Pizza delivery, part XXIV

I stared at the princess, dumbstruck. What part could she have in my abduction?

"Shall I consume them?" Smoky's reedy voice filled my mind, and I shook my head.

"Wait," I said, more to the wraith than princess. I doubted Smoky could take both wizards without getting hurt, and attacking wouldn't give me answers. "Why?"

"It was my love for pizza." Princess Kevine clasped her forearms. "Miach and I were discussing it one evening, and I mentioned how wonderful it would be if our attempts at making pizza could taste like those of your world."

I stood. "So you abducted me?"

Tigernach stepped forward. "The princess my have expressed a desire, but it was my apprentice who sought to make it a reality." He turned toward the young man, and Miach scowled.

"If he'd just let go of the bag, this could have been settled months ago!" Miach's voice was surprisingly deep, considering his wiry frame.

"This was all for a recipe?" The words came quietly as I stared at them. Nearly getting attacked by a sabre-muskrat the moment I arrived in this world, seeing Devlin killed by horned rabbits. The dragon attack.

Getting stuck with a wraith, and having to make a deal so him.

Losing my memories of Hannah. Was she family? A friend? Or something more?

All for a pizza recipe.

A breeze whipped past me, smelling of blood and a dying fire.

"Smoky, stop!" I jerked forward, hand outstretched as the wraith reached the princess. He was so fast.

Shifting into his dragon-shape, the wraith coiled around Princess Kevine's neck without touching it.

Both wizards had raised their staves, though they seemed hesitant to attack.

"The wraith survived Mistress Orla's trap?" Tigernach asked, eyes never leaving Smoky.

"How do you know about that?" I asked as I slowly walked toward the princess.

"We've been scrying you." Miach said, shooting a glare at me. "Seen almost everything."

"Smoky and I made a deal, and I got him out of the trap." I said, and focused on the wraith. "We have a deal, remember?"

"Shouldn't they be punished?" The wraith's draconian head turned toward me. "All the hardships you've suffered, shouldn't they suffer as well?"

"No." I shook my head. Yes, part of me wanted retribution. But it wouldn't bring back my memories, or the months I'd lost here. "No. Even if they should, it isn't your place to enact a punishment." Reaching the princess, I held out my hand.

"Come back."

Smoky stared at me, expressionless eyes unnerving. Then he twisted away from Princess Kevine and disappeared up my sleeve.

Princess Kevine released a shuddering breath as she stepped away from me. Lowering my hand, I looked away from the princess and toward Tigernach.
"Just send me home."