she slammed the end of her staff down and a green bolt of lighting shot up into the clouds. From there the bolt shot out to the castle and hit the roof of the highest tower, showering sparks down the castle sides below.
"Another little message to let him know, Diaval", she gloated with a grin on her face.
Diaval thought to himself, "Here we go again". These shouting sessions were getting old as there was no way the King could even hear Maleficent. He wished she would just let it go. But he wasn't in a position to quesiton her as he remembered rule number two. He figured if it made her happy, then so be it. At least she was smiling.
As the two started to walk back to their home in the wall, Diaval started to think about Aurora and the curse. He felt he was getting close to the princess and he had fun with her on the Moors. If somehow Maleficent would lift that curse...
Another four months came and went when Diaval finally had an idea that might save Aurora.
He said to Robin, "I want to do something special for Maleficent."
"Oh?" Robin replied. Robin grew curious.
"The way I figure it, if there is some kind of animal that I could be changed into that could help her fly then maybe I might be able to convince her to focus more on her revenge with Stefan and perhaps save Aurora the fate of that curse. If she could fly again, I might be able to convince her to lift the curse."
"But what about Stefan, the curse was supposed to be the ultimate revenge against him?"
"Initially yes, but now...I don't think so. She invited Aurora into the Moors and she seems to interact with her very well. I think she is slowly realizing that her anger lies with Stefan alone. I know even with the curse she still wants to kill him and that is something I would like to see her do myself. That bastard was the cause of this whole mess to begin with."
"So what are you thinking...some sort of an attack on the castle? That would be dangerous even if we had the Moors creatures and Fae folk behind us. Usually we just defend the Moors, not plan an attack against the humans. That would be suicide." Robin said.
"Yes, but I know that castle, I am the only one from the Moors that has been there regularly. So from what I seen, he has made the castle an iron fortress so there isn't any way we could get her inside from the ground." Diaval said.
"So, we need something with wings that is big and could get Maleficent inside the castle another way, like from above."
"That something would also need to be strong enough to get her their safely." Diaval added.
"Hmmmm, Robin Sighed"
"Hmmmm, Diaval responded"
The two of them were by their favorite thinking spot by the watering hole, Diaval leaning against his favorite tree. Robin was on his favorite branch.
"I certainly don't know of any bird that is that big." Diaval said.
"What about a flying fox?" Robin asked.
"Foxes don't fly."
"It's not really a fox, but a type of large bat"
"Could Maleficent make a bat large enough to support a person?" Diaval asked.
"Not sure. I have never seen it done, though" Robin answered.
"Why did you bring it up then?"
"Hmmm, I don't know. Just scraping the bottom of the barrel here."
Diaval was deep in thought and then something hit him. "Robin, when I was flying doing my perimeter checks, I saw the old ruins of a small castle towards the south. I recall there was a torn up flag there that had a picture of a large animal with wings on it."
"That would be Dragon Claw cast..." Robin stopped himself and had a blank stare on his face as if deep in thought. "Diaval, you are a genius! That's it!"
"What's it?"
"A dragon!", he said excitedly. "They are very rare, but they are big, they are armored, and can fly!"
"That's great!"
"They also have an additional bonus", Robin said with a smirk on his face. "They can breath fire."
"That is perfect...a perfect front line defence and a way to have Maleficent fly again" Diaval said, "But now the question remains...can Maleficent do it?"
Later on that day...
"Wha...What did you want me to change you into?" Maleficent asked.
"A dragon" Robin and Diaval said at the same time.
"Can you do it?" Robin asked.
"Robin, I think you lost your mind." Maleficent rolled her eyes. "Even if I could do it, which I don't think I can, a dragon is completely different from a horse or a man or even a bird. Who knows if he would even be able to fly. Then there is the whole fire breathing part." Maleficent shook her head. "It could take many months for him to get proficient enough and we don't have that time. What if during training or flights, he is seen by Stefan's soldiers? Unlike a bird a dragon would be very easy to spot from the castle. If he knows I have a dragon, he will take measures against an attack."
She then turned to Diaval and said, "Diaval, you could be hurt or worse, killed. No, I can't allow it."
"What if we train beyond Dragon Claw castle?" Diaval said. "I think that land behind the south forest is far away enough that if I fly low, I shouldn't be able to be seen. There is also a cliff there that could be used as a launching point. In additon, perhaps you could also raise the back of the thorn wall and that would even block the view of the castle even further."
"But what about the road?" Maleficent joined in. The road to Stefan's castle also goes past Dragon's Claw. Anyone going to Stefan's castle could easily see a dragon."
"What if we train at night?" Diaval said. "Since I am a black raven and everything you changed me into so far was black, would it make sense the dragon will also be black? So flying at night, I shouldn't easily be seen."
Maleficent sat for a while and brewed on it and soon a smirk appeared on her face. "Diaval, you always have been one smart birdy."
"So, that's it then", Robin said.
"I have my work cut out for me on this one, guys", Malficent shook her head. "I don't know much about dragons and have to read up on them in my books if it is even possible to change you into one."
