"I'll try.", Adam responded as he pulled it out as he looked into it. "Hopefully, if indeed Tremaine has something in mind, we'll know ahead of time, as well as she doesn't know we have this.", he chuckled at the thought of just how much Tremaine probably underestimated them.
Adam then politely asked the mirror to show him, and he raised an eyebrow, "Wow, okay, King Edward was right in his warning. The townspeople are quite terrified and cowered of the mercenaries. I only can see a few of them in black. For their rank as mercenaries in this world, they tend to wear black. Oh, gods, I don't need to see that! Moving on! I don't see Tremaine anywhere...Okay, that's Lord Mortimer, King Mickey's brother-in-law. He's really under lock and key so the townspeople are unable to rebel and all.", as he spoke and looked up on and off to the team.
Emma blinked in surprise, "No shield at all?", and Adam shook his head, "No. Tremaine must think that Willow's End is useless to her, only useful to her mercenaries.".
"That might be good for us.", Silver said. "Of course; if we show up, those mercs will more than likely try to make a move on us. Either that or they flee back to Tremaine.".
"Meaning if any of them escape, Tremaine will know we're practically on her doorstep already.", Haku bit his lip in thought.
Jim frowned lightly, "I know your dragon forms are wicked fast and dangerous when needed, but what about the townspeople? If the mercs make a move somehow, they would put a peasant in danger as defense...".
"Damn, you're right about that.", Logan cursed at the thought. More than likely, those mercs would indeed resort to those tactics if things came that way.
"Well, one thing for sure, we're not going to relax for the evening with them there.", Jasmine sighed.
Pippa nodded, "True. All the same, there must be a safe place we can eat and rest.", and Adam checked the mirror, "Well, from what I can tell, there's one inn that the mercenaries seem to avoid for some reason. Oh, that explains a lot. Turns out the owner himself is a skunk shapeshifter. He keeps his tail out all the time.".
"Hmm... interesting decision. Either we pick a fight tonight or could have it tomorrow. More than likely, they'll figure us out soon enough so a fight might not be unavoidable.", Logan guessed.
Eilonwy spoke, "So, are we going to this skunk shapeshifter's inn then?", and Emma spoke, "We can't risk staying in an abandoned barn outside town. An inn has less opportunities for a merc to attack, with other people possibly seeing something during the night, alerting the rest of us. How many people in Willow's End, Adam?".
Adam looked again, "About 1,000 people. So, everybody essentially knows everyone more or less.", with a nod. "Which means the mercs easily will know about us after a night at least.", Zuri snorted.
"Well, we certainly will need the rest once we arrive; bit rough to fight after riding a horse all day.", Jim said as he adjusted himself on the saddle while patting his horse's head.
Silver chuckled, "Couldn't agree more, Jimbo.", and Emma smiled softly, and Zuri nodded, "Let's keep going on this path.". With brief breaks to eat some dried snacks for lunch and water at a stream, and like Emma said, they made it to Willow's End shortly before sunset.
Emma nodded, "Remember, team, don't say more than what you need to say.", and the United Talons nodded in agreement before they headed into the town itself. In comparison to Earth, Willow's End is like the slums of Iraq, and Central Park combined.
Literally, there's a mass of prostitutes at every building, calling out and showing off their assets in skimpy outfits. The marketplace is bare in pieces everywhere.
"I wonder what this place was like before the war. Must have been nicer.", Jason sighed as they rode by. "Truly a terrible sight...", Jasmine sighed.
"War destroys everything in its path. No one is unaffected.", Emma shook her head. Pippa gave a low growl, remembering what Creeper nearly did to her, and Adam rubbed her shoulder, whispering, "I ain't letting anyone touch you, remember? I'm right here, your friends are right here.".
Pippa gave a small smile at him, nodding as she squeezed Adam's hand momentarily, and straightened up to look forward, ignoring the prostitutes as best as she could. Pippa fared better, but Logan was more furious, remembering the illusion back in his mental test. He knew it was fake, but it felt so real when he was raped against his will.
Jasmine grabbed his hand, speaking quickly, "Hey, hey, look at me, you're free. You are in charge of yourself, Logan. You got this.".
"Thanks, Jazz.", Logan sighed as he gave her a loving look. He was alright now, and thanks to her, he'd be okay once everything would be done, if they survived. After all, there's no chance guaranteed that they would make it through this war. But he put that aside, focus on the now, he thought to himself as they kept going.
"Are we almost there?", Haku asked Adam. Adam spoke quietly, "The mirror showed me the name of the inn. It's called Silver Willow Inn, with a stripe of black and white under the name.".
