The Aftermath - Part 2

Opening the door, the afternoon sun high in the sky blinded Octavia as she tried to find her way out of the room. She blinked several times, to try and see properly.

Once able to see the world around her again, she spotted a good dozen people walking by, all going about their day jobs.

All around her, she saw a few buildings making her realise that she was in the village they had escaped from.

Looking back at the building she had come from, she saw a sign that looked like a shield with two swords across it.

"A blacksmith. No that's not right. Is this the guard's barracks?"

It made some sense. With the guards under investigation, what better place for Althea and the soldiers to set up than in the barracks? They can then easily access anything of the guards in the building to look for corruption and keep them under watch.

Sylvia took the lead, heading around the building to what looked like a training yard, which helped prove her theory of what the building was. In the yard there were a couple…marquees, she guessed. That probably wasn't the right word for them here. They were a mix of a tent, albeit much larger, and a pavilion, but not looking quite the same as one. At its centre was a very long pole of some material, most likely a wood of some kind, and the fabric stretched over the top with its corners being pinned down by metal pegs in the ground.

Just off centre from the pole was a table and two chairs, where in one sat one of the soldiers that wore the armour of Lord Desmon's town, and in the other, was one of the guards from this village. Behind the guards, several more stood all waiting for their turn. The line had likely been a lot bigger when she was still out of it.

"The soldiers are interviewing all the guards now that they have collected as much evidence as they could from around the barracks and slaver's den. Apparently, they do the interrogating outside so it's easier in case one of the guards decides to…try something."

In a building, unless you cleared it out, there was the possibility that someone could find something to use as a weapon. Out here, that wouldn't be very easy, and every one of the soldiers in the vicinity would be able to see you if you did try to attack someone.

And there were a good number of soldiers standing around. Under the tents, a couple stood nearby the one interviewing, and all around the yard, they were dotted about. It was a very tightly run operation.

As she looked around, she saw a face she recognised who was beckoning her over.

"Althea, it's good to see you," Octavia said as they made their way over.

"It's good to see you as well, although I would have preferred if it was under better circumstances. First the attack on the castle where we didn't even have a proper goodbye, and then you get messed up in some slaver business. Lord Desmon was worried you two had been killed. I told him that being a student of mine, you were both fine. But then I see you almost get killed in a fight against slavers. I think we should have met sooner so I could beat some more lessons into you."

"Err…I."

Octavia was at a loss for words. It was almost as if she had forgotten what Althea was like, and how annoying she could be with what she says. Well, she won't be making that mistake again.

"But then again, Lady Sylvia did tell me how the whole fight went. To be stabbed in the back…such cowards those slavers were. They ratted out nearly enough of their whole gang after just a little interrogation. To suffer such a wound and then go on to fight three people is extraordinary…even with the near-fatal ending."

The smile on Althea's face was a nice change of pace. It was clear to see that she was proud of her…mostly.

"There is still much for you to learn, but for you to hold your own against that many with such a wound…you did very well."

Octavia was feeling giddy. From what she could remember in the castle, Althea was not one to give out praise lightly. So even this small amount was high praise indeed.

"When this business with the slavers and the former slaves is over, we will have another lesson though."

And then she ruined the moment by saying that.

"…sure."

"Good, now follow me."

…

Following Althea, she brought them to another building, which was rather large.

"Is this…"

"Yes. The mayor of this village, who was appointed by the Baron who controls this land, said that we were free to use his manor however we liked. So, for the beast-kin and other former slaves that hadn't left, we let them stay here."

Fancy.

Well, it wasn't as fancy as the castle, but it was clear to see that it was a dwelling for someone of high status. Intricately carved woodwork, hunting trophies, fine fabrics and ceramics were just a few of the hallmarks of a noble home.

As they passed through the house, the maids and servants moved to the side to allow them to pass, and they finally made their way to the guest rooms. There were several, all for visiting nobles to stay at. But for now, the remaining freed slaves were using them.

