Solsae Kingdom - Part 5

 Previous Chapter [Current Chapter: 05] Next Chapter 

Episode 5 - Return of the King
“I can see the town gate on the horizon, Rex! We’re almost back!” Amami says gleefully. “Yeah.” Rex agrees. Unlike the rabbit who regained her strength when she changed back, Rex’s body is still worse for wear. His right arm slumped over the small girl’s shoulders like a python round her neck, he dragged that battered body back, saying all he needed was a good night’s rest and a long bath in the castle’s volcanic spring.

Amami didn't believe that a spring could have any rejuvenate features, but he insisted. And she wasn't going to shoot him down after the bewildering adventure that befell her just these few days. On the moon they had sayings for Terraria, and its dwellers - One by one, those sayings had been shattered since she arrived here.

An earth man taking down a lunarian commander was one thing - then going toe-to-toe with her in that monstrous state - taking wounds that would kill a Lunarian, and still having the strength to drag that broken body of his back through the woods - with a bit of help. Rex was every bit as amazing as he made himself out to be. If not more.

“Can you hear something?” She asks. A faint sound carrying on the wind was what snapped her from her thoughts. It sounds like a deep, gravelly voice. Shouting. In fact, if she were to squint her eyes…

Yep, there is something approaching, arms flailing left and right, legs a blur, a cloud of dust chasing him, and his voice trailing not far behind -”my lorrrrrrrrrrrd! My lord! You have returned!” He cried as he surpassed any human limitation and broke sound barriers to charge right into the pair like a bowling ball - And instead of bowling them down, lift them from the ground in one crushing bear hug, tears streaming down his rectangular features and a smile of the utmost joy printed on his handsome face.

“I, VyeBlaze, have -sniffle- been beside myself with worry! When i saw the explosion, I rushed straight back but you were not to be seen!” He squeezed the pair tighter to his armoured chest.

“But I must digress, what happened - where did you go? And just who is this young lady whom accompanies you on this venture?”

“Blaze…. Put me down.” Rex orders, begrudgingly.

“Oh yes, yes, where are my manners! Allow me, Vyeblaze! To set you down!” He calls, plopping them one at a time back on the beaten path.

“Is there anything else I can help you with, my king?”

“Yes. Return to the castle and request that the servants ready a banquet. I have much to discuss.”

“One for you and your… ladyfriend here, I presume?”

“You too, Blaze. You are my chief guard, right?” he asks rhetorically

“That I am Sir. You indeed humble me. Very well! I will be back in two shakes of a sheeps tail, or my name isn’t VyeBlaze, Right hand of the Phoenix King!”

And with that, he disappeared in the same cloud of dust that he had arrived in.

Forrrrrrrr a moment, at any rate. Rex and Amami were just about to enter the castle town gates of which the buzzed up guard had just charged through, when he charged back up to them like a hurricane this time a kart dragged in his wake. “I have ordered the banquet, my king! The servants are most become with the news that their king has returned and are faithfully preparing myriad of exquisite dishes as we speak. Please, my king, my lady - won't you allow this knight to do you the honor of aiding your return to the castle? It would be a privilege and a pleasure to carry you back my self!”

Rex nods in agreement and hops into the cart. Amami extends a hand to the chief of guards.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, VyeBlaze. I’m Amami!” She smiles in earnest. He takes her extended hand, kneeling and kissing it.

“And I am VyeBlaze, his majesty’s most stalwart comrade. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, fair lady.”

She giggles, pulling the knight back to his feet playfully. “O’ noblest of noble knights, I thank thee for thine assistance” She jokes, ascending a couple of steps and sitting beside Rex in the kart.

“By the way, I see no horse. How does this thing move.”

“No idea.” Rex admits, getting comfortable in the leather bound sofa.

VyeBlaze strides around the side of the kart, and clenches his fists around two wooden handles.

“Shall we?” He affirms.

Before the others can protest, with a call of the word, “woosh!”, VyeBlaze is off like a rocket!

