Perhaps it was the rush of adrenaline.
Perhaps it was the unexpected shout.
Whatever the reason, it was without hesitation that Donkey ducked and rushed forward, narrowly avoiding the ax and almost losing his tail in the process.
As it was, a few strands of black hair littered the floor.
Eyes wide, Donkey shouted, "It's the attack of the Tail-Killing Knight!"
Dalia refrained from giving Donkey a strained look, instead growling at the suit of armor and surrounding her companion with legs that served as scaly protectors.
"We are the Knights that say ni!" the suit of armor informed them, gesturing at the other suits of armor, most of which nodded, but a few waved, and one shouted, "Ni!"
The suit of armor that had nearly decapitated Donkey declared, "State your purpose or be executed!"
"We're looking for a g—" Dalia started but was cut off by Donkey, who gave her a warning look.
"A gene...No, uh, I mean, a pair of jeans. You know, to wear."
The knightless suit of armor looked as puzzled as a suit of armor could look. "Why would you need jeans?"
"Ni!" another suit added demandingly.
"I'm very um, uncomfortable about my uh..." Donkey noticed the strands of hair on the ground and almost shouted, "—tail!"
"Admit it," a snobby suit of armor from behind them sniveled. "You came because of the genie. That's what everyone always comes here for. Nothing ever changes, it's always, 'I want the genie to give me this,' and 'I want the genie to give me that.' Always the same blasted thing..."
"There's a genie here?" Donkey tried to play dumb. "Whoa, I didn't know that! I heard that this was the best place to find a good pair of jeans to, uh, 'hide things you don't want to be seen.'" He gave a pointed sideways glance at the dragon, who appeared to be bored.
"Yes, yes," she waved a clawed hand, "—what he said."
The shorter animal gave her a sarcastic glance that clearly said, Thanks a lot.
She shrugged sweetly as if to say, Don't mention it.
"If you want us to let you through," the lead suit of armor boomed, "—then you must get us...a glowing green rock."
"Huh? Would you say that again?" Donkey frowned.
"A meteorite that is green...And it glows. Like a nightlight."
"Ooooooooo," the other suits agreed, one again shouting, "Ni!"
"If you don't get it..." the suit of armor fingered his axe threateningly.
For a brief moment, Donkey considered whether Dragon would be able to take out all of the suits of armor, but after looking and seeing that the hall seemed to never end, he decided they shouldn't chance it. Besides, if there weren't anyone beneath the suits, then they couldn't be killed...Right?
Dalia seemed to sense his thoughts, and they both headed back to the entrance. Once they were outside, he complained, "Man. What are the chances of us findin' some blasted glowin' me—Ow!" Donkey looked up at the sky and then down at the ground, where the green rock he'd been talking about had bounced off of his head. "Now what are the odds of that happening?"
The little rock buzzed innocently, and Dalia could've sworn she saw the flash of a struggling red cape in the sky.
"Well, however it happened, we do have the rock, and we might as well go back and give it to them," Dalia suggested.
Sounding perturbed that they had accomplished their mission so easily, the head suit of armor told them, "That was your first task. Your next task is to uh...to...umm..."
"Find a moosehead!" a little mouse in a red cap and jacket suggested from beside the lead suit of armor's metal foot.
"No," the suit said decisively. "You need to um..."
"Do the Macarena while singing 'Hit Me Baby, One More time!'" the same mouse shouted.
"No," the mouse was again turned down. The suit finally found what it was looking for. "You must...face the Pit of Doom."
"Oooh..."
"Pit of Doom..."
"Yikes..."
"Wouldn't want to be them..."
Different suits muttered different things, exchanging eyeless glances.
"Okay, so we go to this Doomful Pit," Donkey clarified. "Whadda we do there?"
"Well, it's not the pit we want you to go to. It's the cliff above the Neverending Hole that is most often called the Pit of Doom."
"And?"
The head suit of armor sighed. "Get one of the chimera's silver children, of course."
"A killy-what?!" Donkey asked skeptically.
Dalia explained, "A chimera. She breathes fire, has a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail—"
"Wait a minute, you know her?!" Donkey stared at her incredulously.
The dragon shook her head. "I used to know a chimera. All are female, and their children's first form usually differs from chimera to chimera. The chimera I knew had golden children that hadn't shed their skins yet. They were still land-fish with tapering bodies and long, threadlike tails."
"Why would we want to take one of her kids?" the short pack animal tilted his fuzzy, gray head.
The knightless suit shrugged. "It's a challenge that gets you out of our figurative hair. You don't have to kill it, just bring it here. Then you can keep it for all we care."
"All right," Donkey nodded, "—we'll do it."
"What?!" Dalia turned to him with questions in her eyes. "We can't take her baby from her! How would that make you feel?!"
"Look," the donkey said quietly, "—we can get it while the killimanjaro-beast is sleeping, bring it here, and then take it back. She'll never know it's gone!"
"But—"
"So be it," the suit boomed. "Leave us now, or be defeated by the blade!" The suit lightly traced a metal finger on its axe.
"All right. Hold your dang horses," Donkey muttered, trotting toward the entrance with a glaring dragon behind him. "Some people are so impatient."