The damages done by the Park stampede were large but quickly repaired personally by the King. Bright yellow light radiated from the castle, bathing the streets and buildings of the capital. As the light receded everyone could see repairs underway. Almost like a reversal of time, stone and metal that had been torn floated back into place before cracks disappeared as if the massive animals had never escaped to cause chaos and panic. It was awe inspiring.
Of course, as they were transfixed at the sight they didn’t notice heavily armored knights show up.
“Sir-er, Ma’am. King StoneTooth summons you to the castle.” The knight addressed El before looking at the rest. “As well as any who might have been involved in this incident.” The Ermine off to the side, with Kohn resting on its belly, quirked its head in curiosity. “That thing is not allowed inside the castle.”
Feeling caught with their hands in the cookie jar, the Earthlings followed El and the Armorer to the castle. This time though, they could feel the disappointment and dislike off the castle guards. During their walk, they could hear sonic booms from some of the towers. Seeing their curiosity and distress the guard spoke up.
“That is members of the Falling Fist. They’re using the Fall spell to quickly advance to a monsters position. They’ve been ordered to disable monsters that are still in the capital.” He pointed to a tower ahead of them. A soldier with a long spear was standing on the top of a tower. When his eye caught something a little away from the tower he let his body fall with the spear clasped tightly down his side and against his leg. Just when they thought he was committing suicide they saw a distortion before he shot off towards the place he was pointed, leaving a sonic boom in his wake.
“Wow.” Four subdued, in-sync voices unintentionally leaked out.
They were quickly guided/escorted through the maze of corridors and stairways to the King’s audience hall. It was the great hall from their prior visit and the King did not look happy to have them back so soon. El opened her mouth to speak, but King StoneTooth spoke first.
“You’ve changed again.”
“Yes I have. What do you think?”
“A marked improvement over your last female form. Why you had a thing for Murgok I’ll never understand.”
“Don’t speak ill of a person’s love interest!” She chided him.
“Then how about the failure of your responsibility?” His tone zipped her mouth shut. “Explain to me what happened.”
“Yes sir. I transformed and the Park beasts escaped.”
A few awkward seconds passed as the King waited for her to continue, but when she said nothing else he unintentionally gasped out. “That’s it?”
“Close enough.”
“What about the hundreds of beasts that rampaged through the capital? What about the damages to the buildings, or the fear and panic of my citizens?”
King StoneTooth was back to his good old usual, angry yelling self. Kohn slowly scooted behind Sasha, trying not to draw the King’s attention. However his movement was his undoing.
“YOU! Earthling. I remember you from earlier. You were here when I dealt out the punishment.”
“Ah! Aa-yes King StoneTooth.”
“Do you have something to add that would shed some light to the dark unknowns of this situation?”
“I didn’t even know what was going on your Majesty. I was in a monster’s mouth.”
“A monster’s mouth?”
El reached out. It looked like she was holding thin air for a moment before the Ermine’s camouflage disappeared. It looked incredibly frightened as it tried and failed to pull itself out of El’s hands. The King’s guards in the Great hall all turned to it and raised their shields. Resting their swords on top of their shields they pointed them straight at its eyes.
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“He was in this one’s mouth my King.”
“A Golden Tail? When did you bring one of these to the capital?”
“Just recently. After changing back into a male it liked me and I brought it along. Otherwise it would have been quite annoying.”
El let it go, but only because it no longer tried to camouflage itself and the King’s guards were wise to its presence now. If it tried to do anything they didn’t like they’d skewer it immediately. She definitely didn’t let go of it because she was still exhausted from the gender transformation and couldn’t hold it any longer.
The King, realizing he was getting off topic shook himself. “Never mind where you got it from.”
“You only asked when your highness.”
“Yes. Yes. Why was there a best stampede through my capital?”
“My King, should I explain?” Sensing that El wasn’t going to explain in any more depth than before, the Armorer decided that he should take over.
“Were you responsible?”
“Partly yes.”
Sigh. “Then please explain.”
From behind Sasha, not hiding his larger figure at all, Kohn listened intently to all that he had missed while partially swallowed.
