OVERLORD: Minions and Magic!

[subsider34]

Yesssss... The best Overlord story finally updated! With shinies to boot! I look forward to seeing how our newly armed dark heroine handles herself in battle.

My bet is the 'innocent animal' being slain is the gaurdian. Killed by the forces of Light in their pursuit of the princess. Perhaps they will even order the shrine and surrounding forest put to the torch for hindering their pursuit!

 

[Bag of Bones]

Woo, glad to see this back; good Overlord fics are few and far between.

Click to shrink...

I know, that's why I started this fic!

That and spite towards the "extreme edge" Overlord fanfic writers.

Yesssss... The best Overlord story finally updated! With shinies to boot! I look forward to seeing how our newly armed dark heroine handles herself in battle.

My bet is the 'innocent animal' being slain is the gaurdian. Killed by the forces of Light in their pursuit of the princess. Perhaps they will even order the shrine and surrounding forest put to the torch for hindering their pursuit!

Click to shrink...

Glad you're enjoying it.

 

[Bag of Bones]

I ducked under a branch as I ran further into the woods, I knew not what I was going to face but I knew if I did not face it an innocent creature would perish.

Not that my companion seemed to care.

"Will. You. Stop!" Yelled Gnarl, who I presumed was still clutching on my cloak like some tick, but I will not stop, every moment wasted could lead…

I stopped in my tracks as my scalp suddenly felt like it was about to tear off.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" I yelped as two claws had gripped onto my hair and one ancient imp put his full weight into hanging off it. "S-stop! Y-you'll tear it off!"

"Look to the ground you heroic fool!" Gnarl hissed and with tears in my eyes (and Gnarl switching his grip to my shoulders) I looked at the ground and felt my face blanche at the sight.

Dozens of dead Gnomes littered the ground all either shattered by a heavy blow or torn to bits.

"W-wuh... what happened?"

"If I had to guess, it appears our Gnomish pursuers ran afoul of the Guardian," Gnarl explained as I gazed over the carnage. "I had noticed the bodies earlier but you 'heroically' chose to ignore my observations in favour of galavanting into heroics!"

I could not help but feel a little bit of heat in my cheeks as Gnarl continued, "But look closer, some of these Gnomes look… different to our last encounter, more feral, more crude, more… evil."

I indeed could see what he pointed out, much to my horror, three of the gnomes seemed to have changed into… something, their nails and teeth had become yellowed and jagged, their hair matted with filth and their skin had paled to a sickly grey with prominent black veins.

Gnarl scoffed as I examined the Gnome's corpse. "I'd give praise for them embracing darkness but that'd involve praising a Gnome. This is deep corruption, one gained over a lifetime of evil. One does not accrue this much in the few hours since our last encounter… well not by Gnomes, the lazy buggers."

A yelp followed by a whine of pain causes my head to shoot up in the direction of the sound, an eerie light accompanying it, shining through the foliage. A bunch of squeaks, which sounded ominously like chanting, followed it.

"Well, well, well it looks like you found the Gnomes and the Guardian, do try to sneak up on them instead of doing a heroic leap onto their weapons."

More heat rose to my cheeks as I bit back a reply to Gnarl and ready the bow of my ancestor and nocked an arrow as I had seen my mother do once. I crept forward and peeked my head through the brush to look upon the Gnomes and the Guardian, briefly wondering if the glow from my eyes would alert the Gnomes.

My eyes first settled on the Guardian, who was lying on its side breathing heavily, and I could see why this being was the guardian. It was a wolf, a truly gigantic wolf, that could easily tear apart a warhorse with its jaws. But it was beautiful, with a nobility that surpassed even the noblest mounts of the Empire. I almost wept in horror at the sight as well for its white almost silver fur was stained with blood from hundreds of tiny spears and the tight ropes that bound the creature to the forest floor and its jaw shut. To do such a thing to such a noble and beautiful creature of the forest was… an unspeakable evil.

And I saw the perpetrators dancing around the noble being, a horde of those decayed and corrupted gnomes hooted and hollered in their squeaky voices as they danced in a circle around the Guardian. I was immediately reminded of the Minions as I watched them with growing disgust, so corrupted were these things who abandoned anything good about their existence!

An authoritative squeak interrupted the dance and all eyes moved to look upon a Gnome with a crude tree bark mask waving a tiny staff in front of some contraption, held aloft by crude ropes and branches. The contraption, to me at least, resembled a brass cannon that would require multiple men to lift but where the muzzle would be it was sealed with metal and a fist-sized purple gem in the centre, more purple gems studded the exterior as well though smaller. The masked Gnome waved his staff which glowed with an eerie blue light and a burst of energy erupted from the contraption striking the Guardian who let out another yelp of pain.

A globule of bright blue energy lifted from the Guardian and shot towards the device, but it was intercepted by the masked Gnome, who raised his staff in its path with an ominous chant. The moment it struck the staff the globule exploded into a shower of sparks which a small horde of the corrupted Gnomes immediately ran and clambered over themselves to be underneath. I watched with deep disgust as they stuck out their tongues or rubbed the sparks into themselves in some gross parody of a shower, until the Gnomes began to change, the corruption that plagued their bodies seemed to revert, with Gnomes quickly beginning to resemble their uncorrupted selves.

"Oh I see," Gnarl whispered in my ear as a cheer of squeaks went up from the Gnomes, "They're using that device to drain the light magic from the Guardian (and presumably other light magic creatures) and using it to power a spell to make themselves look uncorrupted! Little more than a suped-up glamour in practice but it's a classic and surprisingly effective spell used by evil sorcerers when they need to pose as trusted advisors, why even a few Overlords-"

"This stops, now!" I say, practically shaking with anger as I step forward, bow at the ready. I felt a tug on the cloak as Gnarl tried in-vain to stop me with whispered shouts of "Stop!" and "You fool!" but I paid him no heed. As soon as I stepped into the open the Gnomes stopped in their dancing and chanting and all turned to look at me but before they could even react I lined up an arrow towards the strange device, held the bowstring taut and fired.

The wobbly arrow veered off course and quickly clattered to the ground harmlessly a few meters away from me.

We all stared at the fallen arrow before, as one, every Gnome (and Gnarl) looked at me with a deadpan expression, even the Guardian raised their head to look at me with almost visible disappointment in their surprisingly blue wolf eyes.

So, with cheeks burning and a scream of frustration, I raised my gauntleted hand and let loose a bolt of energy at the device, briefly remembering I should brace in the second before the energy is released. I was not knocked back however, the energy struck the contraption and immediately I felt a pull as the energy was absorbed into the device. A tether of lightning connected my hand to the device as it absorbed my magic and it was not exploding like I wanted! With a grunt of anger, I poured even more magic into my attack and the lighting grew larger and brighter.

The sound of scampering clawed feet followed by the sound of a misshapen lizard creature leaping behind cover alerted me to Gnarl's actions while the Guardian's eyes widened and with sudden energy started wriggling and twisting in an attempt to free itself as the lightning grew brighter. The Gnomes, while initially taken aback, just began to laugh in their squeaky tongue and crowd around the device with a cheer. The masked Gnome even climbed atop the contraption, heedless of the lighting, and began squeaking at me, punctuated with what I could swear was a "mwahahaha" but the sound of the lightning and the wind drowned it out. My hair and cloak were wild and the light was blinding as a primal scream tore itself out of me, I had to stop the Gnomes, this… this... Atrocity had to end!

The lightning grew to its brightest and then was suddenly cut off, like one end was suddenly cut and I collapsed to my knees to the jeers and laughter of the Gnomes. I looked up at the device, silver hair in my eyes, to see that the purple gems were now glowing bright blue with the Gnomes climbing all over it, swinging on ropes and sticks, laughing and jeering at me at my apparent failure to harm the device.

They died laughing as they were incinerated in a brilliant blue explosion.

Charred Gnome and white-hot metal shards rained down around me as I watched in awe as the energy rose into the heavens like a pillar of blue fire before at the top, like a fountain of water, it seemed to bend… in my direction.

"W-wait no!" was all I could shout at the fire bearing down on me, arms raised in a desperate attempt to protect myself. The fire struck and instead of harming me it began to flow into the gauntlet's crystal! Within moments the gauntlet had sucked all the fire into it, the gauntlet's crystal glowing a brighter blue before fading.

I stared at the gauntlet in wonder "W-what in the goddess's name?"

Rustling sounds and the arrival of several misshapen creatures leaping from the surrounding bushes interrupted my wonder. "Mistress! Mistress! We here to… Aw, you blow pointy hats up already. Minions wanted to bash." said a rather disappointed brown Minion, which was repeated in various tones and expressions as more Minions arrived into the clearing.

"Is she vaporized… no? Good!" Shouted Gnarl from some distance away before he scurried into view "Ah charred Gnome, a truly wonderful smell and you princess… are a lot more glowy than I remember."

I blink. "W-what do you… AAAAAHHH!" I scream as I looked at my ungauntleted hand, the veins in my hand were now shining a bright blue. With extreme haste, I rolled up my sleeve and the glow continued up my entire arm. Pulling on my collar to look into my shirt revealed that the glowing veins continued onto my chest where the source of the glow became apparent. Shining, brightly enough that I could see my ribs through my skin, was what I could swear was my heart (or at least close to it I could not make out any details). But as I watched the glow began to fade and soon I could see naught but my own breast with no indication that glow had come from inside me.

I look up, desperate for an explanation, and see that the Minions, Gnarl included, had suddenly moved in very close, eyes bulging with intense focus, a strange reaction.

"G-gnarl, w-what was that?" I ask worriedly, he did not break his focus. "Gnarl!"

"Hmm yes, Yes!" He starts breaking his focus. "It was just the Tower Heart reacting to absorbing the magical energy, nothing to worry about." A thoughtful expression then crossed Gnarl's face. "Though I could inspect you more closely to be sure hehehe."

I did not like that laugh. "I'll pa… the Guardian!" I exclaim as I finish adjusting my shirt, the memory of why I was here just reentered my head, oh what a fool I am to get distracted and let it suffer! I immediately get up and rush forward to the massive wolf.

I hear Gnarl sob quietly followed by the sound of a sympathetic pat on the back. "Don't touch me you fool!" as I skid to a stop in front of the wolf, hands outstretched with healing magic.

I gave a reassuring smile to the Guardian, though I didn't know if it was for my benefit or the guardian's, "D-don't worry, I-I'll heal you r-right up.'' The Guardian opened it's eye for a moment before closing it and huffing. There was a lot of blood around the ropes and tiny spears but they didn't look that deep… I think, I look back to the Minions who were still slowly arriving into the clearing, Mortis and Zap had arrived along with the Minions carrying Blaze and the gold from my ancestor's shrine. "H-help me remove the r-ropes!" I shout at them, to which they hesitate "Now!"

That got them moving with a chorus of "Yes mistress!" and they began removing the ropes while I ran my hands over the Guardian's wounds.

I looked at the tiny spears in the back of the wolf. "T-this m-m-might hurt so please r-remain c-calm." and grab a tiny spear with my fingers and pull it out quickly, a grunt but the Guardian doesn't react more than that.

"Hah! A gnomish spear is barely more than an over-glorified thorn, even a 'delicate' light magic-infused she-wolf would barely be harmed by it, which I would like to mention is really unoriginal of your ancestor to pick for a guardian though I shouldn't have expected better from Elves." Gnarl comments from the background to a roll of my eyes and a growl from the Guardian.

"J-just ignore h-him, G-gnarl is just being Gnarl.'' I say to the guardian… and myself but then a thought struck my head as I continued to heal the guardian "O-oh I h-haven't i-introduced myself, I am s-so sorry about my p-poor m-manners, I am princess Elenaril A-armathain and t-these…" I look to the Minions, the ones not helping with ropes had begun picking through the Gnomish remains or… chewing on them uggh! "... are the Minions." I finish, disgust clear in my voice.

"T-they're vile but t-they are helping me save g-grandpapa who is the k-king of the E-elves from my F-father and his S-sentinels." I continue, words flowing from my mouth as I heal this noble creature "H-has my G-grandfather ever visited this shrine? M-met you? I-EEK" I yelp as the guardian begins to move, instinctually grabbing the fur of the great beast as she stands up and shakes herself, nearly throwing me off and sending the remaining ropes (and one Minion) tumbling to the ground.

"W-wait! You need to rest!" I shout, clinging to their side, as the guardian moves to head into the forest. A huff of apparent annoyance and the massive wolf laid down. As my feet touch the ground I breathe a sigh of relief and continued my work to heal this noble creature.

An annoyed "tsk" from Gnarl drew my attention as he examined a bit of melted brass before throwing it to the ground. "Useless! Well princess, you certainly obliterated any evidence of where the Gnomes acquired this device and with the Gnome priest dead we can't even interrogate them to find out where they got it or who taught them that spell."

"My father and his Sentinels are probably behind it," I say bitterly, considering the evil my father has his hands in I would not be surprised if the corruption of the Gnomes was his doing as well.

"No, no I don't think so in this case," Gnarl said, stroking his goatee. "No Sentinel would consider the Gnomes to be worth the effort to hand over such a powerful device and the spellwork of that priest, amateur! Even a novice dark sorcerer could cast that spell far more efficiently and without the use of that device."

I frown "T-then are you s-suggesting they stole it? I would not think my father would allow the theft of such an evil device."

Gnarl nods. "Indeed princess and the Gnomes draining light magic creatures would not go unnoticed for long either, too many questions that could link back to the Sentinels and Gnomes are easily broken under pressure, it'd be top priority for the Sentinels to recover it. There is the possibility that it is a relic of the Glorious Empire, they used similar devices in those days, but this design was far too advanced for a relic of that time and for that matter where did the Gnomes even learn that spell in the first place? An evil plan is at play here, I can feel it and I doubt it's for the sentinels' benefit or min- ours for that matter. A shame really, we could have gotten so much evil done with this mysterious third party before our inevitable backstabbings."

"That's h-horrible."

"I know!" Gnarl says happily before his ears perk as he gets a contemplative look on his face. "Though I suppose one upside to this is that the magic stored within the 'extractor' might have granted you a new ability thanks to the Tower Heart. Of course, it might have just eaten the magic, one can never be sure with artefacts of immense power especially in… present circumstances," Gnarl ended bitterly while giving me an evil eye.

"H-how would we k-know for sure?" I ask, still focused on my task of healing the Guardian, I had managed to remove most of the spears luckily.

"Simple. Bruise! Get over here you useless sack of pus!" Gnarl calls and a Minion wielding a rolling pin runs up to me shouting, "New spell! New spell!"

I pause in my task to look at the minion confused as Gnarl continues talking "place your hand on the Minion and focus on his magic, take it from him." A pause as I give a horrified look to Gnarl. "Don't worry he'll like it and will probably be fine!" to which Bruise nodded enthusiastically for reasons that defied explanation.

"A-all right, sorry," I say apologetically as I place my gauntleted hand onto the Minion's head, ready to stop in a moment if it looked like it would hurt the creature.

I closed my eyes and imagined myself reaching towards the magic of the Minion to grab his magic. I did not have to wait long for something to happen for I felt the gauntlet's grip immediately tightened around the Minion's head and I could feel something flow out of the Minion into the gauntlet.

"Bruise feel woozy," the Minion says as he begins to grey and sway, panic immediately grips me. The first thought that came to my mind instead of letting go was to put the magic back into the Minion. In an instant, I felt the flow of magic shift and colour began to return to the Minion.

And size? Oh no…

The Minion began to grow suddenly and I let go of the creature's head and scrambled back followed closely by Gnarl and the Guardian who quickly spun around and growled, hackles raised.

The Minion now towered over me even though it was now more haunched, more like a troll's, muscles having grown larger to the point their weight pulling the Minion into its new posture. The Minion dragged its, now exceptionally large, knuckles across the ground to position itself to look at me, its face still looking like its former self though far larger. The spark of… semi-intelligence was gone from its eyes though veins of blue added an eerie look to its yellow eyes.

The creature opened its jaws and spoke in a deep bellowing voice. "Mast… duuuuuuuuuuur." Whatever it was attempting to say next was drowned out by a prodigious amount of drool from its maw and a glazed look in its eyes as it stared into nothing.

I just stared, too scared to even move and provoke such a creature into attacking me.

"Well, you've created a mutant Minion," Gnarl said from a fair distance away and behind several Minions. "Should have guessed exposure to pure Tower heart energy would have caused Bruise to mutate and that you would try to reverse the drain! Though I suppose I must congratulate you on gaining the drain ability, it should allow you to drain magic straight from the source! Perfect if you ever feel like you need a magical recharge! Though, as you've seen, you can reverse it as well and pour magic into whatever creature or device you want with… varied results."

"Eeee." Was the only sound I could make as I stared at the mutated Minion in fear.

"Well at least this mutant looks stable, unlike the ones created by the cataclysm and still loyal despite the decreased intelligence (which is a wonder in of itself) Minions have very tiny brains so all that new mass must be sucking up what little brainpower there is like a big muscly sponge!" Gnarl tapped his chin. "I wonder if the process can be improved, create deadlier variants… hmmm a question for later. Princess! Draining him should restore the Minion back to his original form if you ever feel like there's too much muscle in your vicinity! That or killing him should work!"

"Death cleanses the Minions, we return to our original form on our return to life. Guard your altered Minions well in battle, Mistress for their power will grant you victory." Mortis piques up.

