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Tafel wiped away the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand. She exhaled and lowered her staff, the burnt piece of wood that she had taken from the palace courtyard. The fireballs floating around her disappeared, and she reached into a portal to take out a flask of water. She took a sip and deposited it back inside the portal.
“You sweat? I thought you were part phoenix now,” Alice said and dropped a towel onto Tafel’s head. She had to climb up Mr. Skelly’s back to do it, but the effect was the same. Tafel grabbed the towel and raised her head, meeting Alice’s gaze. The guild master pointed towards a nearby tree that Mary was sitting under. “Do something about her now that you’re taking a break.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Tafel asked and tilted her head. She wiped her face with the towel and frowned. “She looks perfectly fine to me.”
“That’s because your eyes suck,” Alice said. “Look harder.”
Tafel squinted.
“Lower.”
Tafel’s eyes widened. “Oh! Mary! Mary! Stop!” She ran over to the empress while waving her hands. “Stop!”
Mary paused and raised her head. “Yes?”
Tafel crouched next to the empress and grabbed her forearm. “Why are you spinning the turtle!?”
Mary glanced down at the crying turtle by her feet. It was rotating on its back, its limbs flailing in all directions. Its snake tail had been tied into a loose knot, and it was pressing itself against the belly of the turtle to avoid spinning too much. Foam leaked out of both animal’s mouths, splattering onto the ground. Mary blinked and looked back up at Tafel. “It’s training,” she said in a deadpan voice.
“What part of this is training…?” Tafel asked and placed her finger on the turtle’s shell, slowing its momentum. When it stopped, both heads stared up at her with teary eyes and wails escaped from their mouths.
“You never know when you’ll be placed upside-down and spun around,” Mary said and nodded. “Look at how effective it is at disabling Mary Junior. It’ll be a common tactic used against her.”
“…Mary Junior?”
Mary pointed at the turtle that was struggling to climb back onto its feet. “Mary Junior.”
“No.” Tafel shook her head. “Just no. Change its name.”
Mary bit her lower lip. “Why? Is it bad?”
Tafel nodded.
A sigh escaped from Mary’s lips. “Then … Little Mary?”
“Something without Mary in it.”
Mary’s brow wrinkled. “Why? Mary’s a good name. Are you saying it’s not?”
“No, no,” Tafel said. “That’s not it. It’s just that … for a turtle, maybe it isn’t that great of a name?”
Mary pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why don’t you come up with one?”
“How about … Turtley? Or Snakey?” Tafel’s eyes lit up. “Oh! How about Shelly? I think Shelly is a great name for a turtle.”
“There’s already too many people around Vur that have their names start with an S,” Mary said and shook her head. “What if people get confused?”
“But turtles have shells?” Tafel asked. “Shelly is obviously the turtle. No one will get confused by that.”
Mary shook her head. “It sounds too close to Sheryl.”
Tafel rolled her eyes. “And Mary Junior doesn’t sound too close to Mary?”
“There’s a whole two syllables difference! It’s not the same at all.” Mary reached down and picked up the crying turtlesnake. It tried to bite her, but its fangs and beak couldn’t break past the leather covering her hands. “I’m going to raise Mary Junior to be stronger than me. That way, she won’t have her soul harvested by that evil dragon.” She glared at Grimmy who was sleeping in a patch of sunlight. After staring at Grimmy for a bit longer, she bit down on her lower lip. “He’s not really going to harvest Mary Junior’s soul, right?”
“You shouldn’t have named it,” Mr. Skelly said, appearing by Tafel’s side. He sighed. “You’ll get attached, and it’ll be such a tragedy when she’s taken away from you.”
“Don’t torment the poor girl who’s going to eventually have her pet ripped away from her,” Alice said, pulling Mr. Skelly away.
Mary shot to her feet, still carrying the turtle in her hands. “I’m going to run away. I’m going to run so far away that that evil dragon won’t be able to take Mary Junior from me.”
“You’re crushing her,” Tafel said and pointed at the struggling turtle. “I think she might prefer being taken away by Grimmy.” She shrugged when Mary glared at her. “It’s just a feeling.”
***
Alora hovered above a circular pit in the ground. The surroundings were brown and empty, cleaned of all vegetation, buildings, and any semblance of civilization. “Okay,” Alora said and nodded, taking in the view. “This was the place, right?”
“It was supposed to be…,” Zyocuh’s voice said from her claw. “What happened here? The giants are supposed to lie dormant until I give them a command.”
“Do you think it has anything to do with that giant red mass of wriggling thingies down there?” Alora asked and pointed her glowing claw towards the horizon. “It looks like there’s more than enough of them to make up a giant.”
“I suppose there’s no other explanation…,” Zyocuh said. “Head closer.”
A few moments later, Alora arrived over the throng of red sheepmen. They were destroying everything in their path, removing trees, grass, weeds, stones. Nothing was left untouched except for the dirt. A few sheepmen raised their heads and met Alora’s gaze. They bleated and pointed at the sky. Then, like a colony of ants, they swarmed on top of each other, creating a massive pillar that stretched towards Alora like a slow-moving, wriggling spear.
“Oh, that is so gross,” Alora said, her snout wrinkling. “What the heck are they?”
“It seems like a part of the ritual went wrong,” Zyocuh said. “They’re what the giant was supposed to be made of, but instead of having one core, they have thousands that are linked together like a hivemind. You’ll have to absorb them all.”
Alora made a face as she flew higher up into the air. “You want me to absorb these things? I don’t want these things inside of me! That’d be so gross. Look at how they wriggle. Ugh.”