Inside the barrier and plant, and deep below the surface of the desert sand, Luz and the Golden Guard were plunged into complete darkness. They were silent for a moment, listening only to the rumbles and roars of the Ash Moth stomping around on the surface looking for its prey. After a few minutes, they heard the beast's stomps stop and the sound of its roars grew quieter as it left. Once the roars were gone too, Luz could hear nothing but her own terrified panting, as well as that of the Golden Guard, who was also hissing and wincing slightly.
Luz cast a light spell to illuminate the darkness, and saw the Golden Guard's face, which had red, inflamed patches from his burns.
"You're hurt!" she cried.
"What was your first clue?" he retorted, wincing again.
Luz rolled her eyes; "Okay I'll admit that was probably a stupidly obvious thing to say." she then conjured her Crystal Lotus; "Let me heal you; it's the least I can do to thank you for saving my life."
"You saved mine straight after. You don't owe me anything." he said, eyeing her spell warily.
"Quit being stubborn! I'm trying to help you!" Luz snapped.
"And why should I believe you!?" he snapped right back.
Luz growled; "Because I let you and your sister go back at the Simmering Shoals! And I just saved you from losing your head to the Ash Moth! And let's not forget that my barrier is what's keeping you alive right now! If I wanted, I could dismiss it and use my plants to burrow out of her and leave you buried alive!"
The Golden Guard flinched back, making Luz sigh and take a calming breath; "But I wouldn't do that. You're a royal pain in the butt, but I don't hate you like I hate Belos. So let me heal you already!"
There was a moment of silence, before the Guard sighed; "Fine. This actually hurts quite a lot anyway…"
Luz beamed; "Attaboy! Now hold still…"
She applied her healing spell to the boy's face, healing the burns easily. The boy sighed with relief, and once he was okay, Luz had the plant they were in burrow back to the surface. It spat them out right where it had swallowed them and Luz dropped the barrier, freeing them both. She looked around for signs of the Ash Moth, but it had flown far away, so they were safe for now.
Luz then turned around to see the Golden Guard picking up the remains of his staff; it had been reduced to burnt cinders, and the crystal was shattered beyond repair.
"Dang it… my ship is totalled too! How am I going to find her and get home now?" he muttered.
"Was that staff important to you?" Luz asked.
The boy turned around and Luz finally got her first full look of his face, without obstructions like his hands or burns. He appeared to be a normal witchling, probably a few months older than the Hexsquad, being closer in age to the Magic Mixers. In the daylight, his red eyes looked closer to dark magenta, though the bags beneath them were just as bad. The boy also had a somewhat hooked nose, dark eyebrows, and a strong jaw, with a nasty scar on his right cheek. His left ear also had a sizeable knick in it, and between that and the other scar and obvious tiredness, Luz found herself actually pitying the boy.
The Golden Guard sighed, revealing he had a gap tooth; "No, it was just a tool. I can get another one at the castle easily enough. It's just that I'm in dangerous surroundings with a potential enemy and now I can't defend myself." he growled. He might not have been so cavalier with that information if it weren't for the fact Luz was a nice (if severely misled) person, but as it stood, he'd be relying on her to find his sister and escape.
Luz blinked at him, her eyes slowly widening; "Wait… what do you mean you can't defend yourself? Can't you just cast spells without it?"
The boy looked away with a faint look of shame. Luz gasped; "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that. I'm guessing its personal?"
He nodded; "It is."
Deciding not to push him, Luz began walking in the direction of the volcano, causing the Golden Guard to follow. "Where are you going exactly?"
"To the crashed airship. It and the volcano are the only obvious landmarks around here, so if the others are okay, I bet they'll head there too!" Luz replied. "I'm guessing flying will just attract that thing again."
"It will. The Goliath Ash Moth Desert is impassable by air during daylight hours. We should have been safe at night, but our battle drew its attention like… well, like a moth to the flame." he answered.
Luz frowned; "No wonder it attacked me so fast! I guess it won't notice us as easily if we're on the ground."
"That's why I told you not to fly off." the Golden Guard said, crossing his arms.
"Well excuse me for not believing the guy who wants to hand me over to the Corrupted Angel who tortured me!" Luz shot back.
"The Emperor is not the Corrupted Angel here! He follows the Will of the Titan, while you were led astray from it by the Owl Lady!"
"Yeah, because I'm the one with mouldy wings." she said sarcastically as she flapped her six angelic wings.
The Golden Guard growled as he quickened his pace to keep up with her; "The Emperor's wings are like that because of the curse of Wild Magic!"
Luz scowled; "That's a load of crud! I use "Wild Magic" and I'm fine!"
"For now! But before long, you'll be needing to devour Palismen too! If you care about them so much, you should accept your place in life and join the Emperor's Coven! If you just agree, I can help you! You won't need to do penance like last time!" The Golden Guard cried, grabbing Luz's shoulder to make her look at him; "Please Luz! Think about it! We want to bring order to the Isles! Isn't that what an Angel like you should want too?"
The young Arch-Angel just shook her head; "If I had to choose between feeding on innocent Palismen and dying, I'd choose to die." she said seriously; "Besides, I'm not interested in forcing other people to think the way I do! The whole reason I'm helping the CATTs is because they want to be free to choose how they live their lives and I want to help them. We're all just living how we choose. Belos wants to take that choice away from us, and that's why we fight!"
The Golden Guard looked at her with shock; how could an Angel truly look at the chaos of the Demon Realm and not have a problem with it!? In truth, he himself had always felt oddly at ease with that chaos (and had more than a passing interest in Wild Magic), but that was wrong! He worked very hard to suppress that part of himself and live up to his Uncle's expectations! The Emperor was a Grand Seraphim! He knew better than a magicless witch and a rebellious Arch-Angel!
"You just think that because the Owl Lady brainwashed you." he muttered bitterly.
"And you just think the way you do because Belos brainwashed you." Luz retorted, before sighing; "Look, we should just stop arguing. I doubt either of us are gonna change our minds, so all we're doing is getting ourselves worked up. With that in mind…"
Luz conjured an ice glyph and used it to craft a cup made of ice, which she filled with cold water and handed to the Golden Guard; "Truce?"
The boy stared at the offered drink, suddenly feeling that his mouth was bone dry and the sun's heat was beating down on him. He cautiously accepted the drink; "… Alright. Truce, until we found our companions and get out of this desert."
He then gulped the drink down in a few quick mouthfuls, which he regretted immediately as his thirst was not quenched. He began to lick the dripping ice of the cup, making Luz giggle and conjure more water for him. He gulped this down just as quickly, then shyly held out the cup for a third helping. Luz obliged with a smile, then said;
"I'll keep making water for you as we walk. But I want to ask a few questions in return."
The Golden Guard nodded; "Very well. No classified information though; I won't betray the Emperor."
"Got it. I mostly just wanna know what happened while I was out, and how you found out about the Palismen in the first place." Luz said.
"Really? You can't think of how we might have found out about the Palisman Adoption Day?" he smirked with a raised eyebrow; "You handed out dozens of Palismen to the teenagers of Bonesborough, a place were Emperor's Coven members still live. Between them showing off around town and posting on Penstagram, we got reports within minutes."
