Jigsaw - Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN
“It’s hard to find good help when you need it. It’s even harder to get bad help to go away.”
- Urph Nilbottom, "How to get bad help to go away and go into business for yourself (an essay)."
“All I’m saying is this: two brothers as heroes might sound fun, but can you imagine the sexual tension when you add in the element of the beautiful princess?”
The final afternoon before the tournament, and for as hungry as she was Tione could barely swallow her lunch from the excitement. Sundries n' Sandwiches was bustling like Sheste's Cheque Inn during happy hour, and the two parties of heroes, previously engaged in battle, now sojourned over the mutual capitulation of a late lunch, were engaged in conversation over a modest meal of soup, sandwiches and grog and juice. While Aleric cheerily reassembled the twitching lumps of fur that comprised Stupid, Shani puzzled over the spoon, which had been pried loose from the pillar in the frantic scuffle, with very little celebration or fanfare (which was probably for the best).
"So." Phoenix trumpeted as if to the entire establishment, "You, the five of you, are charged with the salvation of the kingdom-- and are unpaid and without a publicity agent in your employ. If you had not managed to acquire both Cognito’s enchanted weapons, I would not have believed it myself.”
Sigh. "Incredible as it may sound, yes," Tione replied. "We probably shouldn't be talking much about it, anyway."
Over a gingerly-held wine glass, Razan murmured, "What is your prophecy?"
Prophecy? "Whaddaya mean?" Aleric asked.
"That you operate under. Fans just eat up the chance to puzzle through a mysterious prophecy for themselves. Makes them feel clever. You know." Angan-al’i nibbled with restraint at the cut of meat she’d ordered. “But not too puzzling. Make the fans think too much and they’ll feel alienated. Give them something familiar.”
Krog, towering in his seat over his shorter company with only room for Phoenix in the stall next to him, dabbled his chin gingerly with a kerchief. “Shafts of light, middle children, holy arrows, jewelry—that lot.”
The fact that they had no fans to fascinate notwithstanding, Tione almost thought that a prophecy to puzzle through would be more helpful than what they'd been trusted with. At this rate, they'd never have so much as a casual admirer. She stood up. “Listen, where are all of you headed?”
Pausing for just a moment, Phoenix answered, “Well, after the tournament, we plan on making a stop in Asher for—”
“Juste. We’re going to Juste,” Angan-al’i muttered. “You always mix them up. Juste is the nauseatingly touristy beach town, Asher is the craggy thrill seeker’s paradise.” She sighed, punctuated by thumping her mug down onto the table.
“Maybe we should go to Asher too.”
“Hmm. Maybe. We should talk to Dethan first.”
Tione sighed. “And who’s Dethan?”
“Travel agent.”
Aleric slammed his own mug down with a jocund slosh. “At any rate, we promised to try to win the Heroes’ Tournament for Lime, right? No hurries! The world can wait one more night. Right?”
“You are a curious, fascinating lot. There’s a constant battle between quixotic romanticism and brash realism at work that could make you a sensation, should you choose to pursue it,” Krog rumbled as he and his friends rose from the table. “Think on it.”
Geddon blinked. “Er… yes.” He nodded.
“Er… no,” Kao returned soberly.
Aleric looked like he might have sputtered into his juice had he been drinking. “What?! Why? What? … Why?”
“Do we really need to call attention to ourselves? Really?”
After gulping down another swig of grog, Aleric replied guiltily, “Well… not… as such, no…” He rummaged a bit for something better to offer, but came up with, “But…” He raised his index finger weakly as if Kao’s glare was forcing it back down.
There was the point that traveling across the kingdom, battling monsters and enemies with little experience and not even knowing where they were headed was rough enough. What if they could get free room and board, just from people recognizing them?

We do, now, years later, wander around the kingdom (and other kingdoms) recklessly battling monsters and having no clear destination in mind most of the time. However, we still do not get free room and board, even if we are recognized. Figures. However, the Iu Duno family sometimes seems to have relatives under every stone, behind every tree and in every back alley in every corner of the kingdom, so on occasion we can at least impose there when there is room.

By the time she’d filled her head with opulent fantasies, the heroes had left the inn, and the bill, far behind them. At that instant, the hapless little goblin who was on duty came to the table to ask if they’d care for anything else.
Even though the little, spindly gray creature was scarcely three feet tall and its beady red eyes barely made it over the side of the table, he managed to have his tray of drinks used unsuccessfully as a foothold by Shani, leaping from his seat and launching off the tabletop to chase down Phoenix and company, who could be seen trying to shove their way through a crowd of fans just outside the door. At the moment Shani started falling, the spoon in his hand grew to the size of a shovel in a shower of sparks, and knocked the goblin to the floor in a puddle of ale. Glass shattered. Carpet was ruined. And the little goblin looked quite forlorn.
“Oh… oh dears, not again.” It muttered to itself in a fast, perplexing tongue as its gaze darted about the room. “Master will…” It shuddered. “Oh, Master will not…” A nervous, raspy whimper escaped its throat.
Ah, he was a slave. She hadn’t encountered many slaves in her lifetime; she thought maybe she’d seen a couple of orcs pulling wagons being led through Sheste once, but that was about it. The only people that could be enslaved were evil creatures like orcs, demons, devils, goblins, and the like. But even that was inveighed by most as depraved and unjust, so you didn’t see them often. She wasn’t for it or against it, she supposed. She'd never thought about it much.
“Raklesh…” a deep voice sighed. “Look at this mess, Raklesh. It’s the lunch rush. There’s an ale puddle the size of Celestial Bay in the middle of my floor. I’ve got to get Yela in to clean the rug, because no one else knows the spell. That’s extra wages I’ve got to pay.” The balding, ale-bellied owner wrung his grease-spotted apron in frustration; a few customers were sniggering over their unspilt drinks.
Kao chuckled. He yanked Shani back to the table by the back of his shirt. “The kid just got excited. Just an accident, right? I’m sure an establishment like yours has breezed through setbacks much worse than this with little more than a shrug. Right?”
The owner looked impatiently down his squared nose at the demon with a frown set across his wide mouth. Kao had laid on panache like frosting on a cake, but that didn’t seem to be helping. “Like demons?”
