"You failed to apprehend her?" Reginald said confused.
"Unfortunately." Kaine said. "Maybe if I had had some Help."
"I'm sorry." Reind apologized.
"Because of your incompetence we'll have to spend even more resources to find her again!" Kaine scolded.
"Has word reached the city yet?" Reginald asked. "Of her status and the reason for it."
Everyone eyed the 'now silk covered' remains of the King.
"I've sent my knights To inform the city and info brokers." Reind said. "Has a number been set for Audrestine's Bounty?"
"It's currently at ten thousand Reuns."
______
Audrey felt Ralline wake up.
"Good morning." Audrey said. Looking back, she passed a small loaf of fruit bread to the girl. "Here, You'll need energy for the day we might have."
"..." Ralline silently took the bread.
...
Audrey watched the path.
"Are we in danger?" Ralline whispered out.
"... We'll be in danger for a while." Audrey admitted. "But at this absolute second? No. Reind and Kaine needed to report back to... the castle. And it'll take time for them to get their troops armed and ready to search. We have a few days to put as much ground between us and them as possible before the chase really starts."
"... My dad's dead..." Ralline said.
"...Yeah." Audrey said.
"...And he's not coming back is he?"
"...No."
Ralline swallowed a lump in her throat.
"Why did this happen?" She asked Audrey.
"Someone is trying to bring back the Devil is my guess." Audrey said. "Your father had contingencies for this if it should happen."
"Like...?"
"Well Me for one." Audrey said. "I Killed him once. I should be able to do this again. But that was with a group of highly trained professionals providing me support."
"...Are we gonna die?" Ralline asked scared.
"...Probably." Audrey admitted with a shrug.
"W-What?!"
"What?" Audrey peaked back at Ralline. "If I can't train you to be half my level by the time we fight we'll probably die horrible gruesome deaths."
"Aren't you supposed to try cheering me up?!" Ralline asked angrily. "I thought you were a hero?!"
"Exactly." Audrey said. "I was a hero. Now I'm an outlaw. Speaking of."
Audrey pulled the reins and the horse pulled the hay cart off towards the side.
"Why are we stopping?" Ralline asked.
"Reasons." Audrey said.
"...?" Ralline looked off to the side as they parked.
"Alright hop on out." Audrey said, snapping her fingers as the dirt and grass formed into a sort of chair. "And sit here."
Ralline obliged.
"Great, I'm all itchy." She grumbled, as the hay poked and prodded at her.
"Stop whining." Audrey said. "That's what it's like sleeping in hay."
Ralline sat down on the dirt chair Audrey made and looked up. "So what are we-"
SNIP
Ralline's eyes widened and she froze as she saw Audrey pull nearly two feet of hair off of her head.
"My... Hair..."
"Sorry kid," Audrey said. "This is necessary."
"Stop it~!" Ralline cried and whined.
____
Reginald looked at the cleaners, hard at work.
'Something here is off...' He looked over at the window. It was shattered and for the life of him he couldn't remember why it was broken.
"Excuse me?"
He blinked and looked down at Reind.
"Yes Reind?" He asked.
"It'll take some time for the scouting troops to assemble." Reind continued. "It's likely that Audrey could be well out of the country before they catch up to her."
"I see." Reginald sighed. "Great. Another mess... Wait a moment... Reind... Didn't Ramone have an assassination squad?"
"...You wish to kill Audrey?" Reind asked.
"No no no." Reginald said. "But we can repurpose them. As a specialized tracking squad. No combat needed. And if we can keep an eye on them half the battle here is won."
"I see... Then May I make a recommendation for a slight change to the unit before it's sent out sir?"
"Of course."
"There is a young woman on my training regimen that I believe could help immensely." Reind sighed. "She's a fool with a blade. But, She's got magical abilities that could prove useful."
"What kind of magic?" Reginald asked, intrigued.
"She's a mage craft user that specializes in tangibility and light." Reind said. "I believe that she could replace Kurt in the unit. He specialized in pure combat. And I think having him in the Knights could produce some interesting results what with his massive maneuverability."
"I see..." Reginald said. "In truth I hoped this was all... a lie... A false image conjured by that mage."
"Mage?" Reind asked. "I don't remember a mage?"
"What?" Reginald asked. "You don't remember?"
