Ever After

Chapter Eight

I woke up to the sun shining on my face. And a man pointing a crossbow at me.

"Get up," He said. I blinked my eyes into focus, and he hauled me up onto my feet. Rapunzel was lifted off the ground, out of her bundle of hair she used as a blanket too by another guy.

"Hey! What's going on." She said while struggling to get out of her captors grasp. They pushed into the center of their circle. There were five other guys dressed the same way these two were. Lots of black and leather. But their multi-color dwarf hats they all wore pointed out who they were.

"Well well well, if it isn't the seven dwarfs. Last time I saw you, you were trembling inside the walls of a castle as I galloped away with my loot. Did the kingdom of Celestial decide you losers weren't good enough to keep, Grumpy?" I mocked.

"Yea, well, we got out. And I think I speak for all my boys when I say we have some unfinished business with you. And it's Grumpton as I've told you a billion times." Grumpton said.

"Sorry, I'm a bit busy today. But hey, won't don't you send a letter to my adviser and we can catch up later." I started walking with Rapunzel out of the crowd, but they got closer together and blocked my path.

"Oh we are not letting you go that easy Ashes." I heard another dwarf say. His dark red hat told me he was Doc.

"Who are these guys?" Rapunzel whispered to me holding her frying pan out as a defense. I put my hand on my sword handle getting ready for a fight.

"They call themselves The Miners. Or as I like to call them, the Seven Dwarfs. They're just a bunch of guys in their twenties who don't know how to clean up." I say. From my right to left the seven were in a circular shape surrounding us, I could tell which one was which. The first on my right was Dopen, with his dark purple hat. Not much brains, and sort of the bait of the group. Then there was Hapay (A/N: Pronouced Hah-pay) with his usual dark orange hat. He was the sharpshooter of the group, and rarely missed his target. Unless the target was me. But he happened to be a horrible flirt. Which annoyed me for a while when I worked with them. Then there was Bash, sporting a royal blue cap,he does what his name implies, bashes stuff. But you'll most likely find him making jokes or blushing when his team mates tell him he did a good job when he's not busy wrecking things. In front of me was Grumpton, the head dwarfy in charge, he always bosses people around and is never happy. Never happy ever, I don't even think he's ever genuinely smiled. And his dark brown hat implies himself, bland, boring, and ugly.

Next was Sneze (A/N pronounced Snehz) wearing a dark yellow hat, he's got really good senses and can smell or hear most things from a mile away. After him was Doc, wearing a dark red hat, and the smartest one of them all. Which really isn't saying much, but he's the one who comes up with all the plans and keeps everything in order. Lastly was Draven. But everyone in their group calls him Sleepy, because he is constantly up all night making new tools for their heists and is always tired during them. He's also the only one out of these guys that didn't have a totally ridiculous name. But he makes up for the stupidness with his ugly green hat.

"Your're coming with us princess." Grumpy says still having his bow raised.

"Why don't you put that down and we can talk like civilized people?" I say. He doesn't listen though and keeps his eye on me.

"We have orders to take you in. So just surrender before this gets messy."

"Orders from who?" I say suddenly intrigued.

"Doesn't matter who, the point is-" Dopen cut him off.

"From the Queens of Darkness, that's who." Dopen said in his goofy voice.

"You idiot!" Grumpton turned his attention to Dopen to give him a death stare and temporarily took his gaze off me.

"What do we do?" Rapunzel says as they close in more.

"Do you know how to use that pan?" I ask quickly.

"Please, would you have been captive in my tower if I didn't know how to defend myself." She said confidently swinging the pan on her finger. But she aimed wrong and it hit her in the side of her head.

"Good," I say whispering. "So on my count, take those three on the left, I got the ones on the right. Okay?" She gives me a nod and I count down. "Three....Two....ONE!" I move just in time before an arrow is launched and it hits the rock behind me instead of me.

"Get them!" Grumpton shouts. Rapunzel takes on Sleepy first and hits his sword out of his hand before she starts swinging her pan all over the place, hoping to hit them in the face. So far she already got two of them in the head and they are knocked out cold. I take the harder four and swing my sword out to Dopen who brings his out just in time. I kick him in the legs and bring his head down on my knee. Then Bash grabs me from behind making me drop my sword. I writhe in his hold but he won't budge. Then Hapy comes along and has an arrow in a bow pointing right at me, I move quickly and flip myself over the head of Bash, making him move so the arrow hits him in the arm instead of the chest, where it would have been if I didn't move him around. He yelped out in pain, grasping his large beefy arm. I planted my feet on his giant back and launched myself off him at Hapy who shot arrow after arrow at me, I narrowly dodged them in the air and kicked him in the face. Knocking him down. Rapunzel was still fighting Sneze, she lost her frying pan but threw her hair and it wrapped around various parts of his body, making him immobile.

I turned back to my fight and saw Bash coming back at me, with the arrow still in his arm. But that didn't stop him and I stopped where I was and used his greatest weakness.

"Look Bash, pretty flowers." I said pointing to the patch of flowers nearby. He was stunned for a moment, but then turned his attention to pick the flowers like a baby with a lollipop. The arrow was still in his arm, but not too deeply thanks to the layers of leather, fat, and stupidity.

I turned to face my last opponent. Grumpton who still was hiding behind the crossbow.

"If you're so tough, why don't we drop the toys and fight humanly." I offer. He gives a small laugh and dropped his crossbow and got into a fighting stance. I put down the sword I retrieved and got into a similar stance.

Grumpton was the first to make a move, he went for a punch and I blocked it. I kicked him in the side and he took it, but I forgot that I left my other leg vulnerable and he hooked his foot around mine making me fall. He was about to go in for the final blow, but then I rolled out of the way and flipped onto my feet again.

Once again he made the first move, and went for my legs again but I jumped and kicked him squarely in the stomach, making him tumble back. Now he was really angry, and he leaped in for the attack. I grabbed his arm and flipped him over onto the ground. He squirmed on the grass, then I gave one final punch and he was out.

Rapunzel had done a good job taking out the three I gave her. Once I was finished with Grumpton, I felt hands clasp around my neck from behind, holding me in a choke hold. I was about to fight back, then I heard a familiar clang and the hands fell. I turned around the see Rapunzel still holding the frying pan in the air. I gave her a smile and she stuck her tongue out at the unconscious body like a child.

"Not bad Blondie." I compliment. "Come on, we are almost there." I say picking up my sword. I walked away from the seven dwarfs with Rapunzel at my heels. But I couldn't stop thinking about what Grumpton and Dopen had said. Who were the "Queens of Darkness" and why did they want me?