Chapter 5

"Your progress Xellos?"

"Yes mistress, Ragnu and Belsar are now in place and have gained the trust of the young lord Trogen, it is only a matter of time now before the city of Elmsar is in our power".

"Excellent, and the old priest?"

"Soon to be dealt with, come afternoon tomorrow we will not have to deal with his interference any longer".

"Perfect, when the young Trogen inherits Elmsar, we will hold the true authority from behind the ignorant fool, things seem to be working out rather well for us, don't you think?" Zelas commented, taking a long drag from her cigarette, looking down at Xellos's prostrate form.

"I do believe so my mistress, and I must say, gaining control of one of the world's largest suppliers of wheat was a rather clever move".

"Haha. Of course it was dear, after all the wheat is used in most of the world's food. Control the wheat, you control the peoples food supply, control their food supply, and you control them, and all without leaving too much of a mess," Zelas chimed, an air of triumph around her.

"Indeed, humans seem to become increasingly compliant when the notion of their food supply is brought into the picture, it's amazing sometimes what you can get people to do for a sack of wheat that you couldn't get them to do for two bags of gold," Xellos stated with amusment, at this thought he was reminded of a certain red head and her obvious obsession for the two areas of income.

"Hmhm, I will admit that that notion reminds me of Miss Lina and her affinity with both food and money, I wouldn't put it past her to blow up a whole town if money was involved, and she did spend two whole days trying to hunt a lesser lake dragon for a banquet," Xellos reminisced, a slight chuckle escaping him as he explored all of Miss Lina's strange and outrageous behaviours.

"Ah yes, speaking of dragons, how are things going with you and your pet dragon my dear Xellos? Is there much progress in that area?"

"It's hard to say mistress," Xellos replied, his usual grin somewhat forced. "I sense that she does feel some small amount for me, but the thing is that at this time it is still very small and very deep, and I regret to say that it is becoming somewhat of a...hindrance...for me to keep myself in check, especially around her," Xellos confessed, a small amount of embarrassment slipping into his demeanour.

"I imagine it would be, particularly for you dear Xellos," Zelas commented distractedly. "You are so used to being in control that the moment you feel that control lapsing, I dare say you don't know how to handle it now do you?" Zelas smirked darkly to herself. "Poor unfortunate Xellos," Zelas sung, "who was once my most reliable servant during the war of the monster fall, now can't even control himself in the presence of a simple dragon girl for more than a day. Haha the very idea would be highly amusing, IF I wasn't concerned that your delay in marking the girl might cause your mind to slip at a crucial moment," Zelas said narrowing her eyes at her general-priest. "I strongly suggest Xellos, that you pull yourself together and act soon, before you outlive your usefulness," Zelas said, staring down her nose at the now slightly uncomfortable Xellos, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Yes mistress, it's just that, the situation is a tad complicated..."

"Nonsense Xellos, it's only as complicated as you make it, now go, you are dismissed".

"Yes mistress," Xellos said before teleporting out of his mistress's throne room.

"Oh, I do hope he sorts himself out soon, I really don't want to have to destroy him because he's completely lost it, after all that would be a complete waste of energy for me, and I do hate to waste energy," Zelas mused, taking another drag from her cigarette.

/

Today was a bright sunny day. The street outside was bustling with people going about their daily lives. Filia was as usual inside her workshop designing a batch of vases a customer had asked her to custom make. The customer in question gave Filia some very specific instructions as to how he wanted the vases to look. There where four vases, each shaped into the form of an hourglass and with two intricate handles down either side.

Each vase was to represent one of the four seasons. The spring Vase was to be painted green and decorated with a variety of flowers in full bloom. The summer vase was going to be yellow with an orange sun and the lower half decorated with green and brown grass blended together. Autumn was to be a blend of red and orange and a design of leaves of the fall blowing in an invisible wind around the body. Finally the winter vase was to be painted blue with the illustration of a blizzard occupying most of the body.

Filia had recently finished painting the spring and summer vases, and was now in the process of completing the autumn vase. However it would still be a while before she painted it as she still had to fire it in the kiln for a while.