"Fitting.", Logan snorted at the skunk motif there. After a few more minutes of going through the town, they found it, but it looked fairly rough on the outside. "This is it?", Pippa asked. "Looks like a mess.".
Emma snorted, "Don't judge a book by its cover, or an inn by its looks, I should say.", before glancing at Jim, "See to the horses, kiddo.", and Jim nodded, "Yes, ma'am.", as the team got off their horses, heading into the inn to seek some rooms and dinner.
Across the street, a young teenager girl with long, black hair and dark brown eyes is staring at the team, especially Logan. A mercenary is behind her, but undercover, pretending to caress and whisper sweet nothings into her ear while he is actually manipulating her.
"See what you like, sweet, naive Lilo? I know you have a shift in that inn. If you slip one of my homemade potions into one of their drinks, I'll back off from your big sister. After all, I hear that she is desperate for money.", he chuckled deviously.
Lilo knew she had little choice with the matter; she cared for her older sister and would do anything for her; even if it was the most morally wrong thing she could ever do. "I understand, Garn.", Lilo sighed as he licked her neck.
Garn nodded with a grin, "Good girl. Now, get going, and be patient if you must, but be sure that your target is locked on you all night. Find out his secrets, expose him, and inform me of what you heard in the morning tomorrow, understand?", slipping the vial of the potion into the pocket of her skirt.
Lilo sighed as she nodded and just waited for the right moment. If she could help Nani, she would and hopefully things might work out for them. If not; she honestly was on her last legs and one more dirty touch from Garn that would end with him taking a knife to the chest at her own hands. It would be a death sentence for her, but she'd rather die than deal with him much longer.
Lilo then headed off into the inn, hearing her boss calling her, "Ah, Lilo! Good timing. Can you make some dinner for our new guests? I'm to take them to their rooms to secure their things and such, alright?".
Lilo nodded, giving out a fake, wide smile, "Sure thing, Roma. The usual, yeah?", and Roma the skunk shapeshifter nodded, "Yep, and oh, if you do a good job with dessert, I can give a bit extra to your usual pay, alright?".
"Thanks.", Lilo gave a small smile, trying to make sure that nothing was off as she went to work. Now wasn't the right time, but soon... it would hopefully all work out for her and Nani.
A while later, after the entire United Talons team are satisfied with their rooms and the horses all settled, they headed downstairs to the inn's small dining room that's surrounded by the fireplace.
Lilo, along with a couple of other people went to serve the usual residents and the new guests, smiling and serving them dinner, observing that three couples in the team are in love with their spouses next to them including Lilo's target, Logan. The girl next to him looks quite beautiful and happy, giggling at a joke he said.
Noticing that as she went to make the drinks for all the occupants, she was full of thoughts on what to do...
Lilo took a deep breath as she went through the drinks, trying to think of when a good time would be to make sure he drinks and locks eyes with her. But the other girl he was with... it was paining her to watch and knowing how much she could destroy them all just because she had to do this.
She peeked over the counter, seeing Logan tenderly loving the other girl with a gentle kiss on the cheek, and the other girl smiled at him, kissing him on the lips before resting on his shoulder, and Logan cuddling her close with a loving smile, his eyes sparkling happily.
Lilo's heart wrenched, having seen the same thing between Nani and David two years ago before the town was attacked, and changed almost overnight. Nani and Lilo witnessed David getting sold as a slave by force, and sent off to someplace far south, and Lilo had to hear her big sister's cries at night while witnessing that Nani was made to pleasure any of the mercenaries by day.
But Garn, he has been on Nani more often than any other mercenary buddy of his...No, Lilo cannot see another forced break-up. She looked again and judged the other men in love with their spouses. The long-haired man is handsome, but his woman is shorter than Lilo...And then there's the cyborg man, he's basically as tall as Logan, and his woman is close to Lilo's body shape.
She decided to waste the potion... on the cyborg man and the woman that was close to him. If Garn was watching, she might be able to fool him and make him think that Lilo has gotten to the leader of the group. Of course, there was the issue of what she was going to say to Garn come morning, but she felt at least somewhat confident that she could weave enough of a tale to fool him.
With a nod and a deep breath, she brought out the potion, pouring half and half into the cyborg man and his woman's drinks in the silver cups, glad that the glass cups for each pair of guests were different to tell apart.
Lilo then headed out with the tray of the guests' drinks, placing them at their tables, finally reaching the cyborg man and his woman's table, for it's the last one, with a polite, respectful smile, putting down the dosed drinks, hearing their thanks, and responded, "You're very welcome, sir and ma'am.", before leaving the table, and as soon as she got behind the counter, she peeked carefully to watch with interest and anxiety.
