Thunderbolt of Laurels

Chapter 13- One Princess, Too Many Princes

We combine our attacks. I shoot arrows to make them retreat, piercing a few who fall on impact. He causes blue streaks to stun our enemies. But our little dance is cut short when a man whistles. . .and more come.
Merlin blasts one of his lightning spells sending all the rebels back. I shoot my arrows, some pierce them and some pierce their clothes onto a nearby tree where they stay stuck. No matter what we do, more and more rebels come out of the forest. "This is overkill!" I exclaim.
"There's a lot, but we can do it."
"Need any help?" a voice calls. Char. He stands in position behind us with his sword drawn.
"Actually yes, we do," I say. A bunch of the royal soldiers come swarming in as well, fighting rebels left and right but there are too many of them, they take out the soldiers almost immediately, and we're next.
"Well that did absolutely nothing," Merlin says.
"At least they tried," Char counters.
"Merlin, why in the world didn't you bring the rest of your friends if you thought there was trouble?" I ask. He opens his mouth to answer but stops.
"Yeah the F7 would be great right now. Where did you guys go anyway?" Char asks. A rebel comes at us with his sword. I use my bow to block the sword from hitting us and throw him unto the ground with all my force.
"Okay, conversation needs to end. We've gotta get out of here!"
"Leave it to me," Merlin says. He grabs one of his cards, electrical flashes start emitting. Then he aims the flash into a path opening for us. "Go! I can take the rest."
"No Merlin, I can't leave you!"
"Don't worry, I'll be right there. Promise." I nod and run down the clear path, hitting any rebel that gets in our way with my bow, Char does the same with his sword.
It's like an endless amount of tennis balls being thrown at you and you have to try to hit them all in order to get out of that mess. I don't where all these guys came from, but this is just too much. Seriously. This many guys just to capture two royals with a small band of guards? They might win. They overpower us in numbers. We're just two people.
Char and I continue to run as we're chased by the swarm of rebels until we come to a dead end. A giant fallen tree is in our way. "We could climb over it," Char suggests.
"But it's so big and they're too close. We'll get captured for sure. We need to fight." Char gulps.
"We can't take them all."
"But this is our best option." He looks at me and nods. I pull my back my string aiming at the guy in front of me.
"Ready?" Char asks. I nod. I let my arrow go hitting the man. Char and I fight side by side, blocking, shooting, clanking of metal, until it's too much. They surround us, taking our weapons from us. Forcing us to surrender. "What do we do?" Char whispers.
"We can't let them win."

Six small shadows emerge in front of us, I look up. The dwarfs! "Who in the world are they?" Char asks.
"The F7." I smile profoundly.
"Um, those ogres are not the F7."
"I'll explain later, let's just get out of here." The six members jump off the tree and start attacking. Hans shields us from the sharp blades. Pino, Noki and Kio use their crossbows, blasting the rebels back. Jack puts on his invisible cloak. I can't see what he does, but a few moments later, my bow and arrows along with Char's sword comes floating in our direction. I take them. "Thanks Jack." He uncovers his face and winks at me, then goes back into action. Alright, time to get back into the game. I look around. There's people everywhere. So much commotion. My chest is heavy as it gets harder to breathe. No. Not right now. This is life or death. I inhale. Exhale. I take a deep breath and load my bow, my finger slides against the smooth wood of the arrow, calming me. I let go.
I shoot my arrows and dodge a sword on my right, then my left. Char's taking one rebel head on. A sword fight, both equal opponents. We work together but individually, making more and more rebels fall onto the ground. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I look to where the voice comes from. Huh? "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Now everyone is looking.
"That's Merlin's voice," Hans says.
"Oh boy, move!" Jack says. He runs to me grabbing my hand and drags me away from the crowd. We stop as Arthur, Char and the rest of the group join us. It seems the rebels noticed and have started making their way to us. "Look at that!" someone calls. I look to where he's pointing. A flash of blue lightning. . .Merlin. The light gets bigger and brighter and bigger and brighter until; BAM! The light hits the ground with great force causing a blast that sends all the rebels flying into the far distance. Not one is left. I watch Merlin who's breathing heavy from all the energy it took from him. We both make our way to each other and meet halfway.
"Show off," I tease.
"Hey I did it, didn't I?"
I smile. "You did." I wrap my arms around him, an action he returns. I feel another body pressed up against me, then another. I look down. The dwarfs have invited themselves for a group hug. I break away and chuckle. "Thank you guys, for coming."
"Well of course, we had to," Arthur says and flexes his bicep.
"But how did you know we needed your help?"
"Well, Merlin came back with a broken curse. Then he took off with your bow. Figured something was up," Noki says.
"Hold up, hold up. Who are you guys?" Char asks walking closer to the group.
"We're the F7, mate," Merlin says. Char breaks out into laughter.
"You, yes. You're Merlin. I recognized you instantly. But these guys, no. They're small and green."
"Ever heard of a curse?" I ask Char. His eyes widen.
"You, you guys were cursed?" He laughs again. "How did that happen?" Then his face gets serious. "Wait a minute. If you were cursed, then that means Merlin was one of you green ogres, that means that I saw him earlier like you guys, that means that his curse broke today after he talked to Eira, and usually curses are broken with. . ." He trails off at the realization and looks at me.
"Um. . .oops?" is all I manage to get out.
"EIRA! We're supposed to get married!" he shouts.
"I know, I know. But I needed to help him out."
"Help him out? You kissed him!"
"Woah! Don't jump into conclusions Char, there are other ways to break curses."
"Wait, so you didn't kiss him? Oh phew! I—"
"No I kissed him."
"WHAT?!"
"Relax, it was a goodbye kiss," Merlin chimes in.
"Goodbye?"
"Wait, where's Red Shoes?" I ask trying to change the topic.
"She's back home," Arthur says.
"You left her alone? With all those wanted posters out there?"
"Well we couldn't have brought her," Jack says.
"Let's go back," Arthur says.
"Yeah this is kind of awkward," Jack whispers.
"But if there's another attack like this, we should be here as well," Hans counters.
"That's also, true. We would have been goners if you guys didn't show up," I say.
"Did you guys not just see what I did?!" Merlin whines.
"Yeah but you didn't do that earlier, so it's not exactly reliable," Arthur counters.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"What if half of us go back to Red Shoes, and half of us stay here," Jack suggests.
"I'll go back," Arthur volunteers. "You've already got a sword wielder." He looks at Char.
"Me too," Jack says.
"We'll stay with you guys," Noki says to us, indicating him and his brothers.
"Okay, which means I'll return as well," Hans says. Everyone looks at Merlin.
"Well I think we all know I'm staying. Red shoes is in good hands with you three."
"Alright, sound good to me," I say. "We'll see you three soon." Before Arthur, Hans and Jack take off we hear a voice.

