Chapter 42: The Dragons Petition Catherine

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Catherine was sitting in the throne room, getting comfortable in the seat.  “Ah, how good this feels,” she said to herself.  “How long it’s been since I had what was rightfully mine.”  She then noticed two white fluffy cute bunny rabbits hopping down the long hall.  “Hello,” she said to herself.  “What are bunny rabbits doing in the castle?  Who let you in?”

“We are guests, of sorts,” one of them explained, “of King Carlyle.”

“Don’t call him King!” Catherine yelled.  “He was never rightfully King.”  She paused, then added, “Your voice sounds very deep for a bunny.”

“We are dragons,” said the other rabbit, “Who were transformed from our true form into these rabbits you see before you by the wickedness of the sorcerer Talon.”

“Dragons!”  Catherine started laughing, then tried to stop herself.  “I’m sorry, but it’s too funny.  Who would think to change dragons into such cute little rabbits?”

“It is a cruel injustice,” said one of the rabbits.  “So the moment we heard that the rightful Queen of this castle had been restored, we decided to petition you to change us back to our natural form.”

“We figured,” said the other rabbit, “That you might find it useful to have two strong dragons as allies.”

“There are many things I would find useful,” said Catherine.  “But dragons as allies is the last thing I could use.  Do you think I know nothing of the world?  I’ve dealt with dragons before.  They are the most selfish creatures, and the most unreliable of allies.  The moment I turned you back to your dragon form, you would promptly forget all the promises you made to me, and try to eat everyone in this castle.”

“We would not,” said one of the rabbits indignantly.  “We would only eat some of the people in this castle--only the ones who deserve it.”

“There’s a certain soldier who we have promised to tear apart and devour,” said the other rabbit.  “And a few more whose general presence we find annoying.  The boy Thomas chews with his mouth open.  And the girl Susan has an annoyingly high pitched laugh.  And of course we must have our revenge on Talon, who turned us into these rabbits in the first place.”

Catherine snorted.  “One, Talon is on my side now, so don’t even think about harming him.  But two, how do you think you could get revenge on a sorcerer? Do you not imagine that he would turn you into rabbits again the very  moment he saw you?”

“He wouldn’t see us,” said the other one.  “We would sneak up behind him, and he wouldn’t know we were there until our jaws closed on him.”

Catherine laughed even harder.  “How deluded you are!  Dragons can’t sneak up on anyone.  Especially in this old creaky castle.  He could feel the floors shaking long before you reached him.”

“Nevertheless,” said the rabbit.  “We believe it would be in your best interest to return us to our previous form.”

“I will do nothing,” said Catherine, “without consulting with Talon.  It’s his spell, so you should ask him to undo it anyway.  You don’t want me messing about trying to undo a spell I didn’t create. I might make it worse.  Don’t you know anything about magic?”

“We believe we can be very beneficial to you,” persisted the other rabbit.

“I heard you the first time,” said Catherine.  “Now begone.  I’ll talk the whole thing over with Talon, and return to you an answer by tomorrow.”

Chapter 41: Vivian Cares for Benevois

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Vivian scooped up her mother, the frog with her hands, and placed her on the table in her room.  “Here mother.  You can rest here for a while.”

“My bed would be so much softer,” said Benevois, the frog.

“Yes, of course,” Vivian said, moving her frog mother over to the soft mattress.  “It just seems silly to put a frog on a bed.  I mean, you can’t really lie down the way we humans do.  I’m not even sure how frogs sleep.  I imagine they sleep sitting up.”

“I suppose they must,” said Benevois.

“And what if someone were to lie down on the mattress and not see you?  You’d be crushed.”

“No one would dare lie down on this mattress,” said Benevois.  “This is the King and Queen’s bed.”  

There were a couple seconds of silence while both Benevois and Vivian thought about what she had just said.  Then they said in the same breath, “Catherine!”

“It would be just like her to claim the royal bed for herself,” said Vivian.  “I could move you to my room to be safe.”

“Why not,” said Benevois.  “I suppose at this point, there’s no use in trying to pretend I have any pride.”

“I promise you, Mother, I won’t rest until we get that spell reversed,” said Vivian, “And get you changed back into a normal human.  And find Father, of course.”

“They say your father disappeared down a mouse tunnel with Midor,” said Benevois.

“It has been an interesting day,” said Vivian.

“You know, I never had anything against Midor.  It was always your father who disliked him.”

“Father needed me here,” said Vivian.  “I understand.  I sometimes allowed myself to think that once the crisis was over, I would be able to go back to Midor, but… But there’s always a new crisis.  Now Catherine is back again.  And after Catherine, it will be something else.  It’s always one thing after another.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Benevois said.  “You didn’t leave Midor.  He left you.  He was offered a post at the castle on your father’s court.  But he chose to go and live in the forest like one of the animals instead.”

“That was his life,” said Vivian sadly.  “He could no more leave it for me than I could leave my life for him.”