Luz almost face-palmed; of course that's how they'd get exposed! She should have thought of that!
The Golden Guard was amused by her annoyed expression as he continued; "My partner and I were watching you and your friends on the Hexside Grudgby Field until you left with the Bat Queen and the Palismen. We planned to ambush you faster, but that kid's unusual flying made us think you were sending secret signals to hidden bodyguards or something, so we were cautious."
Luz giggled at that; so Gus' flying issues had paid off! Maybe that would make him feel better about his difficulties when she told him. "What about what happened after we got attacked? The last thing I remember was being swatted out of the sky and losing consciousness."
"I don't know much more than that. Your barriers saved our lives, and the vines cushioned our impact when we hit the desert, but I passed out too. I woke up just before sunrise; my body is pretty accustomed to that, and found myself on a bed of vines. I saw you tangled up in some more vines nearby, so I picked you up. I would have restrained you, but I thought I might need your help if the Ash Moth attacked. Turned out to be the right move." he answered. He then smirked and added; "Then again, if I had tied you up, you wouldn't have flown off and the Ash Moth wouldn't have seen us."
Luz stuck her tongue out at him, then snarked; "More likely you'd have done something dumb and the Ash Moth would have eaten you, then eaten me while I couldn't escape!"
The two teenagers bickered more as they continued through the desert. The heat, combined with the cloying nature of the sand beneath their feet, meant their pace was gruellingly slow, and both were soon relying on Luz's ice magic just to stay conscious and hydrated. Neither had ever been so hot, and sadly their clothing was not helping! Luz was still in her school uniform (though she'd taken off the mantle and cowl) while the Golden Guard was still in his uniform, minus the mask and cloak, which he'd abandoned a while ago.
"This is so much worse than the Palm Stings desert! At least there the sand wasn't coarse and their were oases to rest at!" Luz complained, feeling her shirt sticking to her back with sweat.
"This is nothing! My training as a scout was far more gruelling than this!" the Golden Guard retorted, though he looked to be in worse condition than Luz thanks to his heavier clothing.
Luz rolled her eyes at his bravado, but inwardly she was worried; the boy might actually pass out at this rate!
"Come here a second, GG." she ordered, grabbing the back of his collar.
"GG!?" he exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, calling you Golden Guard all the time is getting annoying, and calling you Golden Goof will just start another argument. Now hold still!" she ordered as she used tiny light beams to carve an ice glyph into GG's chest armour.
The boy narrowed his eyes on her and asked suspiciously; "What does the second G stand for? Guard or Goof?"
Luz answered only with a grin, then slapped the completed glyph. GG immediately sighed with relief as the ice glyph began to glow and cool him down, letting him survive the heat without too much discomfort.
"Okay, this is amazing. I shouldn't praise Wild Magic, but that heat was unbearable!" he sighed, smiling at the blissful cold.
"What happened to "this is nothing!" eh?" Luz giggled, making the boy blush. "Now wait a second while I change into something more comfortable."
GG watched her snap her fingers and summon her satchel, then immediately went red in the face and turned away as he registered her words; "L-Luz! Changing in public, especially in front of a man, is highly inappropriate for both an Angel and a young woman! Have more respect for yourself!"
"I'm not taking my clothes off, Dummy!" Luz snapped, blushing at the very idea; "I'm getting my cloak!"
The boy turned around in confusion and saw Luz pull out her Witch's Wool Cloak and drape it over her shoulders before stowing away her uniform's cowl and mantle. Once she'd banished the satchel, Luz allowed her angelic magic to flow through the cloak and her uniform, transforming it into her Holy Raiment, which exposed a lot more skin and was a lot more light and breezy, on top of being white, so it reflected the light and heat better.
"Oh, I see now! Fascinating…! So this is your Holy Raiment!" GG said, peering closely at it. He raised his hand to touch it, and Luz was ready to swat it away, but he caught himself first and instead covered his mouth and coughed awkwardly; "Sorry about that."
Luz waved him off; "It's okay. You know, you're kind of weird GG. When we're not fighting, I get a totally different vibe from you."
"I'm perfectly normal for a member of the Emperor's Coven! You're the weird one!" GG huffed indignantly, making the girl giggle in response.
"We're both weirdos!" she grinned, "And we weirdos need to stick together. Like it or not, you made a truce with me and that means that until we find King, Gus, BQ, the Palismen, and Silver, you and I are allies! So…" she held out her hand; "I'm Luz Noceda-Clawthorne, Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles; nice to meet you."
The Golden Guard stared at her for a moment, then took her hand and shook it; "Golden Guard, Right Hand of Emperor Belos and Head Witch of his Coven."
"No name?" Luz pouted.
The boy shook his head in response and turned to continue walking towards the volcano and the wreckage of his ship. Luz blew a raspberry at him and followed on behind, muttering "Spoilsport."
They continued to walk in mostly silence, interrupted only by the occasional distant roar of the Ash Moth, which had them both on guard, or Luz's attempts to make conversation with GG, who gave short answers when he bothered to answer her at all. Luz didn't know why she kept trying, but something about the awkward older boy made her want to understand him; he didn't seem like a bad person, he'd just been raised to follow a tyrant unquestioningly. It made Luz feel a little sorry for him, though she was still wary of him; GG had been willing to kill the Selkidomus and would try to steal the Palismen despite knowing their fate, meaning Luz couldn't completely trust him no matter what happened.
After a few minutes of walking and one-sided conversation, the Golden Guard finally perked up and jogged on ahead, causing Luz to run after him.
"Aha!" the boy cried triumphantly as he stooped over something in the sand.
"What did you find?" Luz asked, rushing up to see.
It was the Golden Guard's helmet; still broken from Luz's spell and now slightly deformed by the heat of the Ash Moth's attack. Luz frowned at the state of it; "Huh, I guess it flew pretty far once you threw it off. I bet the Ash Moth's wing flaps blew it away when it took off. It's definitely seen better days though." she commented.
GG shrugged; "It can be repaired. Besides, I'm kind of attached to it; I have other masks, but this is my only full helmet version!" he said, picking it up. However as he picked it up, he heard a strange noise from the inside… it was a tweeting sound.
"Huh? What is that?" Luz frowned, hearing it too. Both she and the Golden Guard looked closer at the helmet, and just as they were about to peep through the broken eye hole, the source of the tweeting popped out. It was a little Red Cardinal Palisman with a black coloured face and a scarred left eye.
"Oh! You little rascal!" Luz cooed, scooping him up; "Did you get separated from the others in the crash?"
The Palisman, Flapjack, shook his head and tweeted again. "Did you purposely leave them to get help?" Luz asked.
This time Flapjack nodded, then fluttered over to the Golden Guard, who stared at him covetously. Flapjack landed in his hand, and the boy immediately held him tightly.
"A Palisman! I've got one!" he grinned, his grip getting tighter. Flapjack let out a pained tweet and Luz immediately created a light sword and pointed it at the boy's neck.
