The Queen's Admiral

Chapter 55: Man or Monster

"Back! Back! I say! Leave me alone for another day!" the strange lady in blue shouted in a rather singsong voice. She pulled out a strange little stick out of thin air and brandished it in front of Admiral Westergard as if it was some sort of weapon. Little sparks emitted from her stick and Admiral Westergard did step back but he appeared to have done so just to be polite. She wasn't frightening at all and the way she spoke in rhyme made her attempt to be intimidating seem almost comical.

"Mezzanotte?" Godmother cried. "You're alive?"

The lady gave a startled jump and momentarily put down her stick. "I'm alive, I'm revived from being kept inside!" she whispered as if she couldn't believe it. She touched her face with her hands then moved on to hug herself. She then made a little dance that made all of us watching her scratch our heads.

"Mezzanotte?" Godmother repeated softly. The lady finally stopped her twirling and stared at Godmother.

"Maleficent?" She smiled brightly then turned back to Admiral Westergard as if she remembered he was there. "Quick! I'll distract this creature of red. Then you give it a good whack in the head!"

She waved her stick around again which emitted another shower of sparks that seemed harmless enough while she continued in a taunting tone: "You are getting dizzy! You are getting fizzy." She put a hand on the side of her mouth and whispered to Godmother: "Maleficent! Hurry, don't tarry," then turned back to Admiral Westergard, "I got you now Mr. Scary, I'll show you not to mess with this Fairy!"

I don't know exactly what she was doing other than making our heads hurt with her awful rhymes. Admiral Westergard agreed with me by raising one bushy eyebrow at her before giving Godmother a puzzled expression.

"Mezzanotte, put that wand down before you poke someone's eye out. And cut out the rhyming while you're at it and talk normal for once," Godmother said condescendingly. She stood between the strange lady and Admiral Westergard. "I'm not going to hit him on the head. This is Hans, my previous godson and he's harmless. In fact, he's the one that got you out from that crystal."

Mezzanotte stopped her waving and looked between Godmother and Admiral Westergard. She seemed to take his beastly appearance in for a long time.

"Whoa... what happened to Aurora's bloodline? I mean she and Philip were gorgeous, but this one's just so..." she trailed off as if she was attempting to find the right words to say before she blurted out: "Hairy."

I couldn't help but snicker out loud but I swallowed my giggles when Admiral Westergard scowled at me.

"He's under a spell Mezzanotte," explained Godmother. "And he's not Aurora's descendant. It's a long story. But before that, this here is Fredrik, my current godson."

She walked around me and assessed me from various angles. "Well now he looks like he can be Aurora's. I can see something of Philip in him. Prince Charming-in-the-making, this one. I bet he will turn some girl's head one day and sweep her off her feet."

Without warning, she slapped the back of my hand with her stick. "Now you have already been blessed with good looks, natural charms and a Fairy Godmother to boot. Don't you go abusing her," she said sternly.

"Mezzanotte..." Godmother tried interrupt her but the lady in blue just continued to hover over me.

"Tut, tut, Malefy, I'm trying to set him right for you." She continued to slap my hand and threatened with as much bravado as she could muster, which wasn't much as she seemed the kind of person that was just too sweet to be scary. "You will be good to her, do you hear me? She deserves to be treated right. Don't go making stupid bets on your life and expect her to save you each time. Don't go calling her at all times of the day at your pleasure. She needs her sleep too you know. If I hear that you've been mistreating her, I'll turn you into a... a... a frog... yes that's it. A warty little toad. Now how would you like that?"