As people began to scream and scatter in hordes, Toni pinpointed the source of all her trouble since she’d come to Shamalot.
Angria rose from the far shadowy corner, a dark, beautiful figure with crimson lips, dressed in deep purple and black, her arms outstretched, her hands clenched in tight fists. She changed, grew in size just like Pricilla had, twisting her body until she was a massive version of herself.
She swept her arm in a graceful arc, bringing with it a wave of fire. Setting the curtains ablaze, zigzagging across the room, illuminating the walls with its hot ire.
Marty screeched in anger as flying embers zapped her wings and caught fire while she ran toward Angria, attempting to shift into her werewolf form.
She half-morphed, the thrust of her skull and muzzle thwarting as though stuck; yet her hindquarters appeared, strong and lean as they ate up the floor. Marty howled, a long, frustrated, feral sound ripping from her throat.
God, they were getting weaker by the second.
“Marty! Stop! Drop! Roll!!” Wanda cried, grabbing glasses of thistleberry wine and launching the contents at Marty’s wings, shoving her to the ground and rolling her until the fire was out.
King Dick flashed his sword, the steel glinting under the torches as he went on attack, rushing Queen Angria, slicing the air, his movements quick. But they weren’t quick enough. The queen scooped him up in her hand, curling him into her palm and throwing him against the wall.
“Father!” Jon yelled, dodging a piece of the ceiling.
Carl, smack in the center of the room, leaned back on his reindeer haunches and shot forward, aiming straight for the queen’s legs. She raised her free arm, spreading her fingers and flicking them at Carl. Icicles with sharp, pointy tips pinged through the air like frosty knives, aimed right at him.
Toni’s stomach clenched, knowing she’d never make it to him in time. In her frustration, she set her sights on instead attempting to melt the icicles with her flames, inhaling and letting out the biggest stream of fire she could summon.
“Carl, my lad! Duck!” Jon ordered as he charged from out of nowhere at Carl, managing to knock him out of the way just as the icicles hit the wall, embedding themselves in a brocade tapestry.
Dannan appeared at the balcony’s railing, now crumbling and cracked, his helium-filled voice full of anguish when he shouted a warning to Jon. “Behind you, lad!” he belted out as the balcony shuddered and he crashed to the ground, cracking the marble floor.
Toni’s eyes flew to Jon just as the crystal chandelier above them let go, dropping from the ceiling, swinging wildly to and fro and headed straight for the man she loved.
She ran toward him, tripping over chunks of wall and slipping on the water from the melting ice sculptures, sliding and cracking her head against a heavy toppled chair.
Just as she was about to push her way up from the floor, Jon roared a triumphant cry, as he ran and leapt for the chandelier, grabbing the weighty chains that once mounted it to the ceiling, directing them and riding them straight toward Angria.
Using his feet, he rammed the bottom of his boots up under her chin, knocking her backward momentarily, but that didn’t slow her down for long.
As the queen recovered from the blow, she rose up bigger, higher, filling the ballroom with her presence until it seemed there was nothing but her in the room. Her howl of fury filling the space, forcing pictures to fly from walls and candelabras to crash to the ground.
And then it happened.
Okay, so it wasn’t flying monkeys, but close enough.
Hundreds of black bats with almost human-like heads, their wings humming in a racquet of sound, swirled in circles, diving, plucking at the air until they began to dive-bomb like an ebony swarm of aerialists.
“Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!” Angria screamed.
A batch of them zeroed in on Nina, snatching a bluebird from her hair and lobbing it almost across the room.
“You motherfuckerrrrrrs! I’ll drain you bastards dry!” she screamed, racing after the bluebird, scooping it up and shoving it down the front of her dress.
But Toni noted with panic, through the haze of black-as-night wings flapping furiously, Nina was just a little slower than she had been even earlier today. Her gait was sluggish even though she jumped into the fray, balls to the wall, as the bats attacked.
They began scratching at her flesh with their claws, tearing, ripping small holes in her skin while she howled her anger.
Wanda screamed, too, as the bats soared around her, tearing at her wings. She opened her mouth wide and roared, her fangs flashing, her face distorting as tufts of hair sprung from her face and arms.
But she couldn’t shift fully any more than Marty could; it was as though the longer they stayed in Shamalot, the weaker they grew.