"Let him go, Golden Guard!" she demanded.
With a gasp of shock at his own actions, GG let Flapjack go. "I-I'm sorry. I just… I'm worried about my Uncle."
Flapjack landed on Luz's shoulder as she stared at him, aghast; "Wait, what!? Are you saying Belos is your uncle!? Does that make you an Angel too!?"
"No! I… I'm related to him by blood, but I'm not an angel myself. I don't know the full details; Uncle always said it was too painful to talk about… but forget that, we need to get moving. This Palisman can lead us to the other Palismen, right? Then let's go!"
The boy began to march away, and Flapjack flew ahead of him to guide him, strangely unconcerned by the potential threat that the Golden Guard posed. Luz kept her eyes on both of them as she followed, beginning to wonder more and more about the mysterious Golden Guard.
[Meanwhile]
Gus awoke with a groan, finding himself tangled up in a mess of heat-withered vines hanging on a small formation of red rocks. He looked around groggily, and upon seeing he wasn't too far off the ground, he began to slowly untangle himself, eventually getting free from the vines and using them to climb down to the desert sands. It was incredibly hot, and Gus was lucky enough to be on the shady side of the rocks, so he didn't even want to think about what it'd be like out in the sun.
"Man, I've really got to see if I can find some lucky charms or something for Luz. Her bad luck is getting ridiculous!" Gus muttered to himself. He used some water magic to conjure himself a cool drink to relieve his parched throat, then decided that if he was going to brave the heat, he'd have to prepare himself.
He took off the mantle, cowl, and shirt of his school uniform, leaving him bare from the waist up, then used his steadily growing skill with water magic to conjured cold water that he coated his torso with, before casting a simple illusion to make it look like he was still full dressed. "There! Now I can stay cool AND look my best." he grinned. Gus then stooped to pick up his discarded clothes, when he noticed a lump under his cowl.
Carefully, Gus moved the cowl aside and sighed with relief as he saw the lump beneath was actually his new Palisman. The little blue chameleon looked to be uninjured, and was happily snoozing, completely unconcerned by the heat.
"Emmie! Thank Titan you're okay!" Gus grinned, scooping her up; "I was just about to try summoning you!"
Emmiline stirred awake, and upon seeing her new partner up and uninjured, she began to chirp excitedly, then jumped onto his shoulder. Gus nuzzled her, finding her scales to be as smooth as always, and also surprisingly cool. In fact, a faint misty vapour was wafting off of Emmiline, which reminded Gus of the mist that came off ice. His Palisman must have been using some of her magic to keep him cool.
"A staff and a walking ice pack; you've got no end of talents, right buddy?" Gus said, smiling as he tickled her chin with his finger. She chirped happily at the gesture and compliment, and the ice magic she gave off grew a little stronger, as if she was trying to show off.
Gus smiled; "Right! Since we're safe and sound, we should start looking for the others! This is the Goliath Ash Moth Desert, so flying into the air here would be dumb, so let's climb this rock formation instead; that should give us a good vantage point!"
Emmiline chirped in agreement, and Gus began to use the dried up vines to help him climb the rock formation. When he reached the end of the vines, Emmiline used her chameleon climbing skills to clamber up the side of the rock, occasionally stopping to create little ice hand and foot holds for Gus to grab as he climbed. It didn't take long for them to reach the top, which was just high enough to give them a decent view of their surroundings.
Gus saw the volcano to the north west, and knowing that was the Ash Moth's den and the centre of the desert, he deduced he was somewhere in the south east end of the desert, which meant the wrist wasn't far. However he didn't even consider escaping; he needed to find the others first! He then looked further west and gulped as he saw the Ash Moth… even from so far away, it looked huge and was currently stomping on something, its roars echoing through the desert.
"Man, I really hope that isn't Luz… Does she know enough about Ash Moths to know that flying in their territory is dangerous in broad daylight?" he muttered to himself. He hoped so, but he certainly hadn't told her and he didn't remember her talking about it after any of her beast-keeping classes… Now he had a bad feeling.
"Assuming that isn't Luz over there being turned from 3D to 2D, I'd wager she'd be in the most unlucky place to land." Gus said, getting a chirp of agreement from Emmie. "That means either somewhere in the far west, far from the exit…"
The stomping of the Ash Moth over in the west made him gulp again, "… or she's somewhere at the volcano. Hopefully not taking a lava bath… I wonder if her barriers can survive lava? She dove into the Boiling Sea when she got the ice glyph, so it's possible… maybe… But then there's also King, BQ, and the Palismen to consider."
Emmiline chirped and pointed her tail towards the volcano and the crashed airship at its base. "You want us to go there?" Gus asked.
The Palisman nodded and chirped again, and Gus heard the voice of a little girl in his head; "Yes please."
Gus blinked; "Was that you, Emmie?"
Again, Emmie nodded; "It's me. Palismen can talk to their partners in this minds."
"Oh, wow! That's helpful! Your voice suits you by the way, even if you are actually hundreds of years old." he grinned.
Emmie huffed; "Palismen don't age, so I always sound like this! But don't treat me like a child! I'm still a refined lady! Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo!"
"You got it, Lady Emmie." Gus said, putting Emmie in his hand and bowing dramatically. Emmie chirped happily at the gesture and Gus heard her laughter in his mind, making him smile more. However Gus's bow and the slightly uneven footing on top of the rock formation made him loose his balance and topple forward with a yelp. Emmie saved him by turning into staff form and flying under him.
"Oof! Thanks Emmie! Note to self, save the showmanship for later!" Gus sighed with relief. As he pulled himself up onto Emmie's staff properly so they could quickly descend, he noticed something a little further to the east; another mass of vines. Since Luz had used her plants to cushion all of their falls, that had to be the landing sight of another person! With any luck, Gus would find one of his friends, or at the very least be able to find and follow their tracks in the sand!
Gus had Emmie carefully lower them both to the ground, then said; "Slight detour, Lady Emmie! Looks like we've got another crash site over there!"
Emmie chirped in acknowledgement and Gus began hurrying over to the mass of vines. The moment he stepped out of the shade and into the sun, he almost hissed like a cat getting into water; the desert was no joke! Still, he persevered and rushed to the spot he'd seen all the vines. When he got there, he found himself both elated and disappointed; the former because he had found another person, and the latter because it wasn't one he'd hoped to find.
The Silver Sentinel lay there, curled up amidst the vines that cradled her and had cushioned her fall. She appeared to be okay, and while Gus couldn't see her face, the slow rise and fall of her chest was enough to convince him she was fine. He slowly approached her and began reaching for her masked face; he was sorely tempted to remove the helmet and finally reveal her face, but decided to instead lightly tap the side of it, nudging the girl awake. The Silver Sentinel went rigid as she regained consciousness and looked up at Gus leaning over her.
"Welcome back to the land of the liv-oof!"
