Stormy Skies: Part 1 Chapter 7

PART 1 - CHAPTER 7

Groose could sleep through a fire alarm.

According to Cawlin, a keese had gotten into the royal quarters in the middle of the night, and between Fletcher screaming his little head off, Zelda running around trying to find where it got in, and Link in attack mode, the situation was pure noisy chaos. And since the knights’ quarters were in the next hallway over, plenty of the knights were woken up. With that patched burn on his eye and his mouth twisted into a scowl, Grenn looked like an angry pirate. He didn’t find that observation amusing, but since Groose could probably pound him flat any day of the week, he just got up and stomped away.

It seemed like he was the only one who missed the action. That was until Cass said she also heard nothing. That girl...was kind of like a female version of himself. Talor had seemed to read his mind, making a comment on how they would be “an interesting pair”. What was that supposed to mean? He wasn’t going to make a move just because they both slept through the keese incident. That would be stupid.

But...he was going to have to do so eventually. Zelda was off limits now, and he was fine with that, even though the fact that Link of all people ended up being chosen by the gods still made his brain hurt. Zelda too...and the old prophecy that everyone thought was eons away from happening had happened. Long story short, Cass was his best bet if he ever wanted what Link had.

A council meeting had been scheduled for after the breakfast hour. The knights gathered in the main room of the castle, waiting for the exact time. It actually appeared more like a fort than a castle, it was still quite small, and the decorations were simple: lanterns hung here and there, curtains on the windows, potted plants, and scattered furniture. But it served its purpose, and there was no need to expand it at the moment.

Grenn hadn’t showed up yet. The doctor had probably told him to rest because of his injury, so that made sense. Pipit had his arm around Karane, Katherine was at the front door making sure nobody but the knights and council got in, Brandon was wandering around socializing, Cawlin was reluctantly helping Strich try to catch a fly with a bug net, Cass had a rolled up piece of paper in her hand and was also chasing the fly, Fledge was perched calmly one of the chairs, and Talor was sitting there shaking his head and chuckling.

“I don’t see why you want that stupid annoying filthy insect as a pet!” Cass rolled her eyes at Strich.

“Me neither.” Cawlin said in his usual blunt tone. “I’ll never understand what’s so great about bugs. All they do is fly around and eat poop and land in your food and not leave you alone.”

“But this is a fruit fly!” Strich whined. “I don’t have one yet. Fruit flies don’t eat disgusting things like other flies do.”

The paper roll collided with a small table. Cass grumbled as the fly zigzagged out of the way. “Missed.”
Groose walked over and sat down. “Seriously? I thought you had enough bugs.”

The front door opened, and in came the royalty. The fruit fly darted past them as they entered, then disappeared into the courtyard, causing a disappointed frown to form on Strich’s face. Link shook his head, slightly smiling, at the sight of the bug net and paper roll. “Can’t I be gone for five minutes without you guys turning this place into a circus?”

“Sorry, there was a fly in here.” Cass threw the paper in the garbage.

“That explains a lot.” Zelda commented. Fletcher was wiggling in his mother’s arms, trying to keep his eyes open, but not doing a very good job. His eyes were narrowed into slits, so it almost looked like he was glaring at the scene in front of him.

Link smiled. “You need to take a nap, young man.” Fletcher seemed to perk up at that, opening his eyes fully and looking up at his father. “Let the grownups have their meeting.” Link continued, gently patting Fletcher’s tiny head. “Everything will still be here when you wake up.”

Fletcher’s nose wrinkled, and his mouth opened wide, letting out a big yawn. His eyes squeezed shut. Within a minute, he was asleep.

“If only I could fall asleep that fast...” Pipit stifled a yawn. “After what happened last night, I’m pretty much running on like four hours of sleep.”

“You poor thing.” Karane laughed and patted his hand.

“Get used to it, because when you have a kid, every night will be that way.” Link sighed and rolled his eyes. “Learned that the hard way...”

Zelda placed Fletcher on one of the couches and sat down. “Yeah, well...We DO have more important matters to discuss.”

“Demon problem.” Link added, sitting down on the couch. “We have a really big one. We need to think up a solution. Before they come back.”

Groose raised his hand. “We can find their base and run them out. I can bring the groosenator and some bombs, when I run out I can use whatever else is there. Big rocks, logs, even freshly killed demons! That’ll show them, right?”

“You mean, throw their dead friends back at them? I don’t know whether to call that awesome or disturbing.” Cass said.

“Call it awesome! That’s what they used to do back in the olden days on the surface!”

“What book did you read that in?” Cass raised one eyebrow.

Pipit snickered. “When does Groose read at all?”

“I think that’s...a bit risky.” Link shrugged. “We have no idea where they’re coming from, and even if we do find their base, they have the advantage of knowing the area better than we do. And they are demons after all. They probably live somewhere that’s very dangerous to people.”

“So the reverse also applies, right?” Karane scratched her head. “We know the area in and around the town better than they do?”

“Yes.” Link nodded. “But we still need a plan. We have to be ready when they come back, and it has to be more than just killing everything in sight.” At that moment, Grenn strolled in and sat down, grumbling and scratching around the eye patch. His expression told everyone that he wasn’t in the mood for questions or comments.

“I think...I might have something.” Talor raised his hand slowly. “But it will only work if they’re targeting our leaders. And it might be a bit crazy...”

“The female who looked like she was in charge seemed to know I was calling the shots. Once I showed up, she was going to make them all pile on me until Groose bombed her.”

Talor shuddered. “Makes me wonder how exactly she knows that...”

“Who knows.” Link shrugged his shoulders. “But if you have an idea, spill it. Crazy or not, at least you’re contributing.”

“Set up a trap in the woods, and have one of the knights wear green and lead them to it. We should use a guy so the decoy looks more convincing, dunno if the demons will be able to tell the difference, but yeah. Also paint the decoy’s loftwing red and Firebolt a different color, maybe gray or brown or black...and put Link in a recruit uniform.”

Cass clapped. “Brilliant. I didn’t know you were such a tactician...we might have to have three of those instead of two!”

“I have my moments.” Talor smiled awkwardly. “But like I said, it’s crazy. I’d be better off in the rank I am now...”

“Crazy, but it just might work!” Zelda said, grinning. “So...are you volunteering to be the decoy?”

Talor gulped. “Um...I guess if nobody else will...”

“Frostbite will be easy to make red, but he might be pink for awhile afterward.” Link paused, then added: “And Firebolt...he can be Mudbolt for a day while Frostbite is Flamebite.”

“We don’t need to go as far as changing their names.” Zelda shook her head. “But yes. White feathers are easy to dye. And if he ends up pink, it will only be temporary.”

“Okay okay okay...” Talor sighed. “I’ll do it.”