Victor beheld his brother for only a second. His eyes were needed elsewhere. Fighting had broken out throughout the great hall and if he wasn't imagining it, his guardsmen now grappled with the princesses for weapons. The men seemed reluctant to use full force on the ladies. They were being clobbered!

"What's happened to them?" Victor demanded of Francis.

"It's a spell, Sire. They're in Ivan the magician's thrall, under your brother's orders. There they are, disguised as musicians!"

Not far from where Robert crossed swords with an off-duty captain, Ivan was still on his knees, struggling to get Danny off the backs of his legs. Robert's men had exchanged their instruments for concealed weapons and now pushed for royal table as Victor's other military guests met them in a line of resistance.

Frederic's jaw dropped to the floor. "Why did nobody tell me?"

Robert dispatched his opponent and finally locked eyes with Victor. After so many years, he showed him no signs of tiredness or regret, just pure, bitter hate, and a smug certainty that the day with end with Victor begging for mercy from a brother without a drop of it.

Victor called on his brothers to help round up the traitors. Well, not Edward the Excused. Or Bruce for that matter. But all in all, Victor's side outnumbered Robert's two-to-one. Three-to-one if you didn't count the princesses. As the royal partners were clumping together in the corner behind Fred, one of Robert's soldiers broke through the line of Victor's defenders to leap from out of the melee and hurl himself at the Queen. As Victor seized him by his coat, Betina was thrown to the floor. The assailant spun around to face the King and almost lunged right into Victor's sword. A furious clashing of steel began. Francis helped the Queen to her feet and shielded her from the fight.

"Francis, you must protect the princesses! How do we break the spell?" Victor grunted as the hilt of his sword became locked with his opponent's. He stopped trying to break free and ran the soldier backwards, slamming him into the wall. He managed to disarm him and held him at sword point until the man was seized by two of the royal guards.

"They have to sleep, Sire."

"Tell the men to subdue them then. Go!"

So of course, Francis ran into the fight as Frederic directed fleeing dinner guests away from it. And Danny? He was still pinning Ivan to the floor. It was like having a venomous centipede trapped under a jar; he was terrified to be near him, but terrified to let him loose.

"Get off of me you insignificant oaf!" Ivan spat, trying to see Danny over his shoulder behind him.

"No way are those crazy eyes going to be the last things I see. Did Medusa have a skinny uncle no one talks about?"

Ivan clenched his everything. His body began to surge with crackling energy. He reached behind him to jab his finger into Danny's side. A zap of electricity forced Danny to yelp and jump as Ivan tried to crawl to stand.

For the moment Danny was too angry to be scared. "Zap me will ya? Why don't you get up and fight like a man?"

He picked up Ivan by his armpits. Ivan turned, his eyes ablaze. "On second thought," Danny gulped, using a leg swipe to knock Ivan to the floor again before running away.

Back on his feet, Ivan trained a pointed finger on Danny who was ducking and weaving through the fray. He aimed his finger and squinted an eye, firing another lightning-like zap through the crowd. He missed Danny once, exploding a jug of water. He missed again, singeing and sizzling the tassels of a tapestry. Zap! Danny ran for one of the displayed decorative suits of armor Sir Fred was so fond of, thinking he could hide behind it long enough to strategize, but he was gripping its arm when Ivan fired another magical shot at the suit. Danny felt the current pinch every cell in his body immediately before he blacked out.

*****

Francis was fighting his way to Rita, spreading the word to Victor's men that the princesses were to be apprehended without harm. He was confronted by one of the imposter musicians and immediately started pummeling him. There came the sound of a sharp whistle, and Francis turned away from his human speed bag to see Katherine wielding a flail.

"I'll take it from here," she said as Robert's man hit the floor. She twirled the chain and spiked star like she would jump rope with it. "Hullo spy. I don't mind telling you I'm getting pretty sick of seeing your stupid face around here."

Short of getting her in a sleeper hold, Francis hoped she might obey anyone who knew the magic words. "Katherine, come to your senses. Good girls do as good girls should."

