It had been an hour or so since the Dreamland entourage had left Twinkletown Insane Asylum and Bean had finally managed to fall asleep in the royal carriage.
The grey morning had turned darker and Pendergast and the other knights looked nervously to the sky and quickened their pace. It looked like it was going to storm and with haste, and some luck, they might be able to avoid the majority of the rain.
Spurring his stallion into a quick trot, Pendergast led the way with his fellows behind him surrounding Bean's carriage. Upon his shoulder Luci, who was still pouting from being ousted from the carriage and hadn't said much. Pendergast hadn't said much either, choosing rather to focus on his surroundings and his thoughts. His lone eye kept glancing to the sky and the heavy, dark clouds. It was quiet and with Twinkletown now behind them they met less and less travellers on the road. It would seem that most had hunkered down, perhaps, in preparation of the storm.
Pendergast narrowed his eye.
"Something on your mind, dearie?" Luci mocked in a feminine tone, crossing one leg over another and looking aside at his human transportation.
"I'm not sure…" Pendergast replied slowly and in a low tone, his eye shifting from side to side. "Just… something doesn't feel right…"
"I don't feel anything, except hunger. I could really go for like… some ham right now? Maybe with some sausage and mustard on the side? Mm, yeah. Oh! And some beer. Actually, let's just stop and get some beer, eh? Eh, Pendergast? Pendergast? Penny-Penny-Pendergast? Dude, are you even listening to me?"
Luci shut up when Pendergast suddenly lifted his hand and called over his shoulder to the other knights.
"Hasten your pace, men, and be on your guard!"
The entourage increased their collective speed to a slow canter. Something wasn't sitting right with Pendergast and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was like how he felt hunger, thirst, or anything anymore: it was subtle and it was different. All the knight knew was that something was not right and it was putting him on high alert. His stomach was twisting in knots and his gloved hands tightened on the leather of his reins.
"Dude? What's got your panties in a bunch?" Luci quipped, noting the man's tenseness.
Pendergast glanced aside at the former-demon, before frowning at the road ahead.
"Keep a sharp eye out," he instructed, keeping his voice low. "There's something amiss, my friend."
Luci blew a raspberry and settled against the knight's head.
"I think that you're getting a bit paranoid, my dude-"
"NOW!"
The quiet of the wood that surrounded the road suddenly erupted with the whoops and hollers of several concealed men who jumped from the silvage. A large log that had been hidden in the canopy above crashed down onto the road, mere feet in front of Pendergast's stallion, causing the beast to whinny and rear. Several of the Dreamland Knight's horses shrieked from fright from the sudden ambush and the entourage came to a sudden halt, all bunched together and disorganized from the chaos.
"Highwaymen! Knights of Dreamland! Draw your weapons! Protect the Queen!"
Pendergast rallied his men and drew his own sword as more and more men emerged from the surrounding woods. However, two knights were quickly shot down from archers above and their horses clashed into the ones pulling the carriage. The carriage rocked back and Bean was shaken asleep, confused by the shouting of men and the cries of horses.
Luci hadn't lied: the woman really could sleep through nearly anything.
"Wh-what? What's going on?" Bean asked before yawning and wiping her eyes. "Guys?"
The queen didn't know that no one was listening to her… well, none of her men, anyways.
Another arrow from the canopy struck the carriage's coachman in the heart and he called out as he fell to the ground. Knights fought armed men, their faces obscured by camouflage, but their numbers greatly outmatched the Dreamlanders. Pendergast fought hard, hacking at one man after another, but there was always another to take his place. Growling with fury, the knight could not make any progress towards the carriage and his breath caught when he saw enemies surrounding it.
"To the Queen!" he shouted, but it was too late.
The harnesses of the horses pulling the carriage were cut and the horses were slapped to run, causing more chaos as they bashed their way through the fighting crowd of men. With precision and apparent practice, the men surrounded the carriage and from their dark cloaks they revealed lengths of what looked to be rope or wire.
"Guys?" Bean questioned, going to the door, only to jump back with a scream when a barb suddenly impaled through the wood.
"The fu-?!"
"Stay in there, girly!"
"Girly!?"
More barbs were stuck into the wood and the wire was being wrapped around the carriage, encircling it, and trapping Bean inside. Before any of the knights could get closer to their queen, the carriage was wrapped tightly like some sort of present. Bean could be heard shouting from inside, pounding at the door, but the wires held it locked and the windows were covered and made it impossible for her to try and squeeze out. Nevermind that the carriage was still surrounded by highwaymen… if that's who they were. Men appeared on top of the carriage, throwing down luggage and supplies to clear the top, before others from the ground threw wires up to them. The men on top seemed to be tying them together into a great loop.
The hell was going on here?
Pendergast roared and freed another man's head from his shoulders as Luci kicked another in the face with a chortle.
"Who are these guys? If -" Luci paused to slap another highwayman passing by with his tail "- they're here to rob us, they're doing a shit job!"
Pendergast stabbed another man and as he withdrew his sword, he realized that Luci was right. Snapping his attention to the carriage, he saw the thing tied up with Bean trapped inside. He'd been a fool… those weren't higheymen.
"TO THE QUEEN!" he cried, but his voice was lost as a gale erupted from the sky and the forest around them twisted and groaned with the great wind.
A great shadow befell them all and the greyness of the day turned even darker. The knights, busy with their fighting and their attempts to get closer to the carriage, were all thwarted when a great rumble filled the air. Confusion and fear swept through the men and horses reared in terror and confusion, knocking some of their riders to the ground, yet their assailants remained unperturbed and focused on their goals of securing the carriage. They formed a ring around it, impeding the knights from getting close and rescuing their queen, who was still shouting and cursing from inside.
