COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 11: The Impossible Request

          "Oh, your majesty," Phantom gasped with a breathless and staged whisper, holding his chest like a confounded aristocrat. "I'm terribly sorry! If only I could creak a floorboard so you wouldn't be so distraught by the casual thrum of my divine voice!"

          Káel's eyes rolled involuntarily as he went back to the cuff, attempting to jam the thin tip of his necklace into the narrow hole.

          "So what are you doing?" Phantom pressed, his head still the only thing poking out of the wall as he tilted it. 

          "Got anything small and pointy?" Káel asked, looking at Phantom for a couple seconds before it dawned on him. "Never mind..."

          "Breaking the magical lock enchantment on that would be a complex process. Also, considering your pitiful lumience control, lack of a key, and the fact that you can't even levitate a pebble-"

          "Alright!" Káel snapped, quickly cutting off Phantoms speech as he dropped the necklace with a frustrated sigh. "But it can be done without a key?"

          "Well sure, but there are better ways to commit suicide than being a dragon's breakfast."

          Káel sighed, his head drooping in defeat as he watched Puff lick at the exact spot he'd held him. 

          Like his essence was simply dirt. 

          "There's a cliff somewhere around here..." Phantom continued, his helpful behaviour on the subject driving a stake of caution between them. 

          Káel shot him a tired glare, blowing a wispy bang off his forehead. 

          "Kidding! Suffering an eternity of following Mudbrain around instead of you isn't high on my list of fancies."

          "It's not that..." Káel muttered, leaning against the foot of his bed with his arms lazily sprawled to the sides, cranking his head up to smile emptily at Phantom. "I feel sorry for him. He's had this on for a long time, maybe his whole life." His smile gained a little bit of life when Puff grabbed his shoe, gnawing at the thick leather like a jaw breaker. "It's like growing up in a prison thinking the four walls around you are freedom."

          Phantom rested his elbow on an invisible surface, cradling his cheek in his gloved hand. "I still think he's gonna eat you."

          Puff scowled at Phantom, exchanging a couple growling warbles with him. But if you were to harness the capabilities of speaking a dragon's tongue, it would have come out as he's too bony, but I'd eat you.

          "I'd love to see you try fuzz bucket," Phantom retorted.

          Káel looked at the two in passive confusion, dropping his head back to cradle it on the edge of the bed as he gently closed his eyes, contemplating a method in which he could free the 'ferocious' dragon, whilst ensuring his safety. "If he was my Guardian, he wouldn't hurt me, right?"

          "Well no, but dragons aren't exactly the type to go around making pacts with Lumers, it's even rare for a Garaean to have one, although I've been stuck in a rock for who knows how long, so that might've changed a bit..." Phantom snapped his fingers as he hit a moment of realisation. "By the way, do you happen to know the date?"

          "I just got here, I'll ask Truvius or something." Káel gave the dragon a warm smile. "Hey Puff, let's make a deal..."

          Puff looked up at him and narrowed his eyes.

          "If you'll be my guardian until Ray gets me back to Earth, I'll get that chain off you."

          Puff got to his feet and looked at Káel with intrigue, it was a deal without a downside to either of them, so what sort of dragon was he to refuse? A faint, silvery aura enveloped Puff, as his fur flattened down and hardened into lustrous metallic white scales. When the aura diminished, Puff reached his head over to the arm of his good wing and pulled a scale out with his teeth.