The green monster moved in, closing with me before I was blinded. A fire filled the space where it had been and I worried about catching on fire, Then I heard a voice.

[Scion] “well you two bite off more than you can chew. Lets get you-”

A gurgling sound comes from the last guard still alive, partly bisected by the green monsters blade still.

[Scion] “ah, good he’ll survive. Pull the blade out.”

[morgan] “mo-mianshal, help me pull…”

Her hand guided mine after a moment, and we pulled. A wet slurping sound filling my ears then something like flesh being dragged through a puddle.

[scion] “there, he’ll live. Now you two take this, twist it together.”

I still can’t see anything and morgan’s hands guide mine. We give a twist and then in a moment I know we’ve teleported. My sight is filled with bright spots but I start to see an outline, a shape that’s brighter. I move to its edge and find stone against my hands. We’re back at the meeting space of the hidden monarch, morgan guiding me along as my sight starts returning.

[Hidden monarch] “so you must have found something for a town of mine to be assaulted by trolls.”

“the kids are stolen by the two eyes women, you should have caela captured immediately as well as roulla if you can find her. Oh and roulla was a spell caster, so I’d guess caela is too.”

[morgan] “we’ll elaborate but please do capture caela, and assume she’s powerful. Roulla was the one at Gashiel that we investigated and she had magic in the mystic style, I’d guess druidic.”

[Hidden monarch] “I take it capturing caela is so we can interrogate her.”

He replied as he started up his spell. A few magical messages later we were telling him about what we’d found, how the kidnappings had been done in a way to avoid detection and how there were potentially thousands of children stolen over the years. We informed him of all that we came across and dealt with, by the end my sight was fully returned.

[Hidden monarch] “this is exactly the sort of results I like from my agents, though I expected it to be less eventful. You pass the last test. Now as for what we’re facing the different color eyes of young adult women suggest changelings, the green monsters as you called them are trolls. I had rid these lands of such things once before, I will do so again though we need to find the hag.”

[morgan] “an old woman?”

[hidden monarch] chuckles. “no, not quite. It’s been some time since anyone dealt with true hags. Dark fey that, well it’s a bit to get into but they’re rarely someone you want as a neighbor. Now please, walk the garden I have matters to attend to and you’ll be called for any interrogation of caela.”

Among the trees and bushes, after walking silently for a while.

[morgan] “so… we did good?”

“yes, we have been successful despite unexpected obstacles.”

[morgan] “well yeah but I mean we did good, like moral good.”

We start to get near a lizardfolk sitting in the garden as well.

“oh, by human standards yes we acted very correct in morals… it’s likely better to serve this country than what the hag has planned for them.”

[morgan] “oh? You actually thinking it’s good that some humans live? Are you being more empathetic?”

“who knows what horrible things would be done or made of them, of course it’s better to have them remain regular and frail humans than being sacrificed for dark magic or whatever their fate would have been.”

The lizard folk waves at us with his one arm. Morgan is frowning at my response, I wasn’t going to be saying anything of liking humans and wishing them well as a people. Halflings, well they did really well at cooking so I could see wanting to- wait one arm?! I whirled to the lizardfolk.

“Kesev?!”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[morgan] “what? OHH! Kesev you survived!”

[kesev] “did you think I wouldn’t?”

“you did lose an arm.”

[morgan] “the blood-loss alone could’ve killed you.”

[kesev] “mmmh, no”

[morgan] what do you mean no?! Are you just going to sit there and say you don’t need blood?”

[kesev] shrugs “well I don’t.”

[morgan] “seriously?! You’re gonna be like that? That was a serious injury and you-”

“morgan, perhaps it would be better to know how he got away?”

[kesev] “I ran.”

[morgan] face getting reddened. “Enough less than five words answers, tell us!”

His head tilted for a bit in silence.

[kesev] “I ran, hid, then got teleported.”

[morgan] Takes a breath closing her eyes for a moment. “That was six words wasn’t it?”

Kesev nods his head.

[morgan] “alright I’m done you two have fun being dumb.”

She strides off as I can see a grin on kesev’s face… I think it was a grin anyways.

“so, missing an arm.”

[kesev] “for now.”

“you’ll get a new one?”

he nods.

“good…”

I stand and he sits as we wait silently; the birds start singing around us. After a while the kobold scion comes up to me.

“hey what’s your name? I forgot it.”

[Ittip] “Ittip, and we never properly introduced. Now both of you follow as we have an interrogation.”

I follow our high-pitched guide, superior? Either way we collect morgan before heading to a different teleport pad and then through corridors of stone with blue light streaming down in cones over the ground. We come into the interrogation room, lit up in red on our side as a cell made of reinforced glass lit in white holds the prisoner. Part of the cell is angled and there’s another room that views the cell from that angle I can see. Though I can’t see who else is watching, my guess was correct and easy though.

[hidden monarch] “Caela you are accused of conspiracy, sedition, kidnapping on mass, aiding enemies of galunsha, and Treason. What do you say for yourself?”

Her clothes were normal, undamaged. It seemed as if she hadn’t resisted at all.

[caela] “wh-what?! N-no there must be a mistake! Please believe me I have done no wrong… a-at least not by conscious choice! I would never willingly work against my homeland!”

Tears streaming down her face as she replies.

Whispering “morgan, you think we might have been wrong about her?”

[morgan] whispering “I hope not.”

[hidden monarch] “your plea has been noted. Your words accounted. For now, you will remain here while the investigation is finished” a slot opens, and a plate slides in with an empty glass. After a moment caela finds a spout to fill the glass with water. Ittip guided us out and into the side room. One half of it lit in red while the other half was dark then back lit by caela’s cell. The monarch had prepared so much just to obscure his looks throughout his… hold?

[hidden monarch] “we may speak freely now. While I suspect you are right about her, I want you to go back and find the evidence. I’m not in the habit of holding for long or passing judgments on my citizens over information that isn’t very sound. I like to err on the side of innocence, even if it means I have to deal with a threat twice. So make this a foregone conclusion, find me all the evidence of her wrongdoing. You have two days as things must move quickly on this now. Please see all three of them out.”

Ittip nods to the monarchs command and escorts us out, through the two teleport pads and back to the city.

[Ittip] “good luck with your search, I have more trolls to burn”

[morgan] “wait do the trolls heal from the fire?”

[Ittip] “no, but they are still very tough despite that… so I just use more powerful fire spells. Good luck and good hunting.”

With that he’s off and we’re left in the street.