Capítulo 19: Grey
This chapter was edited on August 7th, 2019
Brent marveled at the beanstalk that had grown in front of them. Lady Grimhilde had made sure to wrap her arms around where the stalk had begun to grow so it would break the chains around them. Once that chain had been severed, she was able to use magic. At least the small amount it took to zap the chains off of her feet as well.
The bean stalk was big and green. As the stalk grew, however, the roots also grew with it. They were thick and swirled through the cracks of the stone cell. The head of the stalk broke through the ceiling and then later the ceiling of castle, three stories higher. They heard a chorus of screams and soon a siren went off, signaling that the stalk had seriously caused the castle distress. The outside world could now be seen at least, through a big hole in the wall, created by a few branches and a large root that had sprouted.
Lady Grimhilde patted herself down, clearly very happy with herself. She looked at her hands that cracked with purple electricity. It didn't look like much, not even a bit threatening, but Grimhilde seemed to be recovering her magic a lot quicker than she let on it would take.
"You seem to be recovering mighty quickly," Brent interrupted her excitement. She looked over at him with a wide smile and a crackle of green lightning around her eyes.
"Yes, it seems my body is much more youthful that one would think," she nodded, "I guess you can never judge a book by its cover."
"Right, right," Brent rolled his eyes, "Now release me and tell me the truth about my mother,"
"Oh, Brent, you know one thing I loved about your mother," She grinned, "No matter how sweet and civil she claimed to be, she was a coldhearted witch deep deep deep deep deep down."
Brent furrowed his eyebrows, shaking the chains on his wrists impatiently, "What the heck are you talking about?"
"It's true, your mother would never hurt a fly and that everything said about her were just rumors," She crossed her arms, "However, she could still see the evil in people. She would never fall for a silly trick like you.
"You witch!" Brent said, catching on.
She laughed, "You're so gullible. Even more so than that idiot Lily Charming, who actually thought she could trust someone with evil in their heart."
"My mother didn't have evil in her heart," Brent shook his head, "I believe in her and I'll find out the truth,"
Grimhilde snorted, moving close to Brent now, "Who said I was talking about your mother?" She placed her fingers across his jaw, "You know I was so happy that you were put in the same cell as me at first. You have the same sharp jawline as your father. Same goreous eyes and pointy nose... Then you opened up your mouth and your mother came out."
"You got something against my mom, Grimhilde?" Brent raised an eyebrow
The woman mearly smiled, "Oh, do I," she curled her lip in disgust, "But that's none of your business now, is it? You wouldn't want to cross me, child, that's what killed your mother."
"If you just tell me the truth-" Brent started but was cut off immediately.
"If I were to tell you the truth, I would perjuring myself," She shook her head, "You're planning on blabbing the story to everyone to clear you and your mother's name, right? Well, pass. On the bright side, you did good by setting a prisoner free. Perhaps one of them will release you, when they descend the beanstalk. Or crush you to death, who knows."
"Excuse me?" Brent blinked, getting more confused every time this woman spoke. She pointed to the top of teh beanstalk and his gaze followed, jaw dropping.
Slowly but steadily creeping its way down the beanstalk was humanoid creature. It was presumably male, with a home-made red t-shirt and brown shorts and no shoes. In the light the hair looked brown but slightly golden and the fan was hard to distinguish in the glare of the sunlight.
"You mean to tell me that 'them'... this 'them' that everyone keeps talking about... from the Bridge Wood," he looked back at Lady Grimhilde, "are giants?"
"Oh, looks like there is a brain in there," Grimhilde chuckled, "I'll be in Hawaii by the time that thing makes it down here."
"You won't get away with this," Brent said, spitting out the only line he could think of right now to stall for time, "I'll tell everyone about you if I make it out of here alive. I'll make sure they know how you escaped and how you tricked me. You'll still be on the watchlist."
"If you make it out alive? Interesting word choice," Grimhilde said, sticking her palm out to face Brent. An ominous green glow emitted from it, heating up Brent's face. He didn't know what the beam of light could do to him, but he had some pretty terrible guesses,"I guess I'll just have to make sure myself that you don't make it out alive. Really, you should learn to stop speaking."
"I agree," a third voice said.
Seemingly out of no where, a long blade fixated itself deep into the crook of Lady Grimhilde's neck. It hovered over her windpipe threateningly, daring her to make one move.