"Diaval, you have the next 3 days off. I am going to be busy." she added.
After 3 days past, the three met again at the Rowan Tree.
"Well", Maleficent opened the afternoon's discussion. "It can be done!"
"Yes!" Both Diaval and Robin excitedly exclaimed.
"I hope I don't regret this, but we will start tonight," Maleficent said, "Diaval, you will fly to Dragon's Claw as yourself. I will meet you there. From there we will go to the clearing past the forest together on foot. There I will change you into a dragon and we will start some training runs. Now once I change you into a dragon, we will do pretty much the basics, walking, running. You are not to breath fire though."
"I wouldn't know how, my mistress."
"From what I was reading, it is almost akin to a human...", she stopped and scrunched her nose up. "spitting."
"Ugghh", Diaval said, "But I don't do that".
"I know, so that might work in our favor."
"So, tonight it is", Robin said.
"Robin," Maleficent said, "I think it is best if Diaval and I go alone. The less the number of us out there, the better."
"Ohhhhh!", Robin grunted angrily, "Ok, but when he starts to fly, I want to be there".
"I'll see what I can do", Maleficent said.
That night the two met behind Dragon's Claw Castle when Maleficent turned Diaval back into a man. From there they walked to the clearing behind the south forest.
"Diaval?"
"Yes, my mistress."
"I hope you are having second thoughts about this, as I am."
"No, I think this is something I need to do. Having an animal as powerful as a dragon by your side I have the ability to save your life if you are threatened."
"Always the gentleman, huh Diaval?" She smiled a bit.
They walked into the dark forest.
"Sheesh, it is dark in here," Diaval said.
"That reminds me, as a dragon, you will have dragon vison, and I too can put a spell on myself that will do the same. So we will both be able to see at night. It will be as if it were seeing during a cloudy day." Maleficent explained.
"That sounds good." Diaval replied as they came to the clearing.
Diaval walked to the center of the clearing and shouted back to Maleficent. "Ok, I'm ready"
Maleficent rolled up the sleeves on her robe and said, "Here goes nothing...or everything for that matter."
She waved both her arms several times around creating a large ball of yellow wispy light in front of her. Diaval could see her close her eyes tightly and slightly turn her head away. "Into a dragon."
Unlike previous transformations, this one went slow and was painful. Diaval screamed as he could feel his chest expand. His arms and legs expanded too. He could feel the tension on his skin become so great, his skin started to split.
Maleficent could hear sounds of ripping and tearing. Maleficent called out, "Diaval? My goodness! What is happening to you?" Her voice sounded frightened and then she quickly cast a spell on herself. "Night vision", she said.
She saw Diaval was slumped over and his contorted body expand and claws broke through his finger and toe nails.
Maleficent shook her fists and cried out, "No! No! No! Stop! Stop!" she waved her hands in the air in vain as she knew a transformation couldn't be stopped mid way.
Large dark bumps appeared on his back and an expanded under his skin. Soon the skin split and wings started to form and a tail grew behind him. His face morphed into a that of a dragon and horns began to grow from his scalp. 6 spikes grew out from the base of head on each size. His size started to grow exponentially. His cries turned to deep growls.
All Maleficent could do was watch horrified. All the while she prayed that Diaval would live through this. She winced as the shrieks of his pain fell on her ears. His wings unfurled and much to her amazement the wings had feathers and looked exactly like larger versions of the ones she had. Soon the transformation was complete.
He slumped to the ground with all his limbs flat lying on his belly. His wings folded on his back. His breathing was heavy, and one of his coal eyes was on Maleficent. While his iris and pupil's were both black, it appeared his iris was a shade lighter, almost like a dark grey. His Iris' vertical slit expanded as he focused on Maleficent.
Maleficent got up and rushed over to his face and close to his eye. The good news was that he appeared to be alive. But in what shape he was in remained to be seen. She put her arm over his snout. "Diaval, are you ok?
He rolled his head towards her and he tried to form a smirk with his large mouth.
"Diaval, please tell me you are fine."
He raised his head up a little and nodded, 'yes'.
"I am going to change you back, I should have never let you talk me into this."
He shook his head side to side, saying 'no'.
"Are you certain you are fine like this?"
He nodded, 'yes'.
He laid there motionless for a while as Maleficent once again put her arm around his snout. Slowly Diaval picked up his front left claw and with the back his fore talon he slowly reached over and rubbed Maleficent's back, being extra careful to go extra lightly as to not harm her. He just wanted to show her he was Ok.
She looked up at him and smiled, "Oh, Diaval...always the gentleman...", she stopped and thought, "...gentlebeast."
He grinned back at her.
Maleficent cast a healing spell over his body to double check if everything was fine, and he was fine.
The transformation seemed like a lab experiment that went horribly wrong. Instead of a smooth transistion, it seemed the dragon form expanded 'through' his human form. Something did go wrong, but luckily in the end he turned out OK. He was completely exhausted from the transformation. He just wanted to lay there and rest. A stinging sensation rang out throughout his body.
"Oh, thank goodness. I don't know what I would have done if you died."
