Flickering Flame: Chapter 4

Pathen the gray gryffin was asleep in his aerie. It was a comfy bed, with layers of gold and silver chains, watches, and bangles. It was always handy around birthdays, for he could simply pick an item and present it. He rolled in the opulence.1

An alarm clock screeched in a shrill note and Pathen awoke suddenly. It was eight o’clock in the evening. He yawned. There was a show at the local theater he wanted to see, and it lasted until midnight. He reasoned that it would be a good idea to take a nap beforehand. Groggily, he looked for his ticket and put on a random assortment of jewelry: a gold ring studded with rubies and sapphires, and silver earring with an emerald hanging from it, and a collar with fire opals. He finished off the absurd assortment with a tail ring made of hematite2

Slightly more awakened, he took his half-eagle half-lion form to the door and opened it. He made his way out of the alleyway and to the theater.3

The city of Efferdeen was awake even at this hour; the night was young. He strode casually over to the large and elegant theater, casually bumping a couple of unicorns on his way. He chuckled dryly as their money clattered to the floor. 4

The entrance to the theater was full of rich folk: unicorns, gryffins, humans, firebirds, and many more. He looked through the crowd until he found who he was looking for: a tall and beautiful lady in a long black sleeveless dress, covered with a matching cardigan.5

She was most curiously clothed: in addition to the dress and cardigan, which both sported gray pinstripes, she wore an assortment of platinum jewelry with rubies, and a black feather tipped with red tucked behind her ear. Her manicured nails were silver, and her shoes were not at all dressy. Somehow, the way she wore them made them fit with the dress in a way most people couldn’t even dream of. She glanced at him with her dark eyes on a white face that was most striking. She was very pale, almost vampiric, and wore lots of eye make-up and red lipstick. All this was framed by medium-length, straight black hair which swished magnificently as she moved.6

Pathen wasn’t the only one looking at her. Some men were positively struck dumb by her. She casually ignored them and made her way towards Pathen. “Hi, Pathen,” she said sweetly. 7

Pathen was a gryffin and unaffected by her charm. He smiled and took her hand, escorting her into the theater. “Looking forward to the show, Milady?” he asked courteously.8

The lady smiled in return and narrowed her black eyes, which suddenly appeared to have a reddish center to them. “Of course, I am,” she said, almost as if she was hiding something behind those words.9

Pathen narrowed his eyes as well, and looked away. They entered the large lobby of the theater.10

Pathen and the mysterious lady entered a large room colored golden with a diamond chandelier hanging far above. Many black and white clad figures milled about everywhere. Quite suddenly, one of them, a striking checkered firebird strode to a podium on the front. 11

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he said smoothly. “My name is Magpie Percuti, and I am the head usher. We hope you will enjoy today’s showing of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Refreshments can be obtained from the canteen. You may now enter the theater.” Elegantly swishing his contrasting tail, Magpie Percuti fluttered to the entrance of the theater. He opened one of his large wings, smiled suavely, and led the crowd in. Other black and white firebirds, the lesser usherettes, assisted him. Pathen and the lady flashed their golden tickets and made their way to the very front of the theater. 12

“It’s very nice of you to escort me,” said the lady. “With these unicorns everywhere, you never know when we could be in danger.” 13

Pathen nodded in response. “The Parliament ought to have banned unicorns from carrying weapons. Their alicorns are sharp enough,” he replied, thinking back to an incident when he was slightly grazed by an unicorn’s horn. 14

The two found themselves a good location and sat down. The lady fingered a small pistol on the inside of her cardigan nervously. Pathen opened a purple velvet covered program, adorned with golden tassels, and proceeded to read it. 15

The red curtain opened and the lights dimmed. The show had begun.16

The mysterious lady was clearly bored by the proceedings. Her heavily lined eyes had trouble opening. She scolded herself mentally. Now was no time to be asleep! Pathen himself was staring ahead with glazed eyes. The theater was certainly soporific.17

Quite suddenly, a unicorn onstage pulled out a metallic object, a gun. The lady instantly became alert, and Pathen’s eyes blazed. The unicorns were out to sabotage the show. She lady pulled out her pistol and aimed two shots at the armed stag’s head. Two flowers of bright silver appeared at the base of his horn, and he collapsed to the ground. 18

“Ladies, gentlemen! There is no need to panic!” shouted the ubiquitous Magpie Percuti over the commotion. “You are all going to be fine.” He appeared to be unfazed, as if a shooting was something that appeared often. He led the crowd out through the large double doors in the back of the theater, as Pathen and the lady made their way over to the unicorns body.19

“Excellent aim, milady,” said Pathen softly. He waved a talon over the carcass and it vanished. He waved again and all the blood was instantly wiped off of the floor. The lady exchanged glances with him, and it a puff of scarlet smoke, the two were gone.20

Dirge Shadowtalon, the great politician, was awake in a hotel room. It was just past midnight, and she was pacing. A neat set of pinstriped clothes and black make-up was strewn on the bed, alongside a sleeping gray gryffin. 21

Dirge cursed the unicorns silently. What did they think they were going to accomplish by terrorizing the public? All she could conclude was that if they weren’t afraid of harming the innocent, they were becoming more dangerous. The dark phoenix’s heart tightened in her warm breast. A meeting would have to be assembled as soon as possible.22

Careful not to catch her talons in the plush carpet, she made her way to the balcony, where her facial feathers were caressed by the cool night breeze. She closed her eyes. Though not a philosophical creature, Dirge knew she had to get rest. She opened her eyes and peered at the ground below through scarlet pupils. There weren’t many unicorns about, just some dragons and other night creatures such as herself. 23

The ivory form of the unicorn stood out on the dark pavement. Rage boiled in her veins like fire. She edged a geranium close to the edge of the balcony and let it fall. A loud crack let her know one more unicorn died today. A simple spell brought the body into her enormous refrigerator, made specially for storing full bodies of unicorns. The though of having some quality food for breakfast calmed her, and she went inside to get some sleep.24