Chapters "You could not protect your clan hold? You useless." A bipedal bull said slapping another bull upside the head.
"Let me explain"- another slap.
"Explanations are for those too weak to not need them. I got to my position as chieftain never using one."
"B-but... where were you during that raid?"
"I was doing my duties; defending the clan from those griffon raiders. Which I was successful in doing, unlike some coward. Wait a minute I do not have to explain anything to you."
"Too late. obviously you are too weak to not need an explanation," snarled the minotaur accused of not defending her clan.
"That is enough from you. I hereby sentence you to exile," the chieftain growled at the insubordinate. He nodded over to the sacred-drum-playing minotaur.
Deception, Disgrace, evil as plain as the scar on her face...
The exiled huffed in shame. The last thing she needed was a sing out. Especially not one from another source. and though she had a scar on her face, the recent turn of events had scarred her soul. She did not dare question the chieftain. She grabbed her armor and great-axe and waked out of the minotaur fortress. Not daring to look back, her honor would only decrease if she looked back. Was she really evil? She had to be if her song of exile said she was.
* * *
"How could you have failed so badly against those brutes?" asked the bandit leader. "It was a simple raid, we even had support from those Diamond dogs ," she said, venomously saying the last part. She was a fair griffon, as far as griffon bandits go, that is, but she was also cruel. Any failure would result in death, except for those too incapable of doing anything to usurp her position. Those who failed due to incompetence, she would throw out threatening their lives should they return.
"There were Diamond Dogs? I did not see any, though that may explain why all the lutes were gone," said a rather dimwitted griffon, wearing leather armor and wielding a lute and a rapier. "Somehow without lutes they played a song, so I decided to help them with it by playing my own lute. It was a depressing song, though something about evilness and fail-"
The leader shoved a claw into the dull bird's mouth to quiet him. "Shut-up! Honestly I have no idea how you are still alive after a month, all you do is play your loot. I can't believe I hired an imbecile for me. Sure, most bandits need to be dumb so they won't get any smart ideas to take my power, but you- you take the whole cake."
"Why would I want a changeling's cake?"
She removed her claw from his face, and applied it to her own."You know what your not worth my time, I was planning on killing you, but that would be a waste of my precious time. Get out of my sight, and don't ever come back."
"Yay! I get to play that song again!" Then it hit the griffon making him sad, " Awww... we do not have any drums." He walked away from the bandit camp in silence and sadness. "No fair, the minotaur got a song but I got nothing." He then remembered the minotaur. "Maybe I could join his clan, they definitely need more lutes."
* * *
"Good! Now that we have all the loots I am afraid we do not need your mining experience." A gray Diamond Dog wearing a red vest said.
"Huh, but we found lutes not loots." A Diamond Dog wearing plate armor and wielding a spear said.
"Exactly, we found loot. Loot means money and treasure, and not having to mine."
"So, is this mine mine?"
"No this mine is mine not yours."
"But, you are not going to need mine."
"Yep, you can be on your way."
"No. I meant..." The Diamond Dog sighed and walked out of the mine. "No point arguing with a dog who has eaten to much peanut butter."
At that moment the miner heard a manic shout, "YOU TRICKED US! YOU BETTER BE FAR AWAY OR ELSE YOU WON'T LIVE TO SEE TOMORROW!"
The miner fled the seen as fast as he could, not noticing a dragon fleeing with him.
* * *
The dragon had been kicked out of his home, much like this scared dog. Reason being the direct opposite of the Diamond Dogs. They had to get rid of their lutes to make room for gems not yet acquired. The adolescent did the only sensible thing with them, he dropped them at a Minotaur camp. Surely having only drums could get boring.
The minotaurs did not take kindly to a dragon in their camp. They began attacking him for no reason. He tried to tell them he was giving them lutes and that stopped them for a moment. Then they saw the lutes and got angry at him.
"What kind of cruel trick is this dragon-liar tricking us into believing you were giving use precious loots, only to give us stringed instruments."
The dragon was confused. He had done exactly what he had said he would do. He gave them lutes. They had the nerve to call him a lyre, when one could certainly see no lyres about, only lutes, like he said. He was brought out of thinking by a minotaur wearing plate mail and wielding a great-axe, throwing a tone at him.
The dragon did not want open conflict so he flew away. He looked back to see griffons attacking the camp but more surprisingly the minotaur who threw the stone giving chase. The dragon thought this went against minotaur honor code, as the minotaur should be protecting the clan from the griffons, not chasing a dragon.