On the other side of the sword was Prince Lucas, now fully clothed and carrying the golden hilt of the sword expertly.
He wore a dangerously serious expression, "Drop your hands, Grimhilde. And, Brent, for the love of the kingdom, please don't say anything,"
The relief visibly spread throughout Brent. He was here, his prince was here and going to rescue him. Everything might be okay afterall.
Grimhilde's eyes slowly slid over to Lucas, giving him a once over before she carefully lowered her hand aimed at Brent and gently shoved the sword away.
"Prince Lucas," she said slowly, giving herself distance from the prince, "It's an honor, we were just discussing your mother. Tragic passing, I saw the whole thing."
"I should've known you were behind this stalk, Grimhilde," he snarled, ignoring the Evil Queen's words, "You just needed someone pure of heart to weasel into doing your dirty work,"
"Trust me, if I were pure of heart, I wouldn't have had to use your little boyfriend," She shook her head,
He readied himself in a battle stance, "If you were pure of heart you wouldn't be in prison with my little boyfriend in the first place."
Brent really tried to ignore the use of of the word boyfriend, but took way too much enjoyment out of it. "Um, excuse me," Brent raised a hand, "Your little boyfriend is, in fact, not little and taller than you by almost an entire foot."
"Brent, didn't I tell you to stop talking," Lucas's focused shifted to Brent for a split second, exactly what Lady Grimhilde was hoping for.
She shot out her hand as crackle of light hit Lucas square in the stomach. He doubled over for a fraction of a second before charging at her. When she launched another crackle of electricity, he held his sword up in front of him, that seemed to absorb the magic instantaneously.
He swung the sword, hoping to decapitate her, but she flew backward and spun around with another electricity attack. He side-stepped and jumped out of the way, already lunging at her once more, but she swerved around him once again.
"Just tell me the truth about our mothers and Lucas will let you go," Brent said from the sidelines.
"What the hell," Lucas scrunched his nose, not looking away this time, "I never said that,"
Brent rolled his eyes, "Way to give away the plan, genius."
"Like I'm the dumb one, you're the one that trusted her," Lucas really wanted to look over at him and smile, but the pain in his stomach from that last hit was still growing and he couldn't afford to get another without collapsing.
"Some of us aren't so gullible, young Brent," Grimhilde said, shooting a bolt at Lucas, who just dodged it gracefully before swinging his sword at her head.
"We both know you won't have enough magic to last if you wanna escape and defeat me in battle, Grimhilde," Lucas said. In all honestly, he wasn't sure of that at all. But she had been trapped in a castle for a decade or two and he was really felt dizzy from the blow to his stomach, so he decided trying to wager was his best option.
She paused, hands crackling ominously. She narrowed her eyes and curled her top lip in frustration, looking from Brent to Lucas.
"I'm not going back to prison, Charming," she spoke slowly.
"You can't expect me to just let you go, now, can you?" Lucas copied her expression, "Surrender, or die. Those are the only options I can grant you, Grimhilde."
Her eyes glowed green, "How dare a little maggot like you try to give me orders! You should have died with Lily Charming!"
"Could say the same about you," he raised an eyebrow, "So, what do you say, Grimhilde, prison or death?"
"You can't corner me like this," she snarled, "I'll have your head on a pike. You r-"
But everyone was then knocked to their feet and the whole castle shook as a large foot slammed into the ground, just inches from where Brent sat. He paled, but didn't say a word as the giant planted both its feet on the ground and began marching slow but determined toward the town.
Brent's green eyes widened to the point where it hurt, looking to the prince and the witch for help.
They both wore similar expression, all confidence they had previously had gone. Then they looked at each other. When the giant was at least far enough away, Lucas whisper-yelled to Grimhilde. It seemed to be so that the giant wouldn't hear, but it was really because the pain in his stomach was getting worse and his vision was also going blurry as well.
"Alright, Grimhilde, I'll make you a deal," He said.
Her eyes gleamed, "Meaning?"
"Break Brent loose and give him the memory he wanted," Lucas said firmly, "Then I'll let you escape."
"Really?" she seemed skeptial.
He nodded, standing up now, "You have my word."
She scoffed, "You word means nothing to me," she looked at Brent, at the plead that filled his emerald eyes and growled, "Fine,"
She snapped her fingers, sending a bolt of blue lightning that hit all four chains binding Brent's wrists and ankles then exploded. He rolled his wrists experimentally before standing up.