Gus was interrupted by the Silver Sentinel suddenly pulling her legs up to her chest then booting him away from her, sending him rolling down the sand dune beside where she'd landed. Thankfully his disguised water shirt had absorbed some of the impact so he wasn't too hurt, but he suspected he'd have a bruise later. As he picked himself up, the Silver Sentinel leapt to her feet and began digging through the vines to find her staff. She'd just found it when Gus reached for her again, and when she spun to point it at him, she found Gus's new staff already pointed in her face.
"Okay, I'm sorry if I scared you by waking you up like that, but did you need to kick me like that?" Gus frowned; "Kind of a jerk move, you know!"
The Silver Sentinel stared at the staff in her face, then promptly merged into her shadow to disappear. Gus was no fool though and immediately turned around as she popped out of his shadow, finding his staff once again in her face.
"Never try to misdirect a master of misdirection!" Gus grinned at her, "Now if you don't point your staff at me, I won't point mine at you, okay?"
The Sentinel just stared silently, her posture looking a lot less confident than it had been during their brief encounter the previous night. Slowly, she lowered her staff and held it in both hands in front of her. Gus kept his end of the deal by turning his staff back into Emmiline, who sat on his head.
"Great! Now that we're not fighting, let's talk a little." Gus suggested.
The girl created an illusion of signing hands to try and communicate, but Gus couldn't understand sign language; "Sorry, but I can't understand you. I apologise if this is rude, but are you actually unable to speak? Or do you just not wanna talk?"
The words "I cannot speak." appeared as floating text beside the Sentinel's head.
"Ah, got it. That's unfortunate." Gus frowned. "Maybe you should take off that helmet and cloak so I can see your face? You can mouth what you want to say so you're not wasting your staff's magic, especially since we're probably gonna need it."
He remembered what Luz had told him and their friends about the fight at the Simmering Shoals, and how the girl had relied on her staff for some reason.
The girl shook her head frantically; "I don't want to."
Well, that made things a little more complicated. Still, Gus wasn't going to be pushy (especially since he wasn't convinced he could win if the two came to blows). The Silver Sentinel also appeared very nervous; she was fidgeting and constantly looking around as if looking for something. Gus assumed she was looking for signs of her partner.
"I guess I'll try to keep this to yes or no questions then, to save your magic." Gus said, "First of, can you use magic without that staff?"
The girl reluctantly shook her head, confirming Gus's suspicion. "Not good… Shame I can't give bits of my magic away like Luz can. But whatever. We're not far from the Wrist, but I'm not leaving without my friends. I'm guessing you won't leave without your bro?"
This time the girl nodded, her posture becoming a bit more determined. Gus smiled at her.
"Great! Then let's look for them together. I was gonna head to the volcano and your wrecked airship; I'm 99% sure Luz will show up there if she isn't already there, and my Palisman wants to check it out."
He received a nod in response, and the Sentinel conjured more words; "I agree. In the event that the Golden Guard and I are separated on a mission, we are to reconvene at our airship, no matter what state it's in."
"Great! Then let's go! But first…" he eyed the girl's cape; "You really should take that off. It looks heavy and hot. Keep the mask if you feel better with it on, but at least lose the cloak."
The girl stared at him for a moment, then reached up and pulled back her hood and fumbled with the cloak clasp, removing it and dropping the cloak onto the bed of vines she'd landed on. Once she was done, she nodded to the shorter teenager and gestured for him to lead on while she followed. Gus knew that could potentially be a trap; he didn't trust the girl enough to let her stay at his back, so he instead gestured for her to walk beside him.
"Until we find our friends, we're partners. We should walk next to each other, right?"
The girl didn't argue or even seem bothered by his request, making Gus think he'd misjudged her as she began to walk beside him and they both headed towards the volcano. It was a little awkward at first, since the Sentinel couldn't speak, but Gus soon got used to her silence and decided to instead pass the time by talking to Emmiline in his head, telling her about his adventure with Luz and Matt at the Looking Glass Ruins, and various other aspects of his life, while Emmiline in turn told him about her previous partner and the time in which Giraffes were still native to the Demon Realm. If the Sentinel was bothered by the silence, she didn't let it show… in fact, she didn't let much of anything show, which is why is startled Gus when she suddenly collapsed face first in the sand after about twenty minutes of walking.
"Whoa! Silver!" Gus cried hurrying to her side. He rolled over over and heard her laboured breathing, and without even needing to take off her helmet, he knew her face was plastered with sweat. Just touching her to roll her over was enough to expose why she'd collapsed; she was massively overheated!
"Dang it, you're burning up!" he exclaimed, "Why didn't you say anything!?"
He then face-palmed; of course she hadn't said anything, she was mute! Still, she could have warned him! The girl weakly gripped her staff and an illusory message appeared over her that read; "I'm very sorry."
"It's fine; I'll help. I'm better with water magic than ice, but I can do enough." Gus replied, using his limited ice magic to coat the girl's body in a thin-layer of frost to cool her down. "But seriously, you need to take off that helmet and armour!"
The girl weakly sat up and began unbuckling the silver breastplate and faulds she was wearing. After a moment, she shyly looked to him and a new message appeared beside her; "I can't get all the buckles by myself… my brother usually helps me."
"No worries, I'll help." Gus replied, moving behind her to begun undoing the buckles and clasps back there. It wasn't too difficult and the girl had soon shed all armour except for her helmet, and also removed a sturdy silver coloured vest, revealing a sweat-soaked white blouse underneath it. The material had turned partially see-through, revealing the girl's black sports bra beneath it, much to her embarrassment. However Gus paid it no mind, nor did he really acknowledge the caramel coloured skin revealed when the girl pulled up her sleeves. He did notice what appeared to be some kind of simple jewel on a string around her neck, one that he could sense illusion magic from.
"A Concealment Stone?" he thought.
The Silver Sentinel noticed him looking at the necklace and for a moment, she thought he was staring at her chest. But then he suddenly drew a cyan spell circle which cast a simple illusion over her, which made her shirt look clean and opaque, preserving her modesty.
"Thank you." she said with an illusory message.
Gus waved her off; "It's cool. Most of my friends are ladies, so I know enough to be a gentleman."
Emmie chirped approvingly on his shoulder, and the Silver Sentinel giggled, making the first audible sound Gus had heard from her. It was kind of cute and made him smile. "Well Silver, if you feel up to it, we should keep going. Oh, I can probably get you a drink too; I'll turn around if you don't want me to see you drink it."
The girl tilted her head; and the word; "Silver?" appeared in front of her.
"Yep! I don't know your name, so I'll just call you Silver." Gus replied.
"Why are you being so kind? Aren't we enemies? We're aiming to capture those stray Palismen." she reminded him.
Gus frowned; "And I am really not okay with that. But we're in a seriously dangerous situation right now; we should have each other's backs until we find our friends and get out of here. In the meantime, being nice doesn't cost me anything and pleasant company will make the desert more bearable."
He finished his statement by offering the girl his hand, which she nervously accepted, allowing Gus to pull her to her feet. She was taller than him by about half a head, making her a similar height to Willow and slightly shorter than Amity and Luz. Once she was stood up, she gave him a new message; "Thank you. You may call me Silver. Might I know your name?"
"Oh right! I never introduced myself! I am Augustus Porter, Master Illusionist Extraordinaire!"
