Now you the princess was wondering why your father the King
and the other observers had put on face masks whilst no one
had the courtesy to offer you one.
A few seconds after the dogs transformation you really
wanted a face mask when the containment spell broke down under
the corrosive effects of the pink mist.A huge cloud of mutagenic pink
mist rolled out and enveloped you.The other folk with face masks
were alright but you obviously should have been having shape shifting
issues.
However both you and the mutated dog breathed the mist with
no further ill effects,though you did cough a little.The ex-dog seemed to
thrive on the stuff.
After several minutes the magical scrubbers cleared the lab of the
mutagen and when the "All Clear" budgie began to resume its trilling,the
others took off their face masks and heartily began to congratulate
themselves and you.The war beast was hauled off,to begin its service
against the orc hordes of the Horrible Nameless Abonimation that
threaten both your dads Kingdom and the dragon kings Kingdom.
Naturally you were beginning to have your questions,but your
father shushed you and led you to the castle's banquet hall.
You joined the other ladies and were just getting your nerves settled
when the dragon king and his entourage of dragon,human and elven folk
entered and began taking their places at the dining table.When both your
father and mother greeted the dragon king as "Lord Bufford" you
stifled that scream in your throat and decided to wait for the explanation
to the mysteries that were piling up.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lord Bufford sidled over to you and asked you to join him and your parents
at the Royal Table.You shuddered,since he looked so like the dragon king,but
accepted his invitation.
The minstrels,bards and actors began telling the
histories of the two Kingdoms.
'As we all know the human Kingdom has always craved the riches of the
Equine Land,and because the mountainous land of the dragon Kingdom sat
in between,the two Kingdoms had been forced by geography to be
friendly enemies at some times,and uneasy friends at other times.
Down to the south across the Endless Ocean lay the huge southern
lands of the Fair Ones,the elves,leprachans,fairies and everyone else.
It just so happened that Captain Brave was a elve,and the elves
a half century ago were making great strides in adapting their flying
galley technology to the first subaethersphere flying towers."
At this point Gandalf the Kingdoms Wizard waved his hands
and a magical image of a metallic needlelike elven flying tower
being hauled aloft by a sling of millions of fledgling Moon ducks and
geese began to flickering around the banquet hall walls,
accompanied by a much younger sounding Captain Brave calmly
counting series of numbers at the Moon birds achieved maximum
lifting capacity.Then came the triumphant shout of test pilot Brave
shouting in elvish "Tora Tora Tora " as a million straining honking
quacking Moon birds hauled up the flying tower into the
subaethersphere.
You the princess glanced over at Captain Brave,who had a longing
look as he gazed up at the Moon overhead the castle.Ah,the dream dashed by
the Horrible Nameless Abonimation 49 years earlier.You the princess
glance back at the flickering image of a metallic tower hoisted up by
a million yellow feathered Moon birds and realize the masses of moving yellow
birds underneath the flying tower look a awfull lot like the images
of the metal pole shooting fire you had in your dream.
What you and Captain Brave don't see is cunning Kingdom Spy
Master Cardinal Richelieu eyeing the two of you from time to time.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The minstrels,bard.Gandalf and actors move on to the
next part of the evenings entertainment ,the tale of dragon king,his
twin brother Bufford and the unicorn lady they both loved and split
over,Lady Esmeree,the shape shifting Unicorness.
" Now it came to pass that when Old King Fafnir died at the
hands of the human Siegfried,the dragon Kingdom passed to his
sons,the twins dragon king and Bufford.Over the mountains from the
Equine Land came Lady Esmeree,who both dragons fell in love with.
However just when it appeared Bufford and Esmeree would be mated,
dragon king came along and stole Esmeree and the Kingdom.Bufford
went into exile amongst the humans,and any hostility he felt towards humans
melted away when the 1rst Knights slipped into his former home and rescued
Esmeree from the clutches of dragon king and brought her to safety in good King
Olaf's reign."
You blush ,since King Olaf is your great grandad.You the princess blush even
more when Gandalf conjures up a old grainy news reel of Emeree,in her human
guise ,riding the street in front of the castle.She's your spitting image.As
your true parentage dawns on you,you look apon Lord Bufford and
realize either he or dragon king is your daddy and your mommy is a long
vanished unicorness.
You hadn't even touched the ale in front of you but now you
down it in one gulp and ask the servant for a refill.You feel all the
eyes in the banquet hall boring into you,and you wonder how long all the
human friends you have have known your a dragon-unicorn hybrid.
