//------------------------------// // chapter 12 the book princesses // Story: Tales Of The Gargoyle King // by discordjediknight //------------------------------// Melody, to her surprise, work up feeling well-rested. She lay in the same bunk she was in before. She slowly got up, sending a hand to her forehead. Ugh, she moaned as she felt her entire body ache as if she had just been run over by a horse or a car. She recognized she was on the lower decks of Flim and flame's ship. "Hmm, was that a dream?" "Afraid, not kid-oh." Melody's eyes widen at the sound of the pirate's voice. Tempest and dash both sat on the other side of the room. Melody jumped down, ready to fight. Only as soon as she landed she nearly passed out, aging. As she began to fall to her news, rainbow and tempest caught her. "Woah, easy there. Yeah, you're almost as feisty as your dad was." The rainbow hair colored girl said. "How do you know him?!" She scowled. But due to her own exhaustion, could barely make a move. "Where are my friends!!!" Tempest and dash looked at each other. A knowing grin spread across their faces. "Where!" Melody demanded as she tried to stand up only to fall back onto the lower bunk. "Oh, good, you're awake." A familiar voice called out. Melody turned to see Cheese standing in the stairway. Above him was a fancy horse. Cheese. She said slowly. Trying to process the scene in front of her. "Yeah, let me catch you up to speed. You and your uncle the storm king had an epic duel. One that if he hadn't dodged your final attack, he surely would have been cooked. You won the duel but passed out due to your magic being drained, apparently." "Soon as it was over, the boss let you go free." Tempest said. "Yeah, along with your friends and the boat. He even instructed us to guide your ship safely through the storm." The rainbow-haired pirate replied. "I'm dash and that's Tempest, by the way." "Guide us through the storm?" Melody mumbled. "Yeah, you see, no one can get through these storms without this. Dash held up her sword. It's a powerful rune. Without it, you're toast in these waters." "Should have known magic was involved." Flam said hearing the conversation from below. (Flim) "yeah, brother. I'm just glad it's over and we're scot-free." "I wouldn't say that." Dash yelled back. "You still gave us all your food and goods. We emptied your place out, other than these folks." "Why did you do that?" Cheese asked with an annoyed raise of the eyebrow. "We don't get a lot of people out to sea thanks to the storms. And being pirates, we can't just walk right up to the nearest port. So in exchange for saving lives, we take what we need to survive. We're not evil, ya know." Dash shruged. Melody sighed in defeat. She had no idea what to make of her new companions. Or her uncle for that matter. Or the fact that her father was apparently a pirate instead of some brave knight that her mother told her. That's right, she thought to herself. It was Mother that said he was a knight. "Hay, did any of you know my father by chance?" The two pirates grinned at each other. "Oh, we knew him alright. Hell, rainbow here used to work for him." Tempest said. "So he was a pirate then?" She asked confused. "For a time. He was also a knight, a king, and so much more. I never really liked the guy, but kinda had no choice but to work for him since he saved my life". Dash shrugged. "My stories a bit different to be honest." Tempest sighed as she spoke. "I always had strange magical abilities. Magic people are frightened of. Even to this day. Much like you, I am a sorcerer. I, a long time ago, thought that because people thought I was a witch I didn't have a choice to be anything but. So I joined the witches' cult and we nearly destroyed your father. That was till the end of the war. After that, I and dash became friends and one day while traveling out to sea met your uncle. The rest is history." With this new info, melody smiled as excitement grew in her. "Tell me about him. What was he like? What did he look like? Was he…" Rainbow raised her hand, stopping her. "Sorry, but there not much to tell. Neither of us knows what he looks like. And he was always distant, keeping quiet to the shadows. When working for him, we were in fear of him the whole time. We don't even know his real name. We only called him king. And that is it." Melody's smile turned to a frown," but. But uncle said he was a pirate nicknamed Black Beard, surely you must have…" "Nope" tempest replied". We never heard of no Black Beard befor yesterday." "Nor did I know him when he was a pirate." Dash told her. Melody went silent. She then breathed. "Sorry, it's just. I never met him. Always kinda wondered who he was and what he'd be like." "Hay, don't sweat it. Now, why are you on this quest for the runes anyway?" "Runes? I'm not on a quest for the runes. She shook her head. I'm on a quest to save my sick mother. She needs healing, and the only one who could, would be the sorcery my father was capable of." "We're trying to resurrect him." Cheese said bluntly The two gasped in horror. "Yeah, I know." He said with a deadpan expression. "You can't!" The two pirates demand in unison. Melody rolled her eyes. "Look, the world is at peace now. You revive him. The endless war will return." "My aunt told me that. She also said it would be my destiny to find out the true story. And revel it to those who are scared of magic. I don't know what she was mumbling about. But I can't do that without understanding the story. So tell me what happened." The two pirates looked at each other and then back to Melody. "That's the problem. We don't really know, either. Your