Gus gave a showman's bow while drawing a spell circle to make a stage appear around him, a banner with his name to hang above him, and create the sound of a cheering audience as illusory roses were thrown at his feet. Silver gasped and clapped, and when Gus rose from his bow, he winked and added; "But you can call me Gus."
Silver went still for a moment and just stared at him, though she had started fidgeting nervously again. After a moment, she created a new message; "Nice to meet you, Gus. I know we may become enemies again later, but for now, I'd like us to be friends. Is that okay?"
Gus beamed; "Sure! For today at least, we're pals!"
He lightly slapped Silver on the back, making her swoon a little as her legs felt wobbly from dehydration. She then gave another message; "If its no trouble, I'd like that drink."
Gus nodded and used some ice and water magic to craft an ice glass full of cool liquid. Silver accepted it, her message changing to the word "Thanks!" before she used her staff to conjure what appeared to be a crazy straw, like the kind Luz had shown him once. Gus could barely stop himself from cracking up as she put the straw into the drink and then the eye slot of her mask, working it down to her mouth.
"You know, when Luz disguised herself as you for the Blight Ball, we just enchanted her helmet so stuff passed through it." Gus said with a smirk after watching her finish the drink.
She thrust the empty ice glass at him and wiggled it, silently asking for more, and Gus obliged her, certain she was pouting behind her mask.
Once Silver had drunk enough to feel energised again, the two finally continued their trek towards the crashed airship, with Gus practicing his ice and water magic as they walked, creating a cooling mist that made the desert far more bearable. The walk was fairly uneventful, with the exception of a brief moment in which Gus had rendered them both invisible as the Goliath Ash Moth briefly flew overhead, before becoming distracted by something to the north and flying towards it. They both hoped that their friends hadn't drawn its attention…
After about half an hour of walking, talking (for Gus at least), and keeping their guards up in case of an attack, they reached a sand dune. They climbed it easily enough, Gus pretending to be a human climbing Mt. Everest much to Silver's amusement, but once they reached the top, Gus began to slide down the other side without first looking where he was going.
This proved to be a massive mistake, as the dune wasn't a dune at all… it was the rise surrounding a deep crater in the desert, at the bottom of which was a mass of fluffy white creatures. They were each as big and as long as a Grudgby Pitch and looked like fat, worm-like creatures covered in white fur, with dozens of stubby red chitin nubs acting as legs, and what looked like a vaguely puppy-like face for a head. They were cuddling with each other, seemingly asleep, and Gus very nearly slid right down into their midst. He was about to scream when he was saved by Silver, who suddenly burst out of his shadow and grabbed him, before diving back into his shadow with him.
Gus found himself in a pitch black, icy cold void for a few seconds with no sound but his own terrified breathing, and then he was suddenly thrust back into the desert, emerging alongside Silver from the shadow of a boot that she had hastily ditched when rushing to save him.
"Phew! That was too close! I should have looked where I was going!" Gus panted, his heart beating wildly; "Thanks for the save, Silver!"
The girl gave him a thumbs up in response, then peered over the edge of the crater to look at the creatures below. She then conjured a message; "Ash Moth Larvae."
Gus gulped; if he'd disturbed them, he likely would have been eaten and if by some miracle he'd escaped, the Larvae would have made such a fuss that their mother would come running.
"There are probably clutches of eggs and larvae all over the desert." he said shakily, petting Emmiline to calm himself; "That could have been really bad. Seriously Silver, thank you."
Silver fidgeted again, and simply gave him a thumbs up in response. Gus wasn't certain, but he had the feeling that the girl was nervous and didn't really know how to interact with other people, especially her own age. While hanging out with Matt, Gus had heard stories from Steve about life in the Emperor's Coven, where competition and backstabbing were imperative for advancement and survival… He couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Silver, who was probably not much older than him, to rise up to the third highest position in the Empire in that kind of environment. No wonder she was so nervous!
Since they were friends for the time being, Gus made a decision; he was going to help Silver learn a little about having fun like a real teenager (Gus technically wasn't a teenager yet himself, but he hung out almost exclusively with teenagers, so he was confident)!
"Well since we've now got to walk around this big crater and we've still got a ways to go, how about I thank you by telling you all about some awesome stuff to do around Bonesborough!" Gus grinned.
Silver replied with another thumbs up, and the two continued their journey in high spirits.
[Meanwhile]
King was accustomed to being woken in certain ways… the scream of an alarm clock, Luz's smartphone or scroll bleeping, Luz herself nudging him awake or singing in the shower, Eda's own caterwauling in the shower, or Hooty's shrill voice… He'd gotten used to all of that.
The shrill cries and sobbing of a baby was not one of those ways!
The little Titan's eyes snapped open at the first keening wail, causing him to shoot up on instinct, ready to roar or brandish his glyphs as his body awakened before his mind did. It wasn't until the second wail that his brain caught up and he blinked slowly, looking around at his surroundings. He was currently in the shadow of a short rock formation, with a pile of vines out in the sun not far from him. There was sand in all directions too, so it didn't take him long to figure out that he and the others must have crashed in the desert they'd been flying over.
"Well this sucks! My fur is not a good match for sand or heat!" he complained.
A third wail finally drew his attention to the fact he wasn't alone, so King looked up and saw the source of the wailing sitting on a rock just above him.
It was one of the Bat Queen's babies, and the poor thing looked a little banged up, with a cut on one of its little legs, which was oozing green blood. King, who hadn't really seen BQ's kids since he had helped Eda babysit them months ago, immediately felt the protective urges he'd built up that day return, and he reached up and grabbed the baby.
"Prince!" he cried, remembering the nickname he'd given the little fellow. The other two had been Princess and Heiress, as both had responded better to female sounding nicknames at the time. Prince stopped his wailing, but didn't stop sniffling as King held the baby. It was somewhat awkward, as King was actually only a little bit bigger than him, but King didn't care.
"It's okay Prince, I'll heal you up!" King said. He reached into his collar and picked out a Healing Glyph Combo, then activated it and coated his paws in glowing blue magic. He then gently pressed it into Prince's wound, but while it seemed to soothe the little Palisman's pain, it didn't heal his cut.
"Rats! I guess healing Palismen is tougher than that… I guess Luz could only do it because she had Angel Magic." King pouted. With that plan a bust, King went for the next best thing and used a plant glyph to create a leaf that he stuck over the cut, stemming the bleeding. "Sorry Prince, it looks like this is the best I can do for now. Once I find Big Sis, she'll heal you up!"
Prince sniffled a bit more, then decided to fly up and roost on King's head, which he allowed. "Heh, with you I get to be the mature one! Now let's see here where we are exactly…"
King used the ice glyph to coat himself in frost, which turned his fur white, then stepped out into the sun. Even with the ice coating, the heat made him groan as he looked around. He noted the Titan's fingers to his right and the Titan's skull to his left, as well as the Goliath Ash Moth's Volcano Cocoon directly ahead of him, while the coast was to his back. With that information, he deduced he was somewhere in the northern reaches of the desert.
