Chapter 12

Your dream is interrupted by a soft feminine voice. "Arthur... Arthur..." She gently whispers into your ear, lips almost brushing against your skin. "Aw, he looks so peaceful... M-maybe I can let him sleep five minutes more." She infatuatedly sighs to herself, small hand caressing your bearded jaw.

You suddenly open your eyes, grabbing her wrist and making her stop. The succubus gasps in surprise. "P-Princess Felicia t-told me to wake you up, Sir. It's time to go..." She stutters. "She is now checking if the hallways of the castle are empty..."

"Hm." You simply grunt, silently looking at her for a pair of seconds before letting go of her arm. She whimpers a little bit, taking a few steps back as you rise from the bed. You roll your shirt upwards to check if the bandages around your torso are still in place, resting your hand over where the treated stab wound is... Lucille...

Sophia is unable to remove her eyes from your body, anxiously shifting her weight from foot to foot. "D-does it still hurt?" She tries to make conversation.

"No, not really." You sigh, pulling your shirt down again.

"It's going to leave a big scar, b-but don't worry, people like scars... I mean, n-not the scar itself, more like... the way scars look in men's bodies? The ones you already have a-are very cool..." Sophia awkwardly fumbles with her words, quickly hiding her red face behind her palms when she realizes she is rambling. You raise an eyebrow. "Sorry, I-I'll shut up..."

The door opens, and Felicia steps inside. "Our path is clear. Garret did a good job making the guards scatter." She states, hurriedly walking towards you. Huge leather backpack behind her, probably filled with all the things you will need for your journey. You can notice bedrolls firmly attached to the sides and top of the backpack. "Here. I got you this." The princess hands you a simple, sharp steel sword.

"Thanks." You wrap your hand around the handle, strongly gripping it as you inspect the blade. It should do the job... You clasp the sword on your hip.

You, the princess, and the succubus hurriedly make your way across the long corridors of the huge castle, trying to stifle your footsteps as much as possible yet without ceasing the fast pace of walking. Felicia wraps her dark cloak tightly around her body, its hood loosely hanging behind. That will certainly come in handy later to avoid people from recognizing her by the color of her hair...

You swiftly continue until reaching one of the most subtle and less guarded exits of the castle. Garret is waiting by the other side, nervously combing his bushy mustache as he looks around the empty area, sighing in relief as he spots your group. "Good! You made it." He faintly smiles, yet confusedly raises his brow as he notices Sophia by your side. Hand instinctively going to his sword. "Who is the succubus?"

"Sophia, a healer. She is coming with us." Felicia talks. The succubus shyly smiles and waves her small hand.

Captain Garret moves his perplexed gaze towards your direction. 'Partnering with a succubus? Seriously...?' is what he must be thinking right now. You grunt. "It wasn't my choice. I don't like it either."

"Just... remember to be careful, Sir. You know what kind of despicable creatures succubi are..." Garret talks, slightly frowning at the dark memories of the battlefield that appear on his mind. Sophia pouts, her shoulders hunched.

"Can we please skip all of this? We need to get moving." Felicia rolls her eyes.

"Y-yes, you are right. Sorry." Garret clears his throat. "Follow me."

The captain guides the three of you across the streets of the Capital, skillfully picking the darkest and most deserted paths that he knows his men aren't currently protecting. After some more minutes of walking, you can finally see one of the city's gates in the distance. The same gate that the wagon that kidnapped Charlotte rushed through on its escape... Still wide open (Garret's doing, probably) with two guards standing on each side.

"Alright." Garret says, rubbing his hands together. "I'll distract those two. You will have to sneak past them. When you are outside just follow the road towards the forest, I've left you a pair of horses hidden behind some trees, you will spot them if you pay attention."

Felicia smiles, resting her hand over his shoulder. "Thank you, Garret. Really."

"I know what it's like to lose a sister, Felicia... But you are still in time to save yours, and no one should be able to deny you the right to do that." He takes a deep breath. "Good luck! Make the bastards who did this pay." The captain smiles back at the princess and gives you a nod of his head before turning around and starting to march towards the gate.

The pair of soldiers immediately bring their hands towards their foreheads in a military salute as Garret gets close. "Nothing to report, Captain!" One of them loudly exclaims.

"I need to have a word with the two of you." Garret sternly crosses his arms, frown on his face. "There are certain... rumors circulating in the garrison about you maggots abandoning your duties to go have fun at the taverns. Is that true?"

The two guards confusedly look at each other, eyes opening wide like plates. "C-Captain, that's... w-we would never!"

"Yeah? Then why are all your brothers in arms calling you two a pair of lazy, worthless drunkards?"

"W-we... We don't know, Captain."

Garret sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Come here, we have a lot to discuss..." He walks a few feet away from the gate, the nervous guards quickly follow after him. That's your chance.

You and the two girls carefully pass through the now unguarded exit. Felicia and you with concentrated, serious expressions on your faces... and Sophia on the verge of an anxiety attack, sweating like crazy, covering her mouth with her hand to prevent a whimper to exit her lips and alert the distracted guards.

You all let a relieved sigh when you cross the gate unnoticed and finally find yourselves by the other side of the city's thick walls. You made it!

With no risk of being detected now, the three of you quickly sprint through the road leading towards the forest, leaving the locked-down Capital behind. Your eyes stay sharp for any trace of the horses Garret told you about...

Almost fifteen minutes of running pass before Sophia suddenly has to stop, breathing heavily, exhaustedly bending forward with her hands resting over her knees. "Wait... p-please wait..." She gasps for oxygen. Felicia and you stop, looking back over your shoulders. The city is a good distance away already... sure, this is a good time to take a tiny break.

"What's wrong?" Felicia walks towards the succubus' side.

"S-sorry. I'm just... n-not used to running so much." Sophia talks between hearty gulps of air, making a pause before whispering her next sentence. "The s-size of my... breasts... makes it a bit painful..." She blushes, straightening herself again and embarrassedly looking down at her huge jugs.

"Oh." The princess awkwardly rubs the back of her neck, keeping her eyes from lowering towards the succubus tits as she tries to find a way to approach the weird subject. "Well... D-don't worry, take your time." Felicia nervously clears her throat with a slight blush on her pale cheeks.

While the girly talk goes on, you decide to take a look at the dense forest around your position, illuminated by the white moonlight above. You cross your arms, your eyes fixed on a restless squirrel running around with an acorn on its paws while you listen to the calming sounds of nature... which are suddenly interrupted by a neigh... Huh.

"I see the horses." You state, pointing towards a duo of two healthy horses tied behind a thick tree in the close distance, their heads and tails peeking from the sides of it. Not very subtle, Garret...

"You do?" Felicia walks towards you, grateful to get away from the embarrassing situation she got into. She looks in the direction your finger is pointing, smiling as she spots the two animals. "Nice. This is actually going really smooth, we-"

"EEEEEEE!" The princess is interrupted as a small green figure glides toward her, screeching in a high-pitched tone. Landing on top of her head and strongly grabbing handfuls of her light pink hair to keep herself in place, her diminute bare feet resting over both of her ears. "YO, I FOUND THE PRINCESS!" She yells at the top of her lungs. "RAMA FOUND THE PRINCESS!"

No... no, please no... not again...

"Look, Arthur! I found her!" The fairy looks in your direction with a huge dumb smile on her face, her hazel eyes proudly sparkling. "That was so easy!"