Daisy followed Matthew towards the small hole in the wall. She was amazed that the adults had missed this feature. At the same time, it was behind several bushes and a bit of overgrowth. Her hands and knees dragged on the ground, dirtying her dress as she traversed through the thick wall.
Out on the other side, Matthew smiled down at her and offered his hand. "Lady Middleton."
She took his outstretched and pulled herself up. Looking down, she could see fresh dirt stains covering the bottom half of her dress. Mother is going to be mad...Maybe I should turn back around?
Though, the tug on her hand pulled her further into the unknown. It wasn't like she'd never been out of the city. In a distant past, she'd traveled here with her Father and Mother from the capital, but it was hard to remember things that happened when she was so little.
"I think you're going to like what I found. Did you know where our baths come from?"
She looked at his sparkling brown eyes and shook her head. Don't they come from magic?
Her question didn't take long to be answered. She was pulled towards the wilderness where wildlife was teeming. She could hear the birds chirping in the distance and the nearby flowing of water.
Steam rose from the water source, giving off a sense of heat. Connected to it, there was some kind of magic device.
Matthew grinned. "See, this is where all of our baths come from. Father told me about this instrument when I asked. He said it connects to both of our houses."
Daisy's eyes widened and she reached down to touch the water. She felt the warmth against her skin and watched as her fingers turned pink slowly. When she finally pulled her fingers from the water, she answered him.
"Didn't your father get mad?"
"I never told him I got out. Said I learned it from a soldier."
The little girl listened to his firm declaration and giggled. "Aren't you afraid to disobey?"
Matthew shook his head. "Disobeying is not so scary. You should try getting in trouble a few times."
Daisy's mouth hung open, but before she could respond he started running down the hillside, next to the flowing water. The water flowed smoothly down the rocky terrain, and the steam started to dissipate further down. She ran after him as her heart thumped.
"Matthew!" She yelled.
The little girl looked nervously towards the town, growing even more distant with each step she took. Mother is going to be angry if she finds me here. What should I do?
"Matthew!"
After a while, he'd vanished altogether. The trees surrounding her became thicker as her breathing hitched. She started looking for the boy and calling his name several times. The air stilled, but her heart was relentless in her chest.
A growl followed shortly that nearly made her heart stop, and then she saw Matthew leap from behind a tree.
"Boo!" He shouted, nearly making Daisy jump out of her shoes. The boy gave her a smug grin, followed by rambunctious laughter.
Daisy's face wrinkled, her cheeks tinted with red anger. She reeled back her hand before smacking him cleanly on the cheek. The clap echoed around her in the canopy of trees, and her hand stung in the aftermath.
"You're not supposed to scare a lady!"
The slap didn't falter the little boy in the slightest. One of his hands reached up to rub at the fresh, pink hand print. The other hand reached behind himself and pulled out a yellow flower.
His smile grew wider as he pushed it towards her. "For you, Lady Middleton."
A screech followed, and a creature leapt from the undergrowth.
Daisy screamed and watched as the birdlike beast narrowly missed Matthew's neck with its bite. The creature bit deeply into his shoulder blade, making him drop the flower.
Another one leapt from the undergrowth towards Daisy, but Matthew's foot was able to trip her at the same time that he was wrestling with the monster. The creature's claws started scraping his arm, making his blood drip on the ground.
He grimaced in pain, but his only free arm reached into his pocket. He elbowed the raptor mounting him in the side and pulled a vial of liquid out with his free hand.
Another raptor grabbed his leg from behind and made him stumble as he tried standing up. Matthew reeled back with all of his strength and threw the glass as hard as he could at Daisy's stomach.
Foul smelling liquid splattered all over her body, and she winced in pain from the impact.
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Raptors started dragging her friend away, and she tried to get up, but she was also surrounded on all sides by the foul beasts.
They were not large in stature, but they were large in number. Each of the creatures never even went higher than the little girl's waist. Their eyes pierced into her like a piece of meat to be eaten, their colorful feathers ruffling in the breeze.
A few of the closest ones sniffed her, but their noses wrinkled from the smell. Nonetheless, they still tried to jump on her. Daisy felt the impact of their heads against her legs.
As she fell onto the ground, she felt one of them clawing at her body. Please...Mother, Father!
Surrounded by a troop of flightless bird monsters, she fainted.
///
Tears welled up in Daisy's eyes from the end of her recollection. Her mother's hand was trying to calm her, stroking her fingers through the little girl's hair.
"It's...all my fault..." The little girl in the dirty dress choked on the words with a grimace.
Emily's teeth clenched together, her ears and tail wiggling in agitation. No, it's not your fault...
The kitsune clicked her tongue and stood up. "I will get your friend back."
