A Dance with Destiny

Chapter Nine: Melee

The stands were silent for a long white, until the Hummingbird through his head back and laughed—a long, boisterous laugh that carried off into the sky.

"You…you have no…no idea how long I've…" He couldn't finish the rest, too preoccupied with his laughter. Griff wasn't laughing. His lips were pressed together tightly, his sword gripped tightly in his hand. Finally, Mercury Dragonfly managed to recover enough to look up at the viewing stand where the king and queen were sitting. "How's this for a family reunion, eh, Moon?"

The queen's mouth was hanging open, but then she closed it, shot to her feet, and yelled, "Seize him!" When nobody moved, she looked around, frazzled. "What are you doing? Your queen gave you a command!"

"The false queen," a man said. He was wearing an orange doublet with long sleeves. "Our true ruler is there!" He pointed to Mercury.

"Lord Darklyn," she said, "this is treason. You will be tried and executed for this."

"Is it treason to support my rightful king?"

Mercury laughed. "You see, cousin? This entire tourney was a farce, designed to trick you into leaving the comfort of your—excuse me, my castle."

"Lord Flaagon?" Queen Moon asked.

The lord closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but it's true. You are no true queen, and you killed my brother in your war, I'll not follow you anymore."

Griff scoffed. "You are no true king, bastard. Your brother Quasar still lives, the eldest child of Luna Dragonfly."

"Then I shall win this kingdom for my dear brother," said Mercury. "Men, seize the king and queen. Kill anyone who tries to stop you. Bring this one"—he pointed his sword at Griff—"to my chambers. I wish to speak with him."

From above, men began to shift and move, drawing their blades. Knights formed a protective circle around Moon and River, but there were too few to stop them.

"No!" Griff shouted, desperate. He had come too far. He would not lose his kingdom to some usurper.

"No?" the bastard said, perplexed. "My dear Griff, nobody can stop this. This is destiny."

No, Griff thought, this is my dance with destiny. Then a spark came to him, a bright bolt of electricity that surged through his whole core.

"If it is meant to be," he said slowly, "then surely the gods would agree with you."

Mercury cocked his head. "Surely. What of it?"

"Two sides here claim different things. One says you are a king, another says you are a pretender. Let the gods decide which of them it right."

Mercury shifted on his feet. "An interesting proposal. How would this be decided?"

"A trial by battle," Griff said. "I represent one side, you another."

The prince tsked. "It is not a worthy thing for a prince to battle a squire." He lowered his voice. "But a prince against a prince…"

He knows who I am, Griff realized at once, heart pounding. He coughed. "Yes, but I am the king's squire, trained to fight by him with his own blades. Surely that means I am worthy of representing him."

"Griff…" he heard the king say.

He gave the king a look that said Trust me. King River looked conflicted for a few moments, but then he nodded and sat down. Emboldened with a newfound sense of confidence, Griff turned to face his combatant.

"What say you, Dragonfly? Certainly a ruler such as you has no fear from a lowly squire."

There was murmuring from the crowd. All the lords and ladies were looking at the pretender, eyes wide with curiosity.

"Very well, then!" cried the Dragonfly. There was thunderous applause from the stands. "However," the prince called out, "I must present myself truly, if I am to be in the gods' favor. Allow me one moment, sir."

"If you flee—"

"—then the gods will deem me unworthy. Fear not, friend, I shan't flee."

He retreated to his pavilion, where he began to shed his armor. From beneath his metal, Griff began to sweat. He knows who I am. If he escapes or lives, he'll tell all my secret. No, I won't let that happen. He won't leave here alive.

Less than a minute later, the Hummingbird was back on the field, but he was no longer a Hummingbird. He was dressed in fine plate, a surcoat displaying the Dragonfly sigil—a soaring green dragonfly on a black field—over his chest, a great long sword in his hand. His helmet was off, and his hair dripped wet; honey-blonde, with silver stars on his cheeks.

"Are you prepared?" he asked. "I won't be going easy on you."

"I'm ready," Griff said. "Come on, then."

Mercury charged quickly, sword flashing in the sunlight. Griff caught it and spun away, untouched. Mercury came on again, but Griff caught the strike on his shield, wood chops flying this way and that. Griff pushed into the pretender with his shoulder, sending the princeling into the mud.

"The Green Fly?" someone called from the stands. "More like the Brown Fly!" There was laughter now, coming from all sides. Mercury blushed under his helm and charged with a loud bellow.

Griff was sent reeling as the sword came quickly and without warning, slashing right, left, left, right, up, down, down, up, left, down, and onwards it went.

Something hard slammed Griff in the back, and he turned to see it was one of the posts of a nearby pavilion. A torch hung on it, and a large barrel of oil glistened black below it. Suddenly Griff got an idea.

