## Chapter fifteen, QueenaFants

I dreamt about something green and a bird, and it felt important. There was like a tugging in my brain. There was a voice that said Green Raven over and over. It almost shouted.

“GREEN RAVEN, GREEN Raven, Green Raven”

I was very far away, but somehow I awoke. I heard Yoerus shout my name over and over.

“Yeah,” I croaked, cleared my voice and said, “yes, what is it?”

“The time is not up. You are not in danger.”

“Uhm, what? Why are you shouting and shouting my name over and over to wake me then?” I said more confused than angry.

“You leveled up [Telekinesis] yesterday.”

“Yes?”

“What we didn’t do was choose strength or distance. That has to be done within 12 hours, or the skill will disappear.”

“Oh, okay, that’s not good at all. How long do we have left?”

“Not enough. You were hard to wake up. Just say strength or distance, and I’ll sort it for you.”

I thought real quick and responded with “Strength. Can’t go wrong with that.”

You have leveled up [Telekinesis] to level 5, Area 1, Strength 4.

I was just about to ask Yoerus something when I got a feeling, or more of a premonition. I wasn’t surprised in the least when Yoerus suddenly told me.

“Heads up. There are some Shadow Warriors closing in fast. You have two choices, stand and fight or run. Either way, get your ass out of the tent. Put everything back in your [Inventory]. They are here within 3 minutes.”

“Yes,” I said simply. Getting out of my sleeping bag, I jumped out of my tent and put everything back in my [Inventory]. At the same time, as I took a swig of Canfee, I grabbed my sword. Just as I straightened my back and stretched a bit, I saw a dust cloud getting closer. The Shadow Warriors were riding on some creature. I need to get a mounted pet of some sort, I thought quietly to myself. The plan I had had for that to happen had kinda fallen through, or so it looked right now. I started to think of why I suddenly started to get premonitions. I never had them before. The riders were slowing down.

There were three of them, and the guy in the front raised his hand and said, “Hey there, traveler. What brings you to this part of the woods? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be out here alone?”

“Hey you too. I’m just out and about. Haven’t seen anything I couldn’t handle so far. Is that why you are in a rush?” I answered.

“Haha! No, not at all. We just heard about a quest in this part of the woods where the reward was really good. A quest that you needed to be at least a 3 man party at the lowest of level 30 to be able to clear.” He kind of smirked. He didn’t just sit on a high ‘horse’ figuratively but also literally.

“It wouldn’t have any chance to be to defeat Gorondes?” I asked innocently.

“Yes. Do you know anything about it? Have you seen them?”

“Well, let's just say that you rode in vain. Or maybe the monsters respawn just like in a dungeon?” I said while trying to hide a small smile on my lips. The three guys started to whisper among themselves, but they weren’t that discreet. I heard bits and pieces of what they talked about. It was along the way of, ‘no way that dude could have taken them out by himself. There must be more guys around here’, and more like that. Then they stopped and realized that I probably could hear them.

The first guy again opened his mouth and said, “You cleared the quest all by yourself?”

“Yes,” I said simply, and that brought on more whispering among them. Once more, I could hear and understand most of what they said. It was just the same thing, just reguruated with different wording.

Once more the first guy spoke, “Uhm, what level are you if I can ask?”

This was when Yoerus intervened and said to me, “don’t let them use [Inspect Being]. That will raise more flags than it’s worth. Just say that you’re level 48. Being Shadow Warriors, they don’t have any real knowledge about levels. So they will most likely believe you.”

“I’m level 48. If that’s all, I need to get going.” I said and at the same time, let my sword go back into my [Inventory]. Turning around, I started to walk away from them. If they believed me or not, I don’t know, but they let me go. I heard how they moved around on their mounts for a short while. Then, they turned around and rode off. “So that was fun,” I said to Yoerus while walking along a trodden path that looked like it would lead me out of the woods.

“Not fun. Could have been dangerous.”

