After the meeting ended we returned to our tent. My skin was still itching but it was mostly healed by now. Lucy’s family was waiting for us.

“Lucy, Amaya, I am so glad you are alright!” Lynn said, while hugging her daughter.

“The explosion was quite troublesome.” Alister added.

“It was cool! A bit scary, but cool.” Ben added.

“No Ben! Explosions are not cool. It was terrifying. Your sister could have been hurt!” Lynn said.

“Big sis is stronger than any explosion!” Ben insisted.

“It was not that bad. My fur was stronger than the explosion. Amaya got a bit crispy though.” Lucy said while pointing at me.

I had replaced my burnt clothing by now. A storage item was very useful.

“You need to get yourself better armour dear. You are way too exposed!” Lynn pointed out.

“I do heal quickly. But maybe a set of full plate mail would be useful.” I could have used Mantus’ armour myself. But it was better in Lily’s hands. She needed the protection more. I could deal with a bit of pain, if my friends stayed safe.

“You should fight in your cat form.” Lucy suggested. “Being a fox is really helpful. You just have to carry something to rinse your mouth after turning back. Things taste different in your humanoid form.”

Lynn’s eyes narrowed. “What have you been eating?”

“Uh…” Lucy looked a bit embarrassed now.

“She was chewing demons.” I said.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“They were large! I had to bite their tentacles off.” Lucy defended herself.

“How does demon taste?” Ben asked.

“That is not relevant! We are not eating demons!” Lynn insisted.

“Can we bathe in their blood?” Ben asked.

Lynn sighed. “No, that is not something we do. Blood is filthy.” Then she looked at us. “Is this war over now?”

I shook my head. “Sadly, no. But we found out who led the Inquisition. Let us clean up and we can tell you the whole story.”

They agreed. We quickly rinsed ourselves with water. Battles were not very clean. Although the fire did get rid of a lot of other things, it also resulted in me smelling of burning flesh. Not the most pleasant odor.

We settled down inside our tent after we were finished cleaning up. We had comfortable furs to sit on and I brought a plate of food. And a barrel of ale. Then we told the story of our battle.

Ben was really excited about the fighting, his parents were more concerned about the politics.

“You carried the emperor on your back?” Alister looked shocked. “And he is your prisoner?”

“Will he become a maid?” Ben asked.

“No. He will not become a maid.” I said.

“It’s… it’s hard to believe.” Lynn said. “Our little girl defeated the emperor.”

“It was not really me. I think Lily beat him up, mostly. With the help of Erin.” Lucy clarified.

“He was mostly talk. Surprisingly weak for a ruler.” I mused. It was surprising that powerful mages would obey the man. Maybe they feared his artefacts. Or maybe nobody was aware of his lack of power and they were not willing to test him. Then again, he might have been a convenient puppet. Why did Beira not just put runes on him? Hopefully his interrogation would get us some information.

Lynn and Alister looked overwhelmed. They clearly did not like their former ruler but they had lived in the Empire their entire lives. A certain amount of respect had likely been drilled into them from a young age. And the fear of repercussions for any criticism.

“What will happen now?” Alister asked.

“No idea.” Lucy said.

“Big sis can become emperor!” Ben suggested.

“No. I will settle with Amaya in her county.” Lucy said.

“This fight is not over. Beira is still out there, the Inquisition still has forces and holds territory. We won’t know what will be left of the Empire when the war is over. We still don’t know how much influence Beira has in Beravis. She could control an organisation there for all we know.” I pointed out.

The future of the Empire was still uncertain. Would there even be an Empire? Would small kingdoms form instead? Maybe Beravis had plans to get some territory. It would be awkward, with no direct connection. The mountains were too dangerous, one would have to travel by boat. Or through the wastes, another inhospitable place. I did not think that the dwarves wanted a part of it but Maybe they would back a local ruler.

“Actually, what happened to Alexander? And he is the 3rd prince, what happened to the other two? Were they in the palace? Or elsewhere?” I wondered.

Lucy shrugged. “No idea. Not sure if I care.” She took a bite of her sandwich, then washed it down with ale. “This is so much better than demon. Although I did sort of get used to the taste. There was a bad liquid in those tentacles. The other parts were sort of ok.”

“Don’t talk about eating demons! Shani is already bad enough with her blood.” Lynn complained.

I smiled at their antics.