Bourn by Magic

Disclaimer: I do not own Sleeping Beauty or any of the characters there within. They're property of Disney.

The queen drew her deep blue cloak more tightly over her shoulders.

The chill winds of the Forbidden Mountain howled around her, biting her cheeks and stinging her eyes. Dark roiling clouds rumbled their ire of the unsolicited visit, warning the royal not to proceed any deeper into the domain of the fairy that resided in the ominous spires of the lonely castle at its heights.

The horses hitched in the carriage that had ferried her here in the waning light of day snorted and pawed nervously. There was a certain hostile charge in the air, the queen decided. And the anxious shifting of the guards at her elbows did not help things.

"Your Majesty, please reconsider." The captain of the guard's heavy mail clanked in the wind. "This is hobgoblin land. And Maleficent is not known for her…hospitality."

The queen raised one hand.

"You will do as agreed. I shall not leave until I have spoken with her." The queen began forward toward the drawbridge.

"Your Majesty," the captain began again, he and his three most trusted men close on her heels, "Your Majesty, please. With all due respect, this is utter madness. Maleficent is not a creature to be reasoned with and her followers may sooner throw you on their pyre than look at you. I advise you turn back. At once."

The small group aroused the suspicions of the porcine gate keeper, who snorted at their approach, hand on the hilt of his crude sword.

"I will not retreat, captain." The queen muttered as they closed on the drawbridge.

"Halt! Who goes there?" the squat beast squealed at them. It was hideous. Snot leaked from its nose to mingle with the spittle at the corner of its lips. It's tough, leathery skin was cracked in places and liver spots blemished the smoother patches of hairy hide. The queen swallowed the bile rising in her throat.

"It is I, Queen Leah, your ruler and sovereign of this kingdom. I wish to speak with your mistress, Maleficent."

The wind howled around them.

The piglike hobgoblin studied the woman and company with beady eyes, but at last he turned and called up to the bridge keeper.

"Lower the gate! Call the captain!"

A similar echo sounded twice more and clank of heavy chains settled the drawbridge with a laborious groan. The soldiers at the queen's side followed their escort to the grate where a second piglike hobgoblin, much larger than the first, stopped them. Dressed from head to toe in fur armor, he clutched a battle axe that blocked their way forward. He addressed a hobgoblin in foot soldier garb and the smaller beast rushed into the castle.

The creature turned its severe glare on the royal company. The silence stretched. The queen's soldiers held fast to their weapons, ready to draw them at a moment's notice.

The queen cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"I am…"

"I know who you are." The hobgoblin snorted dismissively, his bass voice surprised the queen. This must be the captain of the whole motley crew. "You come without notice and must wait in the foyer."

"I understand." The queen said.

His black eyes pinned the guards.

"They're not welcome." He grunted. The soldiers braced, arms tensing on their weapons, but the queen turned to them with a wave of one hand.

"Go."

Her captain's mouth opened.

"But Your Majesty! I cannot allow you—"

"I command you to return to the carriage and wait. Do not engage anyone—we are guests here." The woman stated imperiously, angry for being questioned before these creatures of the woods. They should know by now not to incur the wrath of the dark fairy unless they wished evil to befall their kingdom. But her voice softened somewhat for her final words. "Should I not return by dawn, return to the king and encourage him to find a new queen who may bear him an heir."

Her guards stared at her in a mixture of shock and distress, the captain's gaze was forlorn.

"Yes, Highness." He said, relinquishing his hold on his sword hilt and gesturing to his men to follow him back across the bridge. The queen quietly followed the hobgoblin captain into the winding hallways of the Forbidden Mountain fortress. Several yellow eyes watched her from the shadows as they passed; ugly beak-faced beasts, overgrown pinch-nosed bats, cloven-hoofed rams stunted to neither fully sheep nor man all gawped from the eaves. Too many footfalls for she and her new escort echoed about the gloomy halls, giving her the sense of being chased. The queen had to force her steps to be smooth and her breath steady.

Perhaps she should not have abandoned her entourage.

No, she had come with purpose. She placed a modestly bejeweled hand on her abdomen, thinking back to the time Maleficent had first appeared in Stephan's court.

A crash of thunder and a bolt of lightning heralded the coming of a powerful being, terrifying all who had come to celebrate Stephan's ascension to the throne. Peasants and nobles alike scattered before the great emerald flames that roared up from the ether and extinguished to reveal a regal woman dressed in flowing black robes. Her horned headdress and staff spoke of nobility, but the verdant hue of her skin and unearthly entrance announced what truly stood before them.

A fairy.

