by Virlyce
Lindyss sighed and flew up past the clouds and towards Sera. “There goes a perfectly good skeleton,” she said. “There. I scouted. Are you happy now?”
Sera stared past the elf at the giant on the ground. It was stomping on the rest of the dragon skeleton, turning it into powder. She clicked her tongue. “Grimmy was right. If we fought it, we’d win, but one of us might get hurt really bad.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Vernon asked.
Sera ignored the elf that was landing on her head. Her golden eyes narrowed. “We go back.”
“We … go back?”
“Right,” Sera said. “We go back and get my sister and her husband and Grimmy and the trio plus Alora.” She paused. “Vur can come too. Then we swarm it.”
Erin’s face paled. She leaned over and whispered into Lindyss’ ear, “Do dragons usually engage in mobbing behavior?”
Lindyss sighed. “I’m not an expert on dragons, alright? I don’t know if this is normal, but it probably won’t be very fair to that giant.” Her eyes were filled with pity as she stared down at the giant nursing his wounds below.
27
Alora stuck her face forward, squinting her eyes while frowning. She was resting on a large rock in a courtyard of the palace. Beside her, there was a fire that she was basking in the light of. The target of her scrutiny was the black dragon snoring away on top of the courtyard walls, his limbs hanging off either side. Underneath him, three dragons were fighting over piles of wood that were in the shape of staves. Alora’s frown deepened, and her squinted eyes narrowed even further. “So that’s the uncle who’s been ruining my life indirectly through Vur….”
Something let out a strange sound beside her. Alora craned her neck and stared at the ground near the fire. A mangled body was twitching and squirming, slowly inflating. Alora tilted her head and poked the back of the body with the tip of her tail. It shuddered once and deflated, spewing out red liquid from near its head. Alora blinked at the mangled body. It didn’t move. She took her tail off of it and turned her attention back to the sleeping black dragon. “If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have had to compete and lose against Vur so many times….”
Another strange sound came out of the mangled body. Alora thumped the back of it with her tail, not even looking at it. She sighed, exhaling two streams of smoke out of her nostrils. “What did I say I was going to do when I met him?” Her brow scrunched up, and she tapped her claw against the side of the rock she was resting on. “I’m going to bite him. Right. I said I was going to bite him.” She nodded to herself and climbed to her feet. Then she tiptoed, but made lots of noise anyway, towards Grimmy, specifically towards his tail which was hanging off the wall and resting on the ground. Alora took in a deep breath before opening her mouth.
“What are you doing?”
Alora flinched and closed her mouth, turning towards the source of the voice. Her little sister, Bonnie—or maybe it was her younger brother, Youngest—was staring at her. “Ah?” Alora tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“You looked like you were about to eat Uncle Grimmy’s tail,” Youngest or Bonnie said.
“What? I was just yawning,” Alora said. “You’ve never seen a dragon yawn before?” She waved her front paws at her sibling as if she were shooing away a fly. “Go on, go play with your wooden sticks or whatever and stop being so annoying.”
Youngest or Bonnie narrowed his or her eyes at Alora before snorting and shuffling back towards the rest of the annoying trio. Alora made sure none of them were looking her way before licking her lips, turning back to the tail that was in front of her face. She took in another deep breath and opened her mouth. Her eyes shifted to the annoying trio. None of them were watching. Then, in one motion, she leaned forward and chomped down. With a jerk, her head was lifted into the air from the tail’s sudden motion. She let go and dashed back towards her rock near the fire, curling up into a ball and pretending to be asleep.
“Alright!” a voice thundered. “Which one of you brats just bit my tail?” Grimmy climbed to his feet and swept his gaze over the courtyard, his tail curved towards him, the tip held by his front paws. His eyes narrowed at the annoying trio. “Was it you, Eldest?”
The dragon he was staring at swallowed. “I’m Bonnie.”
Grimmy’s expression didn’t change. “Was it you, Bonnie?”
