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Malvina’s beak stretched open in a massive yawn, and she exhaled out a breath of flames as her beak snapped shut. Beside her, standing on the same branch, there was a phoenix with three particularly large feathers on its head, jutting out behind it like a crown. The phoenix glanced at Malvina and asked, “You turned down the elves’ request to hunt a dragon. Why?”
Malvin shrugged. “They’re too poor to afford our services,” the Queen of the Forest said. “I never work for less than what I’m worth, and I won’t let our subordinates be cheated either. That’s my responsibility as queen.”
The feather-crowned phoenix nodded his head. “So, that’s the reason.”
“What?” Malvina asked and squinted at her companion. “Do you think I’m afraid of hunting oversized lizards?”
“No, I didn’t say that,” the feathered-crowned phoenix said and shook his head. He blinked and turned his head to the side. “It’s been busy the last few days, hasn’t it?”
Not long after the feathered-crowned phoenix asked his question, the large and fat leaves on the branch rustled as a slightly overweight phoenix ran into view from down the massive branch. “Queen Malvina!” the plump phoenix said in a high-pitched voice. “Some humans are seeking an audience with you!”
Malvina blinked. “Humans?” she asked. “What do they want with me?” She rose up from her relaxed posture and sighed as she waddled towards the center of the branch towards the plump phoenix. Malvina stopped in front of the phoenix, towering over it by two of her heads. She bent down and pecked at the feathers on its scalp, adjusting some that had strayed out of place.
“Stop that!” the plump phoenix said and shook itself off as if it had been drenched in water. “You’re embarrassing me!”
Malvina chuckled to herself before spreading her wings. Then, she burst apart into a ball of flames, leaving the feathered-crowned phoenix and the plump phoenix by themselves. The two exchanged glances with one another before the plump phoenix saluted with his right wing and waddled away, sauntering down along the branch inside of running.
Beneath the four great tree’s canopy, three humans stood with their heads bowed. Flames burst into existence above them, and Malvina made her appearance. She flapped her wings as she fell towards the ground and landed in front of the humans, towering over them as if they were worms poking above soil. They weren’t that different from worms either; it wouldn’t be difficult for her to swallow them whole. She squinted at them. “For what purpose have you sought me out?”
The human in the lead cleared his throat and raised his head. “Malvina, Queen of the Forest, my clan was raided by a phoenix from another tower.”
Malvina’s eyes narrowed even further. “Oh?” For a phoenix to raid another tower and plunder someone’s clan, didn’t that mean the clan had a treasure worth taking? “What did you lose?”
The human shifted his gaze to the side and mumbled, “A mushroom cave.”
Malvina blinked. “Say that again?”
“My men were watching over a mushroom cave for a mission, and they were attacked by a woman wearing black armor and a woman with horns who wielded phoenix flames,” the human said and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Only a few of them managed to escape; the rest were captured when the dimensional monument shattered.”
“A woman with horns wielding phoenix flames does not sound like a phoenix to me,” Malvina said and frowned. “The tower is generous with its rewards; phoenix flames can be obtained by non-phoenixes.”
“She had an imprint on her forehead,” the human said. “Only real phoenixes have a phoenix imprint, isn’t that so? Not even the tower can imprint people.”
Malvina’s frown deepened. “And she raided your clan to take your mushrooms?”
“She raided our clan to take the cave filled with mushrooms we were guarding,” the human said.
“Ah, yes, the art of word fluffing; your kind does excel at that,” Malvina said. She nodded her head, and the root bracelet she was wearing around her ankle shone with an amber light. A fruit dropped onto the ground in front of the group of humans. “Here’s your reward. Get along now before you feel the urge to chop down my home.”
Malvina watched with a frown as the humans bowed at her and retreated out of the shade created by the canopy. A phoenix from another tower; she needed to be taken in and fast too. If the dragons of that tower discovered her traces, a terrible fate would befall her. Not only that, but she must’ve been just a poor child who had gotten separated from her mother; why else would she be raiding a mushroom cave?
***
The inside of Tafel’s nose itched, and before she could do anything about it, the urge to sneeze became too strong. “Achoo!”
Ashley turned her head to the side. “Are you okay?” the Light Lord asked. “I might be Puddles’ fault. His dander has that effect on people.”
“Are you calling me unclean, bad owner?” Sir Selddup asked, drawing his teeth back at Ashley to reveal his gums. “I’ll have you know it’s only been a year since I’ve last taken a bath. I still smell as fresh as spring flowers.”
“Spring flowers? No,” Ashley said and shook her head. “Carrion flowers? Maybe. They’d have to be the pungent kind.”
Sir Selddup bit down on Ashley’s calf, but a white barrier prevented him from breaking her skin. He snarled and shook his head, causing the Light Lord’s body to jerk about. She frowned and grabbed onto the dog, her arms making their way up to his head. With a grunt, Ashley locked her elbow around Sir Selddup’s neck and leaned back, causing the dog to choke and release her leg. “Bad dog,” she said and released her hold. “No biting.”