Apparently Captain Brave didn't catch on,because he's still
gazingly longingly at the Moon.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The entertainers get to the meat of the tale,the arrival of the
Horrible Nameless Abonimation in the Fair Lands.
" As we all know Harold the (HNA )totally conquered the Fair Ones,
except for the few elves who fled in their flying galley's to the Northern
Lands across the Endless Ocean.These beseeched both the human
Kingdom and the dragon Kingdom for aid,and the 1rst Knights charged
south and soon found themselves embroiled in a battle with orcs,who
Harold the HNA had created from elven people he'd transformed into huge
hulking ape things.
Now the Dragon Guard was a little tardy,because they insisted that
their old commander be allowed to lead them.Their old commander
was Bufford.dragon king was reluctant,but in the end the two quarreling
twins agreed to share command of the Dragon Guard."
At this point Gandalf conjured up a old news reel of dragon king
and Bufford clobbering orcish hordes of ravening ape men,and you
were somewhat shocked to see a unicorn in the mass of Dragon Guard that
surged forward to do battle with Harold the HNA's army of evil transformed
Fair Ones.
" Alas the Dragon Guard did not prevail,and was forced to
flee back to the north.They did learn one interesting fact however,
dragons and unicorns were immune to the pinkish fog that Harold the
HNA exhaled to transform his elves into orcs."
As the horrible truth dawns on you,it also finally dawns on
Captain Brave.Your father the King is using potions derived by the
enemy to the south to create his war beasts,such as that transformed
dog in the lab earlier in the day.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
At this point in the entertainment,some of the masked
mystery bards pull off their masks,to be revealed as the 1rst
knights.Whilst all the other minstrels,bards and actors file off the
stage and head for the ale vats,Gandalf and the 1rst Knights tell
the story of their escape from the corrupted Fair Land.
"The 1rst Knights had gotten lost in the pink mists and were in
danger of transforming into more of Harold's minions.Out of the mist
came a unicorness ,who touched each of the gasping mutating
1rst Knights and restored their humanity.Then she led the upright warriors
out of the mist and to one of the last uncorrupted areas of the Fair Lands,
the flying tower complex located at Cape Charming.
Now the elves had finally gotten to building a flying tower
with enough lift to give lucky elves a shot at the Moon.As the saying
goes " This is a Moon duck,this is a Moon duck on steroids"
Harold the
HNA's arrival had ended that,however the flying tower and its Moon birds
was all suited up and Astronaut Brave and the elven scientists had done the
geometry and realized the flying tower would be capable of a trip across
the Endless Ocean with 300 brave souls aboard.There just happened to
be 270 Fair Ones at Cape Charming,and things looked like a go till the
300 warriors of the 1rst Knights and a unicorn showed up.
There was a lot of haggling between the desperate 1rst Knights
on the outside of the flying tower and the Fair Ones in the inside.The
appearance of the pink mist off in the distance didn't help matters.
In the end Astronaut Brave permitted 100 of the humans to board
Moon Tower Galatea,but the unicorn and 200 of the humans would have
to to stay.
So it was that Lady Emeree and the 200 doomed 1rst Knights
charged into the mists to give Harold some whatfor.
Things were looking pretty good for the launch of Galatea
As could be guessed,Moon birds with nothing to do make more noise
than Moon birds concentrating their energies on flapping their wings and
lifting heavy slings.The Quackometer was descending as maximum
lifting capacity was rising.Hence,when the Quackometer reached zero and
the only sound was the flapping of wings,liftoff was about to happen.
when a stray
lightening bolt struck one of the gangs of Moon birds straining to lift the
already overloaded Galatea.All was doomed.The quacks returned.
Then Astronaut Braves co-pilot,his sweetheart Camilla,blew
him a final farewell kiss and lept out the cockpits window onto the
scaffolding beside the flying tower.Brave gave a despairing cry
as with a thunderous silence,Galatea lifted off the
ground as Brave looked down apon his sweethearts dwindling
figure looking up at him.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lord Bufford picked up the tale at this point
" I and the rest of the Dragon Guard were put leaques from our
homeland when we heard the loud birdly noises of the approachng
Moon Tower.As we watched,the exhausted Moon birds began to fail
and the elven Moon Tower dropped lower and lower towards the
Endless Ocean.
We brave Dragon Guard made haste to the doomed ship in our
dragon carriers,and arrived just as the flying tower hit the waters.Good
elve Brave saved many who otherwise would have drowned by shooting
streamers of bird food in the air,which kept the flying towers propulsion
gangs flying and in the air,keeping the Galatea afloat long enough to save
all but 10 of the 369 souls aboard....