3. The helping hand of an architect

A sturdy door opened into a hallway. Out of it walked the wizard with a parchment. “Ouch!”, he heard from a door that he was walking towards. “Au!”. He seemed to already know who he heard. He held the door handle for a little, took a deep breath and opened it. In front of him was the king on his throne. Alfred was petting a duck. The others laid around him, some of them asleep. Maybe they were dreaming of their old adventures as noble knights. But Thogan knew that not to be the case. No profound thoughts were in those cute little heads. What caught his eye much more was what he saw to his left, next to Alfred. It was source of the noise, the son of the king. The failed thief was still stuck to the floor because of the sticky slime of the snake. A part of the floor was cut out and then refined into a circle. The architect of this was a praying mantis on top, chiseling away at the stone. He attempted to get the right arm free from the slime. The wizard locked eyes with the mantis and smiled: “Doing the important work, are we Melvin?” Melvin did not seem amused by his humor. Alfred then talked cheerfully: “You are back! Has there been any success with the knights of the other kingdoms?” Thogan looked at his parchment with many crossed out names: “Well the search will have to continue.” The king stood up straight, he looked bewildered: “Are you telling me you haven’t found a single brave soul who would like to fight for me?” Thogan replied: “My king, many of the other kingdoms have not been too appreciative of your recent policies. They find your lumbering of the Forbidden Forest to be reckless and the effects of your statues on the local wildlife damaging.” Alfred seemed annoyed: “Typical stuck up nobles, I guess we will have to look for warriors without blue blood.” He looked at the mantis: “Architect, are you able to free Ineptus from the slime?” The mantis answered: “His arm will be free soon, but the goo has hardened in other places. This won’t be fixed in a week. Much more difficult than any of the statues. Maybe he could run over the snake?” Ineptus seemed fond of that idea: “Yes father, I’ll be your best attack wheel! If I practice how to swing a sword on this thing, Verzamelaar is doomed!” Alfred looked over to Thogan again: “Speaking of practice. Your little one., Betty. She showed me her fighting with one of the test dummies and asked me to be one of the seven. I believe Betty would make a great addition. That would make you four.” The wizard started shaking his head: “Oh my Lord. She is just a child. Just turned eighteen. Betty surely doesn’t know what to do with a sword and a shield. She is not made for a challenge like that.” “If you say so Thogan. But keep an eye on that child. She seems to have some kind of talent.” Alfred stood up while holding the duck from his lap like a baby: “Keep searching for warriors you two. Look everywhere! Go to the Scoundrel’s Tavern if you have to. I will bring these little rascals to the pond, it’s what they deserve after what they’ve been through. Ineptus roll after me!” While Thogan and Melvin stayed, the group walked out with a wonderful collage of sounds. Once both were alone, their demeanor changed. Melvin jumped on top of a window ledge, and they looked out of it: “You still won’t let her grow up, will you?” “She’s just living a fantasy. This is way too dangerous. I caved when she asked for training all those times, but this is too much.” “I doubt there are many people who want to help this king, Thogan.” “There has to be someone.”