Oh well the dragon thought to himself going in the direction of a nearby cave. The dragon had lost the minotaur only to find the cave was occupied by Diamond Dogs. Where there were Diamond Dogs there were gems. The dragon waited for some of the Diamond Dogs to come out carting some gems, so he could ambush them. He waited an hour before a Diamond Dog was running for his life, past the dragon's hiding spot. The Dragon decided he should flee as well.
* * *
"Report," Queen Chrysalis said.
"The minotaurs did not have the lutes ma'am." A frightened changeling hunter was standing before the Queen. "Though they no doubt had lutes at some point, there were reports of Diamond Dogs but not a single minotaur did anything about it. For some reason one of the minotaurs fled the fortress right before a griffon attack."
"You have failed the hive. The lutes would have been a nice way to receive love, as Creatures from all over would hear the harmonious chords and love them."
"Now that is what I call wishful thinking Chryssy-"
"What did you call me? I will not tolerate disrespect. You are hereby banished from the hive for insolence to the Queen."
"Sunnuva pony!" Exclaimed the hunter, as Chrysalis picked him up with magic and threw him towards the forest.
Author's Note
Well then
The exiled minotaur, being without food or money, was forest to hunt. She laid traps, primarily snares, to catch a few rabbits. Using her survival skills (and axe) she felled a tree.CRASH
She brought the tree over to a clearing where she had a camp set up along with her rabbit dinner. She began rubbing two sticks together to make a fire. Then it hit her... in the face. She pulled it off, only to notice it was equine shaped, had a sleek black hide, insect-like wings, a horn, and a whole lot of holes. She heard it was breathing if it was a little bit unconscious.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
While in his arch, the banished changeling noticed a few things: one: it was a beautiful night, two: his velocity informed him he was heading in the direction of the minotaur clan hold, and three: the tree that was gong to be his landing was no longer there; replaced by the one who fell his former doom that is, if he fell not to his doom first. As the changeling drew closer to the beast that was now rubbing two sticks together, he noticed a fourth thing: if he did not change his trajectory he was going to slap a bull in the face. Then it hit him, the exiled minotaur,s face, lulling him into unconsciousness.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He flew towards the minotaur camp, hoping to get an audience, either for a performance, or for meeting with the minotaur chieftain to ask for some help in raiding a Diamond Dog's mine. He did not get very close to the clan hold, before he heard the noise often following the exclamation "Timber-" and then the griffon trying to alarm the others was eaten, before it could yell the wolves part.That tell-tail sign of timber-wolves: trees felling. Or it could just be a Lumber-Jack or Jill getting firewood. In the case of the former he would flee. In the case of the latter he would skewer rabbits on his rapier and hold them over the fire. He took out his rapier and flew in close to where the noise was. What he saw was an odd sight, a minotaur away from the clan hold. Maybe she was part of a hunting party and was in need of a lute. The dumb griffon flew into the minotaur's camp not noticing her recoiling from something hitting her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The dog, whose adrenaline was dying down, heard a loud crashing noise originating from some point in the direction he was headed. Something large was in front of him, and diamond dogs were behind him. He was so caught up in the heat of things he forgot about left and right, as fate would have it, and as such, chanced finding the source of the noise in the hope of it being nothing more than a noise. He continued sprinting through the forest towards the noise exhaustion attempting to overcome him. He pushed on. Only a few seconds later he came across a camp sight. He passed out in the clearing but not before seeing a ball fling and attach itself to a minotaur's face. I have to be seeing th- He never finished that thought as he was too tired, and drifted into a slumber.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The dragon looked in awe at the dog he was following. Even through fatigue it sprinted towards what could have been danger. Now the dog lay unconscious below him, as he saw a number of odd things. Most prominently the minotaur was lighting a fire as something hit her face. Then it hit him, fatigue and realization as to who this minotaur was. She was the one who had chased him during the griffon invasion.He was about to flee when the fatigue was too much causing him to drift unconsciously towards the minotaur, wings unfurled to keep a safe descent.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Ugh! What happened?" Groaned the dragon. It appeared to be morning, but more scary was the fact that she was standing in front of him upside down. The dragon then saw the green cocoon he was in and tried to struggle free, but to no avail.
"Ah yes. The dragon who had tricked my former clan into accepting lutes. I have no bad blood for you, as odd as that may seem. A minotaur not having revenge on its mind. Though I must ask, who are you and why did you fall into my arms last night?"
The dragon noticed on a tree to his right and a tree to his left: on his right was a griffon who was happily yapping away with a Swiss-cheese equine, and on his right, the diamond dog he had been following. Both were in a similar green cocoon.He sighed. "My name is Luter. I was following that diamond dog over there, last night and we both happened across your camp."
