The Guardian Phoenix

Prompt: There's a harsh wind blowing, but you can make out a faint scream. What happens next?
Word count: 862.

Rowena, Queen of Fairyland, was taking her magic lessons in the castle laboratory with the help of an aged wizard. Lazarus had trained her late father in the magical arts, and now it was her turn.

It wasn't going especially well. She had attempted to create a tempest in a teapot for an experiment according to Lazarus's instructions, but instead of staying in the teapot, it boiled out the chimney and turned into a major windstorm.

"I told you not to put in more than two teaspoons of purple lizard scales!" Lazarus shouted over the howling blasts of wind. "This is the third time you've made a terrible disaster in as many days!"

"I know I did exactly what I was supposed to do," Rowena sighed, flipping the pages of his handwritten magic recipe book to find the antidote. Magic seemed to be a very difficult and finicky science. The more she tried to follow the directions, the more it made things happen the wrong way.

A tremendous crash sounded outside the window, followed by a faint scream of something in pain. Running to look out, they saw a large old oak tree had been torn up by the roots and fallen down. Trapped in the branches was a brilliant scarlet bird.

"It's the phoenix!" Lazarus exclaimed. "You've injured our guardian bird! He protects Fairyland from harm, and a terrible curse befalls anyone who hurts him. If he dies the kingdom falls."

"I can't let that happen." Rowena headed towards the stairs. "I didn't mean to hurt anything. I'm sure if I rescue it I can avoid the curse and save the kingdom. You stay here and make this wind stop."

Lazarus glowered after her as she hurried out to the castle grounds. Rowena took a saw and hacked away the branches until she had freed the phoenix, who had a broken wing. She carried him back inside the castle.

"I'm not in the mood to see old grumpy Lazarus again," she told the bird, sitting down in the kitchen. "I'll just work on you the non-magical way for now." Rowena cleaned the phoenix and tied a bamboo skewer to the wing as a splint. Then she wrapped him snugly in blankets so he wouldn't thrash about and set him into a cardboard box to rest.

Lazarus found her sitting by the resting phoenix keeping an eye on it. He set some bottles of potion and a recipe card on the counter.

"You have to feed it something. Help me brew this special elixir to try and save it."

Rowena followed his directions carefully, making a cup of murky blue liquid and offering it to the phoenix, who took a few sips with his beak. But within minutes he faded from scarlet to a dull slate blue, and then crumbled into a heap of ashes before their eyes.

"No! What have I done?"

"You added too much powdered dragon's claw! Now you will face execution for having killed the phoenix. Fairyland is doomed!"

"But it was an accident!" Rowena protested. "I didn't mean to kill it!" Lazarus produced a magic sword and brandished it with grim determination.

"As the sole witness to this travesty, it is my duty to—"

Suddenly a fiery orange glow filled the kitchen. An enormous Phoenix rose out of the cardboard box and landed on the table in front of them, far larger and more glorious than the previous phoenix.

"Listen to me," he spoke in words of thunder. "Queen Rowena is innocent of any wrongdoing. She did a great kindness by rescuing me from the fallen tree and tending to me in the best way she knew how. You, on the other hand, Lazarus," and the great bird's voice became stern and angry, "you have been plotting this all along. It was not Rowena's mistakes which made such chaos. You crafted tainted recipes, which she followed to the letter. Your plan was to kill me and blame it on the queen so you could take over the kingdom. But you did not succeed!"

Rowena turned to her former mentor.

"Is that true?"

"Yes, it is!" He snarled. "I managed to eliminate your father the King, but I still had to get you out of my way. And how better than to kill off both you and that dratted guardian bird at the same time!"

She shrieked as Lazarus lunged at the Phoenix with his sword. The bird opened his beak and sent out a shaft of flames which engulfed the wizard and reduced him to a pile of ashes.

"Fairyland is safe." The Phoenix declared. "And you, Rowena, will have great honor as the one who saved the phoenix. As long as you remain on the throne, your kingdom will have peace."

Rowena decreed a special holiday each year to ensure the health and safety of the guardian phoenix. And she became not only a beloved queen but also the most talented good witch in all of Fairyland. No longer did disheartening laboratory mishaps dog her steps.

"A little kindness goes a long way," she always told her subjects. "And evil will destroy itself in the end."