Maleficent ~ Legacy

1.

Just like it was when the Queen Aurora herself had the christening of her own birth celebrated, the birth of hers and Phillip's daughter, Talia-Rose, her christening welcomed folks of all measure both high and low but of both sides human and Fair folk. And, of course, with each new guest, they brought with them a gift for the child, be it glamorous and expensively ornate or simple and hand crafted. They were already gifted with a rocking horse carved by the wife of the woodcutter who chopped the same would she cut. The horse was presented by the couple's seven-year-old son; Jeremy, with his frazzled copper colored hair, and sleeves so short all could see his slender long arms covered with freckles. After him came forth Kel, a Dark Fay boy five years of age, with a head of black curls and caramel-colored skin. The boy fluttered his wings, lifting himself up before gliding back down to the ground to present his gift for the princess, a hand-carved bow and a set of arrows to shoot with it. Kel turned Jeremy's way and the two boys glared at each other momentarily before Kel flew back to his people. Finally came the royal godmother, the infamous Fairie herself, Maleficent. However, before her stepped forth her own personal servant and confidant, Diaval, today coming in his form as a pale-complexioned dark-haired pointed-nose man, rather than his natural body of a raven. He walked with his staff with the head of a raven with amber eyes, made for him by his Mistress.

"Your Majesties," he began, bowing before the King and Queen, then, "Aurora, ever since you were a small babe yourself, since the time you were in your own christening bed, I have watched over you. In many different bodies, be it a bird, a man, a horse, or even…" his eyes then turned to narrow upon Maleficent for a second, "… a dog, I have protected you. And now, I swear my service upon your daughter as well. Whatever I need be to keep her safe, I shall be."

He then raised his staff, pounding it to the ground with a resounding 'crack', the eyes of his staff glowed yellow like flaming embers, and all at once, Diaval's body dissolved into a cloud of black smoke that swirled until it solidified into the body of a black raven. Diaval, the bird, flapped his wings, lifting himself up higher until his feet were resting upon the frame of the infant's basinet. He extended his wings in a wide stance. Even after folding them, his head remained high and his gaze ever attentive and alert.

After this was done, Maleficent herself stepped forth. Her wings extended wide and her knees bent, and her head lowered in a curtsy-like bow. "Your Majesties," said she; her eyes and the Queen's looked to each other. "I, too, have a gift of my own to give to the child." Her feathers rippled as green wisps of magic flowed from her. "That the princess shall indeed grow in beauty and happiness, with strength in her body and courage and kindness in her heart. Not only this, but so shall it be that no harm may ever come to this child. For as long as I live, for as long as she knows the love for those she holds close in her heart, no harm shall ever come to this girl."

With a 'crack' of her staff and a brush of her wings, she swept the cloud of magic upon the infant princess. And with her gift finally given to the child, Maleficent and the Queen met in a close hugging embrace. Aurora and Phillip thanked all in attendance for their patronage, they almost never even noticed the hooded figure limping his way into the front center of the crowd. It wasn't until they heard the sound of Diaval "Caw! Caw! Caw!" piercing the air, his wings flapping frantically.

From behind them, they could hear a steady sound of "clap, clap, clap"-ing. They all looked to see it was the hooded man clapping his hands together. His clapping stopped to curl his fingers under his hood, pulling it back to uncover a head covered by a leathery cap a deep scarlet coppery red like the red color of blood; the brim on its sides were curled upward and pointed in ways that one could say they resembled horns.

As his hood came down, a waved passed through the mass of Fay.

"It's him!" "It's the Redcap!"

"What is he doing here?"

But Borra silenced them all with a sound "Sssshhhhhh!"

"Well, well, well, well! This is quite the glorious celebration we have here today! We have our King and Queen, their fellow nobleman, the common folk, and even…" his mouth curled in a pointed sneer as his gaze passed over the Pixies and other Moor Fair folk "…the vermin! I see we even have our dear Dark Fay folk here with us! How delightful! I certainly never thought I would ever live to see the day! Well, first I must say, I am so sorry for showing up so late to this magnificent occasion."

The man the young Fay referred to as Redcap moved a couple of steps forward, hindered by a significant limp in his right leg, leaning his body's weight upon a wooden staff that's height reached his shoulders. Along the staff's length were scratch marks that together made strange shapes, almost like letters. On the staff's head was embedded a rough stone that shone red in the light; a ruby, most of them figured that wondered.

He was only able to make these couple of steps before Borra and other Fay stepped forward, their wings arched high and ready to spread and strike at any notice.

