The King stands in front of the Toad Queen his black eyes are staring directly at her as she glares back her mouth hanging wide open as she begins to croak in fright. Before the king can grab her she hops out her window and escapes into the swamp lands.
Yaya and theressa, hiding behind the kings robe, know that when the king gets mad somebody gets in trouble but not this time. The toad Queen escaped her fate for now. Unfortunately for Yaya she will return.
"Ready the chariot and get us out of the swamp ordered the king." Everyone moved as fast as possible. No one liked being around an angry king.
These swamps are barely under the Kings control their is a race of creatures that live in the swamp that used to rule the island. They have the upper body of a human but instead of legs that have long tails like a snake. They are more like Eels though as they are very fast in the water but clumsy on land. These creatures are the Skeel. Normally they are friendly but they are not unified in there beliefs so the king wants to leave as quickly as possible.
As they fly back over the mountains the king looks out towards the sea and thinks back to why he actually started covering his armor in mud. When the king was a young knight the king at that time sent his bravest knights to an nearby island that was used by pirates the kings ships. The ships landed deep on the edge of a thick forest the brave knights made way through the incredibly thick forest until they found where the pirates were hiding out.
The pirates saw the the knights coming forward and the took to hiding in the shadows to ambush the invaders. As brave as the knights were they were also very loud. They believed that they were the toughest, smartest, finest warriors ever so they feared nothing in front of them. The pirates, not wanting to fight let the knights pass by they then circled behind them and ran back to their own ships.
The knights kept moving forward not knowing that they passed right by the pirates. The island was not very big and after a couple of days they realized that no one was on the island. They didn't realize that the pirates escaped and were waiting for the knights to leave.The knights decided to leave but they left the king and one other knight behind to spy on the pirates when they return.As the knights ship leaves the king and his companion settle in they made a camp on the highest part of the hill so they can wait for the pirates to return. Later that night the pirate ship returns they quietly slip into and tie their boat off and return to their hideout. The knights saw the ship come in and they began searching out the pirates. Everytime the knights thought they saw one there was no one there. They ended up walking in circles all night the armor was weighing the knights down where they eventually had to rest and that is when they realized that they were surrounded.
Red eyes stared at the knights. The night turned quiet, the knights were encased in a bubble of silence. Swords made of a red metal, skin a smooth brown, hair red but covered in the same brown that covers their skin. The eyes, a deep red like a burning ember. No one who sees these eyes ever forgets them. This is tribe of very secretive people. They rarely speak to those outside of the tribe. South of Esser is a series of volcanic islands nick named the "Hot Rocks" by Essers knights the natives call them Kor-MooM in their language it means mad mother. These islands seem hostile at first but past the cliffs of volcanic rock and lava filled beaches is a rich, fertile land that the Kormo use to farm and raise livestock. They learned very quickly to not trust newcomers so using a natural sailing ability the Kormo decided that the best way to keep outsiders away was to create a aura of mystery and misery that no ship wants to deal with. Piracy done in a way that usually leaves the victimized ship burning on the beach is the main way that the Kormo keep intruders away.
Tonight though the Kormo and the two knights are stuck staring at each other. yes there are more pirates than knights but even the Kormo know how dangerous a knight from Esser is and the knights know how unpredictable the Kormo can be so everyone decides to sit still. Everyone except of one.
The Kormo do not have a king or Queen they have a series of Generals and Teachers. Every Teacher and General are promoted through a series of ceremonies after they have shown their value. Soomah is the daughter of a General and a Teacher. Soomah means heart of fire. Soomah walks towards the knights lifts up her sword and slices at the future kings neck. The other knight lunged at Soomah knocking the blade out of her hands and saving the future kings life. Both knights spring into battle. Knocking down some Kormo and stealing their weapons the knights attacks the Kormo holding onto to them so that they cannot sneak back into the shadows to attack. The fight was quick and brutal the king sustained serious wounds. His partner slumped over a boulder, his body is filled with spears and a short sword called the "sihtah" translated into poisonous sting. The Kormo who survived disappeared into the shadows. Soomah lays unconscious in front of the knight next to her were three dead Kormo how many disappeared the knight doesn't know.
The knight, Soomah and the other injured Kormo were transported to a cave by another group of pirates that landed on the island to check on why they didn't meet up with Soomah's crew. "why didn't they just kill me" thought the knight. he looks around and sees Soomah resting. "I will kill her" he thinks to himself . "When the time is right I will kill her"
"No one is killing anyone here" The knight looks over at the voice who said that. "You knights of Esser are brave but I thought you were smarter than this." "Confused? That's understandable.Some of us from KorMoom have learned to read minds. But I can tell what you are thinking just by looking at you."
