Defenders of Destiny Book One: Conflux

Chapter 24: The Return

King Mevon walked around Celestia with narrowed eyes and his arms behind his back. He took her all in. He studied her with his eyes, his tongue, his ears and whatever other senses he had. Unlike what Celestia had predicted he was not a lion or any other beast she would have thought of as kingly. He was a cobra with scaly arms and clawed hands dressed in an ornate vest of leather and fur with a golden crown upon his head. He had no legs and instead slithered around her, his forked tongue sometimes tickling her skin in a most uncomfortable way. Celestia had never liked snakes and standing next to one that was taller than she was made her skin crawl as if thousands of tiny legs were scampering around inside her. She stood straight and kept her gaze ahead respectfully but could do nothing to stop the occasional shudder and shiver.

"Do you fear me, hairless one?" King Mevon asked at length, finally breaking the deafening silence. He flicked her chin with his long tongue and chuckled when she crinkled her nose and turned her face away. "I sense fear in you. I can taste it in the air as it positively surrounds you. So, I ask again, and only once more, do you fear me?"

Celestia didn't know what to say so she gulped down her rising fear and simply muttered, "I have never seen....a king such...as yourself before."

King Mevon raised an eyebrow, or what constituted as one. "Are you saying that someone such as myself is unfit to be king? Am I not regal enough for you? What strikes you as unkingly of me?"

Cold sweat rolled down Celestia's neck and her heart began to pound. "You are a most...handsome king, your highness. I am not of this world and I simply was surprised to see you. I mean no offense."

"Yes, truly, you must not." King Mevon slithered closer and lifted Celestia's chin with one hand and then looked into her eyes, his vertical pupils contracting as they examined her. "Tell me, hairless female, where do you come from? Why are you here and what do you want? I have much business to attend to but the coming of an extinct race to my throne room is something that I take seriously. Such happenings are things of omens and customarily bring bad tidings. Are you here to overthrow me?"

Celestia widened her eyes and opened her mouth to object when something caught the king's eye. She glanced to the side of the expansive throne room with its gigantic columns, smooth marble floor, and murals all over its white walls, to see a distraught bipedal coyote run up to Captain Habon, who had been standing quietly off the side. He whispered a few words into the cheetah's ear and the reaction he gave him, one of shock and confusion, had both King Mevon and Celestia curious.

"What is the matter?" the king hissed loudly and angrily, his voice bouncing off the high walls. "There are no secrets kept from me!"

The humanoid coyote bent its ears back and bowed low, letting the captain step forward to answer the question. Captain Habon approached the king quickly and pointed down the room toward the double doors where two guards, bipedal hyenas, were pushing against it. "The eagles are restless, your highness. They are at the doors and trying to break through!"

King Mevon was taken aback. "Preposterous! What would cause them to turn on us?"

Captain Habon set his eyes on Celestia. "They brought us to her, my king. Perhaps they sense her fear and wish to protect her as they had done before."

King Mevon's eyes pierced into Celestia's soul even as she looked away from them. "She is no danger!" she heard him hiss. "Calm those birds down or I shall have them slaughtered!"

Celestia gasped and snapped her head in the direction of the snake king. "Why would you do that?! They're just being protective! There's no reason to kill them!"