Well, I would rather not harm the Minion more than I have, I choose the first option and place my hand on the arm of the Minion while still shaking with terror. I feel the gauntlet grip and the drain begin, the minion shrinking before my eyes back into his original form.

The Guardian's growl stops and looks on as the Minion, now back in his original form… continues to stare at nothing and drool.

That's… probably not a good sign. "Ummm a-are you o-okay?" I asked the desized Minion.

The Minion blinks, shakes his head and looks down at himself before letting out a sob. "NOOOOO! Me small again!" and then latching himself on my legs. "Make me big again!"

This takes me aback "B-but you were so big… and scary." I add under my breath.

The Minion looks at me, tears and snot running out his orifices. "Me good Minion! Me loyal Minion! Me no hurt Mistress! Me hurt those who want hurt Mistress! Make big so hurt better!"

"Oh I can't stand to see a grown Minion cry, make him big again... or stab him," Gnarl helpfully responds.

"A-are you sure?" I ask the sobbing Minion who nods with such speed I was sure his head would fly off. "A-alright." and I place my gauntleted hand on his head again, briefly questioning in my head why I would do this even for a creature who was sobbing on my legs.

"Yay!" exclaims the Minion as the magic begins to flow into him.

The next thing I knew was that there was a wet sound and my vision suddenly went very red as something wet covered my face and I tasted something disgusting mixed with copper on my tongue.

"Oh he popped, well looks like the reverse drain effect needs to be improved or else there is a chance you'll pop, probably a fairly large chance. You hear that Minions! No asking for embiggening until we work out that kink!" Gnarl says to a chorus of disappointed groans from the Minions.

I feel something wet and tubular slide off my head as I blink out a red liquid from my eyes.

Then my brain catches up to what just happened.

And I scream in horror at what I did to Minion who only asked to be big… big for me! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"Oh, there she goes, being all horrified about a Minion popping. Well, I suppose we can't exactly afford a Minion casualty right now, Mortis if you may."

"Certainly, enough of the Gnomish lifeforce still remains."

I pause for a breath and feel the blood and viscera covering myself flow off my body, my vision returns just in time to witness Mortis, with his webbed hand outstretched, direct a stream of glowing light balls rising from the corpses of the Gnomes into the puddle of blood that the viscera covering me had flowed off into.

A skeletal claw rose up out of the blood followed by the rest of the Minion's skeleton rising up. The eyeless skull looking right into my eyes as the blood flowed upwards and as I watched, organs reformed, blood flowing and its heart begin to pump until they were covered by sinewy muscles and then brown scaly hide, all inching upwards in layers at a time, like a glass of water being filled from the bottom. The sightless eyes continued to look at me until their eyes flowed back into their skill.

The Minion took a breath and grinned. "I live again mistress!"

I, upon seeing the Minion be poured back into life from the bottom up, did the only thing I could do and vomited in its face.

"Well, it appears your new master can't handle a little Minion revival!" said Gnarl with a joking tone as my vision began to turn black.

I heard a huff of an acknowledgement as I pitched to the side and darkness took me into unconsciousness.

"Alright Minions, let's drag the-"

"Grrrrr."

"Errrr, gently put the Princess on the back of the Guardian."

"Ruff."

"Me got puked on by Mistress! Me special!"

"Yes Bruise, you have the same value as a rusty vomit bucket, now heave!"

"Grrr"

"Yes, claws are where they should be… blasted Guardian."


Thanks to @MysticKnightJoe for editing

 

[Zaealix]

...That moment she tried to loose an arrow and missed.
If she was a Dwarf Princess the dissaproval from her literary ancestors would invoke such shame as to kill her on the spot!

Aaand things like the embiggening failing are a solid reminder of how Minions and EVIL works-namely, never volunteer for a brand-new magic yourself, when you can have someone else do it, perferably someone disposable less something go wrong.

 

[Neruz]

Aaand things like the embiggening failing are a solid reminder of how Minions and EVIL works-namely, never volunteer for a brand-new magic yourself, when you can have someone else do it, perferably someone disposable less something go wrong.

Click to shrink...

Fortunately minions are both infinitely oblivious to the concept of consequences, and infinitely expendable. So if you have to make a few hundred (or more) of them pop before you work out the kinks in your spell, that's not a problem that killing a bunch of fat seals and fluffy sheeps cannot fix.

The first time I played through Overlord II, my favorite Brown; Stubby, got killed and revived over fifty times by the end of the game and he was still gleefully throwing himself head-first into battle without a moment's pause for thought. Such a good boi.

 

[Bag of Bones]

...That moment she tried to loose an arrow and missed.
If she was a Dwarf Princess the dissaproval from her literary ancestors would invoke such shame as to kill her on the spot!

Click to shrink...

Her elf ancestors, many of which were natural marksmen, aren't looking too fondly right now though not to the extent of a dwarf.

Fortunately minions are both infinitely oblivious to the concept of consequences, and infinitely expendable. So if you have to make a few hundred (or more) of them pop before you work out the kinks in your spell, that's not a problem that killing a bunch of fat seals and fluffy sheeps cannot fix.

Click to shrink...

Or a bunch of bugs or a ton of food, any Overlord with the patience to grind can build himself quite the army of expendable diminutive lizard-like morons.

The princess, unfortunately, doesn't have access to that right now.

Anyway, always glad for comments and hope to see more.

 

[Neruz]

Or a bunch of bugs or a ton of food, any Overlord with the patience to grind can build himself quite the army of expendable diminutive lizard-like morons.

Click to shrink...

Yup, thats the advantage of having 'life force' as your primary resource; life is everywhere in effectively endless supply, acquiring more life force requires an investment of time and little else.

 

[Bag of Bones]

Darkness was all I could see as the bliss of unconsciousness gripped my form, then strangely, through my unconsciousness, I felt the sensation of being lifted into the air and then just as quickly falling.

I wonder, is this some strange dream I'm having through-

The shock of hitting water jolts me awake along with the sudden intrusion of water into my lungs. Panic and instinct follow next, I kick my legs in desperation to reach the surface of the water before I could drown.

Coughing and spluttering my head breaks the surface, gulping down as much air as I could. I treaded water looking back and forth, frantically trying to piece together how I ended up in water. My eyes scan the surroundings and I realize that I am in a pond that seemed strangely illuminated from below before my gaze quickly fell on the crowd of impish creatures on the edge of the pond I was swimming in, all pointing at the giant wolf with a shout of "She did it!" in perfect unison.

A giant wolf that rolled its eyes in response and was now wading into the pond, its massive size allowing it to easily walk on the bottom of the pond, till it was right beside me. What happened next filled my heart with wonder as the crystal clear water of the pond seemed to glow even brighter. A sensation of peace, calm and warmth, not unlike my healing magic, filled me causing an inadvertent sigh of contentment to erupt from both me and the beautiful wolven guardian next to me.

Leaning against the guardian I finally took stock of my location, first noticing the softly glowing pink crystals that both surrounded the pond and lay at the bottom of it. The crystals were quite pretty and I wondered if they were linked to the magic of the pond.

My eyes fell next on the great tree that shadowed the pond, its roots dwarfed even the massive guardian. I believed it was an oak but I knew of no oak that grew to this size or gave off motes of blue light that winked in and out of existence though I suspect the large and glowing light blue crystal that was nestled in its branches played a role in the tree's massive size.

"What is this place?" I say in wonder at the sight and feel of this place, what wondrous place has the guardian taken me to? I could feel it in the air, this a sacred place maybe even more so than my ancestors' shrine.

"A filthy source of light magic!" Gnarl yelled from the crowd of minions and I let loose a long-suffering sigh as Gnarl continued speaking "That sacred oak is the heart of the forest and of course the elves placed a light crystal in the middle of it, no doubt to make it more Elvish! Ugh, Fairy gems popping up like weeds and a magic healing pond on top of it all! It makes me sick, I suggest immediate defilement of this place and draining of that crystal's magic!"

The Minions gave out a chorus of agreement and pulled out weapons, ready to defile.

The guardian turned its head to me, an unspoken question in its blue eyes and I knew not why but it gave me a spark of courage "No!" I said firmly "This p-place s-shall not be harmed!"

Gnarl scoffed "heroes" as the other Minions began to whine.

"Aw but why?"

"She hero, she no break light stuff."

"She Mistress though?"

"Me want defile!"

My hands massaged my temples, why goddess? Why must I have to rely on these creatures? I felt a ripple in the water as the guardian moved out of the pond and towards the tree as the Minion's whining and arguing grew louder. I watched through my fingers as the massive dripping wet wolf moved into the tree's roots, disappearing into it to my surprise. As the Minions continued to argue I swam towards the shore, reaching it in time for the Guardian to emerge from the roots and trotted towards me with a saddle in its jaws.

And it was quite a large saddle! Clearly meant to be used on a beast of large size and with silver engravings of vines and leaves along it and the saddlebags on its sides. I immediately knew this saddle was for the guardian for it to be used as a mount, had… had my ancestor ridden on top of this guardian into battle or its ancestor? My eyes flicked to some script on the saddle, I could recognize it as a name despite its elvish writing: Ylva.

I lock eyes with the guardian still with the question in her eyes. "Ylva… is t-that your name?" I asked her and the wolf nodded, somehow understanding me. I felt a bond form with Ylva as I stared into her eyes, this guardian of my ancestor and this forest, she who faced constant dangers to protect my ancestor and now… me.

A strength fills my heart and I clench my gauntleted left hand, as one, the Minions stop their bickering and whining and all turn to look at me. "By my command, you shall not defile this forest," I say still locking eyes with Ylva, voice clear, steady and with an authority I did not know I could muster.

A brown minion is the first to speak from the horde of Minions gathered "Yes, mistress." I could see it say it with a bow from the corner of my eye, the other Minions quickly repeating the action and words.

I break eye contact with Ylva and sink to my knees with an exhausted sigh and soggy clothes, why was that so hard? I glance over at Gnarl to see him looking back at me with a raised eyebrow.

That was about when a spray of water hit me as Ylva began to shake off the healing water she was soaked with. I sputtered as I wiped that animal smelling water from my face though the Minions… fared worse.

"AHHH IT BURNS!"

"THE LIGHT, IT BURNS US!"

"IT HEALING ME! NOOOOO!"

A group of Minions used by their fellows (and Gnarl) as importum shields were now writhing on the ground in agony, screaming and clutching their faces from the healing water. I don't understand why they would find healing to be agony.

"Well I suppose I must congratulate you, Princess, you successfully saved a giant wolf who retrieved a saddle from it's den so that it can be your mount, too much light magic involved for my liking but a giant wolf is still a giant wolf alongside the other treasures of your ancestor so this has been a fruitful endeavour," Gnarl said, stepping around the writhing Minions.

"W-will… Will they be alright?" I say with concern to the writhing and screaming Minions.

"Eh." Gnarl shrugged indifferently. "We will need to continue on, I doubt your father has given up his search along with those filthy Gnomes, and we have quite a fair bit of ground to cover." He turned his head and shouted to the Minions not writhing on the ground. "You lot! Attach the saddle to the Guardian." Causing the Minions to spring into action. Ylva for her part, laid down to give the Minions an easier time.

She is quite intelligent for a wolf.

A light breeze passes through the trees and I shiver in response, I had forgotten I am soaked to the bone! The strange warmth from the pond has now left and I am shivering in wet clothes!

"Uhh G-gnarl, do we h-have any dry c-clothes?" I chittered out and as one the writhing Minions leapt up suddenly fine and eager.

"Oh! Oh! me help Mistress get clothes!"

"Uh, uh me help Mistress!"

"Me help Mistress out of clothes!"

"No me!"

"Now, now," Gnarl said, hands raised in placation, "only an expert can help the Princess remove her clothes and as said expert, I suggest that I remove the shirt first as only my expert claws can remove the shirt with such large, wonderful… eh where'd she go?"

I had moved into a bush with the sack of dry clothes that a Minion had carried here and I luckily noticed, removing the wet clothes I was in. I peeked through the bushes, just as I finished the task of removing my shirt, back at the pond. The formerly writhing Minions and Gnarl were all scratching their heads in confusion as the Minions equipping the saddle onto Ylva finished their work. Ylva stood up and trotted over to the pond, inspecting her reflection in the still waters. She began trotting around the pond looking at her reflection before suddenly picking up speed, running and leaping around it. Minions were diving out of the way the entire time as Ylva ran tongue out and tail wagging.

On her fourth lap, Ylva suddenly raced towards the tree and gave a mighty leap into its branches, paws scraping the bark. Powerful jaws shot out towards the light crystal and latched onto a branching part of the crystal. With a loud crack a piece of the crystal broke off in its jaws and Ylva kicked off the tree, landing with enough force to send a tremor through the ground and a cursing Gnarl onto his back.

And to my eyes only, a single glowing acorn fell from the branches into a saddlebag that had opened in Ylva's activity.

A satisfied huff was my only warning before Ylva threw back her head and let loose a howl that seemed to shake the very earth more than her weight did.

"AWWOOOOOOOO!"

Minions cheered or clutched their ears as Ylva howled, the blue motes of light intensifying in brightness.

I smiled at the sight, this will be a moment I will remember fondly even with the Minions there.

A thought crossed my mind in that moment though, if I am to use Ylva as a mount how will the Minions keep up?

******​

"This. Is. Not. What. I. Expected!" I gasped out, exhausted and thirsty.

"Come on! Move those wonderfully slender legs! We need to be out of the forest by sundown!" Gnarl said from my back as I ran and carried him through the forest, leaping over roots and ducking under branches. The massive Ylva trotting beside us and a small horde of demented Minions cheered and gibbered behind me.

*******​

"Oh goddess my legs," I said as I rested against Ylva's side, rubbing my throbbing legs with healing magic. We had stopped to camp for the night and I was grateful for the reprieve. I was always told that a lady cannot engage in exercise as they lacked the fortitude for it and with my agonized legs I would agree at this moment!

"Quit your belly-aching Princess." Gnarl snapped "This is the fastest way to build up your strength or have your dainty little elf muscles finally given up?"
Ylva gave a growl and Gnarl rolled his eyes. "You can't expect me to go easy on her, what with her wanting to look like a classic Overlord for her plan."

"Ruff."

"Well of course she's too slender for the look, but with the lack of classic Overlords around I have to make do with what I've got and what I've got!"

"Wuff."

"Ugh, don't remind me of her pure-heartedness but with enough practice and armour even she would be able to bluff being an Overlord long enough to meet with the Elf King and throw the Sentinels into disarray!"

"Umm," I mumbled, gaze shifting between the massive wolf and wizened imp. "D-do you understand e-each other?"

"Hah! You think Gnarl, loyal servant of darkness, wouldn't learn... " Gnarl begins to say triumphantly before a realization crosses his face before it lands into his palm. "Of course the one royal elf who can't shoot a bow can't communicate with their guardian either. Next, she's going to say she can't even speak telepathically either!"

"W-what?!"

Gnarl buried his face further into his claws "Darkness help me, what haven't I done to deserve this? Purest elf in generations and their most useless, it'd be hilarious if I wasn't the one suffering from it."

My heart began to sink before a large wet nose nuzzles me and a growl directed at Gnarl put a small smile on my face as Gnarl threw up his claws.

"Fine! I'll admit she came up with a workable plan to ruin the sentinels, is still the heir to the continent and that she has the greatest bo… er I mean magical potential I've seen in over a thousand years (in no small part thanks to the tower heart!) but she's still an elf who can't even shoot a bow much less master the other parts of her heritage!"

I actually felt a bit defensive about that "N-no one c-can master s-something they tried once, I t-think e-even my ancestor couldn't!" I say with confidence slipping into my voice and I look to Ylva for support.

Ylva doesn't meet my eyes.

My ears droop.

"Ah, nothing like a crushed Elven spirit before a night of consulting maps and forcing Stench to scout ahead in order to find the best route forward." Gnarl sighed, stretching his limbs.

"Wait, what-what?" came the hissing reply of the suddenly visible green minion.

"You heard me! Or have you not noticed that we are venturing back into human lands! Lands filled with gossipy humans that will give away our position to the sentinels because we can't all turn invisible! Now get moving!" Gnarl snapped at Stench who quickly scurried off while Gnarl headed towards the main tent.

I remained resting against Ylva, who curled herself around me enveloping me in fur. I lay against her, eyes closed, listening to her breathing and the thrashing of Blaze as Minions threw sticks at him to burn.

Time passed and a… less Minions arguing and fighting each other calm fell over the camp. A thought has been worming itself through me, an unpleasant thought that wormed itself out of my throat into the air "... I r-really am that m-much of a failure a-aren't I?"

A sympathetic whine from Ylva was the reply but the unpleasant thought was not finished "G-Gnarl is r-right I… r-really am useless. I c-cannot fight… cannot even fire a bow or s-swing a sword!... Only f-fling uncontrollable m-magic and hope for a m-miracle."

Ylva gave another whimper and I continued nuzzling my face deeper into her fur "I w-wonder… will I be useless in saving-eek!" Ylva's massive wet nose jammed into my side, startling my head upwards into locking eyes with two blue wolven eyes.

There was both seriousness and kindness in her eyes, it… took me far too long for me to realise what her gaze was conveying, that I was stronger than I thought, that I wasn't useless.

The gaze of someone who cared for me despite the truth of my uselessness…

A kindness I had not experienced in… I cannot remember how long.

My face screwed up, tears began to fall and sobs of both sadness and happiness erupted from my throat.

I cried into her fur until I fell asleep, the one being in the world other than Grandpapa who truly cared for me. Something my father tried to deny me.