The gale increased to a small hurricane and the low rumble from above grew louder to a low roar. It sounded so foreign, so menacing, yet somehow… oddly familiar somehow?
"Look out, guys! It's an airship!"
Bean's call snapped her mens' attention skyward, only for all of them to be immediately blinded as blazing lights blasted from the low cloud cover. The knights called out and groaned in pain as they covered their eyes. Most of their horses, having enough, began to bolt. Some took their riders with them, others reared up and their disoriented riders fell hard to the ground. Pendergast was one of the only riders who kept his seat, but he was also blinded and his stallion whinnied and circled in frantic panic.
Finally bursting through the clouds, the great airship hummed and roared. Its propellers cut through the air and they clearly were the cause of the gale force that thrashed the treetops and kicked up ribbons of dust. The ship's lights were the cause for the mass blindness and all were directed to the top of the carriage, upon which one of the ambushers were waving their arms to signal to the airship. The ship itself was round and plated with metal rather than being canvas-based or anything of the sort; this was a vessel that had come with one purpose.
Pendergast guessed what that was a moment before a latch opened on the ship's belly, from which dropped what looked to be a large hook at the end of rope. The rope and hook were quickly lowered to the awaiting hands of the henchman as Pendergast spurred his stallion to charge forward. He had to reach Bean! He must! He-
"Yo! Heads up!"
Unfortunately, Pendergast was blind on one side and Luci's warning was a second too late. A large branch was swung by one of the assailant's and strunk the knight square in the chest and knocked him clear off his horse. Landing hard on the ground, Pendergast groaned and coughed, seeing stars. The noise and madness of the situation dulled in his ears and everything got a distant echo to it as his head slowly rocked on the ground, the wind and sense knocked out of him. His vision wavered and his eye was trying to close when Luci's bright eye appeared in his line of sight.
"Pender…"
The man groaned, still on the edge of unconsciousness… Luci's voice sounded so far away.
"Pendergast!"
The knight blinked and narrowed his eye at his friend. What did he want now?
"PENDERGAST!"
Luci straight up slam dunked into the man's chest, causing him to grunt and cough, rolling onto his side and groaning. At least this new pain diverted his wavering consciousness away from his head.
"Get your ass up and save Bean already! Shit is literally taking off!"
Right, Bean! Shaking off his partial concussion, Pendergast shook his head and removed his helmet. With narrowed determination, he struggled to his knees and looked up at the ongoing situation in the air. It's a good thing that he didn't make it to his feet, because the sight before him would've knocked them out from under him. The hook and rope from the airship were not attached to the look of wires on top of the carriage, which was now being hefted into the air and was now dangling several feet off of the ground. Visible from one of the wire-covered windows was Bean, who was still shouting angrily at, well… everyone.
"Put me down, you bastards! I swear! What even is this?! Who gets kidnapped like this?! Like honestly! You could've just picked me up drunk from the bar! But noooo! You have to kill some of my knights first, you Steamland dicks! Hey! Put me down! GUYS?! Hey! He-hey guys! Hello! Do something! Do anything! This is so stupid! This is such overkill!"
The whirring and roar of the airship's engines increased and the whirlwind doubled. Higher and higher the carriage was lifted until its wheels brushed the treetops. With their job done, a whistle rang out amongst the ambushers who jumped back into the woods and disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared. Left behind in their wake were bodies, groaning knights, and a couple of prancing horses. Pendergast grunted as he got to his feet, eye fixed on the carriage being carried away. The man's breath caught when the airship began to move, slowly, and with it: Bean's carriage.
Biting back his pain, Pendergast hurried over to the nearest horse and pulled himself up. A spark of pleasure bloomed behind his eyes to see that it was his stallion, but he'd dwell on such good training later.
"After the Queen!" he ordered, whistling for his men to get on their feet and grab or find a horse, before he spurred his mount into a gallop.
Pendergast knew that there was little he could do now because… well, what exactly could he do?! Like for real! He was on a horse! Bean was in the air! All he could do now was try and keep as close to the airship and carriage as he could, but that was proving to be more difficult than just following on the ground. The airship was slowly moving away from the road and the forest was rather thick here, so the knight could foresee his horse falling behind rather quickly. Fortunately, he did hear the telltale sounds of horses following him, which meant that at least some of his men were competent and, you know, still alive.
Man… this day had turned into a regular cock-up.
"You know… this whole thing has taken the whole concept of "taking it to go" to a whole new level."
Pendergast snapped his head aside to see none other than Luci still on his shoulder. The ex-demon looked as blasé as ever, but there was a slight look of concern in his big, bright eyes. Seeing his small companion brought some hope to his distraught face and the man looked back up at the flying carriage with a slight smile of restored determination.
"We'll get her back! We have to…"
Meanwhile…. up in the air, Bean was having a very rough day.
The carriage was swaying slightly and that in itself sucked balls. It made it difficult for Bean to try and stand and even when she did somewhat succeed, she only ended up slamming into one of the carriage walls. She had better be careful with that, though, because of all the barbs and stuff sticking through the wood. Rolling onto the floor, Bean tried again to kick open the carriage door, but it was shut tight with the coils of wire wrapped around the entire carriage. Speaking of which, the higher that the carriage was lifted, the more the wood creaked and groaned at the strain of being carried, which it really hadn't been designed for. A couple of times now cracks in the wood began to form and splinter, causing Bean to shirk back and her fury was only stoked further.
"This is not the day for this…" Bean growled, gritting her teeth.
The queen's mental and emotional health had already taken a beating that morning, and now she was being kidnapped? By STEAMLAND? Oh…. there was going to be hell to pay and Bean wasn't just going to sit there and take it like some sort of useless princess or damsel.