"Guys, you all went way too far ahead of me. That means you must have found a princess!" A slim figure comes into view. Blonde hair, red royal attire, it's Prince Average.
"Average? What are you doing here?" Char asks.
"It's pronounced Averáge.I sent my men on a mission to find a princess for my birthday party! And they have! You." He looks at me. "You're gorgeous. You can be on my side! And everyone will have to come."
"She's not going anywhere with you. Your men nearly killed her and us," Merlin shouts.
"Killed? That's not what I asked them to do. You made a mess of them anyways," Average says as he looks at the unconscious men on the ground. "Regardless, they brought me to you." He looks at me again.
"Why would you think I would willingly go with you?" I ask.
"Well you must. I'm the birthday boy. You must grant my wish."
"That makes zero sense. Plus you completely destroyed their home earlier. We had to rebuild most of it!"
"Well that's what happens when you mess with Prince Averáge. Plus, it's a birthday party! Who refuses a birthday party?!" He starts walking up towards me, but Char draws his sword and blocks his way.
"She's my betrothed. You won't be taking her anywhere."
"I'll only be borrowing her."
Char snarls. "No."
"Come on. Help a prince out here."
"I am Prince Charming. I will soon be king. You are but a prince. I will rule the largest kingdom in Fairytale Island. I can destroy you for attacking us is such a malicious manner. Do you want that?" All the boys stand in front of me, weapon in hand, looking angrily at Average.
"No, no. I apologize. We can talk about this instead? How about on Wednesday. No, wait I'm busy Wednesday. Thursday. We will talk about this on Thursday," Average says.

To be honest, I think that was the best think I've seen Char do. Even if it was pretty brutal. Prince Average runs off into the horizon.
"That blockhead is gone," Jack says.
"Good. We'll follow him to make sure he doesn't come back around and head back to the cottage," Arthur says.
"Good idea," Merlin says.
"Okay. Thanks. Bye guys," I say. The three mini Fearless Seven venture off.

"So why didn't you kiss them then?" Char asks as they leave. Now he's back.
"Seriously Char? That's what you ask after all that?"
"I want to know, what is it with this guy?" He keeps blabbing and asking questions.
"I'll talk. But once we're back," I say. "Let's go."
Char nods. "Fine." He gets on his horse and he yells at the soldiers to come back. Thankfully, most of them only have minor injuries, although we had to leave some behind. No one was expecting an attack. They don't have the supplies necessary, so we head to a nearby town to pick some up. After we've tended to a few soldiers, and everyones ready, we head back to the kingdom.