Chapter Seventeen- Add a dragon to that equation

23 1 2
                                    

Tigre- Add a dragon to that equation

Queen Bee Diantha helpfully dropped us off at the exit on the other side of the passage before leaving, calling cheery goodbyes and death threats over her shoulder as she went. I took hold of all the hopes I’d harboured that maybe we could get away without going on quests for crowns and said an equally cheery goodbye to those too.

“I don’t think I like bees,” said Nightshade.

“What part of the past few hours left room for doubt?”

“I quite like flowers,” she replied after some thought.

“I think you have a short memory.”

“Most flowers are very nice in my experience, that place was…”

“Was...?”

“An anomaly?”

“I should hope so, we have enough people trying to murder us without the plant life having a go as well.”

I heard raised voices and we both turned to look at Senka and Serefk’na with some surprise; theirs was not a direction I usually expected to hear raised voices from.

“-more deadly surprises you maybe want to tell us about?” snapped Senka.

“I’m sorry! I told you! I didn’t know she was going to be there, the last time I passed through Diantha was not living in the mountain pass. I’m sorry!”

“What about the shadow dwellers?”

“Sorry, but that wouldn’t have helped. Shade dwellers are terrifying creatures and if you’d known about them you would have felt more nervous or scared about having to face them; it makes their magic more effective against you. I’m sorry but I didn’t know a better way to go about it.”

“You knew about them. You’ve undergone all these tests way more than once.”

“I’m sorry, there wasn’t much I could do about that, though I haven’t gone through them all as many times as you think and when you’ve passed through once the shade dwellers don’t test you again… unless there’s someone new with you. Sorry.”

“And the flower fields?”

“I… I don’t like talking about those. I’m sorry. It’s not like they posed an immediate threat- we told you all the details before you went near them-”

“What? That’s not an excuse Serefk’na, we need to know about stuff like this in advance, not right before we come upon it.”

“I-”

“I’m sorry, we should have told you about the flower fields and the next test earlier” said Asher, stepping in quickly.

“I’m sorry,” repeated Serefk’na quietly, scooping up Gensan who had hopped close to her and leaned against her legs.

“Well okay then,” said Senka, “tell us about the next test.”

“Um” said Asher, “well, y’know that dragon that Diantha was talking about?”

I stared at him, “what about that dragon that Diantha was talking about?”

“We have to get it to let us pass,”

“Oh? I see. That’s all then is it?”

“Well,” said Asher, “more or less.”

*** 

The Sky Demons Part One: JourneyWhere stories live. Discover now