Chapter 244 Tattooing a King

"You? Be evil? Aella, are you sure about this?" asked Firion, leaning back in his chair and looking her up and down.

"Look, Alfred is about to give up his powers, and I need him to have a reason to keep them," she said, shifting from one foot to another.

"And your answer to that is to go evil? I thought we already discussed this and decided it was a bad idea? Or, you discussed it with Alfred," he added, waving a hand.

Aella sighed. She knew that if she went down this path, there was no going back.

"Look, Aella, go talk to him. Tell him that you plan to do this if he doesn't get his act together," shrugged Firion. "If he still insists on being stupid, then I'll talk to you."

She nodded, feeling like the assassin was being more reasonable than her and sighed.

Teleporting back to the tree, she saw Alfred stumble back from it.

"Alfred," she said, getting his attention.

He twisted and looked at her. "Aella! Get me away from here!" he said quickly, looking pale and shaky.

"Are you alright?" she asked, reaching out to steady him.

"He's scared," mused Precious.

Aella frowned and teleported Alfred back to the library.

"Alfred?" asked Bridgette, glancing at Aella and back at him.

"I never want to see that tree again!" he gasped, grabbing Bridgette's arms and shaking his head. "I'm sorry I was tempted! Can you forgive me?"

Aella opened her mouth, then shut it back. The tree must have done something, but she wasn't sure what. Now she didn't have to go evil. The relief was immense!

"Do you still want your sister to come back?" asked Bridgette hesitantly, as she helped him into a chair.

"No, she's happy. If I bring her back, there's no telling what other heartaches she might endure. You were right, I was being stupid," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"I didn't say you were stupid," mumbled Bridgette happily.

"So, you still have your powers?" asked Aella, licking her lips.

"Of course! How could I give them up! You might do something stupid again," he grumbled, reaching for a cup that was on the table in front of him and taking a drink from it.

Aella nodded, giving Bridgette a look then teleported back to Firion when Bridgette waved her off behind his back.

"So?" he asked, looking up from the paper in front of him.

"He's decided on his own not to get rid of his powers," said Aella, with a shrug.

"See? I told you not to jump to conclusions."

"But I really thought he would give up his powers," said Aella with a pout.

"Aella, you're going to have to learn patience. What happened to the warrior that was in the pits only a few years ago? You've lost your edge," he said, shaking his head.

"In the pits I knew what would happen," she whispered.

"This is the outside world. You're doing fine. Stop being stupide and get to work. Are you done tattooing everyone you were going to?" he asked.

"Aella?" asked a voice just then, in her head.

"Elalar?" she responded to the elven king.

"Were you really done with the tattooists? I thought you had mentioned the lions?" he asked. "They said they didn't see them."

"You're right, Firion, as usual," she said, turning to glance out a window at the kids as they played with the hydra. Sarah was tying a bow on Ruth's head, Merle was deep in discussion with Frank, and Donovan was playing some game with Louie and a couple of stones.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't you have work to do?" he asked, looking back down at his paper.

Aella teleported without another word to the elven forest. Elalar looked up and smiled. The tattooists were standing beside him.

"I got sidetracked and totally forgot about the lions," said Aella. "Thanks, Elalar."

"No, problem," he chuckled. "We all forget things occasionally. I'm glad I could use the tattoo already. I think this will come in handy! Can I use it to contact other people, too?"

"Only through me," she said, shaking her head. "You're welcome to talk to the gnomes about their technology."

"Yeah," he grimaced. "I had started talking to them about it, but they're pretty hard to deal with. Alright, thanks!"

She nodded, taking the elven tattooists once again, and teleported them to the caves where the lions were living. Several lions started at their appearance with elves and snarled in anger.

"I need to speak with your king," she said quickly, holding up her hands to keep the lions from attacking the elves who were cowering behind her.

"What's wrong, Aella?" asked Amra, the lion king.

"I have been tattooing all the leaders in the realm, so if there were an emergency, they could contact me no matter where I was. I was hoping you would allow me to tattoo you and possibly the leader of the lizard people?" she asked, calming down at his appearance.

"And you are using elves to do this?" he asked with a frown.

"I am sorry, but they have the best tattooists, and the magic required to make them work properly needs a good mark."

He glared at the elves for a moment before finally nodding. "I will allow this because it will give me a chance to be closer to you," he finally said to Aella.

"She's mine," growled Precious.

"I know, little one," he chuckled.

Precious puffed up, and hopped down off of her shoulder.

"Precious, please wait until after the tattoo before you start a fight," sighed Aella.

"No! I will not be insulted by him!" snapped Precious. "He's not my king!"

"Then why take insult from him?" she asked. "His words shouldn't be enough to make you do anything, if you don't allow them to."

Precious paused, seeming to think about her words, then nodded. Flying back to her shoulder, he settled back down, pointedly placing his face into the crook of her neck, where he couldn't see Amra.

"The young are so amusing," the lion king said, shaking his massive head and laying down to allow the elves access to his front leg.

They had to shave the fur off the area where the tattoo would be, but Aella assured him she would heal it back when they were done. The lizard leader arrived while they were working, and Aella quickly explained to her what was happening. She was very intrigued, and quickly agreed to allow herself to get tattooed. Aella took advantage of them both being there to also ask about a portal to the trade town.

"I am not sure such a thing would be a good idea. We need so little from the other people in this realm, and I do not think the lions would appreciate having access for the elves to visit so easily," said the lizard leader.

"What if I made the portal in such a way that only those who could fly, could access it?" she asked.

"No, I think not at this time," said Amra. "My people are not willing to deal with the elves or the demons right now. Perhaps in another couple years our memories will be dulled a bit, but not now."

Aella nodded and gathered the elves up after healing the two leaders and thanking them for their time. Teleporting to the gargoyles, she noted the empty caves around her. Where had they gone? Even the demonesses were missing. A sinking feeling started to form in the pit of her stomach as she rushed to the entrance and looked around. Where could they have gone?

"Aella?" asked a voice above her.

Glancing up, she saw one of the demonesses, clinging to the cliffside and holding a basket stuffed full of mushrooms, berries and other green things.

"What's going on?" asked Aella, stepping back as the demoness dropped down to the cliff at the entrance to the cave.

"The girls and I decided to go out and scavenge some things," she said brightly. "We were getting tired of being cooped up in the cave all the time, and the guys only seemed to want to hunt for meat. The whole mountainside is just covered in all sorts of good things to eat."

Aella took in her grin and relaxed. Nothing bad had happened. "I was wondering if Hunter was around? I am tattooing the leaders of all of the peoples in the realm so they can contact me if an emergency arises."

"Well, you'll probably want to tattoo all five of the guys, because they don't really follow Hunter as a leader," laughed one of the other girls as the rest of them caught up.

"Yeah, they listen to him, and he's the one most likely to talk, but they're all pretty equal," said another of the girls.

"Do you know where they are?" asked Aella.

"They left to go to the human town to get some supplies," said the first girl, setting her basket down and turning to look over the elves.

Aella nodded with a sigh and said, "Thank you. I won't intrude any longer."

"Oh, no! Please don't go! These guys you brought look so cute! Are they elves?" asked one of the girls in the back.

The elves gathered closer to Aella with wide eyes and she merely smiled apologetically to the demoness as she teleported away with them.