Wish retold: Chapter 5
Hello, the new chapter is finally out. Sorry for the long time, but you know it yourselves, Christmas, New Year and all that. Thanks for your patience and I hope you like it 😊. Next chapter at the end of the week.
And for those who haven't seen the movie, this is a completely original chapter, so I hope it's not too much… well you know 😉.
Magnifico
"Come with me!" he yelled directly at the two members of the royal guard who were standing in front of the main gate to the castle. He didn't have to tell them twice. They immediately ran after their king and followed him down the wide street that led to the center of the city, from which the frightened screams of women and children, and even men, were still heard. They ran as fast as they could in the given situation, but the terrified townspeople running opposite them and getting in their way slowed their progress considerably. They must have been trying to flee to the castle, which was now probably the safest place in the city. After all, what else but the protective wings of their king will protect them from this... this... what actually? Chills ran down Magnifico's spine. He had no idea what he was getting into. He hoped… no, he was sure that he would do even the impossible to overcome any opponent, but he wasn't sure if that would be enough in this situation.
There was a loud crash of metal against stone behind him. The king slowed down for a moment and glanced over his shoulder at one of the guards, who was eventually overpowered by the mob and knocked hard to the ground. He shouldn't have done that. He suddenly bumped into something hard, that is, something rather bumped into him. A sharp pain came from his stomach, and it almost took his breath away. He rolled onto his back, and something landed right on top of him.
Fortunately, Magnifico recovered immediately. He shot an annoyed look at the scoundrel who had knocked him down like that, but when his eyes finally adjusted to the dazzling rays of the midday sun and he noticed who had actually landed on him, his anger immediately passed and was replaced by concern. The young woman immediately pulled away from him and paid no attention to him. Terrified, she stared at something precious in her arms, and her eyes filled with tears from fear. With her hands, she quickly began to unwrap the layers of the blanket that protected her little treasure. Even Magnifico lay there for a moment, holding his breath, completely motionless. He was afraid of what he would see.
Finally, a child's cry was heard, and a red face peeked out from under the blanket. As if nothing else existed around her, the woman hugged the child and tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. Even Magnifico forgot everything else for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief. But it didn't take long, and the world woke up again. Luckily.
Magnifico felt it first. That irregular shaking of the ground. He peeked behind the woman who was still sitting on his torso and saw what made his blood freeze in his veins. From the center of the city, another wave of terrified people rushed directly at them at insane speed, taking with them everything that got in their way.
"Damn it!" he whispered to himself. He shot out both hands to the woman with the child and as carefully as he could, shot his magic from his fingertips to them. As the woman rose into the air and began to fly quickly through the air towards one of the narrow side alleys, she squealed and clutched her child to her chest even harder. Once she was out of harm's way on the main street, Magnifico began to lower her to the ground, but he ran out of time. So, he interrupted the flow of magic and the woman fell from a height to the ground, but luckily, she landed on her feet.
The blind crowd was almost at him. With a groan of pain, he rolled onto his stomach, clumsily scrambled to his feet, and finally he too shot out of the way of the calamity. The moment he moved, dozens of devastating footsteps landed on the spot where he had been lying just a moment ago.
He squeezed into the gap between the houses and watched what was happening in front of him as if scalded. The woman next to him seems to have only now realized what actually happened. Dismay appeared in her eyes.
"Y-your majesty, I-I-I..." she mumbled, unable to get a single coherent sentence out. Magnifico looked away from the main street and turned his attention to her. He finally took a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" he asked after a moment.
The woman nodded quickly.
"Okay... T-that's good..." the king got out of himself. "Now, please tell me what's going on there? Why all this…" he pointed to the main street with his thumb.
The woman hesitated for a moment, as if she didn't even know how to answer such a question.
"So?" Magnifico raised his voice, but he didn't want to scare her, but he had to get the answer out of her.
"Sir, I... I don't even know what exactly happened. At one point I was at the market for fruit... and then the screams and roars... And then everyone was running and then..."
He wasn't going to get more from her, that was already clear to him. He sighed in defeat.
"Sir!" came a voice from the other side of the alley. Both guard members quickly ran towards them. One of them, the one who, like the king himself, had almost ended up under the townspeople's feet, had apparently lost his helmet in the chaos, and half of his face was now adorned with a large red spot, and his nose was twisted unnaturally to the side.
