Count Alain guided her to stand to one side of Lord Ortolan, then stepped back a few paces.

Lord Ortolan cleared his throat.

Before he could get a sentence out, Phillip stepped out of the shadows. He was carrying a sword.

“Apologies,” he said. “I didn’t mean to take so long. First I had to sneak into the guardhouse and find a blade. Then I had to wait until Alain let you go. What a lot of dull speeches you’ve endured!”

Despite the horror of the situation, Aurora laughed.

“Oh, and the mouse,” Phillip went on completely nonsensically. “I had to find a safe place for the mouse.”

Count Alain’s hand went to his own sword hilt.

“I thought I told you to leave,” said Maleficent, although she didn’t sound particularly displeased.

“As a prince,” said Phillip, his gaze on Count Alain, “I practically have a duty to defy the commands of a foreign power.”

Count Alain sneered, circling Phillip. “You ought to have run when you had the chance. You’re, at most, a dilettante at the art of swordplay. But my family mines iron. Steel is my birthright. I am going to enjoy this.”

“Embarrassing to you if I so much as get a hit in, then,” said Phillip, moving into a fighting stance, holding his sword in front of him, the blade tipped slightly forward.

Alain matched him.

Lord Ortolan moved toward Aurora. “My dear, this is useless—”

She punched him in the mouth. She’d never hit anyone before, and it hurt her knuckles. But she had the satisfaction of seeing him stagger back, utterly shocked. He pressed a hand to the corner of his mouth, which looked a little red. One of his teeth must have cut the inside of it.

She felt a bit shocked, too, but it didn’t stop her from prying the key out of his other hand.

Phillip and Alain traded blows back and forth, striking and parrying with a terrifying intensity, their blades whistling through the air. They looked evenly matched.

But as Phillip turned, she saw that blood soaked his side. Looking closer, she saw a binding of ripped cloth around his waist. A wound he’d already had, then. A wound he’d reopened.

No matter how good he was with a blade, he wasn’t going to be able to fight for long like that.

Aurora ran to Maleficent’s side and slid the key into the lock of her manacles. As the iron slid off her pale wrists, two bands of blistered red skin showed.

“Don’t worry about me, beastie,” Maleficent said with a smile, but Aurora couldn’t help noticing how slowly she moved.

The iron chain, with manacles on each side, was heavy in Aurora’s hand. She looked at Count Alain.