Mao Mao's Sisters

Night of the Walking Z's

Pure Heart Castle was under attack, and from the inside no less. A giant moth was knocking out guards left and right, and others ambled the halls, attacking anything that moved.

Mao Mao peeked around the corner, checking for any signs of life. He held up his hand, flashing signals to Tanya, silently telling her the coast was clear. The two moved in sync through the halls, falling seamlessly back into the habits from their bounty hunting days together.

Geraldine's glow had been reduced to a dim light, barely illuminating the floor in front of them. After their encounter, Mao Mao surmised that the light Geraldine gave off was equivalent to a beacon, telling the ambling guards that he and Tanya were just down the hall.

Tanya held the hat Violet gave her against her chest. Her thoughts were focused on what Mao Mao had said mere minutes ago, about how Violet planned ahead when she had given it to her. Did she just figure it would be useful to them, or was there another reason?

Mao Mao stopped dead in his tracks, holding out his arm to signal Tanya to stop too. In the darkness, they quickly learned to focus on their sense of hearing. Something was scraping the tiles ahead of them. If Tanya had to guess, it was the talons of a bird sweetypie.

Mao Mao turned off Geraldine's light completely, and sidestepped to the wall pressing his body against the wall. Tanya followed his lead, and did the same.

The scraping continued, slowly getting louder and louder. Mao Mao's ears flicked at each scrape, with each flick he reactively tensed up, waiting for the source to come down the hall.

It seemed like forever when the tall shadow ambled into their view. It's claws scraped the marble tiles, digging shallow scratches into them.

Mao Mao held his breath. Undoubtedly he and Tanya could take a single guard, but if it alerted the moth, they'd be in trouble. There was clearly a connection between the moth and the brainwashed guards. Case in point, they don't even know the extent of the moth's abilities.

The guard continued down through the corridor, the eerie scrapes leaving with it. When they reduced down to barely audible, Mao Mao pushed off the wall, setting off at a brisk pace.

Working their way through the elaborate maze of corridors and stairwells, Mao Mao was getting to see more of the castle than usually does. This hallway doesn't even look familiar.

The hallway was lined with portraits of lion sweetypies with bright pink manes. Some were men, others were women. Mao Mao found on of the king, under it was a plaque that read: Snugglemane XXV.

"These must be all of the rulers of Pure Heart's past," Mao Mao said softly. Looking to the wall opposite of the one the king's portrait was on, was a painting of a regal woman, with piercing blue eyes, and a gentle smile. It's plaque read: Snugglemane XXIV. "This must be the king's mother."

Tanya looked at the painting out of curiosity. "She's pretty."

"Yeah she's gorgeous, but we shouldn't be getting distracted by paintings," Mao Mao pulled himself away from the picture, and back down the hall.

"You're the one who pointed them out," Tanya counted the paintings on their way down the hall, their golden frames catching her eye more than anything. Eleven, twelve, and thirteen. Wait, thirteen? "Mittens, wait!"

"What?" Mao Mao dropped into a stance, glancing around the hallway, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"The paintings," Tanya answered.

Mao Mao rolled his eyes, slouching his shoulders. "Tanya, we don't have time. We have to find the king and deal with the moth."

"Yeah, yeah, but do you know why there's only thirteen paintings?"