The last feeling I had before falling asleep was feeling a breeze blowing through the campsite on the tips of my pointed ears.

And the ominous smell of distant smoke that the breeze carried.



Thanks to @MysticKnightJoe for editing

 

[prof_Chemical]

where are you even finding overlord fics to grumble about? i can count the number of overlord fics ive read on my fingers lol. there are a couple real fun ones on sv, or maybe sb... probably both.

also poor girl 😭

 

[Zaealix]

*crosses arms*
...So here's an interesting tug-o war going on between Gnarl and Ylva.
On the one hand, Gnarl,'s influence includes the minions, and Gnarl's wise- but evil, can't forget the evil! Advice...
Versus Ylva, who, with her saddle represents the legacy of Elvish skill and magic that Elenaril stands to FINALLY gain access to like she should have...
But while Elenaril perfers the side of good, and I think holds an innate connection to goodness that should make things interesting...
I fear Gnarl knows well the secrets of the Gauntlet, and he has seen heroes show the strength to claim the Gauntlet's strength...But ultimately fall to the temptations of EVIL.
I'm really curious how this is going to go down, especially since it doesn't actually feel like a simple falling to temptation is what's going on here.

 

[Bag of Bones]

where are you even finding overlord fics to grumble about? i can count the number of overlord fics ive read on my fingers lol. there are a couple real fun ones on sv, or maybe sb... probably both.

also poor girl 😭

Click to shrink...

I've seen things.

Horrible things.

Mostly from fanfiction.net and deviant art.

*crosses arms*
...So here's an interesting tug-o war going on between Gnarl and Ylva.
On the one hand, Gnarl,'s influence includes the minions, and Gnarl's wise- but evil, can't forget the evil! Advice...
Versus Ylva, who, with her saddle represents the legacy of Elvish skill and magic that Elenaril stands to FINALLY gain access to like she should have...
But while Elenaril perfers the side of good, and I think holds an innate connection to goodness that should make things interesting...
I fear Gnarl knows well the secrets of the Gauntlet, and he has seen heroes show the strength to claim the Gauntlet's strength...But ultimately fall to the temptations of EVIL.
I'm really curious how this is going to go down, especially since it doesn't actually feel like a simple falling to temptation is what's going on here.

Click to shrink...

Good analysis! I can't confirm or deny how things will go due to potential spoilers but I will say that I am happy you're intrigued over where the story is going and that there is discussion about my fic's plot.

 

[Bag of Bones]

The morning was sunny but we could all smell the rain coming, a fact Gnarl was gleeful about.

"While the humans cower in their houses from a bit of rain we will be able to use it to sneak past any villages we encounter and make a fair bit of progress on our journey north, though a bit more soggy than preferable… what? I'm not a blue, I can only take so much soggy misery before my old bones start to ache."

So now we waited, Gnarl went back to consulting maps, the other Minions either milling about or (in the case of the larger browns) patrolling the camp edge, Ylva rested in the shade of a tree and I chose to train for the journey ahead.

A training… that I was not succeeding at, as another arrow fell short, in the wrong direction, and the tree trunk I was attempting to hit remained mockingly unmarred. It did not help that my failure had drawn a crowd of Minions who were cheering on my failure and exchanging all manner of things in some kind of crude form of gambling just as the priests had warned me creatures of sin would do.

I guess they were right about one thing…

Though I can't help but feel horrible for the Minions who were betting on me exclusively, it felt like I was betraying their trust every time they lost a bet, leaving them with fewer and fewer belongings until they had nought but their loincloths… that they were now betting.

With sudden motivation I took aim again, pulling the bowstring taut and stilling my breath. Then when my arms started to wobble from the strain of holding the bowstring taut, I released it. The arrow flew from the bow as the string snapped forward and struck the tree… lower than where I was aiming for but I still struck the tree!

A rather embarrassing noise of triumph erupted from me at that moment and the grumbling of the Minions who just lost their bets were drowned out by the cheers of those that just won back all they had lost, something which warmed my heart. Even if they are creatures of evil, they still believed in me and I cannot stand to see them lose everything because of my inadequacies.

"Yay mistress!" One shouts which I respond with a smile as I turn to look at the Minions. "She almost hit Stench!"

"Wha-?" I say, utterly confused as I whirl back around, sure enough, there was the green Minion Stench in front of the tree quivering as he looked up at the arrow which nearly struck him in the forehead.

I gasped in shock, why was he there! I could have severely hurt him!

Gnarl interrupted my shock by yelling, "Stench! There you are, you useless sack of pus! Report!" He strode up towards us, as I continued to gape at the Minion.

Stench, to his credit, immediately regained his composure. "Found path to be sneaky-sneaky, only village near path busy-busy with making ladies burn and hang-hang."

"Burn and hang?" Me and Gnarl both say at the same time, me with a stutter of horror and Gnarl with a more questioning tone.

"Yes-yes, villagers rounding up ladies, little ones and big ones, call em witches, traitors! Fancy priest leading it, lots-lots of fancy guards!"

"A witch hunt!" Gnarl hissed as I struggled to comprehend what I was hearing, a witch hunt… I had heard the priests mention witches before, evil female magic users who cursed and hexed the innocent but that was all I knew about them, for the priests had considered even my healing magic to be witchcraft and wrecked all manner of horrific punishments on me for it. At least until my father put a stop to the worst of it after a series of punishments conducted by the Archbishop, one of the few times I had seen him furious on my behalf… Though I now wonder if there was an ulterior motive behind it.

A horrific thought crossed my mind at that moment, if even my healing magic was considered witchcraft by the priests, are these women being killed truly evil? Stench said big ones and little ones are being killed… Oh goddess, could the little ones be children? What could ever justify harming children?

Gnarl paced back and forth, ignoring my growing horror. "There hasn't been a witch hunt for a hundred years! At least officially, plenty of moronic peasants murdering each other at the drop of a pitchfork this past century." Gnarl paused his pace and stroked his goatee. "I'm willing to bet an infected scab that the 'fancy priest' is none other than the local Bishop, Edwin Knife, corrupt, greedy and more in common with a bandit than a man of the cloth, though not so good with knives or so the rumours say. If not for his fanaticism I'd call him a shining example of corruption in institutions… Eh, why do you look like you've swallowed Quaver's mystery stew with extra mystery?"

"The mystery is where I found the worms!" Quaver says with a singsong tone as I struggle to word my horror at the first horrific revelation.

"I k-know B-bishop K-knife, he'd s-serve as one of my t-tutors when the A-archbishop was not a-available." I say with a shudder, rubbing my arms where there were no scars.

"Ah, lemme guess, he was the cruel and merciless tutor who used creative punishments whenever you made a mistake, a classic stereotype," Gnarl responded with a sneer.

I shake my head "N-no, he w-was u-unpleasant and s-strict b-but g-goddess h-help me I c-could not s-see him d-doing t-this!" I say holding my arms, Bishop Knife didn't even use the lash as much as my other tutors and never to the point of the screams and the blood that the others… Enjoyed.

Gnarl seemed genuinely taken aback before stroking his goatee again "You think you know a corrupt official… If what you say is true then he must have been ordered by the Archbishop to perform this witch hunt, or I was mistaken and it was the Archbishop that Stench saw."

"B-but why, w-why do… any of t-this!"

"Simple, convenient scapegoats. With your 'possession' the Empire probably needs to look like they're doing something without actually doing anything, hence the murdering of defenseless women," Gnarl said before chuckling to himself, "And they call this an enlightened age! Oh it's so good to see that fear and paranoia being exploited by those of ill-intention will always be a constant, and look! The rain is just about to come down! This day just keeps getting even more wonderfully bad!"

I just stared in horror at Gnarl, opening my mouth to retort only for a very large wet nose to touch my neck (and back of my head) causing an inadvertent gasp to leave my lips. I look back to see two very large sorrowful eyes looking into mine, the meaning clear.

… That there was nothing I could do and that we needed to move on.

A drop of water chose to fall from the sky and land on my nose at that very moment and a glance upwards revealed a turbulent sky, heavy with rain. Gnarl took that moment to begin directing the Minions to prepare for departure, leaving me and Ylva in the middle of the camp.

I continued to look towards the sky as more and more raindrops began to fall, people are dying because of my father's lies, because of me.

Why… Why must this be happening?

*****​

"Stop splashing you fools, the rain can't hide everything!" Gnarl hisses from the top of an annoyed Ylva as we made our way in the strangest column ever through a large ditch at the edge of a farmer's field. The heavens were content to drop all its contents upon our heads as we did so, making the ground muddy and difficult to traverse. My ancestor's cloak kept out the worst of it however, leaving me surprisingly warm… An enchantment maybe?

Poor Ylva on the other hand was having the most difficulty, her white fur was matted with mud by the Minions to camouflage her but her sheer size meant she had to crawl on her belly whenever there was a chance of her being spotted… which was more frequent than not as the land had little in the way of hiding. It also prevented her from sinking into the mud more than she already did, her massive size being a detriment to cross the muddy fields.

The Minions struggled as well but seemed experienced with this kind of trek, Gnarl reassured me they had made this kind of trek many times before and so far it seemed like they indeed had done similar, their constant chatter and other sounds had softened to a whisper while they crawled and sneaked their way through the fields with surprising quickness though burdened with baggage and supplies, enjoying the filth that soon covered them all the while with only the occasional reprimand from Gnarl, who had taken the opportunity to crawl on top of Ylva while she was focused on remaining hidden.

I did not join Gnarl on top of Ylva, I did not deserve such luxury, choosing instead to sneak beside the Minions in the mud. To my own surprise, it appeared I had a much easier time sneaking through the muddy fields than the Minions did, my footing being far surer and noticeably less muddy. Gnarl scoffed when he noticed, and told me to use my "elven grace" to keep an eye out for any trouble alongside Stench.

So I did… At least I assume Stench did, in the few moments I could see him before he vanished before my eyes. I was in my head, focusing on the atrocity that was happening because of me.

The more I thought about it the more I could not understand it even with Gnarl's explanation. Was it truly like my own situation? The word of who even I had thought was holy over someone accused of being corrupted by evil? The word of my father had convinced those farmers that I had fallen to evil after my encounter with the Dread Lord but that was the plan of the sentinels after I failed to die to their plot. But these were peasant women, women who I had never met in a part of the Empire I had never travelled to… Why kill them? What connected them to me? I needed to find out more, find out why this was happening.

Find out what I could do to make it right...

"Mistress should focus-focus." The hissing voice of Stench startles me out of my thought "Elf eyes see-see more than Stench"

"I-i'm s-sorry!" I quickly apologize, nearly falling over a patch of slick ground. "I c-cannot get it o-out of my head, t-that… A-atrocity!"

"But Mistress no-no see it?" Stench says striding into view "Always best-best to see atrocity, stick-stick better in head that way."

"E-eh? Y-you'd show me?" I respond, focusing on the Green and foul-smelling Minion with all my attention.

"No, need-need." Stench replies before pointing to the northeast where I could see trails of chimney smoke even through the rain. "It over there-there… why Mistress run-run in direction?"

I ignore him as I run through the fields, alongside the ripening crops in the muddy ground. The spur of a split-second decision pushed me forward despite all sense telling me to stay away. I had to see it with my own eyes, I had to know why this happened!

I could hear Gnarl behind me. "Now Princess, what do your elf eyes… eh? Where she'd go? Stench where is she… Hello? You there?"

I'm running closer and closer to the village. I could see the furthest of the thatched roof houses now despite my blurring vision and just a bit further I would be in the village proper.

At least until something small and extremely foul-smelling grabbed my cloak and caused me to fall face-first into the mud as while the grab was not enough to yank me back, it still threw me off balance. "No, Mistress!" came the hissing whisper of Stench as I gag and spit due to the mud and extremely foul smell. "You no think-think like Green! Get caught!"

"P-please l-let m-me g-go!" My voice came out trembling even more than usual, so filled with emotion that it was a miracle I could say anything. "I h-have t-t-t-to k-know!"

"Stench know how properly sneak-sneak into village, me tell you how!"

I blink and look back at the Green lizard-like Minion holding my cloak. "H-huh?"

******​

This was a terrible plan.

I didn't understand how walking up the main road, in full view of the village with only my muddy cloak with hood pulled over my face to hide my identity could be considered sneaking but Stench had all but forced me to do this, he had called this was the best way to enter the village. "Bushes no good-good view, Mistress can't be invisible like Stench." he had said, arguing that with a disguise and deepening my voice I would be able to walk right up to the… horror without any of the villagers becoming suspicious because "peasants dumb-dumb."

I did not think the villagers were "dumb-dumb" (oh heavens I have spent too long with the Minions) and will easily see through my disguise but I was so distraught, so desperate to see this with my own eyes that I was mainly going along with this just so that Stench could let me proceed to the village. Now that I was actually approaching along the main road, fear brought reason to my mind over my other emotions. What madness gripped me that I thought this was a good plan? Why am I still walking forward?

I could see the layout of the village clearly now, several dozen thatch-roofed buildings surrounding a church to my father's god in the centre of the village, the stone belltower visible even at the edge of the village. I could hear laughter and conversation from the buildings from the villagers who took shelter from the rain as I walked past them with my boots squelching in the mud, not a hint in the voices from the buildings of what had happened here.

I could not understand how that was possible.

No one looked out or greeted me as I entered the village and walked towards the church, Stench was indeed correct that I would not be able to see from the bushes, the buildings blocked any view and even me walking up the road could not get a good view until I walked past a house and…

"Oh gods," I whisper to myself, I now stood before the church in the village square and saw a sight that rivalled some of the worst in the Dread Lord's lair. Charred skeletons lay in a heap at the base of a burnt stake, broken to the point I could not tell who they were in life but the killing was not just limited to burning. Three cloaked and hooded men were loading blue-skinned corpses into carts, their broken and bruised necks showing what killed them and oh what a horrible sight! Girls who could be no older than six lay alongside women who shared my age and those who were wrinkled with the weight of many seasons, all had bulging eyes and lolling tongues and stripped to only their underclothes.

I stood rock still as I attempted to desperately disbelieve what I was seeing until one of the men, a man with a sunburnt nose and cheeks who I assumed was a farmer noticed me. "Oi traveller!" He shouted at me, "Might want to get to the tavern, this storm will soak even your bones!" Not seeing my face through the storm or my hood.

Stench's words on how to disguise myself comes back to me in that moment and nodding my head down further (which is hopefully non-suspicious considering the wind shifted) and speaking with a deepened tone I said, "W-what happened here?" my voice cracking into high pitched tones much like the young nobles at the palace whenever they spoke in my presence.

The men stared at me and I froze, oh what a fool I am! Curse my morbid curiosity and listening to Stench!

Then the men started to laugh before the sunburnt farmer waved his arm in the air and addressed his fellows. "Quit your laughing lads, can't you see you're embarrassing the poor boy! Hehehe." He snorts before addressing me again "Sorry about that, Lads just having a bit of fun with ya, not like we all didn't go through the same thing when we were your age."

I cocked my head, did they think I was a boy? I suppose I should count my blessings that my cloak was expansive enough to hide my… very non-masculine features from their eyes. But that moment of relief was dampened by the horror of how casual they were being in the scene of nightmares.

The sunburnt farmer seemed to notice my obvious tension and grew sombre. "Ah, I guess this is a grim sight to stumble across especially if you've been travelling. This is the result of the evil times we are in, my friend."

I stare at him before looking at the corpses. "H-h-how?" I choke out, feeling bile rising in my throat as I looked at the open sightless eyes. It was so horrific, so vile that my disgust and horror overwhelmed me and the rose and rose until I could contain it no more and spewed it upon the ground.

The men winced, moving to help only to be dissuaded by a wave of my non-gauntleted hand as I gasped for breath. "Easy there lad, nothing to be ashamed of." Came the sympathetic voice of the sunburnt farmer as I gasped at the ground "Never a pleasant sight, the dead, but take some solace in the knowledge that these corpses are those who got what they deserved."

I tensed again, bent over a puddle of my stomach's contents but the man clearly took it to mean something else as he said, "Hard to believe it ain't it, but ever since the Princess had been taken by evil… Well, things needed to be done."

My stomach painfully churned as the man continued to speak with pride in his voice. "Our most holy archbishop had long warned of the dangers of magic and of witches in league with the forces of darkness, good men had taken his sermons to heart and recognized that the Princess' being taken by evil must have long been planned." A mad glint came to his eyes. "Witch hunters they call themselves, men whose divine duty is to hunt down witches no matter what guise they pick for themselves for only a small donation of gold!"

One of the other men piped up. "Yeah, one of them was me own daughter! Playing with frogs and such!" the man shook his head. "Should have hit her more… might have beaten the evil out of her."

"Don't feel bad, that one was marked from birth like the witch hunter said besides, she's on the cart with the rest of em now." The sunburnt man said sympathetically to the other man for the truly evil thing he said.

His own daughter… Something was building inside me at that admission of evil, something that was beginning to eclipse my horror and fueled by my guilt.

"Anyway," The sunburnt farmer addressed me again "the great thing about these witch hunters is that the blasted Bishop can't interfere!"

That shook me out of my emotions for a moment as the man continued, "Came here with those thugs he calls guards all demanding and ordering, saying that the witch hunters were undermining the church's authority for years now if you can believe that!" The men laugh. "Should have seen his face when the Archbishop's holy knights showed up to back up the witch hunter! Paler than the dead!"