He never heard Maleficent talk like this so softly to him and with such a soft expression in her eyes. She continued to talk to him describing to him what he looked like.
"Diaval, you are magnificent. You are as black as darkness itself. You still have your ebony eyes, as always. You have two large horns your head and they are curved like my own horns. Your tail is very long...You will be a well balanced flyer. Your wings...they are most wonderful thing about you. They have feathers and...and...", she tried hard to choke back her tears "they look exactly like the ones I had."
He unfurled one of his wings, the side that Maleficent was on and showed her.
She just stood in awe looking at the large unfurled wing. He looked back himself and got a good look at his wing.
"hmmmmph", Diaval grunted when his eye caught sight of his own wing. He then looked at this mistress and tried to imagine her with the same wings on her back. She would look very beautiful indeed with those wings. But she was beautiful already even without her wings.
He put both his head and wing back down, but he didn't fold his wing. Instead he placed it on the ground close to Maleficent. He then used his claw and pointed towards his wing.
"You want me to touch your wing?" she asked.
He nodded yes.
A large smile appeared on her face when she walked over to his wing and started to run her fingers though the feathers that lined the front edge of his wing.
Her small hands felt good rubbing his wings. He closed his eyes and let out another grunt.
"Hmmmmmmph"
He lowered his wing to the ground further and motioned with his foretalon.
"You want me to climb on your wing?" she asked.
He nodded, 'yes'.
As she climbed up on his wing he lifted his head a bit.
Maleficent just layed down in the middle of his wing running her fingers through his large feathers. She closed her eyes.
"Diaval. I could lay here all night, Your wings are wonderful!"
Diaval continued to watch on as Maleficent snuggled within his feathers as he would often see Aurora do with leaves in the fall. For this moment it seemed as if Maleficent was a kid herself and he let her have her much needed fun.
After a while she hopped down off his wing.
"Thank you, Diaval." Her voiced returned it's normal well composed self. "Are you willing to stand now?"
He nodded 'yes'.
With that he got up on all fours fairly slowly. But now walking would be another thing. Unlike the smooth slender legs he had when he was a horse, or even a dog, the legs on a dragon were stout and very bulky. However it did seem a bit the same as the time that Maleficent transformed him into a lizard which also had short stout legs. But he was very unsure of his large size as this was the largest creature she had ever transformed him into.
He looked over to Maleficent and she was riffling though one of her books she brought along.
"Diaval?" she called up to him.
He turned to look at her. "Hummmmph" he grunted as if he said, "yes".
"I know what went wrong. For this particular form, I should have transformed you from your original self. The transistion would have been smoother and less painful than jumping from another transformed version of you. So I have to remember to tranform you into your raven form both before and after I transform you into the dragon."
Maleficent hung her head down and said, "I am sorry, Diaval, I could have killed you for not reading that beforehand. It is not like me to overlook something as important as that."
Diaval gestured to her that it was OK, let out a grunt and he started to walk around the field getting a feel for the new dragon body. He swung his tail back and forth. He reared up on his hind legs and then came crashing back down. He also did some jumping and hopping. There was a point where he even trotted as if he was a horse.
Maleficent just laughed as he tried to change his facial expressions. Having a snout was certainly more difficult to move his lips as there were many more points around his face than there were with other animals. However, he clearly remembered that it seemed similar to when he was turned into a dog or a wolf which were animals that also had a long snout. As with a dog or wolf, he did have a heightened sense of smell too. He could actually smell the sweet smell in Maleficent's hair even though she was many yards away from his nose. He knew he could use that scent to find her if she ever was in need of help.
He then sat down on his hind legs in front of Maleficent and unfurled both of his wings as far as they could go. He looked down at her, raised an eyebrow and shuddered his wings.
"Diaval? Are you displaying for me?" Maleficent seemed to enjoy his display. "Those wings of yours certainly are magnificent."
It seemed that once Diaval started to move around he could feel a surge of confidence run though him. He felt very proud and he seemed to have less inhabitions when he was the dragon.
"Ok, Diaval, that is enough for our first night", she stated.
He cocked his head side to side and then nodded, 'yes'.
"Ok, I hope this goes as the book says." she had a worried sound in her voice.
She flicked her wrist and very smootly Diaval's form shrank down to his raven self.
He sat on the ground cawing.
"Whew! That seemed to go much better", Maleficent sighed. "Into a man."
Diaval transformed back into a man.
"Well?" She asked, "How was it?"
"Incredible!" Diaval answered.
Maleficent smirked at his initial remark.
"I have to tell you, aside from that horrible first transformation, I like the dragon as much as the horse."
"I would expect even more so once you start to fly", she added.
She then grew serious and her voice went back to its normal stern sound, "I just want to say to your face that I am sorry. I should have known better to make a horrible mistake like that. It was that there was so much information and I rushed...overlooking that."
"I couldn't help but notice that you really were upset and it seems like you really care my mistress", Diaval said curiously.
"Of course I care, Diaval, you are an animal and I for one would never forgive myself if an animal was harmed by my hand. That is why I was upset. In addition, I have a vested interest in you as you being my confidant for many years. Losing you and starting over this late in the game, would be disastrous to my plan."