"Are you all right, your majesty?" shouted the uninjured soldier. Magnifico straightened and a serious expression settled on his face. He just nodded to the question, looking at the mother and child. How many people have found themselves in a similar situation?
"Marcus, Tobias," he addressed the two soldiers, "return to the castle and..." What should he command them? What the hell is he supposed to do?!
"Help people."
"But sir..." Tobias said.
"BUT NOTHING! Take her to the castle, get the others and get that crowd under control! Did you understand?!"
The soldiers straightened sharply and roared in two voices, "Yes, sir!"
Magnifico paid no more attention to them. He waited a little longer and when he finally could, he ran back to the main street and headed towards the center of town. But this time he didn't look back.
He made his way through the crowd, hiding behind the walls of houses and running through the vast side streets. However, he was gripped by more and more fear and anger. He was left alone. A-and… that's good! No one will get under his feet, he won't have to take care of anyone. That's right, a true king should always go into battle alone. And to fall all by himself...
Just a little bit. He can already see the house, around the corner of which is the marketplace and thus the city center. His stomach began to twist dangerously. Just a few more steps. Almost...
He ran around the corner and stopped abruptly. He stood as if scalded with his mouth open and an uncomprehending look in his eyes. The sight was indeed... strange to say the least.
Animals of all kinds have taken over the center of the city. People crammed into shops with broken glass windows on the sides of the wide square, others scrambled to the wooden market stalls that were still standing, and some... were still running up and down trying to escape the little "bloodthirsty beasts". An army of rabbits demolished anything wooden they could get their teeth on and laughingly counted down the thin legs of the stall, on the roof of which five people had climbed and begged to be left alone. Wait... laughing? And did they count down? Since when could...
"What the hell..." Magnifico whispered. He still somehow couldn't get over and process what was happening before his own eyes.
"Heeeeey, isn't that... that... oh, you know!" a shrill voice suddenly sounded, and time seemed to stop for a moment. All the animals froze in place. When they moved again, all eyes were on the king. Both animal and human.
"Sure, it's him!" said another voice and Magnifico quickly turned to its source. On the roof of one of the shops sat a half-bald squirrel – or it could have been a rat, he wasn't quite sure – pointing at him with a furry paw.
Magnifico finally recovered. He stared at the people crouching at the stall and gritted his teeth, making his way towards them. The rabbits on the ground were jumping away so that he wouldn't accidentally step on them.
"Hey, Magnifico," someone suddenly addressed him. The king stopped and shot his gaze to the ground, to another squirrel, this time rusty and quite shaggy, which stood directly in front of him on its hind legs and clutched a kind of nut in its front paws. He would swear, and it would be true, that the rodent was smiling arrogantly at him. That expression of hers irritated him to the point of insanity. He bent sharply, grabbed the squirrel in his right hand and gave it a good shake. However, that didn't remove smile from her face.
"Are you so afraid of this?! You're going to trample each other because of rats?!" this time he pierced the group of people at the stand with his gaze.
"You're going to wreck my town for a bunch of dirty . . ."
"Hey," said someone from the rabbit army, "what did the guy in the pajamas say? Is he insulting us?"
"Oh, yes, and how! He called us rats!"
A chorus of horrified squeals rang out from the crowd of animals, and the faces of the previously cute rabbits turned into... the faces of real bloodthirsty beasts. Magnifico swallowed loudly.
"Oh, and actually..." said the squirrel, which he was still clutching in his palm, "this is greetings from the Star!" The squirrel smiled even more, stretched out, and the cursed nut flew out of her little paws and slammed directly into Magnifico's eye. Yelling in both pain and surprise, he released his grip. The small animal slipped out of his palm, ran over his hand, and jumped from his shoulder to the ground.
His eye stung and watered, he couldn't even see with it for a while. However, his sight did not even have time to return properly when the choir shouted: "Get him!"
"Oh, dammit!" shouted the king as he was showered by hundreds of little rabbits with their teeth bared.
They were insanely organized! While one group remained standing, others climbed onto its back, and then again and again. In no time they formed a small pyramid, from the top of which several animals were about to jump on the king to scratch, bite and who knows what else. When he finally shook a few off and blew some away to the other end of the square with a magical whirlwind, he was immediately charged with another and then another animals. Nuts, stones and smelly things... small, round and black things... rained down on him from the sky. Or rather from paws of dozens of squirrels that stood all over the roofs of shops.
