Chapter 15: Pillage
There was no time to waste.
The inn was completely surrounded. The general, the rest of his knights and the overly angry crowd of people were threatening to burn their own inn, so they could get rid of the former Witch Queen and her two followers.
"So, this is how it ends?" Junk said out loud. At the very least, the boy had been able to aid April and support her in delivering her first child with him. Except that what came out of her body wasn't a child at all. It wasn't human. It didn't even have a physical body.
What came out of her was magic.
What came out of April was a soul.
However, that part was pretty clear and had been relatively pretty clear ever since the two had sex together. One elf and one demon copulating together were now going to be producing a human being. But what shocked Junk the most was the fact that what came out of her womb was the soul of a new monster. It was the soul of chimera.
The soul was set free.
There was no bonding time with said soul.
There was no time left at all, in fact.
The inn was just about to be set on fire after all. April couldn't rest for one second.
September walked closer to the bed and surprised the two by removing her witch's hat, raising her leafy scepter up in the air, closing her eyes and casting a new spell.
"Home: The Warm Return!" she said the name of the spell she was casting with her scepter and the soul of the chimera of a monster was then suddenly pulled into her hat. The soul disappeared. He was teleported somewhere else.
"What did you do?" he asked him.
"I'm bringing us home," September replied to him pretty fast.
"Home?" Junk asked her, not understanding what she meant by that at all. What kind of home was she talking about?
"She's right. We're leaving right now," April mentioned.
"In her hat?" Junk continued to question them.
"No. We are going to September's house," the elvish ranger continued to explain everything to him at her place as she abruptly jumped out of bed.
April ran to the window to see everything that was happening outside by herself. She saw everyone. She saw all the angry people in the street. She witnessed all the flaming torches.
"The Witch Queen has a house now?" Junk asked her.
"Yes. I do," September replied to him, all calm.
"Well, why the hell did we originally try getting a room in this inn? Why did we content herself of the shed in the backyard if you do have a house somewhere?" he asked her.
"The shed sounds pretty appealing right now," April said as she continued to look outside, all the furious mob out.
"I am able to teleport items and monsters away. However, it's too far for us to teleport there. We'll have to travel a bit. But, just for your information, it's not a house. Not really, anyway," September explained to Junk.
"What is it, then?"
"It's our base of operations," she revealed to him.
"Interesting. I hope we can get there before we perish here," Junk blew her off.
"Guys, I really think we have more important problems right now. Problems we have to solve. The sooner, the better," the green-haired elvish ranger stopped the two during their fight and tried her best to bring them both to reality for a second.
It was too late now, the general, his knights and the mob of habitants of Silverstream had had more than enough with this witch and her followers. The general had convinced them all that burning their one and the only inn was the best thing to do, somehow. The modest establishment was about to be set on fire anytime now.
"Don't feel bad about burning this witch alive! She deserves what is coming to her! Don't feel bad about burning your own inn! The guild is going to pay back and built a much better inn for you! You'll see! It'll be worth it in the end. Trust me! Trust!" the general kept pitting the town against the witch and her followers. Destroying September's reputation even more. Crushing it. Not that she cared too much about her reputation as it was. The knights and the habitants of Silverstream suddenly began throwing flaming torches all over the establishment and setting it on fire. Surprising April, one of the burning torch crash through the glass of the window she was looking through and ended up in the middle of the room.
"Ugh!" April jumped back. The room of the inn began burning right in front of their eyes.
"Let's get out of here!" Junk said to the girls.
"I agree with that idea," April admitted.
"There's no reason for us to be sticking around any longer," September calmly said with a stern tone in her voice. She then magically shape-shifted her leafy scepter into her flying broom, as she had done before.
The next moment, September burst out of the crashed window, riding her broom, flying way high in the air. April was with her. Comfortably sitting behind in her on the broom. Meanwhile, Junk followed them by jumping through the window, therefore, enlarging it quite a bit.
Junk had recently regained some strengths and he was in his thick armor.
