Chapter 6

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Fling Feather stood outside the throne room, waiting patiently for the king to finish with his current appointment.

It hadn’t been easy, but he’d been able to scrounge a booking at the last minute and was now standing in the hall, awaiting his turn.

Standing in front of the door was a bull and a zebra, both in armour, neither paying him the slightest mind.

Suddenly, the doors opened and a strangely-looking maul walk out, a look of rejection on his face.

Fling watched him go, wondering what the maul had requested of the king. Whatever it was, it had clearly been disapproved. But, that was to be expected. The king had a whole castle to run and not all petitions were passed.

“Sir Fling Feather,” the page called from within the throne room.

Fling walked inside, glancing around as he did so. The throne room was a master piece of construction. The walls were tall; reaching so high he would need to fly for several moments just to reach the top.

The room was dotted with spaced out columns of marble, with carvings showing great battles that Fling had always assumed the king had fought in before his race were driven to Caridoon.

Sitting atop his obsidian throne was King Duneyrr, whom regarded the griffon with an amused smirk. The griffon couldn't help noticing the many kegs of ale near the king's feet, nor the slight red blush.

The king had drinking, a lot. He only ever did this when he was stressed, or Rasmus had done something to annoy his father. Considering everything, he would lean towards the latter those two reasons.

Fling kneeled down in front of the throne, and waited for the king to speak.

“Whhhhhhhhhhat do you wish to ask... Fling Feather?” the unicorn asked, to which Fling raised his head.

He bowed his head in respect. “Your Highness, I wished to talk about whether I may choose a mate, one whom I could sow me seeds?”

There was silence for a moment, which confused and worried the griffon a little.

“Why do you ask?” the unicorn’s tone was calm, but for reasons he could not explain it sent a chill down Fling Feather’s back. Maybe since the king was clearly a bit drunk, the calmness felt unnatural? At least, that's what he told himself.

“I was... just wondering, sire,” he replied, gulping a little. “As you know there are... well, a fair few griffon females in the castle. Let’s say if I wanted to be with one... or she was already expecting due to my finishing in her when her time was in place?”

Silence rained again, this time more potent and compressing for the griffon as he waited for his king’s response.

“Her progeny would be eradicated.”

Fling’s head shot up, his eyes wide. “What?!”

The unicorn nodded, a frown on his brow. “I have no use for a female that would get herself sired by one of my guards during her service, nor her retched offspring. If such a thing did happen, her eggs would not make it out of her body. Females born from such a happening are not even worth anything as slaves.”

Fling just stared up at the king, his eyes wide, his mind unable to process what he’d just heard.

“Sire, you... you’d murder innocent chicks before they’re even born, simply for how they were conceived?!”

The unicorn snorted. “Your family have served me well over the years, Fling Feather.” He smirked. “As long as you choose a mate not currently in my employ, I would have no qualms, even if she finished right before you chose her. And we both know you wouldn’t be so foolish as to give a female that situation before her time.”

Fling slowly nodded, his mind screaming in fear for Flash and his unborn chicks. He would have to keep this secret, or she’d never forgive him... nor would he be able to forgive himself.

On top of that, his whole world had stopped. King Duneyrr, the noble stallion whom his family had served for generations... would willingly and carelessly kill innocence? It just didn’t make sense.

“Oh, and, Fling?” the king smiled down at the griffon. “I’m sure this will amuse you. I will soon be gaining a new slave.”

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HE PLANS TO DO WHAT TO MY SISTER?!

Both moose shuddered as they felt the anger in the alicorn’s voice at hearing about the collar.

The two had tried to keep it quiet as Ciymon had told them to, to not worry Celestia until they had an idea of what they could do to rectify the situation and it had worked for a few days.

However, now, so close to the end of their most recent shift and with them so tired, not to mention that Celestia had been questioning them for the all that time as to what could be bothering them, Rutt had let it slip, which led to Celestia demanding every bit of info they had, which then led to the screaming only they were hearing.