A more timid looking man farthest from me spoke up with a shudder. "I'd be pale too if I had to speak to that creepy hooded fella leading them."

The sunburnt man glared at his companion. "That be a holy man you be speaking about, waved a staff and knew exactly who was the most guilty out of all of them witches, taking them out of our hands and into the hands of the Empire's new inquisition!"

"Shame the witch hunter didn't join em or stick around to watch that no good bishop slink off defeated, I think they were so awestruck by the Archbishop's Knights that they took our donations and ran off to hunt more witches that very hour!"

"Aye, hope they have as much luck in the next village as they had here, right lad? Lad? You alright?" The man gave me a quizzical expression as what he said rolled around in my head. These men were worse than I thought, whose crime was stoking the black coals of rage in me to a degree I did not think possible. They murdered their neighbours and daughters at the word of a stranger!

"Course he's not alright, Lad's soaked and shivering and I'm not faring much better meself! You gabbed too long and we've got to dump these bodies!"

I spare another look at the corpses and an overwhelming desire to exact justice on these men filled me to near bursting. With my magic, I could do so easily… I could feel the gauntlet responding, energy building within it.

"Why didn't you lot stop me! God help me, Lad you better head to the tavern before you freeze, we'll catch up in a bit."

… But a voice from within me, like a soothing stream, snuffed out those coals in an instant before it could ever burst into flame and asked me with a bottomless sorrow what would that solve beyond the death of these men? They are not threatening me and the village would only see me using magic against their neighbours, justifying their hatred. I've already learned they would not believe my words, not over the lies of their Emperor…

It is a bitter painful truth but I can't deny it: I can't do anything here and I hate it… I hate it so much.

With a great ache in my heart, I turn away from the men and walk away... boots sloshing in the mud heavy with guilt, hearing only the rain and the complaints of the sunburnt farmer's fellows behind me. "Do ya have to exposit to everyone who comes up and asks what we're doing?"

I quickly increase my pace to walk away from their sight, away from the village, and into the fields where no one in the village can see me.

I hate not being able to do anything for those women, something to give them justice for this grave crime against them. I hate myself for giving these witch hunters the excuse to murder these women, how many women have died in the years…

Years? Wait, but Gnarl said… and an Inquisition as well? Only Father can call an Inquisition into being and he hated the very idea of it despite the archbishop begging him to create it when mother died.

I don't understand how-

"Mistress find-find what she looking for?"

I nearly jump out of my skin. "S-stench! Y-you f-followed me!"

"Yes-Yes mistress! Stench follow and hear-hear all about witchys, inquisition and bishops fighting!'' The now visible creature said proudly "Gnarl be very interested to hear-hear about that!"

My eyes narrow as a swell of anger comes. "W-women died!" I nearly shout at Stench before biting my tongue and looking back at the village. The rain was still coming down but I am not so void of sense to risk shouting.

Stench just gives me a quizzical look before simply saying, "So?"

And with that my sense had left me. "So?! They died because of me! Innocent women who were just victims of insane men and my father's lies!" I shout at Stench, the wind picked up in that moment, spraying an even greater torrent of rain into my back as tears flowed freely. "I let their murderers w-walk away!"

"Mistress smart-smart! No trail for sentinels to follow-follow!" Stench says happily over the raging wind before his ears droop. "No stabs-stabs though."

A maddened laughing sob erupts from me. "O-of course t-that's what's i-important!" I shout at Stench with the wind becoming a tempest as I spoke, "M-my safety! Not the innocent!"

Stench seemed to be getting more frantic as he began to yell but I couldn't hear him, not over the wind that was blowing with ever greater force, turning rain into bullets that stung my flesh even threw the cloak.

But I ignored it, my grief, my guilt was too strong. "Not the p-people who died because of YIKES!" Until Stench grabbed the front of my cloak and pulled me to the ground forcing mud and muddy water into far too many places. I hear something whoosh over my head followed by a substantially sized branch hitting the ground just beyond us.

"Mistress do hero guilt-guilt thing later! Storm go bad-bad!" Stench yells as I stare wide-eyed at the branch that would have likely cracked opened my skull as I blankly nod.

And as I stand up I become acutely aware of just how bad the storm has become as the wind catches my cloak and I fall back onto the muddy ground. How was this even possible? It had rained for hours with no hint of a storm of this power coming!

"Get-get on ground!" Stench yells as he curls up into a ball to try and weather the storm. I follow suit, feeling the rain pounding on my back and my guilt being replaced by fear at the ferocity of this sudden storm.

Until just as suddenly it stopped.

"Huh?" I hear Stench exclaim as we both look up, the storm's ferocity had vanished, replaced by only a light drizzle.

"W-what was t-t-t-t-that storm?" I ask as I stand up, soaked to the bone and beginning to be chilled. It had appeared out of nowhere as I spoke… as if summoned by my guilt.

Stench shrugged, "Gnarl would know-know. Find them now, get mistress warm-warm."

I nodded, teeth chattering guilt momentarily forgotten.

******​

At least until we stepped into a nearby copse of trees and found some very muddy Minions and Ylva huddled around a very angry Blaze in an attempt to dry.

"You know it's strange, this is one of the few times I am absolutely furious at a hero's IMMENSE STUPIDITY!" an extremely muddy Gnarl admonishes me. "You absolute fool of a hero! You risked discovery and my… I mean our continued safety to see a bunch of corpses!"

Ylva stood next to Gnarl and nodded at his words, disappointment clear in her gaze. "See! Even the bloody guardian agrees with me! And it's a disgusting light magic creature! … Oh don't give me that look, you overgrown fleabag… Yes, I can call you that after you threw me from your back!"

I averted my gaze from both of them, guilt gnawing heavily at me. "P-people died b-because of me…" I say, Gnarl's anger I could understand but the fact Ylva agreed with it… hurt.

"Just the most recent excuse according to what Stench told us along with that other juicy information, but he will be punished regardless." Gnarl nodded towards a group of Minions who advanced on a tied and gagged Stench, soap in their claws. "Honestly you hero types blame yourselves for everything, 'oh I was in the general area and a village burned down at some point, now I will get all depressed because I couldn't save them'."

I close my eyes, hands clenching.

"Oh, one of the filthy peasants stubbed their toe when they looked at me? Let me use incredibly powerful magic to heal it!"

I open my eyes but still averted my gaze, feeling something brewing within.

He just sneered and continued in his mocking tone. "Oh, a flower wilted! My life is shattered!"

A mumble comes from my lips.

Gnarl cupped one of his long ears. "What's that, some excuse for the stupidity of heroes or just your own heroic stupidity?"

Something snapped within me in that moment, a dam finally burst and I looked at him right in the eyes and I repeated what I had mumbled under my breath.

"I SAID SHUT UP YOU VILE WRETCH!"

Silence fell over the Minions and each one, including the formerly struggling Stench and Blaze, looked towards me now, eyes wide and jaws agape, even Ylva seemed shocked by my outburst. Gnarl mimicked his Minion brethren with a look of utter shock.

For me, I simply panted from the strength and shock of my outburst before moving past all of them to sit as close to Blaze as I could, legs to my chest and tears in my eyes, stewing in my guilt.





This took far too long to get out.

Thanks to @MysticKnightJoe for editing

 

[Tempral]

I dont have any critizism to add, but i look forward to reading more of this. True Overlord fics are rare, much less ones with this level od quality writing. Thank you.

 

[Zaealix]

...If no one else will say it then I will-That cloak's magic is a bit more significant than I thought if that Princess could pass as a boy with it!

But more to the point...I wonder if her lack of the 'cool' Elvish traits is as much a factor of Magic as it is upbringing. Like...The archery's probably never going to be much more then a bondoggle for her, for the sake of the fic, but the Elven grace starting to make itself known, assuming that's not just more Cloak magic talking, makes me wonder if part of the Princess' problem is, locked away as she was, that she wasn't able to get the Good Magic she needed growing up, and while she's getting to slowly fill in that gap as she travels/absorbs magic...Another part of magic is knowing what you're doing, and the latter is probably going to be relatively stunted unless she finds a teacher to get her what she needs to know.

And even if Gnarl was willign to trust her with his knowledge of magic and she willing to accept I'd be surprised if Gnarl knew any real amount of 'Good' magic...So that whole 'more power then skill' thing might turn into a genuine problem, especially if she's influencing the weather! Though a part of me wonders if that's from her basically being the last Fairy Queen or something like that, and in theory managing Nature is meant to be split amongst multiple such fairy queens but with only one left...

 

[Bag of Bones]

I dont have any critizism to add, but i look forward to reading more of this. True Overlord fics are rare, much less ones with this level od quality writing. Thank you.

Click to shrink...

Glad you're enjoying the fic and thanks for the compliment, will definitely try to keep the quality consistent.

...If no one else will say it then I will-That cloak's magic is a bit more significant than I thought if that Princess could pass as a boy with it!

Click to shrink...

The reason the cloak worked to hide her gender was actually for mundane reasons: it's just a really big medieval-style cloak and the men she was talking to were morons.

But more to the point...I wonder if her lack of the 'cool' Elvish traits is as much a factor of Magic as it is upbringing. Like...The archery's probably never going to be much more then a bondoggle for her, for the sake of the fic, but the Elven grace starting to make itself known, assuming that's not just more Cloak magic talking, makes me wonder if part of the Princess' problem is, locked away as she was, that she wasn't able to get the Good Magic she needed growing up, and while she's getting to slowly fill in that gap as she travels/absorbs magic...Another part of magic is knowing what you're doing, and the latter is probably going to be relatively stunted unless she finds a teacher to get her what she needs to know.

Click to shrink...

For clarification regarding Elenaril's elven grace, a lot of her seeming lack of it is because the story is being told from her perspective. You don't really notice how your everyday movement looks to other people unless it's pointed out to you and Elenaril has a rather low opinion of herself due to years of abuse alongside receiving pretty much no exercise since she was a child, any other perspective would point out her inhuman levels of grace in even her basic movements. The fact she's noticing stuff now is because she's basically experiencing it for the first time and being pushed to her physical limit nearly every day. While Elenaril's lack of magical training did have an effect this specific example has a rather mundane reason behind it.

And even if Gnarl was willign to trust her with his knowledge of magic and she willing to accept I'd be surprised if Gnarl knew any real amount of 'Good' magic...So that whole 'more power then skill' thing might turn into a genuine problem, especially if she's influencing the weather! Though a part of me wonders if that's from her basically being the last Fairy Queen or something like that, and in theory managing Nature is meant to be split amongst multiple such fairy queens but with only one left...

Click to shrink...

This on the other hand is spoiler territory.

Anyway, I'm glad people are enjoying the fic and the discussion... Seriously discussion makes me super happy so please add more.

 

[Neruz]

...If no one else will say it then I will-That cloak's magic is a bit more significant than I thought if that Princess could pass as a boy with it!

Click to shrink...

The reason the cloak worked to hide her gender was actually for mundane reasons: it's just a really big medieval-style cloak and the men she was talking to were morons.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I was going to say that Zaealix was underestimating the concealment a proper 'medieval style' traveling cloak provides, and overestimating how easy it is to determine a person's gender from just their face.

Especially in pre-modern eras where anyone traveling any real distance is going to be covered in dirt and dust and generally look scraggly as all shit. Under those circumstances telling the difference between a young woman and a young man relies pretty much entirely on the voice, and that only works if it is obvious.



You would be surprised how much you rely on fashion and body shape to determine a person's gender, and how easy it is to hide that gender if a person is genuinely trying.
(There are good reasons for the ubiquitousness of stories where a young woman masquerades as a man to join the army or navy or whatever throughout human culture; it's genuinely not that hard to pull off if a person is willing to put the effort into the deception.)

So that whole 'more power then skill' thing might turn into a genuine problem

Click to shrink...

On the other hand, 'more power than skill' brute forcing the issue with sheer overwhelming might and endless reinforcements is the traditional Overlord methodology.

 

[Bag of Bones]

"You! You have dared to use foul witchcraft in front of a man of god!" The Archbishop said, voice shaking, his plump and pockmarked face nearly purple from barely contained rage. "You, the child of our most holy emperor and his heir, how do you confess before God your sin?"

I merely whimpered past the gag he had ordered stuffed in my mouth, disbelieving what was occurring as the other priests tied my limbs down, fingers placed in a device whose nature I did not know. What had I done wrong? Why do these things to me?

The archbishop looked down on me with a gaze of hate, as if he was expecting I could do anything other than whimper "We will see if you are still pure and worthy of being your father's daughter, tighten the pilnie-winks!"

"NO!" I scream as I startle awake from the cold ground to bird song and murmurs, it took me a moment to realize where I was and what the daylight streaming from the trees above meant. I had slept through the rain into the daylight of the next day. A curious and muffled murmur drew my attention as Blaze, who had not moved from last night and was still bound like he always was, looking at me with a concerned look on his face.

And he was not the only one.

"Mistress, have bad sleep vision?" asked one brown Minion of the several that surrounded me.

This concern surprised me, I had not thought them capable of such concern especially after what I had done the day before. "N-no, j-just a b-bad dream," I responded, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and glad that the heat that Blaze produced was more than enough to dry me from the storm of yesterday.

"Oh. Okay!" and like nothing at all happened they all turned back to whatever task they were doing before my awakening interrupted them.

… I probably should not have expected anything else.

Nor should I have nearly jumped out of my skin when a massive wet nose pressed itself into the back of my neck. "Ylva!" I yelp, twisting around to see the… now caked in dry mud Ylva looking at me with concern, which flooded my heart with emotion. "Oh, Ylva!"

I leap forward and bury my face into her furry neck, tears in my eyes and for a moment we stood there, me the useless girl and her the ever majestic, ever patient, ever giant wolf in this copse at the edge of the surrounding farms. It was a moment of peace, one out of a story.

"Awwww, it so storybook nice it make me puke blaaaaaarg!'' I hear a Minion interrupt the moment.

Ignoring the vomiting Minion I ask Ylva, "D-do you h-hate me for y-yesterday?"

All her response was to move her head in such a way that I sunk deeper into her neck fur as more Minions go, "Awwwww!" followed by a "BLLAAAARG!"

I sniff, my face a mess from tears and the dirt in Ylva's fur. "th-thank you... so much… g-goddess are they still v-vomiting?"

With a huff, Ylva walks back from my grasp (to the relief of the Minions) and looks down at me, sympathy in her expression, I could not help but to look away out of guilt, saying "I'm s-sorry for p-putting us all at r-risk… I h-had to k-know… h-had to see-bleh!" only to be cut off by a massive wolf tongue licking me, covering my front in wolf slobber. "Ylva!"

Ylva just lies on her belly and nuzzles my chest (at least as much as her giant nose allowed), big wolf eyes looking into mine, a smile comes to my lips then and I begin stroking her large snout "Y-you do not want me to be sad." I say softly, as I stroke her snout but then I frown, my thoughts still fixated "I k-know I s-shouldn't have t-taken such a r-risk b-but a-after all the c-cruelty the a-archbishop p-put me through… t-to k-know o-others are s-suffering worse than I ever did…"

Ylva's eyes suddenly focus on me with an incredible intensity as I continued speaking, "T-the b-beatings and the… and the t-t-t-torture! I r-remember it so c-clearly… h-how they h-hated me, h-how everything I d-did was w-wrong and needed to be p-p-punished!" I close my eyes and grimace as the memories come flooding back "The p-poker, the w-whip, and all t-the o-other t-tools of p-pain t-that they i-inflicted on me… t-they s-said c-couldn't go too far b-because I was the p-princess but these w-women…"

More and more memories came flooding back at a rate that I could not manage, I remember them laughing as they waved a red hot poker near my wrist as I screamed and begged. The whip strike against my back, punishment for improperly speaking the lord's prayer, again and again for each failed attempt, each stutter. My vision fading, in and out, blood from their blows pooling around me as the priests who I would never see again, greed in their eyes as they tore at my dress… until my father grabbed one of them to their shock, sword in hand, rage clear on his face, rage he only ever showed to me. Still more flashes of their cruelty before that point hit me, more and more in a swirl of pain and horror.

It was so sudden, so horrible that my knees buckled from the onslaught, only Ylva's snout held me from falling to the ground.

A cry from Ylva and shouts of "Mistress!" from the Minions brought me back to reality for a moment, weakness in my limbs, my stomach lurching and my breath rapid. My eyes lock onto Ylva's and I saw fear in her eyes, as if me collapsing was one of the most terrifying things she had ever seen.

"What in the abyss is going on!" came the angry voice of Gnarl, and I grimace… that creature was one of the last beings I wanted to see right now.

"Mistress fall down!" One of the minions eloquently put.

"The mistress was speaking of torture that the archbishop dared to perform on her before she collapsed." Mortis, who I had not noticed was around, said much more clearly.

Gnarl, to my surprise, gave a confused "eh?" before Ylva made a series of noises, her eyes never leaving me.

Gnarl sputtered "Pokers, whips? She's a maiden princess and the bloody heir of the empire! The archbishop would be tried for treason and be given a slow death! That's not even going into what King Ilimitar would do! For an elf, you really have to respect his capacity for vengeance… and extensive body count."

Ylva growled and I could practically hear the roll of Gnarl's eyes "Oh don't give me that! There's not a scar on her body and if she did go through all that Ilimitar would know it all the moment he laid eyes on her!" Another growl "Yes, I know the Emperor wants her dead but he was planning to kill her in a specific manner that would absolve him of any blame! And besides, anyone harming the princess would be considered the same as harming the Emperor! It's the law! You think he would allow himself to look that weak by allowing it!"

