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17: A Whole New Hotter World

"When visiting a neighboring kingdom, a proper princess must always be impeccably attired, with never a hair out of place. If you are having a bad hair day, stuff it under one of those pointy cone hats."

—Mrs. Butterwing's Guide to Proper Princesses
17

A Whole New Hotter World

A river of bubbling lava bisected the ground. On the right half was a meadow of sorts. Bright flowers bloomed up from the solid obsidian ground. Not your ordinary tulips though. These blossoms reminded me of the fireworks the kingdom shot off on festival days. They glowed and crackled, making starbursts of colorful flames—red, blue, purple, yellow, orange, white...every color but green.
What exactly did you call a large group of chimeras? A flock? A parliament? A pride? Whatever you called it, that's what was on the other side of the lava flow—lots and lots of chimeras. With their overgrown wings tucked around them, they reminded me of nesting birds, except their nests looked like giant hearths. Great rings of glowing red embers made the perfect bed for a chimera apparently.
Most of them were sleeping, and I was all about letting sleeping chimeras lie. If Kato's penchant for eating everything that wasn't nailed down was a common chimera trait, then I didn't want to be close at hand when they awoke for supper.
Luckily, our ride banked off to the right, coasting to a stop amid the colorful blooms. I slid down his back, anxious to be on solid ground again.
"Dot, wait!" Kato shouted right as my feet squished one of the blooms.
When I craned my neck to look up at him, he was staring at the flowers, aghast. My silver slippers reflected the light from the fire blossoms. "Sorry," I said. "Are they important?"
Kato flapped down to me awkwardly. He was still getting used to the whole flying bit. "You shouldn't be able to stand. Fire flowers are thousands of degrees. No human can survive them."
"Nice of you tell me now as opposed to before I hopped off into a floral minefield." But I couldn't be too mad, since I was no worse for wear. "My toes feel a little warm, but that's it." I picked up my feet, one at a time, and looked down at my ruby-soled heels. They were top quality, but I'm pretty sure they weren't designed with heat resistance in mind. They had been a gift from Verte. Maybe she'd added a little something extra to the original design.
I looked them over with a whole new appreciation. "Enchanted shoes. Awesome."
Rexi had stopped screaming herself hoarse the minute Kato yelled, "Wait!" Now she stepped out of Bob's paws and walked lightly on tippy toes around the fiery meadow. Then she bopped Kato on the nose the moment he got within range.
Kato flinched from the blow. "Ow! You can't do that to me in my own kingdom."
"Yes, I can. Because you keep trying to kill me. First, you dangle me like a worm from a giant bird's beak, and now you drop me down someplace that's supposed to melt my feet off." Rexi stopped, straightened the wrinkles in her tunic, and jerked her thumb in my direction, not really looking at me. "Dorky's glammed lucky her shoe fetish finally paid off, but indentured servitude doesn't exactly pay for magical footwear." She made a fist as if to bop him again, but he flapped himself out of range.
Rexi was really starting—okay, not starting, more like continuing—to pix me off. The big piece of hair draped over my shoulder sparked and flared, mirroring my irritation. Before that, the bright glow had died down a bit, almost making the pieces I could see look like they came from a natural redhead—with green tips.
Guess it brought a whole meaning to the idea of a temper flare.
The flash drew Rexi's attention, and she walked, carefully, over to me. She peered closer around my head, apparently noticing it for the first time. "What happened to your hair? New fashion trend or something else equally stupid? Because I've got to tell you, it doesn't really suit you."
"For Grimm's sake, will you shut your mouth for one fairy-loving minute," I snapped, losing the last sliver of patience I had.
She jerked back as if I'd slapped her. I'd have to worry about her hurt feelings later, because right now, we had other problems. We were about to have guests.
Curious chimeras flew over the lava flow to see what all the fuss was. They conferred and whispered with one another, pointing at us with their tails. A shiver racked my body, traveling up my spine. Some of their tails were serpentlike—with actual serpent heads.
I couldn't make out what anyone was saying though, and not just because they were whispering. Have you ever heard a one-ton beast whisper? It's not very quiet. No, it was all the voices talking at once that created a buzz so that no one voice could be easily picked out from the group.
Kato launched himself in the air and landed on the nearest outcropping of rock. He let out what was probably meant to be a mighty roar, but it came out more like a squeak. The room full of chimeras guffawed and heckled him.
"Whose hatchling is that?"
"From the belly, pup. Ha ha, try again. From the belly."
Kato did not take to being mocked very well. He sent them all frostbite-worthy looks, but the other beasts paid him no mind. To them, he was a pipsqueak who had left the hatchery too soon. Kato's voice could not rise above the din.
Chimeras surrounded us. Rexi jostled into me, and I took a step back, my heel landing on something squishy. Angry hissing rose from the floor and traveled up the length of my body until the forked tongue from a serpent tail licked along my arm. I followed the line of the tail up to its chimera owner. His body was patched with scars interrupting his fur, his wings looked like they were molting, and one of his horns was broken off. The other was sharper than any sword I've seen. Both the chimera and his snake tail raised part of their lip in a snarl, exposing fangs.