Celestia growled, glaring up at the horns on the ceiling, before screaming anew. Her rage was so powerful, before moose were sure, had she been in her physical body, the entire palace would no longer be standing.

They would have waited for her to calm down and talk with her, but their shift was very close to ending.

They both quickly bid her goodbye and ran out, moving to their stations just as Fleece and Fling came around the corner, Fling looking as if he had lost hope in the world, whilst Fleece just looked as angry as he always did when he took his shift guarding the room.

“Okay, guys, have fun. Bye!” both moose cried, before rushing off, despite their weariness from being up guarding Celestia’s room all night.

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Fling barely noticed the moose as they hurried off, seeming anxious about something.

“What’s up with them?” Fleece asked as the two disappeared behind the corner.

Fling gave a less than half-hearted shrug. “Dunno.”

Fleece frowned at him as Fling took his post.

However, as the two neared their spots, they froze, the hairs on the backs on their necks standing on end.

While the room looked no different than the last time they’d guarded it, it was like a wave of fury was flowing through it, as if just daring them to come in and test their luck.

Both gulping, they took their sides of the doorway and stood to begin their shift.

However, several minutes after standing around, and after being able to pretend they couldn’t feel the freaky anger waves coming from the empty room, Fling slouched down, putting his head on his knees.

Fleece noticed this and gave a worried frown. “Uh... Fling?” he asked, lowering himself to a crouch to be at eyelevel.

“Duneyrr is evil.”

“What?” the ram asked, rubbing his ear. “You’re going to have to speak up, ya know?”

“The king is evil,” Fling said, loud enough to be heard this time.

Fleece just snorted. “Oh, so you’ve only just noticed? About time Mister My Family is Raised to Respect the King. What finally made you see the light? Did he rape your sister in front of you and say it was right? Did he kill someone you knew was not guilty of any crimes without a second thought?”

“Somewhat of the former,” the griffon whispered, shuddering.

“Again, gonna have to speak up,” Fleece said, shaking his head.

“I got Flash pregnant with my chicks, okay?!” the griffon cried, turning to the ram, who did a double take. Tears were streaming down the griffon’s face.

“Uh... what?” he asked, honestly confused.

“Flash is having my chicks!” Fling whimpered, curling in on himself.

The ram cocked an eyebrow. “Okay. But... how did that make you finally see Duneyrr’s a dick?”

“He said he’d kill them.”

Fleece groaned. “Seriously, dude. You can’t keep talking quietly and expect me to hear you clearly. What—?”

“I asked him what would have happened if a female here in the castle were going to have my chicks and he told me he’d kill them!” the griffon snapped, though the anger in his voice was heavily mixed with sorrow and fear.

Neither noticed, but the waves of anger they’d been feeling suddenly halted. They were still present, but had lessened greatly.

Fleece looked around, before rubbing his neck. “So... does he actually know—?”

“No!” Fling gasped, looking to him with frantic eyes. “I couldn’t possibly tell him! Far as he knows, I was just asking!”

Fleece nodded, though looked worried. “Think she’ll be able to hide it until she finishes her time here?”

A whimper and slow nod were his answer. It could be hidden, but it would be hard. From what little the ram knew of griffon laying cycles, not that he’d bothered to study them much during his life and the timing of Fling and Flash’s rut that finished in the very room they were guarding, Fleece knew they had maybe a little under a month, which was thankfully how long Flash had til she’d be a free mare, before she’d lay. It would be cutting it way too close for his own liking, but it was somewhat doable, especially with how high ranked Fling was thanks to his family’s generations of service to the king.

“More than that, though.”

“Huh?” Fleece asked, pulled from his train of thought.

Fling’s expression became one of someone who was ill and enraged. “He told me about a new slave he plans on getting.”

Fleece raised an eyebrow. “So? How could that be so shocking?”

Fling explained. After Duneyrr had explained to him about the mare, Luna, whom he planned on taking, he told Fling everything about the collar he would use to entrap her.

