"Here she is!" The mercenary pointed, a hand on her hip as if proud of her own memory. Corrin caught up to see the back of a rickety old carriage, folding wooden worktops set out as a makeshift counter. A sinister-looking cauldron was filled with a still, green liquid. There didn't seem to be anyone there but squinting through the clutter Corrin could indeed see someone moving near the back. The figure peered over a stack of books, clearly intrigued by the shout of Selena. Wordlessly, the figure shuffled out of the gloom, carefully navigating the assorted junk lying around. Corrin looked to the side to see Beruka arriving, with the small Camilla in her arms. She put her liege down in a somehow smooth, professional manner despite their shrunken sizes.
"Oh? Customers at this hour?" the hoarse voice of an elderly woman. Her posture bent, she looked at the group through round glasses. Standing behind the counter, she addressed the one person she recognized.
"Ah, it's you again dear. Who is this handsome young man with you?"
"Never mind that!" Selena shouted, "what was in that freaky potion you gave me the other day?"
"Potion?" the elderly woman was momentarily confused, "ah, yes, I remember. The one for your friend?"
"Yes, that one!" Selena yelled impatiently, "look what it's done to us!" She stood to the side, gesturing at Beruka and Camilla.
"My word!" The lady raised her eyebrows upon seeing the foot-tall Camilla, "what on earth made you like that?"
"Your stupid potion!" Selena shouted before Camilla could answer, "can't you cure it, or whatever?!"
"My potion did this?" The old woman frowned.
"I'm afraid so," Camilla answered, "it has made all three of us smaller over a matter of hours."
"An effect like this?" The lady muttered to herself, "I thought it would just be a poison, but perhaps this is better..."
"What did you say?" Corrin didn't like what little he could hear of that utterance.
The woman ignored him, standing up straight. She raised a hand in the air.
"Now, you fools!" She shouted. Suddenly, ninja jumped out from various containers surrounding the group. Corrin went for his weapon but was wrestled to the table by two of them. Selena was grabbed from behind. Beruka fared a bit better, always on the lookout for an ambush. She landed a punch on the first ninja, but the second assisted his friend and she was quickly overwhelmed. Camilla was distraught, her brother and retainers had been taken down so quickly. Filled with rage, she attacked one of the ninja restraining Corrin. Landing multiple frustrated blows, she was too weak to prove much of an inconvenience to the man. Her assault was halted when a hand wrapped around her waist and her feet left the ground. The princess in hand, the elderly woman sneered down at her as she tried to wriggle free.
"Camilla of Nohr herself," the woman cackled, "I'd planned to just have you killed, but this way my revenge will be all the sweeter."
"You know me?" Camilla was shocked, but before she could ask more her face was covered in a rag. Unable to avoid breathing in the vapors, she drifted into sleep.
Camilla woke to find herself laid down on a glass surface. She sat up immediately, remembering the danger she was in. Before her was a wall of glass. Standing up, she realized she was trapped in a glass jar of some sort. The corked lid was far above her head, light shining through small holes. Peering through the glass, she could see she was in a bedroom. Of the most interest to her was the figure sat in a chair, clad in gray armor.
"Corrin!" she shouted, banging on the glass. She grew smaller with her utterance but did not care.
"He can't hear you." From the other side of the room, near a door, the elderly woman rasped. She walked in and drew up a chair, getting as close as possible to the table Camilla's prison rested upon. "Don't worry, I'm sure he will come round in a moment."
"So it's you," Camilla spat, "don't you dare harm my dear Corrin!"
"Ah, just as the rumors said," The old woman sneered, "you care about him a great deal. Good. I shall make this as painful for him as possible."
"You old hag!" the shrunken princess shouted, "you'll have hell to pay!"
The woman laughed. "A threat? At such a small size? You have no power anymore."
Camilla seethed with rage. She was right. But she swore to herself, somehow, that she would end this woman by her own hand.
"Why are you doing this?" Camilla asked through grit teeth, "what did Corrin ever do to you?"
"Well, nothing I suppose," the woman answered, "this is all about what you've done. Or rather, your mother."
"My... Mother?" Camilla didn't know what she meant, though she did have one idea.
"My daughter was a wonderful girl," the woman explained, looking into the distance wistfully, "so kind, so pretty... I was so happy that she got the attention of King Garon. Then the day she had a beautiful young girl of her own... The happiest day of my life," she turned to Camilla, her tone angrier.
"But Garon had many concubines. They fought and had each other killed. Even the innocent children..." she stood up, leaning towards the jar containing the tiny target of her vengeance, "your mother ordered the death of my little girl and my granddaughter. The end of my family. I'm the only one left. And someone needs to pay for that."
"But it wasn't me!" Camilla argued, bringing a hand to her chest, "I didn't want any of that ugly business. My dear brothers and sisters getting killed in a horrible power struggle... I hated that, more than anything!"
"It was all for you." Venom dripped in the withered woman's voice. "Their deaths were in your name. I wanted you dead, but instead you've been delivered to me stripped of all power and agency. You shall feel all of the pain I felt," she pointed to the chair's occupant, "I'll start with him."
"No!" Camilla pleaded, "please, leave him alone! He has nothing to do with this!"
The woman ignored her. Pacing to the prince, she slapped him awake. "Wake up. You need to feel what's coming."
Corrin woke up with a start. Confused and panicked, he tried to move, but was held to the chair by thick rope. The first thing on his mind was the tiny purple-haired occupant of the jar. "Camilla! Are you all right?"
"I'm... fine, Corrin." Camilla said, on the verge of tears. She couldn't bear the thought of the poor boy being hurt.
"Oh, look at how you dwindle!" the lady cackled, "I thought the potion would sap your life every time you thought of this clod, but this is so much better!" She walked back over to the jar, removing the cork. With two fingers, she plucked the tiny princess out of the pile of clothing that once fit her. She held the five-inch-tall naked woman in the air, a smile spreading across her wrinkled face as her captive flailed in her grip. With her free hand she retrieved a small bottle, uncorking it and dropping the princess inside. She crammed in a piece of fabric in after her.
"Cover yourself. Then watch me kill your dear Corrin." The old woman demanded. "When you're the size of a bug, I shall crush you once and for all."
The bottle was set down on the armrest of Corrin's chair. Camilla looked up at his giant, worried face, feeling herself shrink once again. Was this really it for them?
A cold breeze of air woke Beruka up. She thrashed instinctively, only to find her movement limited. Her arms were chained to the ceiling, her feet dangling in mid-air. She was in a small dungeon of some sort, maybe a cellar. To her right was Selena, contained in a similar state. She was furious, teeth grit as she glared beyond the bars they were imprisoned behind. Beruka looked forward to see two ninja, one locking the door.
"Why did we keep them alive?" one of them wondered.
"Maybe to interrogate or something," The other mused, "the old bag is helping us take down the Nohrian royalty, so I'm not going to question that."
The first ninja smiled, approaching the bars. "Maybe we can have some fun, then."
"You...!" Selena spat in fury.
"No time for that," he put his hand on his comrade's shoulder, "we need eyes on the outside, no telling how long we'll be safe here."
Beruka watched the two of them leave. She cursed her fate. She never imagined she'd be captured by the enemy. She wondered what their fate would be.
