Wrongly in Love

27- A Battle With A Requiem

Granger and Lesley exchanged looks of horror.

They were coming.

The room was dead silent for a few seconds, until Lesley broke the silence. "Come on, what are we waiting for? We have to get outside!"

Once they were outside, Lesley immediately launched into her plan. "Okay, so here's what we have to do. Granger, you stay hidden out of sight, since the hoods are looking for you. I'll just get close, shoot and try to get as many of them as possible-" She was about to grab her rifle but Granger stopped her.

"No," Granger interrupted. He gave Lesley a stern look. "I'll go with you."

Lesley turned to him, looking confused. "B-but why? They'll know you're here!"

"Those hoods are capable mages- and that's a fact. How do you think they managed to find Gusion and Guinevere in the Enchanted Forest? They obviously used a tracking spell," Granger was already beginning to shoot bullets from a distance. "They'll find me in no time if I just hide. I just need to show my face here, outside, so they won't waste time burning houses and trying to find me there."

Seeing the look on Lesley's face, he quickly added, "Lesley, you are underestimating my ability to fight. I know how to handle these guys--I may not be able to make myself Untraceable, I am not a mage, after all. But I am not incompetent. Now go- we can't be seen together, that'll make us too easy a target."

Lesley bit her lip, trying to find something more to say. Then reluctantly, she sighed and walked away.

Just a few minutes earlier...
"This is a scroll painting inspired by the colors of Swan Lake. It was painted thirty years ago, yet the quality never fades- it still looks vibrant, don't you think? The Gallery of Dawn even tried to offer us a sack of gold for this, y'know? But we declined the offer--we decided to hang it right here in our museum wing. "

It was a rainy afternoon, and Odette took the opportunity to show them the museum wing of the castle where they displayed art, weapons, and awards which were supposedly significant in history. Everyone marvelled at the displays- except Lancelot, that is, who explored the castle several times and had already stumbled upon this room before.

"Well, it's exquisitely made," Guinevere noted. "If I might ask, what sort of paint is used in this painting? I'm no art expert- I'm not good, really- I just want to know."

"Does it matter? I don't really think this old painting is worth a sack of gold, but okay," Lancelot said dismissively before Odette had a chance to speak.

Odette glared at him, then turned to Guinevere. "This scroll painting was made with a fine set of watercolors."

"Probably just the same material as five-year-old painters use," Lancelot muttered under his breath.

After chatting a bit with Guinevere about the painting, Odette finally turned to them. "Okay, so that concludes our... exhibition. What do you guys want to do next? Some tea? How about join me in my afternoon reading?"

"Er... reading later. I think some tea would be nice," Gusion said.

"Sure thing." As Odette led them to the tearoom, she sensed a hint of smoke wafting from outside. She ignored it- probably just some landowners burning down trees to build some fancy new property. Argh, she'd be the one to give them a scolding later.

"Mmm... The air's rather odd today, don't you think? Isn't it like... Burning wood?" Guinevere turned toward the nearest window. She wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Hmm... Probably just those landowners." Odette said dismissively. But barely a second later they heard screams coming from outside--terrified, panicked shouts. Guinevere was immediately reminded by that time at the Enchanted Forest.

Lancelot frowned. "Odd. Why would someone make a racket this loud that it reaches up to this floor of the castle?"

"Something's definitely up," Gusion nodded, opening the nearest window. To his surprise, a blue dove with a letter on its beak flew inside. The way it shone, though, it seemed like the dove wasn't real and supposedly summoned by magic. He stumbled, obviously shocked to see a random bird fly in.

Odette gasped, and as she took the letter, the dove instantly vanished. Her face grew paler each second as she read the letter, her normally calm expression filled with panic.

"What's wrong?" Guinevere asked her, trying to peek into the letter.

"Look outside and you'll see," was all Odette managed to say. "I don't think I can explain all of this right now."

Gusion, Lancelot, and Guinevere quickly hurried to the window and gasped- the village was on fire. The villagers ran for their lives while the hoods shot every corner with spells.

There was one they recognized, however. Two, really.

A man carrying a baroque violin. Granger.

And the girl with the pink braid shooting from her rifle? Lesley for sure.

They all glanced at each other. "We have to help them!" Guinevere exclaimed.

"I'll send a message to the guards." Odette quickly muttered a spell to summon a pen and a paper. After hastily scribbling a reply, she summoned a dove, and as the bird flew away, she beckoned the others to follow her.

"Come on, we have to get the villagers to the castle--I've cast a protection spell around it. I couldn't cast one around the village, though--only really expert wizards can do that," In no time at all, they were outside.

"We have to help Lesley and Granger. Gusion and Lancelot, you try to sneak up on those guys, I'll try to prevent the fire from spreading, and Gwen, you help evacuate the villagers to the castle," Odette instructed. "After you do so, you need to go inside with them."

Great. I always get the lame job, Guinevere thought.

" Do you understand?" After everyone nodded, they all took off in different directions. However, after just twenty minutes, all the villagers were safely hiding in the castle. Most have already done so before Guinevere had come down. Great. So now she had to get inside with them?

Guinevere looked around. She looked at the houses--most of them were damaged and burned down, but at least there was no fire- Odette must have successfully prevented it from spreading. But there were still a lot of hoods coming from every direction, and Lesley, Granger, Odette, Lancelot, and Gusion were helping fight it.

Then suddenly she felt a chill up her spine. She swivelled, and saw, to her surprise, a pack of hoods walking slowly to corner her. She glanced around. Her friends were gone. This was becoming like that time in the bar, when the thugs were preparing to corner and kill her in a flash. Only there was no Gusion.

But this time, she won't need one.

Her hand flickering brightly now, she scanned each of the hood's faces. "Such a pretty treat," one of them cooed.

"We'll take this naughty girl back to our master, right where she belongs," the other one said.

But instead of feeling scared, or terrified, she felt determined. This was her one chance to prove herself. Looking at each one in the eye, she smiled.

"Oh, don't test me," she said mischievously, smiling even more brightly.

"Oh, silly girl, you think you can escape? There are a dozen of us and one of you," one of them said, and they broke out into laughter.

Her hand was glowing with blinding magic now. "How dare you?" She whispered, before casting her Ultimate, like her life depended on it.