"H-he did… a-allow it" I gasp out trying to catch my breath, memories surfacing again causing me to cling onto Ylva's snout harder, the punishments he would allow… whenever he couldn't inflict them on me, it was not till I was well into my thirteenth year of life that things began to change and the demands of our respective stations meant we rarely saw each other in private and even rarer spoke to one another, the years between punishment grew longer. Just punishment I once thought before I knew the truth. But… Grandpapa should have been able to know, Gnarl was right, he seemed to know even the most intimate details about a person from even a glance but… he never noticed what happened to me.

Gnarl scoffed as I struggled mentally to piece together this revelation "Probably no more than a rap on the knuckles! Something a delicate Elven princess would be mortified by and not worthy of attention by an elf king! Besides, only the most subtle and powerful of mind magic could fool his sight and that, dear princess, would require extensive preparation with enchantments and potions before each and every meeting you would have with your grandfather to say nothing of suppressing the long term effects such abuse would have on your mind."

Extensive preparation with enchantments and potions? There was the preparation before each meeting with grandpapa but his visits were always lavish affairs befitting his status as a king. I had to rehearse before each meeting as per my role as a princess as these visits were still a formal meeting, often without my ladies-in-waiting, with special tutors that I… can't remember the faces of… and I was placed on an even stricter diet to prepare for the feast we would have, given a special… broth.

I swear in that instant my blood froze, Ylva's eyes widened, no doubt seeing the realization on my face but I spoke before she could do anything, "H-how w-would these w-w-work?"

I could hear Gnarl tap his chin as I stared into Ylva's eyes, to reassure either her or myself I knew not which, before Gnarl spoke again "Well if your trying to hide things from the elf king outright removing the memories would be too obvious for someone of Ilimitar's skill to not notice. Suppression would be the method I would use, burying it under enhanced positive memories and emotions, artificial memories of sufficient craftsmanship could work as a supplement but that would only work for just one memory, long term abuse would require masterwork mental manipulation and charms to hide the signs, replace fear with love… but Ilimitar is a master at noticing subtle details… so maybe… but no that would not work…" Gnarl trailed off muttering to himself as he imagined every possible way they could have reshaped my mind without Grandpapa noticing while I was left more and more horrified with every word Gnarl spoke, they did all this to my mind… to just hide their crimes against me? I never noticed what they were doing to me, never questioned… but how could I? How could I do anything!

Before I could fully comprehend it Gnarl spoke again, "Well princess this has been quite the thought experiment on how to hide things from the gaze of King Ilimitar but it's wholly unnecessary, anyone competent would know that it's too much effort to go through all that, far simpler to just show some basic patience and pretend love to win over your victims trust before stabbing them in the back. Oh, that look of shock and hurt at the moment of betrayal makes it all truly worth the years of planning." Gnarl trails off with nostalgia in his voice before snapping back into a lecturing tone "The mind is a fragile complicated thing, push too far and things can break beyond repair especially if you're having to near constantly suppress new memories, why if they truly had to suppress the memories of torture from your mind the most vivid and earliest memories would come rushing back the moment they couldn't control your mind and as we all know that hasn't happened because the risk from the side effects would be… why are you looking at me like that's exactly what you have been experiencing?"

I was looking at Gnarl now in abject horror. "W-what s-side effects? What have they done to me!" I yell with more force and anger than intended. I was sickened and fearful, beyond any capacity of restraint now. I was free of them now but what had their sick… vile… Violation left for me to suffer with!

Gnarl actually looked nervous as he spoke, "W-well the mental magic would act as a dam, without constant reinforcement or continuous mental abuse it would eventually burst, years of trauma all hitting the mind at once but even before that point leaks would happen, the charms would, of course, be lifting near-instantly the moment the barriers couldn't be reinforced but there's the risk of flashes of old memories surfacing at the worst time or worse, cause mental damage. Incredibly risky if you're trying to hide memories from the Elf King which is why you couldn't have gone through all that! The sentinels would have to be utter incompetents to continuously risk their plans just to get their jollies off on abusing a helpless Elf Maiden! Now sure it's a trap villains can fall into but at least give us some credit, we're evil!"

I stared at Gnarl for a moment longer as I processed everything he said before a madden sobbing laugh erupted from me as everything broke. "Of course! T-that's why he s-stopped then! B-because too m-much pain w-would break his c-control of my mind! E-even then he c-could not help h-himself!" tears are flowing down my face, and I was sickened to my core, my mind was violated! Continuously! And the worse part of it was that it was because they couldn't stop themselves from hurting me! Something was building in me as I ranted "I t-trusted him! L-loved him! M-my father! A-and now I f-find out they c-couldn't even g-give me the choice for that to be r-real, even if he d-didn't love me back! Because they were so pointlessly cruel!"

Gnarl, with a surprising amount of meekness, said, "N-now see here! We don't know exactly what they did to your mind and how much was just-"

I glared at him and yelled, "I don't care! W-what they c-could have done… no what t-they d-did was e-enough! T-they t-took away my m-mother! My g-grandmother! I c-can no longer trust my own mind because of them! Worst of all, t-they are killing and t-torturing i-innocents as w-we speak! F-for what? Pointless c-cruelty! It just won't end!"

"Then end it mistress, glub." came the… glub of Mortis, I look to him and see him standing in a crowd of minions, their glowing eyes all looking at me expectantly. "You are the Overlord, the ender of empires and we minions will carry out your vengeance at your merest word… glub."

Vengeance? The word somehow shocked some tiny bit of reason back into me… use the Minions to deliver vengeance on my father for what he did to me?

I didn't like how that sounded… My father and the Sentinels have committed terrible, terrible crimes against me but… I saw those girls, murdered for nothing, how many more are dying because of the vileness of my father? "This has to end," I say, surprising myself with the lack of stutter, from the corner of my eyes I saw both Ylva and Gnarl looking at me… almost expectantly. "For those girls… for my mother… for me… for everyone else who has or is suffering because of them… the sentinels have to be stopped and brought to justice." As the words left my mouth I felt as if I had just walked off a precipice but a strange calmness settled over me regardless.

I heard Gnarl sneer under his breath, "Chosen of the mother goddess." like a curse as Ylva simply nodded at me, pity and sorrow in her eyes but also a flash of… pride?

The Minions just looked slightly disappointed.
"Aw, no fighting."
"Course there be fighting, Sentinels want kill Mistress!"
"Oh yeah…"
"Yay, we get to fight big empire!"
"Two big empires!"
"I stole pants!"
"... Wait, that my pants."

Mortis simply bowed. "As the mistress desires, so shall it be done."

I sank to the ground onto my knees, energy utterly spent, ignoring the minions trying to process my declaration. Only my grandfather had the power to stop the Sentinels, I had simply stated what needed to be done and if they now wished to aid him in that task if… When we rescue him… Then I suppose I should take that as a positive outcome.

I shudder inadvertently. Despite the strange calmness that afflicted me for my declaration, I was still shaken by the revelations that Gnarl had given me and the events of yesterday still burned in my mind on top of it. From what I understood of what Gnarl said… I could lose my mind at any moment because of my father… how do I process that? All the pain, all the horror that he inflicted on me, all hitting my mind at once… a mind that was shaped by him to just hide his cruelty.

Ylva's snout brushed against my side and with only a glance towards her I began stroking it. "Oh, Ylva…" I whisper to her, "w-what will b-become of me? E-everyday t-things just seem like they w-will get worse and worse, n-now I learn m-my own mind will t-turn against me… w-what should I do?"

"Well for one you can stop moaning." came the reply of Gnarl, and I cursed myself for not foreseeing that this vile creature will just saunter up and ruin whatever peace or calm I find for myself "Can only hear so much before it gets old."

"W-what do you w-want?" I state bitterly to the old minion.

"Do you remember what that sentinel you vaporized said, that he was the Emperor of Darkness' equal?"

"W-what does t-that have to do with a-anything!" I snap at him, after everything that happened why would he bring up something so… "W-wait why w-would that man be equal to s-someone who c-controls the Dread Lords?"

"Ah, so your brains aren't scrambled yet, just checking." I glared at him with all the fury I could muster. "It is also strange that an archbishop could get away with torturing a princess don't you think?"

"Y-you believe me now?" I ask, still glaring at the Minion, who simply shrugged. "W-what are you i-implying? T-that my f-father is e-equal in status to these o-other s-sentinels?"

"Well, that and something far more delicious." Gnarl's face broke into a broken tooth grin. "that the sentinels, so-called paragons of order, can't control their other members! How wonderfully chaotic."

I narrow my eyes at him. "A-and h-how does that m-matter now?"

Gnarl simply tented his fingers and continued to grin at me, some dark scheme being hatched behind his yellow eyes. "Oh it doesn't, not yet anyway… but you should learn Princess, when presented with the opportunity evil always finds a way."

*****​

Far away from Gnarl being pointlessly cryptic at me for little reason as I struggled to come to terms with my possible fate Oh come on, that was the perfect set-up that I had to take! Evil always finds a way! To be unnecessarily dramatic and unhelpful… and you didn't even come up with a plan, you just tried to make me think you did!

… Wasn't I supposed to be… The story! Oh uhhhh Ahem… In a dimly lit windowless hidden room of the Palace, a conversation between the Emperor of Light and the Emperor of Darkness was occurring.

Emperor Matthias Armathain, with his prim and proper clothes, white hair, goatee and mustache paced before a mirror that reflected not himself but a shadowed figure with only an outline of his armoured form and two fiery red eyes visible. Fiery red eyes that watched the Emperor of Light pace back and forth before, seemingly bored of the display, the Emperor of Darkness spoke with a calm voice, "Pacing will not find the Chosen sooner, Matthias."

"Emperor Matthias!" Matthias Armathain snapped at the figure in the mirror, veins bulging and spittle flying. "And how can you be so calm? That abomination still somehow eludes us, and to make matters worse a council member and contingent of your Snaga-hai have gone missing in my lands! Calmness now does not maintain order!"

"Lands that still hold many hidden dangers in the wilderness such as the old elven ruins, many that could even pose a threat to my Snaga-hai while leaving the chosen unharmed and if I recall… you and the mind mage were telling the council that the 'weak-willed' chosen will go mad soon making her easy for us to find… Unless that isn't the case?"

"Of course, it's still the case, what are you implying?"

"That she is still the chosen, and that may mean she has a far stronger will than believed, despite you and Archbishop John's extraordinary efforts to break her, a will strong enough to elude us and withstand the… fortunate side effect of your spell."

Matthias Armathain scoffed. "Extraordinary effort! Bah! I do not like your implication Xarrith! That blasted archbishop nearly ruined everything with his unauthorized indulgence all those years ago! I maintained discipline! I maintained obedience! Why without my control we would have had an uncontrollable wild thing years before now! Nothing like that archbishop dared perform under my nose!"

"Forgive me, Emperor Matthias. My age had me forget how time passes for others such as yourself, I had thought the event was closer to the present day," The Emperor of Darkness said, a hint of unnoticed sarcasm in his voice. "Indeed you should be commended for the herculean task of keeping such a wild and uncontrollable daughter as Elenaril Armathain under control, a task comparable to keeping the Dread Lords in check! A shame she always reacted so poorly to your… methods, especially considering her weak constitution as you called it."

"A spoilt feminine mind made of worthless glass, threatening to shatter from even the most minor reprimand I could give the witch! Which is why your worry is false Xarrith, if the spell's side effect has not activated already then it soon will and we will just have a mindless, broken thing to collect that can be easily shaped to fool that blasted Elf while we complete our great work." Matthias Armathain stated with smug self-assuredness before a flicker of doubt crossed his face. "But if the harlot is receiving help… If they managed to seduce some sympathetic peasant to aid them, plenty of young men out there would fall to the vile seductress' wiles… that would explain how we haven't found them yet, even with the spell!"

Matthias began to pace with even more frenetic energy "I should have foreseen this sooner! Always the temptress to my favoured courtiers even before the first instance of that unseemly female disability and after, it simply got worse. Why that whore has even tried to ensnare my cousin in her most egregious example! Drew him right into where the witch bathed, everything visible! We are extremely fortunate the whore suffered from a hysterical fit in that moment, drawing the attention of the maids and guards, or else we would have had a true disaster on our hands!"

The subtle sound of a metal gauntleted hand meeting a metal helmet was ignored by Matthias Armathain as the Emperor of darkness spoke again, eyes no longer visible. "Is that so Emperor Matthias? Then it is truly a miracle that the Chosen managed to maintain even her chastity from your relatives and courtiers despite your no doubt constant vigilance in your task to raise her to play out the role we require." Sarcasm was deep in the voice of the Emperor of Darkness now, to the point you would have to be the most vile… ego dominated… narcissistic… misogynistic… arrogant bastard that has ever lived in this age to not have noticed the insult and I am sorry for the language but it is true.

Hah! Far worse than that has come out of your mouth in speaking about your father! You lot are in for a treat once we get there! Now back to the Emperor before I spoil anything!

"Exactly! And now that the abomination is out of our control there is no telling how many men they have seduced to aid them, even when the madness strikes the whore would still be cared for by those men," Matthias said running his hand through his hair imagining all manner of situations how young men could aid me.

"Which is why there should be more searches to the west." The Emperor of Darkness stated, now back to his former composure. "The elf kingdom is her most likely destination and I have no doubt Ilimitar is sending out his own search parties separate from ours, and I don't need to tell you what will happen if they reach Elenaril before we do."

Matthias, upon hearing about the Elf king, regained his arrogance and scoffed, "That we don't have to worry about. That elf trusts me completely and whatever search parties he sends will be known to us within the hour."

The Emperor of Darkness' eyes flashed and for the first time during this conversation menace entered his voice as the shadows of the room seemed to grow deeper and longer "Ilimitar is no fool especially after his daughter's murder, I am certain he knows far more than he has ever let on and has already made plans to pluck the Chosen from right under our noses. Listen to these words very carefully Matthias: Ilimitar is not to be underestimated under any circumstance, every step we take now must be made with extreme caution! We must reach the Chosen before he does or everything our lord has built is at risk!"

Matthias looked nervously at the lengthening shadows approaching him, sweat now beading on his brow and said, "W-well we are lucky that the Chosen possess none of the intelligence to realize the traps we have set around the elf kingdom, drawn as they are to the Kingdom by their Elf blood!"

A sigh from the Emperor of Darkness and the shadows retreated. "Of course, you would think that… We must still take further precautions, speak to the archbishop in my stead, you are the only one he actually listens to… yes I know, I share the same distaste for the man and his private campaigns." The Emperor of Darkness added upon seeing Matthias' face. "But his ability to incense the populace with mere rumour and subtle implication while avoiding any direct blame is invaluable to our lord and will be here. Even the most innocuous implication as to the Elves role in the princess'... corruption, will turn the populace further against the Elves and keep them far away from any settlement, delaying their search."

A sigh from Matthias came next. "It would not be too hard, the fool essentially started years ago, half of the Empire's political capital with the Elves is spent on explaining away his behaviour but I must admit his talents are perfectly suited for this." Confidence crept back into his voice "Mark my words Xarrith, mad or not, the chosen will be walking straight into our hands by the end of the week!"

******​

Several weeks have passed since the day I learned of the witch hunt and the threat to my mind. The leaves of the trees have shifted into a vibrant array of colours as autumn finally arrived in full and a chill from the north began creeping ever southwards. We had managed to sneak by villages and travellers without much incident, though extending our journey by a few weeks, and finally reached the northern coast which is quite far away from where my father thought his "unintelligent" daughter would go.

Hang on... That cutaway was solely to make your father look like he's only a comically misogynistic abusive fool as spite after you reached the part where you found out about the whole mind-altering he did to you to cover up his abuse!

I had spent the weeks since the journey practising both swordplay and archery at the insistence of Ylva... often startling me by dropping the sword beside me or the bow on top of me whenever I became too focused on my possible fate. I am proud to say that with my practice I have finally managed to hit my target with some regularity! And when I tried my hand at swordplay I, to my shock, had managed to lift the massive sword and even swing it a few times.

You're ignoring me now because I was right, aren't you...

As much as I hated to admit it, Gnarl's training regime had most certainly had an effect on me, already the hint of muscle had appeared on my person. It was strangely comforting even after years of being told that as a woman even the slightest bit of exercise would ruin my health, it had not ruined my ancestor's health as Ylva confirmed (though she was extremely confused when I asked) and it was certainly not ruining mine, In fact, I felt better than I had in years and I was beginning to actually enjoy Gnarl's surprisingly effective and well-thought-out training regimen.

Flattery will not get you out of ignoring me!... But please continue on about my perfect hand-crafted training regimen.

… And to move on from praising Gnarl to prevent his ego from getting any larger.

No, keep feeding it! My ego hungers!

No.

… But when we finally reached the coast and I first walked through the bushes blocking my view I beheld one of the most awe-inspiring sights I had ever seen, an endless expanse of blue stretching past the horizon, dotted by sailing ships of all types moving towards the port city of Trave in the morning air, which I could just make out from our hiding spot. My hand rested against Ylva who lay next to me watching the ships with interest.

"H-have you ever s-seen such a sight Ylva?" I say softly to her stroking her fur, Ylva simply shakes her head. I lean against her in response, enjoying the view and the peace it brought…

For another minute when Gnarl's voice cut through the peace like a cannonball.

"Which one of you wriggling maggots scuffed my hat?!"

