Acceptance is the First Step

Back at the ranch, a panicked horse raced back to the stone walls. Charles saw her coming and hopped down the ladder quickly. Where was Sarah? Misty would never leave her by choice. And Sarah wasn't dumb enough to scare off her only transportation from the forest. It wasn't safe in there! When Misty got to the wall where Charles was, she whinnied and reared, the panic and worry clear in her actions. "Whoah, Misty! Whoah!" Charles called as he took Misty's reins. He pulled Misty's head down and pet her nose gently to calm her down. "Where is she, girl?" Charles asked, seeing that she was obviously scared.

At that moment the door to the hut crashed open and both Phineas and Jacks both ran through seeing the horse return without its rider. "Which way did she come from, Charles?" Phineas asked quickly as both the men ran through the gate.

Charles didn't need to answer. Misty was pulling her head towards the forest and the path that had brought her back. She wanted to show them where she had come from. She needed these men to go back and save the girl that she had been near for so long!

Phineas and Jacks took the hint and jumped into the air, their clothes shredding as they changed form into a red and green dragon, wings large and pushing the air behind them quickly as they rose above the trees. Phineas' shirt was still partially held on to the shoulder, flapping in the wind with the air that rushed by.

Charles watched Phineas and Jacks jump into the air with wide eyes. Once they were out of sight, and Misty was still pulling at the reins, Charles snapped back into the moment and jumped back for a moment. He grabbed the sickle he had been using for cutting the bundles of hay to fix the roof with and then jumped on Misty's back and kicked her into a canter. Misty was all too happy to oblige and tore off into the forest to find her lost rider.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Over in the field where now there remained a half vampire half dragon, a dead man, two unconscious men, and a chain of seven slaves destined for a horrid life, Alexa looked over to the chain of slaves. What an opportunity! She smiled at them, but the strange appearance of pale skin and only clawed and scaled hands made many of the slaves shiver involuntarily. Others avoided her gaze entirely.

Alexa put up her claws in a motion of surrender. "Don't worry," she said slowly, not sure if any of them spoke English. "I won't hurt you." She slowly walked towards them, looking as meak as she could. Scaring them was not a necessary part of setting them free. There was one at the end of the chain that seemed to be less afraid of her than others. There was still fear in his eyes but less. "Do you understand me?" she asked slowly.

The man nodded simply, though didn't seem entirely convinced of her innocence. What if she had been bribed to do this by the men? It seemed like the sort of sick joke they might play on the slaves.

Alexa continued her slow walk up to them. "I'm going to set you free," she told the man simply, slowly, a smile staying on her face. This got the attention of him and a few of the others. They seemed to perk up at this idea and watched her more closely than they had before. When Alexa got to the post holding the chain in place, she fiddled with the chain between her claws. Being the first time these oversized hands had taken over, she was rather clumsy with it and it took her a few tries before she was able to even hold the chain in her hand. Once she had it, though, she knew what she could try.

She put one of her claws in the chain and as she had expected, the link only went half way up her claw. A smirk greeted her face. This had to work. Turning to the slaves she said, "Close your eyes," miming the action with her free paw. Once they had followed her instructions, she pushed her claw in as far as she could and twisted, while using her other paw to pull the chain up. It took a few seconds but after a little while there was the sharp sound of iron pulling apart and the link broke, freeing them from the post. A few small cheers came from the people and Alexa smiled. While she might not be able to get the shackles off, she could at least break these people apart until they got to a blacksmith.

Turning to the man closest to her, she smiled and gestured to him. "Give me your hands." He excitedly put his hands in her reach. She maneuvered her claw into a link between his hands and pushed until she was able to break the link again. One after the other, Alexa continued this process until all of the slaves were separated. Once they were all standing, Alexa smiled at them. "Junit is close. This way. My mother will have bread and soup for us all," she promised, kindly. Overhead, two dark clouds moved by as the group set off to the edge of the field.

Just as they came to the edge of the clearing, Misty came crashing through the brush with Charles on her back waving the sickle in the air around his head. He saw Sarah and dismounted quickly, going over to her. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. As he was checking her out from the head down, he didn't notice her paws right away. When his eyes finally found them, he jumped back a step.

"I'm fine," Alexa said, a little hesitantly. She raised her paws and looked at them. "Just feeling a little...different."

At that moment, behind them, the sound of two men came crashing through the forest and into the clearing as well. The slaves rushed into the forest, wanting to be gone if it was the men who had captured them returning with a vengeance. Thankfully, it was just Phineas and Jacks, somehow reclothed and standing proud with swords, ready to go. When they saw that the only people easily visible at the moment were Alexa and Charles, they lowered their weapons slowly. The other two didn't look worried… well...not worried about their surroundings.

Jacks sheathed his sword at his hip. "Are you all right, Princess Alexa?" he asked as he moved swiftly over to her and started to investigate her appearance as best as he could without actually touching her. Phineas followed behind but paid more attention to their surroundings.

Alexa nodded. "I am. And I've decided I believe you," she informed him, as if she had had time to actually think about the validity of her options.

Phineas walked up to them and smiled down at his pretend daughter. Finally she knew the truth. He no longer had to hide his true self. This was freeing. "And?" he asked, knowing his daughter well enough.

"And I need you to tell me how to change these back before I listen to the rest of what you have to say," she said simply, holding up her claws to show them.