Myrna stuck out her head curiously from behind the thick cloth that covered the front side of the carriage, but the cold air and freezing fog quickly made her return. Ian was preparing something on the magical stove and it smelled delicious.

"Don't bother with looking around. The magic fog will disturb your perception." Myrna smiled awkwardly at him. "What?"

"Sorry, Ian, it is just so strange... The way you speak now and how you look..." She sat down and fixed her clothes, but he just smiled.

Ian promised her new clothes as soon as they reached Avalon. It was so strange to see that her childhood friend had changed so much.

"I hope you like these scrambled eggs." He gave her a full plate of food, still with the same warm smile she remembered from childhood.

She had never seen so much food in one place, but the rumbling in her stomach convinced her to start eating. It was simply delicious. Myrna looked at him and saw his concerned gaze. She quickly followed it and, terrified, she discovered her brand was now exposed to the world. She tried to cover it with her hand, but Ian caught her in an iron grip.

"Myrna... Why didn’t you tell me?" He asked seriously.

"What would change if I had, Ian?" She looked away with tears in her eyes.

"Who did this to you?" He asked with a scary voice.

"Jensen," she replied immediately and covered her face.

"How...? Who is Jensen?" The racking movement of the wagon came to a halt.

"He is the son of the mayor… Ian, please... Don't..." She tried to resist, but he was persistent.

"No, Myrna. You will tell me everything he did!"

•••

Idna played with her wolf in the town square. He tried to fetch snowballs for her, but most of the time, he crushed them in his jaws. She looked at the large clock at the town hall and then towards the gatehouse in anticipation. Ian and his group should return any moment now. The distant rumbling of horseshoes on the bridge made her smile; as always, he was punctual. Twelve wagons arrived at the designated zone, where older kids started changing horses just as Ian emerged from the last wagon. He was holding a human woman by her hand, but when Idna looked at his face, her smile quickly changed into a frown of concern. She watched as furious Ian was ordering all villagers to get out of the carriages. She decided to go closer.

"Miss Idna! Please, take care of Myrna." He tried to smile, but his eyes were full of rage when he pointed at the poor girl he towed behind.

"Of course, sir!" She pulled out a warm blanket from her ring of holding and covered the trembling girl.

"Everything is fine now, Miss Myrna! You are in Avalon."

"Thank you, Miss Idna..." He nodded to her and turned his head towards the frightened villagers.

"JENSEN KILP!" The ominous roar echoed in the plaza as one of the men tried to hide behind three women much younger than him. The older man stepped up instead and looked at Ian with fear and hatred.

"What do you want from my son?" He eyed Ian and very quickly he added, "Sir?"

"Jensen Kilp, where are you?" Ian ignored the older man, slowly walking towards the three women and the coward behind them.

Idna took a closer look at the women and instantly pitied them. They were bruised and had swollen eyes; it was obvious they were victims of abuse. Idna pursed her lips, understanding that Miss Myrna was not trembling from the cold but from fear.

The older man crossed Ian's path and looked at the much taller man with open hatred now.

"I don't care what this bitch told you, but my son is inno..." He started, but Ian pushed him away with one hand.

"Get out of my face!" Ian's voice was cold and uncaring. "This is your last chance, Jensen Kilp! Where are you?!"

The three women suddenly gasped for air and looked around as if some spell had been broken before darting away, exposing the man who was curled up on the ground. He growled at them, but they had already run away toward the two knights that were standing between the wagons. The three women quickly hid as four other knights silently moved towards them.

"Are you Jensen Kilp?" Ian was standing over the man, who dropped to his knees.

"Mercy... I beg you..." He raised his hands towards Ian.

"Disgusting filth..." Ian raised his hand but then suddenly turned towards Idna and knelt.

Idna looked around in surprise, noticing that Queen Amber and Queen Irene were standing right next to her. Idna’s eyes shone with excitement as she realized that near them was a group of Praetorian Guards. Praetorians in Everlight were a very rare sight to behold and there were no less than ten of them in front of her. She blatantly gazed upon them to remember each detail so she would be able to draw them later, before realizing she should kneel as well. When Idna tried to kneel, Queen Irene gestured at her to come closer.

"What's the meaning of this, Ian?" Queen Amber looked down at the kneeling man.

"My Queen! During the return to Avalon, I discovered that the person who I thought had died was alive all this time. But her life has been a nightmare! This man, Jensen Kilp, is accused of assaulting and raping her multiple times, along with many more disgusting practices."

"Continue your interrogation, Ian," Queen Irene's voice was colder than the winter air. She made a few quick steps towards Idna and asked her with a lowered voice. "Which one of them is Myrna?"

"It's her, my Queen."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

•••

Myrna looked into the face of a beautiful Elf woman, unable to move. She was breathing slowly when the gentle touch of golden light encompassed her. With growing shock, Myrna noticed the golden halo manifesting right over Queen's head. She felt an incredible warmth inside her and a burning sensation in her wounds. The pain in her arm finally broke Myrna's stupor, and she almost screamed in agony, clawing her burning arm and revealing the humiliating brand of a sex slave. But the deep and torturing brand burned in her skin by this monster and sadist Jensen changed into black thick tar that started to drip down to the ground. Myrna covered her mouth and felt her tears trickle when she finally understood what was going on.

She was being healed.

She dropped to her knees in tears when a wave of relief washed away all the pain she had endured for so long. Myrna felt the gentle hands holding her and she looked into the smiling face of the Nekomi woman who had given her the blanket. She looked up at the woman who healed her and saw a face full of compassion.

"Thank you, my Queen..." she managed to whisper.

