They walked side to side, again.
"Taddus, the nude prince." Mocked Puzu.
"That's not funny." Said the prince worried about his reputation. "If word goes around, I will be forced to delete my Facescroll account. And maybe Chain-Mail too!"
"After what happened, I bet you will... whatever that means. Confirmed Puzu, not entirely sure of what he was talking about.
"Why, what happened?"
"You know, the fact that a random guy disarmed you with two gentle taps?"
"Oh, that." Said Taddus with surprise, as if he had forgotten already. "Yeah, you know, right?"
"Know what?"
"What can I say? Gloves were not good. Too tight, made my fingers sour. Got sweaty hands and a frail grip. But don't worry, I'll have a word with the armorer as soon as we save him from being of stone and then I'll throw him down to rot in the dungeon."
Doubts and regrets started to root in Puzu's heart. The task ahead began to look grim and impossible.
"Why are we doing this, Tad? We have no chance against this wizard." Said the self-employed dirty peasant.
The prince gave him a stern look. "Why! The witch's mad! She made fun of me in front of everyone. Look, her post already has more than fifty thumbs-up!" He showed him something on a tiny blue screen but Puzu could not read anyway.
"Where that come from?" Asked Puzu genuinely surprised.
"My smart-tome? I got a secret pocket." Explained the prince.
Not wanted to hear anything more of this 'secret pocket', Puzu moved on, again. "Nonetheless, we're screwed."
"As the future king of Warka, it's my duty to look after my subjects, right? To torture and execute, to get their praise and tributes, collect taxes and all of that. Now, you're a smart kind-of-a-man, right? Tell me, who's going to persecute who, if everyone is but a garden statue?"
"Well, that's fair. I guess." Admitted Puzu, Taddus logic seemed pretty squared.
"And what about your loved one?" Asked the prince, "don't you want to go back to her?"
A shiver ran up and down Puzu's back, twice. "Gods... no."
Suddenly a terrifying but familiar voice boomed from behind. "Where Fauno go?"
"Anna! What are you doing here, what about your pets?" Puzu greeted his ogre friend with a warm, big smile.
"Pet no good, pee all over the place. Anna ate them. He follows King Fauno now." Said the ogre.
"He? I thought you were a she!" Exclaimed Puzu with surprise.
"Are you assuming my gender?" Asked Anna with a deep, serious voice.
"Wait," interrupted the prince. "Who's king?"
"Insolent nude man. Anna eat you now!"
"No thank you, Anna." Intervenes Puzu, then he whispered to Taddus: "I'm Fauno, King of the Forest, play along or get eaten and have the beast use your bones as toothpicks."
Taddus nodded silently. "Why not, we could use her... or him, it doesn't really matter. Ok then. Follow us!"
The ogre slammed the ground with a foot so massive it left a crater. "Anna follows Fauno! No follow petty nude human pet! Anna loyal to Fairy King alone! Anna follows king everywhere!" She... , we mean he, Anna put a lot of emphasis on the "everywhere".
"Alright, thank you Anna." Said Puzu. "Come, follow me to the dark tower to face the evil wizard."
"Wiz..?" The ogre stumbled. "Anna forgot something very important back home. Today Anna's indisposed. Babies are getting out of school. He got to go. Bye, see you." With the speed of a gazelle, a very large, tall and bluish gazelle, Anna disappeared in the woods and never returned.
The adventure continued.
After a long and perilous journey, ten minutes later, Taddus and Puzu reached the Dark Tower. It was an ominous building, incredibly tall, made of black granite. It had spikes popping out from it and chains hanging from all balconies except the one at the fourth floor, that one had a laundry stand and potted flowers.
They stood terrified in front of the door.
"What's the plan?" Asked the prince.
"I thought you had a plan. You're the hero." Returned Puzu.
"I'm the prince! I take credit for what heroes do, I don't have to actually do the thing myself!"
"Jeez, I guess we knock then."
A/N: Hi there, if you liked this chapter and if I made you laugh, giggle or just chuckle a bit, please consider giving it a vote.Thank you!See you in the next Part.
