Making A Stand

I hit the cloud running. After a few frantic leaps, I hit the cloud falling too. Something I hadn’t taken into consideration was that humans have a lot more weight to carry. Fairies use their wings to balance. So even when they’re walking, they’re really floating. When floating, one doesn’t have to worry about weight distribution or stability. Those things are merely an illusion. I hobbled on my newly acquired legs for a moment. Everything about my new body seemed large and awkward. “Look at my feet. They’re HUGE!” I stumbled, got back up and continued walking. After a few moments I felt confident enough to jog. Once I had the jog down I felt confident enough to run. I passed Rapunzel’s tower on the right. Nothing moved in her window. Casino City was quiet when I reached it. All the guards that had been on post before were frozen in whatever position they had been in when I’d left. I touched the cheek of one. He was still warm. “You should be ashamed of yourself,” I told him. When I removed my hand, his face was flushed in the place where my hand had been. I took the weapon from his stiff fingers and tossed it over my shoulder. The least I could do was make it hard for him to fight when he woke up. I would have done the same for all the guards, but I could feel that time was hurtling back. The lapse from when I’d gone to when I arrived was about to end. Everything was still suspended when I reached the great room of Rumplestiltskin’s castle. The Queen was staring in horror at Wolf, whose mouth was wrapped around her ankle. Thebes, the woodcutter, was stuck mid-lunge. In an effort to save his mistress he’d put his fat fist through the glass of Mirror Mirror. Rumplestiltskin was caught cowering in the corner. The guards stood randomly around the room, swords drawn but looking confused. I surveyed them all, still unsure of what to do. The fairy, despite Evie and my efforts, was still just a smudge on the rug. “OK,” I sighed. “I’m ready.” Suddenly, everything reanimated. What happened next occurred very quickly and in short succession. Thebes falling was the first thing I noticed. The crash was enough to jolt the swords out of some of the guards’ hands. Queen White spun around to yell at him just as Wolf let go of her ankle. I must have been a sight, for Wolf could do nothing more than stare. Then the fairy sprang up from the carpet and screamed, “How dare you try to kill me!” “You!” I shouted at her. “Go get help.” I was so relieved to see her alive, my only thought was to keep her that way. She sneered at me for a moment before flying off. “Fae?” Wolf asked just as the guards composed themselves. “Who is this?” screamed the Queen angrily. “Are you OK?” I asked Wolf, dodging the hands of several guardsmen. “You’re- You’re-” “A girl?” I offered helpfully. “Naked!” I looked down and shrieked. “I knew I was forgetting something.” Wolf snapped at one of the approaching guards. “Back off,” he snarled. “I need you to cover me for a moment.” I reached for a nearby curtain, hastily wrapping it around me before tying it off with the sash. “Well it’s not exactly fashionable, but it’ll do.” The guards pressed on. We were almost to the door when Wolf noticed something. “The walls are vibrating.” Rumplestiltskin must have noticed to, for at that moment he wailed from the corner. “My house! You’re destroying my house!” A Manikin’s house is never intended to hold so many people, especially full sized ones. “Get out!” Yelled Rumplestiltskin, just as the roof of his castle peeled back like the lid of a can. Where the ceiling had been, suddenly there was an enormous face. “Wah?!” Yelled the Ogre loudly. The Queen screamed and dropped down to the floor. “Who let you out?” Shouted Rumplestiltskin to the beast. The Ogre reached his hand into the house, grabbed one of the guards and shoving him into this mouth. From the Ogre’s wrist dangled the broken end of a chain. “Englishmen!” The massive creature shouted after swallowing the guard. The rush of people to the door was enough to bring the whole house down. As the walls caved in I thought, “So this is how it ends.” Instead of being crushed, I got the strange sensation that we were sinking. My feet felt cold air. “We’re falling through!” Wolf warned, his lower half submerged in cloud. Then we were airborne. “Always with the falling,” I had time to think. “Pity I don’t have wings anymore.” Fortunate for us, fairies work quickly. Before I had time to say, “Jumping Ypotryll!” I landed on a Griffin. “Hello,” I said to it. “How did you know I would be dropping by?” It squawked and veered to the left. It was then that I noticed another Griffin. This one was carrying a rather harried looking Wolf on its back. “Are they rescuing us or planning on eating us?” Something sharp jabbed me in the cheek. I turned to see the fairy flying beside me. “We’re even!” She said, poking me again. Then she motioned to the ground. It was there that I saw our army. From every surrounding wood emerged a group of magical creatures. One group was being led by none other than Sweets-O. I bowed my head to the fairy. “You work fast my friend. I owe you everything.” The fairy curtsied and then flew away. I didn’t have time to watch her leave or to mourn the form that I would never have again. Just then another Griffin flew up from behind mine. “Let me down you filthy bird!” Someone screamed. I noticed then that it carried a passenger in its talons. “I’ll roast you over an open flame!” screeched Queen White. Swinging by her feet, the witch clutched the bottom of her skirt with her knees. There wasn’t any sign of Thebes or the guardsmen. I could only imagine how they’d met their fate. “Let’s go feed her to the Dogwood trees,” Wolf shouted over the howling wind. But the Queen was quick. With all that struggling she had finally managed to wiggle loose the pouch of shrinking powder in her boot. She laughed as she tossed the bag into the face of the Griffin carrying her. The creature screeched and then rapidly shrank, dropping like a stone under the weight of the Queen. At this point, we weren’t far from the ground. The two disappeared into the trees not far below. “Watch out!” I called to the gathering crowd. “The Queen is on the run.” The word passed quickly through the masses. I saw a few Centaurs load their bows. “That witch is ours!” shouted a dwarf. “She poisoned our princess!” I saw he had six brothers with him. One looked to be a little slow. The Griffins landed. Wolf hopped off his beast and ran for mine. “Quick, before they decide they’re hungry.” I laughed and eased onto the ground. “I’m never going to get used to you like this,” Wolf said, eyeing my curtain clad form. “Nor I.” “I have tons to ask you, but I’m sure this isn’t the time.” “Later,” I assured him. “Assuming there IS a later.” At our command, the crowd entered the forest. Already the light was fading. I remembered something the Phoenix had told me, “…a night that lasted for three days.” This felt reminiscent of his story. “Here we go,” I said, entering the woods. “It’s time to make a stand.”