"They should do what they're good at anyway," she said, snapping that iron death-ball at him. Francis jumped back, drawing his sword to block the strike. She struck out again. This time the chain wrapped around Francis' blade and he was nearly able to yank the flail out of her hand.

"How dare you, you savage? I'm a princess!" Katherine gasped, winding up for a wallop.

"What if I surrender?" Francis asked quickly.

"And pledge allegiance to King Robert?"

Francis sank to his knees with his arms raised. "Sure."

Katherine appeared to be slightly confused. "Well, we never discussed surrendering, but I suppose I could take you in." She lowered her weapon and approached Francis with justified skepticism - justified, because as soon as she was within reach, Francis lunged at her knees, dragging her down. They wrestled a bit but he managed to use the ribbon tails of the bow on the back of her dress to tie her arms behind her back.

"Buster, I'm going to make you pay for this!"

"Sure, you and what army? You know what? Never mind." Francis got to his feet and once again began looking for Rita.

Pretty quickly he backed into someone who turned out to be one of Victor's men. In the split second it took for them to recognize they were on the same team, they were parted by the sharp stoned points of a tiara whizzing under both their chins. Lena still hand her throwing hand outstretched like the tiara would boomerang back to her when Francis charged. The guard stepped back and bumped into Marilyn. He turned to face her alluring smile with a sloppy one of his own.

"My lady," he said with a bowing nod, at which point Marilyn bonked him on the head with the butt of a sword and knocked him out cold.

"The nerve of you boys is hard to swallow," Lena said as she stopped Francis's run at her with a hand chop to his neck. He skidded to a stop, struggling for a moment to breath. Another guard tackled and scooped Lena away while Francis recovered. Ava seemed to come out of nowhere to follow them both, pushing Francis back with a hand in his face as she sped past.

*****

Danny came to in his corner, a little disappointed to find he hadn't slept through the whole fight. His body felt strange beyond sore and he had to drag himself to his feet by hanging onto a table. He thought he might steady himself by grabbing onto a guard's stable looking shoulders. It took him a second to react when Rosalind jumped onto the man's back with a war cry.

"Hey, that was my ride," Danny said.

He tapped the guard on the back like he was cutting in, too wary of Rosalind's kicking feet to notice that Ivan's magical zap had transferred to his own finger. His touch shocked the guard so that his knees buckled and he crashed to the ground with Rosalind still on top of him. Now on the floor in a heap, Rosalind grabbed for Danny's ankle and took a bite. That woke him up. He screamed and bolted, desperate to find Francis or Ginger,

"Hey Ginger!" he called out. "Has anyone seen Ginger?" He tapped a few other shoulders to ask the question, leaving a small group of stunned, sizzling men in his wake. With the last one he paused and did a double take, but there was no time for his mind to form a question before his throat was greeted by the point of one of Robert's men's daggers.

"I remembers you!" the goon said. "You barbequed my foot!"

"You must have me mistaken," Danny said. "I'm a baker not a butcher."

"Oh, that's right," the soldier said with a snaggly grin, "I'm the butcher." He scratched Danny's Adam's apple with the sharp tip of his knife.

"Well I'm thinking about going vegan so I'll take a rain check." He gave the soldier a nervous slap on the arm and down the goon went.

At first Danny couldn't believe his luck, but his hand did feel slightly tingly, like bad circulation. "Who am I kidding?" he asked himself as he held it to his face to examine it. When he rubbed his fingers together, a few faint sparks stretched and crackled between them.

"Oh boy!" he shouted to everyone and no one."I've got it!"

*****

By the time Francis found Rita she'd backed a wounded guard into a corner with a bystander's rapier.

"Rita!" Francis yelled. "Snap out of it! Open your eyes. It's me!"

Her face met his, revealing a fiery rage behind an icy expression. "My eyes see only a traitor to King Robert."

"Then you need glasses."

"And you need a lesson in loyalty."

"Me??"

Rita smacked Francis' sword with her own blade, goading him into duel. Under different circumstances he might've found being threatened by such a beauty a fun way to spend a Saturday night, but his only interest now was in keeping her safe; safe from harm and from causing anyone harm, (including himself), that she wouldn't be able to live with when the spell lifted.