Oh, hell no!
Reaching down to forcefully rip the bottom of her dress, Bean tore long strips of fabric as the carriage continued to sway. The noise in front of the airship was almost deafening. With her skirts shorter, Bean wrapped the fabric strips around her hands to protect her palms before also tying her hair back into a makeshift ponytail. After a second thought, she also reached down to remove her petticoat to further deflate the puffiness of her skirts so that it was just her bloomers and dress. If she succeeded in what she planned, there was no way she'd remove her bloomers to showcase her… well, everything to anyone down below. Even Bean had some standards about her nudity. With determination, Bean went over to one of the four carriage windows that was the least covered by criss-crossing wires. Using all of her strength, Bean pulled down on the wires and managed to inch them down a little bit.
Hopefully enough to squeeze her muscular and cute butt out of.
Sticking her head out the window, Bean narrowed her eyes up at the airship and its spotlights before turning her eyes downwards. The carriage was now a good twenty or so feet above the trees. That wouldn't deter her, though. Using the wires as grips, the queen stuck her arms and shoulders out of the window and started pulling herself out. With her boots on the bench seats, Bean pulled and pushed herself more out of the window and she managed to get her hips out. Things were looking up!
That is… until an all-too familiar voice filled the air.
"Ah! Bean! Now, I know that this might be rather unorthodox, but I must insist that you return to the safety of the carriage! A-all will be revealed soon! What you're doing is rather dangerous and the last thing I want to happen is for you to become injured! So, please, take a seat and try to enjoy the ride!"
Gripping the top of the carriage, Bean narrowed her eyes upwards towards the airship as her heart skipped a beat and inner trauma reignited. That voice… that fucking voice. It had haunted her nightmares for days and now it was being yelled at her through the airship's soundsystem.
"Screw you, Alva!" Bean called, flipping the airship the bird.
She almost said Nick Scratch… almost. If she hadn't had the airship to fixate on, a visual reminder of Steamland, she very well might have.
Grunting and growling, Bean wiggled and heaved herself out of the window and pulled herself more onto the top of the carriage. She didn't have a plan further than to get out of the carriage's cabin, but it was better than just sitting on her ass.
"B-Bean! Please! I must insist! Please return inside the carriage! Everything will be alright, I assure you!"
"That's Queen Tiabeanie to you, asshole!"
As Bean has said in the past: only her enemies called her Tiabeanie and Alva definitely qualified as such. He sure was a persistent and, therefore, creepy sonofabitch. You know, for tricking her into thinking he was someone else, wanting to steal or use or whatever Dreamland's magic, wanting to marry her… Okay, to be fair, Bean was still a bit unsure about that, but Alva had really been pushing for a union or partnership of sorts with her, and usually that meant marrying her. Especially now that she was queen and Alva was… wait, was he technically the King of Steamland? Was Steamland a kingdom? Or… oh! Also, Alva's brother, Skybert, had tried to kill her and Bean had… killed him? Well, he was probably dead, seeing as that he had fallen from an airship at a high altitude.
Speaking of which, Bean had better watch what she was doing or else she might face the same fate.
It was a good thing that Bean had worn her trusty old boots, because doing what she was attempting to do would've been impossible in heels. Hell, everything was impossible in heels… maybe Bean should outlaw them now that she was queen. Hm, questions for later. Gripping tightly to one of the wires that was connected to the large hook of the airship, Bean hoisted herself up and out of the window, now on her knees on top of the carriage.
"Oh, man… Mayyyybe this was a bad idea?"
It was a lot windier than she anticipated and the carriage was still swaying slightly, so Bean held tight to the wire for dear life. Up above her, the airship paused with its progression onwards and another spotlight beamed to life directly on her. Shielding her eyes, Bean turned away and held on tighter to the wire, but the airship had made a crucial mistake. While it stopped its trajectory forward, the sway of the carriage continued and jostled the support line to the airship, sending a jolt through the wires and carriages, slightly spinning the thing as well.
It was too much for Bean to handle.
Thrown to one side then the other, Bean's grip on the wire faulted. Scrambling to grab anything, she slid and rolled across the carriage's roof before she tumbled right off the edge. Fear not, for the quick-thinking queen managed to grab one of the back wheels of the carriage and was now hanging precariously over the forest. Not the best situation to find herself in… maybe being a sitting damsel in the carriage wouldn't have been that bad a play.
"Oh, man! Oh! Oh, crap!"
Down on the ground, Pendergast, Luci, and the other knights watched in horror as their queen dangled from the suspended carriage. With the airship having stopped, they were able to catch up and regroup, but were still more or less useless. Pendergast specifically felt utterly helpless and was really wishing now that he truly was a mortal angel and could just sprout wings to fly up there and save his liege. Alas, all the Dreamland Knights could do was encourage their queen to hang on or try to pull herself back up.
Bean was trying to do just that, but every time she tried to pull herself upwards, the wheel would just spin and send her back down and rocked her hold on the felloes. She was strong and, ironically, this wasn't the first time she had hung from an airship before (even indirectly as it was now). The last time she'd been in Steamland she had to hang off of an airship for a considerable amount of time. The difference now being that it was a bit more windy and the carriage wheel was rough in places.
For fuck's sake if she got a splinter… that would jsut be the cherry on top of this shitshow cake. Oh, right, dying would also be annoying. Yeah… let's try and not do that today…
The sound of metal creaking joined the chorus of propellers, engines, and shouting knights as the main door on the airship's hull opened, the interior light spilling out into the stormy day. A shadow stepped into the doorway, peered out, before he pulled a lever on the wall. A metal ladder, attached to the underside of the hull, detached and extended out to him. The figure climbed aboard, only for the ladder to drop downwards on scissor-joints, until it came to a stop nearly right beside Bean.