"Good thing I read about this place when researching the Fire Temple." he muttered to himself; "Now how to find Luz, Gus, and your Mom…? Actually, how did you end up with me in the first place, Prince?" King asked, stepping back into the shade.
Prince babbled a bit, but naturally King couldn't understand him. He remembered Luz protecting them all with barriers, with a second layer of vines to cushion their landings, but he'd been sure that Prince and his sisters had been inside the Palismen Nest. Had Prince flown out in search of someone after crashing, or had he somehow been knocked out of the stump during the bumpy landing? Considering the cut he'd suffered and the other little scrapes that covered him, King wagered it was the latter. Since he'd woken up in the shade and not on the vines he'd likely landed on too, King guessed Prince had found him and dragged him into the shade.
He asked Prince about both these ideas, and received nods to both questions, confirming his theories.
"Well, on the bright side, you being here means I'm not alone, and me being here means you're protected!" King smiled, before grimacing; "But on the other hand, we're alone in a desert with no idea where the others are or if they're even still alive…"
That made Prince whimper, and King felt tear drops hit the top of his skull. He was no good at handling crying, so he just pointed up at the baby; "Hey, turn off the waterworks! We're gonna find them and get out of here! I am the King of surviving stuff! And you're Prince, so you've got to be the second best at surviving stuff too, right!?"
Prince's whimpering stopped and he instead gave a determined sounding "Goo!", which King took for a yes.
"Great! Now let's go find Luz, she'll know what to do! Now knowing my sister, she either landed in the volcano, the Boiling Sea, or right in the Ash Moth's mouth…" King muttered to himself, peering out from the shade again. He could vaguely see tongues of flame flashing into the sky to the south-west, partially concealed by the volcano, so he accurately guessed the Ash Moth was over there.
"It looks like its fighting something. I should probably avoid that." King said, before a sense of dread and resignation filled him; "But then again, if I was a betting Titan, I'd wager that it was fighting Luz."
He sighed heavily; it looked like he would have to go and check for himself. However he had no intention of trudging through the desert! His stubby little legs would take hours to even get close enough to look from a distance, let alone actually reaching the site of the battle! Instead he decided to be clever and used ice glyphs to construct a large sled, which he then carved wind glyphs into the back off, before finishing off with some vines harvested from Luz's semi-withered vines (best not to waste paper glyphs after all) to act as reins.
"Alright! The King's Chariot awaits!" King declared, taking a seat on the sled, then reaching back and slapping one of the wind glyphs to create a powerful gale that began to blow him and the sled through the desert sands in the direction of the Ash Moth. Poor Prince was knocked off King's head by the sudden acceleration, but King thankfully caught him and put him on his lap, where he'd be safe.
Thanks to the sled and wind glyph, a trip that would have taken several hours on foot ended up taking only about twenty minutes, during which King kept Prince entertained by reading him a story. Naturally King didn't have any books with him, but he'd spent enough time listening to Amity reading stories to the babies at the library when he tagged along with Luz for a visit that he had most of the simple stories memorised. Prince seemed to enjoy listening to the story of Otabin, and King enjoyed being the older one for a change, actually having quite a lot of fun taking care of the little fella. Sadly, things didn't stay smooth sailing for very long.
King and Prince had just moved far enough west to keep the volcano from blocking their view of the Ash Moth, and now they could see the creature pounding on the ground with its forepaws, its wings flapping hard enough to whip up a sandstorm as it roared its displeasure. King and Prince were still far enough that they weren't in danger of being caught up in its wrath, and despite how terrifying the furious demon was, King took comfort in its rampage. The Goliath Ash Moth wouldn't be rampaging so much if its prey had been destroyed and devoured, so whoever it had found must still be alive!
"Great! Now we've just gotta wait for it to calm down and we can go and take a look! If it did stomp something, I hope it's one of those masked metallic menaces!" King commented with a slightly bloodthirsty grin.
Unfortunately, Prince was still too little to fully understand what King had said; all he'd fully registered was the idea that King said they'd be going towards the very big, very scary demon that was big enough to flatten them with a paw and that was blasting fire from its whisker-like proboscises.
Immediately, Prince began to whine and whimper, and tried to fly out of King's grasp. The little Titan didn't understand why Prince was getting so fussy, so just held on tight and rocked him a little; "It's okay Prince! We'll go find your Mommy and sisters soon! We've just gotta go over there first!" he pointed to the Ash Moth.
This was the worst thing to say, as Prince went silent for the briefest moments, before bursting into loud, terrified wails.
King let out a startled "WEH!?" as Prince began to really thrash in his grasp, making him work hard to keep the little Palismen in his arms. If he let go, Prince would fly away and that would make him a massive target for the Ash Moth!
"Prince! You need to calm down! If you keep this up, that monster will eat us!" King cried.
That just made Prince cry even louder, until it eventually released a loud, sonic screech. This was apparently the first time Prince managed a full sonic screech on his own as well, as he was as surprised as King and actually stopped crying for a moment. Since he'd gone still, King quickly clamped a claw over Prince's mouth and slowly looked over to the Ash Moth, fearing it had heard the noise. Thankfully it didn't seem to have noticed over the sound of its own roars and stomping… but that didn't mean no one had heard it.
The desert beneath them began to rumble, and a large mound of sand right next to them began to rise up, until something white, fluffy, and very large poked out of the top. It was an Ash Moth Larva… and it was looking directly at King and Prince. King went completely silent and held as still as he could, hoping the Larva would dismiss them as just a part of the landscape… Ash Moth Larvae didn't have great eye sight or the developed intelligence of their adult forms, so they might just ignore them.
Unfortunately, Prince was just a baby and didn't understand that…
With a deep inhale that nearly made King's heart stop, Prince let out an even louder wail, screaming at the top of his lungs at the sight of the big furry monster. The Ash Moth Larva let out a soft yip in return and began to fully burrow out of the ground, extending its full length so it could reach down and devour the two.
"Oh farts!" King cursed, slapping another wind glyph to get his sled moving again. They just narrowly missed the Larva's slam into the desert behind them, but since the sled had been pointing towards the Ash Moth, they were now heading straight for it! King pulled on the reins to tilt the sled further westward, then eventually back to the north, going behind the Larva and sledding back the way they came as the Larva recovered. The Larva then fully emerged from the desert and flopped down into the sand, before it began to crawl towards them at high speed with its little chitinous nubs.
"Dang it, my luck is almost as bad as Luz's!" King cried as he began slapping more of the wind glyphs to make them go faster as the Larva gained on them. Prince was still crying in terror, but thankfully they were moving so fast that he was pressed against King's belly, so he couldn't even try to fly away. Still, the Larva did not give up the chase and instead let out another strange yip, which caused the sand in front of the sled to begin rising up as more Ash Moth Larvae emerged upon hearing their siblings' cry. These Larvae were from a clutch that had been laid maybe 200 years ago, so they were old enough to be roaming the desert on their own and hunt for their own food. This also meant they had started to develop their magic, as evidenced by their bodies beginning to glow with red veins of fire before they began spewing globules of glowing hot molten sand at King and Prince.