Kao hung his head in exasperation. “Don’t do this…”
“Listen. Okay?” The owner leaned in and spoke as softly as he could. “Just listen.”  It was somewhat like a volcano trying to whisper. His gut hung over the side of the table, and Tione could smell liquor on his breath. Really bad liquor. From Tione’s estimation, it was Buggidee’s Dread Dragon Breath With Lime. Truthfully, she felt more empathy for him on the basis of how cheaply he had to inebriate himself than on his words. “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t care. But this business is important. One slip and I’m done. One. Right? Now, please. Leave, the lot of you. I got ta look out for this place.”
Well, he’d asked for it. Never mind that they hadn’t paid a coin for their meal. Tione was the first to rise from her seat. “I suppose you’re right,” she submitted. “We wouldn’t want to make any trouble.” She gestured as subtly as possible to the rest of the group and helped collect Shani off the ground. He was puzzling through the curious transformation of his new spoon.
A broad, hairy arm blocked their path. “’old on, ‘old on. The bill?”
Damn.
Raklesh flashed a grin of needle teeth. “Mashter, they hash paid already.”
“Ah. Ah, I see. Well. I won’t hold you up any further. Raklesh, back to work.” He toddled off, grumbling to himself.
Well, that’d been sorted out. “Er… thanks,” Tione said to the goblin. “I’m sorry we can’t really… you know, pay you back in any way.”
“Iss nothing! You elped me first so I suppose iss fair!” Life sparkled in the goblin’s eyes. “Actually—actually, I want to go in Juste. To perforate—er… perform! I wiss to dance and sing! I write a song, you see. Do you wiss to hear it? It’s quite catchly!”
Aleric grinned. “Hey, sure!”
Raklesh spasmed with delight. “Right! Here I do! The Goblin Marching Song!”
He went into an exaggerated standing march, as if he were a marionette with strings on his arms and knees. His raspy voice rang out,
“We’re goblins! We’re goblins!
We lie and cheat and bite and steal!
We’re goblins! We’re goblins! (We likes it that way!)
Three feets tall and legs like twigs!
We’re goblins! We’re goblins!
We can’t fight and we can’t swim!
We’re goblins! We’re goblins! (We can’t rhyme either!)
We’ll march our way into your hearts!”
Raklesh ended his march and bowed deeply. “This is the and of the first verts. Then my friends comes on stooge and we—well, I mush get some friends first. But you likes?”
Shani nodded. “Infectious rhythm.”
“One’s I’s frees, that’s what I go. You will says you knewed me when I wash a slave?” He cackled with glee and wrung his bony hands in anticipation at the thought of it.
“RAKLESH!”
The force of the owner’s voice seemed to threaten to blow the goblin over. “Until then, I keeps to work. Way things is, yesh?” Raklesh waved and scurried away.
As they left, Tione watched it toddle away, its claws skritch scratching the floor and little scaly tail following behind. “Poor little guy.”
“Yes, indeed,” Geddon agreed.
Kao sagely nodded. “It’s a shame that the king doesn’t do something about it.” He coughed conspicuously.
Shani’s giant spoon suddenly found its handle in a stranglehold by its owner. “Don’t put Geddon on the spot! It’s not that easy—er, simple!”
“I’m sure…” the demon huffed. He paused, and sighed, and waved the topic away like thin smoke dismissively. “What ever. Shani, have you figured out your new toy yet?”
Newly excited, Shani held aloft the spoon. In the instant Shani had been falling, it’d grown to be longer than he was tall, but it was undoubtedly still a spoon. Tione looked on with envy. Imagine what you could do with a spoon that size! Shani looked at a series of markings on its handle. “Looks like magic runes. They contain an enchantment, I think. It would take some time to figure them out. I don’t know what made it grow so big all of a sudden.”
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Tione was at a loss as to what to do once they left Cognito. Kao hadn’t found much of use at the library, so all they had to go on was the set of names in her book. Soon, they established the plan of continuing their trek west, stopping in Nai, the birthplace of Snow White. She was the daughter of Bright Blue, one of the names scrawled in How to Turn a Spoon Into a Weapon of Mass Destruction.
“Lore says,” Shani explained, “That a fierce monster once attacked Nai, and as the monster was slain, the gods blessed the village with a rainbow. Now all children born there are named after a color in recognition of the gods’ gift and the hope that Nai will remain safe.”
“You sure know a lot of stories,” Aleric marveled. They’d decided to return to their inn after an afternoon of exploring the town.
“I hope—well, plan to be the first human royal loremaster,” Shani explained. “Usually humans don’t live long enough to gather enough knowledge to compare to elves, arborn, or other people that can live for hundreds of years. I think I can.” He nodded.
The sun was setting, turning the uneven cobbled streets a cool bluish gray as shadows melded together. People working for the city, wearing long red tunics, somberly paced the streets through clouds of gnats and flies having a go at the scraps left over from careless sellers (and the occasional bat making meals of them), lighting the magic torches that hung to each side of them.  Stalls and kiosks shut down and shopkeepers closed up and the muted strains of evening hymns could be heard from the temple. The sound of wood shutters slamming and latches being latched and people making final purchases rose into the sky like smoke. Shani explained that there was a very small “night market” for races that did not enjoy sunlight, or simply for anyone who preferred a cool, relaxed market atmosphere to a more diverse selection during the crowded daytime.
Torchlight from the inn highlighted the street a warm yellow-orange like bold strokes from a paintbrush, even through the iron-lattice windows. The usual laughter and merriment saturated the air in the foyer, but most of the rooms were dark on the upper floors. The door swung open invitingly to the sound of drunken cheers and laughs as they crossed the threshold and behind the front counter. Paskin sighed, raising his voice slightly.
“Please stop cheering every time the door opens.” Nearly toppling a wooden cup on the desk, he turned to Tione and company with sleepy, glazed over eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t like to raise my voice like that. Now I’ve got a sore throat.” He made a slumberous grasp at the cup and sipped from it.
Stepping past Tione, Aleric laid a hand on the counter. “Uh, yeah. No problem, Paskin. Hey. You know anything else about the Heroes’ Contest tomorrow?”
For a moment Paskin looked exasperated. “There is a shrine to Merid outside the city. Teams will brave obstacles and pass tests and compete with one another to return a statue to the Temple Square. Apparently, cake will be served afterward.” He blinked. “Forgive my loquaciousness.”
Behind them, a grizzled, greasy man in a grey tunic entered, and cheers went up from every nook of the room as if he'd just bought them all pints of Elfbow.
Paskin informed them, “I believe that one man joked that the next person to talk through the door could be tomorrow’s champion, so they began cheering everyone who came in.”
“Really.”
Paskin rubbed his temples. “That was seven hours ago.”
