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Vur sat cross-legged on top of a boulder. Leaning against the boulder, Alice and Mr. Skelly were sitting with their backs straight, their arms crossed over their chests. Thousands of sheepmen surrounded the boulder, kneeling in a circle. Ahead of the Vur, the sea of sheepmen parted by shuffling to the sides without standing, and Tafel and Mary came into view, led by an entourage of halberd-wielding sheepmen.
“Alright, Vur,” Tafel said, her voice hiding a sigh. “What’s going on?”
“These sheepmen were on a mission to kill a dragon, but once they saw how strong I was, they gave up and decided to become my followers instead,” Vur said. “I think I’m going to put them in Konigreich. That way, Auntie can keep an eye on them.”
“On a mission to kill a dragon?” Tafel asked. “And they gave up? Just like that?”
“Well, they are sheep,” Alice said and shrugged. “If you can convince one of them, the rest follow. It’s funny actually.”
Tafel glared at Alice before redirecting her gaze onto Vur. “Shouldn’t you be more upset at them for wanting to kill a dragon?”
Vur scratched his head. “You can’t help what you want,” he said. “It’s how you act on what you want that determines whether or not you’re a bad person.” Vur nodded, and the sheepmen nodded with him, their heads bobbing up and down like waves in a red ocean.
Tafel blinked. Then she brought her hands up to her eyes and rubbed them with her fingers. She let out a breath as she lowered her arms and took another look at Vur. She blinked again before frowning. “Vur? Did something happen to you while I was gone?”
“I became the ruler of these sheepmen?”
“Other than that?”
Vur tilted his head. “No. Why?”
Tafel bit her lower lip. “It’s just that … you said something quite uncharacteristic of yourself,” she muttered. Wind whistled as she took in a deep breath. “Actually, never mind. It’s nothing. So, you’re treating these sheep things…, err, people, these sheep people as your subjects now? Is that a good idea? Do you even know what they eat?”
Vur blinked. He turned his head towards a sheepman with prominent horns that curled like a ram’s. “What do you eat?”
The sheepman bleated and cleared his throat. “Grass.”
Vur nodded at the sheepman and turned his head back towards Tafel. “They eat grass.”
“Okay,” Tafel said and held up a fist. She extended her pointer finger. “Their mission in life is to kill a dragon.” She raised her middle finger. “They follow strong people.” She raised her ring finger. “And they eat grass.” Her three raised fingers wiggled as she moved her hand towards Vur. “What else do you know about them other than these three things? You can’t just assimilate new citizens like this.”
Vur snorted. “That’s not all I know about them.”
Tafel raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“Really,” Vur said. “I know they’re red. And when they die, they dissolve. That’s five things.”
“We also know they can speak,” Alice said. “That’s six.”
“You stay out of this,” Tafel said, glaring at Alice again.
Vur furrowed his brow. “Are you mad?”
“No, I’m not mad,” Tafel said and crossed her arms over her chest. “What makes you think I’m mad?”
“Well, you sound mad, and you look like you’re mad,” Vur said with a nod.
“She’s upset the sheepmen thought I was your wife too,” Mary said before Tafel could say anything.
Tafel pursed her lips. “Why is everyone ganging up on me?” She frowned at Mary. “I thought you were on my side.”
Mary shrank back, her shoulders hunching. She faced Vur and stuck her tongue out at him. “Tafel’s not mad, dummy. She only looks and acts like she is.”
Vur pointed at Mary. “Seize her.”
The sheepmen rose in unison and rushed Mary from all sides. She yelped, and a few sheepmen went flying, dissolving into puddles of red liquid once they hit the ground. But despite Mary’s best efforts, the sheepmen swarmed and brought her down, grabbing her ankles first to remove her leverage. And once she couldn’t utilize her strength properly, it was only a matter of piling more and more sheepmen on top of her until she couldn’t move. A small mountain of red bodies formed beside Tafel before Mary finally stopped struggling.
“Vur?” Tafel asked, taking a few steps back from the wriggling pile. “What are you doing?”
“I’m testing how strong they are,” Vur said and frowned. “And it seems like they’re stronger than I first thought. I didn’t think they’d pin her that fast.”
“Like we, baaa, said, great leader,” the sheepman with ram-like horns said. “We were, baa, created with a mission to, baaa, kill a dragon. Would we have baaan given such a mission if, baa, that were impossible to carry out? It only makes sense, ba, for our combined strength to baaa greater than or equal to a dragon’s.”
“Who gave you that mission?” Tafel asked. “And let her go. I’m ordering you as the great leader’s wife.”
“Baa, the ageless blood warrior, Zyocuh,” the sheepman said. “He, baaa, was responsible for our, baa, creation.”
The miniature mountain of sheepmen flew into the air as Mary sat up, panting, her face red from exertion. “Uncle Zyocuh?”
“Baa, maybe?” the sheepman asked before shrugging. “Your eyes are the same, baaa, as his.”
“Is it possible for you to speak without bleating?” Tafel asked. “It’s a little confusing.”
The sheepman shook his head. “I, baa, can’t help it. They come out, baa, like hiccoughs.”
“Why would Uncle Zyocuh want to kill a dragon?” Mary asked and shoved aside the sheepmen that were beside her, making room to stand. “That doesn’t make sense. He told me to never provoke the dragons.”
“We can always ask him why,” Tafel said.
Mary flinched, and she spoke in a voice lower than before, “Every time I ever asked Uncle a question, he’d hit me, so I stopped.”
Tafel’s eyes narrowed, and she clenched her hands into fists. “Well, I don’t think he’ll be able to hit you with a few dragons staring him down. Let’s go back to the palace and interrogate him.” She gestured towards the sheepman with the ram-like horns. “Make yourselves useful and secure some genies for us.”
The sheepman turned towards Vur with a questioning expression on his long face. Vur nodded at him. “Do as she says.”