The man, wearing goggles, grunted when the ladder came to a shuddering stop, before cupping his hand to help his shout.
"Bean! Give me your hand! But be careful! I don't want you to fall!"
The Dreamland Queen looked up at the sudden voice and frowned with clear disapproval.
"Screw you, Alva! You're the reason that I'm in this mess in the first place!"
Alva lifted his goggles and Bean instinctively flinched backwards. That face… the face of the Devil. The shared face only added to her distrust of the man.
"Well, you really were supposed to remain in the carriage," Alva pointed out, before extending his hand towards her. "But, please! Take my hand! I just wanted to talk with you!"
"So you freaking kidnap me?!" Bean countered. "What the hell happened to a letter or something!?"
Alva frowned and looked aside.
"Yes… yes, that would've been easier… B-but we can discuss that after you get back to safety! So, please! Take my hand!"
With Alva's hand outreached towards her, Bean's heart slowed and her eyes widened. His hand… his face… her life on the line… It was just too much for Bean to process, especially after the morning she'd just had. In a panic and fear, Bean narrowed her eyes and swatted Alva's hand away.
"NO!"
Her shout seemed to echo and the instant her hand made contact with Alva's skin, a bolt of electricity erupted from her fingertips and surged directly into the man. Shaking with the electrification, Alva's muscles contracted and jerked as the bolts of magical lightning travelled through him into the metal ladder. Up and up the conductive ladder Bean's lightning flowed, directly into the airship's control panel. Sparks and smoke erupted as the electrocution fried circuits and damaged equipment, until an alarm sounded from the bridge and red lights began to flash on the hull. The men remaining in the cabin panicked and tried their best to take control back of their instruments, but it was too late: the damage had been done.
With its guiding and flying systems broken, the nose of the airship began to drift to the left and it and the carriage began to move once more… though now with an additional slight downwards trajectory. The ship was slowly going down and it was every man for himself. Steamlanders seemed to know this and one by one they jumped from the airship before deploying their parachutes to float innocently down into the forest.
Bean fought hard to keep her grip, struggling through the wave of fatigue that swept through her from using her mysterious powers. Meanwhile, Alva groaned from his electrocution and his grip on the ladder failed, sending him backwards into a free fall. Bean gasped as he fell passed by her and for a split second, she thought that was the end of that.
Until, of course, she felt a hand grab her ankle and a great weight suddenly yanked her down. By some miracle she managed to keep her grip.
"Hold on, Bean!" Pendergast cried usually from the ground as he and the other knights spurred their horses to follow the drifting and wailing airship.
Grunting and groaning to hold on, Bean dared to look down and grimaced to see Alva's desperate eyes looking up at her.
"Bean! How'd you-? I mean-! Let me climb up to you! I don't want to die!"
The woman growled from exertion and exasperation.
"You know, Alva?! I never told you what happened to your brother!"
Alva blinked, confused in his delirious fear.
"Skybert? I thought you never met him!"
"Yeah! That prick!" Bean called breathlessly. "He looked a lot like this before he fell too! Tell him that I said hi!"
With one well-aimed kick, Bean's famous boot smacked Alva right in his stupid, terrifying, unbearable face and his grip on her ankle released.
"Thatwasincrediblycruelandtwisted!"
Bean only grunted and did not see Alva's descent into the trees, for all of her focus was on not letting go of the carriage wheel. However, her arms were getting tired and her hands were going numb, especially the one that had shocked Alva. She would continue to hang on… but she couldn't hang on forever.
On the ground, Pendergast leads the knights in their desperate and useless pursuit of the descending airship and carriage. He had seen Bean tumble off the top of the carriage, watched her struggle to climb, and witnessed the man descend from the airship's cabin. He and the other knights gasped when the ship's siren began to blare, an alien sound to the Dreamlanders for sure, and watched when the man suddenly fell off the ladder. At this distance, none of the knights had seen that electricity erupt from Bean's hand, but a narrowing in Luci's eyes suggested that perhaps he saw it. Whatever the case may be, Pendergast needed a plan, and fast. That's when he realized where they were.
The trees were thinning around the road and looking ahead, Pendergast realized that they were fast approaching the lake and an idea sparked in his aching head.
"Bean!"
She did not look down.
"BEAN! Can you hear me?!"
"UGH! Yes! What?! I'm kinda busy here!"
Bean looked over her shoulder and saw the group of her knights riding steadying down the road below her, trying to keep up with the airship. At the head of the group, she recognized Pendergast who was waving to her and pointing ahead. She turned her head and saw…
"BEAN! The lake! Hang on and drop in the lake!"
The dangling white-haired woman caught every other word that he was shouting to her, but she quickly caught on. Looking towards the lake, she judged that the airship should drift directly over the lake, which meant she just had to hold on until she could drop. That is… if she could hold on that long. The ship was drifting slowly and smoke was now billowing more and more from the cabin.
Closing her eyes tight, Bean focused on breathing, in and out… in and out… and not on the growing pains in her body. Sweat dripped from her forehead down her face, making her eyes itch. It was hard to ignore, but it also gave her something else to focus on rather than the numbness in her hands.
Perhaps Pendergast saw his queen's struggles, perhaps he guessed it, but either way he knew that he had to prepare.
"Luci! Help me out of my armour!"
"What-?"
"Just do it!"
"Okay, okay!" Luci dried, before scurrying to the knight's multiple fasteners.
