Tafel mumbled to herself as she read. Her finger was pointed at the page in her hand, tracing the words as she read them. A furrow appeared in her brow, and she couldn’t help but scowl. The first spell had been really simple to comprehend, but this second one used terms she wasn’t quite familiar with. What was an index of refraction supposed to be exactly? She had even opened a portal to ask Minerva, the translator of the piece, but the phoenix had no clue either; she had simply translated it phonetically. A knock on the door caused Tafel to flinch, and she raised her head. “Come in.”

The door opened a bit, just wide enough for Vur to poke his head inside. After checking the room, he pushed the door all the way open, revealing the Recordkeeper behind him. “We need your help,” Vur said.

Tafel raised an eyebrow. “Do you need me to open a portal somewhere?”

Vur bobbed his head up and down. “Are you busy?”

“No,” Tafel said and shook her head. “Where do you want to go?”

Vur turned his head towards the Recordkeeper. “Where is he?”

“On the eastern continent,” the Recordkeeper said. “He’s not far from where you left him. I guess he was terrified of the consequences of you not being able to find him.”

“Who are you talking about?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The chef,” Vur said. “I’m hungry, and you haven’t tried his cooking yet. It’s really good.”

“Oh,” Tafel said. “Figures. Do you want me to open the portal where we recruited the researcher?”

“Yes,” the Recordkeeper said. “The place where you kidnapped the researcher works just fine. As long as Vur pokes his head out and shouts, he’ll come running.”

“It wasn’t a kidnapping,” Tafel said and snorted. “We just relocated him for a job.”

“A job he didn’t agree to,” the Recordkeeper said.

“Alright, enough of your words,” Tafel said as her horns glowed silver.

A portal appeared beside Vur, and he stuck his head through. “Chef! Are you there?” A moment later, Vur pulled his head out of the portal. “He’s coming.”

“Was there anything else you needed?” Tafel asked.

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Vur shook his head.

Tafel picked up the paper on her desk and read it again, the light from her horns illuminated the sheet. After mumbling to herself for a bit, she raised her head and glanced at the Recordkeeper. “You’re supposed to know a lot of things, right?”

The Recordkeeper raised an eyebrow. “Do you need help?”

“Sort of,” Tafel said and gestured for the winged lady to come over. The Recordkeeper went over, and Vur followed as well. He peeked over Tafel’s shoulder to take a look at the page, but after glancing at it, he yawned and turned his head away. Tafel cleared her throat and pointed at a phrase, looking at the Recordkeeper. “Do you know what this means?”

Vur wandered away and stuck his head through the open portal. “Did you bring your cookware? Don’t forget those special ingredients you use.” Vur pulled his head back and looked at the two women. “The chef forgot his stuff; it’ll take a bit longer,” Vur said, but Tafel and the Recordkeeper didn’t respond. Vur shrugged and took a seat on the couch in the corner of the room. After a bit, he turned his body to the side, extending his legs over one armrest while resting his head on the other. He closed his eyes, and seconds later, soft snores echoed out of his mouth.

***

Ramon exhaled and rolled over onto his back. His front legs rubbed his belly, and he let out a burp before licking his lips with his tongue. He glanced at the field of heads, focusing on their mouths. Some of the bear meat Tafel had brought over was consumed by them. Ramon’s eyes shifted to look at his sister, the culprit behind the loss of his food. His eyes narrowed, and his tail swept over to Gloria’s bowl of grapes. He curled his tail around the bowl and lifted it over his stomach, where he grabbed a pawful of grapes and shoved them into his mouth. Although he didn’t like how they tasted, he still chewed and swallowed them down because of spite. Kozabokget said it loud and clear; being kind to one’s enemies was being cruel to one’s self. To Ramon, it made a lot of sense, but Gloria didn’t listen. In fact, she did the opposite of listen and fed his enemies his food too!

“Excuse me,” a small voice said. Ramon’s neck craned towards the sound, the top of his head leaving a long line in the dirt. The voice belonged to the human that Gloria had cursed. Next to him, there was a man with a sledgehammer. “I’m back.”

“Already?” Ramon asked. He gestured towards the sledgehammer-wielding man with his snout. “Who’s this?”

“This is my leader,” Keith said. “He’s the second-in-command. Other than Mary, we all listen to him before anyone else.”

Ramon rolled back over onto his belly. He made eye contact with Kozabokget, and the goat nodded at him. Without any warning, Ramon pounced forward and grabbed the man with the sledgehammer, squeezing him tight. Kozabokget had told him if he squeezed a human’s arms against the sides of their body, it’d be very difficult for them to break free.

“W-what are you doing!?” Joseph shouted.

“You’re the leader,” Ramon said and raised an eyebrow. “If I catch you, wouldn’t it make catching everyone else really easy?”

Joseph’s mind went blank. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen! The cursed dragon, the eviler dragon of the two, was feeding the captive scouts, so logically, the holy dragon, the kinder of the two, should have been easy to negotiate with. Why was he captured before he could even say a single word?

“Err….” Keith scratched his head. “Before anything else happens, can we get rid of the curse on me first?”