Bonnie’s head shook back and forth, her eyes wet with tears. “It wasn’t.”
Grimmy’s eyes narrowed, staring at the young dragon for a few seconds. She swallowed but maintained eye contact. Grimmy snorted and looked away. “Was it you, Eldest?”
“I’m Youngest,” Youngest said. “And it wasn’t us.” He pointed towards the side. “It was Alora. I saw her go up to you and bite your tail.”
Grimmy flapped his wings once as he hopped down from the wall. He strode over to Alora, who was still curled up in a ball, and glared at her from above. A loud snore echoed out of her in response. Grimmy reached forward and poked a spot on Alora’s back, in between her wings. A choking sound interrupted her snore as she flinched, but a moment later, her snore resumed in a louder manner. Grimmy blinked. Then he reached forward and poked her again.
“W-what?” Alora asked, blinking rapidly. She groaned as she got up and wiped her eyes with the backs of her paws. Her voice was groggy, and it seemed like she had been in a deep sleep a few seconds prior. “What happened?” She yawned and sat up, swishing her tail behind herself.
“Your acting is terrible,” Grimmy said.
Alora’s head tilted. “Acting? What acting?”
“You bit my tail.”
“I bit your tail?” Alora blinked twice and pointed at herself. “Me? Bite you? When?”
Grimmy pointed at her face. “There’s blood on your teeth.”
Alora blinked and brought her paw up to her mouth. She wiped at her teeth and tilted her head. “So there is. Huh. Odd. I must be having issues with my gums. You know how gums are, not cooperating and stuff.”
“There’s a destroyed path of grass leading from where my tail was to this spot over here,” Grimmy said, inching over to the side to let Alora see.
Alora nodded. “Yeah…, well, see, you came over here, didn’t you? That’s your destroyed grass. The ground doesn’t take too kindly to being walked on by large creatures.” She nodded again. “That’s right. I didn’t bite your tail, Uncle Grimmy. Why would I do that?”
“Youngest said you bit me.”
“Youngest is a big, fat liar.” Alora glared at her younger brother. “You can’t trust him.”
Grimmy sighed and leaned back. “I guess we have a dilemma,” he said. “Since a dragon bit my tail and only four dragons are present, clearly, one of you is the culprit. And since no one wants to admit that they did it, I guess the only choice I have is to punish all of you collectively. That’s the only fair option, I suppose.”
“But it was Alora!” all three of the annoying trio shouted at the same time.
“It wasn’t me!”
“Yep.” Grimmy nodded. “It’s time for some collective punishment.”
***
Alora shuddered and let out a whimper. She was lying on her stomach next to the fire, her front paws covering her eyes. Her wings were pressed against her sides, and her hind legs were tucked underneath her, her tail curved around herself in a protective manner. She sniffled and whimpered again, curling her tail even more as she struggled to turn herself into a ball.
“Um. Are you alright?”
Alora slid her paw down off her left eye, her trembling slit pupils searching for the source of the sound. There was a bald man lying on the ground next to her, looking at her with bright, green eyes. Only a whimper came out in response when she cracked open her mouth.
“I, uh, saw what that black dragon did to you,” the bald man said. “It—”
An even louder whimper than before left Alora’s throat, interrupting the man. “All I did was bite his tail!” she wailed. “And he, he
…, he’s evil!”
The man wet his lips with his tongue. “Do you … want to get back at him?”
“Are you crazy!?” Alora slammed both her front paws on the ground. Miniature earthquakes racked her eyes, and a violent shuddering shook the earth beneath her. “What if he punishes me again!?” She looked around, making sure no one was there. Her heart was thumping so loud that she could hear her blood rushing through her head. She swallowed and crept closer to the man before whispering, “Yes. I want to get back at him.”
“I can help you with that,” the bald man said. “You see, he and I have quite a bad history.”
“Wait a minute,” Alora said, furrowing her brow. “You’re the guy who tried to kidnap Vur. Why do you look so much better?”