Their room upstairs welcomed them just a couple of minutes later. Tione almost felt disoriented. Had they really fought two battles since they left the room that morning? And won? Well, maybe ‘won’ was a generous term. ‘Not lost’ seemed more appropriate. Tione looked around their room—the first room she’d slept in that wasn’t her own bedroom. No matter what happened, they’d leave Cognito on the morrow and continue on to an inevitable meeting with the gods knew what. What was the logical successor of giants, dragons, demons, holy warriors and dogs made of metal?
Kao opted to join Tione, Aleric, Geddon and Shani in their room for a short while, though he made it clear that he intended to sleep alone again.
“My gramma Elin told me that I should travel to Sela.” Tione looked to Geddon and Shani. The prince was sipping a cup of warm milk and Shani was examining her copy of How to Turn a Spoon into a Weapon of Mass Destruction. “Would you know why that is?”
Geddon fielded the question. “Sela is a center for knowledge, trade, spirituality and culture, and the seat of the kingdom’s government. There’s little that can’t be found there. Perhaps your grandmother was unsure where to instruct you to begin, and so Sela seemed a logical destination?”
Not affording a moment to look up, Shani added, “She could have hardly expected you to run into Aleric practically on her own doorstep. Kao already revealed that he’d been following us. Prince Geddon and I… well, we’ve hardly ever been apart from each other. I’ve lived in the castle as young as I have memories. Until I was old enough to go the magic academy with Prince Geddon.”
“Actually…” Geddon placed the empty cup neatly near the window. “My father granted Shani’s uncle vassalage in order to justify it.”
"I believe your father would grant-- bestow vassalage on someone if they needed to in order to attend afternoon tea at the castle," Shani quipped.
"He is... perhaps... slightly generous with the honors he grants to others. However, Shani, in your case, growing up unhindered by responsibility afforded you the time to become a young master of spoon combat."
After conversation dwindled to “so yeahs” and “wells,” Kao retired to his own room again after a sober “good-night” and a cursory nod.
Aleric removing his shirt interrupted Tione from speculations about what Kao was keeping secret. At discovering this distracted her from her previous train of thought, she discreetly yawned and lay down and perused the details of a dent in the wall next to her bed. She may have well have been asleep before her head hit the pillow, and no dreams came to her that night. Well, not that she could remember. She woke up once in the middle of the night to discover that everyone had drifted off with the candle still burning. She lay there for a few minutes, hearing the occasional paroxysm of laughter from downstairs, and Stupid making odd whimpers in its sleep from where it lay at Aleric’s feet. Finally, she crept across the chilly floor to blow the candle out. Why was she so concerned about not waking anyone up?
She made it back to her bed. It wasn’t until she was back under her covers that she heard Aleric stir.
“Hey, Tione.”
“Yeah?”
For a moment, nothing came through the darkness. “Good-night.”
“Night, Aleric.”
He could be heard shuffling in his bed. He sighed. “Hey… Tione?”
“What, Aleric?”
“Wanna join me?”
“I’m going back to bed now.”
Breakfast the next morning was far more substantial than the previous one. Somewhat stiff fried eggs and dry, slightly-burnt sausages were happily served to patrons with an extra five copper pieces to spend. Tione felt as refreshed as if she'd slept all morning, despite their early awakening. But their demon friend looked like he’d spent the night with a bright light being shone into his eyes. Aleric tried unsuccessfully to get his attention a few futile times before Kao started, and looked up and shook the disgusted grimace from his lips, rubbed his fangs with his tongue, swallowed hard, and finally regarded him.
“Eh? Wha?”
“Hey. You okay?”
“Yeah, fine.” A short pause. “Fine.” His eyes darted around the crowded room for a moment. "I... I'm just not all that hungry. I think I'll... just get some fresh air, is all. Ugh." He stood up quickly as if unaware there was a chair behind him and turned for the door.
Tione didn't have time to ruminate on this, because Kao suddenly bent over the table, gritting his teeth in pain. "Kao! Hey! What happened?"
"Ow… what the..." Brows furrowed, he began feeling the back of his neck through his hair, but before he could produce what Tione decided must have been a dart, he groaned and slumped over the table and his searching arm went limp. "P- poisoned. Urgh..."
“O—oh.” Oh yeah, she was being real helpful. But what could she do? Tione went ice cold from panic. As the demon began hacking and gagging, Geddon began to prepare a spell.
"N- no." Kao waved Geddon away. "I think I'll be fine. The poison isn't strong enough to kill me."
"A- are you absolutely certain? I'm going to cast it, just to be safe."
"Agh... suit yourself."
Geddon began preparing the spell. As he asked Kao for the dart that had indeed been fired into the back of his neck, Tione thought on the fact that this was not the first time someone had made an attempt on Kao's life, and only Kao. Singled him out. It had to be someone from the Holy Order of the Sofiides! But didn't they say they intended to only capture them?
"Sukri sethu thaeri." Placing his hand not where the dart hit, but on Kao's chest, a warm green light lit up around the table. Just being near it, Tione felt energized and awakened; it was almost disappointing when the light faded. Kao sighed in relief.
Aleric, meanwhile, was looking around the inn. This long after the attack there was no way to try to spot the shooter. It could have been any one of the warriors, rogues or wizards sitting around them, but all Tione could think of was the red-caped girl from the last two days. However, she wasn’t in the room—at least, not that Tione could tell. "We should get out of here," he said. People at the nearby seats were starting to stare.
"But..." Shani looked down at his unfinished eggs.
"If we fill ourselves too much with breakfast, we will be sluggish in the Heroes' Contest," Geddon pointed out.
"Not to mention it's sure to be starting soon," Tione added.
"YES!" With fervor that attracted the attention of most of the room, Aleric rose from his seat. "The chisel of fate will begin carving our names into the wall of destiny-- starting today! Yes, the clouds and the stars will--" Take a tumble, apparently. Al stumbled backward into another inn patron who was somehow even taller than he and so broad that Tione wondered how he got through the front door. Beer spilled in a thick stream down his front and gathering in a pitiful foamy puddle at his feet.
"Ugh..." The man's voice rumbled from the abysmal depths of his throat. "I... seem to be wearing my morning ale." He looked up through gray eyes, stone faced and grim. "I wonder who could be the one what did it?"
They didn't have time for this. At all. Still, Aleric turned around and bowed deeply, and Tione shivered; it made the man seem as if he towered even higher above him. "Hey. I... sorry. It was an honest mistake, really. Hey, nothing to worry about, right? Can I buy you a drink? Shine your shoes? Anything you can request in mixed company, really."