But this fairy was not like those Leah was familiar with. The short stature, plump features, bright colors and kind eyes of the good fairies were set in strong contrast to this being. Tall, lithe, darkly dressed, angular features and the sharp gaze of a stalking predator pinioned the royal court into a dumbfounded immobility. But for all of her foreboding presence, she was beautiful.

The fairy took three graceful steps forward, inclining her head gently.

"Majesties, I am Maleficent of the Forbidden Mountain." The dulcet tones of her voice was an enchantment all its own. "I extend my humblest regards in your ascent to the throne, King Stephan."

This announcement started a low murmur about the court. Many had heard of the dark fairy and all the tales surrounding her were unpleasant at best. The hunters knew not to tread her forests for the threat of hobgoblins. The farmers knew her for her violent, crop-destroying frosts and storms. Even the others of her kind knew not to mingle with her. None could remember inviting this fairy, yet there she stood in her formal attire at the center of the great hall as all present looked on.

"I dare hope in your benevolent rule, your conduct far outshines your predecessors and our courts may exist peaceably with one another." It was no secret Stephan's father did not get along with the mistress of the Forbidden Mountain. He cut down her trees, she set fire to his lands. Bad blood tainted the kingdom. He'd resolved to avoid this powerful woman for any event. "Should necessity ever require it, you know where to send for me. I would gladly serve the crown."

The peasants exchanged glances. All who went to call on Maleficent at the Forbidden Mountain never returned.

"May your rule be long and your house prosperous, King Stephan." The new king stood in numb amazement at the dark fairy's blessing as she vanished in a black 'V' of light. The remainder of the evening fairly buzzed with the salutations of the feared dark fairy. Did she speak true? Perhaps she wished to renew her once honored status in court, as the good fairies were regarded.

Queen Leah felt the fairy was better a friend than foe and her words kind enough.

The queen only hoped the fairy would act on her vows.

But uncertainty plagued the queen's thoughts. Early frosts and angry storms still struck the country at times, blown in from the same angry clouds that hovered over the castle of the Forbidden Mountain even now.

The three good fairies, bless them, had tried many times over the years to help the queen conceive, to no avail. It seemed their magic was not strong enough.

That was when the dark fairy's words came back to her and a wild idea took seed in the queen's mind. Certainly Maleficent, with her great command over magic, would take pity on the queen. She had sworn her fealty…had she not?

Perhaps Maleficent had not meant what she said. Perhaps it had never been her intention to serve, for what interest did she have in the royal dealings of the kingdom?

No, the queen exhaled silently, she would go through with her proposal should she be turned away. Or worse.

Before she was ready, the hobgoblin captain halted her at the steps of a grand hall adorned in purple and black banners emblazoned with rearing, spitting dragons. Broken columns held by weathered gargoyles and mislaid floor stones gave the dreary atmosphere a sense of abandonment and decay. Without meaning to, the queen felt sorry for dark fairy who resided here. Hobgoblins were no stone masons.

The captain mounted the steps and disappeared around the corner. She could hear him grunting, acting herald no doubt, when he returned a moment later and motioned the queen ascend to the throne of the grand hall.

Queen Leah took a steadying breath and went up the stairs, unsure where to stand when the dais opened before her. Her breath caught.

There, seated elegantly on the winged throne was the dark fairy Maleficent. She was a striking figure at ease in her domain, made strangely beautiful surrounded by crumbling walls and tattered flags. Her black robes flowed across the stone floor like a great bat's wing, her headdress as sharp and imposing as ever. Leah remembered those bright, hypnotic eyes that seemed to pierce to her very thoughts.

The fairy's red painted lips smiled.

"Queen Leah," Leah remembered this potent, enthralling voice well despite only having heard it once before, "to what do I owe this happenstance?"

"Your Excellency, I…I…" Queen Leah scarcely believed she'd managed an audience with Maleficent and now that she was here, was she really going to be too embarrassed to speak? But the fairy waited with infinite patience for the queen's stumbling request. "I have come to seek your aid."

The fairy did not move, but something about her smile changed.

"It has been many years since King Stephan and I wed. And…and I have yet to bear him an heir." The queen waited for a response. There was a dangerous glint in the fairy's eyes. "Will you help me?"

"Were the court nurses, wizards and fairies of such poor merit you must brave the heights of my domain?"

The queen chose her words carefully.

"None compare to your power, Excellency. I beg your aid, or I may throw myself from your highest tower. What use is a queen who cannot bear heirs?" the queen reasoned. A terrible smile curled Maleficent's lips. Should Stephan's queen choose to end her life above the fairy's threshold, it would bring an army to her gates.

