Kidnapped Princess

Rescue

Yohane and Hanamaru appeared behind the dungeon. They crept around the mountain side and looked for guards. There didn’t appear to be any at the moment.

“This feels like a trap.” Yohane whispered, “This is a princess. There should be a lot of guards around.”

“Yeah… can you sense anyone?” Hanamaru whispered back.

Yohane reached out with her magic to see if she could feel anyone around. As she did, she felt someone connect with her magic. Yohane let out a screech as the person’s contact burned her. She quickly hid her magic and collapsed to the ground panting.

“What happened?” Hanamaru asked as she knelt beside her.

“Some...one…” Yohane mumbled, “Sensed…”

She fell unconscious. The person who had connected with her had drained all her magic. A witch without magic was useless. It was basically her life force in a way.

“The witch is this way!” A voice called.

Hanamaru gulped as she drug Yohane into the cover of some bushes. She prayed that they wouldn’t find them.

“Come out, little witch.” A voice called, “We know you’re here.”

Hanamaru held herself completely still. One wrong move and they would know where they were. It would be over for them. Hanamaru was debating if she should just teleport them out of there.

“I can sense some magic. It’s by that bush.”

Hanamaru gulped. They would find them. She knew she had to do something. But, the only thing she could think of doing was something she swore to never do. The guards got closer to the bush. Their feet were visible.

Hanamaru took a deep breath and whispered out a spell. She had no choice. That promise had to be broken. She would die if she didn’t break it.

The guards let out screams of pain. Hanamaru had cast a spell to kill them. A forbidden spell that every witch made an oath never to use. Hanamaru felt she had to. She prayed no witch nearby would be able to sense her. The guards fell to the ground. They were dead.

Hanamaru struggled to her feet. She had drained almost all of her magic doing that spell. She struggled, but managed to pick up Yohane. She stumbled away from the dead guards and into a deep forest. She needed a place to hide. Who knew just how many guards there were.

Hanamaru found a cave. She stumbled inside and hoped no one had already claimed it. It seemed to empty. She set Yohane down a small patch of weeds that were growing. She sat beside her.

She was too weak to do anything. Hanamaru tried to keep watch, but she was slowly falling asleep. Her body needed to regenerate her magic. It could only do that when she was relaxed. Hanamaru was not relaxed at all. As hard as she tried, she failed to fight back and soon collapsed next to Yohane.

…

Yohane woke up first. She groaned in pain as she held her head. She had a headache now. That was the main side effect of magic depletion. Yohane glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings. She stared at Hanamaru for a few minutes.

“Just what the hell happened?” Yohane mumbled as she got to her feet.

She walked to the cave’s entrance and looked around. She couldn’t see much because of the thick woods. She spotted a small break in the foliage. She walked over to it and peered through. Yohane saw a cave. The cave that was holding Ruby.

Yohane could faintly make out the princess in the cave. There were a lot of guards around her. Yohane knew this rescue mission was not going to be easy. There were a lot of guards. And some knew how to sense magic.