"N- no," the man mumbled, perplexed. "I wasn't paying attention, and I really don't know who it was. Was it you?"
"Oh. Well. Yeah. It... may have been."
"I... see."
Tione prepared herself for the idea of being minus one hero. It was too bad; she'd just begun to be used to having Aleric around and enjoy his company. This man looked like he could put any of them six feet under-- with one punch.

I always regretted that we never really had anyone in our group for longer than a short visit with that sort of strength. I mean, while I never doubted Aleric’s strength, he still gets knocked around a good bit. And he can take a hit better than anyone I’ve ever known, but I always worry that that many knocks about the head is only going to make him slower.

The man laughed. "Well, that's a’right! Ha! Look at me! Serves me right, drinking in the morning. Like I always do. Don't be t’ scared. When I break things, it's usually on accident!" He roared in amusement. "I go by Sunder Firebottom! Don't claim to be the best at anything, but there's not much I'm hopeless at! Not a bad lot, if you ask me."
Tione was a bit more grateful at Aleric's continued existence, but Firebottom's raucous belly-laugh did infect her with a small smile. "Yeah. It's fantastic. Would you happen to be in the Heroes' Contest today?"
"Hah! Is the king a dunderhead?" Sunder grinned with wide-eyed amusement at his own remark as Geddon twitched. "I'd be first at the starting line if not for my delay in finishing my morning ale! But sod that. It's on the floor, and your dog seems to be enjoying it better than I was."
"S- Stupid, no! That's not for you!" Too late to keep the puppy from licking the floor clean, Aleric scooped him up, holding him aloft with a scornful frown. “Look at you. Look at you. Aww. Are you—”
Stupid twitched and emitted a sharp yelp, and a shudder. Tione’d never heard a dog hiccup before. “Did he really get that much down?”
“He’s just a puppy,” explained Aleric with an encumbered moan. “We can’t enter the contest with a drunk puppy.”
They were bringing Stupid? Just how much good did Aleric expect Stupid to do anyway?
Sunder opened his mouth to speak, but Stupid hiccupped again, and the warrior found himself otherwise occupied by catching the puppy’s front left paw, which flew away from his body with the speed of a sling bullet. “Hah! It’s a problem, innit! Puzzle dogs are fragile when they’re puppies as it is. I feel a bit responsible—lemme walk with ya to the Temple Square.” Next to his seat, he grabbed an imposing chipped and tarnished sword and strapped it back onto his waist with an old length of thick, unadorned leather. “Now, we…” Sunder trailed off and his eyes drifted to Tione. “Agh…” he frowned softly. “Looks like I’ve gotten something on your face, lass. Lemme just…” A hand that could have wrapped itself around her face reached out as gingerly as a kitten’s paw.
Enduring through the urge to swat his hand away, Tione explained patiently. “Look, look.” She rubbed the brown splotch on her forehead to show it would never come off. “It’s a blemish. It’s not dirt, mud, or anything else. I’m just not perfect, that’s all!” She didn’t really want to use an iron kettle to feed everyone who made that mistake their own teeth. She just needed to keep reminding herself that.
“Hah! No one is, lass. Look around. Ye’d sooner find a full glass at a dwarven tavern. Now, let’s take to th’ streets. The ceremony’ll be startin’ soon. Don’ wanna miss that!”
Outside, the widest streets and narrowest alleys were alive with townsfolk and tourists, all headed in the same direction; it was like a pilgrimage. Well, Tione thought, they were all heading to the temple. For those who chose Merid as their patron deity, like Aleric, she supposed the Heroes’ Competition was a very spiritual affair.
“Hey,” Aleric was grinning to Firebottom. “I heard there’d be cake. Did you hear there’d be cake?” Well… maybe for some Merid worshippers.
From nowhere (he was hard to see in the crowd, even though he was close by Geddon at all times), Shani asked, “Kao… do you think maybe you should disguise yourself?”
“No point. Enough of these heroes can sense the presence of evil anyway. As long as I’m not up to anything, there’s no reason to look suspicious by trying to hide.” The demon chuckled reassuringly. “Come on. What does someone who could become the demon queen’s adviser have to worry about? Unless Celesta comes falling down, I think I’ll be fine.”

I suppose I could explain Celesta (and Miasma) now, but it enters into events later on, so it’ll be explained then. You can keep wondering about it until then. Kao’s grandfather, as he’s been writing a couple more centuries than I have, advised me that that sort of thing is fashionable to keep the reader guessing about little ideas. I told him I should think it would irritate the readers, but he probably knows better than me.

They crested a hill and saw the streets full for as far as they could see the city spread out. Most of their company was regular townsfolk (Tione briefly thought how odd it was that she no longer counted herself among them). The occasional staff or sword or steel helm or shield could be seen glimmering in the sun through the rooftops—but not many. The contestants must have arrived at the square by then, and the slolloth’s pace they were traveling at hardly bolstered her confidence that they would reach the starting line on time. Not to mention that if Stupid decided to lose a limb here, they might never see it again.
It was late in the morning by the time the square was reached. But evidently, the contest had not yet begun. Banners depicting the familiar symbol of the winged lion waved in crimson and gold over the square. Vendors were out in full force, and with the late summer sun already blazing before midday, many of them that could not set up shop in the shadows of the houses sheltered themselves with tarpaulins and tents, their colorful fabrics weaving a long quilt on either side of the square. Snacks were a particularly popular item, and Tione wasn't even sure what much of it was.
"Saaaay!" Aleric was distracted by a stall, where baskets of tasty treats seemed to be displayed, with reasonably modest prices shown beside them. He chose and sniffed a dried, deep red morsel. "These look good. Do you mind if I take a sample?"
An ancient, dilapidated old man nodded under a dark hood. A chubby little blonde girl in a pink and yellow dress sat silently next to him, bundling things into small burlap bags and tying them off with twine. "Certainly. I guarantee its quality. They are five silver for a pound. You'll find the price worth the while, I'm sure."
Aleric perused the tidbit momentarily before lifting it to his mouth. Shani stopped him just in time. "Aleric! That isn't food! That's an ingredient for a flying potion! You... probably shouldn't eat it, unless you'd care to have your hair turn to feathers or be able to speak in nothing but bird calls."
"Oh.” The way Aleric blinked at his would-have-been snack was disdainful and betrayed. He passed it off to Shani.
