Slimantha walked into a large room, her black shoes tapping upon the gray brick floor. Samuel and Rose walked behind her. Rays of sunlight filtered down from above, filtered down through the various holes in the gray brick ceiling. Plant life poked up from between the gray bricks of the floor, and vines clung to the gray bricks of the walls.

A gray brick throne sat at the back of the expansive room. The throne was not in good shape. Instead, only half of the gray brick throne remained intact. The missing half had been reduced to rubble. Why, though, had it been reduced to rubble? Slimantha’s brown eyes turned to the ruined throne. A disordered mess of bricks lay to the right of what remained of it. Her gaze shifted to those bricks. That certainly did not look like normal weathering.

She blinked and then glanced about the throne room. Dark marks, dark scorch marks, scarred the room. She glanced at a scorch mark just to her left. Something strikingly hot looked to have seared the surface of the gray brick floor, leaving a dark streak behind. She crouched down and touched the mark. The soft tan skin of her fingers lightly pressed down upon the blackened streak. The mark looked fresh but was already cool to the touch. She stood back up and glanced about again. There were many such marks in this room. Something happened here recently, something involving enough heat to not only discolor gray bricks but also smooth them.

Slimantha walked forward, walked toward the ruined throne at the back of the room. Her black shoes tapped upon the scarred floor as she walked. The tapping of her shoes fell silent when she stopped in front of the throne. Her brown eyes went to the seat of what remained of the throne. There, they found a single feather of black. She bent over and picked the feather up. She held it up to her face, her brown eyes focusing upon it. She smiled. The info had been right. The birds had been here. She dropped the black feather back to the ruined throne’s seat and then turned around. What happened here though, and why no swords? Weren’t there supposed to be swords or something? What happened to the swords?

Her brown eyes went to Samuel and Rose. “You two haven’t noticed any swords here, have you?” she said. Her brown eyes scanned the throne room again. She still found no swords though. However, there certainly were plenty of scorch marks. Something clearly happened here.

Samuel looked around, his blue eyes flitting over the throne room. Then they came to Rose, who smiled at him. His gaze then shifted to Slimantha. “This room seems rather lacking when it comes to swords,” he said. His blue eyes went to the ruined throne behind Slimantha. “Just what happened here?”

Slimantha blinked and then looked behind her, looked once again at the ruined throne. She picked the black feather back up from the throne and then turned back to Samuel. She held the feather up. “Clearly, the birds were here,” she gestured at the feather she held in her right hand, “but now they are not.” She gestured to the throne room.

Now Samuel blinked. His blue eyes then went to the feather Slimantha held. “Well, at least we found a feather, I guess.” He hunched over and then looked back up at Slimantha. “Any idea what these scorch marks are about?” He gestured at a scorch mark to his left.

Slimantha blinked again. “Scorch marks?” Then she blinked yet again. Her brown eyes went to the scorch mark Samuel had gestured at. “Oh, right. Those scorch marks.” She brought her right hand to her chin and closed her eyes. She still held the black feather in her right hand. A moment later she re-opened her eyes and giggled. “Maybe the birds were melting down swords but then had to relocate elsewhere.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Melting down,” Samuel’s face paled, “swords?” He swallowed. “Surely not.” He gestured at various scorch marks around him and then at the ruined throne behind Slimantha. “Clearly, we are dealing with the aftermath of some sort of battle here.”

“Well,” Slimantha’s brown eyes scanned the throne room, “I suppose it could have been a battle.” She turned back to the ruined throne and then set the black feather back onto its seat. She then turned back to Samuel. “What if the birds just want us to think that though?”

Samuel sighed and then glanced up. Slimantha and Rose glanced up too. The rays of sunlight filtering down from above had begun to dim. Night approached and would soon arrive.

“You two up for camping here?” Slimantha said. She looked at Samuel and Rose, a smile on her face.

“Works for me,” Rose said. The tall plant woman smiled at Slimantha, and then her pink eyes went to Samuel.

“Are you serious?” Samuel said, his blue eyes on Slimantha. “We lack supplies for that. What would we even sleep on?” He crossed his arms.

Slimantha blinked and then her brown eyes went to the gray brick floor. Then her gaze went back to Samuel. “What would we sleep on? Just what kind of hero are you? A hero should be able to sleep on a bed of rocks if need be.”

Samuel lowered his arms and blinked. “I guess I am not that type of hero,” he said. “I am kind of used to having an actual bed.”

“Well,” Slimantha crossed her arms, “I can summon some slimes for us to sleep on.” Her brown eyes were still on Samuel. “Does that work?”

“I am not sure I like the idea of sleeping on slimes,” Samuel said, his blue eyes still on Slimantha.

Slimantha huffed and puffed her cheeks out. She looked away from Samuel. “I would have you know,” her brown eyes returned to Samuel, “that slimes make for very comfortable beds.” She lowered her arms. “I guess I kind of see your point though.” She glanced at Rose before returning her gaze to Samuel. “How about I send some slimes to fetch us some supplies? Is that OK with you two?” She got a pair of nods from Samuel and Rose. “Great.” She smiled.

She reached out toward the gray brick floor with both her hands. One by one, three round blobs of viscous blue formed upon the floor in front of her. The three blobs swelled up. She had summoned three slimes. She smiled, her eyes on the three slime summons. “Go fetch us some camping supplies,” she said. “Now go.” She pointed to the side, and the three slimes bounded off. She then looked at Samuel and Rose and smiled.

Samuel yawned and glanced up. The light filtering down from above continued to dim. He looked at Slimantha. “I hope those slimes of yours don’t take too long,” he said. “I’d rather not be waiting around for them in the dark.”

Slimantha giggled bringing her right hand to her lips. “It shouldn’t be all that long of a wait,” she said. Her brown eyes went to the ceiling. “Besides, we should be getting some moonlight at night anyway.”

“You know?” Rose said, her beautiful pink eyes on Samuel. “You could stand closer to me if it makes you feel better.” She fluttered her eyes at Samuel.