With all due haste! (Patreon)

I quickly retrieved my stylish green satin suit from my Elfintory, and put it on.

"PRINCE ADLER???" Avogadro bellowed from the entrance of the stables.  "What in the nine Netherhells are you doing here in Albric Tor?  Where is my mistress, the beautiful Relda Fauxfox?  I saw her dash in here .. what's that you're holding?"

I tried to tuck the Pie-Fight Valkyrie costume brassiere out of sight, but the mole managed to get a clear look at it.

"YOU SHALL DIE BY MY HAND!!!!" Avogadro screamed as he barreled toward me.

I threw the brassiere at him, and suddenly found the will to pook away toward the Hall of Ancestors.

I landed in the plaza in front of the Hall.  If only Estvan could have seen me!  He would have been quite proud of his pupil.

I raced up the stairs, past a drunken City Guard snoozing with his head in the foliage of a very dubious-looking shrub.  This looked like one of the guards I had met at the side gate, which meant his relief must have come and he was presumably off-duty .. but such disgraceful public behavior, while still in uniform?  When I became King, I would have to have this fellow written up on disciplinary charges!  There was no time to deal with him now, but I made a mental note of his features as I rushed onward, into the Hall.

Immediately I was beset by a swarm of Ixies.

"Turn back, Sire," they buzzed at me.  "There is nothing thou canst do now.  The Queen hath absconded, and the Tailipo hath likewise made good her escape.  Naught but ill can come of thee beholding what sad relic remains -"

"Away, insects!" I growled.  "You forget who is your Sire and ruler!  If my brother is in peril then I must help him or bear witness to his fate with my own eyes."

I grabbed one of the light staffs propped near the entrance, and rushed quickly through the Hall toward the Coronation Chamber.

When I entered the chamber I stopped short, staring at the gruesome tableau before me.  A horrible sinking dread seemed to permeate through my very soul!

"We warned thee not to look," the Ixies buzzed sympathetically.

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