"Thank the gods! You're here!" Lime Green came weaving through the crowds and stopped before them. She wore the same yellow dress from the afternoon they’d met her . “I’d feared that perhaps you would not come, and now I feel regretful that I thought even for a moment you would forsake me.” Through glazed over, teary eyes, she looked up at them. “Your own quest is so important, and my plight is so insignificant…”
Defiantly, Aleric shook his head. “No! No sorrowful soul must be left behind! That is the duty of a hero!” Grasping her hands, he lifted her chin gently. “Don’t burden yourself with guilt. It doesn’t look good on a pretty girl.”
Smooth talker, Tione thought. Hmph. Well, at least Aleric’d been far more persistent with Tione when they first met. Anyone would be, right?
“I know the gods smile upon us, today—especially Merid!” a voice suddenly boomed over the square. Scores of heads turned to a rotund figure who filled out his crimson and gold robes a little too well, standing before the towering, iron-clad doors of the temple of Merid. “You all are already worthy in his eyes. Of course…” he chuckled, “some are more worthy than others. This is a contest, after all!
“But there are times when heroism is not a competition—it is a way of life. Countless eons ago, our god Merid fought a mighty demon, not far from here.” The master of ceremonies added quickly, “And if you’re plagued by demons, don’t leave today without procuring a bottle of Demon-Off! Its holy blend of blessed water and natural resins wards off all manner of evil beasts, and moistens and rejuvenates the skin!”
“It doesn’t work,” Kao murmured.
“Merid’s great sword cleaved through the fiend and created the majestic canyon we know as Merid’s Mark, and it remains today as a symbol of the scars that can accompany heroism. And speaking of scars, after the contest, be sure to stop by the temple for half off healing spells with your entry ticket.”
Geddon gulped. “We might need healing after this?”
“Heroism has become a commodity in this, our prosperous kingdom of Jigsaw. Let us never neglect those suffering souls who have no reward to proffer us.” He bowed his head, his brow furrowing soberly. “Before this, our fifty-third Heroes’ Competition, let us recite a prayer to Merid.” He unrolled a piece of parchment concealed in his robes, and read: “Will the owner of the white stallion registered to the Temple of Legna please park elsewhere; it is double parked. Gads, that’s not the prayer!”
A blinding glint of feverishly-polished armor shoved its way through the crowd accompanied by a familiar voice yelling, “You’ve won this time, avatars of the Sofiides!”
Lime Green joined Tione in watching the shining figure disappear into the ocean of spectators and down the street. “How unfortunate. He will not get to compete.”
“Yeah…”
The master of ceremonies continued on—past the prayer to Merid, on to an almost-forgotten announcement about the cake and punch that would be served after the recognition of the victors, and a safety announcement reminding all to keep dangerous weapons, potions and magic out of reach of children.
“And now, a final recitation of the rules.”
Not more. Was the contest’s first obstacle to resist being bored to death? Aleric was restless, tightening his belt and adjusting his new sword at his waist. She double-checked the tiny leather sheath strapped snugly to her thigh. Yes; her spoon was there, regardless of how useful it might prove to be. She’d found the sheath in Menteur’s shop. It was a lucky find; with it, she found herself able to easily and quickly draw her spoon, rather than delving into a pocket or a bag.The whole time, Stupid continued to hiccup off its limbs, and Aleric repeatedly wandered among the hero parties, apologizing modestly and collecting the lumps of fur.
“The use of weapons is restricted to that which you can carry yourself. Siege weapons are not permitted, regardless of its owner’s strength. Summoning of entities, creatures or beings larger than the playing field itself is not permitted, nor is shapeshifting into a creature larger than the playing field. Killing other players is not permitted, with the exclusion that another tries to kill you first, you are permitted to defend yourself, following approval from an onsite judge. Under no circumstances is any player permitted to trigger any magical or supernatural ability that will result in indecent exposure of the caster or target. In the event of catastrophic natural or unnatural disaster or attack by a giant, dragon, demon, horde of rabid badgers or any other imminent threat not introduced by the contest itself, the contest will continue until the event that the spectators are at immediate risk. In the event that two or more teams finish simultaneously, the contest will proceed to sudden death."
Shani scratched the back of his head. "We only have to beat—stay ahead of Horme's team, right?"
"I also observe that there are a number of monsters among our players this year."
Standing on his tiptoes, Aleric looked out over the crowds of heroes. "Where?!" Tione optimistically assumed that Aleric meant besides Kao.
"Let it be known that any inappropriate behavior on or off the playing field will not be tolerated. And now-- let the Contest begin!"
Stupid's right ear shot off over the starting line.

There is, as was just now revealed, a rule that states that no player is allowed to attempt the killing of another player. This may sound a bit ominous to the discerning reader, but in this time of relative pause from any truly life-endangering scenes, I would like to reassure all who are reading that none of our heroes die throughout the course of the story. Especially not me, because otherwise how would I be here telling you what happened? I always found stories in which many of the main characters die to be rather tasteless and not much fun, so I’m relieved that our story is not one of those. After all, there are already plenty of stories out there which are like that, so I thought that I should like to contribute a story in which everyone (of import, who is not one of the villains) lives, by way of telling the tale of me and my friends’ adventures.
Anyway, the beginning of the contest, as I recall, was not particularly exciting, until we came upon a giant stone golem that blocked our path.

“You will not pass!”
They’d been heading toward the shrine, miles out of Cognito for a couple hours. With their destination already a point on the horizon, it had been fairly uneventful. With no real obstacles thus far, it had been a tiresome matter of keeping ahead of the other teams and little else. Now, in an expansive grassy meadow, a creature constructed of sandy stone towered above them with an unmoving, resolute grimace, gripping a hammer that looked formidable enough to deliver a devastating blow to the wall of a fortress.
Tione looked past the homunculus. All she saw was more grass. Stretching on and on. “Have you noticed we’re in an open field? Isn’t this kind of gimmick more appropriate for a narrow bridge or a doorway?”
“You will not pass!”
“We really could just move laterally for about quarter mile and keep going.”
“You will not pass!”
“Are you obsessed, or just lonely?”
The golem rumbled balefully. “It is lonely.”
“… what?”
The stone being sat down on a rock, sand grinding from its joints onto the grass. It sighed voluminously. “They really don’t care about my feelings. I don’t like smashing up people. It’s all a very unpleasant business. Though… I suppose when I’ve had a really bad day, there’s a part of me that wishes someone could come along. Just to antagonize them a bit.”
