Narrated by Felix of the Centaurs

I'm a mere messenger for the leprechauns. My tribe has recently taken their side in the war and I've been forced into this position out of loyalty to the centaurs. I don't believe in the war. I absolutely hat what the leprechauns are doing.

However, a few days ago I was told that I was being transferred to another job. I was going to be a guard in one of the training camps for young soldiers. I've seen some of those places before. They're likely to be attacked and the young soldiers are predominately leprechauns. If there's one thing I've learned about leprechauns by now, it's that they are absolutely vicious.

That's why I'm out here in the forest right now. I've heard of a dragon that lives in a cave near her. She collects magical objects and is willing to give them to travelers. Even better, she apparently gives them the exact thing that they will need most. I'm sure she'll help me. I plan on asking her for some kind of a protection cloak or something.

"Hello," I called out into the cave, "I'm looking for a dragon. I've been told you give people magical objects."

A large yellowish-white dragon emerged from somewhere in the back of the cave. I could feel a sudden jolt when she was near, like getting struck by lightning.

"Yo," she said, "Who are you?"

"I am Felix of the Centaurs. I want you to grant me some kind of magical protection object or something."

"Ah yes, I know what you need. Wait here."

I waited for a moment. I was excited because I was getting magic protection from a dragon. It would probably be some ancient artifact that would stop me from ever being harmed or feeling pain ever again. It was going to be awesome.

When she came back she said, "Alright, I found the thing you need."

She passed me a small trombone.

"Are you sure this will protect me?"

"Yes, it is exactly the thing you will need."

"How will this protect me exactly?"

"Just play it and it will work."

"Okay...bye."

"Bye, bye."

I put the trombone in my bag and walked off into the woods towards the training camp. I didn't understand how the trombone would protect me, but it had come from a dragon. It had to be useful. I galloped on for about half a day before I reached the training camp.

"You're late," said the ogre at the entrance.

"I got sidetracked, don't worry about it."

He grunted, "In any case, your assignment was changed. We got word a few hours ago, if you were on time you'd have known that."

"Ugh, really?"

"Apparently it was this whole thing with the mermaid princess and the leprechaun princess. I don't really know. Basically, they think they know what creature has the stone and the princess is forming a search party to go find her."

"What did she want me for?"

"Heck if I know, maybe she just wanted to have a centaur. You do tend to be tough fighters."

"There are tons of centaurs on the leprechaun side. I was just a messenger boy."

"Well, you were good enough to be transferred to a leprechaun training camp. Considering the type that are here that's gotta count for something."

"Huh, anyways where am I supposed to go?"

"Uh, it says there's a clearing out in the woods 'bout 20 miles from here. It'll be empty except for a large stump in the center of it... Well, that doesn't seem right. Either way, you're due to be there by tomorrow at dawn at the latest."

"Got it." I turned to leave.

"Hey kid," he called, "Don't be late this time okay."

"Okay, I won't."

"Good."

¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ¢∞§œ

I ran into the clearing and saw the stump in the center of it. I wasn't exactly sure if I was in the right place at first because it looked like a normal clearing. Then as I stepped closer to the stump I could sense magic in the air. This was a powerful place. It was exactly the kind of place where a princess would command a search party to meet.

It looked like I was the first one there. Then I noticed a girl about my age sitting on the stump. She had bright red hair and blue-green eyes. She was kind of pretty, but she was dressed for battle and carrying a sword. She seemed to be deep in thought.

"Hey, Red!" I called to her.

She looked up, slightly startled. She stood up and walked over to me.

"Are you the centaur who's joining the search party?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's me. Why'd you get roped into this?"

"The leprechauns need to win the war, the fastest way to do that is to kill the mermaid royal family. It's next to impossible to get close enough to them without a mermaid spy, which we are not likely to get. If we get the stone, however, it would be very easy to kill them using its magic."

"Hmm, fair enough. I don't even know why I got called here."

"You probably got recommended by your tribe or something."

"That doesn't make sense. I was just an errand boy, and I've never been given any kind of real honor or anything."

"Well, there must have been a reason you were selected."

"If there is, then I sure as heck don't know it."

"Maybe you'll figure it out at some point."

"Huh, yeah... Hey, what's your name Red?"

She smiled, "Fiona, what's yours?"

"Felix."

We shook hands and I looked into those eyes. They really are beautiful, and that hair only added to it. Then a dwarf came into the clearing followed closely by two leprechauns and... a gnome?! No, that couldn't be it. The princess would never choose a gnome! Everyone knows they can't be trusted. Speaking of which where is the princess? Shouldn't she at least have been here to brief us on the mission by now?

"We're here princess," said one of the leprechauns.

"Princess?" I asked.

"Yes, Princess Fiona of the Leprechauns," Fiona said.

"Why didn't you tell me that you're the princess?"

"I thought you would have known."

"Well, I didn't. Remember, I'm a fairly low ranking centaur. I don't know what the leprechauns princess looked like. Plus the fact that you're dressed for battle kind of threw me off. I thought the princess would just brief us on what we're looking for and how to do it."

"Clearly you haven't learned much about the leprechauns. Where I come from, just being royalty doesn't make it okay to not be involved in the solution to a problem you caused. It's pretty dishonorable, and we care a lot about honor."

"So do centaurs, but I didn't know leprechauns were like that too."

"What did you expect?"

"Princess," the other leprechaun girl said, "My name is Raven, and this is Patrick." she pointed at the leprechaun boy who had come with her. "The dwarf is named Penelope, and the gnome is Cassandra. We were sent here to aid in finding the llamacorn who has the jewel."

"Yes," Fiona said, "We will find the jewel and use it to end this war by killing the mermaid royal family."

"Isn't your best friend their princess?" asked the gnome named Cassandra.

"She was, but she's... gone now." Fiona said, "I have to do this for her, and for my people. For now, we need to find the stone. The only problem is that we don't know where the llamacorn carrying it is."

"Oh," said Patrick as he pulled a bell out of his bag, "I got this bell from a dragon the other day. It should call whatever we want to come to us."

He rang it and a small pile of cooked fish appeared on the ground next to him.

"Really?" Raven said, "That's the best you can do."

"I don't understand," he said, "I was only thinking about the llamacorn and the stone."

"Let me try," she said.

She rang the bell and got the same result. We each tried it once and each time we got nothing but a lot of cooked fish.

"Well," Cassandra said, "The dragon gave you a dud."

"Be quiet gnome!" he shot back.

"What was that?!" she said.

"You heard me. Everyone knows that gnomes are untrustworthy."

"Both of you stop!" Fiona cut in, "That doesn't matter. The bell isn't going to work, so we need to use old-fashioned tracking."

Wow. She can take charge too. Pretty and strong.

"Felix," she said snapping me back to reality, "I've heard centaurs are good trackers."

"Yeah, we are."

"Good, then can you lead us to a llamacorn."

"You got it Red."