"Are you talking about Audrey?" Reind asked.
"No well... maybe. But after she left, the entire castle was engulfed by a spell..."
"I don't..." Reind's eyes widened. "No... No I do remember that."
They both stared at each other.
"Something is wrong with this entire situation." Reginald said. "And I want you to figure out what."
"Of course." Reind nodded. "But what about you. Obviously whoever casted that spell, meant for you to take over as acting King, so revealing it could be suspicious."
"I know." Reginald said. "But if it takes accosting me of my Royal status to avenge my brother, do it without a second thought Reind."
"Of course sir."
______
Ralline wept as she held onto what little hair she had left.
It barely touched her eyebrows now.
Which, along with her eye lashes, had been trimmed shorter.
And the worst part...
Audrey had cast a spell to turn it all black.
All of her red hair...
Black now!
"Change into these." Audrey said,
"AUF~!" Ralline said as a set of clothing was thrown at her.
Pulling the clothes off of her face she looked at them.
"W-but these are boy's clothes." Ralline refuted, but still started changing knowing the fruitfulness, or lack thereof, of such statements.
"The whole country is going to be on the lookout for the Sacred Mage and the Kidnapped Princess." Audrey said, Taking a final snip at her own hair. "Not a widowed father and his magically inclined son."
She tapped her staff, which she could apparently just shrink to the size of a normal wand, to her own hair and it turned jet black.
Ralline watched Audrey strip down and gawked.
Audrey was covered nearly everywhere with scars.
"Why do you have so many scars?" Ralline asked before realizing how rude of a question it was.
"I used to live on the streets as a kid." Audrey answered easily. "I also fought against your father plenty of times as a magical assassin before he kidnapped me and told me to kill the devil."
"...What?"
"Huh, That was my response as well." Audrey smiled at Ralline.
Ralline gawked at the insane woman in front of her.
"Wait Father kidnapped you!?"
"I did stab him like... Four or five times before so it was warranted."
"Your crazy... I've been kidnapped by a crazy woman."
Audrey pulled on a set of ragged clothes. Along with a cloak, hiding her staff within the inside of it.
"Alright." Audrey said looking at Ralline. "Oh, Hold on a second." She pulled back out the scissors.
A few seconds later, Audrey pulled away with only a few snips.
"Sorry it was crooked." She apologized.
Ralline nodded and the two of them climbed back into the carriage.
"Alright first lesson starts now." Ralline said.
"Sure kid." Audrey said. "Oh actually first."
"What?"
"Your name's Rel now." Audrey said. "Short for Relner."
"Wait why?"
"Name recognition. And pattern searching." Audrey said. "If a man walks to youo and say's his name is James you'd think nothing of it."
"I'd think, 'wow why's this weird guy talking to me.'"
"But you'd remember him if his name was Regina. Or Ralline."
"Because they're girls names?"
"Kind of." Audrey said. "It's more with their flowery flows than their gender bias. Like you'd remember a man named Jerimiah against a man named Jared. But they can't be to normal. Or you run into the same problem. Like running into a little girl named Ralline. It'd stick with you because it's your name."
"I get it I think." Ralline said. "Can we go with Bell?"
"Really?" Audrey asked.
"Yeah!" Ralline said. "I've always wanted a nickname but this is close enough to one! Besides dad always..." Ralline clammed up. "... He used to say I was his little bell."
"Well... I think it works." Audrey said. "How about you come up with a name for me?"
"Abomination to human life?"
"I will hang you by your little toes brat."
"Grumpy?"
"I'll think of my own."
______
"Identification please."
The short black haired man pulled out a silver card.
"One Mr. Ren Pyre and his son..." The guard flipped to the second card. "Bell Pyre the toll here is two silvers."
"Damn." Ren sighed, going into his little pouch and pulling out four silver. "It's starting to get more expensive."
"I know." The guard said. He leaned in. "When the King Died, all of the noble families started price gouging and it's gonna be a problem until the acting King can send envoys for renegotiation. Not to mention hos many guards they're forcing to work for them now. There were barely enough to begin with especially with the monster attacks."
"Sounds rough man." Ren said. "Do you happen to know where the Inn is?"
"Ah right." The guard said. "It's right over there sir. Welcome to Veinren."
"Thank you." Ren said.