Evil Isn't Just Skin (Or Fur) Deep (Written by Lady Knight)

Virgil stepped lightly through the halls of the most secure prison in the land—Sphinx Prison—a huge building, which is literally the throne for the magnificent Sphinx King. All prisoners that go in never come out and yet they always have room for more. Only the most dangerous prisoners go here and that’s probably why Virgil—King of the Satyrs and Fauns, Master of the ancient art of song fight, and recorder of all sides of the story—was there. He held in his hand a string of different shapes and sizes of keys. He reached up as high as he could to unlock my large iron prison door. He stepped in nervously and asked, “Are you Elsa the sugar-glider follower of Dark Shifter?” I, Elsa, was stuck in a metal cage that hung from the prison ceiling by a thick steel cable. I answered the little Faun with a chirp. Virgil said to me “ I think that’s a yes. I never meet a mute talking beast before. You are a little novelty to me. I don’t speak the language of the wild beasts, but I have brought a dear friend of mine who can translate.” I heard a familiar click of heels coming down the hallway approaching my cell and I protested in little screeches. They were the hated clicks from a pair of famous old boots. As the wearer of those boots stepped into my cell I started hissing nasty things to the boot-wearing King Solomon of the talking beasts, and follower of his ancestral code of Puss in Boots the first. Virgil saw my responses to King and said to him, “ I think she’s as glad to see you as I am.” King looked disapprovingly at me for some time before he turned to Virgil and said, “ I glad to see you too, but Virgil please leave the translating to me or a professional for the rest of your breathing life. Some things are better left untranslated. I can only stay here for a day. Miss Knight is waiting for me to return to her on the Troll and Goblin island. I still have some royal duties to attend there.” King took off his large dark cloak and cavalier hat that was covered with dust from the surrounding desert and dust them thoroughly. Virgil turned to me and beamed, “ Now to business, I know, Elsa, that you aren’t the type to spill your story out to a Satyr like me but I will be giving you a choice. Tell me your story and the guards will set you free, but if you don’t they will be sending you through death door. That an easy decision to make isn’t it?” He took a seat on one of the two stools that were placed in front of my hanging prison and brought out a pen and scroll out of his satchel. King placed his dusty cloak on his stool, put his fine hat on his head, and perched on his cloak. Realizing that my life was going to be snuffed out if I didn’t obey the demented fawn’s wishes, I reluctantly started to chirp. King translated and cleaned up my foul language to Virgil who would then write it down on. I begin to start my tale around my childhood when Virgil interrupted. He said what is this bleep, “You don’t have to start at the beginning, little sugar-glider. I’ve already found all the information about you during those times. It’s my job, after all.” I chirped, “Creep.” King chuckled, “I have to agree with you on that one.” Virgil said, clueless of the interaction, “Start when you joined the Shifters forces.” I sighed, hating the topic already, “Shifter and I were close friends—or was it more like co-workers? He had hired me after the death of his father to be his eyes during the night. He was already intelligent enough to learn wild speak,” she stuck out her tongue, “ and was a good employer. Not many creatures know or are willing to hire mute talking beasts. I would walk, or rather glide, throughout the land at night, reporting my findings to Shifter. That is how he knew that Miss Knight, the human, got stuck here. When I returned to Shifter to report my findings, he was so pleased, he held me tight in his four-fingered hangs, whispered to me, ‘When I get my treasure, you will receive great rewards.’ He had been planning the capture and control the Supreme Magic for months, but now that he had a human walk into the picture, he was able to add more to his devious plan.” “During the Games,” she continued, “I had a huge part in shifters plan. Do you know how you can only have one squire or aid during the Games? Well, Shifter actually had two; me and that vile black harpy. I was hiding in his hood. My job was to watch his back. Even though I’m night dweller, but I was still ablated help his win. We were so close to victory, but then that Knight girl who got word of our plan earlier decided to get smart and stop Shifter. She made his own family turn on his and he was forced to fight them. Not for sport, mind you, but his very own life. But in the end, he was defeated. He was pinned to the ground by five strong cyclopses. He informed me while in his predicament saying, ‘That if I freed him from the cyclopes he would be free but if I fail he would personally cause all his punishments on to me.' I scurried out of his hood and made my way onto one of the large hands that held Shifter down. There was a long and boring punishment ritual which gave me enough time to sharpen my two pair of razor-sharp teeth. When I heard the angry words of the Shifter to his family I knew that that was my cue to swoop in for the kill. I chomped into the ugly sausage-like finger, drawing blood. I tasted the bitter warm flavor of blood. My meager attack was enough to set shifter free, who changed into a huge dragon and retreated. I held tight onto one of his scales. As we flew through the sky, Shifter schemed against his treasure, Miss Knight. He couldn’t believe she had disobeyed his will. Even I couldn’t believe that she did that. We flew for days, avoiding other creatures. When we reached the Hiding Place he began to search and round up his followers. He would disappear in his cave for days, only to come out to call upon one of his minions and to order them to get strange objects. He got a sneaky black cat to steal the broken horn of Anselm, King of Elves, the cursed one, a rogue mermaid princess to steal a Díagay Fish, and a traitorous fawn to copy a page of his (I don’t know how many greats) adopted father’s spell book. After he received these strange items he would call upon his followers one at a time to give specific orders that they could not share with others. That way no one knew exactly what the whole plan was but knew only their part in it. When I was finally called upon, it was thankfully during the comforts of the night. He informed me that we would be heading towards the dwarf kingdom and will together conquer it from the inside. He didn’t tell me how or why, but he did give me the order to take out an adviser named Wesley Redbeard. When I heard these orders a rush of joy came over me. Finally, I was ordered to kill. Shifter and I traveled to the dwarf kingdom. I slept most of the way dreaming of the most pleasing way to kill this Wesley. The dwarf kingdom was cold above ground, that is probably why they live in marvelous cities underground. The darkness of these places was perfect for my kind and could see perfectly there. I crawled into nooks and crannies like I used to do in the jungles of the Talking Beast Kingdom. Shifter stood in the tunnel’s shadows and pointed out my victim. I will try to remember what Wesley looked like before I mutilated him. He was an old dwarf, younger than Forkbeard, dressed in red cloth and dark furs. He had a long silver beard that he tucked into his belt. He had a limp and hunched over a twisted wooden cane. He had a wrinkled face that left the impression of a kind heart. He had two young adult dwarfs who were helping him carry his luggage. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘witnesses.’ Wesley turned to the dwarves and said, ‘Thank you, prince and princess, for your help but I can see how restless you get walking my slow speed. You can run ahead and reach the castle to tell your father that I have returned.’ The prince answered, ‘Oh, Wesley you don’t have to call us that. You are family to us. Father will be so glad when you make it to the castle.’ The dwarfs rushed forward leaving the poor fool behind. Now it was my time to act. I situated my self on the side of the road and started whimpering like a kitten hungry for milk. Wesley noticed me and came up saying, ‘A sugar glider? What are you doing down here? I guess I will have to take you to the king to see what to do with you.’ As he struggled to bend down to pick me up I saw my chance. I lunged and clung to his neck, using my sharp teeth to puncture his jugular. I began to gnaw…” Virgil nervously interrupted me relishing the past and said, “'For the sake of young historians who will be reading this tale can you not go too deep into details? Blood and gore have an unsettling effect on my stomach.” I started screeching nasty things to Virgil bringing up in mind my encyclopedia of curses. King who was the only one who could understand me jumped up onto his hind legs and waved a paw at me and rebuked, “I know, lady Elsa, you were in a rough crowd but that gives you no right to call Virgil those curses.” I continued with more curses. King had enough with me and hit my cage with his paw and said, “Oh, shut your mouth. Continue your story, but keep those curses out of it.” I chirped something against his majesty and reluctantly continued the story, “Wesley lay dead on the ground, blood running down the cracks and crevasses on the ground. I was covered with dark blood around my paws and mouth, quickly trying to clean it off. Shifter strode out of the shadows and stepped over the stained ground towards the twisted cane that Wesley had dropped during his demise. Out of his cloak, he pulled out a little blue bottle and quickly drank the contents. After forcing it down he began to change, not into something a normal shapeshifter could do but an exact replica of Wesley, clothes and all. He brought out of his now red robe a glass orb that held a live little purple fish that had a golden ring in its nose. A dark shadow fell over his face, showing that even under Wesley’s friendly form, he was still Shifter. He began to walk towards the capital. As any smart creature would have guessed is that fish was a Díagay which has the power to control the mind of any creature. Shifter controlled the king of the dwarves for months, changing things in the kingdom, controlling the dwarves, and enslaving the talking beasts. But then Miss Knight and King Solomon arrived at the kingdom asking for a special helmet. Shifter happened to also be looking for the helmet but the Díagay fish couldn’t help him get the information he needed out of the Dwarf King. He sent me to spy on them at night to see if they had information. One the first nights of their visit I caught King sneaking into the stalls where we kept the talking beasts trying to free them. I alerted Shifter and he manipulated the King of the Dwarves to have King arrested. Man, King I liked you better when you were in jail. You were my plaything. Shifter gave you to me. I had fun pulling your whiskers, tail, fur, scratching your face, biting your ears, and tightening your bonds. You couldn’t speak throughout my games because of the pretty gag in your mouth. I thought I had the advantage but King was a smart ally cat and could understand my wild speak and learned of Shifters plans. You tried to warn Miss Knight but the gag that prevented that. Well, she did find out and accidentally froze the Díagay fish. Shifter realizing that the Dwarf King was useless now and the Talking beasts, Dwarves, and Magi Unicorn were coming to the capital building. He took action and threw a dagger at the Dwarf King which pushed him into the Royal Burial Caverns. Miss Knight followed, trying to save him and Shifter followed her. I was left with the confused bystanders and a dead fish. I started guarding the hole which the three creatures fell—or threw—themselves into so that no one would follow them. Mostly the guards tried to follow but I quickly stopped them. There were many lovely screams that day. I then was met with the son of the Dwarf King who’s face was flushed with anger. I lunged for his beardless face. He then yelled out in his deep song-like voice, ‘For Miss Knight the Protector!’ The large doors in the throne room burst open with critters yelling the same annoyingly musical yell with King leading the way in those ugly dusty old boots that stomped all the joy out of what I was receiving from this Dwarf Prince. This gave the skinny weak dwarf enough time to roughly throw me off, grab a sword, and jump into the burial hole. The only thing I was able to give that Prince was a nasty cut on the cheek. King ripped off one of the tablecloths and ran up to catch me. You had claimed me as your opponent during the fight. I engaged in your little dance, King. I avoided your makeshift bag and aimed my attack towards the face, but I guess that's why you always wear your sturdy hat: to grab little pests like me. A lot of hurts happened that day and I am proud to say I took part in it. The only creature that died that day was the Dwarf King. King is the ruler of the talking beasts—my kind—sent me to this lovely prison to rot. I am surprised that you are allowing me to be set free. You value life much more than I do.” King looked at me with pity and sadness and said, “ Elsa this event you took part of was more than a weird hobby of Virgil. It was a test and a confession. To see the evil mind you hide under your cute exterior. You will be set free, I am a creature of my word, but not in this land. I will be sending you to a place where I was banished a long time ago and where being mute is a normal thing. I am sorry that it came to this.” He took off his hat and pulled out of it clear crystal bottle that shone like fire. He pointed the bottle in my direction and opened it. The last thing I saw in this land was King with a pitiful single tear running down his cheek before the light engulfed me. I was not upset of my banishment but relished causing King pain. When the light disappeared from my eyes I was in a larger cage full with dumb sugar gliders. It was in a shop in the human world and there was a sign on the store's window that said, “ North Carolina’s Number One Pet Store for Exotic Pets.” I wasn't frightened by my new surroundings, instead, I savored it. I didn’t tell Virgil and King, Shifter’s whole plan. There was another stage to it. To weaken and prepare the human world for the conquest of Shifter and his army. I just need to get situated here first.

Author's Note: This is the trailer for my fantasy book series which I don’t currently have a title for. If you guys have an idea for the title I’ll love to hear it. This story is from the view of the villain so its a little darker than most of my story I create, but I hope you enjoy it either way. :)

Mark's Addition: Poor Wesley Redbeard...didn't last very long at all...