Castle Edinburrough

By Cameron Whitaker

It had been several hours since Flame, Flicker, and Seyon returned from their first mission in the League. The trio was in a meeting, as it was five o'clock, discussing the possibility of future missions. Seyon immediately started off. "Well, our task today was not the kind of task that I had been hoping to get, but it's a start. Now for today's business." He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "That concludes today's business."

"So, what is today's business?" asked Flame.

"We have no business for today. Otherwise, I would have talked about it!"

"What are we doing here, then?" Flicker inquired.

"Nothing, I guess. Well, obviously there is no need to be here, so let's ditch this joint!" Seyon responded. Flicker and Flame stared at him, since they did not understand his bizarre choice of words. "That means that we can go!" he reiterated.

"Before you all leave, I had something nice airlifted here, and it's only for the dudes in the League! Flame, change into your bathing suit, and meet us out in front of the drawbridge. Flicker and I must change into our bathing suits as well." Seyon stated. She was confused by the request, but she decided to go along with it. The three met at the drawbridge within ten minutes. Seyon looked at Flame, and then made a quick comment on her appearance. "You have purple hair? That is awesome!" She smiled at the remark. "All right. Follow me, knights!" he commanded.

Flame and Flicker followed him into the woods. Flicker was concerned by the fact that Seyon was leading them. "Are you sure you know where you are going?" "Don't worry my friend, I have it in the bag. See, here it is!" In a clearing in front of them was a small wooden structure, made of dark-stained cedar. In the middle of the structure was a large tub of water, with a layer of steam hovering above it. "What is it?" Flicker and Flame asked simultaneously.

"It's my semi-portable, hot tub, gazebo… thing! It came by helicopter several hours ago."

"What's a helicopter?" Flicker could never pass up an opportunity to learn about something new. Seyon, however, did not respond. Instead, he climbed into the tub, and stated rather lazily, "Now this is the life! Come join me, you two." They both got into the "hot tub" and had quickly become as relaxed as he was. However, this bout of serenity did not last long.

Four knights surrounded them, and Seyon immediately recognized one of them. "Hey, Count Gregory. What brings you here?" "It's Geoffrey!" Geoffrey snapped. Seyon, however, seemed completely unconcerned about the imminent danger, even though it was clear that Geoffrey wanted revenge for his defeat by Seyon just a few days ago.

"And just who might you be?" he asked as he looked at Flame. He did not recognize her, as she was not wearing her usual attire.

Before she could respond, Seyon answered his question. "Her name is Ember. She's an orphan who is new to Camelhot." He gave her a quick wink. She didn't understand his logic, but she played along anyway.

"Anyway, you are all coming with us!" replied the Count.

"Why would we want to do that? It's too nice in here." Seyon said, almost stupidly.

"I mean, we are going to kidnap you three."

"You can't kidnap us. Were not kids. You should say that you are going to adultnap us!" Flicker and Flame, however, did not join in on Seyon's levity. They knew that they were in for trouble, for Geoffrey was now quite angry. "Evil Knights Numbers One, Two, and Three, seize them!" The three were pulled out of the hot tub.

"This is a drag!" Seyon commented, as they were being taken to Castle Threadbare. "I wanted to go to bed early tonight! But oh well… these things happen…" The dragons looked at him strangely. The castle was not at all far, so they arrived very quickly.
Geoffrey's evil knights took them straight to the dungeon, where the three were locked away. Flame had a burning desire to know why Seyon had hid her identity, and Flicker did as well. "So, why did you say that I was Ember?"

"Well, I knew that Gregory…"

"Geoffrey." Flicker corrected.

"Right. I knew that Geoffrey would hold us up for ransom. Had he known that you were Flame, he would have had a strong bargaining point. Since he thinks that you're Ember, a nobody, he has lost that upper hand. What a foolish fool!"

Soon Geoffrey showed up at the gate to explain what he had in store for them. "Now that you all are here, I'm going to put you up for ransom. The price? Nothing less than…

"Yah yah. Castle Camelhot. We all know want you want! Personally, I think that you're crazy. I mean, if I were you, than I would at least want all of England! You have no ambition!" Seyon declared.

"Well, you three aren't worth that much, so I doubt that I'll get anything for you. If I don't get my asking price of Castle Camelhot, then I'll feed you all to the alligators!"

"Well, that's not a nice thing to say!" Seyon said with his usual levity. Geoffrey had stormed off by this time. Seyon turned to his knights, and he could tell that they were startled. "Don't worry. I think that he's all talk and no action." That, however, did not comfort them at all. Seyon thought for a few moments, and then was struck by an idea. He then said, "Well, I guess we should just leave."

"But how can we escape? We have almost nothing!" Flicker exclaimed.

"I've got it covered." Seyon reached into the pocket of his bathing suit, and pulled out a strange device. There were what seemed to be several strips of metal in the center of it. There were two outer plates, both of which were covered by red plates. One of the red plates had a shield with a cross in the middle of it embedded into the plate. "Wait! You took that into the hot tub?" asked Flicker in an almost shocked tone of voice.

"It's waterproof!" Seyon explained. He then pulled on one of the strips of metal in the center, and a long, thin rod flipped out. He then put it into the keyhole of the gate, and gave the tool a couple twists and turns. Suddenly, the lock went "Click." "After you," he said, as he opened the gate. Flicker and Flame were silent as they walked through the open gate. They quietly walked through the corridor, and at the end of the hall, Flame heard a faint noise. "Footsteps!" she whispered. Flame and Flicker proceeded to run, but Seyon stopped them. "I have an idea! Follow my lead."