"Wouldn't you think that caring is a form of love?"
Malficent shook her head. "Nonsense, Diaval. Caring and loving are two different things. Remember, what I told you, there is no such thing as true love. It just doesn't exist and I am proof of that. Caring is not loving. I can care, but I can't love. Now, no more on this."
"Oh, Ok." Diaval clearly wasn't happy with her answer as Maleficent had always skirted the issue whenever the 'L' word was mentioned. But in a way he understood given the manner in which her heart was broken.
"By the way, Thank you, Diaval."
"What for, my mistress?"
"I appreciate you allowing me to touch your wings and allowing me to...well...", she stopped and tilted her head side to side trying to muster up the words to say, "... to play with your wings."
"You said that my wings as a dragon were nearly identical to the ones you had?"
"Yes, that is amazing. I wasn't expecting that. Dragon wings are more like bat wings that have membranes, but when I saw your wings were feathered, I just..." she paused and once again her eyes misted over. "They were magnificent like my own were."
Maleficent continued, "I certainly would like to see you as a dragon again, if for only to see those wings again."
"'Well, that you will indeed and I want to be the dragon again too.", but I think I do need some rest after that awful transformation.
"Two nights from now?"
"Yes, that's sounds good, my mistress."
Two nights came and past and on the third night they met again in the clearing. It was a windy night and Maleficent thought it would be a good idea for to try some wind catching and perhaps do some low in place gliding so Diaval could get a feel for how his new wings behaved. She figured he should get the knack of it pretty fast since he did have bird wings as a dragon. They went to the small cliff at the end of the clearing which allowed for pretty good cross and updrafts. She brought a heavy rope and using her magic she tied one end around his foot and the other to a set of trees near the cliff to hold him in place.
"Ok, Diaval, are you ready?"
"HUH! He grunted and gave her a downward nod."
She then explained the basics of flight with a large set of wings and for the most part it would be like when he was a bird, but it was also different in that he would be dealing with a much greater size and weight.
"Ok, so when a large gust of wind comes, angle your wings downward slightly to get some lift."
Diaval outstretched his wings and angled them into the wind. So far nothing happened. He then pitched the back end of his feathers down, the wind caught his wings and pushed them up.
"Whoa!" He thought as he grunted. It certainly looks like he will need some muscle power to keep the wings level.
Ok, so next gust of wind came and he tried to keep the wings level. Again the wind tried to push his wings up. But he fought it this time and he could feel the front end of his body lift up a bit.
"That's it Diaval, keep that up!", Maleficent shouted to him.
The next gust of wind came and he pitched up and when his front claws lifted, he pitched back and his back claws lifted off the ground.
"Yes! You got it, now hold that."
At first he was doing good, but then another gust came on top of the one he was riding and then he lifted up too fast, the rope pulled taught and distracted him. His wings flipped up and he plummeted right back down slamming into the cliff.
"Oowwrrrrahhh", he cried out.
"Diaval! Are you Ok?"
He nodded 'yes'.
"Ok, lets try it again"
Diaval looked straight into the wind and his eyes narrowed with determination. The next gust came and he had a near perfect lift off. Once he got going he started making regular adjustments to his wings. The larger wings and heavier body seemed to require much more figeting around with than whan he was a raven. This time he was good though, he seemed to have good control over the glide adjusting his wings.
"Good Diaval, now try pitching your wings to go slightly up and down"
He followed his mistress' instructions and slowly adjusted the pitch of his wings up and down. He pitched up when another gust of wind blew and pushed him further up. This took him by surprise. The set of trees that the rope was tied to snapped and Diaval was loose. The updraft pulled him high above the cliff.
"Wawarrrrrahhhh", Diaval cried out as the earth fell out below him. He was free.
"Diaval! Try to come back down!"
Diaval tried to adjust the pitch of the wings down, but he didn't come down straight enough and he shot down past the cliff and was heading towards the field below the cliff.
Maleficent shouted as he went past her, "Diaval! Control yourself and get back to the cliff!"
Diaval swooped down and he adjusted his wings to get more lift. He certainly was flying now. "YES! He thought. But there was one problem, he hadn't tried turning yet. He tried to do a banking turn as would as a bird adjusting both his wings and tail. He went for a right turn and found that he banked beautifully into the turn. Hmmm not much different when I am myself, he thought to himself. Coming around, he knew he was getting close to the ground. He pushed down with a couple of good flaps. He could feel his own immense weight working against him and he needed quite a bit more lift than when he is a bird. Luckily the massive wings did compensate for his large size. A couple of flaps more and he was level with the cliff. He caught sight of Maleficent and purposely veerd to the left to make sure he wouldn't come anywhere near her. He feared with his clumsy size that he might accidently crash into her. But he discovered he had another problem...landing. He pulled his wings down but he misjudged the distance due to his large size. He past his landing mark and the forest was coming up FAST. He pulled his wings down even harder to brake quickly as he would if he was a bird. He stopped too fast and stalled above the trees.
Whooom! Diaval crashed into the trees.
