Book 3: Chapter 112 (1/2)

Vur scratched his head and looked around. “Where did everyone go?”

“Don’t they normally leave a message behind when they disappear like this?” Tafel asked. She was standing beside Vur, frowning at the empty courtyard. The only evidence that any dragon had been there were the staves lying around on the ground. And the massive fissure that Sera had left behind while taking out her anger on Zyocuh.

“I can ask,” Mary said. Her head moved from side to side, looking for something. A boulder caught her eye, and she walked up to it before tapping her foot into its shadow. “Come out.”

A man dressed in black crawled out from underneath the boulder and knelt in front of Mary, one arm pressed across his chest while keeping his head lowered. “My liege.”

“Where’d the dragons go?” Mary asked. “And what happened to … Zyocuh?”

“The dragons grouped up and flew north to the ritual site of the Treva Empire,” the Shadows member said. “And Sir Zyocuh was taken away by one of the sky-blue dragons that split off from the group; I’m not sure to where.”

“Are these magic staves?” Tafel asked and crouched down. She picked up one of the charred pieces of wood and furrowed her brow at it. “I feel like this would help my fire magic.”

“Those are the staves that the dragons were creating,” the Shadows member said. “We dare not touch them in fear of drawing their ire.”

“Smart,” Tafel said and nodded. “I’m keeping this one.” She tucked the black staff away into a portal and nodded. “I doubt they’ll notice anyway if they left them behind like this.”

Vur tilted his head. “But when I offer to give you equipment from Grimmy’s hoard, you don’t want them?”

“This is different,” Tafel said. “I found it, and I’m taking a risk by keeping it.”

Vur blinked. “What risk?”

“Well, they might get mad,” Tafel said. “Acquiring great equipment has to come with equally challenging ordeals. Like this leviathan armor”—she plucked at the scaled armor pressed tight against her body—“was obtained after slaying a leviathan. And this staff is obtained from stealing from a dragon. See?”

Vur rubbed his chin. “Oh. Then why don’t you just steal from Grimmy?”

Tafel cleared her throat and avoided her husband’s gaze. “You see,” she said and looked up at the brightening sky. “There’s risks, and there’s rewards. Sometimes, the rewards aren’t worth the risk. There’s nothing in the world that you can offer me that’ll make me get on Grimmy’s bad side.” She nodded and tilted her chin down to meet Vur’s eyes. “And with that being said, why don’t you take a staff too?”

Vur shook his head. “I don’t like carrying things.”

“Didn’t you wish for extra arms to carry more things?” Stella asked, popping her head out of Vur’s chest. “Where are they anyway? Why do you keep them retracted all the time?”

“Tafel doesn’t like them,” Vur said and shrugged. “How is Mervin’s beansprout doing?”

“Oh, I planted him in the dirt,” Stella said. “He’ll be fine. There’s nothing inside of your soul that’d want to eat him anyway.”

“Didn’t you want him to leave Vur’s soul?” Sheryl asked from the runes on Vur’s shoulder.

“I did for a while,” Stella said and hummed. “But it turns out he’s a really useful guard. You saw how he delayed that army. It’d be a waste to let him go free when I can work him to the bone instead.”