Previous | Table of Contents | Next
Fern snorted in his sleep, the thunderous sound waking himself up. He slurped up his drool before opening his eyes. The sight before him was a bit too green to be the ninety-first floor. What was he doing here? The yellow dragon propped his torso up, and he swiveled his head to get a better look around. The numerous empty barrels on the ground caught his eye, and a second later, a splitting pain struck his head as if someone were using a chisel to sculpt a statue with his brain.
Fern groaned as he lay back down. The sun shone in his eyes, causing his headache to worsen. His eyelids shut, and he covered his brow with his paw for good measure. The yellow dragon exhaled, lightning bolts crackling in the air ahead of his mouth. What happened yesterday? He went with Volearden to see Vur, and then…, he was here. Exactly how much did he have to drink?
“What happened?” a familiar voice asked.
For some reason, it sounded like the dragons’ worst enemy, Malvina, the annoying bird. Fern uncovered his eyes and rolled his head towards the direction of the voice. He must’ve still had some alcohol running through his system because his eyes were telling him the queen of the phoenixes was tied up with chains not too far away from him. Had Vur and Volearden gotten so drunk that they raided the phoenixes and kidnapped their queen last night?
Fern sat up and rolled onto all fours despite his splitting headache. His eyes widened upon seeing the pile of metal heaped beside Malvina. Volearden had also been tied up for some reason, and the armored dragon wasn’t moving. A furrow appeared on the yellow dragon’s brow, and he approached the bound beasts. “Volearden?”
Malvina’s neck cracked as her head whipped to the side to face Fern. “You yellow weasel,” the queen of phoenixes said. “You did this to me, didn’t you?” She winced and shut her eyes halfway while letting out a hissing sound. Evidently, her head hurt just as much as Fern’s did.
“Who are you calling a weasel, pigeon?” Fern said and made a face. “What exactly are you doing here?”
Before Malvina could reply, someone said, “Oh, you’re awake,” from off to the side. The phoenix queen and yellow dragon turned their heads to look at the approaching demon. Tafel smiled at them. “How are you guys feeling?”
Fern furrowed his brow. “You’re … Vur’s wife?”
Tafel nodded. “You had a bit too much to drink yesterday, so you passed out.”
“What happened to me?” Malvina asked, kicking her legs to make herself comfortable. She opened her wings, but they barely moved off her body before they were stopped by the chains. “Was I tricked into drinking too much?” Her eyes widened as her gaze landed on Volearden. “Did you hire them to spike my drink!?”
The armored dragon grunted and rolled his head over. Lights flickered on his helmet as if his eyes were fluttering open. Volearden looked around before raising his leg to scratch his head, but his ankles were bound to one another, stopping his movements. He stared down at the ground, unmoving as he took in the sight of empty and crushed liquor barrels. It was hard to tell what the dragon was thinking thanks to the armor covering his body, but Tafel had a feeling he was contemplating his life.
“It looks like all of you drank too much and forgot what happened last night,” Tafel said and placed her hands on her hips. She nodded her head and beamed. “I’ll give you all a quick reminder.” She looked at Fern. “You drank a lot and instantly fell asleep.” She turned towards Malvina and Volearden. “You two wouldn’t come to an agreement on ending the war, so Vur fought you guys. You’re in time-out now.”
“Vur fought us?” Malvina asked. “Wait.” She glanced at Volearden’s chains before looking at Tafel. “Are you telling me we lost? Both of us?”
Tafel nodded. “At one point, the two of you even worked together to fight him.”
Volearden tilted his head. “I don’t remember any of this.”
“The power of alcohol is truly frightening,” Tafel said, nodding her head in agreement.
Volearden raised his front paws, looking at the manacles binding his legs together. He noticed his root bracelet was missing. The chains jangled as he pawed at them before looking at the ones binding Malvina. “Are these chains supposed to stop us?” the armored dragon asked.
“Actually, no,” Tafel said. “We put them on after Vur defeated you to remind you when you woke up in case you thought losing was a dream.”
Malvina frowned as she turned herself into flames, the chains holding her in place falling through her body and onto the ground. She rematerialized as a phoenix above the chains and flapped her wings to adjust her feathers. At the same time, Voleaerden dug his claws into the manacles around his ankles and pried them off with ease.
Footsteps approached the group, and they turned their heads to the side. Lindyss was walking towards them with a smile on her face, her skin practically glowing in the sun. “Wow, you spent a whole night together, and you’re both still alive,” the cursed elf said. “Does that mean dragons and phoenixes are at peace now? I don’t remember much about yesterday.”
“Auntie,” Tafel said and blinked at the cursed elf who looked too refreshed for someone who had consumed an ocean of alcohol the other day. “You’re up earlier than usual. Vur thinks he found a solution to end the conflict, but it’s hard to say if it’ll work. He’s planning on putting the dragons and phoenixes who disagree with him in time-out, and that way, they’ll be mad at him instead of mad at each other.”
Lindyss blinked. “Uniting two opposing factions by introducing a common enemy,” she said and nodded. “That’s not a bad tactic. If you’re going to do that, why don’t you use the threat of the Oebu Sin to get the dragons and phoenixes to work together? You can even make it a contest to see who can hunt more or something along those lines.”
“That’s brilliant,” Tafel said.
“Of course.” Lindyss nodded. “I thought of it.”
Then why didn’t you come up with it yesterday when I asked for help? Tafel thought but didn’t say out loud. The idea was good; it didn’t matter if it came a little late or not.