He continued walking the same way as he did before, with the dragons following him. Suddenly, the three spotted Evil Knight Number 3. Seyon made no effort to remain hidden. "How do you do?" he asked politely as the knight walked by them.

"Duh, fine! How do you do?" he replied.

"Fine, fine. We're just escaping. Don't tell Geoffrey."

"Duh, okay." He went continued on without so much as a second thought. Flame and Flicker stared at each other in disbelief. "How did you know that would work?" Flicker asked Seyon.

"Well, when I first heard the footsteps after Sera Flame pointed them out, I could tell by their tone that it was a big, tall, stupid Evil Knight. I knew that such an insanely obvious statement would surely not make him think!"

"Wow! I can't believe that you can tell so much about a person just by the sound of their footsteps!" Flame stated, as she was awestruck by this skill.

"Well, you see… I completely made up that part. The truth is that I just tried something stupid, and it miraculously worked. I thought for sure that we would end up in the dungeon again, though luxurious and comfortable it may be…"

The three continued through Castle Threadbare without a single mishap, and then they headed to Camelhot, a fairly short trip, all the while amazed with their escape. As they entered through the gate, Seyon looked at his arm, as though his watch was there, but it quite frequently was not. "Just in time for dinner!" he exclaimed. "Flame, change into any sort of clothing. Meet us in our room as soon as you're done." They went their separate ways.

"What are we having for dinner?" Flicker asked.

"Ah, it's a secret. The only thing that I'll say is that it is a very popular food where I come from."

"Anyway, where did you come from? You haven't told me anything about you're past!"

"Flicker, my friend, I shall reveal that to you in time." They continued to their room, where they changed. Seyon also started a thing he called a "barbecue." Flame arrived shortly, wearing her usual dress.

When she entered, she could smell wonderful aroma of what promised to be a delicious meal. Seyon was on the porch, wearing a strange outfit instead of his usual T-shirt, shorts, and sandals. He caught sight of her, and exclaimed, "Check it out! I figured out that there is another way to open the door to the porch!" She saw that the doorframe had not moved, and there was broken glass all over the ground. "Oh, if you're not wearing shoes, then you best not go near here," he added. She decided that it was best not to ask what happened.

"What are you cooking?"

"It's a secret. You'll find out soon enough!"

"And just what are you wearing?"

"See, I'm a Yankee, circa 1776! Dig it! Now I told you to wear any sort of clothing, and yet you wore your usual dress. You're no fun!"

"But this is what I am supposed to wear!"

"You're in the League now! You can wear whatever you want. Come on, show some skin for once! Or scales, as the case may be… Just please, please don't show up wearing absolutely nothing. If you do, I swear, I'll paint you purple, and I'll drop you by helicopter into Castle Threadbare! Well, not really… but I'll threaten to do it! Okay, so maybe I won't threaten to do it, but… Ah! Patties are done!" He picked up several circles of meat off the grill and took them to a table where he assembled the meal. He then placed several plates, each one with a single type of food on it, on the table, and sat down. "All right! Dig in!"

"So, what do you call these?" Flame inquired.

"Back in my homeland, we call them hamburgers!" Flicker took out a fork, a device that he had recently invented, and began eating with it.

"Flicker! You aren't supposed to use your food impaling apparatus to eat these, you are supposed to use your hands!"

"Oh, you mean this? It's called a fork." Flicker explained

"I know, but I like to call in a food impaling apparatus. I think is sound more League…ish." The three quickly ate their meal, and much to Seyon's delight, the dragons loved the hamburgers. Suddenly, there was knock at the door. It then flew open, and the door crashed into the wall with a loud "bang!" Cinder and Clinker rushed in.

"There you go!" Seyon said. "See how polite that was?"

"Message for the League." Clinker said in a very boring tone. Seyon snatched the letter from them and tore it open. He read it silently, and then he shouted, "Righteous! Now this is what the League was meant to do!" He then stuffed the letter into his pocket. "We are supposed to travel to Castle Edinburrough in Scotland tomorrow morning. There, we will meet King Maclaren, who has some special tasks for us!" He paused for a moment. "Wait… I hope this doesn't involve politics. The last thing I want to do is get involved in politics! Kudos to you, Flame, seeing as how you were born into it."

"It's not that bad." she responded. Seyon replied with a strange look.

"So why don't you like politics?" Flicker asked.

"You see, I don't like having power. I just like to be a stranger in the audience, not the one giving the performance. Also, I am not ambitious, I have no desire for wealth, and I don't want fame, like, at all! Isn't that just groovy?"

"No offense, but you are a very strange person!" Flicker added.

"People tell me that all the time… Personally, I prefer the term, "crazy." Bodacious, yo! See, if you're not crazy, then there's no place for you in the League, because I, a crazy dude, started it!"

"So, what exactly do you mean by crazy?" Flame was quite puzzled at this point.

"Well, you don't have to be insane, you just have to act on impulse, without thinking. I mean, if you try to be crazy, then you'll look like a, um, regular person who is… trying to act crazy! You dig?" The three were quiet for a few moments, and then Seyon broke the silence with one of his many crazy ideas.

