22 November 2022
Battle scenes are both a lot of fun, and really difficult to write well, I think.
This one’s interesting, because while I was planning out the other half of this battle, the stuff that happened before Isaac headed into town, I came up with a whole bunch of other thoughts and ideas how this could go that might make it so much better. For example, what is Maleficent doing? Why is she prioritizing that over a freaking dragon, especially when that dragon is one of her personal enemies? So I plan on getting Maleficent involved. (In the first half I have a couple excuses ready, but they don’t hold up for the second half.) There’s a few other quirks, too. So while I am moderately proud of this scene, the final version will look nothing like this.
Isaac raced back through the main gate. How were they going to kill this thing? Could you even kill a fairy turned dragon?
As he ran, he watched in horror as dragon Gothel swooped overhead and crashed into the main office of the city watch, where one of the ballistae had been firing at her. The soldiers he’d stationed east of the gate began firing arrows at her but the vast majority bounced off her scales, and the few that didn’t only served to annoy her further.
Gothel roared, then summoned her fire breath into the city at the archers. Isaac didn’t have a good view; he hoped the soldiers had been able to find cover.
As Isaac kept running down the main street, a trio of ballista bolts flew and hit the dragon. In response, Gothel roared and beat her wings. Just when it looked like she would dive for the ballista on top of the merchants’ guild headquarters, though, Isaac called out, “Oi, you dumb lizard! Over here!”
Gothel’s head snapped to him; her nostrils flared as she tried to pinpoint his exact location.
Isaac turned off onto one of the side streets to the west, past a cobbler’s shop. A moment later, he was showered in shoes and splinters and Gothel burst through the roof and out the front wall to snap at him.
Her teeth missed him by inches when he fell, and Isaac rolled back to his feet and took off running. He curled around behind the tailor’s shop as the soldiers released another barrage of arrows, and another round of ballista bolts slammed against the scales on her back, cracking a few of them.
As Isaac watched, however, blue streams of Gothel’s magic flowed under the cracked scales and repaired them. Isaac cursed under his breath.
He didn’t have long to consider the implications, though, as Gothel unleashed her fire breath right at him. It torched the tailor’s shop, and Isaac had to back away from the building because of the heat.
He darted through an alleyway to try and regroup with the soldiers stationed in the plaza nearby. Gothel landed on the remains of the tailor’s shop, causing it to collapse, and after sniffing the air, she pointed her snout straight down the alleyway after Isaac. Her jaws opened, and Isaac could see the flicker in the back of her throat that signaled her flame breath.
[Aurora’s entrance]
Isaac felt so overwhelmed all he could do was laugh. When he could speak again, he said, “We can’t get through her scales. If you have some way to weaken her defenses or even divert her magic away from protecting herself, that would be amazing.”
“Can do.” Aurora nodded, and then began riding her bit of the Tower as it flowed around to Gothel’s other side, to try to lead her back toward the walls. “Oi! It’s me again! I’m over here!”
Gothel spun around, and her tail smashed through a couple of the nearby houses. For the first time during the battle, Isaac could understand what she was saying when she roared, “Rapunzel!”
Isaac ducked to avoid the debris, and made it to the plaza where the rest of the army had set up. He found Conners there, and told her, “Aurora is going to try to weaken the dragon’s defenses. On my signal, fire everything we’ve got at her.”
“Yes, sire!” As Conners motioned to spread the orders, another round of bolts slammed into the back of the dragon’s head, to no avail.
Isaac made eye contact with Aurora and nodded, raising hes fist. She nodded back, and her eyes began to flare purple as she reached out to Gothel.
Gothel roared at Aurora, and her magic condensed into a barrier between them. Recognizing the chance, Isaac swung his fist down, and a rain of arrows pierced Gothel’s hide, actually doing some damage.
Just then, on the other side of the dragon, Isaac saw Phillip rushing in to rejoin the fight. Isaac’s eyes widened and he shouted, “What are you doing?”
He didn’t know whether Phillip couldn’t hear him or just ignored him, but either way, he charged in and plunged his sword into the back of Gothel’s hind leg.
Gothel roared in pain, and slammed her tail into Phillip, smashing him into the building. She spun toward him as Isaac rushed to his side, and lunged toward them, teeth bared, before Isaac could even check his vitals.
Most recently updated draft of Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty (potentially including unposted content)