After scrubbing himself and his clothes as well as he could in the nearby stream, Jack went back to the first wagon, carefully going over the suspended animation rune that was still in perfect working order, despite the death of the caster.

Though he knew he had basic mastery of the ward, after freeing and rebinding the goblins, he still proceeded carefully, overwriting the rune with his own blood with painstaking thoroughness.

And when Susie opened her bright blue eyes, rubbing her unbound wrists while gazing at Jack with surprised disbelief, Jack couldn’t help but smile.

“How are you?” he asked, only to be met a confused sob and a desperately flailing fist.

“Susie, it’s me, Jack! I’m one of the good guys. Please calm down.”

Susie shuddered, petite little fists curled defensively. “Jack!” she blinked, recognizing him only then, her face crumpling into sobs, and somehow Jack found himself hugging the shuddering terrified girl. “Saint’s mercy, I was so scared! I thought that monster was going to kill me!”

“What monster? What exactly happened?”

She paled, gazing at sights only she could see. “It was the last night of the fair. Lisa from Midtown and I met up to go to the fair together. I wanted to buy some presents for my parents. It’s their anniversary.”

“That was very thoughtful of you,” he said.

She swallowed, shaking her head. “No, it was stupid. There was already a rumor going on that it wasn’t safe for girls to go out alone at night, even though the guards could find no proof of anything, or anything at all out of the ordinary. It was just one of those things you hear, you know? I should have listened. And when that man approached me, saying he had all these wonderful prizes for the discerning customer he was willing to sell cheap since it was the last night… I should have known better than to follow him to his wagon. It was away from the others,” she softly said.

“It’s always easy to second guess ourselves after things come to pass,” Jack soothed, “but at the time, it’s hard to know what the best move is before you’ve gone through a situation at least once. All we can do is learn from our mistakes and move on, wiser and more prepared than we were before. Beating ourselves up is just doing our abuser's work for them.”

Susie gazed thoughtfully at Jack before slowly nodding her head. “That makes sense, actually. It all looks so obvious in hindsight, but who would ever think someone would be kidnapping people in the middle of the fair?” Her eyes widened as she spun around. “Lisa!” She cried, first in relief, then in panic, gazing at the 5 other motionless girls.

“Jack, what happened to them?”

“Relax. They’re under the effects of a magical rune. Right now, it’s keeping them in suspended animation. It’s not hurting them at all.”

She tilted her head, gazing at him intently. “Was I under suspended animation?”

Jack nodded.

“How did you free me?”

“I sort of have a knack for runes, now. Thing is, I’ve already used up the last of my experience points or… excess life force, freeing you. It might be a little while before I have enough juice to free the other girls."

Susie nodded. “So you’re a wizard, then. I guess you’re not coming back home after all, huh?”

Jack winced. “I’m not sure what I am. But… yeah. Carl and I from Southtown, and all the others from Midtown and Northtown, all left with the caravans. Neither Carl nor I left the normal way, so, yeah. It’s not looking like either of us will be able to go back home.”

He swallowed, rubbing the odd stinging in his eye, Susie gazing at him curiously.

“What will you do now?”

“I’ll do my best to get you all home.”

She nodded thoughtfully at that, anxiously biting her lip as she looked towards the trap door with the expressive blue eyes that had once caught his fancy, what now felt like a lifetime ago.

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it okay if I, um… leave the wagon?”

Jack blinked. “Of course! Yeah, let’s get some air. We have to figure out how were going to get these wagons back to Hidden Valley.”

Susie chuckled softly. "I might be able to help with that, at least."

And shortly thereafter they were off, Jack surprised to see that Susie was actually a skilled wagoneer, now quickly taking the initiative, her experienced hands immediately putting the horses at ease as she readied the teams and showed Jack the basics of how to steer the horses before taking what Jack explained had been the lead cart before.

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And in less than an hour, Jack was following the wagon ahead of him, Susie looking pretty as a picture with her blond locks blowing in the spring breeze as she turned back to gaze his way for directions or assurance. But the path back was easy enough to follow, Sven having only taken one detour off the main road, and by the time morning had turned to dusk, they had returned, Susie giving an excited cheer, though all Jack saw was an imposing cliff face.

Hidden Questline: Missing Daughters IV Complete! You have returned all 6 of Sven’s captives and have earned experience and a permanent +1 bonus to Charisma! Having brought succor to those in need of a hero, others are more likely to want to be a part of your life story as well.

Jack grinned, feeling a sudden lightness in his heart and what seemed almost a like a deeper connection to the world around him. He couldn’t quite put it into words, but something in Susie’s eyes made it clear that she had felt it too.

