LSS: Total Party Kill

Vanessa had been assigned to take care of Isolde, just in case she needed any help after being trapped in an iceberg for so long, and already she was grumpy about it. Lorelei had already gone off to her private hotel room... though Vanessa had no idea how Lorelei had been able to afford such an extravagant expense, considering that they had barely any gold. In fact, she had no idea how she was able to stay in her own shared hotel room either. Vaguely, she wondered if Honkers may have intimidated the hotel owners into giving them each a room…

But then, she couldn’t worry about that strangeness for long because there was Isolde there, chattering away. She seemed to have decided that she had three hundred years of lost conversations to make up, and she was going to do everything she could to speak three hundred words of conversations in that one night. Vanessa was trying to ignore her, but every once in a while, Isolde would ask her a question that was so random and strange that Vanessa was taken aback.

“Can you sing?” Isolde asked in one of these strange questions that jarred Vanessa out of her daydreams.

Vanessa immediately scowled. “Can’t everyone?”

“Not everyone can sing,” Isolde rejoined. “For example, what if someone was born dumb at birth? They would not be able to sing at all!”

“We don’t say dumb anymore,” Vanessa said, annoyed “We call them mute now.”

Isolde waved her hand dismissively. “Besides, not everyone should sing. One of my friends was terrible at singing. Whenever she tried, the cats and dogs would join in with her. It was a terrible ruckus.”

Vanessa laughed, despite herself. “That’s Lorelei,” she said brightly. “Whenever she starts to sing, Honkers joins in for the worst duet ever.”

Isolde beamed. “So you understand what I mean!” Then she nodded to Vanessa. “Well? Can you sing?”

Vanessa shrugged. “I suppose. At least, whenever I sing, Honkers doesn’t try to join in.”

“Would you like to sing with me?”

Vanessa balked. “What?”

“See, the the problem is, in order to do my proper singing that I like to do, I need to have two voices,” Isolde explained hurriedly. “Do you know about Organum?”

“Organ what?” Vanessa asked, staring blankly at Isolde.

“Organum,” Isolde repeated. “It’s a type of polyphony that’s the latest rage. Or, at least it was three hundred years ago, I suppose. You see, unlike the usual music, which is monophonic — that means only one voice is singing a melody, of course — this is polyphonic, which means multiple voices are singing at the same time different harmonic lines.”

Vanessa squinted at Isolde. “Wait. Are you talking about the ancient polyphonic plainchant style?”

Isolde looked sulky. “It is not ancient! I told you, it’s the latest rage.”

Vanessa smiled thinly at Isolde. “I see.”

She puffed up her chest in pride. “See, unlike most singers, I prefer the polyphonic chants. And so, I need someone else to help me out with my verse.”

“Perhaps I can help!” Boba suddenly said, wiggling his nose. “Of course, we jackalopes aren’t known for our singing, but I can scream like any respectable rabbit, and that’s almost like singing, if you know what I mean.”

“Um,” Isolde said, cringing. “Thank you? But I’m not sure that’s what I was particularly looking for.”

“I can give you a demonstration, if you would like,” Boba said, wiggling his nose.

“Um… no thank you?”

Boba looked disappointed. “Are you sure?”

At that point, Lorelei burst in and mercifully cut the music lesson short.

“Look, it’s the girl who does duets with the goose!” Isolde said cheerfully when Lorelei came in with Honkers at her feet.

Lorelei glanced at Isolde and frowned, not sure how to respond to that. Then, deciding to ignore her, she turned to Vanessa instead. “Guess what I have?” Lorelei said grinning while Honkers flapped around her.

“Gold?” Vanessa said hopefully.

“Actually, yes!” Lorelei said laughing. She took off a bag from her belt and threw it on the floor. A satisfying clink of gold coins rang out as it smashed on the floor.

Vanessa blinked. “Where did you get that?”

“Most of it came from those ridiculous pirates,” Lorelei said, grinning. “Remember them? We really should have taken them out when we had the chance. They were really easy to beat up. It only took a minute at the most for them to be defeated. Though, they were really drunk too.”

Vanessa suddenly frowned. “Did you and Honkers take them out?”

Lorelei laughed. “Oh no! But that’s the other thing I have.” She pulled out two gold coins and winked.

Vanessa frowned more and glanced at the bag full of gold coins on the floor. Then she looked at the two gold coins in Lorelei’s hand. “I don’t understand,” she said slowly. “Why are they separated?”

“Because these coins, I got from Marlon.”

“Marlon?” Vanessa said hesitantly.

“They’re our replacements,” Lorelei said. “You know how King Reginald wanted to kill the jackalope?”

Vanessa frowned. “Of course.”

“Well, we disappeared. So now it appears King Reginald has decided to replace us with Marlon and his merry gang of crooks.”

“Marlon,” Vanessa said, frowning more. “The name sounds familiar.”

“It should be! They’ve been our rivals for years,” Lorelei said cheerfully. “Though, it’s been a friendly rivalry. They don’t seem to know about us renegading on King Reginald’s contract — just as well! Marlon even wanted to know if I wanted to join his group. Offered me a pretty penny, in fact.”

“You and your collection of men,” Vanessa muttered, shaking her head. “I vaguely remember Marlon. Though, not very well. He didn’t seem so bad, I suppose, but after Alejandro, every other man has seemed like a saint.”

Lorelei suddenly flushed red while Honkers lowered his neck and gave a warning hiss. “What’s wrong with Alejandro?” Lorelei demanded.

Vanessa raised her eyebrow. “Besides the fact that he feigned a goose feather allergy and faked his death by pretending to die from goosebumps, only for us to find out that the whole thing was just a contrived way to break up with you?”

“It was a brilliant strategy!” Lorelei declared.

“He is a scumbag and you’re better off without him,” Vanessa said firmly.

Lorelei grew so red that her face became purple. “Well, that’s your opinion!” she snapped. “In any case, I know where Marlon and his gang going. And I have an idea of how we can find out what King Reginald’s plan is!”

“What’s your idea?”

“First, we go to Alejandro—”

Vanessa groaned. “No!”

“Then we go to Gor Chastem,” Lorelei continued, ignoring the interruption.

Vanessa raised her eyebrow. “Isn’t that the place where Boba organized that labor union? What was it called? WTF?”

“That’s the place!” Boba said, wiggling his whiskers.

“Exactly,” Lorelei said. “Now my idea is—“

But before Lorelei could say anything more, Lee came in, as gruff as ever. When he came in, even Isolde didn’t dare to ask him about his music abilities. When he saw Lorelei, he nodded to her. “I saw ya talkin’ to that fellow, Marlon o’er there ‘cross the bar. Didya learn anything useful?”

“I know their target,” Lorelei said calmly. “They’re heading towards Gor Chastem. What’s more, I think I have an idea to get them off track. You see, what if we impersonate their gang?”

There was a moment of silence. Then Lee said, “Yer joking.”

“I’m not!” Lorelei insisted. “Clearly, King Reginald forgot who we were. We weren’t exactly his first pick of adventurers, after all. The only reason why we were chosen is that other band of adventurers exploded themselves. We didn’t sign any official paperwork. So nobody really knows anything about us. And, from what I’ve gleaned from Marlon, King Reginald doesn’t really know much about that group anyway. If we impersonate Marlon’s gang and pretend to be them, they’ll buy it completely.

“This’s a dumb idea,” Lee growled.