"I wonder what coffee and soda taste like together!" He ran over to a large metal chest, which he called a "refrigerator." He pulled out a can, and then ran over to his nightstand, where he pulled out a carton that said "coffee" in big letters on the side. The dragon knights watched, as they wanted to see how this would turn out. After mixing the two ingredients in a glass, Seyon took a sip. "Well, despite the fact that it's absolutely terrible, I'd say this isn't half bad! Maybe some milk will help…"

He went back to the refrigerator, pulled out a jug of milk, and poured it into the glass. After taking a sip, he came to a conclusion. "This is awful! I've never tasted anything so foul!" He poured the contents of the glass out, and through the glass across the room at a window. It went "crash!" as it went through the window, and more pieces broken glass fell onto the ground. Seyon then turned to Flame, with a smile on his face.

"And that's how I broke the glass in the door!" Flicker then explained the situation further. "You see, Seyon was reading a book, and I don't know what he read, but he abruptly yelled, 'That's not how that works! You fools!' He threw the book at the door, and it crashed through!"

"I could have sworn that the door was open! That's just not cool! Curse whoever cleaned that glass so well!" Seyon shouted.

Flicker then whispered to Flame, "I'll tell you. He has walked into that door so many times, so I don't think he's lying." She laughed quietly at that fact.

"Wait! I'm the one who cleaned that glass so well! Curse me!" Seyon cried out.

"So that explains the door, but what about the window?" Flame saw no motive for Seyon's apparent love of shattering glass.

"Ah, yes, that one… Remember when I threw the Code of Chivalry out the window? Apparently, somebody put glass in that window recently."

"No, Seyon. You threw the book out that window!" Flicker stated, as he pointed to a window that was obviously open.

"Oh! That explains it!"

For no apparent reason, he changed topics. "Say, I have a gift for you two. It comes courtesy of the three leaders of the League combined, which are me, myself, and I." He then whispered to them. "Personally, I don't like me too much, but myself and I are pretty good."

He walked over to the closet and pulled out a large black box. He took it to the table, and opened it for them to see. Set in the finely laid velvet interior were two strange objects, both identical to one another. Each one must have been about a foot long, with a metal tube that ran down the center of a gorgeous piece of wood. The wood ran the entire length of the device, though it made a somewhat sharp bend further down. Under this point was a misshapen ring. The end was covered with a gleaming brass plate, and just above that was a finely inlaid gold decoration. There was a lever that stuck out the side of the device right before the bend in the wood, which had a piece of what appeared to be flint in a clamp at the top.

Seyon picked up one of the objects, and upon a glance, he said, "Here you go, Flicker. This one's yours." Flicker saw that his name was stunningly inscribed in the side of the device that they had not seen. Flame's name was just as brilliantly inscribed in hers.

"I went through heck to get these. You'd better enjoy them!" Seyon said in a jokingly serious voice.

Flicker had been examining this strange device for quite some time, but he just couldn't figure out what it was. He finally gave up and asked, "So, what is this? Is this something that you invented? How does it work?"

"Slow down, there! Were not playing 20 Questions! Or are we…? No. We definitely aren't. That thing that you are holding is called a flintlock pistol. In the League, it'll mostly be used as a status symbol, but it can be used as a means of protection. I have one too!" He pulled out pistol that looked very much like theirs form a draw, though it was considerably much more worn.

"Well, it's too late in the evening to show you how it works. Sera Flame, you best be gettin' to bed. Meet us here at four o'clock tomorrow morning. I know it's early, but Maclaren wants us there in the morning. I reckon that it'll take us at least two hours to get to Edinburrough, even in the Beast!" Flame took his advice and traveled to her room.

Flicker and Seyon were just about to go to sleep when there was a knock at the door. Seyon beckoned the stranger to enter.

A tall dragon who was dressed in a strange outfit entered.

"Ah, Blaze! You did a tubular job on this room! What brings you here?" Seyon said, as he immediately recognized him.

"Well, I heard about the League…" He said in his usual high-pitched voice. "And I saw your armor. It's nice and all, but it lacks pizzazz! May I please spruce it up? You don't want people thinking that you all are still in the Stone Age!"

"No, I guess not. That would totally suck!" Seyon replied. "Come to think of it, we need a good image! I'll tell you what. I'll let you decorate our armor if you can have it back to us by four, tomorrow morning!" Blaze jumped up and down with excitement, and then he hurried back to his room with all three suits of armor.

"Seyon, I think that Blaze could ruin our image. You saw what he did to this room!" Flicker stated.

"Yah. I don't think that this will turn out well, but I figured that anyone who wants to help should be allowed to! Plus, it's free. And that's a big plus! Come to think about it, I hardly know any of the other knights. I'll talk to them someday."

"Seyon, there is one thing that I want to talk to you about."

"And what might that be?"

"Well, when I took this job, you promised me six schillings a day. However, you have never paid me! Now don't take this the wrong way; I'm not trying to sound pushy."

"I guess that I forgot to mention that you don't get your wages daily. You'll get a week's salary once a week, on payday, which is… now tomorrow!"

"One more thing. I know that I'm not supposed to ask this, but where do you get your money? Six schillings a day is a very good salary. Only a few can afford to pay that much." Flicker tried to sound very polite in this question.

"Ha! Six schillings a day! You're making ten!" Seyon so surprised Flicker with that sentence that he couldn't respond. "You get paid for service in the League, don't you know? I will eventually tell you where I get all this money, but not for a little while. It's only fair, right? You and Flame have mentioned very little about your past. Now let's get to sleepin'. We want to be well rested when we meet King Maclaren! The last thing we want to look like is a bunch of zombies…" With that said, the two went to sleep.

