Trotting to the Slaughter
Tetravigesimal castle. The epitome of magical reseach. A grand structure bustling with activity, except tonight. The halls were quiet. The only active place was the great council hall and active it was.
Wizards and adventurers filled the galleries surrounding the central podium suspended in mid-air, attached to the catwalk. The room was full of loud bustling conversation and arguments.
A well dressed, robed magician entered the room and strode down the catwalk to the central podium. He stood in the center where the blue light from the magic orbs shon over him, and he cleared his throat into the voice amplifier. The room went silent waiting for him to speak.
Meanwhile, in a nearby pig farm, some startled pigs were looking around themselves confusedly. In fact, they were startled that they were pigs.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” squealed the one.
“I wish I was, old fruit,” said another. “You really are a pig.”
“Hey, you’re not any better looking,” defended the first.
“Where’s the dwarf?” asked the second.
A pig who had been sneaking away on the tips of his trotters saw that the game was up and bolted away will a shrill.
“Get him!”
The other two bared down on the escapee and wedged him to the ground from either side.
“Don’t run, Bacon. You’re still needed to do some explaining. Isn’t that right, Lirsti?” laughed the one.
“Yes, yes, Illuvetar. He’s not going anywhere we aren’t going. First order of business is to un-swine ourselves. But I don’t have much magic-juice left in me after the portal spell.”
After a moment of pensive thought, another pig trotted up to the three. “Hey. Hey-hey hey.” It grunted.
“Hello, friend,” saild Illuvetar.
“What do you want?” asked Lirsti.
“Help me,” pleaded the ‘dwarf’.
“The humans are gone,” said the newcomer. “No food! No food!”
“The people must be doing something,” said Lirsti. “My guess is a council assembly. Now we just need to find a way to–”
“For the king!” screeched Illuvetar charging head first into the wooden fence which snapped under the inertia of his porky bulk.
“That’s one way, I suppose,” said Lirsti.
***
“… And for some reason, spells are acting unpredictably.” The arch wizard spoke from the central podium. “If we don’t find out what is causing this, who knows–” The wizard stopped when he saw two pigs clippity-clopping along the catwalk towards him dragging a reluctant third one after them by the tail. “What is the meaning of this?”
The pigs stopped and one let go to run straight at the podium to apparently knock it off. The wizard on the podium pulled up his sleeve with one hand to cast a spell but he was too late.
But the podium wasn’t knocked over. Instead, as the pig came into contact with the one magic orb, he was lifted into the air by the said magic and quickly transformed into his human form. The galleries gasped.
“Lirsti!” exclaimed the wizard. “What… How…”
At first Lirsti didn’t reply but rather turned to the other pigs. The one who had been trying to run away had given up and was lying dejectedly on the ground. Lirsti turned them back into their true forms: Illuvetar and a dwarf.
Once the transformation was complete, Lirsti solemnly looked towards the arch wizard. “I am here merely to be a harlinger.” The entire room waited. “We… found the improbability orb.”
The arch wizard relaxed. “Surely that’s a good–”
“And we lost it,” said Illuvetar, poking his head out from behind Lirsti.
Without looking, Lirsti pushed Illuvetar’s head away with a sigh. “More like it lost itself. This dwarf is responsible.”
“That’s right,” said Illuvetar. “He made me do it.”
“This would explain all the magical mishaps,” said the arch wizard. “I’m afraid that there’s nothing else to be done but to exile you three until the orb has been found. And, dwarf…”
The dwarf looked terrified.
“… This is for you.” as the arch wizard spoke, sparks flashed from him and embedded themselves onto the dwarf’s right shoulder – forming a six-sided star tattoo. “You have the choice to do what you will but the curse I have placed on you will punish you every time you disobey either of these two… nitwits.”
“Hey–” began Lirsti.
“You have twenty-four hours to prepare.”
TaleTurner 