Lorelei grinned. “And that’s why it’s going to work. Nobody will expect it!” When Lee glowered at her, she added, “I have magic disguises for us all. Since we’ve just met Marlon, we know exactly what they look like and we can disguise ourselves accordingly. Plus, we’ll get gold. Lots of it.”

“What does that mean?” Lee demanded.

“About one thousand pieces… each,” Lorelei said confidently.

Vanessa sucked in her breath. “That’s a lot,” she muttered.

Boba looked upset. “But if you get the money, won’t you have to do his work? Everything King Reginald wants to do is rotten!”

“That’s the beauty of it,” Lorelei said happily. “We’ll rescue everyone and get paid accordingly. Then, when the fall out happens, we’ll let Marlon and his gang get in trouble. It’ll all work out fine!”

Lee still looked skeptical. But the plan, as vague and strange as it was, was enough to set Vanessa at ease. “So we’ll be heroes and rescue them?” she said happily. “I suppose we can do that! It’s for a good cause, anyway.”

Boba wiggled his nose happily.

“Do you need a bard?” Isolde asked eagerly. “I specialize in polyphonic chant, of course, but I wouldn’t mind doing monophonic chant, if there’s enough mischief involved.”

Vanessa suddenly giggled. “Maybe Florian can help be your duet partner!”

Isolde looked hopeful. “Do you think he would? I like polyphony a lot better than monophony. It gives the music that something special, you know?”

“It’s worth asking him!” Vanessa said brightly, feeling a lot more hopeful than she had been feeling. Isolde wouldn’t be harassing her about music, they would go on a crazy adventure soon, and they had a ridiculous amount of gold, based on the jingle from the bag. Everything was looking up.

“There’s one problem,” Lee said. “King Reginald has secret police. They’ve already made the gunslingers vanish—“

“Another problem for another time,” Lorelei said, waving him off. “Besides, didn’t you hear me? Marlon’s gang will be the ones to take King Reginald’s wrath. As for us, we’ll simply undisguise ourselves and go away!”

Lee still didn’t look convinced. Still, he sighed. “You said one thousand coins each?”

“Yup,” Lorelei said grinning.

“All right,” Lee muttered reluctantly. “Maybe for a thousand."

Lorelei grinned more. "Now let's wake up Florian and tell him the good news!"

"Master Florian, wake up," said Isolde, shaking him.
"Guuuuh," he groaned, turning over.
"Come on, we are leaving for Gor Chastenne, we will get to dress up, sing, and make a thousand gold pieces. It sounds like an explosion!"
"An explosion?" Florian sat up. "Where? That sounds dangerous."
"Maybe."
Florian grabbed his bags and ran out of the room, leaving Isolde to stare at the empty doorway.
"He must be very excited," she muttered to herself before following. When she reached the bar room, everyone was looking out the doors, confused expressions on their faces. Vanessa walked up to her and pulled her aside.
"What did you do?" she asked.
"I just woke him up," Isolde said.

Florian carried his bags as he rushed out of the room. He looked around and stared in confusion at the group gathered by his room.

"Are you coming or what!"

Isolde grinned at him. The other members of the crowd stared at him in shock and mild amusement.

"As I said, he is awake," Isolde bragged.

Florian looked over the faces of the group and understanding overtook him. Grumbling, he stomped back into his room and slammed the door. He set everything on the ground and fell onto his bed. Florian's mind escaped him and he descended into his own world. A world with forests and lakes, a majestic palace sits undisturbed upon a island surrounded by trees and a crystal clear, bottomless lake with flocks of swans resting on its surface. A mighty mountain range rises proudly behind it, its snow covered peaks dotted with flecks of light where gems peaks through the snow. A bright purple flag sits proudly at the peak, displaying a white cross and six wings. A dragon with scales of obsidian curls in the air above the mountain. Puffy clouds fill the bright blue sky. Pink pigs flap lazily through the air. Above a shore of glass pebbles, griffins glide through the air, intermittently flapping their powerful wings to propel themselves through the air. In a nearby cave, a book seems to be filled with a never-ending ocean of words.

Suddenly, Florian was drawn back into reality.

As Florian stomped back into his room, Lee’s doubts increased.

“A thousand gold coin?” he asked again.

“Yup!” Lorelei chirped back.

“Ya know, that’d be a nice day. But, and hear me, eh, I think we’re foolin’. All about there be parties promised all this coin, see – but who’s got any? Who has Lord Reginold actually paid? We’re all fightin’ over the promise of coin. ”

“Sure, but as long as we stay ahead of the real Marlon...”

“And what, turn in the Jackalope?”

“No,” Vanessa sighed, “We’re going to fake it.”

“You think ee’s a paying six thousand gold coins out for this Jackalope,” Lee jestured at Boba “And that you can foo’ him with a burnt up old hat?”

“It’s worth a try!” Lorelei returned.

“What if we sent off Boba here on a ship, eh? As is, one mention that Boba is with us and we’ve got Marlon’s crew all over us.”

Boba waved his antlers and hopped in between them. “Look! I don’t really want to get on a ship! I want to get back to Gor Chastem.” He paused and wriggled his nose. “And I can pay you!”

“You want us to take you to Gor Chastem? To go down the highway for a week being followed by Marlon?” Lorelei asked. “Straight through Toileandra? Into the Lion’s Den?”

Boba grinned. “Sure thing! We just need to get ahead of Marlon.”

The party was in agreement. They packed swiftly and arrived in the hotel stables as the moon broke out into the night sky. They saddled up on the five horses and rode out through the gates just before they closed for the night.

Vanessa rode up next to Lee, with a concerned look. “Sure we’re leaving now and Marlon won’t leave until morning. But is that enough time? Shouldn’t we have done something to delay them?”

Lee laughed, “But we did Missie! We dun slowed ‘em down, and like they say, ‘The easiest way is the best.’ That’s why we stole their horses! With any luck they can walk!”

Lee was nervous about the plan – but mostly about the very first part, traveling after dark through the vampire infested woods that lay about Seabeck. The low moon sent long shadows everywhere, and the quick trot of the horses was in no way stealthy. They plunged deep into the forest, the tall pines darkening the sky. Behind every shadow, in Lee’s imagination, was another pale faced bloodsucker. Many years ago in these woods he had been caught out late in the evening and alone – He still remembered the feel of hands – hands which were cold as though dead – gripping his arm as man and monster fought.

Marlon woke to a knock on the door. He rolled out of bed and listened to the knocking, it was Cindy and the coast was clear. Marlon opened the door. Standing before him was a beautiful human woman, dressed in thief's leathers that were covered by a cloak.

"The horses are gone," she said nonchalantly as she came in, closing the door behind her.

"Impress me," Marlon said.

"Barim spoke with the stablehand, but they didn't see who took them. But I found out from the innkeeper that your lady-friend from last night left in a hurry early this morning, along with a bunch of other people," Cindy said.

"Lorelei is pretty smart, I would have thought she would have been smart enough to keep out of our business," Marlon said.

"So how do you want to handle it? Quick and painless? Or slow and painful?" Cindy asked as she drew a dagger from its sheath and sat down, cleaning her nails with one of the edges. Marlon just laughed in reply.

"Are you drunk?" Cindy asked, studying Marlon.