It was early in the morning when they awoke to a rhythmic knock at the door. Seyon slowly got out of bed and dragged himself over to answer it. When he opened it, he could make out the tall figure of Blaze in the dim doorway. "I have finished decorating your armor!"

"Thank you, Blaze! If you decorated the armor as well as you decorated this room, then the League is finished!" Seyon seemed to be quite excited about the thought of having well-decked armor. This, however, was only a mask. He took the armor and closed the door. Seyon made sure that Blaze had left.

"Well, Flicker, let's see what damage he did." He threw a switch, and a device called a "light bulb" brilliantly lighted up the room. "Ah! My eyes! They burn!" Seyon exclaimed with a fake tone of distress. Flicker's eyes were also adjusting to the light. When they both could see, they looked at the armor.

"Oh, great. So now we won't look like zombies, we'll look like… hippies!" Seyon laughed. The armor was now a turquoise color, with flowers painted all over it. Just then, Flame entered the room, ready to go.

"Here is your armor!" Seyon said jokingly as he handed it over to her. She was still squinting in the bright room, but she could still tell that it was different.

"My god! What did you do to it? Oh, wait. It was Blaze, wasn't it?"

"Yah, well Blaze asked for permission to "garnish" the armor, and foolishly, I accepted. I think you and Flicker will agree with me when I say that we shouldn't show up to Edinburrough looking like…. that! Wait a minute; you're still wearing that same dress! I'm telling you, change your style!" She did not respond.

"So, should we start loading up the Beast?" asked Flicker.

"Sure, go ahead. I need to gather some items to take with us."

It was not long before the three were ready to embark on their journey. It was still early in the morning, and the sun had not even begun to rise. They were sitting in the "automobile," another name that the Beast was known by, surrounded by darkness.

"I hope you brought one of those "light bulbs" with you!" Flicker stated.

"Of course. I'm not totally stupid!" He pulled on a knob on the dashboard, and the path in front of them became perfectly visible, as though the sun was shining on it.

"See, I've got it all figured out!" At once the light went out, and the darkness quickly took its place. Seyon pounded on the dashboard, and the light came back on.

"There we go! Onward to Scotland, land of the Scots!" He slowly opened the throttle, and off they went. With Flame navigating, the first half of the trip was completely uneventful. The second half was different. The sun had rising by this time, revealing a cloudless day. The three were cruising down a Scottish road at a speedy pace, when a loud "bang!" shook the Beast. It fought Seyon at the wheel, but he slowly regained control, and eventually coaxed it to a stop.

"Well, we've got a flat tire, but don't worry. I have a patch kit and a pump, so I can fix it. Flicker, I need your help. Flame, just stay there, unless you want to get filthy!"

"Hold on. Why can't I help you? Are you saying that a woman can't do the same things that you can do?" she snapped, and almost scared Seyon.

"Hold your horses. I didn't mean it to sound like that! If you want to help, then you are more than welcome to. I just figured that you wouldn't want to get your dress filthy."

All three jumped out and inspected the tire, which happened to be one of the two in the front. Seyon was shocked by the sight.

"Holly cow!" There were only a few remnants of rubber on the bare rim. The tire had apparently been shredded to pieces! Seyon still seemed completely unconcerned, however."

"I'll get the patch kit." Flicker said.

"Don't bother. There is no way that we can patch this! Not even if we made a new tire out of patches! Right now, we're stranded! Let me think of a way out of this…"

Flicker then thought of something. "I have an idea. You have four tires and the back. You surely don't need them all! Why don't we just replace the blown one with one of those?"

"I wish we could, but the bolt patterns don't match. Oh, wait… That's right. That was only on the Model 3 steam carriage. This one's a Model 5! Let's get to it!"

He opened up a box that was bolted on the back of the Beast, and he took out several tools. Then he handed a tool called a "lug wrench" to Flame. "Here you go. I need you to remove the lug nuts off the blown wheel. Flicker will explain how to do that. In the mean time, I'll lift up this awesome automobile so we can get off the other tire."

All in all, it took them ten minutes to complete the entire operation, and then they continued on.

"So, do you think that the Beast will make it?" Flame inquired.

"Well, she's pulling to one side, but other than that, I'd say that she'll make it!" Off in the distance, against a cloudless sky, Seyon saw a grand castle perched gracefully on a green hill. Surrounding it was a quaint town. It was truly a beautiful sight. "Castle Edinburgh!" Seyon shouted.

"It's Edinburrough." Flicker was used to correcting Seyon's speech.

"Castle Edinburrough!" Seyon shouted again, as if he wanted to keep the same mood. They quickly approached the castle. It was surrounded by a moat filled with crystal clear water, and in front of them was a heavy drawbridge that was raised. A man with a heavy Scottish accent appeared in a window and spoke to the adventurers.

"Who goes there?"

"We are members of the League of Knights! The king has sent for us."

"Ah! We've been expecting you!" Suddenly the drawbridge opened, and the all the knights steamed across it. Inside the castle was a lush garden, equal to that of Camelhot's. It was a truly a model of a castle.

The man who had greeted them suddenly appeared. "I am William Macalister, the chancellor of King Maclaren."

