As the group followed Kaiten through the city they felt uneasy. Every person they had passed or seen wore the same type of armor that Kaiten had and all stared with distrust. It was an uneasy feeling that they were not welcome there. “I have to apologize” Kaiten told them, “our Queen does not like outsiders very much. She feels that the city should be for us Dragon Knights only.”
“I can certainly see that.” Iyouboushi said. Behind him Kurando held the bucket close to his chest and muttered something beneath his breath.
The giant palace with the large tower reaching into the sky grew closer and closer. As they were about to approach it, Slade looked down an ally and saw someone motioning for him. He already knew who it was. Effortlessly he broke away from the group and slipped into the shadows.
“So you are still alive” the cloaked figure said.
“Did you ever doubt?” Slade asked.
“No. I was just beginning to wonder if you would ever make it here.” the cloaked figure scorned. He was angry. Slade shrugged at the figure’s tone of voice. “Did you get the potion?”
“I did.” He retrieved the potion from his pocket and looked at it. The vial white liquid was still loose and flowing inside. “But why do you need it? Isn’t Blazebone more important?”
“Blazebone is of very little importance right now. He went to Crim after reviving his sister and has remained there since.” A pause. “And why do I need this potion? To cure ussss.” He leaned forward, close to Slade. “Have you forgotten what you did to us on Droth, Arthion Sladhnaeon?” A forked serpent tongue shot out from beneath the shadowed face. Slade shook his head violently and closed his eyes.
“No! Of course not. Here, take it.” The cloaked figure took the potion from his extended hand and shot the tongue back beneath the shadow.
“Excellent. Now listen up. There’s just two more things I require to create a cure.”
“What are they?”
“Things that will be very hard to obtain. Listen up.”
* * *
As the group approached the palace they heard loud arguments raging inside. Two guards stood on the outside with their polearms crossed, blocking the doors completely.
“Lord Kaiten,” one guard said in the Dragon Knight language, recognizing him, “it is good to see you return to your rightful home. But alas, I am under strict orders to not let anyone inside.”
“What did he say?” Taylen scratched his head. “I hate it when other people speak in other languages.”
Kaiten ignored him and responded in the same language. “It is a matter of urgency, the fate of the city–perhaps the whole world–is at hand. We must seek audience with Kron.”
“Can you elaborate?”
“Crim has unleashed untold evil and may be seeking something worse still.”
The guards laughed and shook their heads. “Representatives of Crim are inside as we speak. They have brought a gift of great beauty to our Queen.”
Kaiten’s face showed true horror. “Crim is here” he said in plain language, turning back to his group. “They’ve brought a present.”
Iyouboushi ran forward to the guards. “The gift they bring is a trap; the master of Erutoru was taken in by such a gift and killed.”
The guards looked at each other and back to the group. “We’re sorry. Queen Faria would have our heads” they said in plain language. “No one gets inside.”
“If you care about your Queen you–” he was cut off as the guards took a step forward, anger in their faces.
“We live and die for our Queen. Do not speak to us as if we do not care.” One guard turned to Kaiten and was about to speak when the palace doors opened.
“You cannot turn down this gift! It is from King Seifay himself!” A man’s shaky voice came from within the palace.
A woman’s voice laughed from within. “You call this a gift?” she said. “The winds have brought word of what your ‘gifts’ do. You should count yourself lucky that I am not feeding you to Kron.”
“You can’t do this!” The man shouted.
“Watch me.”
A short man wearing Crim’s Royal Police black armor was tossed out along with a small black box with strange writing on it. The two guards who prevented the group from getting inside ducked just in time to dodge being hit from the flying man. Kurando was not so lucky.
“Oof!” The bucket Kurando held went rolling down the steps to the palace.
The short armored man stood up and pointed at the palace, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Just wait until the King hears about this! This town will burn! BURN!” Kurando struggled to stand back up. A rude gesture and a loud grunt followed as the man turned and walked down the steps and out of sight.
Taylen picked up the box and looked at it. “Strange to think that something so small could house something so evil.”
“Who is out there? More wastes of my time?” A 6′ raven-haired woman wearing bright purple armor that shined in the sun, a long cape and with narrow, angry blue eyes stepped out of the palace. The two guards immediately bowed to the ground. Kaiten and Eisen did the same. An angry scuff escaped from her as she stared at the group.
“I have returned.” Kaiten said, not looking up at her, speaking in the Dragon Knight language.
“I can see that. Tell me something I do not already know and stop wasting my time.” She responded in the same.
“My Queen, we seek information about a grave matter.”
“Do I look like a library to you?” She crossed her arms.
“We must have audience with Kron.”
The group just looked back and forth at each other, unsure of what was being said.
“Absolutely not. Kron is occupied and is not open for visitors.” She paused a moment and continued. “The troubles of the world are not mine. And they should not be yours either. From now on, we of Tinnei are only concerned with matters of Tinnei.” She looked at the group and back at Kaiten, now speaking in plain language. “Send your filthy animals away and resume your rightful duties here. Forget all this nonsense.” She turned to go back inside.