King had to be fast on the reins to swerve the sled between the rising Larvae, while also keeping up their speed to avoid the ones now pursuing them, AND using sonic roars to blast away the molten projectiles being launched their way, as even one direct hit would be the end of them! Thankfully, all his practice with his roar had made him pretty accurate with it, so he didn't have too much trouble… at least until the sled started to slow down. The young Titan reached back to slap another wind glyph, but found that all the ones he'd carved were used up already, and he naturally couldn't stop to carve more, so he had to fumble inside his neckerchief for his pre-drawn ones, which meant he had less control over the rapidly slowing sled.
The young Titan was able to just barely get find and activate another wind glyph in time for them to outspeed one of the larva, which had opened its mouth to devour them, however King had been so focused on finding the glyph that he hadn't realised he was steering them straight towards another Larva's open maw. Unlike full grown Ash Moths, which eat with their whisker-like proboscises, their larva actually did have mouths, and those mouths looked just like the mouths of the fox kits their heads resembled, only with circular rows of teeth that turned anything caught inside them into mulch like a fleshy blender. Their mouths were also extremely hot, being filled with molten rock and sand, so King and Prince naturally screamed in terror as they saw they were about to end up inside it.
With no other choice to avoid it, King held Prince tightly and then screamed; "WEH!", unleashing a powerful roar directly into the Larva's moth. The attack stunned it, making it close its mouth with a loud whine, but the sled was still too close, so King and Prince crashed straight into the face of the Larva, and ended up launched onto it's snout-like horn. Angered, the Ash Moth Larva reared up and sent the two flying, making them both scream in terror. King was just barely able to get one of his Safety Hover Glyph Combos out and slapped onto him before he hit the ground hard, saving both their lives.
When the safety hover ended and King flopped to the ground on his back, Prince still held in his arms, the littlest Clawthorne groaned and looked around, noticing the nest of vines nearby and the familiar rock formation beside it. He cursed loudly; between their fleeing from the Larvae and being flung off by the one they'd landed on before, they were right back where they started! And to make matters worse, most of the Ash Moth Larvae had seen their landing and were now racing towards them, much too quickly for King to create another sled.
"WEH!? Oh no, we're dead!" King cried, frantically trying to run away. He ran for the rock formation he'd woken up in the shade of, but knew that even if he climbed atop it, the Larvae would destroy it and eat him easily. "Man, I would kill to fly right now!"
His terror was briefly interrupted by the sound of an explosion and the yipping of one of the Larva. King turned to look at it and saw that it had lingered too close to a Fire Melon Cactus, and its body heat had further warmed the oil-like juice inside it, causing it to combust and make the cactus explode. The explosion wasn't a threat to the Larva, which was naturally very heat resistant, but the rain of extremely sharp needles that peppered it was enough to make it cry out and slow down, which also slowed down the rest of the hoard as its writhing got in their way, giving King an idea.
"I almost forgot those grew here! This'll either work great, or I'll die!" King declared, using the extra seconds the explosion had bought him to grab all the plant glyphs he had and begin activating them, growing the biggest wall of Fire Melon Cacti that he could manage. The Cacti looked very similar to the red stone formations, enough so that unless one looked closely, they'd never notice the difference. They grew in vaguely spherical stacks, and each sphere was a ragged orb with a red, stony texture to its appearance, though they were actually rubbery to the touch. It's "needles" were actually razor sharp seeds that grew inside it along with the oil-like juice, and were spread by the explosions caused by the heated juice.
Their appearance was important, because it meant the Ash Moth Larvae racing towards King and Prince believed them to just be piles of rocks and ploughed straight through it as King and Prince hid behind the rock formation.
The instant the first Larva ploughed through the oversized cacti, it started a chain reaction. The cactus it struck first exploded and peppered the Larva with needles, making it thrash around and hit more of the cacti, which promptly exploded to. Other Larvae also hit the wall and caused explosions, and before long the entire wall had exploded and sent needles flying everywhere. King and Prince were protected by the real rocks they were hiding behind, while the Ash Worm Larvae were yipping and crying in pain as their faces looked like that of a dog that had tried to eat a porcupine, especially since the needle/seeds of the cacti had been sized up along with the cacti themselves.
"It worked!" King cheered, seeing that the Larvae were now writhing around and had seemingly forgotten all about the prey they'd been chasing. They were also unwilling to blast through the rock formation King was hiding behind, since they now feared it would explode and hurt them like the other rock-like cacti had.
Using their distraction, King had enough time to recreate his sled with an ice glyph and grew a few more vines by drawing a plant glyph in the sand. Once the sled was made and he'd carved dozens of wind glyphs into it, he hopped on with Prince and began sledding eastward, away from the Larvae. They made no attempt to chase them, much to King's relief, but the young Titan's relief didn't last long. A sudden roar from the south west made him gulp, as the Goliath Ash Moth began flying towards them, drawn by the sound of its crying children.
"Oh come on! Now my luck is worse than Luz's!" he cried, activating multiple wind glyphs to speed away as fast as he could. The Ash Moth was so large that it reached is children in record time and began looking around for potential threats, but it might have missed King and Prince due to their small size… if Prince hadn't become terrified at the sight of it and screamed.
The Ash Moth roared and its whiskers caught fire as it lunged at them, easily catching up with just a few short footfalls from its giant legs. King screamed in terror and activated every wind glyph he'd carved, making the sled speed up so much that it felt like his skin would be pulled off his bones, but it still wasn't enough; the moth was able to keep pace with almost no effort. It whipped one of its flaming proboscises down at them, missing by a hair, but then it whipped down another and sliced the front of the sled off, effectively cutting it in half. King and Prince screamed and lost control of the half that remained, then went flying once more. Thankfully they were low enough this time that the landing didn't hurt, but King still ended up with his snout pressed into the burning sand. He pulled his face out of the sand and spat out what had gotten into his mouth, then began frantically looking around for Prince. He'd lost his grip on the little fella as they'd fallen, and now he had no idea where he'd gone!
"Prince!? Where are you!?" King cried, momentarily forgetting the Ash Moth. It hadn't forgotten him though, and lashed another flaming proboscis at him. King cried "Weh!?" as his short life flashed before his eyes, but before he could be hit, he suddenly felt something grab his shoulders and yank him to safety. He looked up, gasping as he saw that it was Prince who'd saved him.
The terrified little Bat Palisman was flapping his wings madly to fly whilst carrying King, all while tears of fear streamed down his little face.
"Prince!" King cried, "You saved me!"
Prince let out a little screech of acknowledgement, but that was all he could manage. His tear-stained face was screwed up from the effort of carrying someone bigger than himself, and King could see he was really struggling. Worse still, they were still well within the range of the Ash Moth, who was now tracking them with its eyes the way a dog tracks a fly, it's flaming proboscises honing on on them in preparation for a devastating strike.
King reached into his neckerchief and pulled out all the drawn wind glyphs he still had, as well as one of his invisibility glyph combos. "Prince, do your best to be quiet! I'm gonna hide us! Get ready!"