Irony was not a strong suit for him. Good to know, I thought drily. “So Yoerus, what’s next? Any more quests, or can I get back to Fantsiland? You kind of kidnapped me just as I was on my way to an audience with the KingaFants king, King Lars.” I got no response, not in words. Just one step I was in a forest, the next I was in a courtyard where you could hear laughter from small KingaFants kids playing near a water fountain. I was just a step behind Olof, like nothing had happened. I was ‘Wow far out’ and directly asked Youerus, “Huh, you’re a man of few words and more action it seems?”

“Yes,” was the laconic answer from him.

“So no need to pass out and get teleported to Userus anymore. Can you teleport me anywhere I need to go in an instance?”

“Yes,” was once more the short answer. I decided that I had had enough of one word responses and asked Olof. “Hey Olof, what’s the king like?”

“King Lars is the best. He cares for his people. He is harsh and hard in all his actions against enemies of our great, great nation!” He then started humming something that was probably the national hymn. It was either in another language or some old accent, because I didn’t understand a word. That was fine of course. Just fun to hear. The melody was kind of catchy and reminded me of Queen's old hit, ‘We Will Rock You’. We walked the rest of the distance to the castle in silence. This was totally okay. It made me take the time to think of everything that had happened the last few days. This flash teleport thing that Yoerus could do, that I could be in two places at the same time. That was freaky as hell. Might I still be in a game and not in a different world? To say that I was confused was the understatement of the day. I was about to dive deeper in these thoughts when Olof stopped. With his hand, he directed me to walk through a lavishly decorated double door that had 2 KingaFants guarding it. They were dressed in the same way as Olof, like the old Napoleon soldiers back on earth, and were armed with pikes.

I stopped at the entrance and asked Yoerus a question, “You need to explain to me how this works. One second I was here. The next second, I’m away on a quest for three days. After that, I’m back in the same step that I was before you grabbed me. How can that be?”

“Userus is almighty. He can freeze the time on PAERD if he feels that it’s needed. In this case, it was. We had to see what you were made of, and it was the right stuff.”

That last part was corny as hell, but now I understood, so I just said, “Okay.” And then went through the entrance. Olof was now two steps behind me. Well, not steps. He was floating behind me. We, once more, walked through a corridor. This one was full of paintings of KingaFants in different battles and fights. It was a well lit hallway even if I didn’t see any direct lamps or such. I was going to ask Olof about it when he started speaking.

“We are soon in the audience hall. When we reach it, you will walk halfway into the room, bow while your eyes are averted to the floor until King Lars addresses you. Is that understood?”

“Yes,” I answered. Iit was really simple, and I’ve seen it happen in most of the old movies with royalty in them. The crown room or audience hall was an enormous room with a high ceiling and even more paintings. They were also large. I’ve never seen such large paintings before. The same kind of strange lights were luminating the room. I did as I was told and walked into the middle of the room, facing the throne. I bowed and kept my eyes on the floor. The king was sitting or rather laying on a throne like I’ve never seen before. It looked more like the beds the old Romans used to have where they lay and ate fruits dressed in togas. I stayed like that for at least 2 minutes, I had no issue with it. I knew it was a display of power, and if he was so insecure he had to use such childish tactics, so be it.

“Green Raven, rise,” King Lars said at last, and I rose, looking him straight into his eyes. “You wanted an audience with me. What can Fantsiland do for you?”

I said nothing. Both could play childish power games. After 30 or so seconds, the king smiled and let out a small laugh, and said. “Come over here and sit next to me. Let's talk.” I did as he said, and when I came closer to the king, a servant brought over a chair more appropriate to a human to sit on. I sat down on the chair and said, “Hi, King Lars. Thank you for seeing me. I don’t know if you are aware, but Marurade is starting to stir again, making noises. Or rather his followers are.”

“Yes, I’m aware. What is that to us? He will never be able to take Fantsiland. We are much too strong for him.”