With a simultaneous sigh, we both turned to look towards the gaggle of Minions behind us, only to be simultaneously baffled as we both beheld Gnarl in the garb of a gentleman: dark frock coat, waistcoat, powdered wig, breeches and cane were all there as Gnarl dusted off a tall slightly conical hat. Four other Minions were with him, in peasant clothing and hats. If not for the fact they were misshapen lizard monsters and I still possessed a grip on reality I would call them a gentleman and his hired labourers.

"W-wuh… huh? H-how?" Was all I could sputter out trying to make sense of the sight before me.

"What? Oh bollocks, did mud get onto the tailcoat? I just had this cleaned you, simpletons!"

"W-what? No! W-why are you dressed as…? H-how are y-you dressed as t-that?!" I correct him in other bafflement, those clothing looked to be expertly tailored and even the peasant clothing the other Minions wore… actually they looked like they were sewn together from rags and larger clothing so that made sense but not Gnarls! When did he even acquire them?!

"Well, you can't just expect me to walk into Trave in rags and conduct economic evil, princess!" Gnarl snaps before going into a lecturing tone. "When evil needs to use a subtle hand it is important to take on the correct guise in order to manipulate fools! Thus I, the master manipulator that I am, shall take on the guise of a gentleman who recently came into the possession of an elven treasure stash to start a trade company with the purchase of a ship. We have more than enough gold to cover the expense and stealing a ship draws far too much attention. Then after we have crossed the northern sea I shall use the ship to begin a trade empire! Heaps of gold and resources will flow into a new Minion army that will conquer the very Empire that unknowingly funds it! MWAHAHAHA!"

I can not help but to bring my hand to my temple as the immediate flaw was overwhelmingly apparent. "Y-you did not a-answer my other q-question Gnarl, nor h-how a-anyone w-would actually sell a c-creature like you a ship!" It was just too ridiculous! "I w-will go, I c-can hide my e-ears and eyes to l-look like a n-normal person." I suspected we would have to steal a ship, but Gnarl was right and purchasing a ship was the only way we could travel without drawing the entire navy in the north sea onto us.

Gnarl tsked at my declaration and glared at me "and what do you know of purchasing ships, Princess? Were you even taught in your dainty little princess lessons how to purchase a fish or how much it would even be worth? Leave this to the professionals!" I… falter in my stance a bit, this was indeed knowledge I didn't possess… as a princess I never conceived I would ever require it… But I held firm in my glare at Gnarl, I could actually pass as a normal person and Gnarl most certainly couldn't.

The battle of glares held for a moment longer before Gnarl threw up his hands "Urgh, just like a Princess to be stubborn!" I almost smile before Gnarl explains "This plan has been in the works for years in preparation for the next Overlord, I've already sent Stench ahead with the letters to certain contacts who don't ask questions who will handle the majority of the transactions, I merely need to hand over the gold, and in case you are wondering even the house I'm posing as belonging to is something I set up centuries ago with this outfit purchased a few years ago with some saved up gold in preparation for this very situation!" Another glare "Now will you stop being the spoiled stubborn Princess and let me do my job! Go back to staring wistfully at something like all you Princesses do instead of doing something stupid… Again!"

I open my mouth to retort but it dies in my throat and I look away… That was more planned out than I had thought, I felt like a fool but that did not lessen my dislike for the creature.

Seeing my defeat Gnarl grinned evilly before calling out to peasant disguised minions "Come on you louts, I'd like to reach the city before noon!" and began walking to the city, clutching a large purse of gold and babbling minions following him.

I was left standing, cheeks burning in shame until Gnarl was out of sight. I kicked a pebble on the ground before sitting next to Ylva, who nuzzled me.

"~And so the Princess sat defeated like a spoiled child, the old minion had bested her in logic and planning, mayhaps when you argue plans with a Gnarl, you first ask what your planning for!~" The minion Quaver narrated with a sing-song tone before quickly adding "And old Quaver should shut his gob when in chomping distance of a guardian wolf- AIEEEEE!" He yelled as Ylva snapped at him, the remaining Minions cheered at that.

"Ylva…" I admonish and she looked back at me with concern in her eyes "It's f-fine, I s-should have asked b-before… Goddess, I am s-such a fool!" I yell out before putting my face in my hands.

Ylva nuzzled me again and I lean against her, hands slowly lowering from my face but tears began to fall "I c-can't do a-anything Ylva… I am a u-useless g-girl w-who… w-who… k-knows nothing!" I broke down sobbing but through the sobs I managed to hiccup out "A-and… a-and w-worst… I… have t-to rely o-on… O-on… T-that v-vile d-disgusting s-scum!"

The minions began furiously whispering among themselves.
"Mistress crying!"
"Duh, she hero princess, they always cry!"
"She seem mad at Gnarl have plans like Gnarl always does."
"~Heroes shown up by evil never take it well! Naive maiden princesses on the run most of all! Her tiny confidence has been shattered, her spirit crushed, let's hope her depression doesn't bring us all down as well!~"
"Oooh! Oooh! Bash Gnarl to make mistress stop crying!"
"Stupid! We need Gnarl to make thinkings!"
"Bash Quaver instead?"
"... Yeah, okay."
"Works for me!"
"Yay bash Quaver!"
"Bash, bash!"
"Shut up Quaver with bash!"

"Wait, let's not beAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" the jester hatted Minion screamed as he bolted from the crowd of Minions, swiftly followed by the crowd of Minions chasing him, weapons drawn, in a circle around the struggling Blaze, Quaver managing to keep a decent pace out of their reach and the other Minions not realizing that they could just stop and catch him.

At least until they got all dizzy and fell over, Quaver just kept running in a circle unaware that his pursuers had stopped until he tripped on one of them and faceplanted into the ground.

An inadvertent snort of laughter erupted from me through the sobs as Ylva let loose a wheezing giggle at the sight of the Minion's foolishness. I wiped my nose and eyes on my sleeves, disgusted at the mess and feeling that brief moment of levity begin to be smothered by my sadness, saying as I bring my knees to my chest "I c-can't do a-anything b-but wait for G-gnarl to do e-everything b-before I go…" I couldn't even finish the sentence, my potential fate weighing heavily on me.

"Whaaaave, whaaaaaaaaved" Ylva… wheezed? She kept making this noise, struggling with something. I look at her with concern and a bit of fear. Is she sick? Is something wrong with Ylva! I need to heal her!

"Whaaaaaved meeeeeee" was what she wheezed out next as I brought up my gauntleted hand, healing magic at the ready.

I blink, before tears began to well in my eyes again as realization struck me at what she was attempting "Ylva… Y-you… Y-you…." That was all I could manage to get out as I grabbed her fur and wailed into it, the fur of my first friend! A friend I rescued! I'm not… I'm not…

Oh no, she's getting weepy out of story! Quick throw a green at her, it's relevant to what happens next!

Not crying! I am most certainly not crying!

Ahem.

The next thing I knew was the sound of Ylva yelping followed by the most foul, vile… Stench.

"Mistress! Mistress!" Stench's panicked voice followed the stench.

With a groan, I extracted myself from Ylva's fur to the sniggering of her and the other Minions, My face felt somehow both crusty and fuzzy as I stared groggily at the blurry green Minion wondering why my stomach felt so empty and why the sky was suddenly black. "Wuh?" was all I could muster as I heard a chorus of snickering from both Minions and a giant wolf.

"Gnarl caught-caught!"

That shocked some sense into me "Wuh? G-gnarl caught!?" I exclaim, rapidly rubbing my eyes with my sleeve "I k-knew this w-would happen! Why d-did I listen to Gnarl!"

"Oh Gnarl ranted you get sad-sad about that. Meeting went fine-fine, have ship and supplies." Stench reassures me… I am not getting annoyed that Gnarl's meeting worked despite all logic to the contrary, and no I do not care what Gnarl said. "Get jump-jump on way back, random peasants got real mad-mad when Gnarl group walk-walk by, charged through human crowd with carriage to drop-drop barrels on Gnarl and Minions! Stench up on roof, no find-find because sneaky-sneaky! Lots of screaming and Gnarl shouts-shouts!"

I blink "W-wait, they charged out of n-nowhere, through a crowd?" I ask to which Stench nodded vigorously. That made no sense to me! How could Gnarl and the Minions with him walk through a crowd without being noticed?!

And more importantly, why would some peasants just suddenly attack Gnarl when they could walk through a crowd with no issue… somehow?

Did they work for the Sentinels?

With that fear in my heart, I declared to the Minions "We have to rescue Gnarl."

Especially before he could sell us out to save his own skin.

Oh, come now! What scheming backstabbing servant of evil do you take me for, Mistress!

The scheming, manipulating and self-preserving Gnarl kind.

Touche.


Well, this took forever to write.

As always, thanks to @MysticKnightJoe for editing

Please comment, discuss and criticize.

 

[Zaealix]

...Princess underestimates herself indeed.
She tanks the MADNESS SURPRISE! But doesn't realize THAT was what she tanked, so now the poor dear is fretting over it really hitting her. Nice to see her training IS coming along though! She's probably about as competent as...A mook soldier, let's be honest, but given the advantages of things like the Gauntlet, the minions, etc, etc...That should suffice.
...
As for her father...
I shall deflect from that to voice a complaint from the Emperor of Darkness. Namely, that it's one thing to be the evil one and have to act the sycophant to an irritating partner. It is another thing entirely, to also have to be the SANE one and work with an idiotic and irritating partner.

Though the Minions and Ylva working together to cheer the princess up was adorable. Maybe that's why the minions weren't puking that time?

 

[Bag of Bones]

I shall deflect from that to voice a complaint from the Emperor of Darkness. Namely, that it's one thing to be the evil one and have to act the sycophant to an irritating partner. It is another thing entirely, to also have to be the SANE one and work with an idiotic and irritating partner.

Click to shrink...

Now imagine that you're also an Emperor on top of being a powerful lord of darkness and you can't even get common courtesy or respect from this moron of an Emperor!

... And what Elenaril must have gone through under his "care".

Though the Minions and Ylva working together to cheer the princess up was adorable. Maybe that's why the minions weren't puking that time?

Click to shrink...

Hitting Quaver really helps with nausea.

 

[Bag of Bones]

"Quickly-Quickly Mistress, follow-follow!" Stench said as he scurried and leaped, very much like a spider, up the city's fortifications which were… impressive. A muddy ditch backed by earthen slopes which was further backed by a large multi-story stone wall. We were entering from a section furthest from the city's gates, a section that was clearly meant to keep people out… Not Stench though who had already made his way up past the city walls.

I gulp, I had a massive heavy sword, bow, and quiver strapped to my back with a harness Giblet created along with a length of rope tied to my waist. How was I supposed to clear all of this and follow Stench? I look towards the closest gate. At this hour the guards would certainly be checking any hooded figure seeking to enter the city, and only Gnarl had any knowledge of the city's sewers (which are under repairs currently according to Stench, not that I wish to ever tread in a sewer), scaling the walls and roofs was the only way we could reach Gnarl in time. The unfortunate part about that was the reality that only me and Stench could move swiftly and silently enough to not draw attention… At least according to the Minions and Ylva, who for some reason had agreed with them!

I sigh before steeling myself, Mortis and Zap were waiting in a flooded section of the ditches (that was also close enough to leap into from the walls) near the docks for Gnarl and the Minions, I can't afford to delay any longer not while Gnarl was the captive of these men.

So with a deep breath, I take a few steps back from the ditch before breaking out into a sprint, leaping with all my strength the moment I reached the edge.

I realized with relative quickness that I dramatically misjudged the strength of my leap as I did not land on the other edge of the ditch…

My leap became a panicked flail as I sailed past the other edge of the ditch and landed, with a loud smack, face-first into the wall. Stars and tears erupted before my eyes as I fell onto my back, hands immediately going to my face to staunch the warm blood that was pouring out my nose before my eyes widened and I scrambled to put my back to the wall. Foolish Elenaril! Utterly foolish! Not even past the first obstacle and already you have alerted the city guards!

… At least they should be alerted.

I heard a yawn in the distance but that was all, no rushing stomps of boots or shouts of alarm, just a yawn and the sounds of the night. An inward sigh of relief followed, what an extraordinary bit of luck for my mistake!

… Though perhaps I am being too hard on myself as I certainly had no knowledge that I could leap such a distance! It must have been many meters from the other side of the ditch to my current location and such a distance was… Incredible for someone to cross in a single leap. I knew not when I had gained such an ability, or if it was some factor like Gnarl's training, but the important thing now is that it solves a major problem for myself but first… my nose really hurts.

After a quick manoeuvring of my cloak to hide the light of my healing magic, I heal my face and look up to the top of the wall. That is… considerably higher than I've ever jumped before but… I can do this, I take a few steps back, crouch down, and leap!

Immediately I soar into the air, my spirits lifting as well! This is such an incredible feeling of weightlessness! To leap such heights even with such a heavy load on my back is utterly incredible! I feel like I can fly!

At least until I felt the weightlessness end, just below the top of the wall.

My gauntleted hand shot out, the pointed tips of the metal fingers digging into the stone with a loud scraping sound, but slowing my descent enough that I could use it to push myself upwards enough to hoist myself over the edge of the battlements in a mad panicked flail of limbs until I was safely on the wall. I sank to my knees and put my hand to my breast in an attempt to take a moment to calm my pounding heart.

A moment I would not receive. "Oi who's there?"

My eyes widen and I don't think, only act in pure panicked instinct as I scramble onto my feet and leap off the wall towards the city, landing on a rooftop soon after and diving behind a chimney. My unarmoured hand goes over my mouth to stifle my panicked breaths as I hear the voices of guards from where I just was.

"I'm telling you, I heard something scraping against the stone in the distance and then I swore I saw something in the dark on the wall!"

"Hah, like you could see anything at this hour!" This confused me even though I was panicking. It was still plenty bright enough to see even without moonlight from the clouds above.

"I'm telling you, I saw something! Maybe it jumped to a building?"

My heart is now pounding so hard I swear it is now audible to any nearby listener.

"... Mate, when was the last time you got some sleep? Anyone who makes that jump is just going to end up on the street with shattered legs, like last time. You need wings to reach even that building there! Look, a seabird probably flew into the wall and then flew off, happens all the time!"

"Aw shite your right, damn this new schedule! What's them officers thinking putting us through this!"

"Readiness bollocks officially, truth is the new captain is just trying to impress the high ups for another promotion. Come on, shift's ending and I know this nice little pub."

"Nah, I just want my bunk." and with that, the sound of the guards became further and further away.

I waited a few moments more, my heart still pounding, until I was certain they were gone. Ready to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"What take Mistress so long-long?"

I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from screaming as Stench just appeared, seemingly out of thin air in front of me. "Stench!" I whisper furiously to him. "Hide! T-there are guards!"

Stench lazily looks at the wall before looking at me with a confused expression. "Those human guards-guards, see bad in dark. Mistress hit-hit head on wall?"

My face suddenly became very hot. "Y-yes- I mean! Gnarl! We n-need to f-find Gnarl!"

Stench nods. "Yes, Mistress. Good you elf, can jump-jump better than green and follow Stench to Gnarl!" before turning away and leaping to another house. An action on par with my earlier feats.

I paused for a moment before following him with a similar leap, Stench had just unintentionally given me another revelation of just how little I knew about elves…

… And how little I knew about myself.

******​

We leaped from roof to roof towards the dock warehouses, the strange men having taken Gnarl to one of them, according to Stench.

And while we were pressed for time, I couldn't help but enjoy the sense of freedom my newly discovered athleticism gave me. The weightlessness, the view of the city with all its buildings, the ocean, it was all so wonderful! So much so that a giggle erupted from me every time I leapt into the air.

I did feel bad for Stench though, he could not leap as far as I could so sometimes had to look for detours to cross a particularly wide street and the tiles of the roofs seemed to slip and fall more readily under his weight then mine despite his smaller size. Maybe I should carry…

The wind shifted and my joy was blocked by the sudden faceful of chimney smoke, leading me to stumble and nearly fall off the roof but I luckily fell onto my back, thankfully below the chimney smoke.

"Mistress should watch-watch for chimneys, danger when jump-jump." Stench says as he scuttled up to me as I lay on my back having a coughing fit as my eyes watered.

I nodded vigorously in agreement as I continued to try to cough up my lungs.

Stench pointed to the building across the street from the house we were at "That where Gnarl is." before vanishing from sight with a flick of his tail, I could just make out his scuttling as he climbed down the building. The distance was evidently too great for him to cross but not for me.

Careful to avoid the smoke, I stood up and did a running leap to the other building, landing with no effort just as Stench crawled up onto the roof. Stench motioned me forward to a section of the roof where there was a trapdoor in the roof. I could not help but feel things were going rather too well as Stench slowly pried the trapdoor open and the familiar angry voice of Gnarl erupted from the opening.

"You utter fools! Do you have any idea who you are dealing with!" the angry retort was caught off by the sound of a fist striking old scaly flesh. "Hah! Was that supposed to hurt! Don't you know the first thing about interrogating a Minion, you pitiful amateurs!" Minion giggling came next, clearly enjoying Gnarl's taunts despite their predicament.

An angry man's voice came next "Shut up you freak!" followed by another strike. Stench and I both looked down into the warehouse where we could see a man in peasant clothing pacing back and forth in front of the dishevelled and tied up Minions as three other similar men watched them, leaning against the stacks of crates that surrounded this scene and were stacked all the way up to the trapdoor.

One called out, "Let's just kill-em already, before them guards show up."

