The Zodiac Empire

Chapter 3 - Happy Birthday (Part 2)

Pumpkin's ferocious, bestial roar could be heard from above. The chandeliers swayed from side to side and the ceiling rumbled from the Cerberus's footsteps. Alsen clung to Naito in fear at the sound of the beast.

"What...? What the hell is that?!" Zento glanced from side to side frantically. His hair and eyes were no longer glowing.

Pumpkin burst through the door, causing many of the terrified soldiers to scream at the sight of her. She ran through the dining hall, leaving her massive footprints on the previously immaculately clean floor. Her tongues hung out, dripping with saliva, and her tail swung from side to side, nearly knocking tables over. When she reached Sartur, she licked his face happily.

"You've been a good girl, Pumpkin, so daddy's got a game for you." Sartur scratched her behind the ear. "All you have to do is sniff out the traitor! Easy enough, no?" he whispered something in her ear. Cosena wouldn't be surprised if he told her exactly who he was looking for. Having his Cerberus sniff everyone to find this supposed traitor made no logical sense, and he was an Aeromancer. Aeromancers were supposed to act entirely out of reasoning and logical deduction, opposite of Aquamancers, who act out of emotion. Was he doing this just to get some sick type of pleasure out of it? Knowing her father, that wasn't a farfetched conclusion.

Exited, Pumpkin walked around the room, stopping at each table and sniffing each soldier individually. The soldiers shivered in fear as she did so, though some remained still and looked the beast in the eye, trying to avoid showing any signs of fear.

When Pumpkin stopped next to Casele and Zento, Casele backed up but tripped and fell. Zento stood in front of her with his arms spread out as if to defend her, gritting his teeth at Pumpkin. Pumpkin took more time sniffing Zento than she did with anyone else. Once finished sniffing him, she looked up at Sartur, panting

"Oh, found us a traitor, have you? Good girl!" Sartur clapped.

"I didn't do anything!" Zento shouted, backing away slowly.

"We shall see about that!"

Zento attempted to take off running, but Pumpkin wrapped her tail around his torso and hoisted him into the air. Slowly raising him above her heads, she opened her mouths wide, as if to swallow him whole.

"No, Zento!!!" Casele cried, eyes wide with terror, reaching her hand out.

"Bad girl Pumpkin, no! Daddy did not give you permission to eat yet!" Sartur yelled reprimandingly. Pumpkin lowered Zento back to the floor, covering her eyes with her ears, whining.

"You may not eat him now, girl. How about you show him your playhouse while you wait?"

Pumpkin panted like an excited puppy over a new chew toy, then ran off with a struggling Zento still wrapped in her tail. How could Sartur trust that hungry beast to not eat him, without any supervision? Or was she being supervised in her 'playhouse'?

"Zento..." Casele said, still sitting in the middle of the floor, crying.

Alile got up from her seat and helped Casele back to her feet, escorting her back to the Aquamancer table. "He'll be fine." she whispered. Her face was still stolid, showing no signs of concern.

"I apologize for the delay everyone, I know our tummies are roaring like Cerberus puppies right now!" Sartur laughed at his own sick sense of humor. The blue-robed High Mage, Zart, guffawed, and the brown-robed High Mage gave a rather forced laugh. "Now that we've got that clear, let us dig in, shall we?" Sartur clapped his hands and sat, then everyone began to eat as if nothing happened.

There was an endless amount of food on the tables, ranging from roast turkey, bread rolls, mashed potatoes, and every vegetable Cosena could name, to all sorts of foods and beverages she could not name. Were they all even safe to digest? She decided to just put a slice of fish and some fries on her plate, although she simply moved it around with her fork rather than eating. Naito and Alsen were doing the same, their eyes glued to the painting above their table.