With these words, everyone in the room fell utterly quiet for a long moment. Then, one man stood u p (presumably Retafix) and went over to his panicking wife by the doorway.

"What are you talking about? They're with Bacteria, all the children eat supper there, you know that."

But she just shook her head repeatedly, and then started crying, clutching at her husbands shoulders for strength.

"I saw them. They came and they took our children -" she whispered. Another woman interjected, looking horrified.

"All of them?!" she yelled, but the woman just shook her head again, swallowing hard.

"No, just our son and daughter. I tried to stop them but I didn't have any magic potion in me!"

I frowned at this choice of words. Magic potion?

The chief, having sobered up at hearing the news, took charge of the situation.

"They can't have gotten far, not in this weather. We'll start searching the area immediately." he announced to the room.

I told myself not to get involved.

It is their village, their situation to handle as they see fit. You'll be gone in the morning anyway.

The wife, Liliastix, still hadn't stopped crying. The men of the village had left to search for the children, but I had a sinking feeling that they wouldn't be found – at least not tonight. Most of the villagers had left the chief's cottage by now, and only a handful of women remained behind with the mother to try and comfort her.

This happens all the time. You've seen it before. This hardly matters to you.

And yet.

There was something I needed to ask her. Something that would make the decision for me, whether I wanted to help them or not. I drained the last of the wine in my goblet and approached Liliastix when the other women were busy making her something soothing to drink. I sat down next to her without saying anything at first, the sound of her tears mingling with the rain outside.

"I know this is hard. But I need you to try – do you remember what they looked like? The people that took your children?" I asked slowly, trying to sound gentle.

"I don't – I don't, I'm not sure. " she said, her breathing uneven as she tried to look at me. I leaned forward and tried to keep eye-contact with her.

"Did you see how many they were?" I asked, and this time I saw her try and focus. And when next she spoke she sounded more sure.

"Yes. Three of them."

I breathed in deeply and asked her the final question. And I was praying for her to say no.

"Did any of them ride a horse?"

This time she did not hesitate with her response. She looked up at me with wide eyes.

"They all did. Black stallions – but I couldn't see their faces I-"

I closed my eyes briefly. I hadn't seen them for a long time. I had been hoping they had all somehow perished or been killed by the romans. But of course they hadn't – I should have known.

"Thank you. That's all I needed to know."

Much as I had suspected, the men came back shortly after, having nothing to report – except for finding a red ribbon belonging to the little girl.

They all gathered in the chief's cottage once more, trying to decide how to proceed. This is where I would have to step in.

"Surely it must be the romans trying to get to us once more!" an older man spoke up, waving his walking stick around.

" – but doing something as petty and horrible as this is even beneath them I should think." Panoramix said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. And he was right about that.

"It could be Sulfurix wanting revenge. He would definitely do something like this and kidnap two sweethearts like Instapix and Littlestix. " Asterix commented, pacing back and forth. Obelix shrugged.

"I agree. Who else could it be?"

I stood up from my seat and cleared my throat.

"Gentlemen, I think I know who kidnapped the children, unfortunately."

"Who are they?" The chief asked, and I answered, giving them a half-truth.

"Bandits. I ran across them a few miles back – I think they smuggle people over to rome so they can be sold as slaves. Children fetch a good prize on the market, these days. "

"You sound like you know a lot about it." A familiar voice spoke up, and I turned to look at Asterix – who had a look on him that told me that I had definitely overstayed my welcome.

"I know enough. " I said, my voice cold and hard.

The chief scratched at his head and then suddenly stood up from his throne.

"Well, we should waste no time in going after them. Asterix, Obelix – since you two are this village finest warriors, you should be the ones to go after them."

I blinked several times, my eyebrows rising up to my hairline.

"Finest warrior?! Him?" I asked, and just barely suppressed a chuckle, watching as the little man in question turned red in the face from what I supposed was anger. That just made it even more funny.

"O chief, I would ask you to kindly ask this stranger leave us now that she has imparted us with all the information we need to know." he muttered, turning up his nose at me.

We exchanged glares that, if anyone had been standing in the way, would surely have people burst into flames.

"Actually, I have another suggestion." Panoramix raised his hand and said, making everyone look at him. He was smiling in a way that was making me very ill at ease.

"Seeing as Arabel here is the only one that knows the men by sight, and seems capable enough, why doesn't she go along with them?"