"Not at all. Lorelei's hangover cures don't just cure the hangover, they also cure the grogginess of the morning. It's almost worth the inconvenience," Marlon said absent-mindedly. The truth was he hadn't quite figured out what he wanted to do with her. It had been a long time since he had seen her and seeing her in the tavern had brought back some old memories.

"Uh oh, you like her don't you," Cindy said, reading him like a romance novel.

"That would be unprofessional," Marlon said evenly. It didn't work.

"You do like her!" Cindy groaned. "She must be quite special. When is the happy day?"

"I have always been amazed at the speed with which women go from innuendo to matrimony. It's almost as cliche as that old saying about how a single man with a large fortune must be in want of a wife."

"The larger the fortune, the greater the need, and your fortune is greater than most," Cindy said teasingly. Marlon ignored it.

"I mentioned Gor Chasten to Lorelei last night. She seemed to know a lot more about it than usual. It's a good bet that's where she's heading. She also warned me about King Reginald, that he's a bit of a bloodthirsty character," Marlon said, looking out the window.

"We will need to get to Gor Chasten in a hurry. And I know just how we can get there," Marlon said, pointing across the street.

"I see, we're doing this in style," Cindy said. "This is going to be fun."

The revelation from Lee -- that they were riding stolen horses -- made Vanessa more nervous. She had wondered where the horses had come from, of course, but she had just assumed that the money that Lorelei had just bought them. After all, Lorelei had been so grumpy with her after she stole the cabbage cart that she had assumed that

"We can ask if some of my friends can help," Boba replied, wiggling his nose.

"Your... friends?" Vanessa asked nervously.

"I have a lot of friends," Boba said cheerfully, scratching his ear. "That's what makes me such a good union leader! All my connections."

Lee snorted. "If you 'ave so many connections, then why didya nearly get murdered?"

Boba laughed. "Oh, I knew you wouldn't have murdered me!"

Lee frowned. "You did?"

"Of course," Boba said, waving his paw around. Then, when Lee stared at him, he laughed and hopped, wiggling his ears. "Do you think you're the first set of assassins that King Reginald has sent after me?"

"We aren't?" Lorelei asked, confused.

"Of course not!" Boba said, laughing. "He's sent several assassins after me! Why else do you think that Lord Reginald would just pick up some strangers from a bar and set them loose on me?"

Lee frowned. "Then why dinnit ya say anything before when we asked you?"

"I wanted to see what you would do, of course," Boba said. "See if you might want to my friends as well. And, I have to admit, so far I'm impressed! My favorite part was the eating the cabbages from the cart. That was a nice touch! And your goose is impressive as well. But, all in all, I think you're nice people. Good people. People who understand real injustice and wish to fight it, no matter what the costs are."

Vanessa furrowed her brow. "Go on."

"You see, the reason why I organized the WTF union simple," Boba said. "When I told you that we started the union to protect the workers, I wasn't lying. His mines were rife with slavery, hazardous conditions, and brutality from the management. But King Reginald's crimes go much farther that. The things that he has been doing are rephrensible."

Boba's voice grew lower at these words, as if he were about to tell them a secret, and everyone craned forward to listen. Even Honkers grew quiet, his feathers going up in anticipation.

Boba leaned forward, "King Reginald has been taxing his citizens exorbent rates. Then, when they can't pay, he gives them a choice: rot in prison or go to the mines. So they would choose to go to the mines. Then, King Reginald has his foremen separate them in groups. Everyone who is his top dissenters gets placed into mining sections which mysteriously have mining collapses, which the rescuers can't access until long after all the miners die. A bit convenient, don't you think?"

"Very convenient," Lorelei said grimly. "Go on!"

"Not only is it a crime that impacts humanity in general, but it affects all of us who live in the forests as well," Boba said quickly. "That's how I first got involved! And that's how my friend got involved as well. You see, the mines that King Reginald has are gold mines."

Florian raised his eyebrow. "Is that how he got so rich?"

"Exactly!" Boba said. "But, the gold mining is too much. The only one getting the gold is King Reginald. Everyone else is just getting the leftovers."

"I figured that out already," Lee said dryly. "It seem'd too convenient for King Reginald to promise a thousand gold pieces for everyone to cross his path, only for them to mysteriously die when it was time to collect."

Lorelei suddenly frowned. "Marlon said King Reginald had promised them gold."

"Yep, they're gonna mysteriously die soon too," Lee said, laughing harshly. "Mark my words!"

"But it gets worse than that," Boba said earnestly. "You see, there are certain species that need gold to live."

"Like me," Lee said, grinning.

"Or gryphons," Lorelei said thoughtfully. "They need to line their aeries with gold, otherwise they can't hatch their eggs."

"Or dragons," Boba finished, his eyes gleaming. "They need gold to warm their scales up so they can move around. But King Reginald doesn't give them the gold -- at least, not without a price. He makes these species crawl to him and obey his orders, otherwise they don't the gold they need to survive."

Vanessa frowned more. "So how did you get involved?"

"A dragon asked me to intervene," Boba said proudly. "He couldn't get involved directly for obvious reasons. However, since I am cute and cuddly, he suggested that I talk with the humans and organize something, and he would back me quietly. He's a well-established dragon -- he's not lacking in any gold or anything of the sort. He isn't doing this out of personal desperation. However, even he noticed the corruption and how King Reginald treated everyone. He was the one to start an inter-species council to determine how to restore natural order so that King Reginald wasn't tyrannizing us tangentially -- or anybody else -- by giving humanity a fair chance to fight back against the injustice freely without too much interference."

"A clever solution, except for one thing" Lorelei said bluntly. "King Reginald."

Boba nodded. "But I have high hopes that we'll be able to defeat King Reginald soon," he added. "Beasts and men alike are starting to realize the cruelty of King Reginald. And, while there are many who still support him and work for him in hopes of his gold, there are many who are starting to stand against him."

"Including us?" Vanessa asked.

"Including you," Boba agreed. "And, after watching you for several days, I think you may be the ones to help lead humanity out of the tyranny of King Reginald. Your methods are... unorthodox, to put it mildly, glancing over at Honkers, who wiggled his tail feathers happily at the suggestion of violence. "However, I think you are ready. All you need is a little help."

Lorelei raised her eyebrow. "A little help?"

Boba nodded. "I want you to meet the dragon. He's not too far away from here! And I think he will be willing to help you in a very big way, as long as you are sincere in your efforts to fight off King Reginald's forces."

Lee suddenly scowled. "You want us to meet a dragon?"

"Dragons generally want payment for meeting with people," Lorelei pointed out. "And we don't have much to give them."

"You can give him your horses," Boba said, glancing at them. "He'll love to eat them, I'm sure. Besides, the horses won't be very useful here. They're stolen goods and, if you show up in Gor Chasten with them, King Reginald might use this as an excuse to arrest you. Better give them up to the dragon. Besides, I'm sure my friend will not leave you out to rot like a mildewing carrot! He is even more well-connected than I am. Everything will be fine."

Still, Vanessa couldn't help but feel nervous at the prospect of meeting a dragon. She looked around the forest nervously, almost "So, what do we do now?"

"You say hello, of course," a friendly voice said. Then, before anyone could say anything, a tiny dragon, no bigger than a Golden Retriever, stepped out from behind the trees. He was beautiful -- his scales gleamed with green and gold and his eyes gleamed like sapphires. When he saw them, he laughed and a little puff of smoke came from his nostrils. Then he gave them a low bow. "Neirin at your service!"