The families had their own rooms. For the adults that were on their own, they resided in another room, separated by gender. This was the same for the children who were on their own, although they also had a couple of the older maids taking care of them as well.

Before long, after visiting each of the rooms, all of the remaining former slaves left their rooms, having been told that Octavia was awake. It wasn't long before the first few came over to her and took hold of her hand.

"Thank you. Thank you for everything you did for us. If it wasn't for you, I likely would have been separated from my family forever. Thank you."

Octavia replied with her own thanks, a little embarrassed by it. The man, along with his family, also thanked Sylvia for her part in it as well. It was a very new experience for both of them, but they rather enjoyed the feeling of achievement that they had.

As the families, the adults and the children gave their thanks, there were questions on whether they could trust Althea and the soldiers. Octavia replied about how they were safe, and that they could trust them. It took a few go's and different ways of wording it, but eventually, they all ended up accepting and allowing the soldiers to do their jobs.

The next thing to come would be for them to either leave on foot or accept the carriages that were being set up for them. Again, with the trust issues, while they may have spoken to Althea and the soldiers about their home, some were still not keen to just lead them to it, so compromises were made.

Some left on foot, meaning that the soldiers had no part in getting them back. It was a risk to do given wild animals and the like, but that was a risk that they felt they had to take.

For others, soldiers accompanied the carriages, bringing them to their destinations. They ended up going to villages or taking them to towns where they could continue their journeys. Some of the beast-kin villages didn't even have adjoining roads to the ones the Human towns used, so either long roundabout routes were taken, or they ended up taking shortcuts through forests.

Then for some, the carriages took them partway, and they then continued on foot for the rest of it. It was a good compromise in terms of safety for most of the travelling, and then the safety of their village.

So, with that to come next, there wasn't much else for Octavia and Sylvia to do. All they had come here for was to help alleviate the remaining beast-kin's fears, and that had been done. So, they headed out the way they came as the others did the same.

"Octavia, can you come over here please?"

Turning back, Octavia saw Althea looking at her, and waiting for her to join her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Well, this little girl here told us where her village is, but…she is refusing to go back."

As Octavia looked down at the girl, she realised that she looked familiar. Not in that she was just one of the former slaves that she remembered the face of. It was more pertinent than that.

"Where have I seen her before…" she wondered

It was only after some quick scrutinization that she remembered.

"The log…no wait, I mean the girl that was…pretending to be a log." She realised.

Now that she could actually see her, she was an adorable little girl. She had long blond hair, a little dirty but she had been a prisoner all this time. She had a small button nose as well as light freckling which was more defined given the pale skin tone. Green eyes looked up at her, but after she blinked, they ended up being blue.

"Okay…" that's a little odd she thought to herself.

While the changing eye colour and the fact that she could make herself look like a log was a little…strange, everything else about the girl made her think of one word.

Princess.

She was what Octavia imagined a stereotypical princess would look like.

What she did find odd was that she couldn't see any features that denoted her as another race. She could have been human or a dwarf, but something about her told Octavia that this was not the case. But she also had no elongated ears, beast-kin ears or tails to speak of. It was very odd.

But enough of that, they needed to figure out what to do about this little girl and get her back to her village.

"So, why don't you want to go back to your home?" Octavia asked as she knelt down, which was a very odd manoeuvre with a tail and involved a little coiling to do so.

"It's not my home anymore."

"Why's that?"

"Because my parents are there. They did a bad thing."

Octavia did not like where this was going. It was clear from both Althea and Sylvia that they were feeling it too.

"What bad thing did they do?"

"Sell me to the slavers."

And there it was. Thankfully it wasn't something else that had popped into her head. Not that having been sold to slavers wasn't as bad or worse. It clearly was a bad thing, as the girl put it.

But before they could say anything, the girl's expression did a massive one-eighty where she then said something that stunned all of them.

"But that's okay because you two will be my new parents."

"…"

"…"

 "…huh."