Wizard's Wish - (Kinda) Yandere SGE x reader

Chapter 90: The Four Point & Lion and the Snake pt 1

(This is a long one, even when being split up. I'll get out the next part as quick as I can)

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A scream tore through the royal garden.
"Y/n," Hort choked, taking off towards the castle, bare-chested and bellowing–
But he'd forgotten he had six prisoners cuffed to him and they all went tumbling down into brilliant flowers, Hort included, like friends playing Ring Around the Rosie.
Nicola groaned, gnashed badly by a pink rosebush, thorns still stuck in her skin. She looked to Hort, her closest by the chain, for help, but he was up and running again, trying to pull the other bodies towards the castle. "The Snake has her! Y/n needs me–"

A force held him back, keeping him running in place, slipping and sliding on flower petals.
Furious, he swung around to see Thiago stepping on the chain while sunburnt Wesley puffed on a cigar, putting it out on Hort's arm, making him whine out in pain, but there wasn't much he could do, having to just take it. He gnarled his teeth at them but they didn't seem very intimidated. Even if he was now bigger in size, they still knew him as tiny little runty Hort, and nothing would make them forget that.
"Thought the Snake killed 'em already," Wesley groused. "Though it will be a shame to see that pretty little flower be crushed, won' it, little Wart?"
Hort never answered.
"Well, rest of 'em are goin' to the Four Point," said Thiago.
"Four Point?" Wesley raised his brows. "Should be quite a show, then."
The pirates snickered before they each curled the chain around their boots and yanked it, sending the prisoners swinging to their feet and stumbling forward.

As they trudged through the hot, humid gardens, Hort kept peeping back at the castle.
"How do you know those pirates?" Dot said.
Hort looked up and saw Thiago eyeing him with sourness.
"Cuz I mean, it's quite obvious," Dot continued.
"Shhh," Hort whispered. "He's Smee's son. I saw them a few times as a child, when I had to live on the Jolly Roger, before we moved to Bloodbrock when I was eight."
"Smee? Captain Hook's henchman? You're friends with his son?" Dot retorted. "Then why are we chained up here like dogs–"
"Because I killed Smee, you fool."
Dot stared at him.
"Last year during the war against Rhian," Hort whispered. "Granted it was Smee's zombie, but even so. And they also knew me when I was... you know."
"Weak and pathetic?" Dot asked.
"Didn't need to be so mean about it..." Hort said, anxiously looking back at the castle again–

"Hort, sweetie. We're well aware the Snake has Sophie," Dot simpered. "We all heard the screams and we're all scared for them. Well, not really Sophie, and Agatha's okay, but mostly Y/n since she's such an angel. But Y/n had saved the Woods before, and is like really good at magic. Meanwhile, we've been taken captive by pirates, are being marched to our doom, and this chain not only won't turn into chocolate, but I'm also pretty sure we saw a piece of it turn into an eel back there and fly away. So if I were you, I'd stop worrying about rescuing Y/n and use those buffed-up muscles of yours to rescue us."
"I thought he liked Sophie," Anadil muttered.
"Nah, he let her go," Hester answered. "No wonder why, what a nightmare. Still just as weird and obsessive though."
"Oh yeah, I remember that Sophie shrine he had, even kept that wart in there," Anadil reminisced. "You think he had one for Y/n?"
"Is that even a question?" Hester snorted.

Hort felt his cheeks warm up, a bit embarrassed. He tried to force himself to think of other things, like why they were heading to the Four Point... or how that piece of chain had turned into a flying eel... or where Beatrix's quest team was...
But Y/n's wail still echoed in his mind.
Is the Snake torturing her?
Will I ever see her again?
Is she... dead?

He whirled around, but the castle was obscured by the red face of Nicola, full of furry.
"Can you not think of anything else but here?" She asked. "I knew you were hopeless, but this is a new low. I almost feel bad for you, you're like an ugly puppy you would find in a box out in the rain."
"What?" Hort said, a bit thrown off.
"You know, you're really undermining her by thinking she needs your help," Nicola said. "If you want to be her partner, if you ever even want a chance, you need to believe in her. Something you and the other three seem to have a lot of struggles with."
"I... uh..." Hort said, not even sure what to respond.
Hester whistled. "Someone got called out."
The other two witched snickered.