For a moment, everyone was quiet. And then Isolde cried out, "Neirin!" and rushed forward to give the dragon a big hug.

Isolde was ecstatic, jumping up and down with joy. Here was Neirin, beautiful, wonderful old Neirin, practically her favourite person in the world!

"Oh Neirin, Neirin of the gilded tongue, of most beateous tones, eternally young: in these past years you have grown more

"Isolde, may your life be long and your days filled with joy" Neirin greeted her. "I am surprised to see you! How have you been?"

The remainder of the party watched on with shock. Eventually Boba stepped up and asked, "Neirin, Isolde, you know each other?"

"Yes, Neirin and I are both members of the Royale Chorus!"

"Were members of the Royale Chorus. It disbanded about a century ago," Neirin amended.

"What? That is..." Isolde trailed off, looking more than a little disappointed.

"No, let me show you! We have so many new forms of music now! I'm sure you'll find it quite exciting!"

"Not relevant!" Boba almost yelled. "We need to talk about King Reginald!"

Mallin was preening her feathers when suddenly Alistair flew to her aerie. Instantly, all her feathers jumped up -- and all her hackles too.

"We got another call," Alistair said blandly. "King Reginald needs us for a task."

Mallin glared at him. "Not interested."

"King Reginald doesn't care if you're interested," Alistair said hollowly. "He has a job for us to do."

"You know, gryphons used to be regal creatures," she muttered, eying her talons. "We used to have dignity. And now, look at us. We've become postal workers and errand runners for King Reginald, as if we are merely his little pets."

Alistair sighed and curled up his lion paws. He was a handsome gryphon -- his lion parts shone a brilliant gold while his feathers gleamed like bronze. It was a sharp contrast to her coloring -- her feathers shone like silver while a faint leopard print colored her silvery fur. Where he was large and menacing like a lion, she was smaller and built more like a leopard.

Not that she wasn't menancing in her own way...

Alistair glanced at her face, a defeated expression in his sharp eyes. "We need the gold. You know that. Without the gold, how are we supposed to live?"

Mallin glared at him. "Do you call this living?" she demanded, raising her wings and opening her beak wider in disdain. "There was a time in which we looked down at Hippogrifs for being beasts of burden who would allow humans to ride them, as if we were mere horses. And now, look at us!"

"We're not horses," Alistair muttered.

"Really?" Mallin snarled. "Pray tell, what is this job that King Reginald wants us to do right now?"

Alistair's feathers drooped. "He wants us to give some of his cronies a ride to Gor Chasten."

"See?" Mallin said, curling her talons and glaring at Alistair. "He has blackmailed us to be his mere ride and mail carriers! The whole thing disgusts me!"

"What are we supposed to do?" Alistair demanded. "He has the gold and we need it! Besides, at least he'll give us the gold. Most of the time, he just kills anyone who wants his gold. It's not that bad of a deal."

"He's worse than the dragons!" Mallin retorted. "He is just as greedy and violent! But worse because at least the dragons will only attack you if you attack them first! But King Reginald?"

Alistair looked frustrated. "Again, what can we do?"

Now it was Mallin's turn to slump down. "I don't know." Then she added, "But we ought to do something!"

"Like what?"

Mallin thought quickly. "What do we know about these riders?"

"Not much," Alistair said. "All I was told is that they need to be in Gor Chasten quick. Something about them losing their horses and an urgent matter that needs to be attended to quickly."

"Which means they're probably thugs intended to stop the uprising at Gor Chasten?" Mallin suggested.

"Probably," Alistair agreed.

Mallin suddenly smiled. "What if we give them a little... side trip?"

Alistair blinked. Then his feathers fluffed in pleasure. "Continue on, please."

"King Reginald seems to think that we're just dumb beasts that he can command at will," Mallin said excitedly. "So what if we act like dumb beasts?" She jerked her head in a direction. "There's a place called 'Cor Gastem' about a thousand miles away from here. What if we drop them off there instead?"

Alistair suddenly burst out in laughter that sounded half like a snarl, half like a shriek. "That would be hilarious."

"It would, wouldn't it?" Mallin snickered. "The best thing is, once we get in the air and start flying, they can't really stop us. Not without falling to their death!"

"There's only one problem," Alistair suddenly said somberly. "What about King Reginald?"

"Who cares about King Reginald?" Mallin scoffed. "If he wanted us to follow every command, he should have treated us better, instead of murdering everyone he saw while he sat on his stupid porcelain throne!"

"But what if we get in trouble?" Alistair said, leaning forward.

Mallin made a face. "Who's the leader of this squad?"

"I am," Alistair said, drawing himself up proudly.

"Do you think anyone in your squad would object to this little joke?"

Alistair considered this for a moment. "No, I think pretty much everyone would think it was hilarious."

"And what about the other gryphons?"

Alistair laughed. "They probably would scold me a little bit, just to make a good front, but it would probably be considered funny to everyone else. Though, King Reginald would hate it, of course."

"Then why not go ahead?" Mallin asked. "Besides, what's a group of thugs to either us or King Reginald? It's not like they're doing anythng important. And it's not really that big of a deal. Once they realize where they are, they'll ask us to go to Gor Chasten, we'll apologize and bring them back to where they are supposed to be. It'll be no big deal!"

Alistair considered this. Then he said, "All right, I'll do it! Besides, you're right! Maybe they won't put me in charge of any other humiliating missions after this debacle."

Mallin chortled and tugged his feather gently, as if she were preening it. "Thank you for standing up for our aeyrie!" she murmured in his ear.

Joana sat on the carpeted floor in a long dark blue dress. She rested her hands on the floor and sent a pulse of energy outwards through the castle. Her guards were stationed as normal, but today they wore purple capes and held spears instead of their usual longswords. What event could have caused them to dress so nicely? Perhaps a ball was being held tonight at the castle? Maybe a visit from another king? Whatever the case, Joana focused her mind down the dark stone corridors. The stones had been overrun by moss. On the other side of the castle in the ballroom, large purple banners hung from every pillar. Flowers hung from baskets. A beautiful crystal chandelier draped in purple ribbon hung above it all.

A knock at the door drew her back into her room. A dress was handed to her through the door. The dress was deep purple with hundreds of precious gems sewn into it. Many layers of soft fabric of different shades added detail to the flowing dress. Joana hated it already. This dress meant she would attend the party later, and Joana hated parties.

Boba clearly looked annoyed by the interruption, and yet Vanessa couldn't help but feel stuck on this new revelation. "You know each other?" Vanessa blurted out, staring at Isolde and Neirin.

Neirin wiggled his tail and snorted out some smoke from his nostrils. "Of course I know her! She was one of our sopranos in the Royale Chorus!"

"Alto," Isolde corrected, though she looked pleased nonetheless.

"She was an alto," Neirin amended quickly, nodding to Isolde. “Just as well! The sopranos were usually more stuck up and fought with each other. There was much less drama in the lower registers!”

Isolde nodded vigorously. “Indeed!”

"I'm sorry, I confused you as a soprano,” Neirin added apologetically. “I thought you played alto recorder and had a soprano voice. You must have had an alto voice and had a soprano recorder. Or maybe I'm misremembering things?"

Isolde looked pleased. "I had a collection of recorders! I had soprano, alto, tenor, even a baritone! Though, I seemed to have misplaced them since we last performed together.” She made a face. “Apparently, I spent the last three hundred years in an iceberg.”

