When the guests came back for dessert, they found Arthur and I laughing and chatting together like old buddies. In the pit of my stomach I knew I would have to go soon regardless of what Arthur thought. Although I was overjoyed to see him, he seemed a bit off his rocker, and only having robots around was a giant red flag.

  “So,” said Arthur casually eating a slice of key lime pie, “what’ll it be? Come with me, see a driften? Or the jail cells again?”

  I sighed heavily. “Arthur can I just go man? I don’t have like driften taming skills…”

  “Sorry big bro, can’t let you do that. You’re the only [Driften Waker] I’ve ever heard of. I thought they were gone. So when the driften of the Great Abalone Sky started stirring again, well…I’ve got to get to the bottom of it dude. You understand, right?”

  “I understand but I’m saying not right now,” I said forcefully.

  I was only thinking and worrying about Val and getting back to the crew. Although this guy was apparently Arthur, he was also a lot different than the Arthur I remembered. I rose to leave.

  “I’ll come back Arthur, with my crew. Just give me a couple days to catch up to them.”

  King Arthur’s throne blasted upward. He pressed a button on the armrest and a coil of [Lightningform Projection] shot out, binding me as a cage where I stood.

  “It may not have been a long time since you saw me, Daniel, but it’s been a long time for me. I am not just Arthur, Daniel’s fun little brother now! Although I am still that, heh. I am also Arthur, King of Avalos!”

  I struggled against the bindings in vain. “Why is it called Avalos anyway Arthur? I’m pretty sure it’s Avalon dude!”

  “Oh aether!!! I totally blanked on it and I just went with Avalos for long enough it became mythic, haha.”

  I chuckled despite being restrained. “I like it. I’ll go see the damn driften with you little bro. Get this fucking cage the aether off of me!”

  He pressed the button to disable it and I sat back down. Arthur continued firing his thrusters, moving the chair toward the door to leave.

  “Well, move the others back to their cells anyway,” Arthur said, gesturing to Clorandine and Drajan.

  “Wait!” I said, thinking quickly and pointing at Clorandine. “Not her.”

  “Wha--no!” Arthur gasped. “So, you are saying that you are her…fiance?”

  He looked back and forth between us. I looked at Clorandine and sensing agreement we both nodded hesitantly.

  Arthur broke into a huge smile. “Big bro, you did good. She’s way out of your league.”

  He glided away. Robots came and took our plates. They also dragged Drajan away screaming.

  “I almost feel bad for him,” I said.

  Clorandine shrugged. “I don’t.”

  The room they showed us to was cozy and lavish. It contained a single bed piled with blankets, a hearth and a pile of wood, and dressers.

  “Make yourself at home,” Dandelion 2.0 said. “By the way, that wood is an antique. It’s real oak, back from when regular people lived on the Grover continent.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Seems like a shame to burn it,” Clorandine said.

  Before the robot left I asked him to help start the fire, as it was quite cold and I wanted to better gauge his capabilities anyway. I didn’t have a plan in mind, but generally escape was on the menu. He had a compressed flamethrower he deployed from his arm after he got the wood in the hearth to light it.

  “There you are, sir.”

  “Come here,” Clorandine whispered from the bed.

  I turned frowning although she was in her nightgown.

  “Just come here silly. You know I have a fiance! You’re not going to try anything right?”

  “I…like someone too. Not you,” I said lamely but she smiled.

  “Soo we’re just going to act vee-ry cozy while we conspire and they'll have no reason to doubt us. Take that tux off! Come here and whisper. Grab a blanket? Good.”

  “What about Drajan?” I asked. “Okay, so you know I’m a [Driften Waker], and I know your fiance can fly. Can you fly?”

  “No. I’m a [Thorn Dancer], Daniel. We don’t get anything like that.”

  I thought back, recalling being unable to do so when trying to carry both Val and Sleipnir in the sky jungle.

  “Well I can probably not carry both the dragon dude and you. I should choose you, right?”

  “Even if you could carry him, would you take the chance that he might kill you?” Clorandine asked.

  “I might.”

  “So what do we do then to leave? Just like open the window and fly away? And I hold onto you the whole time?”

  “You can also ride me, and like use your sword or so forth.” I gestured to her katana leaning against the wall.

  I quietly got up and rummaged through the room. I found the dressers stocked with exactly my kind of clothes! It was like shirts, jeans, jackets, socks, underwear, the whole deal sized just right for me and my heart nearly melted. Oh Arthur… In reality probably he had a robot do all these details for him, but had originally definitely made the robot and made sure it prepared for my arrival.

  “What’s the matter?” Clorandine hissed.

  “My brother is so thoughtful…”

  “Is he really your brother by the way?”

  “Uhh…it’s complicated, Clorandine. Is Luneth really your fiance?”

  “Of course!”

  “Why?”

  “He’s really sweet and loyal,” she said, braiding her hair.

  I nodded. “Yeah he seems cool, but I only met him a couple of times. He’s got a strong kick.”

  She bowed proudly at that. “I practice often with him. Well, did. I appreciate the praise.”

  “You will again soon,” I said, pulling on two pairs of everything.

  As I did that Clorandine slid from bed and got dressed including buckling on the katana. When Dandelion 2.0 rounded the corner and saw what she was doing he emitted a loud alarm sound.

  “No!” I shouted.

  Clorandine blocked his way. He tried to push her aside, then when she didn’t move tried to pick her up. That was apparently the breaking point and she cut its head off and the frame collapsed in a sparking heap.

  “It’s not like a hard and fast rule,” she explained as she sheathed the katana. “Don’t judge me.”

  I threw a chair through the window and the room filled with wind. Thunder snarled outside.

  “Sorry,” I called to the small camera in the corner that was surely watching our every move.

  I jumped out and waited for Clorandine to jump out (she screamed), grabbed her, and we veered away from the snakelike craft of Avalos. I searched for cloudbanks. Frantically glancing behind me as we neared a set of hill-like clouds, I saw a bay door open and two green objects exit Avalos.

  “He’s got his saucers after us. Damn I should have asked him about that!” I cursed.

  “Saucers? What’s that mean?”

  “Like weird flying things. They can grab you with tractor beams!”

  “We have legends among the moonfolk like that. The old tales talk of round green knights that sought the greatest knight of all. But in all the Moonsea, such a knight has not to be found.”

  “That’s fascinating Clorandine. So you said you were a [Thorn Dancer] right? Do you have anything that could help us against these green saucer knights or whatever!?!”

  “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  “Your fiance had [Prediction Counter]. Do you have that?” She shook her head. “He beat me pretty good when I fought him. He’s strong.”

  “In the Moonsea we say we are the kelp, strong but also weak. We can stand the storm but not the knife.”

  I nodded. “I just want to say I’m really sorry about Stonestomach. I didn’t know Brufo would do that. My friend. The one who summoned the meteor. I didn’t tell him to! But he was dying, and he thought--maybe, honestly, rightly--that if he nuked the place he could protect the rest of the crew.”

  The clouds here began to glow green. I dropped my voice to a whisper.

  “If you’ve got something Clorandine by all the aether driftens now’s the time to use it!”

  The green lights got stronger. Then a dense black [Ink Cloud] enveloped us, sticking to us.

  “This is honestly not so useful sometimes but they will definitely not be able to see us directly. You just need to make sure we don’t leave the other clouds, so they can’t see the black [Ink Cloud]!”