"So, what now?" Theo asked, staring at the enraged and determined Sahallas, who were glaring at the two.
The Sahallas were outside and they weren't in the best of moods but none of them tried to attack the duo and they were just maintaining their distance. They hadn't said anything either.
John grinned. "They kidnapped you, refused to elaborate, and tried to stop me. I'm sure they know what sort of fate would befall them if they try anything funny."
'Yeah, you're one to talk!'
Though the Sahalla acted rash, John too acted more than just rash.
This situation was anything but pretty, and it went both ways.
With another sigh, Theo grabbed the furless, skully thing on the ground. "You said you were a saint or something, right? Xer…" Theo pulled a blank when he tried to remember its name.
"IT's Xercovele De La Broanska, how many times do I have to tell you!"
"The hell, it talked!" John was more amused than surprised.
Theo meanwhile just ignored his best friend. "Forever? Anyway Xer-bro- whatever, since you're a saint and all, can you order them to stand down or something? They seemed to really worship you and stuff."
OF course, Theo was just throwing a stone in the dark, hoping it would hit the bullseye.
Xer-Bro as Theo liked to call him, snorted and started floating. "Stand down peasants, for I, your deity am before you, now! BOW!" It was a little pissed at being called so, but addressing the peasants first seemed a bit more fun anyway.
'Wait, what?' Theo was mildly confused. One, this thing was pretty much still the size of an apple, and two, it didn't even make much sense.
John couldn't hide his chuckle. "Where'd you get this guy?" He came close and started poking. "Oo, that's really his skull." His curiosity was definitely piqued.
"Don't touch me, peasant!" Xer-bro battled away John's finger with its tail.
"Long story." Theo sighed. 'Actually, maybe it's not.'
"Stand down." A female voice rang- it belonged to a Sahallan warrior.
Both John and Theo recognized her.
"I'm sure you don't want war-" John began. He cracked one of his confident smiles. "So can we drop this charade and have a peaceful conversation." His grin however implied something else altogether.
"I'm sure you don't want one, either. But let me make things clear. Give us the saint, and you won't be charged with anything. In fact, we'd even treat you even with more respect for freeing the saint after so long and we do apologize for what's done."
John was about to say something but Theo cut in. "Sure. It's no big deal." He never wanted to get involved in this in the first place. Besides, he was going to free this guy anyway.
He quickly went through the menu in his mind.
But when he went into the summon menu, then pet menu- he ran into a problem. Namely, there was no way to actually, release a pet without killing it first.
No cancel button.
'Oh shit…' Theo regretted pressing that yes.
His smile quickly cracked. "You see-" He started desperately searching for excuses, brain running in full gear.
But there were none.
Sweat formed and then poured.
"I have decided to travel with this man, my servant," Xer-bro said. "I've been stuck in this land for far too long."
"But my lordship!" The girl tried, desperately pleading.
All the soldiers were eagerly staring at us.
'What the hell is wrong with these people?'
Theo couldn't be bothered to understand why they were treating this furless dog that didn't even have a face, with this much respect. Yes, it could fly, but still!
And yet, he knew their culture was different, hence there were plenty of things he didn't really have any reason to understand in the first place.
All he could do was smile; a PR grin.
"What is the commotion, Sandra?"
The king, some nobles, and captain Barslain headed this way. Voli was behind all of them, waving.
'So, she brought them here?' Theo's fake smile started to crack even more.
The king and the rest were shocked. The captain, however, was not happy.
"We might be ever so slightly, screwed," John whispered.
"You think!" Theo vigorously whispered back.
***
They were taken to a large room: banners made of golden threads, decorated with various gems. The throne room.
The room was really high up, and though for a moment Theo dreaded the stairs, he never had to climb them. Apparently, this place didn't have an elevator but the whole stairway was just a massive escalator.
"Now," The king began, seated on his throne. "Please explain."
There was a woman next to the king's throne, also seated on her throne.
The captain, John, Theo, and Voli were standing in front of the king. The guards and some ministers were standing by the sidelines.
"The fruit of this tree- it cracked the moment I touched it and this came out." Theo still had the dog in his hand. And the poor thing could not run away now that it was perfectly bound to him.
"He is one of our sealed saints." The woman next to the king- the queen began. "Long ago, our ancestors sealed certain creatures in the world tree to maintain the balance of this world- so in the future when we really needed their powers, they'd emerge once more."
'So basically, you just imprisoned powerful creatures in there so you could use them later?'
Theo did not understand that and nor did he care.
He just wanted to get out of here and find another fruit, so he could give it a lick.
'Actually, wouldn't licking this thing work too?' Now that he thought about it, this thing was sealed in the fruit, not the fruit itself. 'And why the hell am I thinking all this now?'
"We request you to hand over our saint to us. We will reward you handsomely for it," The king said.
But that's when Theo's head started sweating.
How would he free the dog if he couldn't do it without killing it first?
But then again, was it really alive in the first place?
"I have said before, I wish to travel with my servant and expand my horizons. I've been here for far too long. Besides, after what you people did to me," It glared. "How do you expect me to just stay here and listen to your crap?" Its neutral tone took a very violent turn.
Theo understood the creature's feelings quite well. But he didn't have much interest in this. He just wanted to get out of here.
"I apologize on my ancestor's behalf. But we can't possibly let one of our saints-" The king paused as he noticed a very not so friendly glare from the dog.
"So says the king," The dog paused with a mocking tone. "When he doesn't even know my name." It snorted.
Both the king and the queen shut up.
"This one is really, really funny!" John whispered. "What are we calling it?"
"Xer-bro?" Theo whispered back.
John chuckled silently. "I've got something better. How about Skullmandathor?" And he pronounced it very dramatically too.
"That's way too complicated. Even his real name is probably better than that!"
John grinned. "Nah, it's cool."
Voli nodded vigorously but no one saw it.
'Think I'll just call him Skully…' Theo rolled his eyes.
Just like John's hairdo, his naming sense was also perhaps a bit too odd.
Meanwhile, the captain was also glaring but she kept quiet.
"Very well," The queen stood up. "However, you would stay here for at least two weeks and see our progress. If you still feel you're not up for staying here, we'd set you free."
'Set him free?' Theo wondered. 'So, they had something to bind him here too?'
"That would mean, I'd have to stay here for two weeks as well?" Theo mumbled.
The official duties of this mission were supposed to end by tomorrow morning, so two weeks was out of the question.
"Actually-" The captain finally spoke. "We've talked with the regent- and she says, she'll send in an envoy soon. Therefore, you can stay here."
'Well, that's brand-new information.'
Theo grimaced. It didn't take him a moment to realize, these people were definitely planning on leaving him behind.
And both parties had a lot more going on than they liked to share.