He found he was laying on his chest with his chin on the ground. He could feel a pain in his front right leg.
Just then he heard his mistress come around the trees to aid him.
"Diaval! Diaval! Are you OK?"
Arrrrrrgghhhh!
She waved her hand and he turned back into a bird. With another wave, he changed into a man.
"My right arm, my mistress, I think it's broken." he painfully said.
"Lie still, I will get that fixed up for you", she said.
With a bit of green swirls of magic that hovered around his arm, he could feel the bones joining back together in his arm. He let out a scream from the pain. Maleficent's face winced knowing he was in pain.
"We are going to take a day off, you need some rest." she said. "We are going to have to walk all the way back towards the Moors as you shouldn't fly as a bird with that arm tonight."
Maleficent pulled the belt off her robe and tied up Diavals arm in a makeshift sling to kept it steady.
"Your arm should be all better in the morning."
The two started back to the Moors and eventually reached the Rowan tree.
"You can sleep in my bed tonight." Maleficent said.
When Diaval was ill, his mistress often let him sleep in her bed. While he started to settle in, she came up from the lower room with her night gown on, once again the neckline was shifted and she was bearing her shoulder.
Maleficent reached over to Diaval and removed the sling she put on him earlier with her right hand and Diaval could see those two indentations form on her shoulder as she lifted up her arm and reached for the sling.
Diaval tried not to make his looking at her obvious. For some reason, he didn't want her to cover her shoulder this time. She climbed in bed facing and laid on her back. She waved her hand and the ceiling retracted. She peered out for a while.
"A nice night out, huh?" she asked.
"Yes, mistress." he answered. "I always like it better with the roof down."
"Goodnight Diaval."
"Goodnight, my mistress".
It wasn't long before she turned on her side to face the window. Her bare shoulder was now turned up. Her hair pooled behind her in a disarray. When he noticed her breathing changed and became deep, he knew she was fast asleep. Diaval took his hand and carefully coiled her hair up nicely behind her. He moved in closer. The urge to place his hand on her shoulder was overwhelming. He very lightly reached up with his right hand and carefully cupped his hand over her shoulder. Her shoulder fit perfectly within his hand.
He laid for a while with his hand on her shoulder, until he could feel her turn towards him. He quickly withdrew his hand. She sighed heavily and her breath caught and she snorted a little. While the sound initially caught him off guard when he first slept with her, he became used to her doing it by now and even thought it was cute.
He raised his hand and carefully ran the back of his finger on her right cheekbone. He looked at every line and contour on her face. Her face was just as beautiful when she slept as when she was awake.
"Hummmmmmm", she sighed.
His eyes next looked to her ruby lips and he became interested in the little indentation under her nose. He dared to place his finger on that spot. His finger seemed to fit perfectly into the little indentation. Suddenly her lips moved and pursed as if to kiss his finger. The sudden motion caused him to quickly withdraw.
Diaval, what on earth are you doing? You know she will be furious if she caught you. Why do you do this to yourself. You could never be with such an extraordinary woman. You are just a bird that serves her...nothing more. But he started to dwell on the possibility of a friendship with her.
He softly whispered to her face, "My dearest Maleficent, I want to be your friend, I want to be more than your friend, if you will let me."
In her sleep, he could hear Maleficent whisper back, "Friend...More."
Diaval couldn't help but smile at her unconcious remark and he laid back down on the bed and turned his face towards hers. He studied every inch of the side of her face. He then looked over at her right ear which gracefully came to a point. Even her ears are lovely, he thought to himself before he drifted off to sleep.
Maleficent woke up before Diaval early the next morning. She found herself turned towards him and her hand was lying on his chest. She had a puzzled look on her face wondering why she would always wake up and be in some kind of contact with Diaval.
She looked up and studied his face as he laid beside her. She seemed to become more and more facinated with his scars and she began to find them attractive. His shirt was more open than usual and she could clearly see the scars that traced out his collar bones in the morning light. She lifted her hand and began to run her finger across the scar on his right collarbone and went across his neck to his left collar bone. As she past his neck. She could hear his breathing change and was hesitant to continue, but she had to run her finger down the one large scar that ran down his chest to his stomach. That scar was the largest and thickest. She followed the scar all the way down with her finger.
"I don't know why, but I just love the way his scars feel below my fingers," she thought to herself. But then she had another thought. "Mal, don't do this, don't get involved, you are going to get hurt again." But she didn't stop. She continued to run her finger back up his stomach and chest running back out his right collarbone. She let her fingers run out and curl under his shirt and her fingers wrapped around his shoulder. Her body was leaning across his and their faces were very close together.
"Hmmmm, he has nice sized shoulders." she thought to herself. She raised an eyebrow and curled her lips.
She looked towards his face and began to study his features, his nose, his eyes, and particularly his mouth. A sudden urge started to build within her and she felt her lips moving closer to his. Then she suddenly pulled back.
"No No No! What is the matter with you, Mal! You can't do this!" she said to herself. "Getting frustrated with her feelings, she grabbed his shoulder a bit tighter and she formed a fist with her other hand. She then stifled an "Uhhhhhhhhhh" , but prehaps it still was louder than it should have been.
