Charlie B. Dinkle's Delightful Adventure

Ch. 16 ~ Charlie's Battle

Chapter 16

Quentin Simmercake led the herd of unicorns in the front, Jazz and Azalea galloping a little bit behind at his sides.

After the fairy dust had worn off, Quentin was as angry as ever that someone had the guts to steal Charlie away from him while he was enjoying her presence. And he knew immediately who to blame. The striped squiggles.

Actually, first he'd blamed the fairies, because he saw them right in front of his eyes as he was floating away into the sky. But then he saw several squiggles inside the Fairy Fort surrounding Charlie as she perched on the top of a tower while he was running.

"Of course," muttered Quentin to himself. "As my great-great-great-great grandmother used to say: Where there is troubles, there is squiggles. Unicorns! Do we have our Candy Cannons readied?"

The hoard of unicorns stopped meters away from the Fairy Fort in the clearing and took cover behind giant slate rocks they made appear with their magic wands. Every unicorn took out a Buntline Target gun, re-loading them with a loud click that echoed throughout the ranks.

"No one messes with the unicorns and their friends," shouted Quentin Simmercake to his comrades, his voice filled with rage. "For years, we have been ridiculed for our passionate love of rainbows and everything that shines. We have constantly been underestimated. We cannot let this go on any longer- not now that they've crossed the line and fairynapped Charlie."

"WE WILL REDEEM THE HONOR OF OUR ANCESTORS!" said Jazz, Azalea clinging next to him.

"HOORAH!" shouted the unicorns in unison.

"Then let's do this," hissed Quentin.

Things were about to get ugly.

_

No one had seen the galloping of unicorns except Charlie B. Dinkle. However, when the sound of Russian candy guns getting loaded filled the night time air, the crowd of squiggles and fairies below her froze.

The prince rushed to the side of the fort, shouting orders when he saw the ready attack of unicorns behind the rocks. "We are under a surprise attack!"

Charlie watched from above as all the chaos unfolded. Prince Ansell Glimmerings ran around the fort, yelling orders and telling people to get down. He looked like a real leader right then, taking charge, and Charlie thought he wasn't as bad-looking as she first thought.

Charlie!" The prince called. "You must get down immediately. It's dangerous!"

Just then, gun shots filled the air and a battle between the unicorns and fairies had ensued.

Charlie attempted to get down to see what was going on, but there was no way out. She was stuck. The ladder was cut in half.

The girl zoomed in on the battle, which was happening between the fort and the clearing in front of it. The unicorns were hiding behind giant, slated rocks as they shot large guns towards the fort. The fairies and squiggles in turn brought out Fireworks, protected inside the secluded fort, lighting them on fire before holding them horizontally to aim at the unicorns.

A candy bullet whizzed past Charlie, barely missing her ear by an inch. In a moment of desperation, Charlie screamed, "Ansell, help me, please!"

The prince, who was just planning to take several squiggles and charge towards the clearing, whipped his head up to meet Charlie's ocean-blue gaze with his own chocolate one. He quickly turned to the squiggles to tell them to go on to battle without him before running to the tower Charlie was stuck on.

"Hold on, my love!" he said, climbing the walls with his own bare hands.

"Ergh, please don't call me that," Charlie said, taking the prince's offered hand when he reached the top.

"Hold on to me for your life, Charlotte," he said, hoisting Charlie on his back and jumping off the roof of the tower. A pair of wings grew out of Ansell Glimmering's back, trapping Charlie in between them and leaving her no choice but to cling onto his neck.

Ansell gracefully landed on the ground, unfortunately landing them in the middle of the battle field no less. Unicorns fought squiggles with their wands as swords and fairies sprinkled their magic dust everywhere, resulting in lots of unicorns to float to the skies.

"What's going on?" shouted Charlie over the battle cries.

"The unicorns," shouted back Ansell. "They must be mad. This is about you, Miss Dinkle."

"But I didn't do anything! Make this stop, it's not fun anymore!" Charlie screamed. Guilt weighed Charlie down for the deeds she couldn't control.

"I'm sorry, all I can do now is defend my people and protect you." He grabbed Charlie's hand firmly, ducking under unicorns and zig-zagging between squiggles as they made their way to the sidelines of the clearing, where a tent for the wounded was built.

Ansell Glimmerings led Charlie inside, giving her to a fairy nurse. "Take care of her. I need to return to the battle to join the fight with my loyal subjects."

Tears brimmed Charlie's eyes. "Please don't go. You'll get hurt." She whispered, "This is all my fault."

"No," Ansell said, his voice strong. "None of this is your fault. You're a good person... Charlie B. Dinkle."

Charlie gave a watery smile when she heard her proper name and not 'Charlotte'. She leaned in and pressed her lips to Ansell's cheek, giving him a soft kiss before quickly pulling away. "Now go, they need you out there."

His face flushed, the prince left the tent. Now that she thought about it, Ansell wasn't only not bad-looking, but also maybe a bit... cute.

"Hello, Charlie," said a raspy voice. Her bubble of thoughts popped as Charlie whirled around, coming face to face with her arch nemesis, The Educator.

The Educator grinned wickedly. "So we meet again."