"You are not wanted here!" Borra proclaimed.

"Not wanted-," the man gasped, touching his palm to his chest, "And I thought this was an occasion open for all of the people to attend. After all, if all of you lot are allowed in, there is no reason I should not be as well. On top of that, are you all really going to stop an old man from bestowing a simple gift upon a sweet child?"

But Aurora raised her hand. "Now, Borra!" she started, "We cannot deny any goodwill anyone is kind enough to share with us. Surely, we can at least see what he has come to offer."

Borra and the other Fay lowered their heads and stepped back to where they were before. Kel was the last to fall back. His eyes remained fixed on Redcap as he moved closer to the Princess, his wings still arched and ready, his hands as fists. Only after a harsh command from Borra did he finally retreat.

"Thank you, your Majesty," said Redcap as he bowed his head, his hand reaching inside the layers of folds of his cloak and, "My gift is simply this, a single beautiful flower for our beautiful princess." His hand then brought forth a flower, a rose, red as the blood-scarlet of his cap, on a freshly plucked stem covered in leaves and thorns. He moved ever closer to the baby's crib to deposit it onto her sleeping body.

'Crack!' There came the crack of Maleficent's staff against the ground and her left hand lifted, her two fingers pointed. The rose was then levitated into the air in a swirl of green vapor. The rose hovered from Redcap's hand towards Maleficent. When her fingers clasped around the prickly stem, her index finger was pierced by a thorn. She uttered a gasp as she dropped the flower, leaving it floating in its green cloud, as a drop of blood swelled from her finger. Maleficent's wings flapped and flexed, arching tall and wide, her eyes glowed flaming yellow, first setting her gaze on Redcap, but suddenly the flame in her eyes dimmed and her eyelids fell shut. Her wings dunked low just as her entire body sank to lying on her back on the floor. The rose also fell from its hovering stance in the air, falling until it landed in the center of Maleficent's chest.

The Dark Fay and King's soldiers alike sprang into action, the Fay spreading and flapping their wings, the soldiers drawing their swords and crossbows. Diaval literally flew into the fray himself, flapping upward, his eyes glowing as his raven body dissolved, then reshaped into the form of a falcon. Redcap raised his ruby staff, the gemstone glowed with a fiery light like the head of a torch, the same glow passed down the staff through its runic lettering, and in a second, the wooden staff was changed into the blade of a long sword. With one swipe of his sword, he disarmed the front line of soldiers, then with another broad swipe, they were all down. Falcon Diaval flew straight for Redcap's face, his talons aiming to gouge his eyes and face. Redcap made a strike for him as well, cutting through his right foot and causing him to fall back to the floor, hobbling around on his one good leg. From behind him came the Fay. Redcap went through the air in a spinning kick, hitting one of the Fay in the chest, knocking him down to the ground. Once grounded, Redcap was on top of his back, pinning his wings down with his knees, he held him by his horns and pulled back on them so that his neck was pulled taut and exposed. He held the edge of his sword to the Fay's throat and turned to Borra, then to Diaval and then, the King and Queen. Phillip was standing before the baby's bed, sword already drawn and ready, while Aurora had run to Maleficent, cradling her unconscious body in her arms and crying. She kissed her head and face again and again "Wake up! Please, wake up!"

"If I were you," said Redcap, "I would order your men to stand down now."

Phillip lowered and sheathed his sword and all the Fay took a step back. Redcap stood up and off the Fay's body he was standing on, moving back towards Maleficent.

"What have you done to her?" Aurora demanded.

"I am sorry your Majesty, but no number of loving kisses will be able to undo this," said Redcap to the Queen, "For my little gift had a special gift of its own; its thorns have been covered with a special toxin that has put her into a sleep from which she cannot be woken."

"Now, then," just then Redcap produced a looping of ropes from within the pockets of his robe. The rope glowed with orange and red sparks of magic and lengthened of their own life, extending and coiling around Maleficent's body, tying themselves into tight knots. Aurora tried, herself, to loosen and unfasten the ropes, but of course, it was useless. Maleficent's body then levitated into the air away from her. "I believe my time here has come to an end. And so, I'm afraid we had best be on our way."

Redcap then turned to the doors, Maleficent's bound sleeping body hovering in the air just behind him. Aurora wept and Diaval screeched after them as they left the castle and were gone.


an idea for an extra entry into the Maleficent series, featuring Redcap, Maleficent's father, based on a character conceived by Linda Woolverton for her original written script for 'Maleficent'.