He got another frightened screech in response, and King then slapped the invisibility glyph onto himself, making him and Prince disappear from the Ash Moth's vision. The Moth made a noise of annoyance as it unleashed a flurry of flaming lashes where it had last seen the pair, only to hit nothing at all as King had used a wing glyph to accelerate Prince's flying and rocket them through the sky. The wind wasn't exactly quiet or subtle, but the Ash Moth was making so much noise that it couldn't detect the wind, allowing King and Prince to get away. Using the wind and Prince's wings, the two glided far to the east, and then towards the south around the other side of the volcano; Prince focused on riding the wind (no longer needing to flap his wings) while King kept an eye on the Ash Moth and used another wind glyph whenever they began to lose altitude.
Goliath Ash Moths were creatures that relied on light in order to see and navigate, hence why the only safe time to fly over the desert was normally night time, so it had no chance of finding the invisible duo. It still tried though, stalking around in circles, lashing at empty air, and pawing at the sand beneath its feet, all while roaring in annoyance. Eventually it gave up on catching the pair and turned to focus on its babies, which it began to care for by using its whisker-like proboscises to gently grasp the enlarged cactus needles and slowly pull them out.
Seeing as they were as safe as they were gonna get, King called up to Prince; "Glide down to the ground. I can't concentrate on the invisibility glyph much longer, and that monster will spot us if we're still in the sky while visible."
Prince gave a little screech of agreement and disengaged from the wind current he'd been gliding on, instead slowly gliding down to the ground. They landed near another rock formation, and they immediately took cover in the shadows just before King's concentration gave out and they became visible again. Both flopped to the ground, panting from exertion and relief.
"That was too close… to think that thing is in the same Demon category as that creep Adegast!" King complained. He still remembered a time when he thought the Snaggleback was the deadliest demon! How naive he felt looking back on that now…
He took a moment to catch his breath, then sat up and looked over at Prince, who was sniffling a little but otherwise keeping himself together remarkably well for a baby.
"Hey Prince. You're doing awesome! You're a real Prince of Demons!" King complimented, gently petting his head the way Luz always did to him. Prince let out a little giggle, clearly enjoying it the way King did too.
"Your Mom is gonna be so proud! But before that, we still need to find her. Are you ready to keep going?" King asked.
Prince's lip quivered for a moment, but then it reluctantly got to its feet and nodded, giving a little "Weh!" sound of his own, mimicking King.
The sound made King's heart melt; "Baby Boy!" he cried, hugging the little Palisman. Prince enjoyed that greatly too, and King then held his wing as they began to walk to the south.
King thought about making another sled, but he was fairly certain that the sled and his wind glyphs had been what drew the attention of the Ash Moth Larvae, as they navigated and found prey by detecting vibrations from underground; there was no way Prince's one screech had been enough to draw them all to them, it had just been the final tipping point. So he instead decided to walk, and since they'd seen most of the northern part of the desert and a good chunk of the west without any signs of the others (minus the distant view of the Ash Moth's rampage), they now headed south along the east side of the desert in hopes of finding someone. They also headed as close to the volcano as they could get without actually climbing it, as it meant they'd have the most cover in case the Ash Moth came calling… even if it was unbearably hot! Thankfully King mitigated that by using ice glyphs to produce makeshift ice lollies, using sticks made with the plant glyph, so he and Prince walked along quite contently with their cool treats.
Eventually they found themselves reaching the southern side of the volcano, and spotted the first sign of the others; namely the crashed wreckage of the Golden Guard's airship.
"Aha! I bet they're got supplies or some way of calling for help on that thing! Maybe my luck is turning around!" King cheered.
Prince hopped up and down excitedly, and began sniffing the air, then got even more excited. King watched his reaction and listened to his happy squeaks, which made him smile. "You smell something good? Then let's go!" he cheered, hoisting Prince up so he could carry the little guy piggyback, before he began jogging to the downed airship as fast as his little legs could carry him.
As they got closer, they noticed that there were melting patches of ice on the ship, as if someone had frozen sections of it recently. Given how hot it was out and how fast the ice was melting, whoever had done it must still be there, so King picked up the pace before suddenly realising something. For all he knew, the people at the airship could be the Golden Guard or Silver Sentinel! If they found them, King could get used as bait to capture Luz, and poor Prince might get fed to Belos! He fished another invisibility glyph combo out of his neckerchief and activated it after gently shushing Prince. He then crept silently over to the airship, staying on the rocks of the volcano slope so his footprints weren't visible in the sand.
King reached the airship and quietly peeked over the side, and frowned as he saw the Silver Sentinel, sans most of her armour but still masked, wandering around on the deck. King was just about to sneak away again, disappointed with what he'd found, until he noticed another familiar face; Gus, lounging on a frozen section of the airship with his new Palisman on his shoulder. He didn't look to be a captive, but the Sentinel still had her staff, so King wouldn't take chances.
He snuck over to Gus and leaned close to whisper in the boy's ear.
"Gus! It's me, King! Don't let on that I'm here! Distract the Sentinel and I'll take her out!"
Gus instinctively flinched at the sudden voice, but turned towards it with a big grin. "King! Thank the Titan you're okay!" he said, not even trying to keep quiet; "You can come out! Silver and I are cool."
The Silver Sentinel turned to look at the illusionist, and King let his invisibility drop with a pout. "You weren't supposed to expose me!" he complained.
"Sorry King, but seriously; there's no need to hide. We're all in the same boat, so we're working together at least until we get out of here." Gus said, smiling broadly. He then noticed Prince on King's back; "Oh, you found one of BQ's kids! Any signs of the others? Or Luz?"
King shook his head; "Nothing." he said disappointedly.
Silver created an illusory message that read; "Are either of you hurt? I know a bit of healing magic."
King eyed her suspiciously; "Thanks but no thanks. I'm fine, and I've got my own healing combo if I need it. I doubt you'll be any help." he said coldly, not trusting the Sentinel.
Silver took this in stride, while Gus leaned close to whisper; "Hey go easy on her, little dude. She's not a bad girl, and she saved my butt from Ash Worm Larvae."
"We're all in this mess because of her and the goof, remember?" King whispered back with a scowl; "Don't forget they wanted to capture the Palismen even though they've got to know what Belos does to them."
Gus frowned; "Y-Yeah, I know. You're right, it's just…" his mind thought back to the way the girl giggled and fidgeted; "… she's so timid and gentle. If she's not in mission mode, she acts kind of shy. I don't think she really wants to do those things; Belos just has her under his thumb, like Lilith."
That made King pause; he'd misjudged Lilith in the past, and he was trying not to make that mistake again. Still, he wasn't sure Gus's word was enough to make him give the girl the benefit of the doubt.
"Why are you so sure about this, Gus?" King asked.
"Let's just say that an illusionist needs to be able to read their audience, and I don't get any bad vibes from her." Gus replied. Emmiline squeaked in agreement from his shoulder.
King wasn't totally convinced, but so long as they were all stuck together, he might as well not make things harder for them by starting a fight. A big battle could draw the Ash Moth, and then they'd be in real trouble!