“Hey!” Iyouboushi said. “You might only care about this city but what happens when all the ancient seals are broken and Crim comes for you?”
Faria stopped, scuffed, and waved her hand to dismiss it before finally disappearing back inside the palace. The doors slammed shut behind her and the guards stood back up.
“Well that did not go so well, did it Quaram?” Kurando asked, then realized that the bucket was no longer with him. “Quaram? QUARAM!?”
“I think I need a drink” Taylen said.
Kurando feverishly looked around, but did not see where the bucket disappeared to.
“Missing something?” Slade came into view as he walked up the steps. He was holding the bucket.
“Quaram! There you are!”
“Where have you been?” Taylen said, distrusting.
“None of your business.” He shot Taylen a glance, and then turned to the rest of the group. “So how did it go? When will we see Kron?”
Kaiten finally stood up shaking his head. “That did not go as well as I had hoped it would.” Slade sighed.
“Now what will we do?” Iyouboushi asked. Kaiten thought about it for a moment.
“I think I will go home and think this over. You all are welcome to come with me if you want.”
“I think I’d rather visit the pub” Taylen said, while putting the small black box into his pocket. “Yes, Tori, to drink away the arrogance of that woman.” Everyone stared at him confusingly for a second then brushed it off. They were starting to get used to Taylen talking to himself.
“Quaram and I just want the madness to stop” Kurando said. “We will go with you Kaiten.”
“I’m going to the pub as well” Slade said, adjusting his bandanna once again. “Perhaps we can learn something of value there.”
“And you, Iyouboushi?” Kaiten asked.
“I will go with you.”
* * *
After much wandering around the city, the two finally managed to find the pub. The inside was dark and there was a large dragon skull hanging over the bar. It looked strangely alive even in death. There were many Dragon Knights inside, all joking and laughing.
Taylen approached the bar as Slade found an empty seat. “Give me your strongest drink” Taylen said. The whole pub went quiet as all eyes were on Taylen.
“Tch. Outsiders, I see. Do you want some milk from your mommies?” The bartender had a gruff voice and his joke made the entire pub laugh.
“I said your strongest drink!”
“Are you sure you weaklings can handle this?” The bartender reached beneath the bar and withdrew a small bottle. Inside was bubbling red liquid. More laughter. “50 pieces of gold.”
“Fifty? What a rip off.”
“Do you want a drink or not?”
“Fine.” Taylen slammed coins onto the bar and took the bottle before rejoining with Slade.
“What..is that?” Slade asked, looking at the bottle.
“I don’t know. What do you care anyway?”
“I was just trying to be friendly.” Slade rolled his eyes. Taylen ignored him and opened the bottle. A small plume of flame shot out of the opening and into the air before dying down.
“Yeah, sure. Cheers.” He raised his glass and downed the entire contents of the bottom. Within seconds he felt very uneasy. “I think.. my insides..are on fire.” The pub erupted in laughter. “I.. don’t.. feel.. so..good.” Taylen’s head fell to the table with an audible thud. He was out cold.
“Great” Slade said. “Just great.”
* * *
As Kaiten, Kurando and Iyouboushi walked through the city they saw a small field where some young children were being trained by adults on how to perform various techniques with polearms. “This sure does bring me back” Kaiten said with a smile. It felt like only yesterday..
“You call that technique? You won’t even hurt a small rodent with that!”
“Jump higher! Stronger!”
“I bet it was hard” Iyouboushi said, watching the children for a moment. The adults were shouting at them.
“Yes it was.”
“How precious” Kurando said, rolling the bucket between his hands. “Too bad they are all going to be destroyed when Crim attacks.”
Both turned with looks of shock. “That’s an awful thing to say” Iyouboushi said, bonking him on the head.
“Ow. But it is the truth.”
“We really need to find a way to speak with Kron.”
“Yes, perhaps that thing in the sky could help us?” Kurando suggested, pointing upwards into the sky. A large dragon was wrestling with something. Several loud bird-like screeches echoed throughout the town before a large black mass fell down into the mountains. The dragon turned and flew off out of sight.
“What..what was that?” Iyouboushi asked.
“A harpy” Kaiten said, blandly. “They live in the mountains of Tinnei and like to pick fights with dragons. As you can see, though, they typically don’t win.”
Finally the group arrived at a small little house on the edge of town. There was a tiny little lake. The house was in fairly bad shape, with the steps having completely rotted away (making it quite a leap to enter) and those who passed by it often did double takes and wondered who would live there and why.
“Home sweet home” Kaiten said.
“More like home sweet death trap” Kurando said. He put the bucket on his shoulder and looked at the large gap where the stairs used to be. “How, exactly, am I supposed to get up there?”
“Don’t worry” Kaiten said. Effortlessly he jumped up to the top and helped to lift the others up.
The inside of the house was much nicer, with various art pieces hanging on the wall, along with various spears and shields. There were five rooms in total. “Please sleep and relax in whichever room you want.” He said. “I will think about our next move.”
As instructed, Iyouboushi and Kurando disappeared into separate rooms and proceeded to have awful nightmares.