Neirin blinked in surprise. “Really! That reminds me of an amusing serial that I’ve developed a certain fondness for. The main character is a twelve-year-old boy named Aang who was stuck in a iceberg for one hundred years…”

Before Vanessa could stop herself, she blurted out, "Since when do dragons sing?"

"We dragons sing very beautifully," Neirin said, wiggling his tail more. "Would you like me to demonstrate?"

"Not now!" Boba said curtly. He nodded to Neirin. "I told them that you would help explain the union business?”

“Ah yes, I remember. The union business. And King Reginald. Dreadful business, really.” Neirin sighed. “We dragons like natural balance. That’s why we sometimes don’t get along with humans very much — they tend to upset the natural balance. But I digress.” He waved a claw aside dismissively, a troubled expression crossing his face.

In this particular case, the unicorns were the first ones to alert us of the conditions of King Reginald’s camps. Apparently, some of the miners found some of their magic ponds and decided to cure their beaten backs with the water blessed by unicorns. The unicorns were alarmed by this, but humans have always been violent creatures, so they tried to ignore it at first. But then there was a sickness that struck the camps — a fever of some sort. Corpses of the newly dead were brought to the ponds and laid in them in a desperate bid to heal them from the fever that killed them just minutes before.”

Vanessa felt a lump come to her throat. As a healer, she had worked in the hospitals where these sicknesses would spread. Worse, she knew from her brother’s stories how fast it would jump from person to person in these labor camps. The first letters that she got from him when he was imprisoned made that clear… though the letters never came anymore. Hearing Neirin reflect on the conditions made her wonder if he might even be alive.

“The unicorns tried to ignore it, until their ponds were emptied and drained away. The unicorns didn’t mind that their water was used, of course — they love to heal. That is their purpose — to heal those that are ill and dying! Still, they weren’t used to healing so much at a time, and they were shocked by how quickly their water was emptied. So they alerted us. Because of their concern, we built a council of magical creatures to look into the camps. What we found was horrifying. The more we looked into the camps, the more we realized that evil things were happening. Nor were the miners happy. Many of them wanted to resist, but they were beaten down and silenced.”

“We didn’t want to get involved, of course,” Neirin said. “Bad things usually happen when we get involved with humans. They are too reckless and independent! But in this case, we decided to give them the option of our help. And so we sent Boba Bojangles—“

“That’s me!” Boba said, jumping up on his hind legs and wiggling his nose excitedly.

“—to investigate and possibly help the humans in a way that would enable to fight back an resist, if they needed to,” Neirin continued. “And for that, many of the workers have been very happy. But King Reginald’s forces are very unhappy and are working to undo the little progress that we’ve made in the last couple of weeks. We also think that King Reginald might have some sort of great weapon or ally — we are not sure which — that he might be using to be as powerful as he is.”

“It’s a sad story, of course,” Lee said skeptically. “But why should we trust you?”

Neirin frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You make it sound like you’re entirely disinterested with the whole matter and are only concerned with freeing everyone. But that ain’t the way the world works. What’s your interest?”

Neirin’s lip curled. “We need the gold, of course. Boba Bojangles told you as much earlier.”

“But what’s your interest?” Lorelei persisted.

Neirin shrugged. “I have my own personal reasons,” he said simply. “However, they are unimportant to the matter.”

“I doubt that,” Lee said.

“If you wish me to disclose

“We just want to be paid,” Lee said stubbornly.

“Then why didn’t you try to kill Boba Bojangles?” Neirin asked. “You were promised a small fortune for that.”

Lorelei smirked and nodded to Florian. “Because we wanted to burn Florian’s hat.”

“Hey!” Florian yelled.

Vanessa couldn’t help herself — she began to giggle.

“So what do you want?” Lee said, unamused by the joke. “You want us to go against King Reginald and try to topple his kingdom? What are we going to get from it?”

“This is beyond King Reginald,” Neirin insisted. “There have been many tyrannical kings that have come and gone. I am old and have watched many kingdoms and empires rise and fall. This goes beyond that! I tell you, Lord Reginald is harnessing a great evil.”

“If he has control of a great evil, then how are we supposed to fight it?” Lee demanded. “We don’t even have enough gold to do much of anything. Will you give us that?”

“I don’t give out gold,” Neirin said bluntly. “If you need money, I can give you silver or bronze in large enough quantities to last you for what you need to survive, but I will not give you gold. Still, do not think I am stingy. But I can give you some of the magic items that I’ve collected throughout the years. They are much more valuable than that.”

Lorelei frowned. “Like what?”

Neirin nodded to Isolde. “I have many beautiful musical instruments that, when played by an accomplished musician, can yield great magic. Perhaps Isolde might want something like that.”

Isolde grinned. “A recorder, perhaps?”

“If you wish,” Neirin said.

“What about her?” Lorelei said, nodding to Vanessa. “She is a healer. Can you give her anything special?”

Neirin nodded. “Of course.”

“And him?” Lorelei said, pointing to Honkers, who was quietly preening himself, though he looked at Neirin with big beady eyes.

Neirin laughed. “Yes, even for him!”

Lorelei laughed. “You got yourself a deal!”

"If you could all follow me," said Neirin, starting back into the forest in the direction he had come. The party followed him, but as they did, the forest quickly became dark, as if on a moonless night.

"What's happening?" shouted Florian. "He's working for King Reginald! I knew these three couldn't be trusted!"

"Don't be silly," laughed Isolde. "It's just a disorientation spell! One of the most basic, too. What if you're working for this King Reginald fellow? What if he captures and tortures you? Neirin doesn't want his home's location to be revealed." Florian grit his teeth.

Gently, Isolde reached out and felt the spell's inner workings. Was it just her, or was this spell unusually weak for what she knew Neirin was capable of? He might not have been worried about this weak, rag-tag party of adventurers... Or, he might be gold-deprived as well. Isolde knew Neirin. He was generous to a fault. Even three hundred years, whatever had happened to the world during that time, wouldn't change him. He was probably sharing his gold with whomever he could, keeping only just enough to survive.

With this in mind, Isolde stepped into Neirin's lair. The entrance, although she could not see it, she knew to be a cave hidden behind a massive waterfall. The roar of the water would conceal any sounds, the weight of it would deter any who didn't know the path. As soon as she crossed the threshold, the disorientation spell was released, and she could see the familiar interior of Neirin's living room. The walls were lined in shelves upon which sat books, keepsakes, and fey lanterns. In one alcove Isolde spotted the hand-carved set of wooden dice she had once gifted Neirin. She had secretly been learning wood-carving, in hopes of one day being able to carve her own instruments. Her family had disapproved. They had disapproved of her friendship with Neirin, as well. While being close with any other dragon would have been considered an honour, Neirin was a free-thinker. In addition, he was of a smaller breed.

Isolde brought her attention back to the main party. They had moved on to Neirin's bedroom, where his hoard was kept. "Help yourself to any items," Neirin was saying. "Just remember: no gold."

Florian slowly approached a stiff fabric construction consisting of a cylinder and matching brim. It looked vaguely like a hat, but Isolde wasn't sure until he put it on his head. "Does this look okay?" he asked. "Yes, is that your choice?" Neirin replied a bit uncertainly. "I don't see why not," was the answer.

