Fiction: Group 4
dragons!” Cheryl was astonished, but she didn’t refuse to help, and said calmly, “I wish I’d known this
earlier, but the past cannot be changed. I will help.” Aunt Tilly looked at her gratefully, and faded into the
rocking waves, as Cheryl was shaken awake.
“Cheryl? What happened? You were sweating and murmuring in your sleep!” Chris slowly came into
focus as Cheryl woke up. “I… I had a weird dream… I saw a pair of weird daemons, talking about
retreating and Fae girls, then I saw my dead aunt, telling me that I am Fae…” Chris’s face contorted as he
struggled with the new information, then smoothed over as he understood what she meant. Chris finally
knew what was the thing blocking the portal. Fae were once the greatest rulers of earth, but the arrival of
caveman sent them back to the heavens. Also, Father had told him that his ancestors had once made a great
mistake, refusing to help an old woman, therefore forcing her to hate the underwater court. She had borne a
set of twins with a local river daemon, seeking revenge on the court. When she died, and the twins set off to
find trouble everywhere. Now, they seek to block the portal between the two worlds, to cut off help before
attacking. But they were dumb. They didn’t know that if they attack, the portal would be left undefended.
Chris planned to use this to his advantage. “Also, we have Cheryl, who is Fae… she didn’t seem really
Fae… but we'll have to take our chances.” Chris thought to himself.
He quickly explained his thoughts to the others. They agreed with him easily. Daphene was to swim back
to court as fast as possible to tell the citizens to retreat, and Chris and Cheryl would try to hold off the
demons when they came back without victory. Chris handed a lightweight shortsword from the boat to
Cheryl, telling her how to hold it, then picking a broadsword and a dagger for himself. Daphene set off at
once, babbling about cakes and fish to eat once rewarded. “Cakes?” Cheryl asked. “Uh… I don’t know.”
Chris replied.
Once Chris taught Cheryl the basics of sword fighting and gave her an underwater breathing charm, they
hurriedly scrambled to the underwater portal. The daemons were just leaving when they arrived. Chris
tensed as he saw the ugly daemons. Suddenly, one of the daemons whipped around, stopping at their precise
direction. “Oh, my dear little friends, you have come at last…” It said in a particularly sweet-as-honey-
but-I’m-gonna-stab-you-to-death manner. “Where’s your little dolphin friend? I’ll have fun chasing her
down…” It’s voice hardened a bit, and Chris leaned forward, wanting nothing more than hunting it down
and tearing it to bits, if not for Cheryl holding him back. Cheryl whispered so quietly that the daemon
couldn’t hear, “I’m going to let you go in 3 seconds. Then we are going to burst out while he’s distracted
by his own talk, and beat him up into pulps.” Chris nodded determinedly.
As M1, (Cheryl and Chris gave them names) kept on talking, Cheryl mouthed, “3,2,1!” and they jumped
out, with Chris in dragon form, talons outstretched, and Cheryl giving her best shot at an angry look,
hoisting her shortsword. M1 gave a mocking laugh, then engaged in battle with his brother daemon. Cheryl
was holding her own quite well, battling the brother M2, and Chris was grabbing at M1 with his sharp
talons, wounding him in several places. But even with this, the daemon brothers were still beating the duo.
Cheryl and Chris were preparing to draw back and wait for help when suddenly Daphene appeared,
spinning happily and yelling, “Wait! Reinforcements are coming!!!” M1’s eyes narrowed, then grabbed a
crossbow and shot a bolt right to Daphene’s heart. Time seemed to have stopped. Cheryl gave a primal roar,
as her ears pinned back, her canines enlonginated, senses suddenly enhanced… they all knew she had turned
Fae. She unleashed a wall of raw power so harsh, it left Chris back in human form and both the daemons
disintegrated. Then she shifted back and slumped down on the riverbed. Chris rushed over and asked, “Are
you all right?” Cheryl answered tiredly, “Yes, I’m all right. Just… please go check on Daphene!”
Chris rushed over to check on Daphene, Cheryl limping slowly as she regained her energy. “She’s not
dead, but she’s on the verge of it. We’ve got to bring her back to court now!” He said seriously to Cheryl.
5 minutes later, Cheryl was sitting on dragon-Chris, holding a limp Daphene, everybody hoping that she
would live.
* * *
