The Secret King

Northbound

The Great Bridge from Thoth to Evyan was packed with creatures and equipment. The giant glass tank which Herman had produced stood empty on a hundred-foot long reinforced cart with twenty sets of wheels. Short metal bars extended between each set of wheels to allow eighty wolves to push the enormous transport along once it was filled with water and hopefully, the Asherouboros. A series of two-beast lever pumps stood alongside the cart with hoses stretching from the Circe Sea into their the tank.

Wolves began pumping in a steady rhythm, slowly filling the enormous container with the toxic water of the boiling lake. Closer to the castle entrance at the base of the bridge, a series of makeshift cranes had been constructed from the skeletons of catapults and rigged with pulleys, blocks and tackles. An eighty foot net stretched along the ten cranes, made of the same super-strong fiber woven from Arisha's web as the ropes which supported it. At the base of each crane, a squad of Thothian troops stood ready to pull or lower the net over the edge of bridge.

The gatehouse area was a flurry of nervous activity. Within the large rotunda itself, Chumley, Thoris, and Frega stood and watched as a dozen large burlap sacks were stuffed with fish guts and pieces by several Lokian volunteers. The smell was overwhelming, so much so that the other participants in the day's task, Dema, Robbi, Belinda, and Gladiverserac stood outside the structure, avoiding entrance until all the preliminary preparations were complete.

So strong was the odor that even Gladis, who had a taste for fish parts, found herself scrunching her bill in disgust. It was Belinda who suffered most. She was already queasy due to her condition and the odorous cloud encompassing the gatehouse only multiplied her discomfort.

Robbi looked back and forth among her friends and couldn't help from laughing.
"I can't believe Chumley does this three times a week. It's a wonder he can still smell anything at all."

Dema chuckled.
"He's become quite fond of the monster. He feels some kind of bond with it. On the bright side, if we actually get the Asherouboros out of the Circe Sea and to the ocean, we will no longer have to deal with this stench on otherwise lovely days." She looked over at Belinda who seemed to be turning a shade of green despite her snow-white fur, "Are you alright dear, you don't look well at all?"

Belinda managed a weak smile.
"I think I've just decided to tell Chumley I'm expecting, if nothing else, it will insure I can stay upwind of his projects...this is dreadful."

Dema walked over and gave Belinda a hug.
"Courage, child. If all goes well you'll be back in your rose-scented bed soon."

"After bathing for six hours." Belinda chuckled.

"Hurry, Sir Chumley should," Gladiverserac added, "if much longer this I must smell, I fear that seafood I will forswear."

As if on cue, Chumley stuck his head out of the gatehouse and addressed the old toad.
"We're ready for yah, luv. Bring that nasty old bug juice in 'ere, will yah?"

Dema turned to her friends.
"It appears I have been summoned. Stay out here, no need to subject yourselves to any additional nasal torture. I'll see you in a few minutes." With that, Dema carried her flask of the Xezee potion into the round stone structure.

As bad as the fish-stench was on the outside of the gatehouse, the inside was almost beyond description. After years of feeding the Asherouboros from inside the enclosure, the very walls were now permeated with the smell of rotting fish. Dema looked around at the occupants. Chumley seemed unaffected, she assumed that he had developed a tolerance since it was he who, three times a week, fed the creature with whom he felt a kinship. Frega and Thoris were not faring as well, tears were leaking from their eyes and the big wolf in particular, with his extraordinarily keen sense of smell looked as though needles were being driven into his body.