father took that to the grave." "Hell, we didn't find out the king was getting married until the day of the wedding." Dash told her. "Well, then you're no help." Melody said as she got to her feet. She grumbled at the soreness threw her body. "Hay, take it easy." Cheese insisted. "I'm fine." She mumbled back. "Well, it's a good thing your uncle decided to test you, then." Tempest remarked. "You're gonna need training. Both in magic and in sword fighting if you plan to go up against your father." "My father's not evil." She spat as she glared at the pirate. "No, your father was a hero. Just not someone you want to cross. You never met him, and he never met you. You might want to brush up on your studies before he attacks you." Dash shrugged. Melody's eyes widen. "Studies." "Hmm. Was it something I said?" "How close are we to the nearest port?" Melody asked Cheese. Cheese opened his mouth to reply, but it was Flim that responded. "Not far now. We see land just ahead of us. Soon will be in the northern kingdom." Melody flipped through a book. "No not hear." She said and tossed it onto the table. "Not this one." Cheese remarked tossing another book besides the one she threw. "Why are we here, aging?" Dash said as she flipped through a book titled Daring Dew And The Quest For The Fountain Of Youth. "Put down that book and start searching for anything on the pirate Black Beard." Melody demanded. As soon as they got to the port, melody asked for a library to start searching for clues about who her father was. All she could go off of was the name Black Beard, the pirate king. "You're in the wrong section of the library, then." A voice said from behind them. They turned to see a girl no older than melody herself reading a book. "Myths and legends are that away". She said, pointing to the bookcase at the end of the library. "Princess dawn." Cheese said as he bowed to her on one knee. Dawn didn't look up from her book. She only turned and started reading the next page. "That's my name, don't wear it out." Dawn wore a simple purple dress. Her hair was yellow, her eyes purple. No crown on her head. "Cheese you know her." Melody asked. "Not personally, she's the princess of Canterlot." "Not anymore." She replied in a sing-song voice. "My mother wants me to be queen. So I'm apparently going to be crowned soon." She flipped to the next page of her book. "Uh, but this is the northern kingdom, isn't it?" Dash asked, looking up from her book. "I'm here on holiday to visit my cousin. The princess of the crystal kingdom. She's around here somewhere." "Overhear." A voice said from the direction of the myths and legends section... The lady poked her head out with a child-like grin. Tho, she was an adult. Her hair was a swirl of colors. She wore a silver crown with crystals embedded into it. "Don't let my Debbie downer of a cousin scare ya off." "I should have guessed you'd be in that section." Dawn said unimpressed. "And where is your crown?" The lady insisted. "Flurry, I told you that thing makes my head itchy." "But how can you be a princess in a fairy tale without one?" "This isn't a fairy tale." Dawn replied in a tone that sounded like she was already tired of the whole conversation. "Ok, ok. Fine be that way Mrs grumpy. You'll have to excuse my cousin. She's all about facts and science. Her aura is always so lackluster." "Dawn rolled her eyes. Oh, here we go again. My auras." "What's an aura?" Dash asked confused. "Nope, don't get her started." Dawn insisted, jumping over to the pirate. "Well, since you asked." "Too late." Dawn said as she smacked her own forehead. "An aura is a field of energy that surrounds a person. By reading someone's auras, you can tell a lot about someone. For example, I can see from yours that you're an outdoors type. It's a rainbow of colors, but you're strong-willed and determined to be loyal trumps all." Dash smiled," ah shucks, go on." "My name is Flurry Heart, by the way." She looked over at Cheese. "you're a happy guy. Bright orange." And you, she said, pointing at tempest as She smiled brightly. "I can tell you had some trouble in the past, but you're content with the way your life turned out." Tempest's eyes grew in shock at how accurate that statement was. She then turned her attention to Melody. "And you." Her smile diminished as she looked at Melody. A confused look crossed the girl's face. "What are you?" Melody shrugged. "I know all about auras. So you can see them then. A fortune-teller no doubt. My aunt is one as well. Tell me what does mine look like." "I can't explain, really." She said in a confused tone. "Ugh, that's it, I had enough!" Dawn shouted. "Aroahs don't exist. Magic doesn't exist. Why don't you go talk to your imaginary friend and leave us alone?" Dawn shouted. Flurry smiled and shrugged one shoulder. "Aging apologizes for dawn. She isn't a fan of magic myths and legends." "Because it doesn't exist!" She shouted. Melody chuckled at that. "Tell me dawn. Do you know how the body works? How muscles move and stuffi mean." "Uh yeah. Its eclectic pulses threw are cells going threw out the body, but what...?" "And tell me do you know how a magnet works then?" "Yes. Magnets have a north and a south pole..." "And you know all about magnetic fields, don't you?" "Uh yes". She said, starting to wonder why she was being questioned like this. "Then with as much electricity that runs through the body don't you think that between the body a magnetic field of electricity could be created?" Dawn shrugged. "What's your point?" "Auras are explainable. As is all magic. That's my point. You might not be able to see auras like your