Diaval's eyes flew open to the unsettling sound to find his mistress leaning over him with one hand clenched and the other was on his shoulder. Her face was inches from his and he was staring into her beautiful yellow/green eyes.
"Mistress?" He questioned with a puzzled look on his face as to why she was leaning over him.
She was startled that she woke him and quickly she attempted to recover from the situation she was caught in.
"Oh, Oh...Ummmm, I was just reaching over to check on your arm." she said having a look on her face as if she did something wrong.
With still a puzzled look on his face, he asked. "Mistress, it looked like you were angry at first, I hope you are not angry with me."
"No, it wasn't you, I was just thinking of something." she replied.
"Well, whatever it was it looked like it made you mad. Do you want to talk about it?"
Maleficent dipped her head down, "No Diaval, I don't."
"Ok, good morning then", he said cordially.
Her face softened and she replied in the same manner "And a good morning to you Diaval. Let me have a look at that arm."
"Sure", Diaval took his arm out of his sleeve.
Maleficent looked at his arm and it appeared to have healed nicely. She ran her fingers over the spot where the break was which was right at the indentation at the base of his shoulder. Suddenly the feeling of the contours of his arm under her fingers began to feel good. Her face contorted to what she was feeling. Diaval was even more puzzled by the look in her eyes now as she was looking over his arm.
"Is something wrong with my arm," Diaval asked.
His voice snapped her out of it and she dropped his arm to the bed.
"No, nothing. It is fine...healed nicely." she said in a slightly scared voice.
Again, her response there was that look as if she did something wrong.
Diaval thought to himself. That was weird. First I awaken with her face nearly on top of mine and she appeared angry and she had her hand gripping my shoulder. Then when she looks at my arm and the way she ran her fingers over it. Hmmmm. I don't know. He shook it off.
She looked back up to him and said, "You rest up here and I will get breakfast ready."
He always enjoyed having any kind of meal with his mistress. Lately they had been becoming more frequent and they also talked more and more over a meal. Mostly it was over news about the castle or Aurora. Diaval didn't look at his mistress as only a master anymore, but also as a friend. But he wasn't sure if she would ever feel the same way about him.
Heh, it was preposterous for him to think that of her. Given her mood swings of late were becoming difficult to handle. One day she was nice to him, the next day she would snap at him and turn him into something unpleasant. He didn't know what to make of what was going on inside of his mistress, but he could tell there was some kind of storm she was fighting within her.
For the next couple weeks, Diaval had aced flying around as a Dragon. He felt very confident and strong when he was the dragon. And soon the awkwardness of his large size turned into prescision and grace. By the end of the second week, he was starting to do acrobatics and tried to show off in front of Maleficent.
"Remember Diaval, keep low, not like the last time you spiraled up too high. At that height you might be seen".
Diaval grunted and nodded, 'yes'.
"Now do a few laps of figure 8's and keep your turns tight"
With that he dove off the cliff and made his figure 8's perfectly. But then Diaval got bored of this quickly and wanted to do something else. He pumped his wings hard and shot around the last part of a turn and swung up and headed straight for the cliff where Maleficent was. He then twisted his wings tightly opposite each other and then pulled all his limbs in, folding his wings and then barrel rolled twice. When he sank towards the cliff he unfurled his wings and straightened out, pulling back to brake himself and then settled down right at the edge of the cliff in front of his mistress.
Maleficent put her hands on her hips. "Are you displaying for me again, Diaval?"
Diaval nodded his head down, and then twisted his head sideways and wanted to say, "Rwow!", but this inadvertantly caused a reflex action in his throat and he found he spit up a fireball that plowed straight into the woods, causing a blaze.
"Diaval! No fire!"
Quickly Maleficent changed Diaval into a bird and then a man.
Diaval had a stunned look on his face as he watched the blaze burning.
"I am going to have a word with you later about this, Diaval," she said, "But for now, I have to get this fire out".
"It was an..." Diaval was interupted.
"Not another word!" she said crossly.
Maleficent raced to the edge of the forest and created a storm cloud above the affected area. Quickly a downpour started and within less than a minute she had the fire out. She then turned back to Diaval.
"Are you out of your mind!" She gritted her teeth. "We will be seen by one those...humans!"
"I'm sorry my mistress, I just wanted to make a rrrwow sound in approval to what you said about my display and it came out wrong and it caught in my throat. I just spit up by mistake and out came that fireball."
"You have to be more careful! Now lets get out of here in case someone investigates."
The two walked very fast back to Dragon Claw castle and ducked out there.
"I am going to change you to your raven form, and after I do, circle around the woods for a while and let me know if you see anything...unusual." Maleficent whispered. "Meet me back at the Rowan Tree."
"Yes, mistress."
With a flick of her wrist and some yellow whisps, he was his raven self. He cawed a couple of times.
"Shhhhhh!" Maleficent put a finger over her mouth.
