“I will not! You can’t order me about like a serving maid!” rejoined Penelope.
“Oh, lay it on the floor, Ellie. The worst that can happen is that it will get a bit dusty,” coaxed her father.
“Fine,” Penelope spat out, pulling the pearls over her head and flinging them to the ground.
“Robin, may I have your sword?” asked Marianne, watching the necklace scrape a path in the dirt as it traveled to her.
Despite being puzzled, Robin obeyed and handed her the weapon.
“What are you doing? Stop that!” cried the housekeeper, pushing forward. With a single motion, Marianne brought the sword’s tip level with the woman’s wrinkled throat. “Move back,” warned Marianne.
“Marianne, what has gotten into you?” asked Robin. Marianne raised the sword above her head before bringing it down on the necklace, neatly severing its silk string. Marianne then picked up the necklace with the sword’s edge and gave it a shake. The pearls scattered in every direction across the grimy floor. Penelope stood dismayed at the destruction of her jewelry. In reply to Robin’s bafflement, Marianne pointed to one of the loose beads. The round pearl was elongating and reshaping itself into a human form. All around the room, Marianne watched pearls turn into men who arose holding their heads and wobbling about.
The enormous windows in the ballroom started popping out and crashing to the garden below. A furious whirling wind whipped through the room. “YOU!” accused the housekeeper. “YOU BROKE MY SPELL!” With raised hands she sought revenge on Marianne, but the spinning drafts caught the witch in their wake, and she was sucked out the window, still cursing at Marianne.
“What happened?” asked a young man, brushing up against Marianne. “The last thing I remember is that ravishing girl over there asking me to help her with her necklace.”
“You destroyed my most precious bauble, you little wretch,” Penelope sniffed.
“Hold on!” cried Robin, hurdling over a bewildered sultan to stand in front of Marianne. “You can’t talk to my sister like that!”
“Stay out of this, bird boy. This isn’t about you,” said Penelope, forcing aside a wakening beggar and squarely facing the duo.
“Anything that is about Marianne is about me,” corrected Robin, “And I wasn’t named after a bird.”
“Marital bliss calls for no dissent, so I recommend that you remove yourself before you wreck your future with me,” said Penelope, advancing a step.
“I don’t think you and I have a future. If you don’t like Marianne, I don’t like you,” said Robin, accepting his sword back from Marianne.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Penelope twirled toward her suitors. “Boys!” she purred coquettishly. “That upstart and his sister there are bent on depriving little ole me of all the money I have to my name. My father will give my hand in marriage and that bag of gold to the one who brings me their tongues. Good-bye, Robin,” she called over her shoulder with a bat of her eyelashes as she exited with the king in tow.
About the room, the recovering men were beginning to unsheathe their weapons. To Marianne’s right, a barbarian holding an ax threatened them. In the corner, she saw a troll checking its spiked club and grinning evilly, his metal jacket reflecting the sun’s light. “I’ll try to hold them off for as long as possible, Marianne. Make a dash for it,” whispered Robin valiantly. Marianne stayed where she was, thrusting her hand into her pocket. The dragonfly ball glowed warmly in her palm.
“Stand back, Robin,” she directed. She brought the ball out of her pocket and hurled it to the ground. It splintered, its fine glass flying out like rain drops vaporizing on a hot surface. At liberty, the dragonfly beat its wings at hummingbird speed. Leo began to zoom in wide circles, forcing the men to stoop as it sped around the room, gaining so much velocity that they lost sight of it. Leo was metamorphosing, his eyes expanding to the monstrous size of plates, his talons extending, his muscles flexing, his tail whipping. He landed with a fiery snort, in all his dragon majesty. The troll had the unfortunate luck to be standing, club still raised, in front of Leo. In the twitch of a muscle, the club fell, troll-less, to the floor with a clatter. With a burp, Leo expelled a metal jacket. “Excuse me, my lady,” said Leo, covering his mouth with a polite paw. All about the room the sounds of falling weapons and desperate footsteps were heard as the men disarmed themselves and jostled for the door.
Marianne ran to Leo. “Could you give the two of us a ride?” she asked with a curtsy.
“Always so gracious,” said the dragon, looking benevolently at Marianne.
“Actually, the three of us,” said Robin, wheeling the reward forward.
“I would be more than happy to give Marianne and the money a ride,” said the dragon, smiling.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, load it up, fly boy,” directed Robin, dumping the bag at the dragon’s paws.
“Please,” Marianne implored. Leo glowered at Robin before using his tail to fling the money sack onto his back and bowing down, allowing Marianne to scramble up his wings. As Robin tried to follow suit, Leo raised his wings and plodded toward a smashed window.
“Leo, we’re going to leave Robin!” cried Marianne, looking behind her and spying Robin vainly trying to snare Leo’s tail.
“I like to see him jump,” said Leo, thoughtlessly slamming his tail in front of Robin and tripping him.
“Leo, I really want you two to get along,” urged Marianne.
“All right,” sighed Leo, uncurling his tail so that Robin could grab it, “but have him hold on.”
“Robin,” called Marianne, “Leo says to hold onnnn!!” Marianne felt a blast of wind as they flew out the open window and over the sprawling countryside. Marianne’s hair was whipping around her, forcing her to grab it into a ponytail.
“Tell this windbag to turn right!” yelled Robin, crawling up the dragon.
“Robin requests that we take a right turn,” relayed Marianne.
“Only if I get to lose him permanently when we get there,” said Leo.
“Leo,” Marianne pleaded. The dragon banked right, forcing Marianne to cling tightly to his scales.
“Finally, he’s listening to me,” said Robin, who had managed to climb next to Marianne.
“What do you want to do?” asked Marianne.
“You’ll see,” replied Robin mysteriously, “Hey! Drop down some!” he called to the dragon. Leo grudgingly lowered his altitude. Robin studied the ground closely before bringing out his sword and launching it through the roof of the weapon shop. The sword created quite a crater in the thatched roof. “Circle around a bit!” instructed Robin. “I want to see his reaction!” Marianne could hear shouting when the shopkeeper ran angrily outside, shaking a fist until he spotted the culprits steering a dragon, at which point he shrank meekly back inside. Robin gave a spiteful laugh. “He might as well be yelling at a cloud,” ridiculed Robin as they ascended higher into the atmosphere. They’re nice things to have, dragons, thought Marianne as the gentle sun warmed her face in the mild morning air.
Chapter the Twelfth
Five minutes after their escape from the castle, Marianne had slipped into a welcome sleep. She awoke as Leo descended. Robin had secured her to the dragon by tying her hand to the money sack! That’s so nice of Robin to make sure I’m safe, thought Marianne, smiling.
“Marianne, I’m glad you’re awake!” called Robin, scooting over to her. “Do you like my security system? That way, if the money sack starts to fall off Leo, I can grab your hand and pull it back up!” Robin was beaming with