The Dragonwalk Highway: The Fellowship of Thirteen

Part 30 - The Beyond

An army of men, elves, and bird people stood at Zelda, Oron and Mo's back. The trio stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking The Beyond. Ironically enough, it was the same cliff they had tossed Grog down nearly a full lunar earlier. The journey to the outer kingdom had been much easier accompanied by an army and no Grog in the mountains.

The red mist swirled above The Beyond, offering only momentarily glimpses of the land that lay beyond the borders of the Dragonwalk Empire. Neither Zelda, Oron, or Mo thought their journey would ultimately end at the border of the kingdom.

"Well...here we are," Oron said.

"Yup," Zelda agreed. "We are here."

"Look on the bright side," Mo said. "At least we escaped the Curse of Thirteen and all that silly nonsense."

"Did we though?" Oron asked. "Everyone but the three of us died horrible, horrible deaths."

"True."

"And the whole point of the quest was to save King Dragonwalk's life—which we totally didn't."

"Another solid point."

"And the other goal after we made it to the Tree was to get Zelda on the throne—which we also buggered up."

"Also a good point."

"And," Oron continued, "here we are about to plunge to our certain deaths."

"Ok! Ok! I get it. We failed in every conceivable way. Just—shut it!"

The ranks behind them opened and Draco approached with Q'Paxus and Mr. Peanut in tow. Draco carried the trio's weapons. He walked to the edge of the cliff and, one by one, tossed them over the side into the red mist. Zelda's blade, her bow, and throwing knives, and Zeus' Dick all plummeted into the unknown.

"You're next," Draco said.

He reached for Zelda, but she pushed him away. "I don't get it. Why don't you just kill us?"

"Ha! And face the backlash of public opinion? No thank you. No, better to banish you and your pals to certain death in The Beyond. That way you're still dead, but technically I had nothing to do with it."

"Which is a shame because we really, really want to kill you," Q'Paxus added.

Thunder rumbled in the clouds hovering over The Beyond. In the distance the Fortress of the Demon Lord loomed, ominous and terrible on the far side of The Beyond.

Draco limped to the gathered army and cleared his throat. "Princess Zelda Dragonwalk, Oron Rummrunner, and Molock—uh—bear, you are henceforth banished from the Dragonwalk Kingdom for treason against the crown. Do you have anything to say before your sentence is carried out?"

Oron stuck his arm to his lips and blew, creating a long, rippling fart sound that carried far beyond the ranks of the King's men. Mo chuckled and attempted to copy the insult, but it didn't work that well on his hairy arm.

"And in addition to that, I have this to say," Zelda said. "We'll be back."

Draco rolled his eyes and motioned toward the guards. The front row of soldiers marched on the trio, the last remaining members of the Fellowship of Thirteen, and tossed them into The Beyond.