"Enough!" Magnifico screamed and the air around him vibrated, glittered and began to solidify until it became an impenetrable shield that surrounded him completely and pushed most of the rabbits away from him. Their formations disintegrated, they fell to the ground with dramatic expressions, and then…
"Retreat!" came a soft voice.
The army scattered in all directions, even the squirrels hid somewhere.
The king was panting, and his hair was bouncing in all directions. His robe was torn, but he escaped almost unscathed. Only here and there were teeth or tiny claw marks decorating his skin. He shot a fiery look at the people who were still trembling but watching him with admiration.
"So," he addressed them angrily, "are you going to spend the whole day there?!" They didn't react, they just continued to watch him in terror.
"Get down from there and..." he didn't have time to finish. Something green-gray-white landed on his shoulder. At first, he stood there in disgust, but then he forced himself to look at the new decoration on his already damaged robe. A rough voice suddenly came to him from the sky: "Target focused! Squadron, you are cleared to attack!"
"What again..." the king looked up at the sky, which was crisscrossed by dozens of different birds, right above him.
"Fire!" was heard and something started raining from the sky... something more or less white. However, Magnifico was not impressed. With a frustrated expression, he waved his right hand and was once again surrounded by the same air shield as a moment ago. The "air attack" was unsuccessful.
"This is disgusting and embarrassing!" shouted the king loud enough for those up there to hear.
"Heh, that's what you think!" laughed the same bird that gave the "attack" instruction. Sure, very original.
Magnifico canceled his shield and snapped his fingers to get rid of the mess on his shoulder as well. He really thought that the animals couldn't do anything else.
"Um, excuse me," someone tapped him on the shoulder. With something sharp. And long. In the confusion, Magnifico didn't even notice that someone approached him from behind. He turned on his heel and… immediately took a few steps back.
"I heard that you're doing here a kind of… what do you call it…" the giant bear was smiling at him, but waving its several centimeters long claws up and down as it did so. Magnifico did not perceive what the bear was saying. A great fear seized him. H-h-he can defend himself! F-f-f-for s-s-s-sure... for God's sake, what is he supposed to do?!
"Cakes! Honey cookies! Exactly! I heard you make them here, but I haven't been able to find them yet. And, heh, you know, I promised I wouldn't eat anyone, so I thought I'd instead…"
Magnifico was still retreating towards the stalls. They're not high enough, but he won't make it to the store in time. If he climbs the stand, he will at least have some distance from the beast and maybe buy some time to cast a more complex spell. How about a shield? Um, maybe for a few minutes, but how long will he be able to keep it from a bear attack? He can handle one stronger blow, yes, but what then? If he casts too powerful a spell without preparation, will he remain conscious? What should he do...
"I'd have a couple of those honey cakes of yours instead. Could you point me," the bear slowly turned and began to look around the square. This is his chance! Magnifico turned violently and ran towards the stalls. Later, he had no idea how he managed to get on the roof of one of them so quickly. When the bear stopped looking around, it closed its eyes in disappointment and maybe even annoyance, but it didn't even move.
Magnifico began to draw various symbols in the air with his hands, but the moment he tried to cast the spell, the entire booth shook madly. He lost his concentration and the spell dissipated into thin air. Several small rabbits ran from under the stall with mischievous smiles. The gnawed away wooden legs couldn't stand it and broke into small pieces with a crash.
Magnifico staggered and began to approach the ground dangerously fast along with the wooden kiosk. When he could almost feel his bones cracking and his breath melting on the stone tile, something jerked him to the side. Although he landed hard on the right side, it was still a much better alternative.
"Hmph, how typical. It's really rare to come across a well-behaved person these days," muttered the bear as he pulled out one of his claws from behind Magnifico's belt with which he pulled him to safety.
The king did not know what to say to that. And actually... he didn't even know how to say it. Terrified, he tried to take deep breaths and calm down, but he still couldn't.
"You know, now that I've done something for you, it would be nice..." the bear stopped suddenly, straightened up and looked into the distance.
The ground began to shake. Magnifico recovered at least enough to look where the bear was also looking.
"Hey, y-you didn't forget to tell them that Plan D was just a joke, did you?" the bear turned his attention to the squirrels who were now standing on the shop roofs again. But they just shook their little heads in fear.
The shaking got worse and worse and the rumbling coming from behind the distant buildings got louder and louder until finally... No...