Bit by bit, pieces of armour dropped behind Pendergast's tiring black stallion, causing the knights behind to give their leader a wide berth. Finally, Pendergast's breastplate fell away and he was freed from his heavy armour. Good… he wasn't sure if he'd need to, but the knight wanted to be prepared in case the plan that he was piecing together needed to be put into action quickly.
Bean continued with her struggles, but opening her eyes she saw that she was nearly over the lake's shore. She smiled, breathing heavy, and for a moment thought that everything was going to turn out okay.
Then the airship exploded. Great… but at least it was still somewhat airbourne?
Flames and debris flew into the air and the violent shock caused the carriage to shudder. Again, by sheer will and a miracle did Bean manage to hang onto her wheel. The flaming airship began to plummet down towards the lake, taking carriage and Bean with it. The woman screamed, but held on, watching as the lake's water appeared under her boots many feet below her still.
She could hold on. She could hold on. She could-
Then there was a secondary explosion that somehow was larger than the first and Bean lost her grip. Her knights could only watch in horror as their queen free fell into the lake. Pendergast urged his stallion to gallop directly towards the water, keeping his eye on his falling queen.
There were two things that neither Pendergast nor Bean had known when she had hit the water. The first, was that Bean hadn't quite made it to the centre of the lake, where it arguably was its deepest, and secondly that Foreshadow Lake was a rather shallow lake to begin with. When Bean hit the water, she barely had time to prepare. Taking in a small breath and managing to tuck her hands in milliseconds before striking the surface. Her legs immediately went up in a "J" motion, causing her to swirl upside down in a flurry of blinding bubbles as she fell through the water. Confused and delirious, Bean flailed her arms in swi upwards but instead slammed into the lakebed, hard, with her back and head taking the brunt of the fall.
Bena stilled. Her vision wavered and her body went limp and weightless. Everything went black.
Moments behind, Pendergast's horse surged into the water and was constantly urged by his rider to continue deeper and deeper. Luci jumped up to stand between the horse's eyes, acting as a guide and a lookout to Bean's location. As the stallion rushed deeper into the lake, Pendergast's concern grew tenfold each step the horse took when he did not see Bean swim to the surface.
"There! Pendergast! She's there!"
Luci pointed urgently at a spot in the water and Pendergast did not hesitate.
Standing up in his stirrups before stepping up onto the saddle, Pendergast saw the wavering silhouette of Bean lying on the lake's bottom and dove in. The water was not deep at all, barely over the man's head, and he reached Bean's body within moments. Taking a hold of her, Pendergast pushed off of the lake floor to resurface. Fortunately his horse had stayed nearby and the knight only had to swim a few feet before he caught hold of his saddle. Cradling in his arm Bean as he pulled himself up before urging his mount back towards the shore where the other knights were waiting. The horse didn't need a lot of coaxing and was quickly pushing through the water, back towards dry land.
Pendergast was shaking an unmoving and unresponsive Bean in his arms, but was not having any luck.
"Bean! Wake up! Come on, Bean! Wake up! Please, wake up!"
Sirs Styker, Bolt, Turbish, Mertz, and a couple others rushed forward to aid their leader by catching the horse's halter and helping their unconscious queen off the horse and onto the dry shore. Pendergast was right there with her with Luci clinging to his arm as he fell to Bean's side.
"Bean! Wake up!" he pleaded, shaking her first before patting her cheeks, anything to try and stimulate her awake. "BEAN! Please! Wake up!"
It wasn't working. Bean wasn't responding and… wasn't breathing. Her knights were beginning to panic. Luci, however, jumped down to stand on Bean's chest.
"All right! Listen up, Pendergast! And listen well! In Hell we're trained in the best safety and first aid, so I'm going to tell you how to save Bean! So shut up and pay attention!"
The knight tore his pleading eyes from his queen's face to stare down at the ex-former as he tried to figure out what he had just said.
"What? That doesn't-"
"Shut up and listen!"
Luci then berated Pendergast with the step-by-step instructions of how to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Bean. In any other scenario, the knight would've paused at the notion of pressing his lips onto Bean's but now was not the time for hesitation. Pinch her nostrils, head back, and two breaths in about one second apart. Pendergast did this over and over as his men watched with growing despair. With a determined expression Luci watched also and everyone seemed to be holding their breaths, hoping and praying for their queen to wake up.
After Pendergast breathed into Bean's mouth for the seventh time before pausing to see any signs of Bean breathing on her own, but there were none. Luci roared in frustrated desperation and leapt onto Bean's chest to slam his feet down.
"Wake the fuck up, Bean!"
A small torrent of water blasted from Bean's mouth, drenching Luci, followed by a series of gurgled and wet coughs. Cheers and whoops chorused around as the knights celebrated and pure joy filled Pendergast's face as he picked his coughing queen up to cradle her against his chest. Bean's eyes fluttered open as Luci dove into her chest, only this time to hug her. Coughing still, the woman's hand came up to hug Luci back as her eyes found Pendergast's lone one.
"That sucked…" Bean spoke hoarsely and weakly.
Her eyes closed and Pendergast held her close, taking the moment to assess that… yup, she was still breathing and was just resting, before his knightly duties kicked back in. The man began to bark out orders and the men loyally and obediently heeded his words. Stryker, Bolt, and a few other men were to try and find any Steamlanders that had fled from the ship and bring them back to the castle, alive. They needed answers and a bit of good ole' torture usually did the trick. The rest of the knights, Mertz, Eldon, Hator, and a couple others, were to assist Pendergast in getting Bean onto his stallion with him and Turbish…
"Where is Turbish?" Pendergast questioned, climbing into his saddle before extending his arms for Mertz and Hator to pass him their queen with gentle hands.