While Filia was down in the workshop, Jilas and Gravos had stopped by and where up in the shop front looking after the store for her, so that she could complete her task without having to run the store at the same time.

In the beginning Jilas and Gravos had lived with Filia and the egg, but after two months the pair had decided to move out and take up their own residence further into the town, saying that while Filia's home was cosy, it was just too crowded for their liking. Also the fact that Filia would lose her temper every time Jilas blew up a portion of her yard experimenting with new explosive mixtures for his bombs might have encouraged the fox man further to look for a new home. As for Gravos, he just found Filia's home simply too small for someone of his big build, so he decided to accompany Jilas out of the home.

Now the two stopped by every couple of days to help Filia run the shop while she was either making new pottery to sell, or if she had an errand to run during business hours. Otherwise she was left alone with the house, the shop and Val, not that Val was much of a problem while he was still an egg.

"There, finally done," Filia said to herself. She had just finished putting the finishing touches to the vase, and was now putting it in the kiln to fire. After she was satisfied that the kiln was doing its job properly, she gathered up Val's basket and headed up to make herself some tea and lunch before she started on the next one.

When she got to the kitchen, Filia set the basket on the table and set about making herself some tea and salad sandwiches. That done and when the kettle had boiled she sat down at the table and started on her lunch. While she was eating one of her sandwiches she looked up towards Val's basket and caught sight of the flower Xellos had given her, still sitting in its vase on the table near where she had put Val.

Filia started to ponder Xellos yet again. It had been a few weeks since his last visit and Filia could not help but wonder what he was up to right now.

"Probably nothing good if I know him," Filia thought out loud. 'Then again, I don't think I know him as well as I thought I did. He has been acting very strange lately'. Filia thought back to the incident with Xellos in her kitchen, the memory still gave her shivers.

She shifted her focus back to the flower and a realisation struck her. It still looks the same as the day Xellos gave it to her. Now she may not be an expert on the matter, but she was sure that it was not normal for a flower to last this long without any signs of withering. Filia picked it up and studied it more closely. Other than its unique appearance, there was something off about the flower that Filia couldn't quite put her finger on.

'Maybe it's foreign from this land,' Filia thought to herself.

"Ah I know, tomorrow I'll take it down to the local florist and ask him if he knows what it is, old Charlie knows just about every bloom under the sun. Maybe he can tell me what I need to know," Filia smiled to herself for her brilliant idea and set the flower back on the table, making her way with Val to the shop to ask Gravos and Jilas to look after the shop for her tomorrow.

When she entered the shop she found it empty except for Jilas who was dusting and cleaning the maces and Gravos who was sitting at the counter reading the town paper.

"Gravos, can I ask a small favor from you and Jilas?" Filia asked sweetly, placing Val's basket on the counter.

"Sure, no problem. What did you have in mind?" Gravos asked, putting the paper down to look at Filia.

"I was just wondering if you and Jilas could come in tomorrow and look after the shop again. I've got a small errand I need to run in town and I need someone to keep an eye on things while I'm gone. Do you think you could do that for me?" Filia asked while Jilas was walking over to listen.

"Why sure, no problem boss. Me and Gravos 'ere wouldn't mind lookin' af'er the place for a bi'. Where're ya goin' tomorrow boss?" Jilas inquired, a friendly smile on his face.

"Just to the local florist, I need to ask Charlie about something. I planned on leaving around noon, so I shouldn't be gone that long, and it shouldn't be that busy," Filia replied.

"No problem Miss Filia, you can count on us," Gravos said cheerfully, giving her a thumbs up.

"Thanks you two, I really appreciate your help," Filia smiled to her friends.

Meanwhile outside, a cloaked figure with golden eyes was walking by an odd shop selling weapongs and pottery. Looking inside the window he saw a fox-man and a giant lizard conversing with a blonde woman behind the counter with a basket situated close by. When the figures eyes landed on the basket, they let out a surprised gasp and proceeded to run back down the street they just came from, disappearing into the crowd.