“Thank you, Jack,” she whispered as they gazed down at the five girls still in suspended animation. “I can’t even say how grateful I am to you. Just know that, well, all those stories I used to love reading about brave knights and dashing nobles playing at being heroes can’t possibly match meeting the real thing.”

Her cheeks blazed when Jack gazed back at her.

“Thank you,” he said, suddenly at a loss for words.

Gentle blue eyes met his own. “I mean it,” she said. “You really are a hero, Jack.”

Soft fingertips caressed his cheek.

Jack grinned. “Careful, Susie, or I might start to have very unheroic thoughts if you keep looking at me like that.”

“What if I want you to?”

She blinked, as if surprised by her own boldness.

Jack chuckled. “Then I’d be a very lucky man, if I was coming back home. But since that option’s not open to me, let me see what I can do about breaking the curse effecting everyone else.”

He carefully looked over the other girls, repeating the same rune-breaking ritual he had with Susie, relieved to find his blood rune could rupture the markings of chalk and bile upon their skin with ever greater ease each time he repeated the ritual, successfully freeing each of those frightened girls from their near catatonic state. And though it cost him the majority of the experience he had earned bringing the girls back home, since blood magic was never cheap, he thought it well worth the tearful hugs and the smiles of gratitude he received.

“Jack? You don’t want anything?” Susie asked sometime later when Jack handed her the reins once more.

Jack shook his head. He had already claimed all of the dear meat, camping supplies, and coin that the slavers had been carrying. He didn’t need or want anything else. “The wagons and the goods within can do the community a lot more good than me. If you want to bring the wagons to my father’s farm and explain what happened, I’m sure he’ll know exactly what needs to be done to keep the valley safe, if I’ve missed anything.”

She solemnly nodded, flashing Jack a sad smile. “Are you sure you can’t come back home? The entire town would count you a hero.”

Jack sighed, shaking his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t. You see that big wide path leading right to town?”

Susie nodded. “I don’t even sense whatever ward keeps the valley safe.”

“It’s the same ward that assures that I only see a cliff face, just ahead.”

She blinked at that. “Seriously?”

“As the grave.”

A warm hand squeezed his own. “From the bottom of my heart, Jack, thank you for what you did for me and the others,” she said, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, as did two others, the rest gazing at him with gratitude in their eyes.

Jack could only bow his head.

“I’m glad I could help,” he said, meaning every word of it. "But can you do me one favor?"

She nodded. "Of course, Jack. Anything!"

"Please tell Janice that I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye properly, and that she will always have a place in my heart."

Susie's eyes welled with tears, as did several of the girls beside her. "I'm sorry, Jack. I should have thought... oh gosh, you can never see her again, can you?"

He flashed a sad smile. "In case it wasn't already, obvious, I walk the Path of Peril."

More than one girl paled at that.

"We all know what happens to fools like me, and I'd never forgive myself if she was stupid enough to try to follow. Especially if she's never had visions of lives lived before this one."

Susie wrapped her arms tightly around her, as if struck by a sudden chill. "Oh Jack, I just... I can't..." she shook her head. "But if you had dared the gentler path..."

"We'd all be enslaved and working til our fingers bled to the bone before being worked in other ways. Most likely dead, or wishing we were dead, within a year. We all know it," whispered Marcie, a girl Jack had only seen once or twice before, now gazing at him with an odd mixture of pity, gratitude, and fierce pride.

The young woman, hardly more than a girl, bowed her head when he met her gaze.

"My family will say a prayer for you every night by the hearth. I swear it, Jack Evergreen."

Jack couldn't help grinning at that. "Thank you, Marcie. But just hearing those words is more than enough. I hope you all live good lives. Safe, healthy lives. And please let Janice know I'll never forget her. But more than anything else..." He swallowed the sudden lump in his throw, unable to meet their gazes. "I want her to be happy. Tell her that for me?"

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“What happened to the bastards who did this to us?”

Jack winked, holding up a finger alight with flame. “You’ll never have to worry about them ever again.”

The girls grinned at that, several applauding.

“Goodbye, Jack. I hope to hear all about your adventures someday,” Susie said with a wave as the two carts made their way to the valley, seeming to shimmer and fade before Jack's very eyes as if he was looking at a heat mirage.

He squinted hard at their passing before losing sight of them altogether.

He sighed, tapping his hand against what was, for him, a very real cliff face, before turning around back the way he had come.

“I guess the whole world really is my oyster now, but some shells I'll never be able to crack,” he said, making his way along the western road, silhouetted by the setting sun.