Lorelei stooped to pick up an empty, bronze-gilt frame. "What is this? It has some sort of magic within." Neirin turned to examine it. "Oh, that! If you insert an image of someone, it will show you what he is doing at the current moment. Quite the invention on the part of the mage who invented it, but he passed it on to me when the local lord began requesting he surrender it." Lorelei tucked the frame into her pocket and smiled. "Thank you for this generous gift. I will use it well."

Vanessa was arm-deep in the pile of valuables when she pulled out a fluted white wand about the length of her forearm. "This! This is exactly what I need!" She said no more, and neither did Neirin, although for a second a worried expression flashed across his face.

He instead turned to Isolde. "What would you like?" he asked.

"Do you still make instruments?"

Neirin smiled. "Yes. Now, do you really want a recorder, or would you like to see something better?"

"Better than a recorder? What is it?" Isolde felt butterflies in her stomach. Clearly things had changed while she had been frozen, but what improvements could be made upon the recorder? As far as she remembered, the recorder was such a versatile and practically perfect instrument that it hadn't changed in centuries.

In reply, Neirin simply flew up thirty feet to extract from the shelf up a long, thin box and placed it in her hands. Trembling, Isolde opened it to find a straight, slender rod of shining silver. Removing the rod, she turned it over to examine it. There was a hole at one end, and many smaller holes along the body, most of which were covered by buttons.

"This is a flute," Neirin said, his tail wagging. "I made it just for you!"

And so it was that as the afternoon faded, each one of them had committed themselves to such a plot that none of them would have expected to be part of – to depose King Reginald and end his reign of terror. Lee felt it was a sudden turn of events however, as he remounted Marlon’s old mare, a tinge of excitement and contentment came over him, a feeling as if they had always been destined for this. ‘Well,’ he thought to himself, ‘If we were destined for gold, surely we would have gotten some by now.’

Lorelei and Florian rode on either side of the dragon, discussing the design of the castle, the outer walls, and the Keep. Lee rode alongside Isolde who kept playing her new flute without a care in the world. Perhaps that was the right attitude, Lee thought. Plans never seemed to work out for them. He was positively enjoying the ride when his revelry was broken by Lorelei dropping back between them and declaring “Okay, so we have a plan!”

It was quite a devious plan. Boba would be ‘locked’ in a cage and they would bring him and demand an audience with King Reginald looking for their gold payment. Then at a pre arranged signal, the cage would suddenly blast apart and Boba would hop out of the wreckage. While Boba made a break for it, the dragon would suddenly arrive, and the guards, thoroughly distracted by this point, wouldn’t notice King Reginald being killed.

They stopped briefly in the tiny village of Ollala and purchased a small cart and some lumber. On the cart they put together a tough looking cage for Boba. Early the next morning, they were heading onward to Gor Nathal and the porcelain throne. For a few hours, as they rode along the road with Boba bouncing in his fake prison, Lee almost thought it might work.

The spired peaks of Gor Nathal’s towers appeared first above the treeline, and over the next hour grew closer and closer, until the forest faded and the city lay before them – a sprawling city which surrounded the massive outer wall, with its towers and gates, then the inner city, and finally, the keep, a star shaped mega fortress. Lee’s mind helpfully brought up the usual trivia which he had heard years ago – Built over five hundred years ago, each stone block placed and magically reinforced by the great wizards of the age. Never once defeated by an opposing army, the home of the centuries old dynasty that had finally produced that fink, Lord Reginald.
For some reason, Lee felt his earlier confidence slipping slightly. Then, there was a sudden dispute. The Dragon had taken off, to be ready to cause chaos, and Lorelei had suddenly decided they shouldn’t parade the Jackalope all the way through the outer city. Florian was trying to dissuade her as she rummaged about. Lee reached into his travel bag, and pulled out a canvas tent cover. A few minutes later and Boba was out of sight, and the cart, well it looked like any drab merchant’s wares. Not long after entering the outer city, a wheel of the cart suddenly gave out, sliding off the axle. This led to an embarrassing few minutes while they tried to nonchalantly fix it in the busy street.

But finally, they reached the outer gate. It was open, and the guards were stationed on either side of the gate. Still, the townspeople moved though without interruption and Lee, trying to keep a straight face, kept riding. Somehow, they were in, and a wave of relief hit.

The old city, built inside the wall, had a totally different feel, which struck Lee right away. Outside the gate, he would have been welcome in every bar and could have struck up a friendly conversation with anyone. But here, everything from the way people were dressed to the buildings reeked of wealth, power, rank and propriety. Lee had a sneaking suspicion that many of these folks were quite happy to have Lord Reginald. Feeling slightly nervous now, Lee slipped his hand into his coat and pulled out a flask of whiskey and took a long pull. How on earth would they get out of this mess?

The street opened up into a large courtyard as they arrived at the fortress. A sheer wall or 40 feet or so was interrupted only by slits, and the large wooden doors, bound with iron. This evening, however, both doors stood open wide, and finely dressed parties were coming and going. There was nothing for it; they walked up to the guards, who this time stopped them.

“What’s this then?” The guard asked Lorelei.

“We’ve brought Lord Reginald a great gift,” she said, following their lines perfectly. “We wish to have an audience with him at once!”

“Today? Wait, are you invited to the grand ball or not? I got specific orders to only let in those invited to the ball.”

Lorelei hesitated but Florian calmly took over. He sighed and got down from his horse, and Lee had to admit, he had the frustrated nobleman part perfected. “Look, of course it’s for the ball, we just wanted to bring something for his highness, Lord of the Realm! Of course he receiving in the Great North Hall, now, is he not? Florian looked back at Lee and barked “Where was that schedule we got?” Lee turned and made a good show of looking through his bag. Thankfully, Florian wasn’t actually waiting on him. He had turned back to the guard “Look, we’ve been traveling almost all day, we don’t want to miss this. Which way should we be heading?”

Somehow, this seemed enough, and they were suddenly rolling into the keep. This time, Lee felt no relief as at the gate before. They were waved through several passages, until finally they were forced to dismount. For some reason they hadn’t considered not being able to get the cart to the reception hall, but as it turned out, with Florian walking out front and the rest each holding a corner of the covered cage, they carried it into the large entry hall, then up to the doors of the grand hall. Inside, there were hundreds of nobles in fine attire, dancing to the music of a large band and choir.

There, in the middle of the room, was Lord Reginald himself.

Vanessa, Lorelei and Florian huddled and started discussing. “Okay, we need to get this guy. We need to get in there and make some flash and bang. We have to get everyone down quick. Cast something loud! I’ll send up the sign for Neirin to come. Are there any further…”

Lord Reginal turned his back to them and was starting to walk away to the far side of the room. Lee jammed his flask once more into his jacket pocket, and pulled out his swords. “ALL RIGHT!” His companions looked up from their huddle “LET’S DO THIS! LEEEROOOOYYYY JENNNKINS!” Lee charged into the room.

Somewhere behind him he could hear Florian desperately shouting “Okay, stick to the plan!”

Vanessa was no fighter. As soon as Lee spoke, and rushed into the throne room, she froze up, glancing around in terror. The mere idea of taking on King Reginald seemed too soon. Weren’t they supposed to do other things first? Everything seemed too easy!

And, while Vanessa knew they had powerful allies — the mere idea of having a dragon as their ally still surprised her, as much as it delighted her — she was terrified it would not be enough to stop King Reginald. After all, they were in his home turf! What if even their strange and newly forged alliance wasn’t enough to beat him?