"Well then Luter, might I ask why you are away from your nest?" asked the minotaur.
"Well sure only after you give me your name," Luter replied.
"My name is Mint. The others' names are as follows: Griffin"- she pointed at the giddy griffon talking happily as though he were not restrained to a tree-"Bowie,"- she pointed at the tree to his right at the diamond dog-" and that little guy over there is Jerry the changeling." She concluded the introductions.
"Alright I did not ask about the others, but oh well. I am so far from my nest because I had stolen our lutes to make room for the good loots; gems, gold, food, weapons, the good stuff. My parents foiled my plan by making sure I got none of the good stuff but I got to keep the lutes. I ran away from home, as there was nothing for me there, and I offered your clan my lutes. That pretty much is why I am away from my family and food," Luter explained.
"Oh well that is great! Well not your situation, but you are the only one to have told me where you come from. Griffin is too much of an idiot, and Bowie is too sarcastic. Though I do know where Jer-"
She was cut off by a spear soaring by her head.
"Oh crap, we can save our stories for another time." she hastily cut loose the Luter and Bowie, while Jerry cut Griffin free. They all prepared for combat.
Author's Note
Apparently my computer does not think minotaur's is a word, however Minotaur's is a word. Odd. It is like Pegasus vs pega oh Minotaur is a proper noun never mind. Also I added it to the dictionary.
Mint looked in the direction the spear came from, after freeing Bowie and Luter. The sight she was greeted with made her question her judgement of freeing Bowie: No less than twenty dogs clad in armor similar to Bowie. Maybe she would learn some of Bowie's story, though she pushed that thought aside in favor of focusing on the dogs.
"I see about twenty dogs!" Mint called out.
"Oh, spear me the details," a gruff voice from be hind her said. "These dogs want my hide for 'tricking' them with lutes. I know how to deal with them." Bowie inhaled before yelling "SQUIRREL!" and pointing in the direction of the mine. At that claim every dog, save Bowie, was scrambling towards the cave, fighting over who would catch the squirrel first. They killed each other to increase their chances at getting to the squirrel. Soon only one stood.
Griffin was ready to flee until he saw all of the dogs running away, chasing after a squirrel and fighting each other. "Well that is what I call a sQuarrel," fooled Griffin. At that everyone wanted to punch him. What Griffin does would surely be his pundoing. The last dog ran away before Griffin could destroy his sanity.
"By minotaur standards, how we fought that fight was dishonorable. However, I am exiled and thus cannot lose honor that I no longer have. I don't think I would have been ready for that fight so thank you. I must ask, how did you know they would murder each other over a squirrel?"
"Oh I didn't know they would kill each other, I just thought they would be distracted long enough for us to run away."
The five odd members of the odd gang were walking through a forest. Griffin was playing his lute, Luter and Jerry were covering their ears, and Mint and Bowie were talking about their pasts. Unluckily for Jerry, his fore-hooves (as all of his hooves) had holes in them, and he was subject to what he had to admit, beautiful music. It soothed the headache Griffin gives creatures by his mere presence. It left Jerry awestruck that such an obnoxious being could have any pleasantries about themselves at all.
The misfit group had been traveling through the forest for days.With each passing day the group was getting closer to the Everfree Forest and the dangers that lurk there. When they camped for night, they left Mint or Bowie on guard duty. Griffin would use his blissful ignorance, were he given watch duty, to grant entry into the camp. Luter might sneeze and roast them in their sleep. If Jerry was given guard duty, he would be exhausted and need to sap his compadres of energy to compensate, leaving them physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. In combat this would get them all killed and out of combat their pace would be sluggish. That left only Bowie and Mint, whom everyone knew were not reporting back to their previous place of residence, respectively. they continued like this for a total of three days before the realization struck, in the form of a rogue thundercloud's lightning bolt. Then it hit the somewhat energy resistant dragon, they were in the Everfree Forest.
"Look at how dark this place is. Isn't it spooky? I know! Let's tell scary stories. Oh, Oh, Oh! I have an even better Idea. How about I sing an eerie song?" Griffin excitedly offered.
"NO" Replied everybody else. Their lack in trust with Griffin was met with a harsh sounding chord and Griffin's voice cracking. Sounds of beasts roared throughout the forest was the only respons Griffin received,
"Well... Shit," sighed Griffin
Author's Note
Well... oops this is a short chapter. I hate wide-ruled paper. It took up three sides of Wide-ruled and is only six-hundred words long. Sorry.