“Who are you?” One of them asked. She was a catkin and her tail flicked around nervously.

“I am Amaya, this is my maid Lily and the fox you saw is Lucy. She is from Mervil.”

“Uh… your ladyship, we don’t have giant foxes in Mervil.”

“No need to be formal. And Lucy normally looks like a foxkin. She can change shape. She is a kitsune.” I explained.

The woman looked unconvinced. “What is going to happen to us?” She asked.

“We will escort you back to the village. After that, it’s up to you. I can offer you a job. We are also trying to evacuate the village. Hopefully plenty of people will join us.”

She still seemed wary but a bit less frightened. Hopefully we would be able to recruit some of them. Iris could use some soldiers. She had seemed rather competent when we first met her. It would be nice to see her in command of a force again. I could picture it. Rows and rows of maid knights. It would be glorious.

As we reached the courtyard I frowned. There were more corpses than before.

“What… what happened here?” One of the women asked. The storm above us made the whole scene even more sinister.

“Looks like Shani was busy.” Lily remarked. “She is very thorough.”

Lightning flashed and illuminated the elemental. Her scythe dripped with blood. How could something made of lightning have blood on it? Then again, a blade made of electricity made no sense anyway.

“All who defied the lady shall tremble. I will hunt them down and bathe in their blood, FOR I AM HER WRATH!” Shani screamed. Lighting struck in a circle around her.

The captives started to tremble and hide behind us. “It’s fine, she is with us.” I reassured them.

“Shani, you are frightening the hostages we rescued!” I shouted at her.

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“Sorry!” Shani replied in her normal voice. She hurried over to us. “I was practising for the whole wrath thing! What did you think? Did anyone pee themselves? Was it properly scary?”

“I liked the blood, maybe you should use more.” Lily replied.

“Like literally bathing in blood? Should I carry a tub?”

“No no. I don’t think bathing works with your look. I was thinking more about your face. Maybe a bit around your mouth, slowly dripping down.” Lily suggested.

“Ohhh, I like it!”

I simply stared at the two. At least their conversation was ridiculous enough to calm the women somewhat.

“Shani, what happened while we were inside?” I asked.

“I simply took care of all the guards. I spared the servants I found. I think they all ran away.”

“Are there any horses? Or carriages? We should take them.”

“I think I saw something like that.” Shani pondered.

That was when a wall in the upper part of the keep exploded. A smoking body followed and hit the ground in the distance. A fox's head poked out of the hole.

“I got him!” Lucy said. “There are a few more slaves here. I am going to escort them down.”

“Lily, please help her. I am not sure if her current form is ideal for the job.”

“Yes, my lady.” Lily ran into the building.

I escorted the freed women out of the castle, to get them away from the bodies. Then I sat up a table with drinks and snacks. I was hoping it would help them relax. Maybe it just made me look weird. I debated if I should look for horses we could use. But then I would have to leave them with Shani. Probably not the best idea. I also retracted my aura, the storm was not helping.

Then I simply waited. Some of the women tried the offered food after a slight hesitation. They started talking with each other. I tried not to listen, it was none of my business. Soon more slaves arrived. Three men and two women. I unlocked their collars and tried to reassure them.

Shani had ventured back inside to look for horses. At least I hoped that was what she did. I had to extend her summoning because the spell was running out. And she clearly wanted to stay a bit longer.

Lucy arrived as well, still in her fox form. “I want to destroy the keep.” She announced. “Getting that bastard was not enough, I want to cleanse this place.”

“Sure, but wait until Lily is finished. She is still looting I think. We certainly want all the horses and carriages they have. Especially if we are trying to evacuate the village.”

“Good point, I will help her.” Lucy said and went back inside.

Lily did good work and retrieved one carriage and two wagons. She even managed to calm the horses. Soon we had a little caravan prepared and were ready to leave. Lily also found other useful things, like clothing that could fit Iris and Minerva.

Lucy jumped on top of the wall. She still had a castle to destroy. Well, more like the keep. I watched in awe as lightning surrounded her body. Her eyes glowed, her tail was raised and a second one formed, made out of purple electricity. Then she unleashed the biggest bolt of lightning I had ever seen from her mouth.

The keep exploded, violently. I summoned a barrier of wind to protect our caravan from any debris. Lucy looked smug as she jumped down from the wall.

“Was that a spell?” I asked.

“It was a version of Storm’s Judgement.” She confirmed. “Using magic while transformed feels a bit different.”

“You briefly had a second tail.” I said.

“Really?” She turned her head and looked at her rear. “A shame I did not see it myself. Maybe I can do that consciously somehow?” She wondered.

While Lucy contemplated her newest discovery, we left the smoking ruin behind and started our journey back to the village.