Out of the shadow stepped a man covered in a matte black substance, his red eyes stared right into the knights soul. A Teacher, a very important one by the way everyone is following his commands.
"Knight, you are quite a valuable treasure do you know that?""Soomah tried to kill you yet you lived, not many can say that knight of Esser." As the knight looked over at a still unconscious Soomah then back at the man speaking to him. "My king will not be pleased that you are holding me hostage." "You are not a hostage knight, you are injured. When you are ready you can go. We will give you a boat and some provisions. We are not savages, on the contrary we are more civilized than even the mighty land of Esser!"
Over times the knights wounds begin to heal and he begins to slowly interact with the Kormo. Soomah intrigues him. Her skin is stripped of the coating which he learns is a mixture of sediment form Kor-Moom that acts as a type of armor but works more on a psychological level. Her body has scars from past battles and her facial features give the impression that she is a scowling at you but when she smiles she face lightens up and her true beauty shines though.
The teacher who first spoke to the knight watched and knew that Soomah and the knight were getting close. The teacher knows that this will not end well. Soomah is his daughter all her life she has run from relationships. She is to wild and never be tamed. The knight doesn't know this yet but he will.
"Look Daddy", Theressa is grabbing at the Kings robes "In the sky, it looks like a ball of fire in the sky." The king and queen look over and in the distance they see a bright ball getting closer wih what looks like ribbons flowing back and forth above it.
"You there! Hello there." A booming voice comes from the ball and immediately everyone in the royal chariot knew who it was. Filp, and Fop, the girls uncles and world travelers. They have somehow, somewhere acquired a balloon that looks to be powered by DRAGONS! "Land that balloon!" screamed the royal guard. "Land it before we knock it out of the sky."
"Alright alright were landing." said Fop. "Hello Theressa, hello Yaya." "Hi Uncles" screamed Theressa, Yaya runs to the window and waives furiously to the balloon.
"Guards" said the queen "We are close to the castle. The girls uncles may follow us." "Yes your highness". As the royal chariot and balloon begin to land the King feels the scar from his fight with the Kor-Moom looks at his girls and walks into the castle.
"All bow for the King, all bow for King Orune." The Black Kings birth name is Arustif Orune. The Orune family has a long line of kings in their families history. In Esser a king rules then when his reign is over another king is chosen from the 8 ruling knights of Esser. The 8 knights are called the "points" because the kings crown has 8 points this symbolic reference means that the knights have loyalty to the crown and to Esser above all else. This process of rotating in new Kings has stopped all civil wars in Esser.
"Your majesty!" Filp and Fop call for the King. "Your royalness, most hononarble King." Usually the king enjoys the tales from Filp and Fop but the Toad Queens actions weighs heavy on his mind. What was her plans for the princesses he kept thinking. A quick look to the guards and the the uncles are pushed out the doors locked and the king finally gets some time to himself.
"Uncles!" yelled Theressa "tell me where you got the dragons!" There are no dragons in Esser they are found in the southern mountain range and the far far western regions that are also home to other creatures The huffump is a large, round, smelly, furry creature that hops when it wants to move.
" Technically they are not dragons they are a type of Lizard that glides more than flies. The balloon rises due to the cloud stones that are in it. As long as the lizards are fed some fish heads they will gladly power us where we need to go." "We have gifts for you both. Fop get the girls their gifts please." Fop comes back from the balloon with a stack of gifts starting with very big boxes to very, very small boxes. Toys, clothes, exotic candies littered the room and all that was left were two small boxes. "Inside these boxes are two very special gifts that your mother said you were big enough to have." Theressa runs to the box hoping that inside each box is a silken fur. A silken fur is one of the rarest creature their is.
Yaya is sitting on the ground staring at her silken fur and theressa has climbed on top of her toy chest and is watching her silken fur get used to its new home. Yaya being young doesn't really know what to do so she keeps looking up at her big sister for clues. Silken furs are like a mix between a small monkey and a squirrel with near human like intelligence. They cannot talk but they can communicate through gestures. The uncles and the Queen leave the girls in their rooms as they watch them slowly fade away into a deep sleep as the silken furs nuzzle into the arms of each girl.
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