cousin, but there is plenty of science to back it up..." "Umm..." Melody took a few steps towards her. "Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there. For example. Gravity." She said and tossed the book she was caring over to the table. Dawn watched the book hit the table. It was a book she was very familiar with two. The laws of gravity were the title of it. Melody got directly in Dawn's face and set her fist on her own waist. "Think before you comment". Melody said before turning around and walking towards the myth and legends section. Leaving dawn and the rest of the room speechless. Dawn stood quiet as she thought about what she was just told. The first to break the science was Flurry. "Oh, I like you. I never seen anyone be able to leave my cousin speechless before." She giggled. "I was just tired of her attitude. Now I'm looking for anything on the pirate king Black Beard." Flurry smiled. "Oh, oh, that's one of my favorite old myths." She ran to the back of the library and pulled out a book. "My friend sunburst is the one who showed me it." "Sunburst?" Tempest asked as if she recognized the name. "Yeah, he's the bookkeeper of this library. If you need any information, he's the one to ask. Anyway, let's see here." She flipped through the pages of the book. "Oh, here we are." She said as she found her page and flipped the book upside down, shoving it against the table towards melody. Melody looked down at the book curiously. It had an illustration of a man with messy black hair. His beard covered half his face. His expression looked like that of an angry pirate. He wore a basic captain's hat. But that was the only thing normal about him. His teeth shark-like. One tooth hung out of his mouth like a fang. Being some pirate king, you expected him to be illustrated as a man with big arms. Similar to Melody's uncle... Yet he looked the exact opposite. He looks as if he were starved, Skinny, and tall. he looked as if he was near death. On his hat, the same strange symbol that was found on her mother's ring. "The legend of Black Beard and the fountain of youth." Flurry continued with excitement. Dash raised her eyebrow as she looked at her current book. "Fountain of youth." "Yeah. according to this book. Almost six hundred years ago, the pirate king was on the search for the one thing that could break his curse given to him by the devil." "The devil." Melody asked quietly as she reached her hand in her pocket, grabbing her mother's ring and holding it tight. "Yep, ya see he was apparently a devil worshiper, and as we all know, you're never supposed to make a deal with a devil. The deal was a simple one, to have great power. The devil did so, giving his rune. But the more he used it, the more he realized it was a curse draining the life out of him. The only thing to break the curse was the waters of the fountain of youth. Anyone who…" "Any who drinks it heals all wounds." Dash said nonchalantly. "Howd you know?" Asked flurry. Dash closed her book and showed them the title. "Apparently, this author A.K. Yearling wrote an entire book on the fountain. She even has a map of where it is. Ha. like it's real, tho." Can I see it? Melody asked as she turned to her. Dash shrugged and handed her the map. Her eyes grew wide when she saw it. "That... that can't be." Melody mumbled. "What is it?" Cheese asked. Melody tore out the map her aunt Zecora gave her. "Look at this." She demanded her the others. The maps were identical. Down to its last drawing. "No way. The map in this book is from a children's story." Dash said as she gasped. Yet that's the map me and Cheese have been following. "There's only one difference between the two, tho. Look." Cheese took another look, comparing the two. "Yeah. it seems the fountain of youth is in the exact location of the old dark castle." Flurry and dawn gasped. "You mean where the endless war ended fifteen years ago." "The very same." Dawn tried to keep it in, but couldn't any longer. She spat out, laughing. "Hahahaha. You're joking right? Next, you're gonna tell me the fountain exist? Haha. and the devil king with magical powers. Hahahaha" she griped her stomach laughing. Melody scowled at her. "It's true. And my dads, the one that ended the endless war." Ha ha and who... "Who's your dad?" Dawn sputtered in laughter. Melody frowned slightly as she looked back at the illustration of Black Beard. Cheese noticed and looked at it two. "That's impossible." He told melody threw a whisper. She shook her head. "Not if the fountain is real." She whispered back. Tempest and dash gave each other a look of concern and unspoken knowledge. As if they were having another conversation altogether. "That's enough, flurry told her rude cousin. Anyway, the story ends with him vanishing before he could ever even get there. Like I said, it's just a legend." Dawn finally got a hold of herself. "Whatever, I have studying to do. See ya." She said and started walking away. "Aging, sorry for my cousin. I love legends and fairy tales. Anything can happen in a story." "Yeah, I guess so. You should hear about the gargoyle king sometime." Cheese said. "The what now?" Oh, it's just a fairy tale my mom wrote me when I was little. It's your classic love story kinda fairy tale between a terrible beast and a beautiful servant. "Oh, tell me, tell me, tell me." Flurry shouted excitedly. Melody was a bit surprised by her sudden enthusiasm but smiled at it. "Alright, I guess we do have some time. I read you guys a little of the book". She said as she pulled it out of her bag. She quickly caught flurry and the others up to speed before diving into the next chapter.