"What is that?"
["Put a rhino, a hiena, a lion, and a wild gigantic scorpion together, with eyes of spider and fangs of a deadly poisonous snake, plus a high intelligence quotient. Than you have it. They are also about 10 to 11 feet tall, and cannibals, who have quite the taste for... magical beings such as witches,"] Vincent, the black cat, exclaimed.
["There's a group of 10 of them, and they all live together, all trying to get to the Castle, but they can't. They also can only stay on the other side of the woods, so, they are beyond the Castle on the opposite direction to where we are now,"] Julian, the male monkey, added.
"Are you for real?" Sera gasped in horror, getting goosebumps.
["They are a considerable pain in the ass,"] two big wolves came to her, joining the crew, and she fully screamed to that.
"Bloody arse of the shit-eating devil. Moon Goddesses above," Sera cursed, jumping out of her skin.
"Are they with you too?" When the others nodded, she growled. "Hell be damned, how many of you are together?"
["We are about twenty, Princess,"] the bigger wolf with grey fur and blue eyes told her, as it strode to her back.
"Squirrel, raccoon, peacock, snake, two monkeys, a cat, a fox, two wolves. Ten so far," she gulped again. "What are your names?"
["Severin, Princess,"] said the wolf in her back.
["And I'm Diana, Princess,"] exclaimed the white wolf with amber eyes, as it joined the other on her back. ["We mean no harm, Princess, do not worry. We'll be protecting your back."]
"Thank you? Aye, Moon Goddesses, I don't even know what to say. I'm not used to being surrounded like this, especially not by eight different types of animals like this," sigh. "And the other ten?"
["Waiting. Heart of the woods,"] Hannes, the squirrel, exclaimed.
"For?"
["Lifting the curse. Fated mate. 21st birthday. Witch Princess,"] the cute animal pointed to her.
Only then she began to understand what was happening in here. "Wait... You were cursed?" She looked at them. "Is the legend true?"
["Partially yesssss,"] Kato said.
"And you think I can lift it, just because I'm a witch? I... I don't know if that's how it works. You see, all I know about magic, I taught it to myself. You may not know that, but I've spent all my life locked up in the underground of the Nightbloom Coven's Castle. I don't really have field experience, in fact, I have none but the one I just gone through. Neither do I know how to lift such a curse, that a legendary dark witch put on here."
"I'm also not necessarily a dark witch. I mean, I am, but just half. My mom was a dark witch, whereas father was a green warlock. I'm half-breed, that's why my mother's family hated me so much. I ran away because they were trying to kill me, and I only killed three of them because it was a life or death situation. That's why I'm covered in blood like this, which now that I'm talking about it, is making me nauseous again, bloody shite."
["Do you need water, Princess? I got it."] A black stallion came out of now-bloody-where, startling her. ["Johanne wrapped three bottles of water on my body, want some, Princess?"]
"A horse?" She gasped.
["Female horse, but I like to be called a stallion better than a horse,"] the stallion winked. ["I'm Maya, Princess,"] she bowed to her.
"Who's Johanne?"
["Our daughter,"] Julian and Emma, the monkeys, said proudly.
"Oh, so, three monkeys. Got it," she said feeling her body weak again. So, she stopped, making all the 11 cursed beings stop with her, and this time, she couldn't handle it, her legs gave up. "I... Sorry," she mumbled. "I don't think I can go farther than this."
["Oh, no, Princess!"] They all gasped worried. And together, they managed to lay her on Maya's back.
["Her back is wounded badly,"] Julian cried. ["So are her arms."]
"I... Water..."
Quickly, Emma took one of the bottles and helped her drink from it. But as soon as she drank two mouthfuls, she fainted, her body too tired to withstand anything else, she had never been so exhausted.
["Not dead, right?"] Hannes cried.
["No, you damn idiot,"] Nora hissed. ["She's alive but exhausted, I doubt she even used all her energy like this. Look at her feet, sweet Gods, they are bleeding and on the flesh."]
["We need to bring her to the waterfall sssssoon. Ssssssshe needssss a bath. Sssssstaying covered in blood like thisssssss, issss dangeroussssss and will only attract even more danger,"] Kato exclaimed.
["Aside from Nora, Diana and Severin who can keep up with me, you all hop on my back,"] Maya let out a worried growl. ["We need to bring her to Prince Sebastian before she turns 21. It's a long way, so, let's head to the waterfall as fast as we can!"]
["Aye!"]
And like that, they all went on a journey to bring the only person who could break the curse befallen in the Valg Woods to her fated mate.
※※※
Sera woke up with the sunlight on her face, and she jerked scared, as it was the first time she was exposed to it, which resulted in her falling to the ground. "Bloody hell," she cried.
["Princess!"] All her cursed companions screamed in fright.
"I'm... Fine..." She took a deep breath and sat down, looking around and marveling how such a place could exist. "Shite, this is... Amazing," getting up, ignoring the pain, she walked towards the water. "I've never seen anything this beautiful," she mumbled.
["You've never seen water?"] Julian asked confused.
"I was locked up in the underground, as I told you. The only water I've seen was in a bathtub, in a bowel, or in a cup. Never like this. I mean, I have water magic, but still," she began taking off her clothes and all makes looked away with respect. "I don't know how to swim, but I'll just use my water magic not to drown," then she jumped on it.
It was weirdly cold, which was amazing as summer was nearing.
Even though they were in the north and summer there was still cold.
"Ugh," she cried as she tried to clean all the blood from her body. "Disgusting shite," she cried. "Even my hair is dirty and sticky with it, ew!"