"Ah, it's good to meet you! I am Seyon. This is Sir Flicker, and this is Sera Flame."

"It's nice to meet you all. Let me show you to the king."

The chancellor led them into. They passed through a long and tall corridor, which was lined with paintings of various people. At the top, there were numerous stained-glass windows, and each one let in a beautiful shaft of colored light. Finally, they passed through a intricate doorway and entered a large room, which must have been the most gorgeous room in the castle. Flame, Flicker, and Seyon then stood before the king. He was a human, just like Seyon.

"Your majestic…ness, we have come upon your request." Seyon stated.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you!" Maclaren then jumped down from the throne to inspect the three knights. He was much bigger than any of them.

"You are…" Maclaren said, expecting each of them to complete this sentence.

"Sir Flicker."

"And you are…"

"Seyon, the leader and founder of the League." Then, the king approached Flame.

"Ah! And just who might you be?"

"I am Prin… I mean, Sera Flame."

"Hmm… You are the only female knight that I've ever heard of. Perhaps I should give you a little test… Tell you what, Sera Flame, if you beat me in a sword fight, then I'll give each one of you 10 pounds! If you lose, however, then you owe me nothing."

"May I speak with Seyon first?"

"Of course!" She talked to Seyon for a few minutes. He had only one response. "It's up to you. You can refuse or accept without hurting me at all." She continued to think, and then she accepted the challenge. Maclaren gave her a special practice sword, specifically designed for such an event. He would also use the same type of sword.

"I'm ready!" Flame declared.

"All right. Let's begin!" Maclaren shouted. Fortunately, Flame had secretly practiced sword fighting with Flicker. They both drew their swords, and the battle began. They fought for a good five minutes, with neither one having an upper hand. Finally, a strong blow knocked Flame to the ground, and her sword slipped out of her hands, leaving her weaponless. Maclaren put the tip of his sword up to her neck to show that she had been defeated. He quickly sheathed it, and reached out a hand to help her up.

"That was very good! I am completely impressed. Honestly, I never knew that a lady could have so much skill with a blade!"

In the background, Seyon turned to Flicker and whispered, "You know, I have never used a sword in my life! Perhaps I should start learning..." Flicker just shook his head.

Maclaren walked over to Seyon, and gave him the League's next task.

"Now for the reason that I called you here. You see, I'm building a moving fortress, and you and Sir Flicker are going to help me design it. After all, I hear that you two are very talented in this field. My kingdom has been attacked so many times recently. I just want my subjects to be safe!"

"Very well. Flicker, Flame, come over here!" The two immediately appeared in front of him. "Okay, so here's the plan. Flicker, you are going to stay with me. We are going to help King Maclaren design a mobile fortress. Isn't that just awesome, to the max? As for you, Flame, you can either stay with us, or I can give you some money so you can have a ball in town. What do you say?"

She thought about that for a moment. "I'll think that I'll go to town. I'm sure that I will be bored out of my mind if I stay here!"

"Okay. Just be back by four o'clock. If we finish earlier than that, then we'll come and find you." Seyon have her a small pouch of money and she left.

Maclaren led Flicker and Seyon to an enormous room. In the middle sat a very large metal box that had numerous cannon ports sticking out the side of it. In the middle was a single huge cannon. That was all it was at that point.

"Now I need you two to help me figure out how to get it moving. We thought about using hundreds and hundreds of men, but that wouldn't be practical, for they would be in the line of fire! If you still have extra time, then we also need some sort of control system to work the fortress."

"Ha ha! Now the ball's in my court!" Seyon exclaimed. "Mobilizing stuff happens to be my specialty. May Flicker and I take a look inside?"

"If it will help you, then of course!" The duo went inside and inspected every aspect of the device. Seyon smiled at Flicker, and he could almost tell what Seyon was thinking.

"You're thinking about steam power, aren't you?"

"No, no. Of course not. I'm thinking that we'll make this thing milk powered! Or better yet… dirt powered! That's it! A dirt powered engine! Wait… no. I'd better just stick to steam…"

"I think that that would be a good idea. I don't think a dirt powered engine will work too well."

"I think that you're right, Flicker." They went back outside, and Seyon had long since come to a conclusion.

"Flicker, do you have any ideas?"

"No. I'll leave all of drive system to you. I'll figure out the control mechanism."

"Fair enough. Remember, we need steering, and throttle. That's about it, actually. Oh, and brakes! Dear god, we can't forget about brakes!"

Maclaren walked up to them. "So, what do you have?" Seyon immediately started.

"Okay. I have it all figured out. You'll need double-cylinder, double-acting twelve-inch bore, eighteen-inch stroke, high-pressure Seyon-built steam engine! That will be… wicked! You'll also need a differential, treads, a boiler, and I think that's it. Dear god! I almost forgot about the brakes!"

"Now, where can I get all that stuff?"

"Listen, if you give me the money now, then I'll have that all the stuff here in about two days. That's far out, is it not?" In the mean time, Flicker had been drawing out his control mechanism, and was ready to present it to the king.

"Sire, I have the control board designed. We have a lever here for the brakes, one for throttle right here, and a wheel in the middle for steering. They are all connected to these little valves, which control a vacuum. The vacuum will go through these tubes where they will be connected to pistons, which will control whatever needs to be controlled."

Seyon could tell that Flicker was nervous, as his hand was shaking quite a bit as he pointed all the devices out to the king. "Wow, vacuum control! That is sweet! I must say that I totally underestimated you, my friend. That stuff is pretty heavy-duty!" Seyon's speech made Flicker feel much better.

