"You did it! It was brilliant! The old fool actually believed your stupid vision. Hah! After we all go and trek through the hills for a bit, we will come back here and I will finally get my transfer." Ott danced up and down in the light of their campfire he was so happy.
Nafon watched him in wonder. He had never seen the old man dance before. But then again, he couldn't remember ever seeing him happy before either. Nafon chewed on a piece of fron meat and pitched the bone to Desiage. The serpent caught the bone in mid-air with sharp teeth. His blue-green scales shone like jewels in the light of the fire.
"I will head a battalion of the world's greatest warriors." Ott continued with his gray eyes shining. "We will ride into the hills and come back heroes. I will ride in the front with my robes blowing and my power staff raised. Let Wasos try to keep me in a dead-end village after that!"
Nafon leaned back against Desiage's side and closed his eyes. It felt good to be out in the open again. The fresh air still smelled of the campfires around them and sounds of other conversations drifted in on the night air, but still this campsite was a thousand times better than the fancy hotel that Ott had wanted to occupy.
"Excuse me." a soft voice said like a whisper of the trees at night. "Are you the wizard Ott, of Zia?" Nafon opened one eye lazily. He had smelled the Tekian from several yards away and knew that he represented no danger. But he was curious enough to want to see the small, winged man up close.
"Yes. Yes." Ott said impatiently. "Do you have news for me?"
"I am Rejro, crown prince of Teka." the tiny man said with a stately bow.
"What do I care for princes of butterflies?" Ott shouted. "Do you have news of my battalion or not?"
"Yes, I have news. I am Rejro, this is my warrior, Norfy." A second winged man fluttered into view to land beside his prince. Nafon opened both eyes. This second man moved like a hunter.
"Greetings, Prince Rejro and Warrior Norfy." Nafon said formally from his seat beside his winged snake. Both men bowed back.
"Would you quit playing games, you stupid halfling? What news do you bring from Wasos?" Ott demanded, his entire body trembling with frustrated rage. How dare these little butterfly men make a great wizard wait on their information?
"We are to join your group, great wizard." Norfy answered for his prince. Then, he settled himself down near the fire. Nafon handed him a cup of wild herb tea which he accepted graciously. He sipped of it carefully before handing it on to his prince. Then Nafon served Norfy some tea for his own thirst.
"Join my group?" Ott raged on. "Wasos has sent me butterflies?" he was jumping up and down again. Nafon noticed that his rages looked a lot like his dances.
"How am I supposed to win a war with butterflies?" Ott yelled into the night. The low hum of conversations from several campfires died down. Ott was in his glory. His robes were flowing around him and his great staff glowed in his hand. His long beard trailed after him as he paced and ranted. If Nafon hadn't seen the wizard raging nearly every night of his young life, he might have been impressed by the display. As it was he settled back against Desiage and sipped his own tea. The winged snake, for his part, just closed his outer lids and napped.
Ott stomped on yelling insults at the bewildered Tekians and scattering ashes from the fire at each pass. The Tekians took a hint from Nafon and settled back as if this was a normal circumstance for them. Nafon noticed that Norfy's hand tightened on his long knife occasionally if Ott's insults landed to close to home. But a slight gesture from the prince held him from attacking the older man.
"What is Wasos trying to do to me? First a stupid snake and a half breed with even less brains and now butterflies! I won't have it! I am the great Ott!" the frail foot stomped into the actual edge of the fire. A spark flew out and landed on the piece of beard that was flowing past. Nafon watched in interest as Ott paced back and forth with the end of his beard in flames.
"Are you going to tell him?" Norfy asked in a polite whisper. Nafon shrugged.
"He'll figure it out eventually." he whispered back.
"Help! I'm on fire!" Ott screamed, hysterical. Nafon calmly threw his tea on the end of the old man's beard and put the fire out. Politely, each of the Tekians did the same. Ott stood there looking at his ruined beard as it smoldered on the ground stained brown with herbal tea.
"You did that on purpose!" he accused Nafon. "You stained my beard! My symbol of great age and power. You've ruined it." he sat down on a rock. "How am I to lead a battalion of great warriors with a brown-tipped beard? I will be humiliated. Wasos will send me back to Zia for life. I will never get a transfer now." he looked so defeated that Nafon took pity on him.
"Maybe the rest of the battalion will be great warriors." he said hopefully, although he had an idea that Norfy was exactly what the old man was hoping for.
Ott brightened up at the idea. Soon he was pacing up and down again, although a respectful distance from the flames of the campfire now, and planned his strategy, which included insulting half his men as far as Nafon could tell from the half-heard conversation.
The smell that drifted to Nafon caused him to sit up away from Desiage's side. The great snake lifted his head, too. The two Tekians looked to see what had aroused the boy and his snake.
She stepped into the circle of light cast by their fire. Behind her was a queen snake as golden as Desiage was green and blue. The two snakes hissed at each other and sent out forked tongues to assess whether it was friend or foe that each now faced. The girl turned beautiful green eyes toward Nafon. He smiled softly. He knew her well. He had often seen her in Ott's power staff as he was growing up. Knowing that she was somewhere in his world had often made his life more bearable.
"Greetings, Quago." he said softly. She widened her eyes in surprise, but like a good hunter, she showed no other outward sign of her shock. She was tall and slender, a typical example of the regal Deliac people. She wore a short golden tunic that was belted by a collection of hunter's knives. Her bright hair was chopped off into a cap of tasseled curls that would need very little care. She moved quietly and swiftly like a wild animal. Around her neck hung several metals for bravery and skill that glittered like jewels in the fire light.
Desiage hissed and flapped his wings at the young queen. She returned his hiss and bumped her mistress with her scaled head.
"It seem that Meib would like to take your snake out for a night hunt." Quago said in a musical voice to Nafon. Nafon moved away from his snake. Desiage and the young queen then leapt into the sky together.
"What is this? A marriage brokerage for snakes? Get out of here, young woman. We are about to march to war." Ott declared shaking his power staff at Quago. Nafon took her some tea, threatening to let some of it spill on the old man's beard. Ott was quiet for a minute as he got his beard safely out of harm's way.
"Go home to your husband and children. This is no place for a woman." Ott continued, although he kept an eye on his young charge and his beard tip.
"I am Quago of the Deliac people. I am to ride with you on the morrow, Wizard Ott." she said quietly but firmly.
"A woman! What else can Wasos do to me?" Ott yelled into the night. He stamped off into the dark and a moment later a soft grunt was heard as the old man ran into something in the dark.
"Get out of my way you old fool!"
"Who are you calling a fool, you half wit!"
"Half wit! I am the great warrior, Telon from Telia, home of the world's greatest fighters. I have come to join battle with whatever kills in the north mountains."
"You are standing on my foot, you great lout! I am tempted to turn you into a tadpole!" This set Nafon running out to where the wizard and the Teliat stood fighting.
"No, Ott! Don't!" but it was too late. The old wizard had misfired his spell as usual and by the time Nafon and Quago and the two Tekians had reached the combatants, Telon stood toe to toe with a great ugly bullfrog.
"Ribbit" Ott said forlornly. What a day!
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