Coquelicot had nodded off in her chair and awoke to a knock on the door.

“Madame high inquisitor… We have a problem… Please help.” The elf scout pleaded from the other side of the door.

Coquelicot sighed, gestured for Cyan to keep an eye on Anastacia and opened the door.

“What now? I have…” She said before being silenced by sheer confusion.

Twenty or so goblins had shoved themselves into the small corridor leading to the room. A couple of them were trying to climb on the elf but he shook them off. When they noticed Coquelicot, they fell silent and one stepped forth to speak to her. It was wearing a headband made of what was clearly Anastacia’s hair.

“OH! Woman of too many hands! Goblins have come for forest queen! Humans help queen?” The critter spoke.

“What?” The confused inquisitor asked. “The forest queen? Do you mean Anastacia?”

The goblin pushed her leg aside and entered the room. It took a look around the room and spotted Anastacia. As the creature was about to climb onto the bed, Cyan picked it up, which didn’t please it at all and it started flailing at him.

“Damn it, Cyan, put it the fuck down! You do not want to anger goblins needlessly. They’d probably burn down this whole village or something.” Coquelicot commanded and rushed to take the creature from Cyan and place it on the bed. “I’d rather fight ten dragons than this many goblins.”

“Woman of too many hands good! Could play many drums!” The goblin noted and took a look at Anastacia. “Forest queen okay?”

After trying to shake Anastacia awake, without results, it jumped down from the bed and instructed its fellow goblins to gather gifts for their queen, so she’d wake up. The goblins spread all over the village and Its surroundings, causing a wave of theft in their wake.

“How help queen?” The goblin asked after sending out its tribe.

“We did what we could right now, but I sent out people to get us a priestess that can probably do more. Anastacia shouldn’t be in any danger anymore.” Coquelicot answered. “Now, goblin, tell me what you know. Why is Anastacia suddenly your queen?”

Coquelicot sat back down to her chair and poured herself a last stale cup of tea. She noticed how the goblin’s eyes were fixed on the teapot and decided to hand it to the creature, who began eating the ground leaves from it.

“Gobby found queen in forest, good bride for forest king! So now forest queen! Queen talk a lot with king and Gobby. She often sad, someone die.” The goblin explained.

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“I see… So you’re Gobby? And who is this forest king?” The inquisitor continued questioning.

“Didn’t meet? King carry queen here. Why no skin in hands?” Gobby wondered.

They continued to converse for hours, until Coquelicot more or less knew what had happened during the time Anastacia was missing. She avoided questioning the goblin about Alizarin, because she wanted to know the whole story from Anastacia herself.

The sun was starting to set. Coquelicot watched the goblin horde run around the village through a window. They had piled up some gifts for their queen, basically anything shiny, like tools or pretty stones.

The gate guard looked at Alice and Duke, trying to figure out if they could be let in. The Valor city guard had been informed to be on the lookout for any individuals in red robes, and changing into blue ones seemed like an obvious attempt to deceive them. The guard also thought the two looked kind of necromancey.

“You say you just want to visit an inn quickly? For what reason? For all I know, you two could be evil necromancers we’ve been told to watch out for.” The guard said.

“For fuck's sake, it’s been like half an hour! Just let us in! If we were evil necromancers, you would have been dealt with ages ago!” Alice yelled. She had been arguing with the guard for a while already.

“Look, we just need a get a priestess by the name of Emilia. Our friend is hurt and we think she would be able to help.” Duke tried.

“Oh! why didn’t you say so? She should be in the inn over there.” The guard told them and pointed at Rosie’s inn.

“What?... WHAT!? NOW YOU JUST LET US IN?!” Alice yelled at the guard but was pulled away by Duke. “You’re the worst guard ever!”

The inn was full as usual, but barely anyone was talking. Rosie was half asleep behind the counter and Gilbert was sitting at a nearby table with Emilia and Dammar. All four spotted the incomers and recognized them as necromancers.

“Blue ones huh? Haven’t seen you before. Which side are you on?” Gilbert asked and walked up to them.

“Madame Coquelicot sent us. We found Anastacia but she’s kinda banged up, apparently there’s a priestess here who could help?” Duke explained. “Oh, and we also need fried chicken and stuff, it’s imperative to her recovery.”

Gilbert lifted up the scrawny necromancer by the neck.

“You’ve found Anna?! You better not be lying!” Gilbert threatened him.

“I’m not! She’s with Coquelicot and one of our teammates right now. But before we got to her, something bruised her up and she’s unconscious. That’s why we need the priestess!” Duke said as he tried to struggle free. “The rest of you need to wait here though, we don’t want to make a commotion. No doubt someone is watching the city for our enemies.”

Gilbert released him and turned to look at Emilia.

“Of course I’ll go!” The priestess said and got up.

While Rosie prepared the food Coquelicot had ordered and Emilia prepared for the trip, Duke explained every last detail he knew about what had happened. Alice stayed silent the whole time and just stared at Gilbert.

They said their farewells and left with Emilia. As soon as the inn door closed behind them Alice opened up.

“Hey priestess… Who is that big guy? He was so cool! He’s not married, is he?” The female necromancer pried.

“That’s Gilbert, he’s kind of like our leader. And no, he’s not married…” Emilia answered.

“Damn it Alice! He’s like three times older than you! You need to calm down.” Duke remarked.

They continued to bicker over Alice’s taste in men for a good while.

Emilia was slightly unnerved by the undead horses they used. The bones were engraved similarly to Anastacia’s daggers, and all she could think about was why Anastacia hadn’t done the same to avoid walking. But she didn’t know much about necromancy so maybe it just wasn’t possible for Anastacia to do that. It was a bit gross but would have been handy.