NOVEL NEXT Reunion
Making her way to the gate, Amelia soon saw her sister, as well as about three or four other women, in the center of a group of villagers, with Milo by their side. Rushing into the group, she called out to her sister, who opened her arms for an embrace that Amelia eagerly reciprocated.
“I’m glad you’re safe, Amanda.”
“I’m glad you’re safe, too. How have you been?”
“I’ve been well. Come home- we should catch up.”
Taking her sister by the hand and leading her home, Amelia continued the conversation. “So, what happened during the raid? Why didn’t you come back with the first group?”
“Oh, yeah- well, when they had us captured, they took some of us to a cage after a bit. So, when we were being rescued, that group of us weren’t in the same place. We heard fighting break out, but we weren’t sure what was going on until everyone came to rescue us.”
“Everyone? Was Kass there?”
“No, I don’t know where he was. There was this one lady, though. She was doing all sorts of magic and-”
“You saw Lilith? Is she okay?”
“You know her?”
“She escaped from that camp a week ago. She’s been staying in your room.”
“Huh. I actually met her when she first got kidnapped there. I didn’t know she’d escaped. Guess her magic made it easier.”
“Probably.”
“So, she was staying in my room?”
“Yeah.” That is, until she moved into my room so we could have sex at night.
“Where’s she gonna sleep now? With you?”
“We hadn’t discussed that. Probably?”
“Well, you two’ll probably have fun together.”
“W-what do you mean by that?” Amelia stammered, doing a poor job of pretending to not know anything.
“Oh, did you not know she has a dick? Wait, shit, was that, like, a private thing? Should I have said that?”
“Wh- how do you know about that?”
“We were both naked next to each other in the stocks. It wasn’t exactly like she could hide it.”
“Ah.”
“Wait, so you did know! How’d you find out?”
“Iiii… may or may not have walked in on her when she was masturbating.”
“Huh. Well, what happened next?”
“Next?”
“Like, what’d you do then? How did you react?”
If Lilith’s planning to reveal things to the rest of the village, I should be able to tell her now. “We… ended up having sex later that night?” and immediately after, but I don’t need to tell her that much.
“Guess that means there won’t be too many complaints about me getting my room back, then. So, again- how have you been?”
“I’ve been alright. Would you like a drink?”
“Oh, that’d be great. Goblins don’t really understand that food can taste good. Or that you can cook meat. Or how much food humans need to not starve. Do you have any food?”
Getting a pair of cups, Amelia poured some milk into each one. “Some milk, for now. I’ll see what I can find for food.”
“Thanks.” Taking a first sip, Amanda was surprised by the pleasant taste, unlike any milk she had had before; and quickly drank the rest. “That’s really nice. Are you going to have your cup?”
“You can have it, but don’t have any more. I’ll get you some bread and cheese to eat.”
“Thanks. This is delicious.”
“I’d hate to think you were drinking it so quickly if it weren’t.”
“Where’d you get this? I doubt milk this good came cheap.”
“...Lilith made it with magic.”
“Cool. Hey, speaking of, d’you know where she got magic from? I was thinking of asking Milo on the way back, but I wasn’t sure if he’d know.”
“That’s right, Milo came back with you. Wasn’t it supposed to be a knight?”
“Oh, yeah- so, there was the knight who freed us, he gave me this dress, (speaking of, I should really change my clothes back), but then a little while away from the camp we got ambushed. Milo saved us, but then after a conversation about something I couldn’t hear, the knight ran back to the camp and Milo took us the rest of the way here.”
“Hm. I think I’m going to go ask Milo some stuff. Here’s some bread, some cheese, and your clothes are all where you left them.”
“Thanks! If you find out anything cool, come tell me!”
- - -
As Milo stood at the village entrance, the various captives returning to their homes, he felt a prescence behind him. Turning around, he saw a knight behind him- closer than he would have liked.
“What do you want?”
“An exchange of information. I have things I can tell you, and things I want to know.”
“Don’t be vague with me.”
“All right, how’s this for not being vague? Two of the people on the raid were using magic. Quite a lot, actually.”
“Is that so?”
“You don’t seem that surprised.” Lowering his voice, the knight stepped closer. “I mean, it’s not like you knew they had magic, because then you- and possibly this whole village- would be harboring likely enemies to the church.”
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“I’m asking for information. About them, and about you.”
“About me?”
“You called out four knights to this insignificant hamlet to deal with goblins. Fucking goblins. You’d be lucky to get one knight, let alone four of us. And yet here we are. I want to know how you got that much power. And how I can do the same.”
“Get out.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” Grabbing the hilt of his blade, Milo continued. “Get out. Of this village.”
“You invited us here!”
“And now I’m asking you to leave. You were asked here to help, not to blackmail myself and those I protect. Once your compatriots return, you will return to the capital immediately.”
“You’re not scared we’ll report you to the church?”
“It’s your word against mine.”
“One man against four knights? You think you win that?”
“Let me explain something to you, you impudent whelp.” Reaching forward, Milo grabbed the knight’s breastplate, digging his fingers into it. “My name is Milon Kreuz. My father is Darius Kreuz. I was born wielding more power than you could ever amass in a lifetime. Still want to fight?”