He must have really liked talking about how he’d make the mare suffer as his slave, because he never noticed the horrified expression Fling wore throughout the conversation, nor as Duneyrr showed him where the collar was being kept.

The room itself was... surprisingly open for a room suppose to contain something so important to the king.

There were only two guards ever posted in front of the open doorway leading into a room that was empty save the pedestal on which a blue collar rested on a purple cushion.

The enchantments on the room could only affect someone who wasn’t skilled when it came to magic. If you knew magic, or had magic of any kind, you had to know that magic of yours well and how to use it, or the room would toss you own, whilst binding you in chains. Anyone who came by would know what you had done the moment they saw you and you’d been either in jail or sentenced to death so fast your head would spin before it was removed from its perch on your shoulders.

Fleece’s face had gone pale by the end of it all. “So... what about non-magic users?”

Fling growled. “Not only do I now know how evil that bastard of a unicorn is, I can also see his level of stupidity, due to his thinking males are all-knowing.”

Fleece moved his hand to indicate for the griffon to go on.

Fling snorted. “For example, all it would take for me to take that collar, would be to fly in and take it, without letting my feet touch the ground or my wings touch the walls or ceiling. Be aware of those little details, and I could just take the collar and no one would have been the wiser until they bothered to actually look inside the room. How stupid can a guy be?”

Before Fleece could answer, they both paused, realising something. The waves of anger from before... were gone. There was a serene feeling coming from the room now.

Both stood, eyeing the room.

“You know, if I didn’t know better from the stories I’ve been hearing,” Fleece said, eyeing the room, “I’d think that was an aura that was inviting us inside the room.”

Fling glanced at him, an eyebrow raised.

“Word is no male can enter the room without suffering something horrible,” Fleece shuddered.

Suddenly, all the hopelessness from before took over Fling’s face again and he turned towards the entrance. “Couldn’t be worse than what I’ll feel after Duneyrr finds out about my chicks.”

Before Fleece could realize what was about to happen, Fling walked through the doorway and into the room.

“Fling, are you out of your mind?!” the ram cried, hurrying in to grab his friend. “You could be killed—”

— and you’re lucky I can read your aura or you could have been seriously harmed, you foolish Tercel!

Fleece stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide at the sound of the female voice berating the griffon.

True, the idea of a female in the castle berating a male was unusual in itself, Fleece had only ever really heard the moose’s mother, Sigrid, do so, but there was no female in the room, yet it sounded like she was all around them.

“Um, what’s going on?” the ram asked cautiously, eyeing around the room.

At once there was a flash of light, causing both males to jump and a feminine figure appeared before them.

She was taller than them, despite her gender suggesting shape and seemed to be made of a cluster of glowing yellow lights. Something that shocked the both of them was what appeared to be a horn of her head like that of the unicorns’, only much, much longer. However, the thing that was an even bigger shock were what were clearing the shape of wings on her back and big wings at that. They were bigger than Fling’s and he was a griffon.

“Wh-what... what are you?” Fleece stuttered, backing up at bit.

The being shook her head, before turning it in Fling’s direction and, though she had no face, Fleece could somehow tell she was giving the griffon a sympathetic look.

I am so sorry to hear about what will happen to your chicks if they are found out, she said and a soothing and clearly sympathetic tone.

“Wait,” Fleece frowned. “How do you know about that?”

The being turned its head to him and he somehow could tell, if it had a face, it would have been giving him a deadpan expression. You were talking about it right in front of the room I am bound inside. Just because you couldn’t hear me whilst outside the room doesn’t mean I couldn’t hear you.

Fleece cocked an eyebrow. “Wait. We can only hear you if we’re in here?”

The being nodded. If you were to step outside that doorway you—

Fleece stared with wide eyes, standing in place as he processed what he was experiencing. As the being been speaking, he’d been backing away to test her words and, sure enough, the moment his head had passed through the doorway, her voice cut off.