"I'm here, Pendergast!"
The men looked over to see Turbish walking towards them, his arms full of… oh! Armour pieces.
"You dropped your armour, so I went and got it!"
Pendergast gave the simpleton an approving nod as he adjusted Bean in her seat in front of him, wrapping her more tightly in the dry blanket that Eldon passed him. Bean fluttered her eyes open and Pendergast felt her flinch as she curled up more against him. Holding onto his reins with one hand, he protectively and tenderly held her close with his other arm.
"Good job, Turbish! The rest of you men! You have your orders! Meet us at the castle and do not stop for anything!"
With that, the knights broke off and while some went to investigate the Steamland assailants and their downed ship, Pendergast directed his stallion back towards Dreamland with the rest of the knights. They rode all through the day and into the night, pushing their mounts to their limits. Pendergast ordered Eldon to ride ahead and notify the castle, because he couldn't ride as fast as he wanted to. Bean quickly made it apparent that she was hurting and the roughness of the ride was causing her great discomfort. Nothing seemed to be broken, that the queen could tell, but she was definitely black and blue. Luci stayed very close to her, hanging off of the front of Pendergast's tunic, so that he could look into her pained face. There had been a couple of tears that the former-demon had shed when Bean had coughed lake water onto him. Not that he'd actually admit to crying. No, no… it was just lake water, not tears.
The group of knights arrived back at Dreamland Castle an hour or so before dawn. At such an early hour, the streets of the town were still fairly deserted. With Eldon's arrival ahead of them, the drawbridge had been lowered in preparation of their injured queen's arrival. Odval, Sorcerio, Bunty, and a dozen others were waiting in the bailey when the knights arrived and Bean was quickly taken away. It was chaos, but organized chaos. Pendergast wanted to join his queen up to her quarters, but he had duties to perform, reports to write, questions to answer, and his own wounds that needed to be seen. Nothing major, just a broken rib or two.
It wasn't for another hour that Pendergast was able to climb the castle's stairs to the queen's door. Stationed outside were four guards, not just the regular two, and they stood at attention when Pendergast emerged from the stairwell. The knight had completed his report, washed and changed, before rushing up to see Bean. He nodded to the guards before they opened the door for him and he took a steadying breath, wincing a bit, before entering the room.
Inside was Bean in her bed with a bandage wrapped around her forehead, with Luci seated beside her, while Bunty busied herself at her side. Both women looked over when Pendergast entered the room, while Luci just chuckled. Upon seeing that it was Pendergast, Bean smiled.
"What? No flowers?"
Pendergast's face fell and he paled before stammering. Bean and Luci laughed.
"Dude! I'm kidding! Now, come on over here. Bunty was just leaving anyway."
"I… had better get going too. You know, I got wayyy better things to do than babysit the two of you," Luci declared, following Bunty to the door.
Stepping forward, Pendergast passed Bunty who stopped him with a touch of his arm. She motioned for him to come closer.
"Now I've given 'Er Majesty some medicine that'll make her a bit…" Bunty paused for the right word, "frisky? Et's for th'pain, y'see? Now, I 'cpect you t'be good and make sure she doesn't get up or anythang! She's on bed rest order, she is!"
Pendergast blinked before he nodded.
"You have my word," he replied dutifully, not even going to ask what Bunty meant.
"There's a good lad," Bunty cooed, patting his arm, before stepping towards the door. "We can't be 'avin' baby-making now with that bump on 'er head!"
Once again, the knight paled but this time he at least sighed it off. Bunty did enjoy her small jests and teasing at the best of times. The door closed behind him and he was alone once more with his queen, who was still smiling at him.
"You're… looking well," Pendergast began, coming up to Bean's bedside.
"Yeah, I guess so," Bean admitted with a sigh. "I got a pretty good bump on the back of my head and my back's all bruised up, but I'll live. Still, Odval and the rest of the Council said that I had to stay in bed for a couple of days, which is fine, I suppose."
"I heard," the knight admitted gently.
Bean looked at him before patting the bed beside her.
"You might as well settle in, dude. After the day I've- we've had, I don't need a nightmare on top of it all. Besides, neither you or I haven't slept yet and, well I don't know about you, but last night I had a terrible sleep-"
"I know," Pendergast said quietly, a bit too quickly and cut her off, and he quickly turned to meet Bean's amused eyes. "I just mean… that I was aware that you tossing a lot in the carriage-"
"Pendergast, it's cool," Bean offered with a chuckle.
The knight joined her with a small chuckle of his own, fighting back a flinch because of his ribs, before continuing to take off his boots. With a sigh, he settled onto the bed beside her. Oh man… he had almost forgotten how comfortable Bean's bed was. This was heavenly and felt so good for his bruised and busted rib cage. Bean must've been watching him and saw the peace spread across his face, for her smile widened. Wincing without complaint, Bean settled down into her super comfy pillow and sighed with relief.
"You can lay down a bit more too, you know," Bean stated simply, eyeing Pendergast's upright position. "If you're going to sleep here, you might as well be more comfortable."
Pendergast's cheeks reddened and he stared at Bean. Was she being serious? When he didn't immediately respond, Bean shrugged and snuggled into her blankets more.
"Suit yourself."
Unsure, the knight reacted slowly but he did, eventually, scoot down a bit more to be mostly laying down, though his head was still propped up. He grunted once, gritting through his teeth, but aside from that made no complaint. He tried to hide it in his face, but it was difficult, the pain that is. Unfortunately for him Bean saw.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes! It's fine," Pendergast replied with a sigh. "Just… some broken ribs. Nothing to worry about. Not the first nor the last time, I tell you."
Bean just smiled more.
