A Truce and a Bovine Heroine

"Yozora magic: [HANA]."

The crystalline golem hopped around for a few moments while Richard stared in confusion. It didn't last long.

The golem's fist hit Richard's stomach hard enough to transmigrate him to Japan. He prevented his instantaneous death by blocking the blow with his grimoire and flew through a petrified tree. He only hit the one and when he landed he was coughing blood beside Louis.

"Gredig?! What happened?!"

"Yahime."

The Dusk appeared at my side like always and I looked her over. Her health bar had flickered for some reason and I needed to know she was alright.

"made sure… gentle…"

"Gentle? Why?"

She pointed at Louis.

"children… fragile."

I nearly fell over laughing. The swordmaster was only sixteen and had the baby face to match. I just hadn't expected Yahime to treat him like a literal child. I could only imagine the humiliation the prideful man must have felt.

"Is that true, Louis? Yahime didn't hurt you, did she?"

"Aurelie."

He helped Richard to his feet and the two exchanged concerned glances. I brought an end to their heartfelt moment with my golem.

Louis was faster than Richard and used his sword to divert the golem's punch. He even managed to counter, slicing one of its arms off. It vanished before it reached the ground, though the golem seemed no worse for wear.

"Another pet? You never could accomplish anything on your own."

"And you're any better?" I hissed. "Following Stolz around like a puppy, kissing Sarah's feet while she ignored you for your master. Don't ever think you can talk down to me, Louis Bourbon."

"Enough," Richard said, getting to his feet. A soft green glow covered his body and I could see his vitality returning to him. His grimoire was somehow still intact, too. "Why don't we approach this more diplomatically."

I raised my eyebrow. I had no intention of doing anything he said, but I couldn't deny my curiosity. Of the male leads Richard was only second to the philanderer, Charles Sommaland, when it came to manipulating people. The difference was Richard usually used gold.

"I propose a truce."

***

A spine shaking scream echoed across the mountain that stole the kidnappers' confidence from them. The threats ceased and they seemed ready to abandon the villagers at the slightest sound.

"Move it!" the leader yelled. He shoved Derry in the back with his foot and sent the bovine woman stumbling forward.

She grunted, but didn't resist or cry. As adults, it was their responsibility to protect the children no matter what they were forced to endure. None of them could let what happened to Vibby happen again. Lucinda prayed someone found the girl before the worst came to pass.

"I can't keep going," Hachiko whimpered. Lucinda looked to see if the boy was simply whining when she noticed his ankle was the size of a fist.

"Hush," Lucinda whispered. She tried to scoop the boy up to carry him, but overestimated her strength and tripped.

She covered the boy's mouth before he could cry out and got to her feet. The human holding their lead glared at them, nothing more. He'd been the jumpiest of the group and looked ready to take flight.

"I know it's hard," Lucinda whispered. "Just do your best. That's all we can do right now." She looked down at her own leg. She couldn't see it beneath her skirt, but she could feel her twisted knee swelling.

Another ear splitting shriek echoed across the mountain, inciting panic in the humans. They cursed and blamed one another for being too slow and soon the group was moving so fast they were practically running. Three of Billia's ducklings were being dragged behind and even then they didn't stop. Lucinda was sure she would be in the same predicament soon.

Blue fire streaking past the group assuaged her fear. Blasted rock exploded around the group and the humans dropped the ropes attached to the villagers. Two humans in the vanguard screamed as the flames swallowed them before becoming silent charred cadavers. The others drew their weapons and fell into a circle formation around the villagers. Their eyes darted between the boulders and ledges, and they lashed out at every sound and movement. Their attacker wasn't that subtle.

It had been almost seventy years since Lucinda had witnessed the snowy fur and blue streaked tails that flew overhead. Larger than a bear with nine blue streaked tail tipped in flame, Lady Hanabi bared her fangs at the humans growling in warning.

"Fucking kill it!"

The two humans with bows fired at Lady Hanabi while another threw his spear. Bolts of fire incinerated all of the projectiles and with each padded step Lady Hanabi took forward the more the kidnappers broke. All the while Lucinda gnawed at her bindings.

Instinct must have told the kidnappers that they had no hope of fleeing, so even being the nervous wrecks they were, they tried to surround the massive fox. None of them seemed confident about their survival; on the contrary, they seemed to be resisting their assured deaths.

"Go untie Rikki," Lucinda told Derry after she untied the woman's bonds.

"Leave her to me and just worry about the children," Derry snorted. The woman's rage had been building and she no longer had a reason to hold back.

With Billia's help, the adults freed the children. There was no hiding the massacre from the children —Lady Hanabi's snowy fur was stained red and the death cries around her were deafening. The best they could do was escape to the nearby cave.

***

Blood dripped from Hanabi's mouth after she spat the crushed skull from her mouth. She'd transformed in desperation to catch up to the kidnappers. It took all the mana she had left and she could stay on her feet. The flames above her tails were mostly for show and she could tell the humans were catching on by the decisiveness of their movements. Slowly but surely they were pushing her back and it was only a matter of time before they mustered the courage to charge her head on.

All that mattered was that she'd bought enough time for the others to escape. They'd taken refuge in the cave leading to the cavern she'd been trapped in for a decade. It was a fitting place for her story to end. She just had to keep them safe until Kyomi and Yahime found them.

She snapped at a human who'd grown overconfident, digging her teeth into his arm and tearing it off at the elbow. It was a mistake. The bite had left her flank exposed and was too exhausted to evade the spear thrusting at her side. Then the spear clattered to the ground as the human flew down the mountain and landed in a broken heap.

Derry bellowed in triumph at her kill and stepped to guard Hanabi's rear. Another human cried out as a growling Rikki clung to his back and clawed his eyes. The mongoose woman squeaked happily when she buried her teeth into his neck and Hanabi had to wonder if it was really okay to let the woman be near the children.

"We've got your back, Lady Hanabi," Derry bellowed. She pounded her chest triumphantly while Rikki scurried up behind her. "For Stonewood!"