This is where I was kind of salting the truth quite a bit. Rondellen had said that the KingaFants had never lost any land to Marurade before, but if he got the right followers, it was possible that this time they might. We didn’t know if those powers were in place yet. I was working on the presumptions that he had managed to get what he needed to be a threat to a nation like Fantsiland. So that’s what I told the king. I straight away got to the question I was there to ask him. We humans never did anything for free, and of course he was right in that. When I was training with Eonde and Anders, I had asked them about mounted pets. They told me that the best ones were the ones you only could find in Fantsiland. They were winged mounted pets that you could fly fast and high up in the air with. The whole reason why I asked for an audience with the king when we met Olof in the dungeon was to get a mounted pet. But, and that’s a big but, I never thought I’d get here or get an audience. I mean I wanted to, otherwise I’d never try. Still, I hadn’t really thought things through all the way. It was time to bullshit some more and get what I got here to do. “King Lars, I have a suggestion to make for you or rather a question if you want to start an alliance with the Bondlaeppers. You know I was in the dungeon with Rondellen and Rufus' daughter, Eonde right? They were supposed to come with me, but both fell ill this morning.”

The king just looked at me with his big eyes, saying nothing. He left his ‘chair’ and floated over to the largest painting there was in the crown room. He looked at it and then said, “Have you heard of the battle of Fantsibridge? It’s the bridge that connects Fantsiland with the rest of PAERD. It's pictured here.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about it. It’s when you crushed Marurade’s offensive into Fantsiland the last time he was making noise. The biggest reason was because you had your army riding QueenaFants, your mounted flying pets.”

“So then I know why you are here, Green Raven. You want me to give you QueenaFants in exchange for an alliance with the Bondlaeppers, right?” the king said, still looking at the painting of the famous battle. I was so happy that Rondellen had told me about some of the history regarding Marurade, otherwise I'd have been toast by now.

“Yes, you are correct,” there was no denying it. That was the whole reason I was here.

“I do not want an alliance.” Here I tried to interrupt the king, but he continued, “No, do not interrupt. You know why, but I’ll tell you anyway. It’s because in all its history, KingaFants have never entered any alliances, and we have never given out any of our pets to outsiders. I’ll give you this. You are a very brave young lad, to come here, all alone, talking and asking about something like this. It is way over your head in any normal circumstances. Therefore I will do something I have never done before and never will do again. Even if I’m declining your offer of an alliance, you will get a QueenaFant of your choosing to take as your pet, but after that you will need to leave. We do not want any outsiders in Fantsiland.”

I was stumped. The whole talk about alliance was something I just threw out. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing, but that didn’t matter at all anymore. I had gotten what I came for! I just bowed and said, “you’re too kind, your majesty.”

“Olof,” the king called. Instantly, Olof appeared at his king's side.

“Yes, your majesty?”

“Bring Green Raven to the stables. He is to choose a QueenaFant of his liking. Then you will escort him to the bridge.”

“Yes, your majesty!”

“I thank you once more for your bravery, Green Raven. If all your people are like you, the fight is not over yet.” the king said as parting words as he was turning and leaving the throne room.

“Follow me,” I heard Olof say in my ear. I turned and followed him back the way we came. The trip to the stables didn’t take long. We went through something that were probably service tunnels for the servants. We entered the tunnel via a door that was disguised as yet another painting and exited right in the stables. I had walked just behind Olof all the way, but when we reached the stable, he turned and said to me.

“In this stable there are 650 QueenaFants. They are all unique in that they have their own will and temper. Yes, the king told you that you would get a QueenaFant of your choosing. That was not correct per se. You see, they choose who they will be a pet to. What you do is when you go through the stable, only stop if one calls out to you.” He showed me where I should go.

I followed his directions and started walking and waiting for something to happen. I walked further and further into the stable. Suddenly, it happened. I almost started laughing. I now had two competing voices in my head.