Magnifico quickly scrambled to his feet and stared in horror at the oncoming rampage. A frightened herd of deer ran along a path that led directly to the square and then further into the city. They took with them everything that came in their way and left behind only devastation and destruction.
"RUN!" roared the rusty squirrel that had nearly gouged out Magnifico's eye earlier. Everything was in chaos. The ground was flooded by an army of rodents, which rushed headlong in all directions. The bear ran towards the castle.
The king looked back towards the stall from which the terrified people were now trying to climb down. His people. They were all old men and women, it's a miracle that they even got up there, but they don't have time to get to safety. They don't stand a chance.
Magnifico's stomach clenched, but when he saw the people who would surely lose their lives without his help, he immediately knew what he had to do. Everything went away. Any feeling. The pain, the fear, the doubt, it was all just... gone.
He straightened up, took a deep breath, and concentrated as best he could. He could feel the currents of omnipresent magic that surrounded everything and everyone, beating hearts all around, the force of life. He took another deep breath and then held his breath. Without preparation, he has only one chance, then darkness will come. Maybe forever. And that's okay. The king is to fall alone. It is supposed to be the only life that can be taken. Nobody's else. Only his life. HE IS THE KING!
He exhaled so violently that his lungs stung, but he ignored it. He grabbed hold of the magic that surrounded all life around him, literally grabbed it so hard that it pulsated under his fingers and threatened to take his own life and never give it back to him. Well, he knew what to do. How to dance with the air with his hands to calm the magic down, to control what was not his and not pay for it the highest price. When the magic finally gave up resisting, he felt it. This is the moment! He stopped violently with his hands in the air and forced this endless flow of power to stop as well. At first everything stopped, but that was not his goal. He felt the beats of individual hearts and knew whose magic he wanted to release from his grip. He gradually loosened the individual threads until finally only the unwelcome guests who caused this chaos remained standing frozen in time.
The animals could not even move. They remained as if frozen in the middle of the movement. Magnifico lowered his arms along his body. The image before his eyes was beginning to darken and blur. His legs stopped listening to him until they threatened to give up completely. But he stood firm. He had to take one last look to make sure the spell had worked.
"Your Highness!" someone shouted behind him. But he didn't have the courage to move, he would surely be engulfed in sweet unconsciousness. Several royal guards flew out from behind him and immediately surrounded him. Marcus, the uninjured soldier who was supposed to ensure the safety of the people of Rosas, approached him and sized him up uncertainly. The other soldiers stared in disbelief at the scene before them.
"Your majesty," Marcus addressed the king once more, seeing that he seemed oblivious, "should I call a..."
"Take them and take them where they belong," Magnifico whispered almost inaudibly, "and if they happen to return, there will be roast rabbits served at Rosas."
Marcus turned to the other men and nodded for them to go and carry out the king's order. He then turned his attention back to Magnifico, who was getting closer and closer to the ground, and slung one of Magnifico's arms over his shoulder. The king bore down on him with most of his weight, but still remained conscious.
Marcus called on one more soldier for help, and together they led - or rather carried - their king back to the castle. As they passed through the courtyard where the townspeople had taken refuge, Magnifico seemed to muster the last bits of strength and walked through the crowd, straight and dignified. People admired him softly and whispered words of praise and thanks. However, the moment the castle gates were closed, and the show was over, the king couldn't take it anymore. His knees buckled and the soldiers had to lower him willy-nilly to the ground.
Amaya ran to them immediately. Seeing her king in this state, she knelt down beside him and took his face in her hands to make sure that he was still breathing.
"Send for a doctor at once!" She turned to Marcus for a moment, and he immediately carried out her order. She then turned her attention to her husband who barely noticed her.
"Hold on, just please hold on!" she whispered, scanning him from head to toe for possible injuries. However, apart from a few scratches and abrasions, she found nothing suspicious.
"What happened there?" the queen asked a question directed at the young soldier.
"A-amaya…does this look like pajamas?" came the reply from Magnifico who gestured to the tattered robe with a shaky hand, but his voice was so weak that no one could hear him.
"What was it? W-what are you saying?"
"Because I think I've just been insulted by a rabbit," Magnifico laughed sadly with an absent-minded look.
Amaya just looked at him horrified and could not speak.
No one who witnessed today's disaster would have dreamed that while screams of terror echoed through the city, the path leading into the forest was filled with the victorious laughter of someone who had no idea what he had exposed the city to. The city she was trying to "save".