She hoped the two of them would keep looking at each other while they drenched their thirst; if not, she would make things much worse for sure. The two of them finally sipped not too long after that and thankfully, she took a deep sigh as she saw that the two of them still kept eye contact with each other as they drank.
The potion itself is an extreme love potion, made by Garn, and Lilo knows that, thanks to all the info she heard around town, but the team doesn't. The love potion forces people to suddenly fall in love with the first face they see, and of course, all that follows, and the following morning is lots of screaming, regrets, horrified faces, like a married wife with an unmarried man, a straight woman with a gay man, etc.
But for people in love when they have the same potion, it really depends on the potency of the love potion, and nobody really knows if it increases the nature of love within the couple or forces them to seek for passionate intimacy and beyond, or something else entirely.
In this case, Lilo almost couldn't even tell a difference. She wondered if maybe Garn got it wrong and the potion was merely a dud, but it appeared that it was working as the cyborg and his love were getting a bit closer to each other than they were before, but nothing too much out of the ordinary she observed. Were they already so in love with each other? Lilo wondered.
John whispered quietly, "Ye look beautiful in the firelight, Emma.", feeling something stir through his body, looking at Emma with so much love in his eyes; flesh and cyborg as his faint Scottish accent is coming strongly through his voice.
"And you look even better in the firelight yourself, John.", Emma chuckled as she snuggled against him. Thankfully his wounds had mostly healed so she could be able to put more of her body weight against him without having to worry about injuring him further.
John kissed her temple, his nose taking into Emma's scent, and he suddenly smelled something so sweet and tempting, feeling his loins grow tighter, and his mind screamed at him, urging him to take Emma, to bed her, to make her his woman through and through.
He leaned in to kiss her on the lips intensely yet slowly, having a bit of a consciousness to know that there are eyes on them, and he whispered, "You wanna take this somewhere else?", unknowing that the potion is slowly yet strongly blinding him to nothing else, only on Emma.
"You sure you want to? I mean... I don't know if the walls are really thick.", Emma chuckled as the two of them just stood up and started heading straight for their room.
"Wouldn't have made more sense to do it back at the castle?", Jason teased as the group could easily tell what those two were about to do.
Emma spoke nothing but smiled wryly, dragging John to their room, leaving the group, and Jasmine glanced at Logan, "I thought they wanted to wait, like after the war, and plus, there's mercenaries out there.", with confusion and concern, even if she's happy for the couple.
"Who knows?", Logan shrugged. "They want to do it, fine, hopefully they just will keep it down and not alert the whole town.".
"That wouldn't be a good idea... though it might distract the mercs in a way, not think we're a threat and all?", Jasmine suggested.
Pippa looked at Jasmine, "Perhaps. Either way, Emma and Silver are adults, and besides, would you want to stop them? I wouldn't want to get on Emma's bad side, especially when she's stubborn.".
Haku nodded, "She's right. And they're smart. They will find a way in mind for Silver. He is strong, but he has to watch himself, especially when he's still got a bit left for healing.". Jason smirked, "That's for sure. And Roma said that the inn gets noisy, but with signs on the doors, the guests can let anyone else know. You know, 'Private', 'No knocking', all that jazz.".
"For one way or another.", Jim admitted as the thought all crossed them that most of the noises, at least in other inns around town, might be because of the mercenaries having their fun with desperate women trying to get some money or for their survival.
Eilonwy nodded, "Luckily, Silver and Emma are doing it out of love, not survival or money, and that's the major difference between them and the mercenaries.".
Zuri chuckled, "That's very true, Eilonwy.", checking the time and the windows, "Care to do a little recon, guys?".
"Sounds good to me.", Adam nodded, and the team went out to patrol the surroundings around the inn, with Jasmine speaking quietly with Pippa on the way out, "Do you think Emma planned for this? Changing Silver's mind? Logan told me that there's things that women take to make sure they cannot get pregnant back on Earth, and well, I don't recall Emma asking me for the anti-pregnancy herb elixir here.".
"Not sure. Maybe a good idea to quickly get that to her in the next few hours.", Pippa said. "Last thing we need to worry about is one of us being pregnant; especially her. If we want to win, we're really going to need everyone at their full strength with each battle.".
Jasmine nodded, "I know the ingredients, but we have to be careful at the shops. I don't even know if they're open at this point.", with a frown. "I can imagine if it was another man, she would possibly consider abortion, but with Silver...The elixir is supposed to be taken a few hours before/during the act...Considering the fact that Willow's End is practically a prostitute town by force, the ingredients would have been highly demanded.".