Green Eyes and Blue Flames

Unexpected Allies

Aurora and Phillip suddenly awoke very early the next morning to very loud cawing followed by a door opening; they turned on the light and sat up in bed to see what the matter was. Duke had entered the royal bedchamber with two armored guards behind him and a large metal birdcage in his hand. He presented the cage to the young king and queen.

"Your Majesties!" Duke moaned while gasping for breath. "You... won't believe... it. I... have just... found... this little pest... making a ruckus around the castle. We've been chasing it for hours... but we finally caught it!"

"A pest?" Aurora groggily asked before she finally noticed what was in the cage. She gasped, got out of bed, and took the cage from Duke before letting Diablo go. "Is that you, Diablo? What are you doing?"

Diablo cawed even more as he tried to explain his situation. Unfortunately, no one in the room spoke 'bird' and they couldn't understand a single word of what he was trying to say. Duke and the guards quickly covered their ears, greatly annoyed by the unpleasant sound.

"Oh, there it goes again!" Duke shouted.

"Wait! He's trying to tell us something." Aurora said, trying to decipher what the raven was saying. "He wouldn't come to us for no reason. Something is wrong."

Diablo nodded excitedly at her, happy that she could sense his plight.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Phillip asked, approaching his wife.

"I say we allow him to lead us to where he wants us to go. Maybe then we'll find out what he wants. And if we're lucky, we might find Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather too."

"Would you like us to come too, Your Majesty?" Duke nervously asked.

"No, Duke. It's fine. Phillip and I will go alone." Aurora replied.

"But Aurora, you heard what the Fairies said. You shouldn't be adventuring, especially in your condition." Phillip pulled Aurora into a hug and gently touched her stomach with one hand; she placed her hand on his in response.

"Phillip, I'll be fine. I appreciate your concern, but I can handle myself." She kissed his cheek. "Now let's get dressed; we have work to do. And Duke, please get our horses ready. We'll be heading out as soon as we can."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Duke gave a bow and left with the two guards following close behind.

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"I'm sorry, Aurora, but I'm not so sure about this anymore." Phillip said as he and Aurora rode their horses through the forest while following Diablo.

"Phillip, I'm not giving up until we find out what's wrong." Aurora retorted, keeping her eyes on the path ahead.

As they rode further and further through the woods, Aurora and Phillip soon noticed that the early morning sun that was peeking through the trees was gradually growing more and more scarce and the forest around them seemed to take a darker and scarier tone. Then they rode a worn path up to the Forbidden Mountain, which caught the royal couple by surprise. The very sight of Maleficent's was enough to make the royal steeds rear up in fear and stop dead in their tracks. Phillip stared at the castle ahead, almost certain that this whole journey could be a trap.

"This must be a trick!" He said.

"And what if it isn't?" Aurora retorted. "We can't know for sure until we investigate." She gently urged her horse, Mirette, forward and she cautiously kept walking; Phillip hesitantly did the same to his own horse and Samson was just as alert.

They made their way across the drawbridge as slowly and as carefully as possible; the steps of the horses' hooves seemed to echo in the dead-like silence. Finally, they made it inside the castle; it was just as frightening and decrepit as Phillip and Aurora remembered the last time Maleficent was defeated. Phillip climbed off of Samson's back and tied his reins to a stone pillar standing nearby before he went over to his wife and helped her back onto the ground; she tied her own reins to the same pillar.