"Very well, I shall brew up a draught of life and conception for you." The tall fairy stood, drawing up her staff. Queen Leah felt very small in her towering presence. "The remedy is simple enough, but it will take several hours to ferment."

"I will wait."

Maleficent's eyebrows rose faintly.

"As you wish." She began to move down the stairs when the queen hailed her.

"May I—may I join you?" the queen said, not wanting to be left in the care of the hobgoblins. The tall figure paused and turned back, smiling that coyly dangerous smile again.

"You must be tired after your long journey, Your Highness." Indeed, the queen suddenly felt fatigue blanket her in its hazy arms. "Rest now. You will have your potion soon enough."

Queen Leah's eyes shut and she knew nothing more.

"Your Highness? Your Highness, I have what you've requested."

The queen awoke on a bed lined with furs, looking up into the sharp face of the dark fairy she had called on in her hour of need. She started. Maleficent stepped back to allow the queen to stand. The woman looked eagerly at the small bottle in the fairy's hands.

"Oh! You are most gracious, Your Excellency. My kingdom will forever be grateful to you for this gif—"

But Maleficent drew the precious bottle out of the queen's reach.

"There are procedures you must follow in order for the draught to work properly. You must drink precisely half the contents of this bottle before the night you wish to conceive and then consume the rest the following morning. Then you shall have your heir."

The queen nodded once her understanding and accepted the bottle when the fairy offered it. It was unusually cold.

"You have my deepest gratitude, Maleficent. Should you ever have a request, I shall happily fulfill it. Happily. I bid you good day, good day!" she twittered, lifted her skirts in one hand and hurried to the foyer when that authoritative voice hailed her to a dead stop.

"Queen Leah, I have a request."

The queen turned back to the dark fairy that tread toward her with a deliberate step. The royal felt like a doe being stalked by a determined she-wolf. Pinned and made helpless before those bright yellow eyes.

"O-Of course."

"On that joyful day your royal heir is born and presented to the kingdom, I wish to be in attendance." The fairy looked fondly at the bottle the queen held. "I have a vested interest in your child."

"...Certainly."

"Remember this, Queen Leah, what I have given may also be taken away." Maleficent gestured toward the queen and the royal felt a noticeable burning in her belly. Her lips parted. The fairy inclined her head and bid the queen farewell. "Congratulations, Your Highness."

Maleficent faded as she had so many years ago and Queen Leah returned to her carriage to the relief of the guard.

The queen carefully followed the dark fairy's instruction, never once thinking she may be poisoned or cursed for her ill-mannered appearance without invitation or inadvertent intimidation to do as she asked. Nine months later found the queen in labor with her first child.

In high fever and screaming with pain, Queen Leah grasped at King Stephan's arm before he was shooed out of his chambers by the royal wet-nurses.

"Maleficent—ah—must…baby's birth celebration. Please, my king, she must not be overlooked!" the queen begged, shrieking as she was seized by another wave of agony. "Mal…must be there! AHH!"

"Poor dear, the fever makes her speak in tongues." One wet nurse gently pried the queen's fingers from the king's sleeve.

"She…MUST be there!" Queen Leah screamed.

King Stephan was ferried out of the chambers to several startled servants eavesdropping from just outside. They hurried back to their cleaning.

A note had appeared in his hands. Brow knit, he broke the seal and read the formal invitation extended to the dark fairy Maleficent penned in the Queen's handwriting within. King Stephan frowned, thinking of all the storms blown down from the Forbidden Mountain ruining this year's crop.

He crumpled up the invitation.

Author's Note: And the rest we know. Sleeping Beauty seems to come back to me in cycles, I just love the magic of it all. Maleficent is, as the queen put it, enthralling every time I see her even now years from my childhood, and Aurora is still my favorite princess for reasons I really can't explain. I toyed with the idea of Stephan's queen going to Maleficent for help, since the king and queen went without child for years. That's gotta be frustrating, especially when the pressure is on to produce heirs. I originally planned to write this from Maleficent's point of view, but thought it might be fun to 'experience' Maleficent from the other side. It was. I hope I even brought across a fraction of just how daunting she is-as a character and as a character to write.

I also originally planned this to be the last chapter for my Maleficent-centric fic, 'The Blackest Rose,' but felt this was more of a standalone proposing a new idea, rather than building on Maleficent's character up to the start of the film. So yes, I still need to finish that one. I also have a fic featuring Aurora as she's lured to her doom in that deadly spindle scene. Feel free to read them if you're interested!

Anywho, let me know what you folks think-please leave a review!

Blackfire 18