“My bones are still broken, and all my tendons are torn,” the man said, still lying on the ground without moving. “I can only speak right now. I learned a recovery spell, so as long as I’m alive, I’ll eventually get better. But that dragon really did quite a number on me. I sincerely thought I was going to die.”
Alora swallowed. “And you can really help me get back at Un—at … him?”
“That’s right,” Zyocuh said. “What do you say?”
Alora looked around once again to make sure no one was watching. Then she swallowed again. “Alright. Let’s do it.”
***
Mary and Tafel stood next to each other. It was still nighttime, their surroundings lit up by the fireball in Tafel’s hand. In front of the two women, there was a creature that resembled a sheep mixed with a monkey. It had hands with opposable thumbs and legs that resembled a primate’s, but it was covered in a layer of red wool. It was also dead, Chi’Rururp thoroughly embedded in its chest. Its eyes were nearly bulging out of its head, its face long like a sheep’s. Mary stepped on the creature’s stomach and pulled Chi’Rururp out of its chest. She turned towards Tafel. “Can we eat it?”
“No!” Tafel said, almost shouting. “You can’t eat something that spoke!”
“But all it did was baaa at us before attacking,” Mary said. “It didn’t speak.”
“It spoke in sheep!” Tafel shook her head. “Okay, fine. Let me rephrase that. You can’t eat something that so closely resembles a human.” She pointed at the dead creature. “Besides, it’s dissolving now.”
Mary turned her head. The creature was bubbling like boiling water, losing its form. It turned into a large droplet of a jellylike substance before collapsing in on its own weight, bloody liquid seeping into the earth. Mary pouted, and her stomach growled. “Why is it so hard to find food?”
“I actually have food,” Tafel said. “Why don’t we stop here and I’ll cook you some?”
Mary’s eyes widened. “We’ve been hunting for nearly an hour. Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
Tafel raised an eyebrow. “I thought you wanted to catch and cook something by yourself,” she said and reached into a portal, taking out a lump of ice. Inside, there was a frozen cut of meat. “Isn’t that what you said?”
“I just want to eat!” Mary cut down a dead tree and turned it into two makeshift benches. She gathered the branches and tossed them into a neat pile for Tafel to use as firewood. Her brow furrowed. “I just want to eat a properly cooked meal. Properly. Cooked. You can cook, right?”
“You know, once you eat enough of it, you get a little used to raw meat,” Tafel said while melting the chunk of ice in her hands. “Alice’s cooking is terrible, I’ll admit. And it took me an extremely long time to get used to it, but at least, she … tries?” Tafel sighed. “Yeah. There’s no redeeming her cooking.” She turned to the empress and handed her the cut of meat. “Can you cook?”
Mary shook her head. “There are always people around to feed me. And when there aren’t, I walk until I find nice-smelling food.”
“Are you a dog?” Tafel took the cut of meat back and added a block of wood onto the pile of branches before setting it on fire. She took out a pot from a portal and placed it on top of the fire before adding water. A generous fistful of salt was dumped into the water.
“Wait.” Mary pointed at the pot. “Is that … mithril?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” Tafel nodded and added the meat.
Mary’s eyes widened. “Why…, no, how? Wait. The fire. Mithril should stop heat. Will it cook?”
“They’re phoenix flames, so yeah,” Tafel said and nodded.
“Won’t the branches turn to ash really fast?”
“I added some firewood,” Tafel said with a grimace. “Don’t worry.”
“What kind of wood can—”
Tafel sighed. “Don’t ask. It hurts me to think about it too.” She shook her head. “All of this stuff comes from Vur’s grandmother’s kitchen. Well, not the meat. I’m afraid of what she’ll have stored away. I don’t want to eat something, think it’s delicious, and find out it came from an extinct creature when I want some more.”
“Baaa.”
Mary grabbed Chi’Rururp and thrusted it behind herself without looking. The bleating stopped, and something toppled over. Mary put Chi’Rururp down, her gaze firmly locked onto the mithril pot of water that was starting to boil. Tafel stared at the dissolving sheep creature behind Mary. Then she shrugged and resumed cooking, adding some vegetables to the pot.
