Descendants: To Kill A Dragon

Chapter Thirty

A/N: As with 27 & 28, chapters 29 & 30 were basically one chapter split into two, because a) too long! and b) it fit the pacing/didn't wanna leave y'all on a cliffhanger.

Contains: Major character death. Not one of the Isle kids but major and somewhat descriptive nonetheless.

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When the day came, it was attended by thousands. All those from the Isle were there, and Mal was beginning to retrain the Auradon soldiers like her own army, so it was getting harder and harder to tell them apart. She'd kept her promise to the dwarves, and paid them fairly for a new scepter. Doug had provided the other three crowns he'd crafted, and they would be used for the ceremony. Anyone was allowed inside the great hall on a first-come first-serve basis until the place was filled, and thousands more watched from their televisions at home.

Evie was dressed in a gorgeous indigo dress, all chiffon and lace, and it clung to her curves, accentuating the beauty that everyone who knew her could see, inside and out. Mal was wearing a warrior's dress with leggings underneath, that looked more like a frilled jacket sometimes than a dress. It was high-collared, but sleeveless, with ribbons that wrapped around her arms instead, like galdiator sandals. This dress was as violet as her hair, and wrapped about with the briar motif, her family's ancient symbol.

Jay wore the traditional robes of his father's country, in blood red tones with golden threads woven throughout like the magic manacles burned onto his wrists. It was all flowing fabrics that made him seem like he was made of the red smoke of his djinn form, and his hair was braided down his back, and interwoven with golden rings and coin-shaped charms. It was sleeveless, to better show off his belovedly inked arms. Carlos wore a tuxedo that fit him like a glove, black jacket with a dark red tie, and a white button-up underneath. Shorts, of course, but his boots were so high that you could only occasionally catch a glimpse of knee. A dalmation-head tie pin.

Mal had kept her promise to the Dwarves (through proxy of Ben), and commissioned a silver scepter. She remembered what Diaval had said about the fact that seelie faeries had wands and unseelie had wings to channel magic, but those who had neither (like Mal, like Maleficent), used a staff or a scepter. Her mother's staff had been black alder, a wood that lent itself to Fae magic and justice, and was not inclined to helping humans. Maybe one day, she'd make a wooden staff, but for now, she had a scepter of silver, and the top was shaped like a crescent-moon. When she'd asked the original seven dwarves to include powerful lunar runes, they looked at her like she'd grown another head.

Runic craft, for which dwarves were well known, had been outlawed for decades. They were all quite eager to start work on it.

They all stood at the podium on that grand coronation day, and Doug presented them with their new crowns, all on velvet cushions. When they'd seen them a week before, Mal was touched to know that Ben had ordered one for each of them based on their own tastes, and Doug was immediately appointed to be the court jeweler. No one in Auradon save the Whites had had a dwarven smith in their employ for years, and Evie was so ready to gloat about that to her dear step-sister in the dungeons as she awaited trial (after the coronation, Mal intended to let the other descendants go first, and save the best four for last.)