"Enough!"
I looked up at Kato, grateful that he had finally found his voice. But it wasn't him speaking.
Bob parted the circle and walked toward Rexi and me, fire flowers falling victim to each step. "How dare you mock our lord?"
Bob was the largest of the bunch, but not by much. He also seemed to be well respected because the other chimeras backed off. Most of them, anyway. The chimera that owned the stepped-on tail got in Bob's face.
"Our lord is not here. He abandoned us to go collect some child bride. I only see a walking matchstick girl and her mouthy human. I, for one, am tired of outsiders coming into our home. First the green witch, and now this piece of kindling." Using his snake-headed tail, he gestured over to me in disgust.
I skipped over the insults and focused on the really important part. Verte had been here. Why and when? I wanted to go over and beat it out of him, but even I wasn't that stupid.
Kato flew haltingly next to me, staring fearlessly up at the bully, even though the tips of Kato's horns only came up to the bully's armpits. "Grifflespontus, I suggest that you apologize to your future queen. And then you may apologize to me."
I thought I'd been pretty clear with him and itched to argue about the whole "future queen" part of that, but now didn't seem like the right time.
Griff was a little slow on the uptake. He didn't notice the other chimeras gasp and hurriedly bow on their forepaws. He lowered himself muzzle to muzzle with Kato. "And why should I apologize to a runt like you?"
Kato's ice-blue eyes honed in on Griff. "Because I am your liege, and if you don't, I will continue to freeze you where you stand."
I looked down at the bully's paws. They were covered in frost crystals.
Rexi scooted away from me to get a closer look. "Whoa. Is fur ball doing that? When did he get that little nifty trick?" She shook her head in disgust. "Typical, everyone else gets cool magic and all I get is tied up with old lady tights."
Whatever he was doing, it didn't look easy. I don't think anyone else noticed because they were all looking at the ice growing up Griff's legs, but Kato's shoulders held a fine tremor. He swayed slightly, unsteady on his feet.
I walked over and laid a hand on his back, which now rested just above my waist. "Enough."
Kato continued to do his icy stare but whispered, just barely audible, "Stay out of it. This isn't your concern."
I leaned into his ear. "I'm saving your tail before you fall over on it from exhaustion. Remember, finesse over force." Loud enough for all to hear, I said in my best princess voice, "Please spare this poor fool. He obviously could not recognize you in your new form."
Rexi may have rolled her eyes at the change in my tone, but the bully was not as dumb as he looked. He grabbed on to the lifeline I offered him. "Forgive me," he said through chattering fangs. "I could never have expected to see the future Beast King as a beast himself."
Griff let out one more frosted breath before Kato released him, apparently accepting his quasi-apology. I let out the breath I was holding too, relieved that this little confrontation was over and that everyone was still standing—and uneaten.
Bob, however, wasn't going to let Griff get off that easy. "You forgot the priestess." He pushed his way through to stand next to me.
Rexi didn't take too well with being pushed aside. "Look, Bob, I don't know what baby fur ball over here"—she stuck her thumb out at Kato—"has been telling you. But she's no priestess. Just a delusional princess with major hair issues."
And here I thought I had trouble knowing when to keep my thoughts to myself. Bob stared down at Rexi. I couldn't see the look on his face, but it must have been scary because it made her shrink a few inches and hastily mutter something that might have been a sorry.
Bob turned back to face the other chimera. "Your turn now. Apologize."
"Apologize to a human?" said Griff haughtily. Apparently arrogance was a natural chimera trait.
"Use your eyes. No mere human stands before you. See the emerald sparks in her living flame? That is not mere magic. That is the sign of the Fire Priestess come to deliver us."
Oh spell. Now Bob had done it. I had no idea what he was going on about (Kato had conveniently left that out of our talk), but I didn't get the chance to correct him. If Griff had offered an apology, which was doubtful, I wouldn't have been able to hear, because every chimera started shouting at once. A few muzzles got very up close and personal, trying to examine Bob's claims for themselves.
"Silence!" Kato bellowed and the temperature in the room dropped significantly, causing the crowd to still. "Bobbledandrapous, not another word. Please see our guests to my chambers, where they can rest." He turned and focused his icy glare on me. "I will speak to the council and join you shortly. Don't do anything until then."
Kato was in full Lord of the Universe mode. So much for being equals. I didn't want to be led to some room. While it was nice to have found a safe place—if you could call a mountain filled with lava and large beasts safe—the situation had changed. With Verte captured or worse, nobody was coming to the rescue. We all needed to come up with a new plan to find my parents and put back the rules of fairy tale. What did Kato have to deal with that could be more important than that?
I stepped to him. "Can't I—?"
"No." Kato turned away and stalked off toward an opening near the hearths. The remaining chimeras followed him or went back to their nests until it was just Rexi, me, Bob, and Griff. Griff looked over me like I imagined trolls looked over billy goats.
Sneering, he turned and flew away. As he raced into the sky, his tail hissed menacingly. The stress must be getting to me, because I could have sworn it sounded like, "Sssleep with both eyesss open."