***
Grimmy yawned and smacked his lips a few times. He curled his front paws and rested his chin on top of them, stretching out his hind legs until his knees were touching the ground. His tail and wings arched into the air once as he fully extended them before letting them fall limp. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, his back rising from the action. Then he exhaled through his nose, deflating while blowing tendrils of fire out of his nostrils. Meanwhile, three dragons sat in a neat row in the same exact position, staring at Grimmy with wide eyes. None of them moved or said a word. If it weren’t for the tiny shivers racking their bodies and the tears threatening to fall from the middle one’s eyes, someone could’ve mistaken them for statues.
One of the trio swallowed. Then the other two swallowed when Grimmy didn’t react. Their necks creaked as they slowly turned their heads to look at each other. One of Grimmy’s eyes trembled, and the three dragons nearly snapped their necks trying to get their heads back into their original positions before his eye opened. Grimmy’s eyelids stopped moving, but his eyes remained closed. The annoying trio relaxed, and the one in the middle, Bonnie, exhaled. Grimmy’s eyes shot open, and Bonnie nearly screamed, but her two brothers covered her mouth with their paws.
“What are you three doing?” a voice asked from above.
Grimmy sat up and smiled at the two dragons descending from the sky. “Oh, you’re back,” he said. “How was it? Easy?”
Sera snorted. She gave the annoying trio a strange look before turning her attention onto Grimmy. “I used your little elf as a scout and decided we need all of us to destroy it without getting hurt.” She swept her gaze over the courtyard. “Where’s Alora?”
“Alora? She’s right there…,” Grimmy said and turned around. His eyes narrowed into slits when he saw that Alora’s tail wasn’t peeking out from behind the palace. He turned to the annoying trio. “Where is Alora?”
“We don’t know, Uncle Grimmy!” the three dragons said at the same time, sitting in the same way.
Vernon’s gaze alternated between the annoying trio and Grimmy. “Did something happen while we were gone?”
“No, nothing happened,” the annoying trio said in unison. “Uncle Grimmy treated us very well. We’re very happy that you let him watch over us. He’s so nice.” A teardrop leaked out of the corner of Bonnie’s eye, and Eldest wiped it away with the tip of his wing. “What could possibly happen with Uncle Grimmy watching over us?”
“What did you do to them?” Lindyss asked and slid off of Sera’s head. She walked up to Grimmy and climbed his face like it was a cliffside before sitting on top of his forehead. “They’re awfully well-behaved. A little too well-behaved.”
“We’re always well-behaved,” the trio said, speaking at the same time. “Please don’t accuse Uncle Grimmy of doing something to us.”
“Wow.” Lindyss blinked at the trio. “This coercion is on a whole different level.”
“So Alora’s gone missing,” Sera said. “And where’s Vur?”
“Oh, Vur? I know where he went,” Grimmy said and nodded. “He went to find genies with his little friends somewhere to the west.” His eyes lit up. “Ah. Maybe Alora went with him.”
Sera exhaled out two jets of smoke. She gave the annoying trio another strange look before nodding at Grimmy. “Then I suppose the six of us will have to do. The trio can pin down the giant’s legs. You and Vernon can take its arms. And I’ll take off its head.” Just as Lindyss was about to celebrate, Sera glared at her. “And you can help prevent injuries with your bone dragons.”
Lindyss sighed. “Got it, boss. Whatever you say.”
***
Vur, Alice, and Mr. Skelly sat around a boar skeleton that was lying next to a fire. Vur’s eyelids drooped, and his body slumped forward, but he jerked back up in the next second. Then his neck relaxed, and he fell forward again. Alice and Mr. Skelly watched Vur bob up and down without saying a word. After spectating for a while, Alice cleared her throat. “If you’re tired, then lie down. We’ll keep watch.”