I jerk upright in my bed, and jump out.
"Did you hear that?" I ask Ysana.
"Of course I did!" She says.
"Sounds like it came from Gertrude's room. Let's head over."
We go sprinting down the hall to Gertrude's room, with Heroth and Emma just in front of us. We pull out our weapons before Heroth kicks down the door. Inside, we see Miokat slumped against the wall, and, on the other side of the room, Gertrude trying to hold a woman back. The woman has a shield, though, and is pushing up against her with all of her might. She also has a sword that she's trying to shove through Gertrude's neck. Behind them, the shattered window stands obvious as the way that the intruder came in.
The intruder glances at us, but pays us no mind. She seems intent on destroying Gertrude. Of course, we want to stop her, so we start towards her.
When we do, someone grabs my shoulder from behind.
We whirl around to find several commoners standing there with daggers.
"You guys deal with them, I'll save Gertrude and Miokat." Ysana promises, slipping into the room behind us.
"Get out of our way. We just want the witches." One of the commoners says.
"You guys aren't just any commoners, huh?" I ask.
"We're witch hunters. These are disguises. Now, if you just step away, we won't hurt you." One of them promises.
"We'll pass." I tell them.
"Then die!"
It's three on three, but I don't know how well trained these hunters are. They're probably pretty good if they're planning on fighting witches.
We exchange strikes for a bit to test out each other's strengths. It quickly becomes clear to me that these guys are tougher than I am. Heroth has trained for years, but these guys could give him a run for his money. If we don't act fast, we're toast.
"Alright, alright, stand down!" I tell them. "We surrender. You can go on through and kill the witches."
"Clear to you that we're more powerful, huh? Good call."
They shove us out of the way, and walk into the room. As soon as they do, Miokat sends a blast of magic at them, and they fall over. That seems like it was the last of her magic, though, and she falls unconscious.
It's enough to give us the edge, though. The three of us rush in, and quickly slit their throats while they're still down. We then turn our attention to Ysana and Gertrude.
It seems that Ysana managed to capture Anata's attention. The two of them are grappling, and a missing piece of cloth on Anata's back shows that something hit her there. I'm not sure if it was magic or a dagger.
Anata knocks Ysana to her butt, and glances over at her defeated allies. She quickly rushes over to Getrude, and points her blade at her neck once more. Gertrude does not seem to have the energy to fight, and all she can do is whisper two words to her.
"Fuck you."
I run over to Gertrude and Anata, but Anata is quicker than I am. She stabs the sword through Gertrude's throat, then throws her shield at me, hitting me right in the face. Emma catches me before I fall.
Anata takes this chance to jump out of the window that she came in from. Heroth follows after.
"Can you heal Gertrude?" I ask Ysana.
"There's no healing somebody from an attack like that. We have to chase Anata down." She tells me.
"What about Miokat?" Emma asks.
"I'll be fine." Miokat mutters, still lying on the floor.
"Let's move, then." Ysana says.
We don't really want to jump out from the window on the second floor, so Ysana makes a path down for us, and we follow her down. Up ahead, it looks like both Heroth and Anata landed without breaking all of their bones, and are running at full speed.
We probably won't be able to catch up with those two, but we're able to keep pace as they leave the city. A few nearby citizens kind of eye us as we run past them.
"Up ahead is Guildo Pass." Emma tells me. "It looks like Anata is gonna pass through into Kandan."
"Maybe she's got a base there." I say.
"She better not be leading us into a trap." Ysana mutters.
"It's likely." Emma sighs. "Clearly she has somewhere to run, or she wouldn't bother."
Guildo Pass goes up into the mountain range that separates the nations of Kandan and Roanne. So long as you stay on path, it's pretty safe, but anyone who dares venture off the path risks death. Thankfully, Anata is sticking to the path, as she seems to have somewhere in mind.
Of course, that doesn't mean it's safe for us, really. She could have people up above waiting for us, or a trap set up somewhere.
Somehow, perhaps with the blessings of this nation's goddess, we pass through the mountainpass without issue. As we make our way down the mountain, we can still see Heroth and Anata ahead of us.
Gertrude told us to head east from the mountains, but Anata seems to be turning south, towards the forest. Heroth is still just a few feet behind her, but is keeping pace. Eventually, he lets up, and allows her to run ahead. He looks behind, and then begins to walk towards us.
"What's going on?" I ask him.
"She seems to be heading towards the castle." He says.
It does seem like she's heading east towards the lake instead of south, so perhaps she is going to the castle... Or maybe she's gonna take a boat across the lake. Either way, if we get too close to the castle without an invitation, we're liable to get killed by the queen's guards.
"Let's just try to keep an eye on her from the trees." I suggest.
We climb up the trees so we can have a better vantage point, but it's pretty much useless. Ysana has to use her magic to see through the leaves.
"She's entering the castle." She tells us. "The king must have her under hire."
"He probably wants to eliminate the witches." Heroth notes.
"Dealing with the leader first is a pretty good move." Emma notes.
"She fled when she could tell she was outnumbered and outclassed." Heroth adds in. "She's tough, but she's also smart."
"She also killed Gertrude." I mutter.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Miokat will take care of the remaining witches. Surely she will bring them to safety. Sadly, that is beyond our power to affect. We should meet up with Tzeeru as quickly as we can."
"It will be quite a trip to go back around to the top of the lake, and then all the way around it." Emma sighs.
"There is a ferry that takes people to the city on the island from the nearby city of Uq, but it won't take us all the way across the lake. I'm afraid that our only option is to go through the forest."
"The forest that Gertrude specifically warned us about?" I ask.
"Yes."
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"No. We have no time to waste."
"Gertrude saved us some time from that walk, so maybe we should just-"
"Consider this: Anata will not be happy that we prevented her from finishing off Miokat. She could be asking the king to give her reinforcements right now. Sure, you had pretty good relations with him when you were in power, but you are no longer the queen. All of your allies could potentially be your enemies now. He has no reason to help you, and two reasons to kill you. If we head north, we waste time. If we head south, into the forest, not only do we save time, but his troops might be hesitant to follow us."
"I see."
"You have the final word. Where shall we go, my queen?"
"Into Heri Forest, I guess." I sigh.
"Excellent choice."
YOU ARE READING
Queen Zezanna
FantasíaZezanna, the princess of Asios, is in for a rude awakening. Her father has just been found dead in the gardens, and it will take everything she's got in order to find and kill the person responsible for his murder. With her father gone, Zezanna beco...
