The Obelisk

-Chapter 58-

“Ow!”

“Sit—sit down already!”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

“T e l l me all you want, but this is my home, and you have a broken leg. Now sit.”

Coal winced as Bramble placed another wad of cobwebs onto his leg, but slowly complied and set himself down into the bed of ripped up ferns. Bramble gave a satisfied grunt and carefully checked to the see if the wound was still bleeding.

Forest sat in the corner of the burrow, curling his tail around his legs. He was glad they could finally get some real rest.

“I can’t believe this,” Coal was muttering. “The Terror birds have lived in that stronghold for ninety years, and it never showed any signs of weakness. It wasn’t supposed to fall for another hundred!”

“It’s not destroyed,” Bramble reassured. “It’s just lost a few stones. I don’t know why parts of it went down, but—“

“Maybe it was a sign,” Coal wailed, looking tortured.

“You did the right thing, helping us escape.” Spark said to him.

“Maybe destroying my home and breaking my leg was the universe telling me it wasn’t,” Coal said.

“No,” Forest joined in. “Not a sign.”

“We thank you for everything,” said Spark.

Coal closed his eyes with a sigh. Bramble stood up and went to the other end of the burrow, before carefully digging up a few odd-looking roots. He yanked them out and padded down another small tunnel, the roots hanging from his jaws.

“Tell us more about this Jethezzar,” Spark said to the Prince after a moment.

The Terror bird opened his eyes slowly, lifting his head a bit. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.” Crimson said.

“Alright,” said Coal softly.

Bramble entered the room, along with a few more cobwebs and leaves. Prince Coal began.

“I’ll start from the beginning. A hundred years ago, the first Terror bird Emperor, my great-grandfather, got tired of his kind traveling acrossed Runheimr for scraps. Gradually he began to claim the territory tree by tree, until he had enough land for all the Terror birds to live freely. He discovered the stronghold shortly after, and used it for his closest friends and family to live in. Everyone else dwelled where they wanted to. Runheimr was ours.”

He continued on. “Twenty years later, he had a son named Carrion. Carrion was the next Emperor after his father went missing, but Carrion was greedy, and of course he wanted more. Carrion tried to take—OWW!”

“Sorry,” Bramble rumbled, pressing several dark red fronds against Coals wound. “Should have warned you. Here, swallow this.” He held out a small pale colored leaf.

Coal regarded the herb for a moment, blinking. “You want me to… eat that?”

“It’s a plant. Get over it.” Bramble said. “Now eat.”

Coal exhaled slowly and took the leaf, chewing a moment before gulping it down. “Let me finish. Carrion tried to gain even more power over Runheimr. He killed a lot. I won’t get into detail, though. And eventually, he got wanted he wanted. More control. Finally, many years later, my father hatched. He had many friends, and many siblings, but he was the most kind and just. I’m very lucky he found my Mother and claimed the throne after Carrion died.” The Prince took a deep breath. “One day, when he was much older, he met a young Wyvern—Jethezzar—at a lake, about seven years ago. Jethezzar told my father that he could help us rise to a higher purpose. And, with him as our ally, we could rule more than just Runheimr. My father accepted. It was good deal.”

“I can’t believe he fell for it,” Bramble broke in. “Nobody would just graciously help another kind steal territory. I bet you anything that Jethezzar’s plan was to help you as much as possible, and then demand his share. Whether it’s some of the territory for himself, food, treasure—“

“Treasure!” Coal barked, making Nyx jump. “We don’t have any treasure! We’re only where we are now because of our strength in numbers! We don’t have jewels, we don’t have gold, we don’t even have a scrap of element, for Fjordurs sake! If Jethezzar is planning on demanding any kind of wealth, I’ll tell him he can go eat his own tail!” He tried to stand up, but yelped and fell back, hissing.

“Hey, Calm down. Rest.” Bramble ordered. “Your leg is not gonna heal if you keep moving it around like this.” He pushed Coal back into a laying position.

“Anything else?” Forest asked.

“That’s all I know.” Coal replied. “Rrrrrrgh, that lying snake of a Wyvern. Your probably right. He wants something from us. I don’t know what, and I hope I never do. But whatever it is, it’s probably not good.”

“We’ll make sure you don’t,” Forest said. We’ll stop Jethezzar, he wanted to say. But he wasn’t sure if that would be true. Was Jethezzar the real threat here? Was HE the one the Five we’re supposed to save Fjordur from?

If so, what was he planning to take from the Terror birds?