The Moon Calls

37

As they continued up the cliff, Varian used black rocks to put up railings for really narrow pathways and replaced crumbling rocks with flat black ones that were stable. If Calliope had anything to say about it, she kept it to herself, terrified into silence by the older woman and her teenage cohort.

"How do you get people to just listen like that? I mean, the power you had when speaking..." Cass said as she walked alongside Donella.

"A lot of self-control." Donella chuckled. "Calm anger is the most dangerous of all. But, I think Varian has shown you that enough times." She looked at Varian with a smile. "Like with the bird couple, for instance."

Varian nodded, looking to the side as he thought about what they had said. 'Followers of Demanitus and Zhan Tiri had to choose sides and those that didn't were assumed to have.' He thought. 'I've only met Sugracha the Eternal, but how many were sealed away in the Demanitus Chamber?'

Ruddiger patted his cheek to bring him back to the present and he smiled and stroked his fur fondly.

"Donella, I'm...concerned about your willingness to hurt her." Rapunzel said anxiously.

"She hasn't been hurt." Donella sighed heavily. "We have a goal, Rapunzel. And while some distractions are...acceptable, this little shyster was not. Whether she is a student of the Keeper or just a fraud, she is not who she claims to be. And I will not put up with her stalling when, every day, the Moonstone spreads her power, her black rocks, over the Seven Kingdoms."

Rapunzel bowed her head. "...I...I know. I know the danger."

"Then, you know that we cannot waste time with pretention." She said sternly.

Rapunzel went quiet after that and let Donella take the lead. After all, everyone else seemed content to. Varian took her hand soothingly and she gave a shaky smile. Varian was just as bothered as she was, she realized, but he was focused on their main goal and Calliope was making things take longer than they needed to.

They heard the roaring from up above again and Eugene looked up. "What is that?"

Calliope started to speak but stopped herself with a nervous glance at Donella. Donella gave her a "go on" gesture and she cleared her throat. "T-That's the Kirlok. It's...it's the Protector of the Spy-err."

"Should be easy to get past, especially with Varian's goo bombs." Hugo said thoughtfully. "Then we can knock it out and go into the Spire easy-peasy."

"Spy—"

"And now you've lost your speaking privileges." Donella said, cutting her off. Calliope looked down sadly.

Rapunzel clenched her fists but didn't say anything. She would...just have to talk to Donella about this later.

--

"I'm building stairs to get us back down." Varian decided after they'd been walking awhile. "I am not going through this whole thing in reverse."

Calliope stopped short, looking at the map silently. Donella sighed. "Speak."

"...I made a wrong turn." She said sheepishly.

They all groaned. "Okay. That's it." Varian held out his hand and black rocks appeared and started to form into stairs leading up the cliff. "I'm not putting up with this anymore. We just need to go up, right? So, we go up!"

She rolled up the map, looking embarrassed. They hear roaring behind them and turned to see a beast coming up to them.

"...I guess that's the Kirlok." Eugene said as Lance let out a scream of terror