The Book of Briarshire

Summary: Young Ylva triumphs over another knight at court for the right to go on a quest to slay the dragon that has terrorized their kingdom, but when the King sees that Ylva is a girl, he reneges on the contest - no girl can possibly have the ability to slay a dragon. Ylva goes home fuming, where her sister, Skittles, encourages her to go off and slay the dragon anyway (a feat that would also help Skittles get the attention of Zach, a boy she likes). The King spies on this conversation via magic wielded by the wizard Wormleg - though the haughty King is quick to remind Wormleg that she only wields magic with his permission, and that nobody else can ever know that the King is not the one performing feats of magic. The King is willing to let Ylva go slay the dragon - he figures that the best way to get a woman to do something is to tell her that she can't - but when it's pointed out that if she slays the dragon after being publicly rebuked it could undermine the King's authority, the King and his Court set out to stop Ylva.

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Photos by Nathan Wellman

Summary: Ylva has to talk Skittles out of coming with her on her quest to slay the dragon; Skittles, a beauty pageant queen, doesn't understand the danger or work involved and thinks it's going to be fun. However, Skittles ultimately changes her mind again, joining Ylva after she's already set out from their village. Meanwhile, the King has formed an evil plan: he'll wait for Ylva to slay the dragon, then kill Ylva and take the credit for slaying the dragon himself. Wormleg privately frets over being forced to use Magic for evil, but the personification of Magic tries to convince her to defy the king and use her powers for good.

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Photos by Jax Ball

Summary: Ylva once again sends Skittles away. When Ylva accidentally kills the last unicorn, she is beset by elves threatening to kill her - but Skittles returns and distracts them by disguising Ylva's horse as a unicorn by strapping a loaf of French bread to its forehead. Ylva is frustrated; she insists she didn't need to be saved... and now she has no horse and no bread. Meanwhile, Wormleg uses Magic to help the peasants who come to the King for help - displeasing the King, who imprisons Wormleg and takes Magic for himself.

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Photos by Jessie Bias

Summary: With Wormleg trapped in a tower, the King attempts to use Magic herself - but Magic won't obey her commands, much to the Queen's amusement. Meanwhile, Ylva is accidentally shot by the supposedly virtuous knight Sir Holden, who is all too keen to signal his virtue. Later, when Ylva and Skittles are beset by a dangerously seductive nymph, as well as a hunky merman who wants to make a not-unwilling Skittles his bride, Sir Holden slays them both before Ylva has a chance to do so - then begins to force himself on Ylva to get the romantic reward he thinks he deserves.

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Photos by Jessie Bias

Summary: The King has chained Magic to her, and says that she's learned that the secret of wielding magic is to become friends with it. She plans bonding activities, but Magic is unimpressed. Meanwhile, Ylva manages to rid herself of Sir Holden for a while when a raven alights carrying a message that a rescue is needed. In the tower when a now-powerless Wormleg is being held, she sympathizes with her guard, Trevor, who has recently suffered a heartbreak - but Trevor suddenly slumps to the ground. Sir Holden is here to rescue her...

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Photos by Jessie Bias

Summary: Ylva and Skittles are trapped in a deep pit, and meet Deider, a ram, who says she's Ylva's spirit animal. Meanwhile, Wormleg and Sir Holden, who need to get upriver, find a steamboat that's looking for a captain. Sir Holden tells Wormleg to do what he would do: just confidently state that she's a steamboat captain. Wormleg tries it and bamboozles the crew, and soon, they all set sail. Back in the pit, following a musical number, a man steps forward and tells Ylva he's proud of her. "Dad... !?" exclaims Ylva.

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Photos by David Rodriguez

Summary: Magic is still prisoner of the King, but the actual Book of Briarshire (the "title character") appears, read by George R.R. Martin; the narration's insights into the King's state of mind draw denials from the King - who is so distracted, she doesn't notice the Book helping Magic to escape. Meanwhile, in the pit, Ylva discovers that her father, who she thought was long dead, was not Briarshire's greatest knight who died in battle. In truth, he's a cobbler. It was Ylva's mother who was the great warrior, but as the King would not have accepted a woman warrior, she fought in disguise, pretending to be her husband. She died in battle not long after Skittles was born, and when the King ordered the cobbler to go on a new quest, he fled, leaving Ylva and Skittles to be raised by an aunt - an aunt he was then unaware died two days later, leaving Ylva and Skittles truly orphaned. He also tells Ylva that her name means "she-wolf." Ylva forgives her father for everything, and is vindicated to find that there is truly a great woman warrior in her blood. But the family reunion is cut short as a dragon arrives (seen on stage as an actor in a greenscreen outfit with CGI balls and a technical crew)...

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Photos by Jessie Bias