The Hummingbird was upon him now, armor wet and brown as a chamber pot. He raised his sword again, but Griff slammed his chest with his shield, sending him stumbling back. At once, Griff swung his sword around again, plunging it up to the hilt into the oil. Before his opponent could recover and charge him, he withdrew his sword and swiped it through the torch overhead; instantly the oil caught fire and his sword glowed with the dozens of red tongues of fire that danced up his blade.

Spectators gasped and awed, and Griff could feel the warmth of the fire on his wrist and hand, but he didn't care. This wasn't a tourney for squires or a battle in the honor of his kingdom—this was a battle between a usurper and a prince who refused to give up his crown for anything.

Mercury stopped abruptly, eyes wide. Griff took that opportunity to attack. He slashed and hacked, at sword, leg, face, shield, feet, and arms. When the sword caught on the shield, the flames caught on the shield and spread quickly.

Mercury stumbled back, screaming. He hacked down at the shield, splitting it into tiny pieces, but more were still strapped to his arm. By now people were screaming things like, "Help him!" or "Somebody stop this!" and "Kill him!"

He is no warrior, Griff observed. He charged again, bringing their swords together again, sending flames down on the Hummingbird's surcoat, which began to smoke and catch fire. Mercury screamed and tried to push Griff away, to no avail.

Griff swung his sword again, but when the blades came together, his sword split, the blade spinning away into the mud.

Mercury bellowed and swung wildly, cutting at his neck and head. Griff's head was swimming with pain, one eye forced closed from a blow of Mercury's pommel. I have to end this. When the sword came on again, Griff shifted, caught the blade under his arm and sent his shield at his opponent's head. Something warm slid down his face and into his mouth, and Griff realized that he was bleeding.

Mercury fell backwards. Griff grabbed his burning surcoat with two hands and pulled it off, throwing it aside. He reached into his belt and pulled free his dagger. With one hand he pulled off the Dragonfly's helm and tossed it aside. Gripping his dagger with both hands, he raised it over his head and stabbed downward.

Mercury caught his wrists, keeping the blade a few centimeters away from his jugular. For a few seconds they struggled, but then Griff got a second wind and forced the knife down, stabbing right into the princeling's neck. Red blood oozed from the wound and a line trickled down Mercury's mouth. His eyes were wide with fear.

Griff let go of the dagger and pulled his helmet off. At once he was drowned in smells and sounds: men and women screaming, the clang of swords, the smell of burnt flesh and dented metal, the taste of blood.

Below him, Mercury Dragonfly let out a light whimpering sound.

"Cos…mos…"

Then he went still, his eyes glazed over and foggy.

Griff raised a mailed hand to his forehead, feeling his warm forehead. When he brought his hand down to look at it, he saw the fingers were covered in blood, and he felt his hair was stuck down by something.

Oh, he had time to think, then black spots swam in his vision, and he saw the ground coming up to meet him. The last thing he felt was cool mud mixing with warm blood.

-o-

His eyes felt heavy, and he heard the sound of cracks as he opened them. Looking around, he saw that he was in the infirmary, a bandage around his forehead.

"So, the great hero wakes."

Surprised, Griff turned to see Queen Moon, sitting in the chair next to his bed. "Queen Moon!" he said, shooting up. "What a surprise! Give me a—" he was interrupted by hand pushing down on his chest, forcing him from getting out of bed.

"Stay down," the queen said softly, "we have a lot to talk about."

Griff swallowed but stayed put.

"That was a very foolish thing you did."

Griff nodded. "I know. It's just…I couldn't watch you die. You or the king."

The queen sighed. "You shouldn't have to worry about that."

He shrugged. "No, but I still do." There was a pause. "What happened to Lord Flaagon?"

"He and his co-conspirators are being tried as we speak. They'll be found guilty and either executed or fined heavily. Either way, they'll think twice about trying to overthrow us again." She looked at him with a smile. "Don't misunderstand me, Griff, you were very brave, but next time, try and act a little more cautiously. River would never forgive himself if something happened to you."

"I'll keep that in mind, Your Grace."

"You've turned into quite the story, Griff."

"Your Grace?"

"They're calling you the Brightflame. And the Boy with the Flaming Sword. And Firebrand. Quite amusing, actually."

Griff smiled. "I didn't mean to. It was just a split-second thing, you know?"

Moon laughed. "I do, actually." She ran a hand through his hair. "Are you well enough to stand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. I'll get you some proper clothes. We'll meet River outside the castle walls."

"Where are we, Your Grace?"

"Castle Flaagon's infirmary. Lord Flaagon was more than willing to find you a doctor for your wounds. Don't try and remove the bandages, or you could end up in far worse condition." She rose.

"Come, Griff, we're going home."

A/N: Okay everyone, what did you think? Next chapter will be the Battle of Mewni, and Cosmos will finally meet Star. Get hype! Anyway, please leave a review telling me what you thought. If you liked it, then favorite, and if you want to see how this ends, please don't forget to follow. PM me with questions, concerns, etc., and I'll do my best to respond as soon as possible.