The Beast and Beauty

Chapter 4: The beast is here

Arabella

In the end, I decided to allow him to wheel me to my room, he had already had a horrible time being forced here along with my help, the least I could do was allow him to do what he’d been told to do before she decided to make things worse, for all I knew it might be physically painful for him if I didn’t allow him to do what she’d commanded him to do.

He pushed me along and asked gruffly, “so what room is yours, princess?” He said the word princess with such disdain.

I pointed to the door at the end of the corridor, and he didn’t bother opening it politely, he literally kicked it open and wheeled me in and then let go of the wheelchair, I didn’t have time to stop it from crashing into the wall and I glared at him.

“Don’t scowl at me, you’re the reason I’m even here in the first place.” He had a point, so I lost the annoyance.

My bed was a double, thankfully, so that if he did decide to get in it with me, there was space to keep our distance. I needed to get undressed and asked him, “can you please turn away, so I can undress?”

Clearly I didn’t word it very well because he smirked at me, “I don’t mind watching.”

Clearly my face showed what I thought of that comment, and he raised his hands in a surrender gesture, “ok, fine, as the princess wishes.”

He turned around, and I waited a few minutes before taking off my top and bra, he turned to look at me and I slapped my hands over my body. “What are you doing!”

He laughed and answered, “I didn’t realise, sorry.” He wasn’t sorry at all, and I knew he had done it on purpose. I turned the wheelchair, so my back was to him and pulled the white gown over my head, all I had to do now was get my trousers off, the hardest part of undressing for me. It took over five minutes, but to his credit, he didn’t try to look at me again until I told him he could.

After I had brushed my teeth, I pulled myself onto my bed and asked Dagon, “are you sleeping in here too?”

He grinned at me, “I thought you’d never ask.” I rolled my eyes at that and pulled myself over to the far side, so my back was against the wall.

We were lying in the bed, and I was thankful he didn’t try anything when we heard a loud thunderous roar from outside.

“What on earth was that?” I asked, fear filled my body remembering all the horror stories my stepmother had told me about the beast coming to get me, had he come for revenge? Would this be my time to go to hell?

Dagon grinned at me, “that my dear was my king, say what you will about him, but he is nothing if not loyal and ferociously protective of those he cares about.” He jumped out of the bed and ran to the window.

I dragged myself to the edge of the bed and pulled myself into my wheelchair. I joined him at the window and saw a huge beast flying around outside high in the air, I looked more closely and realized it wasn’t any beast, it was a dragon. I’d read about them, but I had never seen one for real, for a moment, I forgot about the danger and took in how magnificent and powerful it looked, it was beautiful, or so I thought until it began to breathe fire across the town.

“Your lovely stepmother better let me go if she wishes to survive his wrath.”

I looked at Dagon with wide eyes and looked back at the dragon. “Wait, is that, your king?”

“Yes he is and the longer you keep him waiting, the more enraged he will become and the more destruction he will cause your town.”

I touched his arm, and he looked down at my hand almost in surprise, as if he’d never had someone place a gentle touch upon him before. “I would let you go if I could, I had no idea that spell was to summon you, I knew she wanted to summon a demon, but I never thought she would actually go through with it or succeed.”

He quietly looked me over and then said, “fine, if that’s true, then help me get out of here.”

I nodded and led him out of my room and down the hall. “What about that necklace?” I asked him. “Don’t worry, if I can get back to my realm it should be useless.”

Luckily, my father, before he died, had made the castle able to cater to my needs, there were stairways but also a ramp alongside them and even a lift. We took the lift as I thought we would be less likely detected then running around the castle and the many stairways and ramps.

He went to run out the front entrance, but I hissed at him, “no, not that way it’s too obvious, I know a back tunnel that leads outside.” He looked at me suspiciously but decided to follow my lead.

Underneath the marble staircase there was a secret tunnel, the walls were of brick and underneath the staircase was no different, except that as a child when exploring the place I had run my fingers along that wall and been surprised when a door appeared before me.

Someone had used magic for this hidden entrance. I led the way, but apparently I was too slow because he grabbed the handles on my wheelchair and wheeled us down faster.

“Which way?” He asked. I pointed down the left tunnel, and he led us down there as fast as he could. It took about ten minutes to travel this tunnel, but finally, we reached the end and the door appeared before us like the first one had.

We were outside, and I could hear people screaming and running as fire blazed hotly across the town. The only light here were the streetlamps and now this raging inferno before me. It was so dark, and I didn’t realize how silent a dragon could be until I looked up and saw it flying towards us, mere yards from us.

The dragon landed in front of us, and I lost my breath from terror. A big black cloud surrounded him, silver white electricity inside of it that rumbled and crackled until the smoke cleared away and a black wolf the size of a small pony stood before us. He had changed forms, how many forms did this beast have?

Dagon looked at my face and answered my unasked question. “It’s a bit more private if he isn’t so huge and obvious to the whole town, he won’t show his true form until he trusts you.”

He looked away from me and towards the wolf, who was growling and snarling at me. “Hey king, you want to get us out of here? The b.itch placed an enchantment on this necklace so that I’m forced to do whatever she wants, quite literally, it should be useless in our realm right?”

The beast of a wolf snapped at me and Dagon surprisingly stood in front of me, “she helped me escape, she’s as much a prisoner of that witch as I was.” The wolf calmed down and jerked his head for Dagon to follow, but of course my stepmother found us.

She used one of her spells that had Dagon being pulled back until he was beside her, and then she forced him to his knees.

“I wonder how it would feel for you two to fight to the death? Are you willing to fight your second in command?” The wolf snarled at her, and as if sensing what he was about to do, her tone turned sharp. “You change into that dragon form, I’ll make him Kill himself. Go back to your realm, I have what I want, and I believe me and Dagon here are going to have so much fun.”

The wolf changed again, that same black cloud of smoke with silver white sparks of electricity like lightening, rumbling and crackling until a man stood before us. I lost my breath again, but this time it wasn’t fear, he was truly breathtaking to gaze upon.

I didn’t have time to dwell on it as he ripped the chain off Dagon violently and threw it to the floor. Dagon began struggling to breathe and fell to the floor as some unseen force seemed to be killing him. My stepmother laughed cruelly, “oh you silly king, it’s enchanted, I made sure another demon could not remove the chain, if the chain is removed by any demon, the one wearing it dies.”

I don’t think she realized she had let slip it was only a demon that couldn’t remove it. The king of all demons grabbed the chain and with Dagon shaking his head no, he ignored him and put the chain around himself. “Fine, then you’ll have me and let him go home. It’s me you really want anyway.”

He had a deep rumbling voice when he spoke and as the power claimed him as her new prisoner he fell to one knee, his fist slammed into the ground to keep him from falling.

Lady Zatanas eyes glittered with glee, and she said, “perfect, let’s go home shall we?”

Dagon was still catching his breath when he gasped to his king, “wait, you can’t go with her.”

“Don’t worry about me Dagon, I’ll be fine, if what you say about this female is true?” He jerked his head in my direction, and Dagon nodded. “Go home, Dagon, I know you’ll find a way to get me free.”