“Look! Look!”
Dragon Little and Dragon Father were in the Infinite Prison in the belly of Bonny’s Revenge, where I could not see them. I could only guess what she was pointing at: A pile of dust and General Hawk’s feather.
They had gone into the Infinite Corridor hand in hand, as Dragon Father tried to console his daughter and at the same time understand why she was crying so hard she couldn’t speak.
“This is… The Evil… uh… The Evil King… uh….The Evil Fairy Forest King’s cell, right?” Ever since he had imprisoned the Evil Fairy Forest King, he hadn’t spoken to him, but he had told Joy that story many, many times.
There was no answer I could hear from Dragon Little. I imagine she nodded.
“Where is…”
“He killed him! He killed him! Look!”
Now Dragon Father’s tone was serious and not at all confused. “That’s General Hawk’s feather.”
“Yes!”
“The Evil Fairy Forest King is dead.”
“He killed him!”
There was a silence. A long silence. I did not see what was happening.
“Killing is unacceptable,” Dragon Father said finally.
“Killing is wrong!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
There were steps. Both of them were walking.
“General Hawk,” Dragon Father’s voice boomed. “What did you do? Do not lie!”
“I killed him, pirate,” General Hawk’s voice was measured and soft. “I will not apologize for it.”
“You killed him?”
“Yes.”
“From your cell?”
“Yes.”
“With a feather?”
“Yes.
“How did you do that?”
Silence.
“How did you get to him?”
A long, long silence.
“Why did you do it?”
Silence.
“Why. Did you. Do it?” Dragon Father’s voice was angry now. And I heard a familiar ‘tzzzt’ of energy. Dragon Father was now holding a laser pistol.
“I will tell you, pirate. But not to the Nestling here.”
There was another short silence.
“Go to the deck, sweetie. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
“You’ll let him have it?”
“Of course.”
Dragon Little walked slowly out of the Infinite Corridor and emerged on the deck. I kept listening.
“All right. What happened?” Dragon Father was insistent and clear.
“The Evil Fairy Forest King was digging into her mind. He was making her doubt herself. He was making her doubts even bigger. For her, doubts are death.”
“And how did you do it?”
“I will not say.”
“Did you break out of your cell?”
“No. I am the best tactician of my world. I will find a way to kill those I need to kill.”
“How do I know you’re not going to kill Joy or me?”
“The Nestling is the dearest person in my life. I would protect her with my life, pirate. That is what I did, in fact. I knew you would consider it a threat. I knew you could possibly kill me for what I have done. I did it still. To protect the Nestling.”
There was a long silence again.
“Hmmm…” Dragon Father said. “Good job. Keep it up.”
“Hmmm.”
“Let me know if there’s any other threat.”
“Hmmm.”
“I’m going to yell at you now.”
“I understand.”
“Never ever ever kill!” Dragon Father yelled. “Killing is wrong! It’s just wrong! And you may never ever do it again! Or else!”
Dragon Father came out of the Infinite Prison. “Do you hear me? Never!” he yelled finally into the corridor.
—Told by The Red Dragon