The Dragonwalk Highway: The Fellowship of Thirteen

2 - A Last Request

King Dragonwalk lay in his bed, pale and lifeless as a scarecrow. Zelda sat by his bedside while Draco stood in the corner looking bored and impatient.

He glanced down at his wrist. "This would be an excellent location for something that told time. Like a portable sundial or something. We'd make a bundle."

Draco was known across the realm as the most innovative mind in the kingdom. It was fairly well understood that when he finally took over the throne there would be sweeping changes that would obliterate most of his father's policies, many of which had been in place since Draco's great grandfather.

Zelda ignored her brother's mental meandering. She had been listening to it since the womb so it was nothing more than hailstones bouncing off cobblestone to her. After 20 years, she knew that unless someone placed her brother's idea on their back, it would never take its first breath. She continued to stroke her father's forehead as he focused on each breath—in and out, in and out. Finally there was a light brushing sound against the door and the King grinned.

"That's him." He gathered his strength and called out, "Enter!" but the effort forced him to lapse into a coughing fit.

The door opened and in walked Mr. Peanut, the ambassador for the Avox Nation. The Avox were a race of six-foot tall eagles covered in beautiful feathers of brown, white, and gray (depending on the family from which they were born). They were long-standing allies of the Dragonwalk family and the last remaining clan of the Outer Kingdom that still visited the castle after the Dragonwalk Highway was overtaken by the biclops, Grog the Destroyer. Of course, they didn't have much excuse since they could fly and didn't much need the highway to get there.

"Greetings, your majesty," Mr. Peanut said in a high-pitched squawk. "My sovereign lord and leader of the Avox, Crackerjack, sends his best wishes for a speedy recovery and wishes for me to inform you that the Avox Nation stands at your side. He also ordered me to deliver this upon your request."

He removed a leather pouch from around his neck with his beak and placed it into the King's hand. Zelda helped him open it. He slowly reached inside and his fingers returned caked in a thick, blood red paste. He asked Zelda to help him smear the paste over his bare chest, which she reluctantly did. Then...they waited. After nearly a minute, the King's face tensed and the veins in his neck popped. His face transformed from the pale white of a newborn mare to a deep shade of violet.

"Father?!" Zelda shouted. He did not—or could not—answer. She glanced over at the Avox for a sign of whether or not this was normal, but he was busy wiping down the King's bedside table with a kerchief.

"Filthy, filthy, filthy," Mr. Peanut said.

The Avox were well known for their impeccable manners and eye for detail. They spent most of their time grooming their feathers or cleaning their surrounding area. Their obsession with cleanliness and order were unbearable to anyone not of their clan, but they were fiercely loyal to the royal family so King Dragonwalk often overlooked their irritating behavior. After the Dragonwalk Highway fell into disrepair following the razing by Grog the Destroyer, most of the clans in the Outer Kingdom found it to be a convenient excuse to no longer pay tribute to the King. The Avox, however, not only continued to pay their tribute but volunteered to collect the tributes from the other clans of the Outer Kingdom and deliver it to the castle every fourth full moon of every year. Needless to say, they were despised by all the other tribes of the Outer Kingdom.

Finally the King's face returned to its normal coloring and his body relaxed and settled back onto the bed. "Ah. Much better. Now we can get to the business at hand." He nodded to Gulliver who walked to the King's bookshelf, the one Zelda had always been curious about, especially since her father did not read. Gulliver searched the titles until he found one entitled "The History of the Dragonwalk Family." He pushed the book forward and a lock released behind the bookcase with a metallic clang. Gulliver pushed on the bookcase and, surprisingly, it retreated into the wall and slid out of sight. There was a wooden wall hidden behind adorned with a beautiful tapestry depicting the entire realm of the Dragonwalk Kingdom.