Diaval flew off in the direction of the woods. The area that he burned earlier was still smoking from the heat, but the fire was indeed fully out. Diaval circled around the area widening his turn with each pass. From the look of it, it didn't appear they were seen. A wagon was passing on the road and Diaval took perch in a tree that was by the side of the road. He could overhear conversation about smelling something burning and the humans in the wagon stopped and looked over to the south forest, but after a short while they resumed their trip.
I guess that was a close call, Diaval thought to himself. He then flew off and checked up and down the road, there didn't seem to be anyone else out at this time of night. With that he flew back to the Moors and back to the Rowan Tree.
"Robin, I think I am ready. I don't know how I am going to make this a surprise for her. But I want to do this when she will make me the dragon again." Diaval said.
"Well, that might be cutting it close as we do have to make some kind of support, seat or harness...something she can strap herself down with so she could ride with you safely. But how do we do this without her knowing?" Robin asked.
The two kicked around a few ideas but then finally settled on something.
"Robin, I think you are on to something here", Diaval said. "What if you built the harness here on the Moors with the other faeries. On the next night I am the dragon, I will fly back to the clearing where I initially was the horse. Once I arrive you and the other faeries could put the harness on my back. It will certainly take a while for Maleficent to walk back here and there should be plenty time to pull it off."
"You DO know you will be in serious trouble with her, right? Robin said as a matter of factly.
"Yes, I am willing to take that risk. She hasn't flown for 16 years now. I think once she sees the harness and our intentions...I think I will be good. But she HAS to see the harness at once she gets sight of me, otherwise she might change me into something else and that would be awkward at best with me wearing it."
"I guess I would have to try and stop her if that's the case", Robin said. "Ok, then it is settled. The next time she changes you into a dragon, you will glide low and fly into the Moors. She will follow and in that time we can put the harness on you."
"That's the plan."
"Perfect!" Robin shouted with a smile shaking his fist. "I think it will work"
"As do I", Diaval agreed."
Two nights later at the south clearing Maleficent wanted Diaval to practice some more banking and turning. So he went out and came back twice. The third time out he thought to himself, "Here we go!"
Coming back, he made like he was going to do his barrel roll landing for Maleficent, but instead he just swung up and over her and made a quick turn towards Dragon Claw castle.
He kept thinking to himself, Please be out of range, Please be out of range. The last thing he needed was to be in range and she changed him back into a bird. As he headed towards the castle, he could faintly hear Maleficent scream out "Diaval! What the hell are you doing? Get back here!" Then there were some other choice words that he couldn't make out.
Diaval kept to the east side of Dragon Claw Castle so Maleficent could see that he was going to touch down into the Moors. He kept himself low as he flew over the thorn wall and into the clearing within the Moors. There he touched down.
Robin came out of the wooded area with a bunch of other fae folk as they carried the completed harness to Diaval.
Robin said, "Good evening Diaval!"
Diaval nodded his head and grunted.
"You certainly make a fine looking dragon and those wings are incredible!"
Diaval grunted again.
"Good thing is I get to see you fly tonight WITH Maleficent. I sure do want to see the look on her face when you get airborne with her."
Robin then turned to the other fae folk and said, "Ok, we have no time to loose. Maleficent will be here soon and most likely she will be stark raving mad too. I am going to have to scout ahead and hopefully she will not turn me into anything unpleasant."
Robin flew to the south side of the clearing and waited for Maleficent's arrival.
After a good while, Robin's wait was over, he could hear the thorn branches moving on the outer part of the wall. Quickly he flew back to Diaval and the fae folk. He saw that they had finished placing the flying harness on Diaval, everyone was in place and in position.
"Oh, thank goodness you are done." he exclaimed and then gave Diaval and the other faeries two thumbs up. "Let's do this!" Robin flew off back to the thorn wall.
Diaval grunted and nodded his head indicating he was ready too. He angled his body in such a way as to make sure Maleficent would see the harness. He dipped his left wing down to the ground to further show the contraption. He thought, "I hope she has her night vision on."
Robin's red glow traced down towards the south side of the clearing. Diaval could see movement in the wall himself. She was coming.
As expected, Maleficent exited the wall and had a seething look on her face. Her head was low and she was showing her teeth in pure anger.
Robin quickly said, "Please, my lady, don't turn me into anything, I will explain."
"Explain What?!" She snapped. She was infuriated. "Was this your idea?" She stopped and started to raise her hand as if to get ready to cast a spell.
"No, No, No, this was all Diaval's idea."
She put her arm down "We will see about that!" she snapped again and then marched towards Diaval.
When she was in voice shot, she yelled up at him "You have some helluva nerve to fly HERE into the Moors. What if one of Stefan's goons saw this, it would ruin ev..." she was interrupted by Robin's red glow forcing her eyes towards the harness that was strapped at the junction between Diavals neck and back.
Her voice calmed down as she walked over and looked at the contraption on Diaval's back. At first she thought it might have been some kind of weapon. But she knew he breathed fire and was not in need of such a thing.
"What's this?" she said, puzzled.
"It is for you, my lady", Robin said proudly, bowing before Maleficent.