"Well, I guess I should give you the payment for the parts." said Maclaren. "Macalister!" his voice rang loud and clear, and the chancellor was soon there. "Fetch me five gold bars from the coffers. That should cover all the parts!"

Macalister disappeared, and he came back just minutes later with a heavy bag, which Seyon happily accepted. Maclaren gave them some pamphlets.

"Give these to anyone whom you think might be interested in helping me finish the fortress. The job pays very well, and it's for a good cause."

"All right, Flicker, let's go!" After they went out the door, Maclaren said to Macalister, "Here are the designs that they came up with. We should have all we need to complete the fortress!"

Flicker and Seyon went to pick up Flame in town, and after that, they could travel back to Camelhot. However, they had no idea of her whereabouts. So the two steamed into town, keeping a sharp eye out for her. Seyon tooted the whistle a couple of times. She could surely recognize that tone. Sure enough, it wasn't long before she found her way to the Beast.

"I thought that was you!" she exclaimed. Seyon could sense a slur in her voice.

"I take it you had a little too much wine?"

"You told me that I need to be crazy…er!" Her slur was much more obvious in that sentence.

"Well, you're doing a good job of it! See, Flicker, you could learn a thing or two from her! Now let's go to… that direction!" Seyon shouted. Flicker grabbed his arm and moved it so it pointed in the correct direction.

"Onward, to Camelhot!" He then started singing. "We're knights of the round table, we dance when 'ere we're able. We do routines and chorus scenes and footwork impeccable…"

They had been traveling for a while, when something struck Seyon.

"Hey! I never showed you how to use the pistol!" He pulled it out and took aim at a tree as they passed by. He pulled the trigger, and a loud "bang!" pursued. They could see large chunks of bark fly off the tree. "Now I only have one shot, and I am not about to reload it while I'm driving, so that's it for the demonstration. Pretty boss though!" Seyon had gone through this "demonstration" too fast for the dragons to learn anything.

It was late in the evening when they arrived back at Camelhot.

"All right, you two. Let's go to my room!" Seyon stated. He saw that Flame was asleep, with her head resting on Flicker's lap.

"Ah! Well Flicker, why don't you carry Flame to her room? In the meantime, I'll take care of those parts that Maclaren wanted us to order." Flicker was not at all comfortable with the idea of carrying her, but he did so anyway He just had to stay out of sight of the queen. Seyon went in the opposite direction.

Flicker was gone for a good half-an-hour. When he returned, he found Seyon sitting on his rocking chair, with the turntable playing a nice, slow song next to him.

"I thought that you were going to take care of those parts! Why are you just sitting there?"

"Trust me. I already did. They will arrive at Edinburrough by air tomorrow night! Isn't that just insanely unreal?"

"How did you do it?" Flicker could not solve this mystery himself.

"It's a… trade secret. Yah. You'll learn everything eventually. Anyway, I'm going to pass out these pamphlets to the other knights. I'm going to Loungealot's room first. Would you like to come with me?"

Flicker always enjoyed going into Loungealot's room, now that he was no longer under the control of Loungealot. Therefore, he accepted.

"I almost forgot to give this to you!" Seyon gave him a bag with a bunch of coins in it.
"That's your pay for the week. It's three-and-a-half pounds." Flicker was quite surprised by that amount of money. He had never been given that much money all at once. Seyon picked up some of the pamphlets and headed off with Flicker.

"Ah, Loungealot's room. It's hard to believe that I'm not bound to him any more."

Seyon knocked, and a voice answered from inside. "What is it? I'm busy!"

"I have something that you might be interested in!" Suddenly, the door opened, and Loungealot was cold toward the visitor.

"Oh, it's you!"

"It is me? I don't know. Flicker, am I me?"

"I'd say so."

"Yes. It is almost definitely me! Anyway, I have this pamphlet for you. It's a good way to get some money!" Loungealot snatched it out of his hand. This somewhat angered Seyon, so he quietly fought back.

"Say, are things going all right without Flicker? You're not having any problems getting anything done, are you?"

"No. Of course not! Everything's fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I don't miss him!

"Oh, okay. Flicker just told me that he was thinking about working for you again…" Seyon winked at Flicker, who immediately understood the signal.

Loungealot had now been broken. He pleaded to Flicker in a pathetic, sobbing way.

"Please! Come work for me again! I can't do anything without you around! PLEASE!"

"Flicker, you know, you can quit working for me at any time. If you want to go back to Loungealot, you're more than welcome to."

Flicker looked at Loungealot, who was kneeling on the ground in front of him, begging him to return. "I'm sorry, Loungealot, but I work for Seyon now, and not only is he my boss, he is also my friend!" The two walked proudly walked away, with Loungealot on the ground, sobbing.

They headed to the other rooms, and passed out the pamphlets to all the knights. Now, Seyon had to speak to Allfire. They were soon standing in the throne room, were Allfire was sitting, doing absolutely nothing. He quickly spotted them.

"Ah, Seyon and Flicker. I hear that you've got a good league of knights going. What's it called again?"

"The League of Knights!" Seyon answered.

"Oh! So what can I do for you?"

"We want to give this pamphlet to you. It's an invitation to work for King Maclaren for a good sum of money. Also, it has good political connections and stuff!" Seyon gave the parchment to Allfire, who put it in a safe spot.