While the Minotaur couldn't fly with them, he followed them on foot, avoiding the general, his knights and the mob. Junk was a Minotaur. No matter how large the angry mob was, no matter how overwhelming the squad of knights was, the beast could always find himself a way out of there as he continued following the two busty women way up high in the air on the flying broom. Naturally, the General, his knights and the infuriated mob never stopped following the witch, the ranger and the beast. Specifically hunting the Minotaur on the ground. Concerning the local inn. It was already too late. It couldn't be salvaged. The establishment was already on fire, and it was burning bright. There was nothing that could be done except forgetting about it now and focusing on the three fugitives. There were no other witches or wizards or any spell casters that could help slow down the fire or stop it altogether. There were no witches and wizards to begin with. Even less so any water-based or aquatic witches or mages. When was this going to stop? Junk felt like he had been running and escaping situations ever since he came out of prison.
This was his life now.
***
"Where is it now?" the Minotaur howled at the witch and the ranger on the flying broom above his head in the sky during the day as they continued to flee.
"It's right there. We are almost there," September shouted.
"Where?" Junk asked her again. He couldn't see anything. He was in the middle of some dense woods aright outside Silverstream. He could still hear the horses of the knights, galloping as they were being hunted an hour or so after the inn had begun burning. While he began trusting the former Witch Queen more and more overtime, he wasn't exactly certain of what she meant by: 'It's right there', or 'we are almost there'. There was nothing. Only trees and trees as he was walking up a hill in the middle of the woods.
"Oh, I can finally see it!" April said, all excited.
"You see it?" Junk asked her, surprised she was seeing something. "Where is it?" he kept asking her over and over.
"September was right! It's right there!" April's excitement could not be contained. She felt like they were all saved. Finally, a way out of here. The Minotaur still had no idea what this was all about, but he was soon about to find out. He kept running in the woods. Avoiding trees in and his run until he finally saw it. The entrance of a cavern. Up the hill, hidden in the woods, there was an entrance. This was exactly what he had been told by September earlier as he first entered the woods outside of Silverstream nearly an hour ago.
"There it is!" Junk said to himself out loud.
"Time to go down," September murmured to himself up in the sky while at the commands of her magical broom. However, April did manage to hear as she whispered this.
"I hope we can expect for a safe and delicate landing. Right?" April asked her, getting worried by the second, as September swiftly changed the direction they were flying into and lowered the broom. She was right. They were going down. They were both going down, and the direction they were heading for was the entrance of this hidden cavern in the middle of the woods. "This is going to be a nice and easy landing, right?" she repeated herself.
"..." The Witch Queen didn't bother telling her anything.
"September?"
"..." still nothing from her end.
"September! Say something! Oh, boy, we are going to crash! We are going to crash!" April was fearing for her life at this point.
"We are not," September simply whispered the contrary.
"What the hell is she doing?" Junk asked himself as he observed the two girls flying down toward the entrance of the cave. Having reached it at this point, he was standing outside, waiting for them before venturing inside. He wasn't too certain about the speed they were flying. The Minotaur was no expert in flights. Especially flights on broomsticks, but he felt like she was going way too fast for a landing of any kind. "Is she trying to kill herself and April?"
April was screaming for her life at this point. September wasn't showing any form of emotion. She was perfectly calmed. Junk was certain they were both going to crash in his face. It was too late to get out of the way. He looked the other way and placed his muscular arms in front of his face. Attempting to block the violent landing.
However, all of a sudden, a micro-second before hitting the Minotaur and crashing down, the magical, flying broomstick abruptly stopped. It stopped in the air. It was no longer moving. It was levitating in the air, an inch away from his bestial's nose.
"We are still alive," April said, reassured.
"What the?" Junk said after re-opening his eyes.
"The cave. We must go inside. Now," September commanded them.
Then, pure silence at the entrance of the cavern.
"Is she going to act like it was nothing, and we didn't come close to death? All of us," April adorably and softly mentioned.
"I suppose so," the Minotaur waited a bit before saying anything and ultimately shrugged his shoulders and sighed.
"We have no time to waste. They are still after us. Inside. Now," she casually and calmly commanded them again. She jumped off her broomstick. It magically shifted back into her scepter. April accidentally fell off, hit the ground and hurt her back.
"Ouch!"
Then, it all became much more serious. The fun in the woods was over.
The three adventurers were just about to enter the cave of memories.