The party, also, looked surprised by Lee's action. Lorelei had a confused look etched in her face, as if she thought that perhaps Lee was only joking, and wasn’t sure exactly what was going on. Florian, who had been finally in his element, directing everyone around in this fancy shindig with all its nobles and rules, suddenly hesitated, his eyebrow furrowing. “Stick to the plan!” he yelled, as much of a reminder to himself of what to do as it was a reminder for everyone else.

The problem was, Vanessa couldn't remember the plan. Everything was happening too fast! But she ran into the throne room along with others and tried not to think about how crazy this entire plan was.

It was Honkers who made the first step after Lee led the initial charge. Bristling his feathers in murderous glee, he hissed and lowered his neck, his wings spread out wide. He was also the one who made the first blood — he raised his wings high at a guard who stared at the goose in disbelief. The guard, a grizzled old man who had a little too much to drink, held his sword up high, not quite sure what to do. It was clear that he was not at all prepared to fight a murderous goose charging at him — or even convinced that this goose was not just a mere delirium from his drunken state. Honkers quickly plowed him down, erupting with a loud and victorious honk that seemed to shake everyone to their senses. With the sound, fear crept into some of the guards’ faces. A third of them fled the room at once.

“Close the doors before anyone else gets through!” Lee yelled.

“Won’t that trap the rest of them with us?” Florian yelled back.

Lee laughed. “We can take ‘em!”

Then Florian, still a little bit confused, shut the doors with a thump while the guards stared at them, astonished. Half of them had surrounded King Reginald, draping their bodies over his in an attempt to save his life, and the other half stared at them now, their swords drawn with a bemused expression on their faces as they looked at the ragtag group in astonishment.

Vanessa looked at the soldiers and winced. Not including the guards that draped themselves around King Reginald, they were outnumbered two to one. She held back, not sure exactly what to do. She was no fighter – she would not be very good in

Isolde laughed as she looked them over and Vanessa was struck with the impression that this wasn’t the first time she had witnessed such a hostile encounter.. “It is a merry fight indeed! I shall set the tone!” She brought the flute to her lips and blew. Instantly, a merry tune came out – a familiar jig that Vanessa vaguely remembered, though couldn’t place. Still, when the sound came to her ears, she felt a sudden swelling of her heart and a feeling of courage that Vanessa couldn’t deny, even though she intellectually knew that the courage was probably misplaced. Even still, she gripped the white wand that the dragon had given her and tried to concentrate.

It was an easy spell to do in normal circumstances – one that was common in surgeries. It was a channeling spell used to strengthen her companions and keep them from falling too badly into injury. But in combat, it was a little tricker to do. The only reason why the spell came out so easily – and so powerfully – was because of the white wand. Even when the dragon had given her, she had known its power. Now using it, it seemed to strengthen her companions ever more.

She glanced over at Florian. With the boost of courage from Isolde’s song and the extra strength from her own magic, he had finally relaxed enough to draw out his rapier. With one hand, he held out his sword. “Well? Who’s ready to fight?”

“Never mind your fancy words!” Lee shouted. “Let’s do this!” He gripped his sword and struck the guard closest to him. The guard crumpled to the floor. At the site, Florian laughed and struck out at another guard, who parried his blow. But Florian enthusiastically attacked the guard and struck him again.

Vanessa stared. There was something strange about the way that he was acting. He seemed more confident and happy than he had been in ages – with a silly grin on his face. Almost as if he were showing off. Then she glanced around and saw a lady dressed in gems and fine cloth, watching Florian with a strange, almost wistful look on her face.

Florian is showing off to the lady, Vanessa suddenly realized. The thought irritated her more than she wanted to admit.

But she couldn’t think about this for long because Boba Bojangles, ever enthusiastic, wiggled his ears and burst out of his cage. “Yay!” he yelled out. “Let's do this!” He siggled his ears and suddenly the room seemed to burst with jackalopes leaping and prancing everywhere. It was an illusion – Vanessa recognized the spell. Still, the jackalopes jumped with so much energy and vigor that she couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed at the sight.

The guards too were overwhelmed. Perhaps they could easily fight off Lee and Florian in swordfighting. But with all the jackalopes around them, they quickly became alarmed. The jackalope was lower at their ankles, weaving in and out of their legs while they tried to step. All their movements were clumsy while they tried to avoid having their ankles sprained by stepping on a loose jackalope. After all, even though most were simply illusions, one of them was real – a fact that the guards became all too aware of when one of the guards flew across the room after being charged by the jackalope.

Worse, there was Honkers about. There was only one of him, and yet that was one more than they were prepared to deal with. He stood at the height of their waists and ran around, flapping his wings and causing so much mischief that the guards began to flinch at the sound of the goose’s hiss.

“Want to see something funny?” Lorelei whispered to Vanessa, crouching near the table with her. “See what happens when I amplify his voice.” Lorelei pointed the wand at Honkers. With a flick of her wrist, Honkers began to bellow out a truly evil honking sound that made half the guards who still remained standing quiver in their boots.

The lead guard – Vanessa could tell he was the lead guard by his overly fancy helmet which made him look an entire foot taller than he actually was – finally swore and waved his finger at Honkers frantically. “Never mind the people!” he cried. “Get that blasted demonic goose!”

All the guards turned at once to Honkers and charged them. Honkers, never one to back down from a challenge, charged the biggest one. But with everyone else charging at him, Honkers couldn’t avoid them entirely. As they approached, one of the guards held his sword high and struck Honkers in the head, splitting his bill.

Vanessa’s eyes widened while Lorelei swore.

If it were any other creature, the blow would have killed him outright, but Honkers was a fowl and so boosted up with power that he still ran around, flapping his wings and attacking the guards, who were completely panicked after watching Honkers.

Vanessa stared at Honkers uncomfortably. As she watched Honkers, the phrase “running around like a chicken with its head cut off” came to mind. His head wasn’t quite entirely cut off – and yet, he was clearly blood and injured. He wasn’t honking anymore. And still, he ran around, crashing into guards who were swearing and screaming about demonic geese.

“How is he still alive?” Vanessa murmured, staring at the goose.

“I’ll kill them all!” Lorelei said, jumping up and running toward the guards, who were too busy staring at Honkers running around in a frenzy to notice Honkers’s handler charging them. Then Lorelei grabbed something from her pocket and threw it at them. It looked like dirt, but when it touched the guards, it immediately burst into flames. Several guards screamed.

“Lorelei!” Vanessa yelled. “He's still alive! It’s okay! He just needs to be healed a little!”

But Lorelei paid no heed to Vanessa's words and instead took out her knife and stabbed the guard, who was frantically trying to put out the flames, who had struck Honkers with a sword.

Vanessa swore and chased after Honkers, trying desperately to heal the goose with her wand. But, just as she sent a healing burst from her wand, Honkers would jerk into a different direction and knock over another guard. Worse, the jackalopes were still hopping around. While they were trying to avoid Vanessa, as she raced around the room on the wild goose chase, they became harder and harder to avoid.

Worse, every time her healing spell struck him, he seemed to run into something that hurt him more, so while the healing spell worked, it only healed him for that injury and not completely.

Finally, Vanessa squared her shoulders and pointed the white wand to Honkers. “Get him!” she ordered, concentrating hard and imagining Honkers standing proud and wiggling his tail feathers, completely healed.

