Always Be Appreciative of Opposable Thumbs

Chapter Forty-Four: That's One Way to Get Stoned

 "I think this is it!" Sera exclaimed as she skidded to a halt in front of a large door.

Jyoji—now visible like she was—caught up to her, panting and gasping for air. "You said that about the last five doors."

"Yeah, but I have a good feeling about this one."

She pushed the door open and stepped inside. "You said that about the others, too," Jyoji said from behind her.

A grin spread across her face as she took in the room before her. "But I meant it about this one."

This was it. She had found it.

Teodric's magical collection.

"Huh," Jyoji said as he appeared beside her. "I expected it to be a little more . . . organized."

He was right. Though this was clearly the room where the king stored his magical collection, it was anything but organized. There were shattered cages littering the floor, shelves falling off the walls, and glass shards everywhere. And there were a number of magical creatures flying, galloping, and climbing all over the place.

"What happened here?" Sera mumbled, dodging a lesser sulfur-crested phoenix as she walked further into the chaos.

"Ah, you must be Willow's friends."

A voice rose above the noise, and after glancing about, Sera caught sight of a dark-skinned woman with purple hair standing by a glass tank filled with water. The woman smiled and waved before picking up a bar from one of the destroyed cages and swinging it at the tank. The glass shattered, and a wave of water poured out, bringing along with it a Mermaid with a dark green tail. The Mermaid sat up and pushed her wet, blonde-with-a-tinge-of-green hair out of her eyes.

She smiled up at the woman who had freed her. "Thank you. I was getting a cramp in my neck from that tiny little tank."

"Anytime, sweetie," the purple-haired woman said.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Sera asked. "And how do you know who we are?"

The woman turned back to her, hands on her hips. "Your friend Willow told me. Although, she said there were three of you. Where's the cabbage boy? Ah, what was his name . . ."

"Hugo?" Jyoji offered.

She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "Ah, yes! Hugo. That's it. Which would make you two Jyoji and Sera?"

Sera narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, we seem to have missed something here. What happened? Where is Willow? And again, who are you?"

The woman surveyed the room. "Well, after Willow set me free, we decided to do a little redecorating. Well, I decided to do a little redecorating. Willow ran off with her sister to rescue her other sisters."

"Sisters? You mean the geese? They're here, too?"

"Mhm. The oldest one was trapped in here with us. I guess the others got taken to the kitchen after betraying Willow. Serves them right if you ask me. Nasty bunch of girls, they are."

Sera recalled the meat pasties the servant girl had dropped in the dining room. Had they been goose pasties? "All right, that explains the 'what' and the 'where.' How about the 'who.' Who are you?"

Eyeing her suspiciously, the woman asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"Excuse me?"

After looking her up and down once more, the woman raised her eyebrows. "Ah. Now I understand." She cleared her throat and turned back to the Mermaid. "Let's see if we can't get you to some water. Will the moat do for the time being?"