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"... And there we are, eating our breakfast and trying to keep our faces straight, while all the teachers are running around like headless filolials trying to see where all the water is coming from!"
Rifana giggled a little. This story was actually pretty funny, and didn't involve anyone getting hurt for a change. Princess Malty looked pleased with herself.
For some reason the redhead decided to entertain Rifana with tales of her schooldays in Faubrey and various pranks she and her friend Lesty played on unsuspecting teachers. To the weasel girl, familiar only with the life in her seaside village, most of the references went way over her head. Still, some of the stories were interesting and it was a better way to pass the time than just sitting quietly or pacing back and forth.
Even without lord Rabier and his torture, weeks long imprisonment was taking its toll. Rifana, so used to be freely running around every day in her previous, forever lost life, sometimes felt like screaming and throwing herself against the bars. The company helped, even her current one.
After more days together passed, Rifana wasn't really afraid of the princess anymore, not consciously. While the initial discovery of the woman's plans to get rid of Rifana frightened her, it was mostly shock. Giving it more thought, it made sense that Malty, like probably most nobles, saw them demi-humans as little more than domesticated monsters or even inanimate things. Lord Seaetto was likely an exception. That realization made Rifana somehow calmer, as there was no use worrying about some distant future as opposed to their day-to-day needs. Whatever was going to happen, would happen anyway.
Keel seemed to be alright, or at least healed enough to be walking around on his own. They had a somewhat easier time talking now, especially after Rifana got over her useless funk over the princess. The things now seemed better than any time after the Wave hit, but the girl knew it was not going to last. Even then, it made sense to enjoy their respite a little and get some strength back. She missed Raphtalia a lot, and spent a lot of time praying for her friend to be okay, or at least in a better place than Rifana herself.
Princess Malty's injuries were getting better every day. The potion proved powerful enough to close her wounds, if not heal them completely. The redhead even asked Rifana to teach her the stretching exercises which the girl did gladly. It was yet another way to chase away the boredom and sometimes it felt like they were dancing. In fact, Malty tried to teach her the courtly dances once or twice which was a mostly awkward experience. The older woman appeared determined to get along with Rifana, and to the lesser extent, Keel, which was surprising, but in a good way. Princess Malty was pretty weird, and not as witty as she thought she was, but she still knew and saw so many wonderful and unusual things in her life.
The guards refused to part with any knowledge of the outside world, but something was brewing, she could feel it in her heart. It made sense that with the Waves starting again, the Four Legendary Heroes would be summoned some day soon. Where or when it would happen, she didn't know. Rifana didn't think it prudent to ask the princess for her thoughts on the matter. The less the weasel girl knew about the secret plans and conspiracies of the nobility, the better.
Some nights she dreamed about the Shield Hero, his face obscured, but his figure tall and proud as he bounded down the steps and tore away her metaphorical shackles. In the early day of her imprisonment, Raphtalia and Keel would be there in her dreams as well, and all three of them would then fight by the Hero's side and grow bigger and stronger (not that Rifana was very keen on fighting, but she could be the support, maybe a healer).
Now, weirdly, princess Malty featured in a few of those dreams as well, with their dream selves even still sleeping together under the same cloak in front of a campfire. Which, come to think of it, would be pretty awkward to explain to her friends and the Shield Hero. Especially since she still kinda wanted to become his wife one day (a childish dream, for she had no idea what the current Hero even looked like or whether he would be as nice as in the stories).
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Everything seemed to be going sufficiently well over the last few days (or was it weeks) after that bastard Rabier left. The guards weren't cooperating much in sharing any information, but at least the food got more tolerable (meat appeared once or twice, Malty didn't even care what kind of monster it came from) and a couple of times they were brought a bucket of water and rags to clean themselves up.
The princess often wondered how quickly she got used to this humiliating condition of living in a small dirty cell, having to relieve herself in a corner and sharing a pitiful heap of straw with a demi-human peasant. Of course, Malty still hated the whole situation and dreamed of her eventual escape and all the torture she was going to put Rabier through.
Her back almost completely stopped hurting, but the new skin still felt strange and alien, just as Rifana said it would. Malty got some idea of what it looked like by washing the girl's back (purely to keep her cellmate as clean as possible of course). Anyway, once she's back home, she'd arrange for Yggdrasil medicine to be procured to make her skin perfect again. And Rifana's. Maybe. Why not?