“Have you been having a bad day?” Shani inquired.
“Yes, a very bad one. You will not pass!”
“Well, that went well,” Kao muttered. “We’ll have to try something else.”
“You will not—”
“Hold on. I've got an idea. Everybody. Hey. Gather around." Aleric waved his arms and ushered everyone to his side. While Stupid munched on the grass at the golem’s feet, Aleric whispered something to Shani, who looked slightly disgusted.
"If it's that simple," the boy retorted, "I'll be disappointed."
Aleric walked forward, his hand on his sword... just to be sure. "It's worth a try. Right?" He clenched his fist... and pointed over the golem's shoulder at the horizon. "Look! It's Laviri Mountain!"
The golem rumbled curiously and turned around, taking lumbering steps that flattened the grass. "What?" Its back to them, it lifted its hand to its forehead to look further through the glinting sunlight. Meanwhile, Aleric picked up Stupid and gestured hurriedly for them to move forward. Amazingly, Tione and the rest of them stepped past the golem as it leaned a bit forward. "Why… why, yes, I suppose I can just see it." It then looked down at the five of them as if nothing had changed.
Looking at the edge of screaming, Shani gaped. "Impossible.”
Aleric grinned. Tione couldn't imagine a more ideal picture of a dashing hero. "Believe it!" He took a step back toward the golem, where they had come from.
"You will not pass!" it boomed resolutely.
"It seems we can keep going," Geddon observed with a shrug.
They bid goodbye to the hapless golem, and continued on as the expanse of grassy fields turned to a labyrinth of ruins with a frustrating tendency to produce a dead end almost at every corridor they decided to go down. There was, indeed the occasional monster, but they were dispatched fairly quickly, and Tione found, to her bemusement and slight concern, that she quite enjoyed battles she was fairly certain they could pull through. She didn’t object to practicing her spoon combat on giant rats and the like. Shani had praised her on more than one occasion. Nothing seemed to be a real threat, however; the worst injury that had been sustained so far was a twisted ankle that resulted from Geddon tripping over a bit of rubble.
As they worked their way through the maze, Tione was a bit more concerned with the absence of a page in her book that appeared to have been removed forcibly. Perhaps she could ask Shani if he knew what was missing, if they couldn’t locate another copy. But something pulled these thoughts from her head. For a moment, she mistook the hissing sound that resounded down the corridor as leaves or brush blowing across the rough hewn floor. But it was a voice.
“You’ve all proven yourselves sagacious and brave to make it so far. But decipher my riddle to all who pass this way, you cannot. Welcome to try, you all are. But if you fail…”
If they failed… what? The voice was still very much disembodied, and so they couldn’t begin to fathom what might be in store for them. Would they be trapped as spirits in the ruins? Turned to glass or stone? Eaten? “What happens if we fail?” she demanded.
The voice coughed. It sounded like tree branches snapping. “I’ll keep asking riddles until you get one right.”
Well, that didn’t sound too bad.
Too bad Tione hadn’t noticed the square-shaped holes in the ground earlier that formed a perfect rectangle around where they stood. Now it was too late; rigid columns shot up out of the ground and formed a cage around them so fast, she thought that if she’d blinked she might have missed it.

I told you we found ourselves having to escape from cages a lot. It’s been only, what, ten chapters so far? And this was the second time, I think? It’s funny, I thought, how cages are always sold with specifications on what sort of strength it would take to sunder it, but all anyone ever uses to free themselves from cages is cleverness.

Once the cage was erected, a square section of the wall rolled aside with a grating, scraping noise, and a diminutive figure stepped out of a column of blinding, colored light. Tione at first assumed that it was a human child, but quickly identified it as a faerie by the translucent wings twitching excitedly on his back. Faeries usually adopted the profession of being priests of the goddess Ah, but since she only accepts children to the position, faeries gradually took the form of children throughout their whole life. There was no way to tell how old one was. Except to ask it, of course. But despite being a race committed to the goddess of goodness, faeries are not particularly honest creatures—particularly about their age.
“I see our newest contestants have arrived! Let’s give them a hand!”
Tione thought the wind blowing through the corridors took on the sound of ambient applause. "I take it this is part of the contest?"
The faerie nodded with a cheshire grin. "Yes!"
"Well?! Let us out of here first!" Kao barked with bristling fury.
The faerie stood there, smiling. Finally, he spoke,
"The one below dark as dusk
The one above blinding white
One is purity
The other a blight."
So they wouldn't be released until they answered a riddle correctly?
"I said--" Kao growled. His hands began to glow.
"Kao, stop it!"
"Skaalls hesscor splina!"
The fairy looked on curiously as the ground beneath all of them began to heave and shape itself-- or attempt to. The massive chipped and worn tiles of the floor began to separate and dirt and clay squeezed out around them like paste. The pillars forming the bars of their prison shook as the ground below them struggled to surge upward. Stupid barked in alarm and the rest of them struggled to stay on their feet. Ultimately, the ground's pulsing heaves ended, with the cage unchanged. Kao hastily prepared to cast another spell.
He’d kill all of them before he managed to destroy the cage! “Kao, you can’t just…”
“Utaraki butra—”
Aleric grabbed Kao’s arms out of casting position and a bright orange ball of flame faded from between them. “Stop it! You can’t just toss around dangerous magic, you’re gonna kill us!” Gradually, the demon calmed down and gave the incantations a rest.
“Why don’t we attempt the riddle?” Geddon suggested.
"If it will get us out." Shani pondered for a second, presumably the verse that the fairy had spoken. Their captor looked on expectantly. "It's Celesta and Miasma. Celesta is the blinding white plane of good above our world, and Miasma is the dark world of evil below it." He gave an empirical nod.
"Wrong!"
"What?!" Tione hadn't figured out the riddle on her own, but once Shani gave his solution, it seemed not only correct, but obvious. Like a simple riddle one might ask in a children's game. Apparently it was not so simple. "Then what's the answer?"
"Salt and pepper!" the faerie laughed. "Salt is white, and pepper is a blight because it makes you sneeze! Salt crystals are larger than grains of pepper, so pepper will sift down below salt!"
At that moment Tione began to ponder how easily the faerie's wings could be forcibly removed from his back. This was no straightforward contest of wits; they were dealing with a trickster. And they would be until they learned to think on his level. "Okay..." she sighed. If they didn't want to be there all day, they'd better take their time for each answer. "What's the next riddle?"