"No! There's more of them! I know it!" Their leader snapped angrily at his compatriot.

"What the gold? So, ambushing us for your masters wasn't enough! You want our gold as well! Well, you can't have it! We found it first!" Gnarl retorts back.

The leader grabbed Gnarl's ears and pulled, painfully from the look of it, So that Gnarl was looking directly into the leader's eyes. "We don't want your tainted gold," he snarled into Gnarl's face. "And we only work for god!"

Gnarl just rolled his eyes. "That's what they all say, but just imagine it… your pockets overflowing with treasure, that beautiful jingle of coins as you walk… Everything you ever wanted, Big houses, beautiful women, servants wiping your buttocks! Now in reach with just a flash of that oh so shiny gold."

"Oh that sounds nice," One of the reclining men said before sinking into himself sheepishly when his compatriots glared at him.

"Stop with your vile temptations and answer the bloody question! Where are the rest of you?" The leader again snaps at Gnarl.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I was just minding my own business when you lot attacked us out of nowhere! How about you drop this whole 'angry peasant' act and bloody start making sense!"

The man pulled harder before snarling, "Answer the question Elf!"

"... What?" was the reply from every Minion present (and myself) in response. I would have considered it a miracle that the men didn't hear me and Stench… If I wasn't questioning their sanity.

"You heard me, Elf! Where are the other Elves?"

Gnarl's face was contorted into a look of sheer utter bafflement that I was sure was mirrored on my face… How could they think.. Genuinely how?

"Wuh… I don't… We're not Elves!" Was Gnarl's eventual response as the other Minions just looked on, jaws agape in confused shock. A bit of blood dribbled from one of their slit noses.

The man got even angrier "Don't lie!" he snarled. "You have pointed ears and carry elf gold!"

"So do Snaga and goblins!" Gnarl retorted to the scoffs of the men present, "Oh you must be joking…"

"Hah, everyone knows Snaga are just an old wives tale." one of the men laughs.

"Wuh? But Dread Lords attack Empire with lots of ugly Snaga all the time!" Shouts one of the Minions.

"Uhhhh."

"Furthermore there are pictures of the dead Empress and the Princess bloody everywhere! Hell, I've even passed by a picture of the blasted elf king and his court being sold in a store! How in the abyss do you mistake my handsome features for those of an Elf!?" Gnarl asks a rather genuine question. I know I'm not aware of much outside of my life out of the palace but this is extreme ignorance! Even the Minions consider it so! I am frightened that statement is even possible!

"Gnarl, me scared. Me feel smart."

"Me too Gloob, me too."

"Nork don't want to live on planet anymore." Announced a Minion with the most flat expression possible.

"Shut up you damn Elves!" Shouts the leader over the Minions. He walks out of view before returning, dragging a massive hammer behind him. "If you won't talk… I'll just bash your skulls in until one of you does!"

My eyes widen as the man lifts the hammer and instinct takes over. I pull out my ancestor's bow and take aim with an arrow at the man. I swear with all heart and soul that I was aiming for the man's hand as he lifted the hammer to drop it on Gnarl's head, to force him to drop the hammer, I don't know if it was my angle or nervousness at the moment but… when I let loose the arrow…

I missed.

The broad-headed arrow crossed the distance in an eye blink, hitting not the man's hand but… just below his ear. Passing right through the other side, embedding itself in his neck.

The man let loose a gurgling scream as he fell to the ground clutching both sides of his neck, blood spraying from each side with the hammer clanging uselessly to the ground.

The bow nearly slips from my hands, I didn't… I didn't mean to…

The men spring to action with shouts of alarm and confusion but my eyes lock with Gnarl's, his blood sprayed face shows confusion for a moment before a wicked grin breaks out across it that seems to only deepen my horror.

A scream grabs my attention as one of the men was now flailing as Stench had, without me even noticing, dropped down and began stabbing the man in the back. The other men moved to help but the man's panicked flailing at the Minion on his back kept them away for now.

I had to get down there! I had to stop this before it got any worse!

I slipped into the open trapdoor only for my foot to catch the side of a crate once I was in the building, as if by instinct I simply hopped to another crate and another until I was on the warehouse floor, arrow at the ready. "Please s-stop this n-now! N-no one e-else n-needs to get hurt!" I shout at them.

Both men whirl on me with one shouting, "Get Em!" as the other tackles me, knocking the air out of my lungs and sending me to the hard ground, bow falling out of my hand but the arrow remaining in the other with my sword digging into my back. I barely notice the glint of steel and kick the man off of me before the knife plunges into my breast, though not enough to prevent the tip from slicing into my flesh and tearing through my shirt and chest bindings. A cry of pain comes out of me as I scramble back, my front now soaked in blood, to see the man clutching his stomach in agony, knife dropped, before looking at me with utter loathing in his bloodshot eyes and tackling me again, fists swinging wildly.

My eyes shut when the first blows struck me in the face, nearly knocking me senseless, hood pulled free. Stars behind my eyelids, I swung widely with the arrow, again and again, and again, until I couldn't pull the arrow away and a warm liquid poured down my hand. I try to open my eyes but the blows to both made that a painful process. Then a crashing sound, the snapping noises and the weight pressing down on me becomes suffocating but the struggling stops.

Panic gives me enough strength to push the weight off of me, I hear the shifting of wood and coughing as push the weight off only to experience dust entering my lungs causing me to hack and cough as I push myself up. My body was in agony, the blows against me having wrecked a terrible toll on my body. My gauntleted hand went to my left eye, healing magic working to restore my sight while the other tried to pull out the arrow. I blink, eye watering, until I could see and with my sight in one eye restored I finally notice that everything, myself included, was covered in a white powder… and that the man's face and neck were covered in deep cuts while the arrow was buried deep into his eye socket. Blood welled up from it but there was no life in the other eye…

A scream of utter horror erupts from my throat and I scramble backwards, this act of panic saved my life as the head of a massive hammer missed my face by a hair's breadth before slamming into a crate.

"Bitch!" Snarled the last man as he tried to dislodge the hammer from the crate, I disconnected the sword from the harness and brought it to bear just in time to deflect the strike as the last man dislodged the hammer and swung at me. The blow nearly rips the sword from my hands and sends me off balance but fortune favours me and Stench leaps from nowhere unto the man's back turning the man's snarl into a cry of pain and providing just enough of a distraction for me to regain my balance and use the momentum to swing the sword straight into the man's head causing it… to crack like a melon and its contents to spill out, eyes popping out of the sockets and grey flesh spilling out…

I dislodge the sword causing the now corpse to fall to the ground, closely followed by my vomit. Ragged breaths come next, my brain still processing what happened in the few moments this fight took place over the pounding of my heart.

"Well, for the panicked flailings of a terrified Princess that was an excellent display of violence and murder," The now untied Gnarl said, walking up and kicking the corpse. "Lousy moronic peasant! Me! An Elf! I'd complain about you doing such a favour to mankind but their insultingly low intelligence and utter gall to capture me of all evil creatures! Makes their brutal and painful deaths a sweetness I will truly treasure."

A Minion who was picking his nose said, "But why so dumb?"

Gnarl stroked his goatee. "An excellent question! Humans always seem to have some new level of stupidity they can sink to but these specimens' idiocy was directed specifically against elves. Hmmm, I wonder…" He looks at me. "Well, that's a mystery for another day, we have a ship to board and you Princess, require combat training! You almost lost in a fight to peasants! My reputation as an Evil renowned personal trainer would be ruined if that remains the case!"

I do not respond but continue to breathe heavily.

Gnarl raises an eyebrow and waves a clawed hand in front of my face "Yoohoo, Princess. Anybody in there?"

The sword drops from my grip and I sink to my knees still breathing heavily.

"Oh, she's having a mental breakdown," Gnarl says nonchalantly. "Gloob, Nork, collect her and the arrows from those corpses and pick up the sword and bow, we don't want evidence of our presence getting back to the Sentinels!"

"Quickly-quickly now! Fight make lots of noise!" Stench whispers and with two sickening pops along with me being hoisted under my armpits, hood pulled over my head and hair stuffed crudely into it, we were off.

I was barely paying attention at this point, dragged as I was out of the warehouse into a nearby alleyway, I remember hearing Gnarl declare that he knew a shortcut, us passing underground before popping out on the other side of the walls. I remember getting to my feet at one point and jumping across the flooded ditch while Zap and Mortis ferried the others across. I couldn't think, I just kept processing over and over again those men's deaths… At my hand.

I didn't… I truly didn't mean for things to go like that… But I came armed ready to fight…

Oh, goddess the fight… It happened so fast, the terror and pain… lots of pain and the blood… Oh, I'm still bleeding… I feel dizzy and the ground is coming closer. Now my face hurts more.

"Uh-oh Mistress fall down!"

"She hurt pretty bad."

"It's just the Princess' mental breakdown combined with some minor blood loss, nothing to worry about especially once we shove some healing potion in her face, now keep moving you fools we are still !"

"Big Wolfy gonna be soooooooooooo mad when she sees Mistress!"

"... I forgot about her. Well, I'm sure my charms will convince the guardian I had nothing to do with this!"

*******​

Ylva's bared teeth were inches from tearing Gnarl to pieces as he backed against a tree. "Now, now! Be a reasonable Guardian! I was tied up and being beaten, remember! She was the one who started a fight with those idiot peasants!" was Gnarl's attempt to placate a furious Ylva.

A low growl was Ylva's response.

"She's killed before! So what if this one was a bit more brutal than usual? You can't expect me to codd- YIPE!" Was all Gnarl could say before a feral snarl erupted from Ylva and she opened her jaws to snap Gnarl in half…

But I stopped her with a croak of, "Ylva…"

Ylva immediately turned to me with a whine of worry and began fretting over me (or at least as much as her massive size would allow). I was… not in good shape, I was sitting close to Blaze with knees to my chest and tears flowing freely. The healing potion and my magic had healed my injuries to the point I doubted there would be scarring but the memory of the pain remained along with the memory of what I had done replaying constantly over and over again.

I killed those men… I didn't want to… I didn't mean to… Everything just happened so fast…

But you came armed… A voice in my head reminded me and tears flowed even stronger… At least until a giant tongue covered me in slobber.

"Pbfft, pbfft Ylva!" I sputtered out, and wiping slobber off, Ylva just laid down beside me to look at me with big sympathetic eyes. A smile forced itself out of me and I stroked her massive snout but the specter of pain came up again. "I d-didn't mean to Ylva… T-they were g-going to kill G-gnarl b-because t-they t-thought he was an e-elf! I d-didn't want…" I trailed off bringing my knees even closer as the tears started up again. Ylva tilted her head, jaw agape before looking at Gnarl and then back to me with the most confused expression I've ever seen on a canine.

"H-has t-the w-world gone m-mad Ylva?" I ask her in response. "O-or h-have I…"

Ylva's response was to shake her head and then licks me again, leaving me sputtering once more, before barking a command at Gnarl.

Gnarl of course objected from his side of the camp "Why don't you learn to speak the common tongue instead you flea-bitten excuse of a guardian!"

"Grrrrrrrrr"

"Or what!"

"Ruff."

Gnarl's ears droop and he gulps. "Fair enough," he says, paling to a sickly grey before addressing me. "The guardian wants you to know that those men left you no choice and you are not to blame… Is that good enough guardian?"

Ylva just rolled her eyes and gave a bark of acknowledgement before nuzzling me, I did not feel better from those words. Still… Ylva's trying so hard to make me feel better and even forcing Gnarl to speak the words, that, at least causes a smile to form on my face as I stroke her snout. I would truly not know where I would be without her here with me, my first true friend who will be at my side as we cross the northern sea to whatever… Wait.

"H-how will w-we g-get you o-onto a s-ship?" I ask her, would we have to leave her? The thought struck me harder than any blow, I can't be without her, I just can't!

Ylva had a look of concern on her face as she barked towards Gnarl, likely with the question.

Gnarl seemed to inflate with ego as he said with pride "What? You think I, Gnarl, would not factor in such a minor issue in securing transport for a giant man-eating guardian wolf! Filthy light-magic creature she may be but a giant magical wolf is still a giant magical wolf with very large teeth."

"Ruff."

"Yes, yes, you'd tear me to bits if I tried, I'm evil, not stupid, which is a very low bar nowadays come to think of it, and I've been travelling with Blurt!"

"M-man-eater?" I ask Ylva, I did not doubt she could devour a man whole, considering her sheer size but it was still hard to imagine her doing so… Ylva was so gentle and kind.

Gnarl answered for her. "Peasants have long spoken of a man-eating monster in the woods but most of that is brainless peasant fear, they spend more time trying to stab shadows with pitchforks than looking for the real monsters…" Gnarl smirked at that, an evil thought brewing behind his eyes, before his gaze turns to Ylva and he frowns. "Of course, as a light magic creature the guardian probably just scared anything from the woods while leaving them unharmed like a good creature of light, bah!"

"Grrrr, ruff, ruff!" was Ylva's response.

Gnarl just put his claws to his cheeks in mock surprise. "Oh you fought dirt-poor bandits! Saved children from evil abductors who probably had less brains than a brown! My mistake, oh mighty guardian for your truly impressive and heroic exploits!" He says in a mocking tone before adding with a hint of smugness "I'm sure the nearby villagers appreciated your efforts if those notices were to be believed…"

"Grrrrr" A growl erupted from Ylva.

"S-stop it Gnarl!" I say, voice raising, Gnarl was prodding Ylva to anger now with information I did not know and I couldn't take it, not now. There were more important things to know so I took a deep breath and said, "G-gnarl, how do you plan on g-getting Ylva onto the ship?"

The smug look comes in full as Gnarl says, "Simple…"

******​

"Heave!" Shouted the Minions as they pulled on the ropes binding Ylva (or at least gave the appearance of binding) to pull her towards a large metal cage, one meant for large and exotic animals that I had once seen a representative of a trading company bring to present to my father. Ylva for her part resisted mightily, enraged growls and snarls coming from her muzzled maw. We were still in the woods but close to the city; the Minions had dressed themselves in labourer clothing in order to "blend in" as Gnarl described it.

"My word, that is quite the beast Mr. Blackhart." Came the, rather distant, voice of the man who was transferring the ship to us, an apparently large but aged three-masted merchant vessel. "I can see why you insisted on doing this outside the city."

"Yes… It was quite the challenge bringing the beast here, bringing it into the city without the proper precautions would have just invited… unwanted attention." Gnarl says to the man, "A prize such as this must be handled with exquisite care."

Ylva growled through her muzzle, but I whisper into her ear "I know Ylva, j-just a little longer!'' I was clinging to her back, my cloak blending me into her fur. It was Gnarl's plan that I be smuggled into the city and onto the ship in Ylva's cage… A fact I was not pleased with but Ylva agreed to the ruse of playing the dumb beast that "Sir Blackhart" had bravely captured and sought to tame, with the danger of the beast keeping away any onlookers. I must admit the plan, despite my extensive reservations, seemed to be working but the hard part was yet to come.

Gnarl spoke again, "I trust our way is clear to the ship?"

The man (who was quite the distance away) responded "Yes, yes and the ship is fully stocked with everything you requested, a bit of a rush job but after the generous financial compensation you provided us it was only a minor issue."

"Good… After being assaulted by some ruffians last night it will be a relief to be on the open seas despite my allergies, the salt you know just doesn't agree with me," Gnarl says.

"Ruffians? Good heavens!"

"I know! They thought I was an elf! Can you believe it?"

"I… What? Were they drunk?" The man says, the bafflement clear in his voice, my ears perk up at this point as well.

"No, I don't believe so… Do you have an explanation? I just can't wrap my head around it." Gnarl asks as the Minions finally pull Ylva into the cage and quickly lock the cage door.

A makeshift tarp is thrown over the cage, blocking my view as I pull myself out of Ylva's fur but hiding us from any onlookers. My ears perk again as the man speaks once more, "I assure you Mr. Blackhart that I can provide no explanation for why those men would mistake your… persons… with that of an elf, but… There have been more complaints from the clergy about Elven traders recently and one altercation with some dockworkers but nothing as extreme as outright assault! Mr. Blackhart, the Northern Sea company will look into this matter on your behalf, it would look poorly on us if we can't provide security to even our esteemed affiliates." I nearly fell off Ylva in shock at what I heard, the Northern Sea company! That was impossible!

"Oh, that would be wonderful," Gnarl said with a believable, sincere tone… If one did not know him. I, however, was still reeling from what I heard, the Northern Sea company was the Empire's primary shipping and trade company in the north seas, established by the royal charter of my ancestor on my father's side nearly four centuries ago, a fact which was drilled into my head at every dinner the owners of the company and their families attended as was the privilege of all the major royal charter companies for the wealth and prosperity they brought to the Empire. A few of their daughters even had a place among my ladies-in-waiting. The fact that even a representative of the company would work with a creature such as Gnarl so openly was a shock even with the knowledge of my father's corruption.

The bitter irony that this blatant corruption was a fortunate benefit to my current circumstances was not lost on me.

The cage shook and I almost fell off again as we were lifted and began to move with Ylva making the occasional growl to ward off any curious onlooker. I simply remained on top of Ylva, trying to stay as quiet as possible as the cage rocked and shook on its journey to the ship. My stomach began to feel like it was tying itself into knots, what if something goes wrong in these last moments before we leave? The swaying in the cage got worse and the knots in my stomach got tighter, oh something is bound to go wrong I just know it!