Something he had not expected was for her to disappear. However, from the way Fling was still staring at the place she’d been and was nodding his head every so often, he could clearly still see and hear her.

Walking back inside, the being reappeared to Fleece’s eyes and her voice could be heard again.

— why I will need your aid if we are to save both my sister and your chicks, the being finished.

Fleece blinked. Just how much of a conversation had he missed when he was outside?

“You can count on me, Princess Celestia,” the griffon said, kneeling before the being. His voice was hard and strong. “I will willingly help you if it means I can save my mate and chicks from that heartless monster I used to respect!”

The barely restrained anger in the griffon’s voice caused Fleece’s eyes to widen. He’d heard the griffon angry before, but this was on a whole other level. It sounded like he would willingly try to assassinate Duneyrr had the being, who was apparently a princess, had told him to.

“Wait,” he said, causing the two to turn to him. “You’re a princess? Then what in Caridoon are you doing around here? You know how females are viewed in this castle, right?”

The being called Celestia nodded, exuding a grim aura. Believe me, I know all too well. It is because of that damned unicorn that I am stuck in this state in the first place.

Fleece was about to ask what she meant by that, but she held up a hand. Fling, will you fill your friend in later? She then looked to the ram. That is, if you have no problems with causing the so-called-king more trouble that he could get out of?

Fleece blinked, before he remembered how all his years of service under the bastard had been revealed to be nothing, as the unicorn cared not for the ram’s life in the slightest and was willing to just leave him to rot guarding a room for the rest of his days.

He scowled, but sneered as well. “I’m in. Anything to make that bastard suffer.”

Celestia nodded. It will be a while before the full effects of what we will do take hold, but when they do, Duneyrr will suffer for what he has done and more.

Fleece just grinned, punching his fist into his hand. “I’ll wait a hundred years if I know the asshole will suffer. What do we do?”

Celestia chuckled. Well, you won’t have to wait that long a time. Now, you will meet with a caribou by the name of Ciymon. He is the one who will aid you in furthering the plan and... she paused, turning to Fling. Is something the matter, Fling Feather? Your aura has changed to foreboding.

Fleece glanced at his griffon partner and sighed. “Princess Celestia, Fling has been a loyal servant of Duneyrr all his life, as has his family since his great grandfather’s days.”

The starry mass nodded her head. Yes, I know of that, Fleece. But, now that he knows the dark heart of the unicorn, he is willing to go against him. Why bring this up?

Fleece sighed, scratching his neck. “Well, that caribou, Ciymon? Yeah, he and Fling have always been at odds because everyone knows the caribou only hangs around to keep the girls around here from too much suffering and, with how Duneyrr’s the one making them suffer, and Fling’s up until now undying loyalty to the unicorn...”

Ah, Celestia nodded, sounding concerned, but not in a way Fleece could understand or had expected, before she turned to the griffon. Speak with Ciymon, Fling Feather. Inform him of what you told me and how I have entrusted you to aid in my sister’s safety from the bastard king. This must happen or my subjects and sister are doomed to fall at Duneyrr feet.

The griffon shuffled in his place for a few moments, before giving a sigh and nodding, standing from his kneeling position and putting a fist to his chest. “You have my word as a griffon, princess. On my kind’s honour, I will not fail you.”

Celestia gave the impression she was smiling and nodded. Good. Now, both of you get back outside and return to your posts before someone comes. We cannot let any know that you have been in here and were allowed to leave unharmed.

Fleece smirked. “So what I’ve heard is true? You blacked Duneyrr’s horn and gave his son that wedgie?”

He could tell Celestia was smirking. Indeed I did. I would love to regal you will the details, but we may not have time.

Both nodded and bowed, before heading out and returning to their posts, wondering what Celestia’s plans were, knowing they’d have to speak with Ciymon to find out.

Author's Note

Getting there now. Not long til the end.

In fact, just keep going if you want. The internet went down earlier today, so i just kept writing after finishing this chapter, so chapter 7's awaiting.