The Demon King's Hero Of Light 143 Chapter 143 Winged Lions

"What?" whispered the elven king before shaking his head and clearing his throat. "What in the world is the meaning to this? Who is this?"

"Your Majesty, this is Bob. Would you care for a drink? I'll pay," said Aella, grinning ear to ear.

The king looked at her for a moment then sighed. "Sure. Why not?"

Bob backed up into the bar as Aella led the king over to the entrance. "Bob is a good friend of mine, and I'm sure you will find him to be a valuable a.s.set to your country."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be the one who decides that," muttered the king, ducking as he entered the bar.

Aella pause, knowing the king was going to take a moment to look around once he actually entered the bar.

"Fantastic!" said the king, looking around at the ornate woodworking.

Aella had to pause herself. Her own bar for Bob wasn't this nice! The wood curled and spiraled all over the place, making ornate decorations in the walls and the bar itself. Even the stools had decorative curls in the wooden bars.

"What magic created such a place in such a short time?" asked the king, moving up to the bar, where Bob waited with a professional smile.

"I prepare a place ahead of time, and then once a location is chosen, I merely move it in," explained Bob. "It helps if the location chosen is large enough, but I've learned to adapt."

"Are you willing to teach other's how to do this?" asked the king, running his hand over the counter.

"Unfortunately, I can't teach others how I do it. The magic involved is not universal," said Bob, shaking his head.

"Ah, I understand," said the king.

Aella looked at the king, then back at Bob. She had no idea what they were talking about. It was all about magic, and went way over her head.

"Well, here's your drinks," said Bob cheerfully, pus.h.i.+ng two gla.s.ses towards them.
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The drink for the elven king was a bright orange that bled to a light yellow near the top, while Aella's was her usual. She didn't hesitate to grab it and down the gla.s.s. The king looked at his for a moment, sniffing it delicately, before finally tasting it. The rest of the drink disappeared quickly.

"This reminds me of the summer meadows my mother used to take me to as a small child. How is that possible?"

"I have a magical knack of being able to provide people with the drinks best suited for them. They tend to be incredibly expensive, because of the magic involved in their creation, but I'm willing to work out a deal with you for some of your best elven wines," said Bob.

The king looked down at his empty gla.s.s thoughtfully, then said, "I suppose you are able to sell the wine in other locations, since your bar isn't actually here, right?"

"Something like that," said Bob with a grin.

Aella imagined having the elves already so used to magic, made dealing with them much easier. No wonder Bob didn't doubt her ability to get him a bar here.

"I'm busy right now, but I am very interested in seeing what else you can provide. I believe I will be moving your location closer to my palace, however. It would be far too inefficient to have to come all the way out here to deal with you."

"I was hoping you would recommend that," laughed Bob. "Here, King Aella, give these to your two companions. They will greatly appreciate them."

Aella took the two small vials and looked at them curiously.

"I am very interested in finding out how you came to know Bob, King Aella," said the elven king as they headed for the door.

"His bar was located across from my childhood home," said Aella.

"What was an elf doing in the demon kingdom?" he asked in surprise.

"I'm not sure," she replied, fighting to keep her smile off her face. She knew that Bob wasn't an elf, and that he used magic to make those who entered think he was whatever race they were most comfortable with.

"Wait, he was near your childhood home?? How old are you?" the king asked, stopping to look at her in more detail.

"I am roughly 16," she said with a grin. "Surprised?"

"Very! I am over a hundred years old. No wonder Bob didn't look that old. Forgive me, I keep forgetting how short-lived other races are. I mean… ugh," he sighed, shaking his head as Aella laughed.

"I understand, and I'm not offended. There is much I still need to learn, and I understand how busy you can be trying to learn everything you need to run a kingdom, much less all of the politic stuff and courtesies. I'm not sure I could get it all learned if given a hundred years."

"Thank you for understanding," said the elf, looking perturbed. "Perhaps there was something in that drink that has caused me to lose some of my etiquette."

"I doubt Bob would have given you anything that would have caused you harm. He has always been incredibly careful when it came to providing drinks to others."

"Let us hurry to the landing site. The lions tend to get hard to handle if kept waiting too long," said the king.

Aella followed him across the village, watching as the elves paused whatever they were doing to bow to them as they hurried past. This was her opportunity to question a real king about things that she was struggling with.

"What do you do when some of your people have a differing religion? One that you find offensive?" she asked, thinking of the child eaters.

"I don't have that problem in the forest. We wors.h.i.+p our elven G.o.d, and none other. If any wanted to wors.h.i.+p another deity, they would have to leave the forest, or keep it incredibly quiet. If they were discovered, they would be exiled or forced to go through a conversion ritual. I don't recall it ever being an issue in my whole life."

Aella nodded, wondering if that could be something she could attempt. She didn't know if all of the people in her kingdom even wors.h.i.+ped a deity, or just had differing thoughts on the subject. If she hadn't met some G.o.ds in person, she probably wouldn't even believe they existed. Rubbing her arms as gooseb.u.mps tried to form, she decided a different line of thought was in order.

Ahead of them, the giant heads of the winged lions came into view, growling at the handlers that held their reigns. There were four of them, and as Aella approached, she realized her head didn't even reach the shoulder of her mount. Glancing over at Frederik, who was the tallest among them, she saw that he stood even with his mount's back, but just barely.

"They will raise their wings out of the way, to allow you to reach their sides," explained the king, giving his lion a pat on its front leg. "Don't worry about pulling their fur to climb up to their backs, they probably won't even feel it. Once you're comfortable, just hold on to the reigns or the fur along their manes. I a.s.sure you, that if you fall off, your mount will catch you before you hit the ground."

Aella glanced over at Alfred and Frederik with a knowing look, but the look of intense dislike on Alfred's face caught her off guard. Could he be afraid of heights?

"I'm sure we will be fine," said Aella, watching as the elven king patted his lion's leg again and ducked under the wing.

She patted her lion's leg and ducked under its wing, just as the elven king had done, then jumped lightly up to its back. Grasping the mane tightly, she felt the lion stand up taller. It had been crouching all this time!

The reigns were handed up to her, so she took them, but laid them loosely in her lap. She was going to let the beast do as it pleased. When she didn't tighten the reigns, she noticed its ears had swiveled to listen to her. It was waiting for her to give it commands. Loosening her grip on its mane, she ran her hand down its fur between her legs and felt the muscles quivering with unspent energy. It was just waiting to do something.

"Let's go have some fun, shall we?" she whispered to it, leaning forward and tightening her legs.

Sensing her readiness, Aella's lion bunched its muscles and leapt high into the air. At the last possible second, before they started to fall, its wings flashed out and pushed them even higher into the air. She heard a shout behind her, but ignored it. Whoever was calling, could catch up. She felt the lion quivering in excitement as she leaned to the side, and it responded, turning in a glide, so she could see those who were coming behind her. The king was looking at her in astonishment as he struggled to control his lion.

"They want to play!" she called, cheerfully. "Let's play!"

Frederik laughed out loud as he trailed behind the elven king, but Alfred looked green to his face. He was staring at Aella with a mixture of hatred and disbelief. She would have to do something fantastic to make this up to him, but she would worry about that later!