The Lord of Arra (4/6)

Lord Fheldin goes further down the great hall, and he finds that the scent veers off course again – this time stopping by one of the trash cans just outside one of the kitchens.

Fortunately for the 2 boys laying inside the trash, the scent of the rotting food scraps all around them is so strong that it masks their scent from any roaming, overprotective fathers.

Despite Fheldin not knowing that his sons are still inside the trash, he certainly can tell that the 2 boys stopped by here for a bit, as their scent lingers around the front of the trash – just where the lid opening would be.

'What kind of business did they have here?' Fheldin wonders. 'Or rather, what are they trying to hide here?'

As if merely by willing it, the lid over the trash flips open on its own, and on the very top of the full trash bin is a pile of fancy, royal clothing crumpled disgracefully.

'Ah,' he realizes, 'They must've thrown away their old clothes here, since they didn't want to be seen running about in royal clothing.'

Content with what he found here, Lord Fheldin moves on, never realizing that Haalfrin's casual decision to throw away the old clothes on top of the two boys just saved them.

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Finally, the scent trail goes further down and veers around the empty lot where the guests had parked their carriages for the inter-clan meeting.

It's around this area that Fheldin realizes that the scent meanders around the lot a bit before suddenly growing very thin.

'So… they got on a carriage, right?' He looks down disappointed, 'Such an elaborate escape plan, but they think that just by getting on a vehicle and not touching the ground that I won't be able to find their scent?'

It's like reading a good book, and the story suddenly turns stupid halfway through; Fheldin's disappointment is immeasurable.

And so, Lord Fheldin steps outside of his palace and looks up at the huge crater that his front door rests at the bottom of. He closes his eyes, and his mind reaches out to the Elementals in the air.

The real reason there's a flying restriction around the front of his house is because all the Elementals here are familiar with the dragon lord resting here, and they listen to him. Thus, nobody but Lord Fheldin himself can fly freely here.

And so, Lord Fheldin flies to the top of the spiraling ramp, and he picks out the children's trail again. Despite leaving a few hours ago, they couldn't have gotten far.

Besides, the traditional rule on when a child is considered to escape is that if they aren't caught within a day, then they're free. Until then, it's perfectly acceptable to his ancestor's tradition to capture them.

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Given the ludicrous speed at which Lord Fheldin can fly, it only takes him less than a minute to find the end of the trail.

There, Lord Fheldin sees a caravan full of Hawk clans folk walking along the road, while others escort the carriages from the sky.

Given that Fheldin is traveling fast enough to light the air around him on fire, the astute Hawks see him from a distance and realize that he's a dragon – despite having hidden all his dragon features and appearing like a very tall human.

Who else could move that fast except for a dragon?

So, the Hawks all set on the ground, and they wait patiently, thinking the dragon is going to pass them by. However, when Fheldin sets down on the ground and stares at them menacingly, they suddenly stink of fear, and their weapons clatter to the ground.

Even if they hadn't recognized the lord of the dragons, they still wouldn't have dared to resist, since even a 2 horned dragon could've killed them without any trouble.

The eldest and wealthiest Hawk here plops old bones onto one knee, and he bows his head. "May I ask the purpose of your visit, Lord Fheldin? Whatever it is, I would like to help."

"Hmmm….," Fheldin rumbles so deeply in his throat that the Hawks only feel their bodies vibrating. Then, he says, "I'm smelling the scent of my children on your carriage. Take everything out and unpack them."

As everything is taken out and the supply boxes unsealed, the Hawks gape in horror, and black smoke rises from the dragon lord's mouth…

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Meanwhile, a beautiful Felkin girl is obediently hiding in the dirty laundry bin when she hears her father's booming voice.

She starts sweating, and she holds up the enchanted "scent-suppressing gem" like some religious charm, and she cries in her heart, 'How did he find me when I had this? Was the gem fake?'

Indeed, it was. Haalfrin and the other humans had planned on her father finding her, so she had to leave a scent trail behind.

'No!' she shakes her head vehemently, 'Father's nose must be too powerful for the human's magic... That's too bad.'