"Before you two leave, I must warn you. Griddle found out that Flame is in the League, and she is not happy. I'd steer clear of her if I were you two." Just then, Griddle appeared in the doorway, and noticed Seyon and Flicker immediately.

"Gasp! You two are in big trouble! Get over here!"

Seyon turned to Flicker and shared an excellent idea. "Well, in light of the circumstances, I'd say that we should… run!" They darted out of the room before Griddle had a chance to stop them. The two arrived at their room, which was in the opposite end of the castle, in no time at all.

"Okay! I'm beat!" Seyon said as he was trying to catch his breath. "Let's go to bed." He and Flicker crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep. They both awoke at about the same time, at about eleven o'clock. Seyon gave a quick overview of the plans for the day.

"Well, Flicker, I have absolutely nothing planned for today. Just make sure you tell Flame that we'll need to go back to Edinburrough later today, so she needs to be ready."

During this large gap of time, Seyon decided to replace the destroyed wheel of the Beast with the only spare that he had, and that only killed about half-an-hour. He then decided to ask Flame and Flicker to join him in the hot tub. He could only guess that Flicker was still with Flame in her room. He cautiously crept up through the corridors, making sure to stay out of sight of the killer queen. He finally approached the door to her room, and he could hear the two faintly through the door. He knocked on it.

"Sorry, we're busy right now!" Flame replied from inside. Seyon's eyes opened wide.

"You two better not be doing what I think you're doing! Well, if you are, then I won't disturb you. I'm going to my room. If any of you need me for something, then meet me there." He headed for his room, where he found little to do, so he got into his rocking chair, and turned on the turntable. He then dozed off to the light music. He awoke to a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Flicker walked in, with a smile on his face.

"Flame and I have a surprise for you!"

"Really? May I see it?" Flicker went back out the door, and he entered again a few seconds later, followed by Flame. Seyon looked at her and whistled.

"See! Now that's what I'm talking about!" She was wearing her usual dress, but it had been altered. It was now much shorter, and the collar had changed from running straight across her neck to dipping down to her chest in a v-shape. Overall, Seyon was stunned by her appearance.

"So, I take it you two were working on that, not kissing?"

"Well, we were worked on it most of the time; we didn't spend that much time kissing!" she said with a sense of sarcasm.

"Yah! You are finally becoming a true knight of the League! Say, I earlier I realized that all the knights are gone, but to where? They, like, just disappeared! That's not right! That's just not right!"

"They left early this morning to go to Edinburrough."

"Oh. Well, I say that we should be making our way over there!" Seyon suggested. Flame and Flicker packed everything that they could possibly need into the Beast while Seyon refueled it. They left just before five o'clock, and it took them just two boring hours to make it there.

"Ah ha! The package has arrived!" Seyon exclaimed. Just outside of the castle was an enormous wooden crate. "Well, let's go tell the king." The three entered the castle and walked down the same corridor that Macalister had led them through the previous day. At the end, however, the large wooden door to the throne room was closed, and they could hear Maclaren speaking inside. They listened closely.

"Ha ha! Now that those idiots are working on the fortress, it will be finished in no time! Then, I shall conquer all of England and Scotland!"

The knights gasped collectively. "Well, at least this guy has some ambition! Seyon joked. Just then, the large door opened, and Maclaren spotted them instantly.

"Um… Your parts have arrived!" Seyon said.

"Seize them!" Maclaren shouted. Suddenly, two guards appeared in the doorway.

Flame, Flicker, and Seyon ran for their lives.

"Quick! To the Beast!" The guards were far behind them, but they were still following. Finally, the entered the courtyard, and the three jumped into the vehicle.

"Hang on!" Seyon opened the throttle wide, and the wheels spun on the ground. They were gone in a flash. They were soon approaching one hundred miles per hour when both of them begged him to slow down, so he eased the throttle back. By this time, they were at a safe distance from the castle.

"We've got to go back and stop him!" Flame cried out.

"We can't just like, go chargin' back in there! We need some stragety! I mean, strategy!" Seyon replied. They slowly steamed back to the castle, and Seyon explained what needed to be done.

"All right. Flicker, I want you to find all of his blueprints, and destroy them. Flame and I will go to construction room, or whatever it's called, where we'll tell them all about the plan. Flicker, do you think you can handle your job on your own?"

"I think so!"

"Okay! Now we can't wear our armor, as we want to be as quiet as possible. You two have your pistols loaded, right?" They both nodded, and soon they went their separate ways. Flame and Seyon had no troubles entering the castle, and they crept down numerous halls and through several doorways without incident. There seemed to be nobody in the castle! At last, Seyon peeked around a corner, and could see the door to the construction room.

"Ah ha! There it is, Flame!" Seyon whispered, but she did not respond. "Flame?" He turned around, and he saw that she was very pale, and then she collapsed, with a dart sticking out of her neck. Seyon immediately got up and tried to run, but then he felt a pain in his neck. Then, in his eyes, the room appeared to darken, and it seemed to be spinning. He passed out on top of Flame.

Meanwhile, Flicker peered into a room, and he found Maclaren's drawings lying all over on a large desk. "Eureka!" he said quietly to himself. He ran into the room and threw all the plans on the stone floor, where he set fire to them. With that deed done, he proceeded to find the other knights. He snuck all over the castle for a while, but couldn't seem to find them anywhere.