He bounds down the roads of solsae with thunderous steps, the cart shaking each time his greaves struck the cobblestone. Rex had his arms crossed across his chest, and his eyes closed gently as though he was taking a nap - but Amami looked as though she would hurl at any moment.

“Try not to think about it too much, rabbit.” He advised.

Amami opened her mouth for some retort, but quickly shut it again, covering her inflated cheeks with her palms and squeezing her eyes shut as though that would make this all unhappen.

VyeBlaze was fast. Faster than any horse. there was no time to take in the scenery as he blurred around every corner and blazed down every street, yet the knight was clearly not one to take in his surroundings, he turned a corner with such ferocity that the cart turned 90 degrees in the air, smashed through a peddlers Turtle Waggon stand, and narrowly avoided impacting with the side of a building until he gained control of it again.

he charged straight ahead, and Rex thought that if he looked behind, he would see trails of fire and smoke from where they rode. he thought better of it, watching the horizon, because heaven forbid VyeBlaze do such a thing.

“You’ve been training, haven’t you, Blaze?” Rex asked.

“My king, was their ever any doubt? I, Vyeblaze have pilgrimed across all of our beautiful Solsae in my quest for the strength to protect our fair land, and have become much, much stronger because of it! But this is hardly the time for stories - “ He squatted, his powerfull leg muscles rippling - and then with an explosion of force, he leaped into the air - Kart and all, leaping over a young family of three who watched in fear as the man, the kart and its contents flew over them and crashed back down on the road, bouncing and tumbling, and disappearing in a poof of dust. and the thunder of one mans greaves stomping the ground “We must discuss our escapades at a later date, my King! For now, I will endeavor to get us back to the castle, posthaste!”

Rex nodded. He was impressed with his friend’s growth. He couldn’t wait for their next sparing match. His blood boiled at the thought of it.

Amami flopped listlessly onto Rex’s lap.

“Not long now, rabbit. Hang in there.” He reassured, glancing down at her.

He could see the new castle. It was magnificently crafted from the finest woods around, Adorned with epic murals depicting Solsae’s rise from the ashes with Rex at its helm. A new garden had been set, and Gingerfruit hung from the branches of blossoming trees like inflated balloons of hot lava.

The kart screeched to a halt in front of the gates.

“Come, my friends! Let us enter the third Castle of Solsae! I daresay that the workers are getting quicker at rebuilding your castle, my king.”

“Yes, and it’s astounding work.”

Amami swayed side to side like a drunken sailor, still sick to the stomach from that roller coaster ride across town. She groaned ineligibly, but had very little to say.

VyeBlaze took the lead and parted the castles double doors, and with a curt bow, ushered them inside.

“After you, my King, my lady.”

Upon entering, a grand stairway lead to the second floor - To the right, a set of double doors were parted - Clearly leading to the kitchen, and to the left another set of double doors. Rex told himself, “I wonder where my Volcanic spring is now… I’ll explore this new castle later once everything calms down.”

They made their way through the double doors, where before them was the most elaborate banquet hall that any of them had ever laid eyes on before. Marble pillars, alternating black and white tiles, Banners with Solsae’s crest hung from the ceiling, a huge patio window opened up onto a pebble garden with its own pond and a trimmed lawn. And in the centre of the room, a round table, with ten seats around its perimeter, and the center-piece - a beautiful chandelier, embedded with golden, amber, orange and red gemstones and lit with the purest, whitest flames of Burn Mountain to illuminate the whole room with a light that almost reflected the magnificence of the sun itself.

Rex wasn’t that fond of such gaudy displays of wealth or power. He wouldn’t have asked for this, so it must be the glass-crafts ways of showing their respect. They really outdid themselves.

A lavish spread awaited them upon the round table. A hog on a spit, roasting gently over a crackling flame, its scent wafting through the dining hall, VyeBlaze visibly drooling from its aroma. Wooden tankards of Solsae’s finest golden Ginger Beer with a cloud-like head of frothy white atop them, and three oval plates laid out with plump tomatoes, so juicy they looked like they might explode, fried mushrooms dripping with butter, mashed sweet potato, peas, carrots, a great big Yorkshire pudding, and a boat of gravy ready to be poured. VyeBlaze’s drool was pooling at his feet, his jaw agape.