"So, Pendergast…"
"Yes?" he replied, looking over at her. "And how are you feeling?"
"Sore," Bean said with a small shrug, "but Bunty gave me the good stuff and it should kick in soon."
"Oh, that's good then," the man replied with a nod, thinking about what Bunty had said, but he mentaly waived that off.
Comfortable silence spread between the two and Pendergast gazed out across the room at the healthy fire in the hearth. For a moment he thought that Bean had fallen asleep, but then she spoke up once again.
"Just so you know, I don't want to talk about what happened today, not yet anyways, so we can file that away with- Oh shit! We never did finish discussing your dad stuff, did we? Let's see… that your dad wasn't actually your dad, but he's alive and you know that, even though you've never met him…"
"Oh, right, that! Yeah… I can tell you the rest of that later."
"Yeah, not now. I don't want to talk about heavy stuff," Bean muttered, her words slurring a bit, but she still had a smile on her face. "I, ah, wanted to thank you though. For, you know, saving me and stuff. Again."
"It's quite literally why I am here, Bean. For you and to ensure your safety."
Bean looked over at Pendergast who met her gaze, and slowly he smiled to match hers. However, when her smile grew and something that looked like amusement filled her expression, Pendergast raised a brow in question.
"You… kissed me again, I heard."
Pendergast laughed and his cheeks slightly grew warm. Oo, ow… his ribs.
"I fear, my lady, that you are mistaken. I only followed Luci's instructions so as to save your life."
"Yeah, by kissing me."
The knight shook his head, chuckling lightly.
"Bean, if I was to kiss you, I'd ask permission first."
That seemed to knock some confusion into Bean's increasingly medicated smile.
"Permission? Bullshit! You didn't ask permission the first time, as you recall."
"I do," Pendergast admitted smoothly. "But! As we've already discussed, that had been a unique circumstance, where I was to disappear forever… or so I thought."
Bean's grin returned and she flopped her hand to land on his chest, forcing a grunt of pain out of him and he looked over at her with a restrained look. Did he deserve that? Yeha, probably… but still!
"Well, if you ask me… I'm glad that you didn't ask then. In fact… would you like to kiss me now?"
Pendergast didn't miss a beat and amusement returned to his expression.
"I think, perhaps… that your medicine is kicking in and that you should really get some rest, my lady. Besides, like the other night when you were drunk, I would never take advantage of you in your current state. You've had a rough day as it is: you don't need me to complicate it anymore."
Putting on a cute pout, Bean inhaled slowly before wincing and shifting over to nestle up closer to Pendergast. Not expecting this, the man lifted his arm and watched, dumbfounded as his queen snuggled in close to him with her left arm draped over his chest. It hurt, her movements against him, but there was no way in hell that he'd stop her. When it seemed that she had finally settled down, Pendergast slowly lowered his arm but paused. On her pillow? Or gently around her shoulders? Was that too much? What about her hurt back? Oh right… pillow it was. His other hand lay gently upon his stomach, not far from where Bean's hand had ended up.
And that was that! Bean would fall asleep like this and so would he and that would be that. Dream come true, right?
Wrong!
With surprising quickness for one as sore as herself, Bean grabbed the front of Pendergast's shirt and pulled herself up so that she was half on top of him. Her face was mere inches above his. Her lids were heavy, her cheeks red, and she was biting her lower lip tantalizingly as she gazed down at him. Clearly this was the "friskiness" that Bunty had mentioned… turned out she hadn't been teasing.
"Ah…" Pendergast stammered, his face feeling suddenly rather warm and his ribs aching from her weight, but that suddenly didn't matter at all to him.
"I dare you to ask me."
"Come again-?"
"Ask me-" Bean repeated, tightening her hold on his chest and spilling her hot breath upon her skin "- if you can kiss me. Aren't you curious how I'll respond, Sir Pendergast?"
She spoke his name so seductively and slowly that it sent shivers down Pendergast's spine. It did sound like an order so… yeah, he had better do as she says.
Licking his lips, he asked, "Might you grant me the honour of a kiss, my lady?"
Bean smirked.
"So formal…" Bean cooed softly, feeling no pain at all now. "Yes… you may," she whispered.
Bean expected him to kiss her right then and there. She imagined that he'd grab hold of her and press his lips forcibly against hers for an intense make out session that was hot, steamy, and reminsciesant of the other times she's kissed men on her bed. Colour Bean surprised when, instead, Pendergast tenderly cupped her cheek and gently coaxed her lips to meet his. The kiss was sweet, kind, and gentle, so much so that even Bean's high was taken aback by Pendergast's gentle candor. His eye closed and he didn't move to pull her closer or the sort, out of fear of hurting her. Bean's eyes wavered with uncertainty, suddenly feeling shy at this intimate prospect and the level of pure affection that the knight was bestowing upon her. Slowly the white-haired queen closed her eyes as well and leaned into Pendergast's tender kiss.
Wow… she hadn't kissed anyone since… well, Pendergast, but before that had been Mora the mermaid princess and that had been a concussed hallucination (or so Bean had convinced herself).
As soon as Pendergast felt Bean ease into the kiss did he dare to deepen it, even moving his hand from her cheek to the side of her hair. Bean also adjusted the hand upon his chest slightly to his shoulder and… oh my. Muscley. Sure she'd seen him without a shirt before, but to touch those knight-trained muscles? It sent heat throughout Bean's body.
Settling onto his chest more, Bean and Pendergast quickly got into a smooth rhythm of lip moving and gentle hand touches. They were making out, okay? But like… not hardcore making out, but a cute making out… It didn't last too long, because once the pair broke to breathe, Bean yawned and the pain in Pendergast's ribs was starting to get bad from her laying on him. It would seem that the medicine's friskiness was no match for not sleeping for a full day, stacked with a near-death experience, as well as a possible concussion. While Bean went in for another kiss, it was Pendergast who smiled and gently held her back.