At this point, Malty's earlier plans regarding the girl appeared completely nonsensical. Why kill such an important witness to Rabier's crimes? In theory, the princess' word should be enough to condemn her kidnapper and any of his thugs, but in reality it wouldn't be as simple. Not with the Church involved. Her father would believe her of course, but sadly, he wasn't the most powerful person in the country. Mother was. And mother could very well try sweeping the whole thing under the rag, if it was politically useful.
That's why a public hearing with several witnesses would be a much safer bet. Especially them testifying under the slave seal. Well, Malty wouldn't want to suffer further indignity by allowing to brand her own chest, but Rifana and Keel would be fine. If they just told the truth, they wouldn't even feel anything. It was a perfect choice for everyone involved. Of course, the guards should be made to confess as well, but they may not be in any state to do so by the time of the trial.
So she'd order the royal knights or adventurers or whoever her father eventually sent, to take both demi-humans with them to the capital. Whatever they knew about Malty's treatment would surely only serve to portray her as a martyr, maybe even a hero to the ordinary people. Yes, in general most humans looked down on the demi population, some even hated them, but not many would openly defend a noble torturing orphaned children for weeks on end. Whether they had tails or not.
With Malty's new, improved plans in place, she had a much easier time getting Rifana to relax around her, or so she believed. It proved to be difficult, to break through the girl's polite exterior and coax a real smile out of her, but the princess managed it increasingly often. For some reason, every time felt rewarding, almost as much as her father's praise and definitely more than the empty words of admiration from her 'friends' at court. She bet those witches didn't even care about her disappearance, not beyond empty gossip and morbid curiosity. Maybe Lesty cared, but it's been some time since they talked, more than a year. They didn't part on the best of terms either.
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Malty wasn't sure what woke her up, but she soon heard the noise of several steps and clanking of armor. Usually, a single guard would come to deliver their meals, so something else must be going on. Besides, it was the middle of the night, with no daylight coming through the small barred window. Was it the long awaited rescue?
Rifana was still asleep, her arm splayed over Malty's stomach and leg thrown over hers. The larger blanket afforded them more freedom in choosing a comfortable position to rest, but nights were cold, and staying close together made sense. Not that were was anything wrong with that. Malty knew that some nobles kept a bed warmer or two, and not just for indecent reasons either. Not that Rifana was Malty's bed warmer. Of either kind. The princess wasn't some kind of pervert. Though maybe she should keep her as a servant after this whole thing is over.
Malty shook her head, chasing away the random thoughts. She felt Rifana's long tail twitching against their legs which probably meant she was having an intense dream or a nightmare. Not that the girl shared much of their contents with the princess. Malty pondered for a moment whether or not to wake her up. She decided to wait and see what's going on first.
She could hear the jingling of keys and an alarmed cry which definitely came from Keel. Rifana immediately jerked awake and up, turning her head from side to side in confusion.
"What's going on? Where are you taking me?" It appeared that the long absence of their tormentor made the boy bolder than before. The only answer he got was what sounded like a smack from one of the guards.
Rifana jumped to her feet and ignoring Malty's hissed warning, leaned against the bars and started shouting.
"What are you doing to him?! Let him go!"
Malty only just managed to get up herself and cover the idiot girl's mouth with her hand when one of the guards approached. It wasn't anyone she saw before. Which made things even worse.
"And what do we have here? Another little beast? I didn't know the lord had more of them still alive. Hey Winn, should we take them both?"
"You are not taking her anywhere," answered Malty trying to keep her tone as calm and confident as she could. "She's sick and on the death's door. Same for the boy."
"Yeah? Neither of them look that sick to me. And what does it matter? Our orders were to take out the trash and sell it for whatever price we could. Who are you even supposed to be?"
"I'm First Princess Malty S Melromarc, you imbecile."
"Oh yeah? Look at this fellas, we have a princess here! Hey, Gavil, what's a princess doing in this damn cell? Looking like a bronze piece whore no less."
"I dunno any princess, Frein." That was the voice of one of their guards, the one who came in the mornings. "The bint must be mad. She's just some thief the lord picked up or something."
