- Chapter 7 -
The King's Rage
©1999 Quizzard
The High Toad seethed as he sat in his council chamber, the discarded shoes thrown into the corner. The audacity
of the intruder had inflamed as none had since, well, Sir Twead. The King's head still reeled from that disaster.
Now, some other young upstart was going to do it all over again. Well, NOT IN THIS KINGDOM, NOT AGAIN!
"Helpful TED! Get IN here NOW!"
"Yes, Your Majesty! Here, Your Wartiness!"exclaimed Ted as he slid into the chamber.
"Why haven't you found that toad yet?"
"You see, Your Highness, whenever you have a young amphibian in the prime of his life, and unknown physical
description, it becomes necessary..." Ted's lengthy explanation was cut short by the King's exclamation.
"Shut UP! Just tell me why. WHY?"
"Oh. Well, Your Waspishness, Your Royal Leap Guard is waiting for specific information about the alleged
perpetrator. All we have is *gulp* gossip, as a source, and as you know, that type of social interaction is totally
unreliable." gasped Ted, "The Leap Guard can't get any straight answers out of Your Royal subjects."
The High Toad threw his hands into the air and screamed, "Why can't they get answers to their questions?"
Timidly, Ted explained, "Because Your subjects are afraid to be wrong, Your Rightness, and have their I-credits
taken away."
"AAAARGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!" bellowed the Great Toad, "Threaten to take away ALL of their credits if they
DON'T answer!"
"Your wish is my command, Highness!"
"And take that bootlicker, Charles, with you. He'll make sure to delete all of the adverse reactions to the credit
losses!"
The glossy boots started screaming in the background, and the credits were about to hit the fan...
*****
The spaceship sped along through the vast emptiness of the void between the galaxies, and a quiet human brooded
upon her options.
"No, that won't work. I'm sure that they won't believe that I'm the sole survivor of a battle against superior
weaponry. And besides, they'll probably want to send MORE troops in retribution," sighed Drkhrt.
Out of the silence, a small voice piped up, "Why not tell them the truth?"
"What, who's THAT! Am I hearing voices again? I must be crazy."
"You're not crazy." the small voice gurgled, as a tiny watery figure suddenly appeared, "I'm here to help you on
your mission. My name is Lin, I'm a water sprite!"
"Uhhhh, okay. Let's suppose that you're NOT a figment of my deluded mind, and ask how you can be here, if
there's no water? Aren't you supposed to stay by your stream, or something?"
"Oh, that. Well, you see, when you filled your canteen at the lake by the landing area, I kinda hitched a ride,"
gleamed Watersprite Lin.
"I guess that means I can't have a drink, now, doesn't it?"
"Well, we're going to have to talk about that..."