"Bean… as much as I am rather enjoying this, I must insist that you get your rest."
The queen yawned again before sleepily nodding.
"Yeah… but… you know, Pendergast… you're like a really good kisser."
Well that was an ego boost if the knight ever heard one.
"Well…" the man began, grinning a bit bigger now and… was he flexing? Oh, wow, he was so flexing as he swept his fingers through his brown hair. "As I've told you before, my lady, but I had taken a few seduction classes!"
"Oh, I'm not gunna go there…" Bean mumbled as she stiffly settled down to once again snuggle up against him.
With his ego bursting, his joy at its limit, and his boner hopefully concealed by his tunic, Pendergast was a bit more confident when he gently draped his arm around the snuggled form of Bean. He felt such… peace and comfort and he would be for sure counting his blessings for the next while. Not only for this moment and the kiss that a stoned and exhausted Bean had granted him, but also that she was alive and safe now.
"Y'know, Pendergast?"
"Yes, Bean?"
"This is... This is the first time that you're like… lying down with me, huh?"
The knight looked down at his tired queen and saw that her eyes were closed as she spoke. Good. That way she couldn't see the blush in his cheeks.
"Well… I suppose yes, you're right. But of course, I shall remain above the covers, as that is the most appropriate… even though we have already slept together- as in rest, of course! It's all rather unorthodox and out of the preferred order, with a few steps skipped, but all the same! I respect you and will not take it further…"
Pendergast realized that he was rambling and stopped himself before he said something he'd truly regret. Besides! It looked like Bean was asleep now anyways, so-
"This is actually the first time I've done this with a guy in my bed."
The knight blinked and looked down at his supposed-to-be-asleep queen.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Like… cuddling like this and stuff. Usually they try to, y'know... take over the kingdom or whatever. The only time I've cuddled was like with this mermaid, y'see. But that was, like, a dream because I hit my head, so it doesn't really count now, does it?"
Okayyyyy then… Pendergast declared that Bean was officially and thoroughly stoned and really needed to get to sleep. Shifting his position slightly to better hold her, Pendergast sighed and only smiled.
"I believe that it's time to sleep now, Bean. The sun's beginning to come up and you've had a hard and long day."
"Mmm… yeah… y'smell good. Night, Pendergast."
"Goodnight, Bean. I hope you have pleasant dreams."
Smiling, Pendergast watched as Bean's breathing evened out and rather quickly he judged that she had fallen asleep. He was aware that this entire interaction was most likely the result of Bunty's "frisky" medicine, so he shouldn't think too much into it, but for now… he'd enjoy it. He was rather tired himself and was very comfortable, but even so his tired mind was busy working and thinking of the day's events. Bean visiting her father, the ambush, the airship and its crash, Bean falling into the lake and nearly drowning… The mere thought of Bean's lifeless and unresponsive body on the sand caused the man's expression to turn hard and his free hand frightened into a fist.
How did it happen? How had they been caught so off guard? So unprepared. Clearly what had happened had been no runofthemill ambush to rob them of their coins. Those had been paid men, hired specifically for that ambush. They knew exactly what they were doing and how to do it. Then there was the airship… a Steamland airship. An attempted kidnapping of the Queen of Dreamland was as good a reason as any to go to war with the more technologically advanced kingdom… realm? Pendergast knew that he and the rest of Dreamland knew next to nothing about Steamland, and that in itself was a disconcerting notion. There was just so much that they didn't know…
That's when it hit Pendergast and he felt like a true idiot for not realizing it before.
Not many people knew that Bean had gone to Twinkletown, but that ambush had been set up in advance of their arrival. That meant that the Steamlanders knew that she'd be there and that she'd be in the carriage. There was only one way that that could've happened.
There was a traitor in Dreamland.
Pendergast's fury increased and he started to make a mental list of who the traitor could possibly be. Now, there was no way that the knight could know that Steamland had surveillance tehcnoogy already in place in Dreamland (such as the camera in Zøg's crown that was still locked away in a cupboard). Even if he did, that wouldn't answer all of the questions that Pendergast had.
Steamland knew exactly where they were going to be and when… and they were going to pay for endangering Bean's life.
As the exhausted knight's anger slowly smouldered away, he turned his sleepy eye to his sleeping queen and he dared to creep his free hand to rest upon her. Pendergast slowly passed out while holding his slumbering queen, not knowing that the rest of the Dreamland Knights had arrived back at the castle.
Down in the dungeons of the castle, Sirs Stryker and Bolt were dragging a body down the stone steps. Without decorum or care, they threw the man down the last few steps onto the cold and hard floor of the dungeon. He was the only Steamlander that they had been able to find, alive. Apparently those who had jumped from the airship with their parachutes had died from being impaled on the tree branches. Stan, the Royal Executioner, emerged from the shadows and regarded the man at his feet. Nudging his head with his foot, the man on the floor groaned and Stan looked up at the two knights.
"This here is the fiend who nearly killed the queen!" Sir Bolt declared.
"Is that so?" Stan replied slowly, a dark smile appearing on his lips as he looked back down at the curly-haired man. "Well in that case, he deserves the royal treatment, now don'it?"
A/N:
And here it is! Another epic conclusion to an idea I hatched up back in like... the summer.
I gotta tell you, it's hard to write out action scenes, so I hope that I did it justice and the picture is painted well enough!
Next few chapters will be romantic doozies so...
Stay tuned!
Cheers!
~Sheik