“The Golden Tail caused a small noise earlier which riled up the other beasts in the Park.”
“KU! KU-KU-CHU!”
“SILENCE!”
The Ermine, or Golden Tail, had cried out when the blame started to be placed on it. But the King was having none of it and his fearsome gaze that had knocked back Kohn and the others earlier in the day was directed at it. It hide behind a column, shivering. Several of the King’s guards followed it to the other side. The Armorer continued.
“With the other beasts riled up we went off to the side under Fermon’s invitation and had some light snacks. At that point Fermon became interested in one of the Earthlings and decided to shift into El. It was then when the Ermine picked the Earthling up in its mouth and El argued with it. It ran away and El gave chase. I thought that she would be able to handle it on her own since she’s always been more powerful in a female form, but I didn’t realize how weak she had become. Apparently it takes a considerable amount of stamina and mana.”
Looking down at her feet she rubbed her toes along the ground. “I don’t like to expose my weaknesses.”
“Then you shouldn’t shift sexes when you have been given such a responsibility!” The King Retorted.
“Che.”
“Maybe due to her irritation at the Golden Tail taking her ‘muse’ or because of her weakened state, she couldn’t keep it tamed and it went wild. When she tried to kill it, I thought El wouldn’t have needed my help so I let my guard down. Bu it proved more difficult to deal with than expected and a hole ended up being made in the Park’s wall. At that point, the beasts were scared and either flew or stampeded out of the Park. Which at that point, created the situation where you had to intervene.”
“Very well. Since the Earthlings seem to not be the ones at fault, and due to their Lord not yet being a member of the Kingdom, I am willing to ignore their involvement in this event. Old man, you on the other hand bear some responsibility.”
The Armorer bowed his head in self-reflection as the King thought over an appropriate punishment.
“You will record the historical references of this event within the Agossomore’s archive.”
To Kohn the punishment didn’t seem too severe, but the look on the Armorer’s face was one of horror.
“El, formerly known as Fermon. Your actions have caused you to fail in your duties and responsibilities as the Administrator of Beasts.” The King’s mouth moved for a while, but the Brace of Words simply translated whatever he said as ‘administrator’. “As such, you will not be allowed to leave the capital until all the beasts have been recaptured in the Park. Any negative impacts upon the world’s ecosystem must also be corrected. In addition, after the beasts have all been caught you must make reparations to each citizen that was negatively affected by your actions.”
El remained cool and calm despite the heavy workload thrown onto her shoulders. “Understood your highness.”
Because she was so undisturbed about it, the King gave her a quizzical look. Noticing that her eyes would occasionally look at the Earthling’s direction he gained a sudden insight.
“Just so you know, the Earthlings will most likely not remain at the capital. And they will most likely not return for an extended period of time.”
King StoneTooth hit the nail on the head. The look of panic and sadness on El’s face told him that he had finally hit the right amount of punishment.
Kohn was slightly weirded out when he glanced over at El and saw big puppy dog eyes with tears. Luckily Kohn had turned away when she kissed her fingers before turning them to him. In the Kingdom that was a sign of affection passed between couples who were going to be separated for a while.
“My daughter, Beyyele.” King StoneTooth carried on. “You have been oddly silent throughout all this.”
She didn’t bite at his provocation.
“I find it odd that you couldn’t stop the stampede before it broke out of the Park. And I also find it odd that there were no traces of your abilities in the capital’s streets.”
Beyyele shrunk into herself a little, holding her left arm with her right.
“Very well. Since you won’t admit your own failure in this event. Beyyele, you will be confined to your room and furthermore you will not be allowed near the Park for a full month.”
“Father!” Beyyele cried upset.
“Now how to punish the Golden Tail…”
“Your Highness, if I may?”
“Speak, El.”
“It seems to want to follow the Earthling.”
Kohn couldn’t see, but he could assume that the other’s faces looked the same as his. Angrily looking at El who was trying to drag them into receiving punishment as well.
“Very well, then the Earthlings are responsible for the beast as well. They shall serve the kingdom’s citizens for one day.”
The four of them all spoke out in surprise. “Community Service?”