TW: Bar, alcohol (but everyone acts pretty sober), swords, fighting, fire(breathing), kidnapping (unintentional), tying someone up to a chair and gagging them, misogyny, blood, heteronormativity

Prince Edmund rode through the forest on his horse. As he rode, he stumbled into a clearing. There, in the middle of it, was a cottage.

It was quite small, probably with only three or four rooms. It was made of stone, but was so old you could barely see it under the moss growing on the house. The chimney was spewing odd smoke, which seemed to be blue, if the prince's eyes weren't mistaken. In front of the house was a garden. It seemed overgrown, but in a way much like The Secret Garden. The whole thing gave off a dark and gloomy aesthetic, except for the door, which surprised him. It was painted a faint yellow, and looked like it was built yesterday. It had a silver knocker with symbols that he couldn't make out from his position.

He stepped forward, to go check the house out further, but a few steps in, he was thrown back. He sat up, and for a split-second he thought he saw a bubble surrounding the house. He walked forwards, and tried again, with the same outcome. He looked at the place in puzzlement, but hopped back onto his horse, and headed back on his way.

That night he reached a town by the name of Bexley. He found an inn, and walked into the bustling place, alive with chatter. He went up to the bar and ordered a drink. As the bartender poured it, a man next to him spoke up. "What is a man such as yourself doing here, at a lowly inn like this?" The bartender interjected. "I wouldn't say a lowly inn—" The prince cut him off. "I was riding through a forest when I saw the queerest cottage. I tried to go up to it, but I was thrown back by some invisible force."

The man's eyes widened. "Ah, you came across the old cottage! No one has ever been inside, but people believe it belongs to an old witch. Many have gone in, but none have come out." Edmund got a determined look in his eyes. "I will go— And come back to tell the tale!" He set his drink down, and ran out to his horse, and started riding back.

After a couple hours, he reached the clearing again. He jumped off of his horse, and hid in the bushes, looking for a way in. After a couple minutes in the shrubbery, a young woman came out of the cottage.

She looked to be in her early twenties, and was about 5' 5". She had chestnut-brown hair tied back into a braid-bun much like Queen Iduna's from Frozen. She had tanned skin, many freckles, and bright green eyes. She didn't seem to be wearing make-up, but she didn't need it, as she was quite beautiful. She was wearing a dress with a light brown sleeveless top, and a flowy pink bottom made of thin tulle. On her feet were white slippers with a single gem on the tips. She seemed to be tending to the garden.

As she turned towards the royal, he ducked further into the bushes. He then noticed her melancholy expression and realized something— she was being held against her will! What else could she be doing in a place with a force field? He started to make a plan on how to get her out.

After about a half an hour of formulating a plan that would be quite impossible without a battering ram and the royal navy, he noticed something. It was a door, seemingly made out of flowers on the side of the house. It looked to be standing all alone, but he quickly realized it was leaning against the (invisible) shield. He looked over to make sure that nobody was watching, and walked over. He reached his hand out to a door knob made out of sparkling forget-me-nots, and turned it. Suddenly, a glowing dome became visible, and the flowers moved outwards, leaving a section for him to walk through.

Edmund slowly walked to the door-like thing, and put his hand in the air. When he wasn't thrown back, he walked through.

He looked over at the young woman. "Maiden, come to me, and we shall flee this place!" He beckoned towards her, and she started running in his direction. Suddenly, a dragon burst out of the cottage. He pushed her through the flowered doorway to protect her, and drew his sword. She started to say something, but he put his hand over her mouth. "Shush now. I will slay this foul savage!" He then turned to the dragon.

It was large and black as night. He looked into the depths of it's purple eyes and saw nothing but treachery. They stood there, a couple feet apart, then the prince slashed his sword. It didn't seem to do anything except provoke the dragon. It, in turn, breathed fire at him, but he ducked just in time to avoid being burned to a crisp. He then ran towards it, trying to get under it to attack it in a weaker spot—the stomach. But the dragon intercepted his move and rolled over in the air. It spewed another column of fire at him, burning his epaulettes to ashes. He looked around its body for a place to strike unnoticed, which was hard, as the dragon kept launching fire at him. Finally, he came up with the perfect spot.

He took a deep breath, and ran towards its face. He tried to dodge the fire, but he still ended up with some singed clothing. About a foot away, he made it look like he was going to cut off it's head, so it jerked to the side in an effort to protect itself. It was a little disoriented from the quick movement, so he was able to jump up and throw his sword. Apparently, he had hit his mark, as the dragon screeched and fell the few feet to the ground. He walked over to the wing joint, and retrieved his bloody sword.