•••

Amber decided to simply stand back. After Ian accused the man of rape, Amber knew Irene would take that personally. There was a very pretty big chance she would just order the offender to be executed immediately, but at least Amber could make sure Ian interrogated that man first. Hmmm... Does Ian even have interrogation skills? She wasn't entirely sure, so she focused and summoned Stella, who most certainly did. She came closer to Ian who was standing over a kneeling man but focused purely on Jensen instead. He was an unassuming human, with unhealthy, almost grey skin. He was, however, well fed and his clothes were better than others from his village. Amber was standing a few steps behind Ian when she noticed that Jensen was gazing straight at her, only pretending to be afraid. She felt very uncomfortable, as if this man was undressing her with his eyes.

"Enough! Ian!" She shouted with fury.

Jensen smirked and started rising from his knees. Amber, with absolute disgust, raised her hand. Ian slapped Jensen's cheek in response, sending him back to the ground.

"You are guilty of attempting to mind control me! Guards! Arrest this man!" Amber almost hissed this sentence.

"You will be thrown into the prison where trash like you belong! Later on, the King of Avalon will decide your fate."

Two Praetorians snatched the man and took him away despite the protest of his father, but all the other villagers looked around with smug satisfaction and poorly masked happiness. Amber glanced at the three women still hidden behind the knights and she delicately nodded towards them. Ian bowed to her and slowly approached them.

•••

Ian's wrath was reaching its limits and only the presence of his Queens stopped him from killing that piece of shit. He quickly approached the scared trio of women and tried to calm them down.

"You don't have to worry. He won't hurt you again. You are free."

"We are not, my Lord," one of them replied with tears. "He had us as slave-wives and we are forced to endure this by the World’s Words. There is no hope for us... Please, end this suffering..."

Ian clenched his fists and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He needed to take a deep breath to calm himself. After a moment, he smiled coldly and let out a short, humourless laugh.

"Don't worry... The King will be informed of what he tried to do."

•••

"OFF WITH HIS FUCKING HEAD! RIGHT! FUCKING! NOW!" I yelled towards one of my Pretorians while I hugged Amber. I was furious when I learnt about that piece of absolute trash.

"Theon..." Luna wanted to say something, but I saw the wrath in her eyes as well. "Damn it! It's so easy to say that you shouldn't just kill him... But I would kill him as well!"

"I never was in any real danger. I am immune to such low tricks," Amber stated calmly. I could only admire how calm she was. "What did you do with people like that in your previous world, anyway?"

"Darling, it's not about where he could have succeeded or not. The very fact that he even fucking tried is a crime." I replied, calming a bit. "What did we do with them? We imprisoned them."

"For how long?"

"Ten, maybe fifteen years? I don't really remember." I looked at Amber and scratched my head. "Ok... Fine. I know where this is going. Just bring them to the throne room."

•••

I was sitting on the throne, not really in any humour for bullshit like this. Amber was sitting on my right side with Irene and Luna at my left. I realized this was the first time we were sitting like this in what should be considered an official affair, which angered me even more. I had so many things to do on my list right now, and yet I was sitting on my ass and waiting for everyone to take their places. The offender, Jensen Kilp, was standing right in front of the ten wide steps that lead to thrones. I looked at the four women and Ian, who stood between them and that monster called Jensen. The hall was filled with people who wanted to witness the trial, their hushed talks echoing in the impressive room...

Caster: Jensen Kilp

Class: Witch doctor

Level: 25

"Now you’ve fucking done it..." I sighed while looking at the World System notification as silence fell upon the room. "I wanted to give you a fair trial, but by your action just now, I deem it unnecessary."

Jensen straightened up as if he expected to be released at any moment. I could feel how incredibly stressed his victims were. The four young girls were now perfectly healed and were wearing new clothes. They were looking at me with fear mixed with hope. I moved my gaze upon Ian, whose killing intent I could feel from afar.

"Jensen Kilp, you are guilty of attempting to mind control Queen Amber. You are guilty of attempting to mind control me. To keep any semblance of a trial, I ask you. Have you used mind control over these women?"

He looked at me in terror now, simply not understanding what was going on. But he was also ignoring my question. Luna hissed like an angry cat, and hot wrath filled my veins.

"RESPOND TO ME, YOU FILTH!" My roar filled the hall and finally, Jensen spoke.

"No!" Even though his answer was abrupt, his voice was unpleasant and slimy.

"This is a lie... You can't lie to me. I know immediately whenever you try. Did you rape these women?"

"No!" His voice was desperate.

"A lie once again." I shook my head, realizing even he couldn't believe his own lie...

"Jensen Kilp, I find you guilty of all charges and sentence you to death. Take him away." I waved my hand in disgust.

I waited a few moments until my Praetorians took away that filth of a man and looked at the now happy women. I looked at Ian, who clenched his fist and after a few more moments went toward me and kneeled, with anger still painted on his face.

"I beg for permission to speak, my Liege!"

"Speak, my Knight." I smiled faintly. That one was new. Ian asking for permission to speak?

"Allow me to execute that scum myself, my Lord!" I looked at him and the weighted decision that should have been easy. But my skills raised an alarm that it might not end well for Ian.

"My knight, I see your resolve and I hear your request. But that man is not worthy to die in an honourable way." I saw him nodding and slowly exhaling. I turned my gaze upon the four women. "I will ask you instead. Should I cast him into the Goblin Dungeon? Should I send him to the shadow realm? Or maybe I should allow Ian to cut that man's head off?"

They did not need much time to decide, and I saw the satisfied smiles on their faces. "Let him suffer... May goblins kill him and feast on his body!"