Chapter 20: The Correct Way to Eat Icy Desserts is not Violently.
From the broken door a shaft of light was cast upon the caravamel. Along with this was a shadow cast by a knight of purplish icy slush. It’s dark feather plume swayed dramatically. It would have been a more striking sight had the knight not constantly needed to reform its shape.
<Who dares to so barbarically disturb this civilized trial!>
Fancy Chill snickered as she watched through her lookingglass of ice.
“Frulids! The end of your tale approaches!” She called through the mirror, completely ignoring the tailless slugs.
The slush knight gurgled slightly but Fancy Chill’s voice failed to transmit to her audience. She let out a dissatisfied sigh and just ordered the slush knight to finish things.
“What in the world is that!?” Ismi asked.
“I can sense hostility from it! It doesn’t have good intentions towards us!” Yerdl panicked.
“Is it, I don’t know some kind of living dessert?” Kejo asked.
“What? Just what kind of dessert would that be? Who would eat that?” Ismi objected.
<Actually, shaved ice and similar desserts are a delicacy here in the underground> One slug helpfully explained.
“It isn’t a dessert” Yerdl said.
<Well, not yet, we need a big bowl first I think>
The slush knight, since it wasn’t being bothered, took the initiative to form more than one spear of ice.
<Likely need that big magic spoon we dug up too>
“Forget them, Kejo, tell a joke!” Ismi said.
“No” Kejo said.
<You know, I’ve always felt a slush drink is best with syrup>
“What do you mean no? Look at how dangerous that thing is! Look at all those icy spears of doom! Do you want to get skewered? Do you want your mother to get skewered?”
“What about me?” Yerdl asked.
<That is adulteration! You sir, are not a true blue slug!>
“I’m not going to tell a joke, it won’t work. Until I see someone or something with huge ears, I’m not going to!”
<Hey now, I admit, that syrup is wrong, but it isn’t that bad, people that have it with fruit though… that’d truly be corrupting the purity of the ice>
“Oh come on, it might work this time” Yerdl encouraged.
On the surface, Fancy Chill laughed so hard she almost choked.
<Purity? The ONLY way to have iced desserts is with as little flavouring as possible, only then can you fully appreciate the…>
There was no time for further arguments. A storm of ice spears descended on the caravamel, and pretty much everyone else really.
Wails and shrieks of voices joined in chorus to the shriek of the spears as they cut through the air, but amidst this, the grinding of gears and click of chain belts sounded.
The floor of the trial room, tiles, were torn up and went spinning in the air as a machine rushed from where it had been to the front of the ice storm.
This machine was a ball with eight limbs, all in pale blue metal. The limbs had three segements and had chain tracks on each of the limbs. Four of the limbs had tips that were unbroken chain tracks. Two had hands, the fingers of which had whirring chains just as the limbs did. One had a pincer and the other quite naturally had a big drill.
It wildly spun around, destroying the icy spears. It was quite clearly a machine that was in better condition than the guardian constructs had been.
<Insolent aggressor! I will not allow you to harm anyone here…> The Chairseer said from within the cockpit of the machine.
“Huh, maybe they aren’t all that bad” Kejo said.
<Violence against the occupants of the Forgehome is only by action of the Forgehome!>
From the relative safety of the snows of Elcon’s surface, Fancy Chill snorted, then she pulled one of her feathers out from her wings and spat it into her ice mirror.
The Chairseer was busy posturing when a feather shot out of the air and stabbed into the slush knight.
It shuddered.
It swelled.
It crashed into the Chairseer as a mighty wave pulling both of them through the wall.
The Caralid Family were quite silent for a moment, not sure what to make of what happened, they quickly regained their senses though.
Ismi cracked Turmeric’s reins.
“TIME TO ESCAPE!” she cried.