Her bin is taken out, and she's spilled on the floor. She looks up to find her father looking at her and cooing at her, "Aw! It's dangerous outside! Why run away like this? Wait... Where are the others?"

He is still missing 6 children. This was the last scent trail, so WHERE ARE THEY!?

Fheldin's sharp eyes catch a package that rolls out of his daughter's lap when she spills on the floor. He also notes her frantically snatching it up and trying to hide it behind her back, like a naughty child hiding a box of stolen cookies.

Immediately feeling suspicious, Fheldin orders, "Take that box from her and open it up." Perhaps this mysterious package would offer some clue about where his other 6 missing children are?

When the Hawk guards try taking the package from her, she stuffs it under her skirt - thinking they wouldn't dare reach their hands THERE, especially with her Father present.

Fheldin rolls his eyes and asks, "Do you really want to do this the hard way?"

His daughter glares hatefully at him, yet she finally relents. With shaking hands, she gives the package to the Hawks.

When the Hawks open it up and pull out the contents, the first thing revealed is… a luxurious, red wedding dress. What's revealed next is a letter.

Fheldin waves his hand, and the letter is snatched from the Hawk's hand, and he opens it up.

The letter appears to be written in the Hawk's language, and it's even penned in his daughter's recognizably bad handwriting.

The letter itself is incredibly long – so long that it takes Fheldin a minute to read it. He expected it to be a collaboration letter about the Hawks being paid to smuggle her out to Talia or something. Instead… well…

In summary, the letter goes into GREAT detail about how his cute, innocent daughter fell in love at first sight with Elder Tala during the Clan meet, and about how she even found the old Hawk's grey hair and wrinkled skin "mature looking"

Alas, the letter then expressed her desire to elope with the old Hawk.

It then talks about how she hatched a plan to escape her "evil, possessive daddy", and she arranged with some outsiders to help her other siblings escape - hopefully to buy enough time for her to get away.

The rest of the letter goes off into disgusting, sappy details talking about how suave and handsome Elder Tala is, how much she loves him, and how she's willing to risk everything for him.

Even worse, the letter goes into long, creepy detail about how this "Elder Tala" loves how beautiful and young the Felkin always are. It's like his daughter couldn't wait to write down every slimy compliment this Hawk man had apparently showered her with.

With shaking hands, Lord Fheldin lowers the letter, and he asks with a quivering voice. "Tell me… who is Elder Tala? Have him step forward."

All the Hawks look around... and slowly, the very elder who greeted him in the beginning steps forward. Fheldin freezes.

Indeed, Elder Tala is so fat that he's unable to fly anymore. Many of his teeth are missing and… worse of all… Elder Tala is so old that he looks like a wrinkled raisin, and his hair looks like a cloud in a desert – white and scarce.

Fheldin's hands are shaking even more. 'Grr!' he growls mentally, 'There's nothing more disgusting than an old man preying on a little girl!'

He starts breathing heavily as the black plumes flow out of his mouth even thicker.

This father may not have been so angry if his daughter had tried to run away with anyone else… but clearly, this Hawk elder isn't a lover… he's a sick pervert! HOW DARE HE…!!!!

After he barely manages to keep his heart exploding in a blind rage, Fheldin asks his daughter, "Did you run away with the Hawks so that you could marry Elder Tala?"

Finally, it clicks to the young girl that the wedding dress on the ground is red, and that it's just her size. Red is the traditional wedding color that dragons and their families wear…

... Oh no…

The young phoenix gets horribly mortified listening to this, and she screams desperately, "No NO! That's all wrong father! I'm not in love with this Elder Tala! T-this letter is fake! You're making a mistake!"

"YOU'RE TRYING TO DEFEND HIM EVEN NOW?!" the dragon roars. He's so agitated that he can no longer hide it; his tail finally sprouts out in a dramatic burst of fire, and it slaps on the ground so hard that the trees shake, and the earth cracks. The sound of his tail flicking is louder than the loudest thundercrack.

Through staggered breaths, Fheldin growls, "That little tweetie isn't good enough for my little girl. How dare you covet my daughter? What sweet lies did you tell her? DIE B#STARD!"

… And this is the part where the murder happens...