The Maid and Her Princess

The Heartbroken Maiden (part 2)

II.

Wagon wheels smoothed from crunching dirt to a steady bumping rhythm upon the stone streets behind the girls. Madoka left Eena's words about her hands slip away to a mutual and comfortable silence. Sir Rhev had been true to his word in personally guiding Madoka and Audrey to the Adventurer Guild Hall afterwards, however, the streets were abuzz with many other wagons and adventurer parties. No one seemed injured, yet the atmosphere was still quite stressful. Ever since the Sky fell, as they call it, activity had halted and security arose. A traffic jam, Madoka mused. The information on vehicles being backed up like this showed up in brief images of Audrey's world, filling her with grim reminders that the times are changing. Despite this, Sir Rhev no longer complained and kept his trap shut over the Commoners working. A pair of eyes suddenly bore down upon Madoka, sending a bit of a shiver along her spine.

"You two seem... close," Audrey noted aloud monotonously.

"I'll be waiting for you at the Forge, Madoka," Eena offered.

Madoka shifted slightly away from Eena, yet, turning to the Noble slowly revealed that the Sovos was not ashamed. Before the guilt overwhelmed her and she could apologize to Audrey, the princess merely turned her head away with a scoff. The Noble shrugged with an imperceptible smile, then parted ways with the wagon. Madoka did not realize why she was so jealous all of a sudden, but she heard the princess's sigh as she faced away.

"So this is what it feels like," Audrey muttered. Even though Madoka felt like she had done nothing wrong, it seemed that the girl did not want to talk about it just yet. So, silence it is.

Eventually, the ugly orange dome roof of the Adventurer Guild came into view. The building was much larger than she thought as they swung around a corner and entered a line waiting to get inside through the Guild Hall's massive side gate. Madoka poked her head from beyond the canvas of the wagon. Thanks to a combination of her Knotting magic and Audrey's own magic, the roof was no longer stained with the nasty substance released from the Uracksheegal. No sign of Eraziror, she sighed in dismay. They still had quite a lot of things to learn from him and if he succumbed to the Walk then... Madoka felt guilty for abandoning him in her pursuit for Audrey's whereabouts. Soon enough, a commotion broke out after she stepped inside the gates. Creaking, bubbling water and the familiar smell of death, instantly alerting Madoka. Could this be the Artisan Guild's part of the building? The facility was attached to the Adventurer Guild Hall, so she assumed it was probably for dropping off their commission kills. Creaking and clacking picked its way through her ears. She has heard that noise before when she encountered Ceghinort. Bones?

To her shock, she finally found the source. A large vat made of glass reminiscent of the same containment cell used by the humans in the Uracksheegal, but disturbed her more was the bodies inside them. Each of them were the remains of Sovos, standing upright and even moving slightly. Multiple cloaked figures stood around the vat and on the walkways above it with their arms raised in a ritualistic manner. As one dropped a piece of glowing wood into the water, the flesh dissolved completely off the bodies and left bones in the magic's wake. The waters in the vat bubbled rapidly, forming cyan strands that bent and connected with each other until a pentagram revealed itself. Through it all, everyone was quiet and hushed. Were they communicating with the skeletons? Those cloaked men seemed like Night Operators to her. A hand tugged her sleeve. Audrey's.

"M-More Halloween decorations," she gasped. "Mansion magic, I think that Shadow guy called it. I gotta see them closer!"

"Audrey, wait!" Madoka tried to seize the girl from slipping away, but she already mingled with the crowd faster. Madoka pouted, but stood a bit back. As long as she could see the girl among them, she begrudgingly supposed it was fine.