Grimhilde also stood up and stuck her index and thumb into her right ear, "You're lucky you have the prince protecting you, Furray." Out from her ear she pulled a glowing white orb. It was about the size of a billiards ball and felt cold in Brents hand when she tossed it to him, "I'm assuming you know what to do with that,"
"No," Brent shook his head at the same time that Lucas nodded and said, "yes," He took the glowing ball since he didn't trust Brent with it and shoved it in his pocket.
Grimhilde rolled her eyes one more time for good measure, "Do hope you never cross me again, Prince Lucas. For when you do, I will be at my full power," she hissed.
"Yes, yes, now get out of our sight, Grimhilde," he answered, sheathing his sword.
She grimaced, backing away from them before extending her arms. She closed her eyes and began to chant, "Ala kamark ae da heer oos ala kae mark ee nun," and in a beam of purple light she had vanished.
"Oh thank god," Lucas sighed and turned to Brent, "Brent-" he wrapped his arms around Brent's neck in what the other man thought would be a hug, but then's Lucas's legs gave out.
"Dude, you're melting!" Brent screamed in horror.
He picked Lucas up bridal style and carried him back over to the beanstalk. He propped the prince up against the stalk and snapped, trying to get the prince's attention.
"Hey, stay with me, Lucas," he said, worry lacing his voice.
Lucas's eyes dropped dangerously, but he did feel a lot better now that he was sitting, "Brent," it seemed like all he could say. Tears began to fill his eyes and pour down his cheeks. He lifted up his hands to cup Brent's face, "Brent," he choked out.
Brent smiled, "Don't go crying on me, princess. I was just about to say how cool you looked just now."
Lucas continued to cry, "Y-you were put in jail! And it was my fault!" he sobbed, "I thought you were bad and I doubted you, but it was Jenine!"
"Jenine?" Brent shook his head, not understanding a thing that Lucas was saying.
The prince covered his face with his hands, trying to calm his breathing, "Jenine-Jenine-," he breathed heavily, "Jenine put a reveal potion in our wine and it made you shift."
Brent's eyes widened, "That makes sense. I'd never turned into a wolf before in my life. Or... whatever that was that I turned into."
"And- And now... now you hate me. I don't want you to be our chef anymore, " he cried, "I didn't give you a chance to explain. I didn't even know the whole story."
"Hate you? Hey, Lucas remember that time in the town where you said people only shout in their face if they hate you?" He grabbed Lucas's hands away from his face and squeezed them, "I LOVE YOU," he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Lucas flinched at the loudness and looked around awkwardly in confusion, "I-I don't understand."
"I love you, and I told you I would shout it in your face, so I did," He said, "I would never hate you, Lucas. You'd have to have realized I've been hopelessly flirting with you since you first hired me."
Lucas just gawked, "Y-you haven't... that's not true, you-... you-"
"You're a literal Prince Charming, how could I not be in love with you?" Brent rolled his eyes, "And I'm fired and imprisoned anyway, so it's not like it matters to keep it a secret anymore."
"You're not fired," Lucas wiped a tear "I made a mistake,"
"You said you didn't want me to be your chef anymore?" he said flicking a strand of hair away from Lucas's eye.
"That's 'cause... that's 'cause..." Lucas suddenly felt every ounce of confidence in his body drain away, looking into Brent's confused eyes, "That's because I'mactuallyinlo..." his voice trailed off as he shifted his gaze.
"What?"
"I said 'Imactuallyinlovewithyoutoo',"
"Dude, use your words,"
"I'm. In. Love. With. You." he said growled, then saw the shock in Brent's eyes and lowered his voice, "too."
Brent furrowed his brows, "There's no way that's true. You realize you're Prince Charming, right?"
Lucas didn't know what to do. Brent was obviously taking this very well and didn't hate him, so he decided to do what he's wanted to do since they first met. He wrapped his hand around the back of Brent's neck and pulled him into a kiss.
Brent was surprised at first, then suddenly aware that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He pushed down the embarrassment and grabbed Lucas's waist, not only kissing back but slipping in his tongue as well.
They pulled each other closer, forgetting that Lucas has probably broken another rib and was most likely bleeding internally and also that there was a giant terrorizing the kingdom.
Right now, they didn't really care.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder