As they were running, everyone was quiet. Mostly because Medi wanted to get back to his brother and nobody wanted to talk as it would be insensitive for now to just talk about non important stuff. While Emma and Lilly were both on centaurs, one of which was Medi, Gurgen didn’t get one. He was a bit big and heavy so he had to run with the Minotaur. The minotaur was carrying the barrel with Wodka while Gurgen was running next to him. Gurgen wasn’t as fast as the minotaur nor was he as strong. Still, as they ran he seemed to be able to keep up quiet well although he also seemed to be getting rather tired, breathing heavily.

  They had already passed the reinforcements who were being send by the king to go after the skeletons when they reached the clearing. Medi went inside immediately, not being stopped by the new centaurs standing guard. Once inside, he looked around, seeing that Jackson had been moved to a small tent where there was a satyr taking care of him.

  As Medi went to his brother, Lilly would be looking around the area as this was the first time she had been here. It seemed like a rebellion more than a spot where the king would reside. There were multiple tents now together with multiple tables. People running around while intensive training seemed to be done.

  There was an archer shooting at a target, his arrows never seeming to run out as he hit the bullseye without problem every single time. This must be the general. She made a mental note before focusing back on her sister who had gone with Medi to look at Jackson.

  Medi lay down next to his brother, grabbing his hand as he looked at the wounds. He had rags all over as they all seemed to be soaked in blood. The satyr looked at Medi as he was focused on his brother, scraping his throat.

  “I’m sorry to tell you this your highness but he isn’t going to make it.”

  This being said, Medi stood up, walking to the minotaur. “Oh he will. After he drinks this he will be better in no time.”

  The satyr didn’t like the sound of that, jumping up as he shook his head. “No… No liquids or he’ll die even sooner.”

  He didn’t know about the healing liquid and only wanted the best for the dying brother. This meant that when the barrel was brought towards Jackson, he would grab his bag to take out the protection rune Zoala had used as well, throwing it down on the ground. A bubble appeared around him and Jackson, keeping him away from the others.

  “No!” Medi ran to the bubble, putting his hands on it as it was solid. “Let me in! We can save him!”

  Gurgen grunted as he moved forwards, pushing Medi to the side. “Move horsie.” He pulled back his hand, ready to strike it. The punch was hard and fast, hitting the shield with a breaking sound. For just a second, it stayed silent before Gurgen started to yell in pain.

  He held up his hand in the air, his fingers pointing in different directions as one even showed bone. “Ah! Fingers not right!” He cursed and continued to hold his own wrist. After a bit more yelling and cursing, a loud bark could be heard as Idi jumped out of his beard onto the bubble, starting to peck at it.

  “What is happening here?” The king had heard the commotion and was looking at the group of mostly strangers.

  Everyone bow down to him, everyone but Medi and Gurgen. “King Berk, my brother is dying and we have a way to heal him. This man here refuses to let me help my brother.”

  Still having a bottle underneath his animal hide, Gurgen would grab it and quickly drinking some of his brew. The king now could see what they were talking about as his fingers started to straighten and heal.

  “Interesting…” The king looked at the chicken still pecking at the shield as it also barked once in a while. Gurgen quickly took her away, putting her back underneath his beard where she seemed to calm down.

  Berk nodded at the satyr inside the bubble who begrudgingly took the shield down. The minotaur came closer, holding the barrel in his arms and holding it above Jackson. He then took the cork out of the barrel as it then started to fly out of the barrel.

  Medi caught some in his hands, going down to his brother and slowly trying to make him drink it. Jackson was slightly aware of what was happening, starting to drink the liquid.

  Just as before, the liquid started to work almost immediately, the pain quickly disappearing as the wounds started to close. It didn’t give the lost blood back but it made sure that he wouldn’t lose any more.

  It also didn’t take long for Jackson to open his eyes, lifting his hand to go over the bandages, not feeling any wounds anymore. “What…?”

  While Jackson was still processing what happened, Medi would hug him tightly, grabbing his head and lifting him up a bit, hugging the head against his chest. “Jack!”

  Jackson tried to push him away, not having the strength to do it. “Easy easy. Let me go. You’re overreacting.”

  Seeing that the ‘horsie’ didn’t die, Gurgen would grunt and turn around again. “Gurgen done here.”

  Before he could walk away though, he was stopped by Berk, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Gurgen. You’re a strange man. Would you like to fight for us in the war? I could use someone with your strength.”

  Berk hadn’t seen a lot of Gurgen but he was already impressed. The man towered above him and seemed to be rather strong. And honestly, they didn’t have the strength right now to win an all out war against the skeletons.

  Gurgen seemed to think about it for a second, rubbing the bottom of his beard before continuing on his path. “If Zoi fight, Gurgen Fight.”

  Seeing as Lucas wasn’t with the group, Berk didn’t know who Zoi was. He motioned for an elf to come closer, pointing at Gurgen. “Go, follow him. Find out where he lives as we might need to find him sooner than later.”

  With that being said, the elf would nod before going after Gurgen, making sure to stay out of sight. Berk then looked back the group gathered around Jackson. “I believe that we have a lot to talk about. How about you all join me for dinner?”

  He gave them all a big smile before looking at Emma and Lilly specifically. “If you will be so kind to do so your majesty.” He had a big grin on his face saying this. Unlike the princesses, he was trained to learn about the children of the kings and queens of the nearby Gruges. He knew that they didn’t know who he was although seeing as they followed the minotaur’s example and bow to him, it was quite obvious.

  The same minotaur now came forwards, holding a bird in his hand. “Your majesty, Zoala wants to know what is going on with the skeletons now.”

  “Tell her that it is officially war.” He now didn’t smile anymore. The feeling of dread came over him when he said that. “What a way to start my time as king.”

  That evening, everything in the open area had been moved around. In the middle of the area was now a long table made up of smaller tables put next to each other. Berk was at the head of the table with the second in command being closest to him. Zoala had come back from her expedition with Demmie, Lucas and Lehtern so they too were sitting at the table.

  Lehtern sat next to the second in command due to the king’s request. Next to them were Emma and Lilly due to their status while next to them were other lower ranking commanders and high ranking officers. Some other royal families joined as well but only those that were situated nearby.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Every single centaur were moved to the entire back due to their physiology. Big pillows were put onto the ground where they could lie on with their horse body. This caused them to get above the table around as high as other would do sitting down.

  Emma and Lilly both had gotten lessons in table manners but when the food arrived, they couldn’t hold themselves back. Unlike a dinner in the Human Gurge, the food here was just put on the table and everyone could take whatever they wanted. Lilly and Emma both grabbed different things fast, starting to eat whatever they could.

  Their behavior was weird to Berk, looking at them being confused and a bit concerned. Lehtern saw him looking at followed his gaze, seeing what was happening. He couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “I’m sorry for their behavior. I have been told that they haven’t eaten a lot during their travel and the food that they ate was… less then desirable.”

  He would just nod, starting to eat himself as he looked over the table and his new friends. Only Gurgen didn’t get invited. He wasn’t even aware that they were having a dinner. The elf that he had send out to follow Gurgen hadn’t returned so he didn’t know where he lived.

  “So, Lehtern. Why don’t you tell us what is going on with the Bunnies? Why are they suddenly a problem? Why have they all disappeared from the forest?”

  Lehtern just had been swallowing something when this was asked. He started to couch, hitting himself on the chest as he used his other hand to cover his mouth. It took a bit before he was able to talk again. “Sorry.” He took a couple of sips from his water as he then straightened his back. “Where to begin.”

  “A long time ago and then I’m talking about multiple thousands of years the skeletons weren’t under control by some evil king. Back then the Bunnies were their own Gurge, living basically everywhere. They were a menace and didn’t want to make any deals with other creatures. They were mostly carnivores, eating humans, elves, anything flesh that they could find. The skeletons were the perfect counter to that, being hired to take care of them.”

  “So the skeletons would kill them, the Bunnies grow fewer, we’d stop hiring the skeletons seeing as the Bunnies weren’t such a big problem anymore and they would grow in numbers once more and repeat. At one point, the long rule of the skeleton king was ended after a rebellion. The new king had some bad blood between him and the living so he refused to send out mercenaries.”

  “Seeing as we lost the most effective way to get rid of them, we had to think of a new way to deal with them. That’s how we got to the Artifact Gruge. With their help and the help of Pan, they managed to make some powerful artifacts changing the biology of the Bunnies. Lowering their intelligence, turning them into herbivores, making them basically turning them into animals.”

  “Unfortunately, nobody realized it when the skeletons attacked the Artifact Gruge homeland. A lot of their artifacts have been destroyed and a lot of their people as well. The destruction of these artifacts caused the Bunnies to get released from their magical imprisonment.”

  “Because the skeletons freed the Bunnies, the Bunnies started to work for the skeletons. Now the skeletons are on a warpath to kill everyone. Both because they want more land because they are becoming overpopulated and because they’re being influenced by the Bunnies.”

  “Their king is telling the skeleton king that if they attack the living, they will help them to stop any rebellion after they won.”

  After Lehtern was done talking, nobody seemed to make a sound. Even the people serving up the food had gathered to listen.

  Berk sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “That is very concerning. I thought the dwarves or humans kept in contact with the Artifact Gruge. How come that we have no information that they have been wiped out?”

  “That’s because they’re not all dead. The Skeleton Gruge is forcing them to keep contact with anyone trying to contact them, monitoring their every move. For as far as we were supposed to know, their gruge isn’t taken over.” Lehtern knew that this was bad news but he was hungry. He continued to eat once more, letting them stew with this information.

  The more Lehtern talked, the more dire the situation got. Berk wasn’t sure what to do now. “One less gruge to count on to help us.” He looked at his generals as they too weren’t sure what to think about this.

  The minotaur snorted as he looked at Berk. “We need either the skeletons or the artificers to kill the Bunnies. Seeing as neither are an option. Perhaps we should consider fleeing to the human cities? Perhaps the castles can house us until we find a better solution.”

  Lilly immediately shook her head. “Nono. Mister minotaur…”

  She got cut off by him as he lifted his hand up to stop her. “Just call me Barta.”

  “Well… Barta… the castles can’t even house the entire human population let alone an entire other gruge. Not only that, the war with the skeletons is also coming closer. If we all hide in the castles, we’re sitting ducks. I’d say the best bet we have is to invade the Artifact Gruge ourselves and free those who remain and pray to Pan to help them once more.”

  “That too isn’t an option.” Lehtern leaned back in his chair, sipping from his drink. “The skeletons only kept a small percentage of their entire population alive to keep up the act and to not alarm anyone else. Once they know that we know, they have no use for them anymore and kill them all. In skeleton form they can’t make artifacts. We need to give the skeletons a reason to keep them alive so we can secretly contact them and try to free them. “

  Berk motioned them all to be quiet. More and more people started to gather and Lehterns just said that they had to keep it quiet that they know. “The more people that know, the bigger the chance that this secret gets out. We’ll continue this conversations later in private.” He then turned to the servers and warriors that had gathered. “The first person to talk about this will be executed!”

  It might be a hard punishment but it immediately made something clear. Berk might be knew to ruling this gruge but he wasn’t scared to go hard on them. It seemed like they had understood and started to spread out, not a word being said.

  After that, the dinner seemed to be going more smooth. The conversation shifted to Emma and Lilly and their time with Lucas. From there on the Freedom Fighters were brought up together with Gurgen.

  Berk seemed to not really like the Freedom Fighters, sighing when he heard that they were still a thing. “I don’t believe in that crap. They try to do good but don’t always know how to do it. I think we’d be better off with them disbanded.”

  Lucas who didn’t have the most experience with them but was one with the most at this table was a bit confused with that statement. “Why is that? Sure they might be cruel if they’re betrayed but don’t they fight for others?”

  “Yes but they’re unhinged, dangerous even. You three didn’t get killed because you were lucky to have saved their previous leader. They also don’t follow any rules but their own. They’re like a cult and who knows how long their cults interest stay aligned with ours.”

  After a bit more story telling on Emma’s and Lilly’s side, the mood started to shift in a more fun tone. People had some alcohol to drink and some a bit more than others. General stories started to be exchanged as multiple smaller conversations were started. Emma would eventually get enough of the talks between Lilly and Berk about royal differences and would walk to Jackson. “Hey Jackson, can we talk for a second?”

  Jackson who had been celebrating his survival and Medi’s survival would look up at her. “Yeah sure.” He then put his mug down, looking at his brother. “Give me a bit okay?” Without waiting for an answer, he got up, stretching his legs before looking at her. “What’s up?”

  Emma started to walk away from the tables, going into the forest. Jackson followed her, yawning as he had a bit too much to drink at that point. Emma didn’t have a specific place that she was walking to, just slowly walking before starting to talk to him.”

  “I never thanked you.”

  That was something he didn’t see coming. Jackson continued to walk for a bit as he thought about it. “What for though?”

  “You saved me twice. When you forced me to not stay behind with my sister and when you took my place in the fight with Mortel.”

  “Well, you staying behind was most likely going to get you and me killed. And unlike you, I’ve gotten theoretical lessons on the way it works.”

  “That might be so but you didn’t know that I didn’t get lessons about it.”

  That was indeed something that he didn’t know back then. He would look at her as she said that, not so sure why he had done it.

  Emma and he got to a small open area with a rock in the middle. She climbed on a flat part of it and looked at him as she sat down. “So why did you do it?”

  Jackson closed his eyes for a second, trying to focus as the booze he had was making his mind a bit fuzzy. “I don’t know for sure. I think that after I saw Mortel having killed our previous king and then went to you, I didn’t think I could see you dead as well.”

  He gave her a smile after saying that, yawning before looking up at the sky. There was an almost full moon in the sky, giving them some decent light. “And I don’t regret it for a second. I managed to take revenge on him.”

  Hearing that made Emma smile as well, lying back against the rock. “Well… Thank you for saving me. I doubt that I would’ve made it. If you want then tomorrow you can tell me all about it.”

  Hearing this, Jackson would look down at her as he had a grin. “Sounds lovely. Just the two of us or…?”

  Emma sat back up, looking at him as she thought about it. “Hmmm… if you want, Lilly can come as well? Although Lilly seems to be busy with other things so perhaps just two of us will be better?”

  Jackson came closer to Emma, holding out his hand for her to shake. “Sounds like a deal.”

  She grabbed his hand as she gave him a warm smile. “Good, now shut up and enjoy the stars with me will you?”

  “Yes miss.” He chuckled and lie down next to the rock, looking up at the sky while Emma lie down on her rock once more, her hands underneath her head so her head wasn’t on the hard rock.