Maleficent had a dumbfounded look on her face. She walked closer to the harness. When she saw the seat, straps and reins that ran out to a collar on Diavals neck it hit her like a ton of bricks. The anger melted from her face and she had a very soft look.
"Oh...Oh My word! Robin? Did you?"
"No, my lady, as I said, this was all Diaval's idea. He wanted to do something special for you. His whole being a dragon was because he wanted you to fly again. So, my lady, tonight you fly!"
She looked to Diaval's face and he winked at her.
Robin said, "I believe it is best we leave you two alone now". Robin waved to the other fae creatures that helped him and they all disappeared into the forest. Robin did however want to see Diaval fly and he hid behind tree near the edge of the clearing.
"Diaval...I...I", she stuttered. She walked up to his lowered wing, and rubbed the front edge as she did the first night he was transformed into the dragon. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and her knees began to buckle. An overwhelming feeling came over her as she rested her face against his wing.
Diaval lowered his body and placed his left claw near the harness as a foot hold for her to climb on.
She stood up and said with her voice quavering, "Oh! Diaval, words cannot express what I am feeling now." A single tear ran down her face from each eye and she turned away for a moment. She slowly approached his claw and tried to stifle her tears when she climbed into the seat.
Robin flew over and explained the harness to Maleficent and how everything worked. Malficent had a difficult time keeping her composure as she was overwhelmed by the thought of being able to fly again after so long. One strap went across her waist and two more criss crossed over her shoulders and went back down to the harness. Her legs draped down on either side of the base of Diaval's neck. After settling in place, she took the reins and wrapped one around each wrist. He explained how the reins worked too as he put together a simple system. Pull left to go left, right to go right, both to go up, relax both to go down.
"I don't believe this is going to happen", Maleficent said to herself. "I have not taken to the air since I had my own wings over 16 years ago."
She let out a couple deep breaths and her voice quavered when spoke up and said, "Ok, Diaval, I am ready"
Diaval turned around to get more room and spread his large wings.
Maleficent was very impressed to be sitting in between those massive wings as she looked down the length of each wing in turn her body began to tremble.
"Diaval!" She called up to him.
"Huuuuhhh?" he grunted as if he said, 'yes'.
"Remember to fly low and head to the cliff"
"Lets fly!"
Diaval pushed down twice really hard and they lurched off the ground.
"Oh!" Maleficent was a bit surprised at the sudden lurch in take off.
A couple more beats of his wings and they started to move forward.
"Oh, yeah!" Maleficent shouted out as they picked up speed and the ground fell below her.
Robin looked on as the two took off, "Now that's my girl", tears started to fall from his eyes. A nearby water faerie handed him a leaf to wipe his tears. He said to her, "You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment...to see Malficent fly again."
They reached the cliff and the clearing in no time and he dove down past the cliff.
Maleficent saw Diaval look back towards her and she smiled. He smiled back.
"Go a little faster Diaval!", she shouted.
He pumped his wings a bit harder and they started going faster. Maleficent looked down as they neared the ground and Diaval banked into a turn.
"Wonderful!", she shouted with a smile. "Again, another pass, over the trees!"
He banked up and then coasted right above the tree tops. Maleficent grabed both reins in her left hand and did a fist pump in the air with her right hand. "Wooo Hooo!" she yelled out.
Diaval looked back at his mistress having a great time on his back and a tear came to his eye.
While the night vision spell worked great, Maleficent couldn't help to think what it would be like to see the countryside and also the Moors in the daytime. But she knew this would be impossible as long as Stefan was alive. She hoped for the day she would be able to do this in broad daylight. For now though, she revelled in the moment of being able to fly again. She closed her eyes and felt the air rush by her face much the same way when she used to fly into a headwind.
"Oh! How I missed this so", she thought to herself. She could feel her eyes well up once again.
They flew around the south clearing and Dragon's Claw castle for what seemed like about an hour. Diaval let out a grunt.
"Diaval, what is the matter?"
He tossed a nod back towards his wings.
"Oh! You are tired and want to land?"
He nodded yes.
"Ok, land on the cliff."
They circled around one more time and Diaval put his claws out and pulled his wings back to come in for a landing. He maticulously adjusted his wings for a feather touch landing.
"Wonderful landing, Diaval! Wonderful flying!" Maleficent shouted as she undid the straps on the harness and got out. She then removed the harness from his back.
She waved her hand once and he shrunk back down into a raven and then again to change him into a man.
"Did you enjoy your flight, my mistress?" Diaval asked he breathed a bit heavy, being out of breath from flying so long.
"Diaval..." she paused as she reached for both of his hands and then wrapped her fingers around his. "Th... Tha... That was the best gift anyone could have given me. Thank you! Thank You a hundred times Thank You", with each 'thank you' her fingers squeezed harder. She leaned forward and tilted her head down until their foreheads touched.
Diaval looked at her forehead and resisted the urge to kiss her there. No Diaval don't do it. Not without her permission. He was going to ask, but then the words came out differently.
"May I give you a hug, my mistress?"
"Yes, you may. Tonight you earned it"
He wrapped his arms around her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
This was the happiest he had seen his mistress in the whole time he was in service to her.