A bright white light flashed and then Honkers looked at her, wiggled his tail feathers, and hissed.

“Glad to have you back, Honkers!” Vanessa said. “Now go to your mistress before she kills us too for putting you in harm’s way!”

Honkers waddled over to Lorelei and honked.

Then, as Vanessa looked at Lorelei, she gasped.

Lorelei was covered in blood with dead guards surrounding her. When she saw Honkers waddle up to her, she frowned at Vanessa. “Did you…?”

“Yes,” Vanessa said. “I healed him completely. Honkers is fine.”

“Oh.” Lorelei frowned and glanced at the pile of dead guards at her feet. “Guess I got a little excited.”

Isolde finished her tune and curtsied. “Thank you! Thank you!” she cried as all the jackalopes clapped to her. Then she looked up and grinned. “That was fun! When can we do that again?”

“Hopefully, never,” Lorelei muttered, scruffling Honkers’s had while he wiggled his tail feathers happily.

Lee scowled. “But where did King Reginald slither off to since the doors still haven’t been opened?” He gestured to the porcelain throne. “Or has he turned invisible somehow?”

“A great question!” Florian said, grinning stupidly. “This lovely lady just pointed out to me that there is a secret passageway that King Reginald and his guards took just now that goes down to a secret dock. And, if we go up the passageway, we can get to the roof without trouble!”

Vanessa glanced at the lady, who was surprisingly free of any bloodstains on her beautiful gown. The lady smiled and nodded. “It’s right over there!” she added, casting a bashful glance at Florian.

“But where is King Reginald?” Lorelei demanded. When the lady hesitated, Lorelei swore and brought out the picture frame that Neirin had given her. In the picture, they could all see King Reginald being ushered onto a boat.

“We should probably see about meeting up with our allies, seeing as our mission was slightly less successful than we planned,” Boba Bojangles admitted, wiggling his nose. A moment later, all of his duplicates were gone.

Lorelei grumbled. “All right, then let’s go!”

Vaguely, Vanessa remembered that part of the plan involved going up to the roof and meeting Neirin after their mission. .

“But King Reginald—” Lee began, scowling.

“He’s not here!” Lorelei snapped. “Now let’s get out of here before the rest of the guards come into the room to say hi!”

“But what about Joana?” Florian asked, gesturing to the lady. Then he blushed. “I mean, this beautiful lady. Shouldn't she come with us as our hostage?”

Vanessa raised her eyebrow.

“No hostages,” Lorelei said firmly. “Let's go before we get in any more trouble!”

Vanessa nodded in agreement and everybody headed to the passageway.

Everybody, that is, except for Lee.

He scanned the throne room one last time, frowning. Then he spied the food on the table, grabbed a drumstick from a roast chicken, and grinned. “Well, at least I have chicken!”

Lorelei was covered in gore and for a moment, she tried to use prestidigitation to clean off some of the blood. But she was too exhausted to concentrate on even that simple spell. She reached the door and opened it to the roof.

The city was in chaos. Gryphons were flying everywhere and unicorns were charging through the city streets. Above them, a speck turned and grew larger, until Neirin had landed on the roof next to them.

"Good, you survived. I hope King Reginald did not?"

"He's escaped onto a boat and is sailing away," Lorelei said. "It looks like you took advantage of the distraction though."

"A few Gryphon Eyries on THE COUNCIL decided to join the attack when I told them of your quest. So did the miners of Gor Chasten. King Reginald made many enemies and now we have the opportunity to put things right. Alistair!" Neirin called. A gryphon wheeled in the sky and flew down.

"What is it Neirin?"

"Take your best warriors and find a boat that is sailing away, King Reginald is on it and trying to escape," Neirin said. Alistair nodded and flew off, shrieking commands as he went.

"How do we stop the fighting?" Vanessa asked.

"I think Isolde might be able to help with that," Neirin said with a smile. "See that device over there attached to a pole? It's the King's speaker, and if you speak into it, you will be heard from every corner of the city." Isolde walked up to the King's Speaker and spoke:

"Attention Citizen of Gor Nathal! I am Lady Isolde Agema of Vögelsterben and I wish to inform you that King Reginald's reign of terror has come to an end! In place of a dark lord, YOU WILL HAVE A QUEEN! NOT DARK BUT BEAUTIFUL AND TERRIBLE AS THE DAWN!! TREACHEROUS AS THE SEA!!! STRONGER THAN THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH!!!! ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR!!!!!" Isolde's voice reverberated throughout the city. An awkward silence answered her.

"Um...Isolde? Can you tell them to stop fighting please?" Lorelei said.

"Oh, um. Right. There is no point in continuing to fight, live on and help us to rebuild the damage King Reginald has done," she said. There was a loud cheer from the city and the battle was over.

"Well, that was easy!" Boba Bojangles said cheerfully.

"Yes, but now we have to figure out what to do now," Neirin said cautiously, eyeing Isolde.

Later in the day, the party gathered by a table to discuss what their next plan of action would be, but before they could begin, Florian asked, "So is no one going to question how or why Isolde just proclaimed herself queen? She is probably the least qualified person out of all of us! For heaven's sake she has literally been dead for almost three hundred years!"

Isolde stared daggers at him and adjusted the crown she had on her head. she had found it sitting on a soft pillow on a table near the throne and had claimed it as her own.

"Well at least I'm actual nobility unlike you slimy aristocrat," she spat.

"That's not saying much you arrogant worm. I wouldn't trust you to lead a four year old less an entire nation! Besides, who did more work to free this place? Me or that lazy brat?"

Vanessa stepped between the two to defuse the situation. "Look, we don't need to be arguing over this. We do need to worry about where Reginald is and what our next plan of action is. We can worry about your little power trips later."

Florian reluctantly backed down and sat down on a wooden stool. Isolde shot him a final glare before also sitting at the table. And so began another argument. This time over what their next course of action would be. After many hours of conversation, nothing was agreed upon, so the group decided to settle into separate room to rest.

Immediately upon exiting the room, a group of nobles and advisors rushed to Isolde, who in return shot Florian a smug look. Questions were shot every other second Isolde tried to keep up with them. The others went off to find a room and left Isolde to deal with the pesky nobles.

Just when the group had begun to settle into their respective rooms, a scream reverberated throughout the halls. Everyone rushed out of their rooms in the direction of the scream and found a mob of angry people with torches and knives and any other weapon-like object they could find. The leader, an older fellow who seemed to be a nobleman, pointed at the party and commanded, "Capture them!!!"

The mob rushed at them with shouts and threats. Florian drew his rapier. Lee drew his sword. Honkers hissed and fluffed out his feathers. Isolde grabbed a knife from a nearby guard. Vanessa picked up a short sword. Lorelei picked up Honkers, who honked once in protest. A group of guards turned and fled while others drew their weapons and plunged into the mob, swinging and slicing. Lee leapt at the mob shouting, "LEEERROOOYYY JEENNKINNS!" Florian entered the fray stabbing away while Honkers escaped from Lorelei's arms and began biting at ankles. Lorelei, Vanessa, and Isolde joined the fight, pushing the mob towards an exit. Swords flew, metal clashed, men shouted in pain and anger, Honkers honked, people were trampled under foot, All was chaos. Florian pushed through the crowd, entering swordfight after swordfight with men and women alike. He was close to Lee, who was swinging his sword through the mob like a knife through butter. Suddenly, Florian was distracted by a sword coming towards his face.