At this time, Seyon finally came to, and Flame was right next to him. They were locked in a cage, which was suspended by a thick rope over a tank of water. The two had been stripped of their clothing, leaving them in nothing but their underwear. Maclaren was standing next to the tank of water.

"You two finally came to! I'm impressed that you made this far. However, both of you can easily compromise my mission, so I must finish you two off. Then I'll deal with Flicker."

Seyon had just now realized that he was wearing nothing but his underwear.

"Yah, you're going to kill us, blah, blah, blah. But why do you have to embarrass us in the process? That is just plain not cool!"

"What do you plan to do to us?" Flame nervously asked.

"I'm glad you asked that. That cage will slowly be lowered into the water by this winch here, and then you will drown!" Maclaren replied proudly.

"That's clever!" Seyon stated sarcastically. He continued to show his famous lack of concern.

"You two have fun in there! So long!" Maclaren walked out of the room. The cage slowly descended further and further.

Seyon could tell that Flame was terrified, so he tried to comfort her with his usual levity. "See, now you're showing a little too much skin!" He stopped for a moment, as that did not help. "Don't worry. I'll get us out of this. Let me think of a way to escape. Just think. When we get back to Camelhot, we'll throw ourselves a party!" Seyon once again failed in his attempt to make her feel better, and he was quiet for a while.

"That's it! I've been so stupid. You're a dragon! You're all we need! Come on, do what I do." He started rocking the cage back and forth, and she joined in. Soon it was swinging quite a bit. "Okay, now burn that rope, right…. now!" She blew out a large volley of fire, and the rope soon broke. The cage flew to the side, and crashed into the ground next to the pit of water. The impact broke the cage to the point that they could squeeze their way out. They found their clothes on a table nearby, and the two knights quickly dressed themselves. They both agreed that their next task was to find Flicker.

They snuck through several more corridors and rooms, but failed to find him. They then walked through a dark section of the castle, and suddenly a hand reached out from the darkness and snatched Flame, and it covered her mouth so she couldn't scream. Seyon, however, continued along the path, completely unaware of what had just taken place.

Flame was led into a nearby room, where she discovered that it was Maclaren who had seized her. He then forced her into a corner of the room, where she was easy prey.

"You won't get away with this!" she snapped.

"I will, once I take care of you, Flicker, and Seyon!"

Flame reached into a special pocket in her dress, where she kept her pistol. However, it was gone!

"Looking for this?" Maclaren pulled out a pistol, and he waved the side with her name in front of her.

"Ha! You don't even know how to use it!" Flame said with a sense of confidence.

"Of course I do. I own four myself." He carefully aimed it at her and pulled back the lever. When I count down to zero, the League will be shy one member!" Flame closed her eyes tightly as he started. "Three… two… one…" Then a shot rang throughout the castle, and she jumped at the sound. Flicker was nearby at this point, and he felt a chill surge through him. He rushed to find the place where it came from.

Flame slowly opened her eyes, and then she looked down at herself, only to realize that she was unscathed! Suddenly, Maclaren collapsed in front of her, and Seyon was standing in the doorway, with a smoking gun that was shaking violently in his hand. She rushed over to him and threw her arms around him, with tears pouring from her eyes. She spoke quietly to him in a sobbing voice. "Thank you so much Seyon. I can never repay you for this!" He was still frozen with his arm out, pistol in hand.

Just then, Flicker entered the room, and Flame ran over to hug him. Seyon was finally regaining his senses. At that time, Macalister entered the room, and saw Maclaren lying on the floor.

"Did you do this to him?" the chancellor asked Seyon.

"Yes. I did." Seyon slowly replied. He thought for sure that he was done for.

"Thank you so much! Maclaren treated his people poorly, taxed them into poverty for his own benefit, and then threatened to kill anyone who would stand in the way. You have done us all a great favor! I will make sure that you are rewarded." Macalister replied, much to Seyon's surprise.

"Now I will take care of everything here. You three can go home." Seyon, Flicker, and Flame were greatly shaken by the entire situation, so to them, there was no better reward than to be allowed to go home. It was about nine o'clock when they finally made it back,

and the three went straight to bed. Flicker and Seyon woke up late in the morning when Cinder and Clinker threw the door open, which again smashed into the wall.

"Message for Seyon!" Cinder exclaimed. Seyon took the letter.

"Hey! It's from Macalister!" Flicker, go fetch Flame. He returned shortly with her following close behind. Seyon carefully opened the letter, and read it aloud.

"Dear knights of the League. Thank you so much for service to Edinburrough. However, it has become apparent that Maclaren had no heirs, so we decided that…" His voice drowned out into a mumble.

"Well? What does it say?" Flame asked.

"Oh no! No!" Seyon shook his head as he said this, and then he started laughing.

"Well?"

"Get this. The letter says, '…So we decided that there was no person more fit of holding the title 'King of Edinburrough' than you, Seyon.'" Flame and Flicker were stunned.

"You are now King Seyon! I can't believe it!" Flicker exclaimed.

"Dude, that sucks. Remember how I wanted to stay out of politics? So now I become king." He sighed. "Well, I can't refuse. Those people are counting on me. I guess that that was my destiny. But still! Well anyway, thank you both. This would not have happened if it wasn't for you two."

Seyon quickly sent a response stating that he had accepted the position. The power of the League had now increased substantially, thus giving them more freedom and privileges than ever before; all in all, a scary thought.