"Yeah, that makes more sense. So what about the other demi?"
"Eh, last I saw her she was coughing like crazy. I didn't look very close. Not my problem." The local guard, Gavil, appeared to be covering for them, as Rifana was nowhere near as ill as she had been before.
"Well, I think we'll take her anyway. The more the merrier, right?"
Rifana struggled in Malty's arms and the princess had to turn around and hiss in her ear as quietly as she could.
"What? Want to go with them?"
She roughly turned the girl so she could look into her eyes. Rifana shook her head, then nodded then shook her head again. Her eyes seemed to be pleading with Malty so she took her hand away for a moment.
"I don't. But what about Keel?" At least now the girl had good sense to whisper.
"There's nothing we can do for him. Don't be stupid."
Meanwhile the new guard or soldier or whoever he was got his hands on the keys and started unlocking their door. There were no more sounds from Keel, it was possible that he was already dragged off by the second soldier.
Malty pushed Rifana behind her and faced the thug. In truth she had no idea what she was doing, being physically weaker with no weapons and dressed in strips of cloth which barely preserved her modesty. No wonder the soldier didn't believe she was a princess.
The weasel girl meanwhile stopped struggling. It seemed that she wasn't very keen on submitting herself to this upstanding member of the military, not even for Keel. A smart choice. Malty wanted to believe that the boy would stay relatively safe on the road to the slave trader, but Rifana's chances didn't look as good. Especially if no specific orders were given about her, meaning Rabier thought her already dead. Surely, the soldiers couldn't be punished for harming a 'dead' slave.
"Hey, man, you better not do anything to the woman. We aren't supposed to touch her or anything, until the lord decides what to do with her."
"What, really? You're no fun at all. Well, you, step away and I'll relieve you of this sick little thing, so you'll have a whole cell to yourself. Probably better than you deserve, but who am I to judge."
"No. Get out. You have your orders so leave us alone."
"Wow, you sure are bold for a whore. Fine, let it be your way."
He went to push past Malty, but she used all her strength to block his way, as Rifana dodged his reaching arm. The man, now enraged, swiped at the princess' head, but she managed to duck at the last moment. The fight seemed hopeless, but she couldn't let this brute take Rifana, damn it, the girl was hers!
The soldier's heavy boot came crushing on Malty's bare foot and she howled in pain. The redhead lost her balance which made it easy for the man to push her down and out of the way.
But Rifana wasn't going to give up so easily it seemed. The weasel girl suddenly jumped forward over Malty's prone form, clutched the guard with her arms and legs and bit into his ear with her pointy little teeth. Now it was the thug's turn to let out a scream of pain as he threw Rifana away so hard she impacted the wall while clutching his bleeding ear with his other hand.
This gave the princess enough time to overcome her own pain and scramble up. Picking up a wooden mug left over from the dinner, she smashed it as hard as she could into the man's face, luckily hitting his eye in the process. He roared at the new offense and suddenly his fist was coming at Malty's face and she had no time to dodge. In a blinding flash her world turned dark and she knew no more.
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Thankfully the nice guard, Gavil, brought them a clean rag and a bucket of water, which Rifana used to make a cold compress for the princess. She was still unconscious, but at least her nose stopped bleeding so much over the last few minutes. Her foot was bruised, but nothing felt broken there, or so the girl hoped. She wasn't a healer yet after all.
The new guard who tried to take Rifana was stopped from further hurting princess Malty by Gavil, who had a loud and almost violent argument with him about following orders and not being an idiot which finally ended with the other man storming out of the dungeon.
Rifana herself got away with a bump on her head and an unpleasant taste of the soldier's blood in her mouth. She didn't enjoy hurting the man, but she didn't regret it either.
Her mind was a mix of confusing feelings. She was sad and angry at Keel being taken from her, even if his chances out there may be better. Rifana wished she could've followed, but understood that it would've been a disaster. It's not like she would've been any help to her friend either.
She was also pretty shocked at the lengths princess Malty went to protect her. She never expected the woman to actually fight for her sake. What happened to her plans of killing Rifana as soon as she was free? It was all so strange.
For now all the weasel girl could do was sit with her back against the wall and Malty's head in her lap and gently brush the woman's hair with her fingers, wishing she would wake up soon and be alright.
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