At the front gate of castle Bouldergold, the strange visitors were being entertained by the joyful reunion of a simple court jester with his beloved king. “Your majesty! We thought we would never see your fluffy, fat face again!” shouted Flindee as he bounded toward the golden armored King Balderdash who had come to the gate to greet them. “Just ask Quattlebom! He’ll tell you how positively discombobulated I was over being separated from your royal pudginess!”
With that, Flindee cartwheeled into the arms of the King and layed a wet, tearful kiss on his bearded cheek as he hugged his neck. King Balderdash twisted his head away from the overzealous jester only to encounter the wooden face and wagging tongue of Flindee’s puppet which seemed to apply it’s own form of wet kisses on his royal cheek, it’s tongue flapping up and down with excitement!
“Flindee! You’re back!” sputtered the king as he tried to pry the nimble little man from his chest. “How…uh…marvelous.”
The king sounded less than excited to see his jester as he continued. (This may have been due to the fact that both the jester and his puppet were continuing to lavish kisses all over the kings head.) “We thought that you had been lost to the evil of Snagglefang, the Dragon… oh, good and… uh… ‘brave’ Flindee.”
Three armored guards moved in to separate the clinging clown from their king, one of them even using his sword as a wedge between them.
“How did you escape him?” Balderdash stammered.
Flindee suddenly stopped kissing him and let go. Removing his hat, he scratched a small tuft of hair on the top of his childlike head. “Escape? I didn’t really escape! The ol’ sidewinder let me go! Come to think of it, he’s been pushin’ me to take a vacation back home and say hi to the family for some time now. What a guy! Or should I say…what a lizard!”
“At any rate, he ain’t so bad as far as bosses go; aside from the occasional outburst of temper when he doesn’t get a good night’s sleep. Boy you should see his nostrils flare!” Flindee mimicked the dragon’s face pulling his nostrils open with his fingers to illustrate.
“On second thought, you probably shouldn’t It ain’t a pretty sight. Not to mention, I’ve singed more perfectly good hats that way…” he looked sadly at a burn hole in his hat and stuck his finger through it.
Taking advantage of Flindee’s distraction with the hat, Brumble Wood cleared his throat and spoke up beside the king. “And who might these two strange wayfareres be that accompany you to Castle Bouldergold, Flindee? They wear strange garb and ride upon an uncanny steed.”
“Yes,” the King added, turning back to Vonkar and Prince Nathan, “and I would like to know who your friends are? They dress funny and are riding on a bear!”
Vonkar jumped down from Grizzle MacCloud’s back and approached the King just as Tiny Bud arrived with Friar Tub and Gules LeRouge. “I am Vonkar the Vocal Viking of Clan Axtagrind from the frozen lands of Northreach. I have traveled south from my home to seek out the devilish dragon of Stormwatch Mountain and rid Darrowold of his evil forever!”
“A Viking?” The King’s crown rose on his forehead with surprise. “Then what brings you here to my castle, snow warrior?”
“I rescued this captive knight from the clutches of the serpent’s minion upon the mountain’s peak and led him here to find help after learning of his quest earlier today.”
King Balderdash looked puzzled and looked around for his advisor. Seeing that Gules had arrived, he beckoned him nearer. “Gules, what is a ‘minion’?” he asked.
“A servant or slave of the dragon, your majesty.” Gules answered in the King’s ear.
“Oh, a servant, of course. I knew that.” Clearing his throat, he turned back to Prince Nathan. “And who is this young wandering knight whom you have rescued? His armor is not like any that my knights wear.”
Prince Nathan took a step forward and bowed low, the crest of his helmet brushing the ground before him. He did not take off his helmet, still afraid to let anyone know that he was just a boy. After traveling together for a full day, even Vonkar had not discovered just how young the prince was, or that he was not even a dwarf. The Viking believed him to be a young, valiant, dwarven knight, and that was the way Nathan wanted to keep it… at least for now. Fortunately, vonkar spoke for him, allowing him to remain silent a while longer.
“This fine young knight is Sir Vanderfluff, a valiant knight errant who lives his life by the ancient code of Ivory Mountain!”
“Sir Vanderfluff? I have never heard of any ‘knight errants’ by that name,” said the king, scratching his chin, “or wandering knights either, for that matter.”
“Ivory Mountain?” Brumble Wood interrupted, pulling at his bushy mustache in thought. “Curious.”
“What is curious, Brumble?” asked Gules.
“Only that this is the second time since the sun rose this fair day, that I have encountered a mysterious personage who has prodded my musings toward recollections of the fabled Crystal Castle upon yon Ivory Mountain,” stated the renegade leader. The others looked at him rather blankly until Gules translated.
“You say that this is the second person today that has reminded you of the Crystal Castle on Ivory Mountain?
“Of course!” Tiny Bud suddenly jumped in with excitement, “The girl we told you about, your Majesty! The one that was taller than me! She said she was from the Crystal Castle! Maid Madelyn went with her to stop King Kudgelbone and Panganiban and the pirates! That’s why we came here to warn you! Remember?”
“The giant girl with the flying pony?” said the king, flabbergasted, “What does it all mean?”
But at the mention of a giant girl with a flying pony, Prince Nathan forgot all about remaining silent.
“Nataleigh?” he shouted. “She was here? Where did she go?”
Several things happened at once. The prince jumped forward with a bit too much excitement, alarming the King’s royal guards who jumped to protect him with weapons drawn. Threatened by the sudden movement of the guards with their weapons, Vonkar reached for his axe and the Jolly men for their own weapons. Grizzle growled and Flindee Flipped out! (Way out! The simple little dwarf was so startled he did a triple back flip into a hay cart nearby, nearly leaving his stockings behind!)
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