~~~

  Luckily for Veronica, Wyrmwood didn’t care too much that one of his horns was now broken. He was currently much more focused on escaping… which was mostly true.

  In actuality, a draconic anger was reflexively festering, causing his magic to roil inside him. This in turn, made his magic press against the blockage between him and Veronica and before they noticed, Veronica was now forced to drag a snake sized Wyrmwood around as her tail. Not only that, but while his growth had slowed, it hadn’t stopped. They were now on a timer to sneak out!

  Looking around, Gloriosa asked, Confusion. So what’s the plan?

  “Well,” Veronica started, “the plan was to get Bixxy to help us escape. But I think we might have left her in-“

  “HERE I AM!” A cheerful voice shouted as a gnome jumped out of a nearby doorway.

  Both Veronica and Gloriosa fell out of the air in surprise as their wings momentarily stopped. The sound of Wyrmwood hissing threateningly echoing before they realized who had just appeared.

  Hesitance. Bixxy? Gloriosa asked, not able to recognize her former newt-kin friend as a gnome besides her voice.

  “Yeah! It’s me!” The gnome nodded eagerly, the top half of her pointy hat flopping around with the motion. “You’re the stick-y dragon, right? Glo- erm, Rosa?”

  Happiness! Acceptance. You can just call me Rosa. She assured Bixxy.

  “Anyway!” Veronica said, getting their attention. “This is our only chance and we don’t have much time. Bixxy, do you know a way out of here?”

  “Yeah! But, uh, you have to promise not to tell anyone. I was supposed to be blindfolded every time they brought me down here.” Bixxy said, clearly worried she’d somehow be told on.

  Both Gloriosa and Veronica looked at one another in confusion. Neither comprehending the concept of being in trouble for telling someone something.

  “We promise?” Veronica said, unsure.

  “Great!” Bixxy instantly cheered up again. “It’s this way!” She said, leading them off towards the way out as the ground rumbled ominously beneath the ignorant trio.

  ~~~

  To say that Princess Fluffy was currently stressed would be a very kind understatement.

  “You! Hedgehog with the beard! Go recount your villagers and tell the number to the nearest runner! You! Blue newt guard! Ask the mages how their barrier spell preparations are going! And you! Ms. Toucan! Tell Sir Maximus that the Princess needs him to ignore the fey for now and get more guards around the fort’s supplies!”

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  At times like these, she was almost jealous of the other kingdoms’ princesses and how they’d never have to do much more than look pretty and smile for the crowds. But beastkin were a very down-to-earth folk, and honestly, the complaining had to do more with how tired she felt. Fluffy lived for these moments when she got to fully take charge without her father watching from over her shoulder.

  She had set up her desk in the middle of the fort’s courtyard. Soldiers and villagers alike were running around, giving reports, and generally doing all they could to prepare for the impending disaster.

  Because of the mixed messages that the System gave and its general ‘survive’ wording, most of these people didn’t actually know what kind of disaster was about to occur. Fluffy had decided to leave it that way since finding out the nearby mountain range was about to erupt all at once would likely be viewed as cataclysmic for the common villager.

  Riots would be the minimum as certain villagers would decide that if they were going to die anyway, what they did now wouldn’t matter anyway. No, the common folk were just told to hunker down anywhere they could inside the fort and that the Princess and General had a plan.

  And they did! …Kind of.

  “Here’s the newest version of the contract, your highness.” The fey’s satyr liaison offered, dipping into what would just barely pass for a bow.

  She did find honest amusement that they thought having their own type of beastkin as a liaison would sway her in any way. That amusement died quickly as she skimmed over the paper he’d just handed to her.

  The battle had stopped almost immediately when the System had sent out the emergency quest. A rule of war that many civilizations had learned to incorporate over time, seeing as ignoring it would usually just end things with both armies eviscerated.

  As such, they’d called a truce for now and while that would be enough until the quest was over for most humanoid armies, the fey had an almost religious need to finalize everything with contracts… that they always made to favor their fey side… by a lot.

  “I’m not signing this.” The Princess growled as she crumpled the paper up and tossed it carelessly behind her. “Here.” She instead lifted a stack of papers thicker than a thesaurus and gave the satyr the paper that was at the bottom.

  “It’s a simple contract of mutual assistance and no hostilities until at least three days after the emergency quest is completed. It’s completely neutral and I’ve already signed it. Go tell whoever’s in charge of your army that either they sign it and I get it back by the end of the hour, or we’ll drag all of your troops out of our basement and they can make do against what’s coming with their own improvised trenches.”

  When the satyr had the audacity to glare at her, she put a paw on the sword at her hip and he instantly relented and scurried off to do her bidding.

  All too soon, a different fey, she believed it was a leprechaun, came running up to her desk.

  “Your majesty! Two of the younglings have been kidnapped by a trickster that was hiding in their midst!”

  Fluffy almost jumped out of her seat when she heard this!

  “Three hatchlings have escaped?! How! Explain yourselves! I thought we could at least keep them safe under your care for now!”

  The leprechaun looked confused when she called the ‘young fey’ hatchlings, but quickly answered; “a fight broke out and one of the children spontaneously combusted of all things! In the mad scramble to aid and protect the children nearby, the watchers let their guard down for just a moment and the devious mixling saw her chance! I heard she was flying out the exit door by the time the watchers had blinked!”

  “Mixling?” She asked, confused, before putting a hand up to stop the leprechaun from answering, “actually, I’ll hear that later, but we really don’t have time or soldiers to spare right now. Just…”

  A million different thoughts raced through her head. The princess found herself cleaning her paw when she focused back in.

  “We’ll send guards looking if there happens to be any we can spare, but the current emergency quest takes priority over everything else.”

  As she said this, a massive barrier of magic swirling a rainbow hue began to slowly manifest over the entire fort

  “If it’s any consolation, nothing will be able to get in or out of this fort till that barrier comes down. Also, we will be having talks about those ‘younglings’ of yours later. A conspiracy most foul was trying to take place here before this quest popped up and we need to lay out all our cards if we are to get to the bottom of it.”

  Bowing much more respectfully than the satyr had, the leprechaun turned and took their leave as well. Not having time to dither nor consider, Princess Fluffy got right back to work, idly noticing the rumblings were getting much stronger and more frequent.

  ~~~

  much worse. :)

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