They began to circle each other, Rita testing his reflexes a few times, Francis preparing to block but not strike.

"I don't want to hurt you," Francis said.

"Then you picked the wrong century to live in."

She stabbed forward. Francis parried. He swung, trying to use his strength to send the weapon flying from her grip. She spun away and slashed almost cutting into his leg.

At that very moment, Danny came running by.

"Hey Francis! Watch this!" He zapped one of Robert's men who then face planted. "Ivan shot me and now I'm a super shocker."

"What?" Francis asked, dodging another of Rita's blows.

"This will put the girls to sleep to wake them up. It's the key to the whole thing!"

"But..."

But nothing. Danny kept running and Francis hadn't really understood what he meant. However, when he said the words, "the key to the whole thing", Francis had one of those – what did the witch call them? – flashbacks. He saw the White Witch placing nothing in his hand saying the same words. If the key wasn't a key, what was it? Facing off against this innocent girl, so kind, so brave, so dead set on murdering him, he saw plain as day another moment where they had tidied a kitchen together and sang of keys that might unlock their hearts.

*****

Standing on a table, Danny caught sight of Ginger sneaking her way to where the Queen and her sisters-in-law stood huddled behind a line of guards. He could also see Robert biding his time while Victor and his men fought the best of the rest.

Danny jumped down, determined to save Ginger first, but his way was suddenly barred by Ivan.

"Going somewhere?" Ivan asked, his eyes flashing in such a way it might cause a person might have a seizure.

"Yeah. There!" Danny said. He pointed to Ginger with one finger, and when Ivan's kaleidoscope eyes followed it, he took his other finger and shoved it up the magician's nose.

ZZZZAP!!

Ivan screamed and Danny ran for the back of the hall. He practically slid into Ginger's arm, finger first. He zapped her alright, but she didn't drop. So he zapped her again. She didn't faint or crumble. She just got really, really, angry.

It seemed Danny's battery was out of juice. He had likely used the last of it on Ivan. His zapper was kaput.

"It's like poking a bear with a stick!"

"Idiot!" she screeched. She swung for his head. He dove under a table.

*****

"Rita," Francis implored, as their fighting arms tired from getting nowhere. "I know you're not yourself right now and the code of chivalry dictates a good man doesn't take liberties..."

"You're wasting your breath, dog!"

"I think I have to do something here and you're going to hate me for it."

"I couldn't hate you more if I tried!"

"This isn't how I wanted it, but you said it yourself."

"Said what?"

"Catch!" Francis said, throwing his weapon at her. Rather than reach for it, she side-stepped the sword, giving Francis just enough time to grab her and kiss her lips.

Rita smacked him across the face.

"Francis, how could you? What kind of girl do you think I am? And in front of my parents. I could just die of embarrassment!"

Boy was Francis relieved to see the regular Rita, the one who only wanted to tell him off and not kill him.

"Why did you do that?"

"You said the key to your heart was simple kiss."

"Yes, but not when we're...not when..." Rita looked around her and when she saw the fighting and the destroyed hall strewn with wounded and unconscious men, she pressed herself closer to Francis. "Francis what's happening?"

"We have to get you out of here. But first, you've given me a great idea."

"I have?"

" It's the key to the whole thing."

Francis held onto Rita's hand, calling to all of Victor's men in the room. "Wake the princesses with a kiss! Any kiss will break the spell."

"This isn't a fairy tale, Francis. What if that only worked for me because it was you?" Rita reasoned.

"Like true love's kiss?"

"I didn't say love," she blushed, annoyed.

"Maybe I did," he smiled. "It'll work because if there's one thing I know about you ladies, mesmerized-assassins or not, no one gets a smooch without permission."

He was pretty pleased with himself. It must have been a bit of a shock then when Rita didn't take this as a hint to invite him to a kiss, but rather, shouted, "Francis, look out!" and shoved him out of the way.

Her old dancing partner had run up from behind about to chop Francis in two. Rita kicked him hard where it counted and Francis took care of the rest.

He paused delivering nighty-night knuckles to thank her.

"I've got your back, Francis," she said.

Cute, right?