The faerie shifted his weight from one pointy-shoed foot to the other. "Now you're in the spirit of it! Here's your next riddle: A ringrunner starts from Juste and a hemhur starts from Dalabiot, each traveling toward the other, at which point they stop. When they meet, how much ink will the hemhur have produced?”
“Simple-- easy! It’s a trick question!” Shani jeered with brilliantly exuded confidence. “A ringrunner can’t stop running, or it dies."
Tione didn’t have to know what a ringrunner or a hemhur was to know that Shani was right. She smiled.
“Wrong!” He grinned broadly. "The hemhur will have produced, roughly speaking, three-fourths of a barrel of ink, regardless of the condition of the ringrunner." The faerie peered up at them through the stone bars. "You thought I'd be so low as to ask a trick question? I'm injured!"
As the trial had gone on, Kao had become more and more edgy. "You'll really be injured if you don't get rid of this cage!"
"Third question!" Ignoring the demon's groans of frustration, the faerie posed, "What would be the best way to release yourself from your prison?"
Well, that was a straightforward question. But there was an infinity of answers. Or more appropriately, Tione thought with chagrin, an eternity. Just because Kao's spell earlier had done nothing, that didn't mean that magic would fail in every instance, right? It was doubtful that even Aleric could summon the brute force that would probably be needed to destroy one of the pillars that composed the cage's bars. But they could fly out, couldn't they? After all, the faerie'd neglected to cage them in from above. Just like when they'd been trapped in the clouds, Geddon could use his flight spell. Now, it seemed silly that they hadn't thought of it before. But the moment Tione pointed skyward and opened her mouth to deliver the answer, Geddon covered her mouth. "To mmmnn!"
Before she could glare back at the prince, he announced, "To... er... answer this question correctly?"
A congratulatory blast of strings and horns resounded through the walls of the ruins. The faerie threw up his arms and cried, "Yes! That's correct! What cleverness! What skill! What panache! Most people just say that they would fly out!"
Damn it.
"And... now..." he murmured with such excitement it seemed he could barely wait for the answer himself, "your freedom!”
Through the shower of dust that fell over them as the pillars rumbled back down to the tiled path, the faerie, bowing deeply, could be seen disappearing in a forceful spray of sparks that Stupid contented himself with rolling and frolicking in as they fluttered to the dusty stone floor. Kao wrapped his fingers around the empty air where the faerie’s throat had been and snarled.
But... flying out still would have freed them, wouldn't it? Tione sighed. Right answer or not, they were free to continue the contest, with merely a slight on her pride. They had already reached the ruins where the shrine lay, finding it was a small matter of exploring its halls a short while further.
The shrine to Merid lay at the end of a corridor, a chipped and worn marble pillar shaded by a tattered crimson canvas. There were ages worth of shriveled, dried leaves, tattered pieces of clothing and bits of wood and paper blown into the corners of the hall around it. Tione gulped; the walls were also peppered with holes and burn marks in various states of wear from season after season of intrepid, hapless heroes.
More importantly, the statue they'd been sent to retrieve wasn't there. Immediately Tione knew the problem. There was one statue, and now they'd have to find which team had beat them to it and get it away from them somehow. She sighed. "Come on!"
“Oh, ho! Might this be what you were looking for?”
The possessors of the idol they’d missed acquiring were the last people Tione had expected.
Luca held up a polished iron figure, tossed it into the air, and caught it again. “And if you reveal its powers, we may consider killing you relatively painlessly.”
Ruca, wearing her clawed gauntlets, pouted.
“This is ridiculous! Are you stupid?” Tione was tempted to stomp over and swipe the thing away, now that it’d appeared so close to them. But Luca was still armed with that strange-looking metal weapon, and she had to admit to having no idea what it could do. “It’s just a statue! We’re getting it back for a contest. It’s totally useless; give it here!”
Bang. A sharp crack echoed back and forth off the ancient stonework and Geddon crumpled over, clutching his left shoulder. Shani, nearby, eased the prince to the ground as he groaned in pain. Blood was soaking through his tunic and white cape.
“Would anyone care to stop the silly lies before I shoot someone else?”
It had happened so fast! Tione tried to figure out what the strange weapon had done to Geddon, but as the prince continued to bleed despite his apprentice’s best efforts, the only thing she could discern was that he was seriously hurt. “Shoot?”
“It’s… oh, um…” Aleric muttered. “Oh! Um…” Whatever Aleric was searching for, it seemed to be miles off. Suddenly he slammed his fist into his palm. “Like a little cannon! In your hand!”
How he’d figured that out was far less important than the reality that it could probably kill them all if Luca decided to actually aim the thing. Geddon could be healed, but no amount of magic could bring someone back from death. “So, what?” she sneered. “You’re just going to stand nice and safe over there and kill us all, no problem?”
Pouring ten gallons of confidence into an ounce of speech, Ruca replied, “No.”
“Not all of you,” Luca elaborated. “Blondie’s coming with us.”
Aleric set his boots firm to the floor of the ruins and tightened his grip on his sword. “You may think so,” he replied, “But if you want Shani, you’ll have to get through me first!”
Maybe the sudden perspicacity about Luca’s weapon was a fluke. Kao poked the hero’s shoulder. “I think they mean you, Aleric.”
“Oh.” Aleric’s guard lowered. Just a bit. “Why?”
Whatever the answer they might have given, it was cut short by a gasp as the figure of Merid was yanked away by a figure standing behind him—then a groan as Luca was clubbed at the back of the head with it. Despite the blood mixing with his hair, it wasn’t as severe as the cacophonous clang of metal against skull seemed; he was still conscious.
Sunder Firebottom, tossing the statue up once and catching it in time to use it to parry a claw swipe from Ruca, mused, “I don’t remember seeing you two at the starting line. But I’m still drunk. Perhaps my memory serves me poorly. You won’t mind if I take this.”
Aleric joined Sunder, holding Ruca’s dangerous arms immobile. “Hey. Thanks!”
“These people bother you a lot?”
“Just the second time. AAARRGH!” The young woman in Aleric’s grip twisted free and delivered a swift underhanded thrust to the back of his thigh. He labored to stay on his feet as the red stain on his trousers steadily grew. Tione rushed forward to catch him before she even thought of Ruca’s slashing claws. She’d have to keep that sort of thing in check, but at the moment, the fact she’d kept Aleric’s head from being dashed on the stone was satisfying enough.
“It’s six years of careful planning for naught if the boy dies!” Luca groaned. “Do you know what…” he glanced around. “He’d do if that happened?”
