(Good question.)

It's not that he didn't listen, just that he couldn't hear over the roars. In an instant, Ash stood between the table and the chimera, his sword unsheathed. The blade glowed an icy-blue, wreathed in frost and mist. The monster roared and swatted at him, but he leaped aside, slashing with his blade. The frozen edge bit into the chimera's paw, drawing a humanlike scream from the monster. It pounced, and Ash rolled away. On his feet again, he raised an arm, bluish light sparkling from his fingers. As the monster whirled on him, he flung his hand out, and the chimera shrieked as a flurry of glistening ice shards ripped into its hide.

"To arms!" Oberons booming voice rose above the roars of the chimera. "Knights, hold the beast back! Protect the envoys! Quickly!"

Mab's voice joined the chaos, ordering her subjects to attack. Now more fey were arriving, leaping into the battle with weapons and battle cries, fangs and teeth bared. Less warrior-type fey scurried off the stage, fleeing for their lives as the others attacked. Trolls and ogres slammed great spiked clubs onto the beast's hide, redcaps sliced at it with tarnished bronze knives, and Seelie knights brandishing swords of flame cut at its flanks. Ash's brothers join the fray, their ice blades stabbing at the monster's back. The chimera roared again, badly wounded, momentarily cowed by its attackers.

Then the dragons head came up, steam billowing from its jaws, and blasted a stream of liquid fire at the fey surrounding it. The molten spittle covered several of its attackers, who screamed and fell to the ground, thrashing wildly as the flesh melted from their bones. The monster tried to leave, but the fey pressed closer, jabbing at it with their weapons, keeping it in place.

She does what's probably not the smartest thing in the world, but definitely brave. She grabs the monster's tail and begins climbing up it.

Lise watched them as they attempted to take it down. But she watched from...afar. Definitely not getting close to it.

As the last of the civilian fey left the stage, the Seelie King stood, his face alien and terrifying, long silver hair whipping behind him. He raised his hands, and a great rumbling shook the ground. Plates clattered and smashed to the ground, trees trembled, and the fey backed away from the snarling monster. The chimera growled and snapped at the air, its eyes wary and confused, as if it were unable to understand what was happening.

Isiea begins slashing its back, holding on with all her might.

Lises eyes watched the monster more intently than her surroundings. When she noticed Isiea... climbing up the chimera.

The floor--four feet of solid marble--splintered with a deafening crack, and huge roots unfurled through the surface. Thick and ancient, covered in gleaming thorns, they wrapped around the chimera like giant snakes, digging into its hide. The monster roared, raking the living wood with its claws, but the coils continued to tighten.

The fey swarmed the monster again, hacking and cutting. Isiea's knife did an incredible amount of damage to the chimera's hide, slicing through it cleanly, lacerating the flesh. The chimera fought on, lashing out with deadly claws and fangs, catching those who ventured too close. An ogre smashed his club into the beasts side, but took a savage blow from the monsters paw that tore his shoulder open. A Seelie knight cut at the dragon's head, but the jaws opened and it blasted the faery with molten fire. Screaming, the knight wheeled back, and the dragon raised its head to glare at the Erlking standing at the table, his eyes half-closed in concentration. Its lips curled, and it took a breath.

And then Ash was there, dodging the beasts claws, his sword streaking down in an icy blur. It sliced clean through the dragons neck, severing it, and the head struck the marble with a revolting splat. Ash danced away as the neck continued to writhe, spraying blood and liquid fire from the stump. Fey howled in pain. As Ash retreated from the lava spray, a troll rammed his spear through the lions open maw and out the back of its head, and a trio of redcaps managed to dodge the flailing claws to swarm the goats head, biting and stabbing. The chimera jerked, thrashed, and finally slumped in the web of branches, twitching sporadically. Even as it died, the redcaps continued to rip out its flesh.

Isiea jumps down from the beast, her arms now coated in its blood.

Lise turned away from the gruesome scene. She didn't throw up, but it was still absolutely disgusting.

The battle was over, but the carnage remained. Charred, mangled, mutilated bodies lay like broken toys around the fractured stage. Gravely wounded fey clutched at their injuries, their faces twisted in agony. The smell of blood and burning flesh was overwhelming.

"Oberon!" Queen Mab was on her feet, eyes blazing, pointing a gloved finger at the Erlking. "How dare you!" she rasped, and the temperature dropped to freezing. Frost coated the branches and crept along the ground. "How dare you set this monster on us during Elysium, when we come to you under the banner of trust! Youve broken the covenant, and I will not forgive this heresy!"