Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

59. The Peril of Challenging Calloway

A/N 

Hey Crew,

I have finally caved and started an Instagram. It's at nathaniel_wilhelm and I already have a few character quotes on there for Pearly Tales. I'll have neat little tidbits of info on some of the characters and their character art.

Do you have any favorite quotes from any of the characters in any of my stories?

Who would you like to see the character art for?

Who do you want more information on?

(Help me give you content you want to see.)

In place of the character glossary idea I played around with, I thought this was the better alternative. Follow me on Instagram : nathaniel_wilhelm for characters and Misc. And Twitter @Nat_Wilhelm for some of the Captain's adventures and some of my other stuff.

Thanks for all your support up till now and I look forward to seeing you on other media. Tell your friends, share with your neighbor, bug you family, pass the rum.

For those of you who love the characters, the stories, or their plot. This will be a way to get fun trivia you might not find in the story itself that may or may not enhance the experience.

May the winds of fortune ever fill your sails, and I'll see you out on the seas.

-The Captain

*

Cal had his elbow on the short table and rested his chin in his hand as he played with his food. "Lady Azuras, I didn't think our last meeting would cause you to poison my food." Cal said flicking a piece of meat in front of her foot as she walked. She stopped prematurely before stepping on it. the speck of meat began to sizzle on the floor.

She stopped and made her stand. Every one of the dragons behind her drew their weapons. "It's not the meeting I have issues with, it's thine treachery that roused my ire. And if thou had just choked on the meal thou would have saved us much trouble."

"I thought you would have been smarter than trying to poison a druid." Cal winked at Seamus, then turned his attention back to Azuras.

"Thou art a Pirate as well." Azuras spat.

Cal smiled. "Aye, you're not wrong. But maybe you should clarify your accusations since I have done nothing that I know of to offend you or the other divine dragons."

"Do not play the fool with me Pirate. Thou hast sought to steal away my high Priestess for thy own Juvenile Pantheon by sending thine harlot to bind her by soul oath. I had believed thy offer of Alliance was sincere until thine Dravenkin whore desecrated my temple and dishonored my chosen until she threatened her with a Soul oath." She drew her blue Katana and pointed it at Cal. "Not even a Dravenkin and a Trickster God-king can stand against the might of the Divine Dragons and our Elite. What doest thou have to say for thine self?"

"The more I think about it, the more I truly realize how truthful the title of Peril suits me." Cal's smile was bloodthirsty.

"I compel thee to explain thyself and stop playing at the fool!" Azuras angrily commanded.

"I think you misunderstand who has the upper hand here. Vorn you may show yourself. Kadoka, don't kill anyone just yet." Cal snapped his fingers and the situation in the room swiftly changed.

Vorn and the other Dravenkin Hunting party materialized surrounding the dragons with their weapons already drawn. Ghostly hands grasped their feet, and even a few were on the ceiling as if the gravity was reversed. Meanwhile there was a flurry of movement as each elemental shapeshifted into their powered up form similar to Kadoka and Dakota's ability to transform. Every single one of them had one the dragon elites disarmed or pinned while Kadoka and Dakota stood guard at the door completely transformed into terribly powerful beings.

The dragon's eyes widened at how swiftly the situation had changed.

"I am the god of Peril for a reason, love. Now here is the point I want to make. This world is full of things a man can do and a man can't do. Now you can accept that I am both an honest Druid and a debonair pirate or you can't. Now I can kill you and your friends with a hunting party of Dravenkin Wraiths, but I can't keep an amiable relationship with me new wife-to-be if I kill her patron goddess. So I will show you, her destiny is in her hands." Cal turned to Selene.

"Selene Thetis, you and yours are hereby released from any commitment and the consequences of them that you have made in relation to me. You know what I am capable of and what I am willing to do to protect my family." He looked back at Azuras, "You put your foot in, then you pulled your foot out, and you put yours back in, but I think I'll let the culprits shake the truth all about. They'll explain this whole hokey pokey and we'll turn this all around, then we'll all know what this is all about."

"I don't understand what you are saying about feet." Selene said.

Cal sighed. Then stabbed at his food. "Tell your god the truth, do you want to go with me or stay. Either way, a war between the us and the Divine Dragons will ensue, if you do not speak your heart."

There was a long silence as everyone stared at Selene.

She turned to Cal, "Then I have one question for you Callow, I mean Cal."

Cal half shrugged. "Alright."

"I learned a lot about you Callow, you have changed so much and yet you are still somehow the same man that I loved. We spent a lot of time today talking about the past, but we never talked about the future. What do you have planned for the future, do you plan to conquer the world with the strength you have?" Selene asked. By the seriousness of her tone she stressed that her decision was going to be based on his answer.

Cal's face contorted into one of pain. "Do you know how much work that would be?" he moaned.

"So you admit that you could?" Selene asked taken aback.

Cal scratched his head. "I mean logistically, maybe? Probably. Hell, I know I could end the world if I wanted to. But that's not what I want. I will however fight a war with anyone who starts one with me." He looked at Azuras. "I will win them, too."

Selene looked at him. "But you never answered my question?"

"Well I had to think about it. I won't start the war, I will only finish it. if the world goes to war with me then I will conquer it. Otherwise, my plate is full as it is."

"The Hubris!" Azuras shouted.

"Maybe, but to protect your family would you not also plan on winning wars waged against you? Isn't that much common sense?" Cal shrugged.

Azuras simply growled at him.

"Then what do you want?" Selene asked.

"That's a much longer answer, but the short version is that I want to facilitate an environment where my daughter can grow to become anything she want to be." He lazily flicked another piece of food onto the floor.

There was a choking sound behind him.

Selene looked to see a black clad ninja and a purple haired fox girl appear behind him. The ninja grabbed his throat after Calico had chopped him in the Adam's apple with her hand. She then spun slamming the heel of her foot into the man's crouch and sent him flying through the wall behind them.

There was a chorus of empathetic pain from the men of the room before Calico winked and disappeared.

"A kitsune, I thought they were extinct." One of the Dragon gods exclaimed from behind Azuras.

Selene turned back to Cal. "Then what is the longer answer?"