“He won’t die. There’s—” Suddenly slammed against the wall by Kao’s outstretched arm, she choked silent.
“You’re keeping some juicy secrets, aren’t you? Let’s hear it!” Kao’d missed, or chosen to ignore, the fact that the two of them seemed more concerned for their well being than for the outcome of whatever scheme the Silvers had prepared. Instead, with a savage smile the demon closed his fist around the woman’s throat until she wasn’t able even to gasp. “Talk!”
Tione hoped for the demon’s sake that the other demons never placed Kao in charge of interrogations. “I don’t think she can.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. She just was.” The demon blinked and noticed his hand digging into her throat as if he’d woken up from a dream. “Oh.” His bemused realization suddenly melted into a startled scream as he crumpled to the ground beside Aleric, following another explosion from Luca’s weapon.
Three of them already injured? Never mind answers—it was another battle for their lives, and they were doing poorly. Tione jabbed Ruca under the ribs with her elbow to knock the wind out of her before she could have a go at her next. Sunder should have had Luca under control—what had been happening? Luca was on his feet, looking none the worse for the wound at the back of his head. Sunder was, in fact, preoccupied with Horme and his newly-arrived group joining in the battle, but fixated wholly on the acquisition of the statue.
“Let it go, you fool! This is a real battle!”
“Then you surely should not feel any hesitation to surrender it!”
“Get off it!”
“Do you have any idea what this contest means to me?!”
Horme and Sunder grappled uselessly at the treasure while Tione noticed Geddon had tried to cast magic to heal the wounded, but with his own injured arm, it proved impossible. His arm was in too much pain to move it enough to cast the spell, and Shani would simply not allow the prince to agitate the wound any further.
Without warning, all the combatants came to a standstill. A stiff, brisk afternoon breeze moaned through the ruins’ passages as they surveyed their respective opponents. The time for specious threats and superficial wounds seemed to be over. Tione shuddered. In the carnage, was it clear to the newcomers who the hostile party was?
Shani braced himself in front of the prince with his spoon staff held firm in both hands. But the wounded Aleric pulled himself in front of the boy.
“I know you can’t kill me… so come on…” he beckoned, “If you think you can take me alive!”
Luca’s handheld cannon clicked curiously. He seemed almost touched. “M… maybe if we can convince the boy to give himself up, we can leave the rest alone?”
“You know disposing of the rest is as much our job as capturing Aleric.”
Aleric sighed and scratched his chest. “Listen, it’s rude to talk about me like that when I’m right here. And putting me on the spot to surrender to save my buddies is really inconsiderate.”
Luca seemed indignant. “I thought you might appreciate the chance. Your healer’s arm fails him, the agile demon’s foot is injured, and you can barely move to swing that sword of yours around.”
“There’s always a better way than giving yourself up!” He whispered something under his breath. It sounded a little like… no, it couldn’t be. There was just no way! Aleric reared back, gathering all his strength and smashing the blade across a nearby pillar as a peal of thunder from the clear blue sky smashed their eardrums. Luca was alarmed by the noise for just long enough that Horme could seize him.
“You’re disrupting the contest,” the leatherbound warrior grumbled.
Tione’s perception of reality had recently been altered irrevocably more times than she cared to count, but nothing had prepared her for Aleric casting magic! But at least Luca and Ruca were under control again. “Can someone tie these two up so we can finish this silly contest and get our gold?” Kao went to it immediately, relishing the task. Tione considered requesting that Kao not do anything too depraved, but they’d proved enough a nuisance that she decided to overlook it.
Sunder and Horme coughed conspicuously.
Tione glared at them and held up the statue that had been discarded in the scuffle. “Did you two have something to say?” The momentary vicissitude that deposited the statue in their possession wouldn’t be wasted.
“Surely, you don’t think you’re entitled to it in some way,” Horme reasoned with a surly grimace. His group nodded behind him.
Tione shoved the little idol into Kao’s hands. “There. Just try and take it away from an injured man.”
“That’s kind of underhanded,” Kao pointed out, lowering his dark brows. “But…” He hurled the statue over his shoulder at Shani. “Would you attack a child?”
Shani yelped as a dull clap of metal against metal signaled that the boy, startled, had attempted to use his spoon staff to protect himself. Kao ducked in time for the statue to be hurled back the way it’d come from—toward the rival parties. Something had to be done, fast.
Too bad the member who acted first was Stupid. The puppy leapt aloft to intercept the statue, but at no point in its flight did it seem as if it would help any. In fact, what was once turned into a flying metal projectile quickly turned into a flying metal projectile and several furry projectiles which, to give their hapless pet credit, did cause a bit of confusion. As a matter of fact, the lissome little sorcerer in the gold trim robe at the back of Horme’s party looked quite ill.
But… “I’ve got it!” A dwarf almost tripped over his beard scrambling to the object at Sunder’s feet, but soon held it firm in both broad, dark hands. “Got it! Ha!”
It was Stupid’s right leg. “Egh!”
“Oh my…”
“It’s moving!”
“Don’t step on it!”
Wasn’t that a tarnished glimmer behind that bit of rubble, just in front of the mound of detritus and to the left of the dull, broken sword? “Sunder!” Tione called. “It’s over there!”
Sunder bent to the right. Tione dashed to his left and picked up what she’d seen glimmering—the statue. Sunder rose with just another piece of junk in his dirtied hands. For someone who’d just been tricked, he seemed considerably jolly. “Well met, lass! Ya had me thoroughly fooled!” His ale barrel belly shook with raucous laughter— as a massive winged creature dove out of the sky behind him.
Whoosh! Tione just missed being blitzed by what flew onto the battlefield. In fact, it only missed her by inches at such a blistering speed that those wearing capes were blown off their feet, and the cluttered ancient halls were instantly cleared of brush and dead leaves. They were blasted around them in a stinging spray so quickly that one twig that brushed Tione’s cheek cut it just a little. A great deep green, nearly black six-legged beast with a long, stretching neck, rending claws and a broad fanged mouth shook tiles loose as it landed and furled its wings, the undersides of which were a deep pink. If it’d landed just a couple feet to the side it might have crushed Ruca and Luca and the pillar they’d been bound to. It huffed a couple of times, surveying the scene.
But Sunder barely blinked at it. “Well, if that’s not a dragon, I’m a coat rack.” He swiped the statue from the still-stunned Tione.
“D- dragon?” Aleric managed.
“Fluffyhead!” Kao called joyously.