"Hey," I whispered to the water sprite, "why are you guys acting scared of purplie?"
"Because she's stronger than us," the water sprite whispered back. "Now please, don't talk to us. We can get in trouble."
The other three sprites agreed in quiet pleading voices.
"Do I hear TALKING from back there?" the purple sprite demanded without turning.
"Yeah, you do," I said. "Three days of silent marching is enough for me. I don't know what you said or did to these guys--since the four of them combined are stronger than you--to frighten them, but I sure as hell aren't."
Stopping, the purple sprite asked, "WHAT?"
With the other sprites cowering behind me, I said, "I think you're a chickenshit controlling sprite and I'm not scared of you."
Spinning around, the purple sprite shot towards me but was deflected by a copper colored tail.
[+1]"Lord Aricus!" the five sprites called out.
Transforming into his human form, Lord Aricus grabbed me by the front of my coat and lifted off my feet to glare at me in the face (which was rather easy since he was nearly 11' tall and I was 5'4"
wink .
"You think that following this band of miscreants is the way to honor Avondale's memory!?!" the Lord snarled. "Forgetting your past and letting your daughter and guardians fall into danger!?"
Struggling, I demanded, "What the hell are you talking about?!"
Shifting me beneath an arm, Lord Aricus picked up the sprites and ran for several miles. Throwing me into a gravel pit, he snapped, "Look about you."
"Then gimme a moment to scrape GRAVEL out of my eyes," I replied quietly, climbing to my feet. Brushing chalk dust off of myself, I gasped at the sight before me.
A redhead child with neko ears/paws/tail, a black cat, a white cat, a panda cub, a yeti, a fox mink, a dog, and a dragon hampster were imprisoned in a cage chained in the mouth of a large blue dragon. The same dragon that I have been seeing lately.
Lifting me off the ground again, Lord Aricus demanded, "Do you see now?! Do you understand?!"
"No...I don't. Who are they?"
In his fustraton, Lord Aricus threw me to the ground again.
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