Another Friend in Amphibia

Chapter 46: Departure

Marcy walked into Drake's room holding a large, gift-wrapped box. "Sup Drake. Thought you might like a get well soon present."

"A present?" Drake questioned looking at the box.

"Yeah, hope you like it." Marcy handed the box to Drake.

Drake's recovery was remarkably fast after Marcy gave him the antidote. On the first day, he had regained some of his most basic motor skills. On the second day he was conscious but incapable of doing much. On the third day only, his legs had yet to recover although he was able to wiggle his toes. He should be ready to leave the next day. Any unexpected complications should be resolved by the end of the week.

Drake picked up the box, feeling its weight. Then he ripped apart the gift wrapping revealing a custom-made longsword. Drake admired the intricate patterns that were built into the handle. The pommel itself was yellow and had an engraving of a snapdragon on it. Marcy knew how much he loved the pictures of snapdragons he took back in Frog Valley. "I love it!" Drake exclaimed.

Marcy smiled. "I had it made specifically for you. I was originally planning to wait for your birthday, but I felt this could be useful during the temples."

"I really missed having a sword. This is amazing." Drake unsheathed the sword to examine the blade itself. It was just a straight blade like he had expected. "So did anything happen while I was out?"

"Not much. I got really worried. Spent days trying to make an antidote. Eventually I got the recipe for the poison and here we are." Marcy explained.

"What about the temples? Are we still doing that?" Drake wondered. He still didn't understand what was going to happen there.

"Yep, I've already done all the preparations. Now we're just waiting on you to recover. Which should be tomorrow." Marcy answered.

Drake nodded.

"So... what was it like being unconscious like that?" Marcy asked.

"Well, in some ways it felt like days had passed. In some ways it felt like no time has passed at all. Kind of like waking up after sleeping. One moment I collapsed and the next thing I knew I was here. I barely remember what happened before collapsing." Drake explained.

"Mhmm..." Marcy was writing down more notes. "So you don't actually remember what it was like while you were incapacitated?"

"No not really."

"Alright..." Marcy wrote down some more notes. "By the way, I just got a message from Anne and the Plantars. They have the music box now."

"Oh really? That's great." as he thought about the temples, he started to question the source of the information everyone had. "Do you think we're making a mistake by recharging the gems?"

"Why would you say that?" Marcy wondered.

Drake looked around, making sure they were alone. "I don't trust King Andrias as our source of information."

"Why not? He's been nothing but helpful so far." Marcy countered.

"I can tell from the way he talks. He's deliberately hiding something from us. Think about the weird stuff in the basement. Not even the staff go down there. Why was all that off limits? Also, King Andrias is supposedly at least a thousand years old, yet he doesn't understand ancient Amphibian runes. In fact, why is he the only newt to have lived that long?"

"This again?" Marcy sounded a little annoyed. "He could have easily killed you while you were unconscious. What will take to get you to trust him?"

"Maybe if he explained that picture, I showed you two a while back. The one with that core thing. He said he doesn't recognize it but I could tell from his eyes he was definitely surprised to see I had that image." Drake demanded.

"Drake, I know King Andrias. He wouldn't lie to me. If he said he doesn't know, then he doesn't know." Marcy said.

"Well Marcy, I'm absolutely certain he is concealing the truth." Drake said.

"What reason would he have to lie?" Marcy asked.

"King Andrias said his ancestors were peaceful explorers but how true is that really? Where are all these artifacts these explorers would have brought back? Is it in the forbidden basement? He could have said all sorts of things to gain our trust. I think he's lying about being peaceful explorers" Drake argued.

"I think you're just grasping at straws." Marcy said.

Drake just stared at Marcy in disbelief. He couldn't believe she was taking King Andrias' word over his.

Eventually Drake broke the silence. "It's getting late. I think I'm going to sleep." then he closed his eyes.

"Okay, good night. I'll be back for you in the morning." Marcy walked out the door.

It was still early in the morning when Drake found himself in front of a massive, armored sparrow. On its back was a massive saddle where Marcy was loading books.

"Do we really need all these books?" Drake questioned.

"I want to do some last-minute studying before we get to the first temple." Marcy replied.

"But aren't you worried about losing a book on the flight over? This isn't a plane." Drake pointed out.

"I'm not worried at all." Marcy replied.

"Also don't forget we are picking up Anne and the plantars once we get to Wartwood. We need to make sure there's room for them as well." Drake reminded her.

"Don't worry, I've already taken that into account. This is going to go by without a hitch." Marcy reassured him, climbing onto the sparrow.

"Alright, if you say so." Drake joined her on the sparrow as well.

Then the sparrow took off, flying out of the city of Newtopia. As they left, Drake noticed the same red cloaked figure watching him from right around a corner.

Author's Note

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Two chapters in one day. Granted they're both extremely short but I hope you liked them. I finally got everything I need to move onto the temples. The plot is moving now.