Madame Middleton's eyes widened. They trailed from the fox girl's ears and tail, then they went to her prosthetic arm. "You don't need to do that, I can notify the guardsmen."
"And how long is that going to take? I need to go right now."
The madame looked between her sobbing daughter and Emily with a wrinkled nose. It was impossible to tell what was going on in the mind of that woman. But after a couple of seconds, she nodded and breathed a sigh.
"You are quite right. Time is of the essence, even if that boy is already..."
Emily shook her head. "I won't know until I get there."
As Emily turned around, she felt the little girl tugging on her hand.
Daisy had leapt from the couch. "Emily..."
The kitsune turned around with a small smile. "I will find your friend."
[Quest!]
[Find Matthew Hemrich: Dead or Alive.]
Emily clenched her fist as she walked away from the little girl and their expensive house, leaving it in behind her. I will save him.
She frowned, remembering the state that Daisy was in. The only hope I have is that he got some of that liquid on him as well. Some kind of raptor repellent?
As if to answer her question, a man had caught up to her as she reached the gate.
"You!" He shouted. "Take this." He handed her a glass full of green liquid. "It's raptor repellent. Please...find my son."
She nodded, and as she exited the gate, he looked ready to follow her, but the guards stopped him. A heated argument ensued, but the kitsune didn't stay around to listen to it. She could surmise that they would form a search party of their own. However, operating on her lonesome had its own perk. For one thing, she remembered precisely where she picked up the little girl.
Emily ran in that direction, going back towards the flowing river. It didn't take her very long to find the location she'd stumbled on Daisy. Now that she looked at the ground, she could once again see the tracks of those bird creatures. At first, she'd just presumed it was something else, but now that she had the full story, she wanted to curse herself.
If I had known, I could have started doing this sooner. Dammit, Daisy...No, I can't blame a kid for wanting to be safe.
She looked towards the sky with a prayer in her heart. Ratagast, please help me again. I don't want to lose someone else, even if I don't know him...
They'd already wasted so much precious time on the recount of the story. Emily wondered how long the repellent would even last. At the best case scenario, he might have gotten some of it on him. She was certain that would be the only way he'd be still alive.
She started following the tracks of the beasts. The more she followed, the more imprints of blood she saw on nearby foliage. Shattered glass was also spread around in the same direction, and there was a dragging trail, left behind by the boy no doubt.
Pieces of his brown trousers had even gotten caught in some brambles, making her search even easier. Should I put some of this repellent on myself or save it for later?
Emily's ears twitched towards distant squeaking sounds. Once again, the forest around her was growing oddly quiet. I should have trusted my instincts at that time. The silence was probably from the animals scurrying away from predators...
The fur inside of her ears puffed up slightly, and the appendages twitched. It was almost completely silent. An ambush predator.
It leapt from the undergrowth, only screeching when it was already in the air. Mana traveled down her arm and into her staff. Nanobots formed at the tip, and a bullet rifled out even faster than she'd done before. It was the quick draw of a practiced cowboy.
The bullet ripped through the raptor's skull, brain matter splattering on the ground around them and blood dripping from its fresh corpse. Another one.
She spun around, this time, changing the composition of her staff with her swing. The end of it started turning into a blade, the nanobots turning to a sharp sword.
The head of the raptor was severed from its body completely.
She narrowed her eye towards another one, her right eye becoming a target.
Race: [Velociraptor]
Age: 7
Sex: Male
Level: 15
Health: 220
Stamina: 400
Mana: 130
Velociraptors were not what Emily expected them to be, recalling only their depictions in popular media in her past life. These were much smaller, much more colorful. The one flying towards her had gorgeous blue feathers and some red ones interlaced. It reminded her more of the color of a parrot, and as it leapt through the air, its arms spread out into something close to wings, making it more aerodynamic.
She pointed the staff directly at it, and a bullet propelled forwards, ripping through its head and the rest of its body with ease. Its small body spun lifeless in the air.
With its death, she could hear even more distant squeaks. She followed the sounds with her hypersensitive ears, walking straight towards the belly of the beast.
The water eventually pooled into a large pond, and there were several rock formations at its end, going up a hill. One of them was a cave where the squawks of the creatures echoed from inside.
Are they leading me into their den for a trap?
Just in case, Emily channeled magic into her staff, lighting up the lantern tip with vibrant light. Emily's heart thumped in her chest, but it wasn't out of fear this time.
There was a bubbling rage inside of her. It was something she'd experienced while inside of the dungeon, and her eyes started glowing red with her anger. Myself is one thing. I have suffered the torment of two different lives, but this is just a kid.
The harsh reality of the world bore into her with disgusting resilience. No matter if she was on Earth, a scifi world, or a magic world, life wasn't fair. Even the children of nobles could become captives of foul beasts.
She swallowed and clutched her pendant while crossing the cave entrance.