He put his foot on top of the beast. "I have taken down this horrendous monster! It shall never hurt any—" He was interrupted by the dragon's wing, which slapped him in the face. He managed to say, "Nevermind that," before he blacked out.

⇼

Edmund woke to the sound of arguing.

"You should have closed the door!"

"Why didn't you remind me?"

"I shouldn't have to!"

He decided to tune that out for the moment. He couldn't see, he assumed he had been blindfolded. He also felt his hands around his back— no, not his back. When he tried to move them, it was rougher. He was tied to a chair. He wiggled his feet, in an attempt to walk away, but those were tied together too. As a last resort he tried to signal the people arguing that he wanted to get out of this place, but all that came out was a muffled, "Mmmmm-mm-m!?"

At that moment, a female-sounding voice spoke up. It was rich, and had a slight accent. "Why are you here? And why did you try to kidnap Elise?" Another womanly voice responded. This one was light and melodious, and it made Edmund feel all warm inside. "You gagged him. He can't respond to questions when he's gagged. And take off the blindfold, it's useless." "He tried to kidnap you!" At this point, he could only assume that they were communicating with their eyes as he found women often did around him, because it got quiet all of a sudden.

After a few moments, he felt a pair of hands take away his gag, then his blindfold. He spit out the strings in his mouth, then looked around. He was in a small room, probably inside of the cottage. The stone walls were lined with shelves of all kinds of books. There was a small counter and oven on his right side. The floor was covered in multiple rugs and carpets, none of which looked like they should look good together, but they did. There was also a large caldron in the center of the room, which was billowing blue smoke.

There were two women in front of him. The one on the left looked to be about 23, and was quite short, maybe 5'3" or 5'4". She was very pale and a bit plump. Her slightly poofy black long-sleeve dress went down to her ankles, and was met with her dark brown boots. Her black witch's hat melted into her jet black hair which she had in two braids in front of her shoulders. The most peculiar thing about her though, was her wings. She had two wings coming out of her shoulders that matched the wings of the dragon he had (kind of) vanquished.

The other woman was— "Fair maiden! You are working with this abomination!?" The young woman looked at him. "First off, my name is Elise. Get it right. And Rosemary's not an abomination! She's my girlfriend."

He looked at her in shock. "Wha- What? You are dating this... thing? She's evil! And she is keeping you here against your will!" The other woman— Rosemary,— spoke up. "I'm not a thing. I'm a dragon-witch. And if you think I'm evil for fighting a man who was going to kidnap my girlfriend, then I don't want to see what security you have in your country. And I'm not keeping her against her will— wait, am I?" Elise laughed. "No, I'm quite happy here. And what makes you think you can come over here and take me from my home?"

The prince was still in shock. "Well, uh, then why were you sad?" Elise rolled her eyes. "I read a sad portion in a book— not that you'd know what that is, you're too dumb to open one. Anyways, I went outside to get my mind off of that portion. And you're seriously going to kidnap every sad girl you see?" "Well," Edmund started, "I was thinking that I would rescue you, you'd fall in love with me, and then we'd get married. That is how things usually work, anyways."

At this, the girls started laughing, and it took a couple minutes for them to stop. "What makes you think that she'd want to marry you on the spot?" Asked Rosemary. "Well, I'm handsome, brave, strong, rich, and a prince. What else would she want?" Elise looked at him. "I want Rosemary. That's it. That's all I'll ever want." The dragon-witch blushed. "I'm done with him. Can you do the thing?" Elise asked her girlfriend. "Sure." Rosemary went over to the counter and grabbed a vile full of a soft yellow liquid.

"Open up." She told the prince, and poured it down his throat. It smelled like lemongrass and sleep, and tasted like apple juice and peach. It was something you'd find in a polaroid picture— wait, what was a polaroid picture? Why was he thin

⇼

They royal blinked. He couldn't remember stopping on his ride, so why was he sitting next to his horse in completely different clothes than what he was wearing a second ago? He thought for a moment, but then his horse dropped something in his lap. It was a flower crown, made of violets, forget-me-nots, and some kind of pink flower. He smiled. It was quite beautiful, and the aesthetic matched the one of the outfit he was wearing so he put it on, then rode off through the forest.

Thanks for reading!

I hope you liked this, writing fantasy things is one of my favorite genres to write! And, this is my first time writing a fight scene, how did I do?

Please comment on any spelling or grammar mistakes that I made, as well as your general feedback. I want to make my writing better!

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Have a great day/night!

Pencil