The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

The Adventurous Year Begins (Tale 2)

Tale 2: The Slave and Her Noble
Prologue

I.

Audrey's blade cut.

Madoka did not hear the screams or whatever sound she expected when a man died but she was too scared to turn around. Perhaps she was being hypocritical. The sprawling terrain was covered by bodies she placed there individually. Like torn out weeds scattered in ugly green piles of discarded artifacts and she was the blood red gardener.

She was despondent from how utterly detached she was from the reality before her. Grand and heroic were fairytales compared to this. She expected to feel more emotions from the battle. Even the sorrowful and hopeless feelings did not stir her heart. She was supposed to feel bad for hurting others, right? Madoka fought with herself. They did bad things to her and Audrey. Perhaps she was justified and they deserved it. Still, she was numb to what she did and her thoughts churned and roiled and churned and were about to be swept away like dustpiles in the—

"You can look, Madoka," Audrey said with a sigh. "I can sense you're going into idle mode."

Tentatively, Madoka turned around. To her surprise, the healer was still alive. The one who caused her trouble and pain, the scarring of the heart — damage one can heal from physically but remain in the deeper recesses of one's mind and soul. Even Madoka still had her trauma pitted in the depths of her own heart. The pain laced every word that dared utter any sign of it with poison to anyone else. She truly had the ability to wipe the dirty man off the planet and exact her revenge but Audrey only had her hand on his neck.

She is truly strong in both heart and her mind. Madoka flailed in the rivers of her own thoughts of the past and her body was covered with burns and scars. Audrey released the shaking man and instead pulled at her blade's true target: A strap that held the sacred talisman that healed her. Madoka guessed it healed the wounds she got from the mountains because Audrey was more nimble and spoke with more clarity in her voice.

"You didn't kill him?" Madoka asked her. Audrey remained standing over the old healer. The killing intent was strong enough to overpower Madoka's own instincts. A wet stain began to spread from between the healer's legs as fear filled his eyes. Audrey was smiling, the sinister darkness that tinged the curl in her lips caused the man to pass out on the spot.

"Of course not. I'm a good girl," Audrey said as she turned to face Madoka. She pocketed her knife and inspected the talisman. She glanced up at Madoka. As Madoka looked back she saw how little Audrey was for a moment. "I don't think I want to kill yet either."

Madoka grunted in agreement.

Audrey closed her eyes and focused on the talisman in her hands. Madoka stepped back on a soldier's broken breastplate. The soldier inside the crumpled armor wailed in agony but she did not care. Madoka kept backing away. The rune on her shoulder seemed to have calmed down but she was sure to be ready for anything. A low hum came from the talisman.

Audrey was a force of nature before Madoka's eyes. She gasped as a web of Substance mana strands spread out from her breath to the talisman which hummed even louder. Helixes of spiraling emerald filled the ground in a beautiful filigree of dazzling swirls. The hue was not like the Substance magic the healers used in the palace or even the creepy healer here, Madoka observed. It was a most pure and serene magic.

The web of green weaved the wounds of every fallen on the ground. Most were coughing while others were still unconscious but Madoka could see the wounds she inflicted on them were fully healed. Most notably, the fat noble and his healer were also healed. Audrey spun around to her maid and smiled as the web of green magic faded out of existence. She held the caring talisman above her belly.