“This must be heaven” he said, wiping his chin, his eyes sparkling with what can only be described as Food-Lust.

He practically leaped over to a chair, pulled it out with a prickling screech, and dropped into it.

Rex took his seat next, and then the other two sat at either side. “It’s bad manners to take your seat before the king.”

“Oh, terribly sorry!”

Rex just smirked. “I’m joking. In here, we’re all brothers.”

Amami rattled her knife and fork against the table, as though to will the meat onto her plate. When it didn’t listen, VyeBlaze politely sliced the hog into perfect chunks with his Kite-Sword, the legendary “Excaliburn” - if you’ll take his word for it, and doled the tender, delicate meat of the hog onto each plate.

“Dig in.” He drooled, stabbing all of his food onto a knife, and munching it like some kind of Kebab.

“Make your self at home.” Rex snarked, engaging his feast, famished now, from a night of fighting, burning off calories and healing that wounded arm back to its original state - Something which seemed to have gone unnoticed by his comrades.

___________________________________________________

The sounds of laughing and bantering, munching and crunching, slurping and gulping, the scrapes of metal on china, and the thud as emptied pitchers smashed on the wood surface for the maids to refill, filled the dining hall. this continued for nearly 30 minutes, before Rex rose his voice and spoke up, addressing his guests with all of the charisma of a king.

“We need a ceremony,” he stated. Abruptly.

“What do you mean?” Asked Amami.

“My King, do tell.” VyeBlaze Parroted.

“I am officially recognizing Amami as the Mayor of Solsae. Her job will be to oversee development and community, and help the city flourish. But to display this to the people, a grand, flashy and explosive ceremony will be important. It will help burn that knowledge into their heads.”

VyeBlaze nods in agreement, sinking his fangs into the gravy soaked leg of some animal.

Amami took out a pad and feather quill, and begun making notes - A habit she had kept since her life as a secretary to the moon.

“I’m thinking, fire! A display of fireworks and pyrotechnics, and then I can give a short speech to the people, and knight her as my lackey.”

“That sounds like quite the display, my king!” VyeBlaze agrees, eagerly. “But rather than Lackey, how about ‘Saint’. Saint of the Phoenix King. How does that sound?”

Rex lifts his pitcher of Ginger Beer and swills it down aggressively, then slams the glass down on the table.

“I like it! What do you think to being my first Saint, Rabbit? Or second, if we count VyeBlaze here.”

“I think it sounds wonderful” She says with a dreamy smile. VyeBlaze spoke up next,

“Back in the day, The monarch would anoint her warriors with Blessed Water, and salute them with the flat of her divine sword. She would ask her Knights to rise and say their vows, pledging their allegiance.” VyeBlaze added.

“We too, could perhaps have some significant action like this as a display of power to the people.”

“Hm… But what kind of action?” Rex ponders.

“I… I think I know.” Amami says, looking at her page with a startled expression - For the meeting minutes that she thought she was writing were some other words entirely.

A letter, in fact. A letter that once she read it, awakened a memory.

“Sooth! This does sound very dangerous. Is this undertaking one which thou might wish to participate in, my lady?” VyeBlaze asks, a note of fear in his charismatic voice.

She nods. Her eyes contain a gleam of confidence. “The person who gave me this pen, her name was Xian. she appeared in my dream and when I arrived, the feather of creation was in my breast pocket - Just as she said.”

“Bwahahahahaha! How bold of you! My flames have scorched many a foe to ash before now. Think you can survive the heat?”

“If she says I can do it… I’ll trust her.” Amami responds. Deep down, she seriously believes the words of this spirit that appeared in her dream, and this enchanted pen. “Please, let this be our ritual.” She asks firmly.

“Alright then. Tell me, rabbit, do you trust me?”

“I do, Rex. With all I have.”

“Will you give your self to me?”

“I will, my king. I will give you everything I can.”

“Then, lets get this Enkindling under way!”

Previous Chapter [Current Chapter: 05] Next Chapter