My grip on Ylva tightened as the swaying got worse and worse while I prepared myself for the worst. Moments passed as I became more and more anxious with the swaying, imagination filled with images of the tarp falling off or being attacked again. Then, suddenly, the swaying stopped and my breath froze in my chest, my heart was pounding in my throat as the tarp was wrenched off in one quick motion.

With a cry of "eek!" I bury myself into Ylva's fur desperate for the chance to hide myself, I knew it! I knew something would go horribly wrong!

"What is this Princess doing?" Came the voice of Gnarl followed by the confused whine of Ylva.

I lift my head to see the open cage door, a swarm of yellow pairs of eyes looking at me and the darkened wooden interior of what I presume is the ship's cargo hold.

"Ummmmm." Was my response, my face suddenly becoming very hot "D-did we s-set sail?"

"Yes, fifteen minutes ago as I told you when we placed this unwieldy cage into the cargo hold! What was your elf head in the clouds this whole time?"

I look away, face now burning…

Gnarl threw up his claws "Of course, why would she not! Ugh, and just as the saltwater is giving me a rash! You lot deal with her while I rub something on this and don't you dare get seasick! There is work to do!" he orders before storming off leaving the other Minions to look to me and mumble incoherently.

I, now thoroughly embarrassed, stomach still in knots and curious what seasickness was, slid off Ylva to stand before the Minions who all looked at me expectantly as I took in the ship's cargo hold, filled to the brim with secured crates with only a few lamps for light that swayed as the ship presumably made its way out of the dock and onto the northern sea. There was this gentle rocking to the ship that made it seem that everything was going up and going down ever so slightly on a constant loop.

Up and down.

Up and down…

Up and… Oh dear.

"Huh, is Mistress turning gree-"

I believe I have just learned what seasickness is. "BLAAAAAAAAARG!"

"IT IN MOUTH! IT IN MOOOOUTH!"

"Me kinda like it."

"... Me not need to know that."


As always, thanks to @MysticKnightJoe for editing

Please comment, discuss and criticize.

 

[Zaealix]

As far as this episode goes-PRINCESS GOT JUMPS!
And I'm really seeing the Elven Grace in action now given she's lighter on her feet then Stench is apparently.
Too bad Princess doesn't have a great sense of her own abilities as a direct result of 'father's "loving" touch' but eh. She could probably do with testing her abilities out next to someone else. Overlords are known for their physical prowess typically...

As for the stupidity of those peasants well, I guess the Sentinels have inflated humanity's opinion of itself, because that can only do good things, right?

 

[Bag of Bones]

Too bad Princess doesn't have a great sense of her own abilities as a direct result of 'father's "loving" touch' but eh. She could probably do with testing her abilities out next to someone else. Overlords are known for their physical prowess typically...

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately for Elenaril, she'll have to wait a bit for that.

As for the stupidity of those peasants well, I guess the Sentinels have inflated humanity's opinion of itself, because that can only do good things, right?

Click to shrink...

The peasants were also really, really, really dumb.

 

[Zaealix]

…Thought.
That conversation between Gnarl and that dockmaster guy…
I smell Gnarl being VERY sneaky. He hears the humans mistake him for an elf, and while sure he's pretty sure they're just dumb…
He's not 100% sure. And he does not like that he's not 100% sure.
I can only speculate to if his disguises are purely mundane or if there is a mystical component, but he has been hanging around a Light-Magic Wolf as well as the Princess, who also has the Tower Heart inside her.

If the Princess comes to SHARE his doubts? That would mean disaster, if nothing else it would make keeping her on the road to being a proper Overlord far more difficult then it needs to be!

So, a simple question, to an individual who you are assured of having working brains in his head (perhaps with an intelligence test involving a few coins…) when you know the Princess will be in earshot and ideally, that should be that!

And perhaps efforts taken to stain the Princess with more deeds of EVIL to ensure that…

 

[Bag of Bones]

Earlier that year:

Like for so many years before, Spring came early to the capital and in abundance, wherever life could find itself the people of the capital would delight (at least those without allergies and/or gardeners) that their city became covered in flowers of all colours despite the grime and pollution. This was a change from when the Empress was still alive, when all manner of rumour of her strange Elven magic existed, but with the birth of the Princess on the first day of spring of that year and the overwhelming abundance that followed, enough to practically choke the city in life and a fair bit of the surrounding countryside, a new belief appeared: that the Princess was a miracle of God. It was a belief that few argued with (loudly at the very least) and the celebration that now accompanied Princess Elenaril's birthday was now a favoured tradition among the citizenry of the Empire and a holiday for the nobility rivalling the celebrations to the Emperor himself (which got even more grand after the Empress's death and the princess' birthday celebration grew in popularity)!

A chance to feast, to dance with blushing young maidens, listen to music and poetry was a welcome change after another harsh winter despite the grumbling of the Archbishop. Much of the talk was joyful as well, hope for a good year from farmers and merchants, the possibility of coin from the poor, a chance for love from the young and unmarried, wondering how their children will grow from mothers and of course, thanking the princess for letting them have such a wonderful festival every spring. The more pious praised Elenaril for her piety, for they all heard of her purity, humble nature and devotion to god over the Elves' strange god. The gossipy wondered when such a beautiful maiden, who was now the prime age of nineteen, would marry. The loud, male and drunk would praise the beauty and generosity of the Princess and swap tales about certain large aspects of the princess that they claimed to have seen. Then there were the quiet ones, the ones who see portraits of the princess and tut-tut about her deformed ears, strange white hair and the possibility of what else she inherited from that elf mother of hers, those that had seen the Princess praise her beauty but whisper of her unearthliness, how she could move with a grace that was beyond anything human or tales of magic spells she can cast despite the Palace's assurances.

None of this was the concern of the Palace or the exhausted gardeners who try to keep the Emperor's preference for order this time every year. For this year was special, for there would be no parties that would continue on into the night despite the Princess excusing herself to bed at the insistence of her worried father at the first politically convenient opportunity, no Princess giving away her non-politically important gifts to the loyal nobility of the court (or as was often the case with her weak Elvish constitution, her father in her stead), and most importantly no Elves who usually made every effort to be at the palace for the princess' birthday except when the Dread Lords launch incursions into their lands as was the case now.

No, this was a moment of grim determination for the Dragon Knights, clad in ornate plate armour blessed to withstand volleys of musket and cannon fire, as their Emperor, proud and in full military uniform, addressed them from the balcony overlooking the parade grounds. "My loyal subjects. You, who have faced unspeakable darkness to become the greatest of my Dragon Knights will now face your greatest challenge, the destruction of the Empress' murderer: the Dread Lord Zelris!"

Not a single soul moved as the Emperor looked down at them. "In his haste to make war with the other Dread Lords, Zelris has cornered himself in his fortress to conduct some strange ritual, this shall be his final mistake for he does not expect that we have the means to destroy him!" and on cue, a slender female figure stepped into view with the utmost grace. Even with their famous discipline the Dragon Knights could not help being taken away at the sight of her. Though she was clad in only a simple navy-blue riding habit with silver embroidery, the maiden that stood before the knights was beautiful beyond words, beyond what was possible in a human. The exposed skin of her face and slender hands resembled the finest flawless porcelain while her perfect long hair, tied behind her head for convenience, seemed to shift in the light between the colour of pure liquid silver and freshly laid snow with every graceful step. The sun seemed a little bit brighter and the scent of flowers in the air became even stronger as Princess Elenaril took her place next to her father. Bright, almost glowing (if you believed the stories of the servants) sapphire blue eyes looked down on the assembled knights and her full lips broke into a shy but kind smile that made her delicate otherworldly features even more impossibly lovely.

The princess stepped forward a bit more, as if ready to speak and the eyes of the Dragon Knights locked onto the Princess' lovely face (with occasional strays to certain other lovely features of the Princess from the more novice members), but the honourable Emperor Matthias spoke first and the Princess quickly stepped back. "With this, you, my loyal knights, will journey to the heart of Zelris' dark domain and end his darkness ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

A deafening cheer erupted from the knights and their captain, the tall, young, handsome, blonde and blue-eyed Captain Benedict Glensham stepped forward and said with all the confidence of the world, "We will not fall you, my Emperor! Knights! To your dragons!" And with disciplined swiftness, the majority of the assembled knights exited with the highest-ranked awaiting their charge at the palace's grand doors, their charge who lingered on the balcony with a hopeful expression towards their father, but a glance from the Emperor simply caused her to curtsy and reenter the palace.

The officers did not have to wait long for the princess to emerge from the palace, the servants flinging the doors open in her path, clutching a staff seemingly made from a single tree branch and silver threads with the head of the staff wrapping around a strange glowing crystal. Elven runes carved into the head of the staff glowed with the same light blue light as the crystal. The princess had a downcast expression on her perfect face, long ears (which as a rule are not to be mentioned in polite company) drooping downwards.

Captain Benedict Glensham cleared his throat, gaining the princess' attention and spoke clearly with a bow. "Your royal highness will be riding alongside me, I apologise that no appropriate means of transport is available for your royal persons on such short notice."

With a voice that would put to shame even the most beautiful songbird, the princess spoke shyly. "N-no, it is al-alright. I w-would be h-honoured to r-ride with you." a maidenly blush coming to her cheeks as she spoke.

"Then after you, your royal highness."

And so the princess crossed the courtyard to the waiting dragons that would carry them on their most grand and holy task. The princess spared a glance back to the balcony where her father stood and said under her breath "I w-will avenge m-mother and m-make you p-proud, f-father." before straightening herself with dignity, grace and the determination needed for this mission that only she could accomplish, The ethereal crown princess of the Empire of Light, Elenaril Armathain.

*****​

Later that year:

"HUUUUUURRRKKK!" was the sound I made as I emptied the contents of my stomach into a provided bucket next to my cot in the repurposed captain's quarters and unfortunately a good portion of my hair. Three days I had to suffer through this, three days of my stomach doing its best to try and wrench itself from my body through my mouth. I thanked the mother goddess that the effects of Quaver's "seasickness cure" had worn off, not only was it not a cure but I required two buckets as my body attempted to evacuate that "cure" in more ways than I thought possible.

I look up from the now-familiar bucket at the cracked mirror that came with the ship to see a sight that was now unfamiliar. Two glowing blue eyes with black bags underneath them stared back at me as I beheld myself with sick and snot dripping down my chin and now filthy hair. My skin had somehow gotten even paler as the misery of this seasickness wracked its toll on me. There was a time when this appearance would have even frightened me but right now my stomach was doing a superb job of keeping my mind on other more pressing concerns.

The door to the quarters flung open and a very much not seasick and unfortunately smug Gnarl strolled in "Well I see you're up and I must say, green suits you! Hehehehe" Gnarl giggled to himself as I glared at him from my bucket, "I thought you should know, that despite a… minor bit of sailing off course that was in no way my fault, we should reach our destination within the next few days that may or may not depend on the other Minions actually learning what sailing is." I groaned at that, why mother goddess why? Why am I stuck with these creatures!

Gnarl continued "Now to pass the time, I was thinking we should do some vocal exercises. After all, for your plan to work you can't st-st-st-stutter like a senseless elfmaiden! Hehehehe!"

I kept glaring at Gnarl until a wave of nausea hit me sending me back over the bucket "Go. Away. Gnarhurrrgblaarrr!" I gasped out until what remained of my stomach forced itself out.

Gnarl just chuckled. "Well, not even a minute into the lesson and you went three words without stuttering. Once again I prove to the world my genius." I would glare at him but currently, I'm looking at my own sick, ready to add more to the bucket. "Well, I suppose I should cut the lesson short, watching an Elfmaiden be violently sick just gets old after the second day. I'll be off proving my genius to that guardian by teaching her to speak the common tongue like a civilised creature."

I listen to Gnarl scamper off as I pant into the bucket, the now familiar smell and taste of sick sticking to me. I listen past the sounds of Minions working around the ship to the sound of Gnarl approaching Ylva. "Well you overgrown mutt, I expect gratitude as I am here to teach you the commonAARRRGABLAARAGH!" Followed by the sound of a very large wolf vomiting in Gnarl's face.

I fight to keep a smile from coming to my lips, poor Ylva has been as sick as I have been and I shouldn't smile at her vomiting… But judging from Ylva's unique wheezing laugh, though followed by a whimper, her sick was probably deliberately aimed. Sounds of Gnarl's misery and the laughter of Minions along with the now empty stomach gave me the strength to force myself from the bucket to the washbasin to clean off the sick that now covered me.

It was not a quick process as frequently I would have to take my gauntleted hand to my stomach and pour healing magic into my belly but I clean myself off enough to crawl back into the cot and try to sleep.

At least if my stomach would let me…

Minutes turn to hours as the lurch of the ship on the waves brings a new wave of agony to me despite the emptiness of my stomach and the healing magic I am pouring into it. Desperate to draw my mind towards anything but my stomach, my thoughts turn to how this all started: my quest to destroy Zelris.

Goddess above, how did we survive that?

I look to the gauntlet and sigh, I know I survived that final battle with Zelris but the Dragon Knight's survival is a mystery to me as I remember nothing till I awoke in my father's clutches. Zelris had prepared for us and set trap after trap along with hordes of Snaga. Though how could he not? It was not like the dragon knights were stealthy in their approach!

… I shouldn't think that, many of the Knights died in that final battle but a part of me is questioning why so many decisions were made even if it was just meant to kill me.

In all the council beforehand, with my grandfather in attendance along with all the leaders of the Empire of Light, a small group and stealth was considered our best chance to reach Zelris. Any large force would tip off the Dread Lord and endanger the entire mission. But, on my nineteenth birthday, which was supposed to be a day of rest after months of sleepless nights devoted to practice, I was shocked to be awoken to the fact that an entire company of Dragon Knights and servants were assembled and that we were to journey to Zelris' lair a month ahead of the date that the council agreed upon!

I had spent the morning forbidding any servant from joining us due to the danger only to be then dragged before the assembled knights to give a speech only to be left looking the fool without a single word from my father towards me even to give me courage for the task ahead. Goddess, I had assumed that Zelris was close to achieving whatever goal he was hoping to achieve hence the abandonment of stealth in favour of haste but we practically toured the countryside, loudly announcing our goal, before we even set foot into the lands of darkness where time was spent chasing down bands of Snaga who often escaped!

All according to the plan of my father according to Sir Glenham to sow terror into the heart of Zelris though that clearly failed. Even before Zelris' trap, the Snaga found ways to ambush us despite the dragon's warding off several ambushes. More than once I was left cowering behind whatever cover I could find from musket fire, as the dragon knights fought off tunnelling Snaga.

I… I actually tried to speak up, ask why the council's plan was abandoned but the lieutenants would just politely dismiss my concerns even after I and the dragons had seen Snaga watching us as we camped, citing my lack of experience and that as a woman that I would not understand the intricacies of conflict. Their politeness would only last until I was not facing them where they would also talk as if I couldn't hear them, angry that I refused servants to accompany us (though how was still a mystery to me as they could not follow us in the air) and my naivety. Sir Glenham was very kind to me though and I often ate meals with him… I should have spoke up more during those meals, used my authority as the crown princess to force the knights to follow the original plan but… I was a naive princess who desperately wanted to believe that it would be just like the stories I snuck out to read, the ones with the heroic knights who faced down all manner of evil and I wouldn't be like the princesses in those stories as I would be there to witness the heroics first hand. I still am that princess despite everything that happened to me…

And people died because of it.

Why didn't anyone else speak up? Surely I couldn't have been the only one to notice the folly of my father's plan, how it was only sheer luck that I made it to Zelris and the Tower Heart. The panic of that final battle… Like they could not fathom that Zelris had prepared for us. I remember sir Glenham yelling at me to return to his dragon as I raced off to stop Zelris before we were overwhelmed and if I hadn't faced Zelris alone… Goddess, I don't even want to think about that outcome.

But that still doesn't answer the question of why the original plan was abandoned.

Was my father worried the plan would be discovered? I was practising the incantation nearly every day and if a creature such as Gnarl could recognize it as dark magic then surely the group my Grandfather was forming would recognize it as well. But the complete abandonment of stealth and the Dragon Knights… Father loved his Dragon Knights, that I was sure of, he would take every opportunity to show them off and to just throw them to their deaths…

Something isn't adding up maybe Ylva or… that vile shrivelled imp Gnarl will have an answer.

A wave of nausea rolled over me and I quickly tore myself from the cot to the bucket, only for the ship to lurch sending the bucket and its contents all over my feet quickly followed by a fresh coating of sick.

I may have to wait a bit to ask.

*****​

"Ruff-ruff woof."

"She says your father sounds like he's just a stupid petty egotistical arsehole… her words not mine." Gnarl translates to Ylva's nod.

"Oh." Was my response as I lean back into Ylva's side, four unpleasant days had passed since my first thoughts on this, trying to piece together what my father had intended and I received my answer. At least it seemed the seas have gotten calmer or at least my stomach has.

Gnarl just frowned "Oh? The leader of the Empire of Light, your father, is called an idiot and all you have to say is oh?"

"H-he murdered my m-mother and t-tried to kill me." Was my response with the undercurrent of bitterness. "I d-do not care w-what anyone c-calls him." I could feel the burning coal of anger within me as I realised the real reason that he sent those men to their death, something that I didn't want to consider because of how even more horrible that would make him… His ego!

Gnarl shrugs before giving me an evil grin "Well, at least we now know that it wasn't your well-meaning naivety that caused the loss of so many dragon knights…" I just glared back at Gnarl, I would not be surprised if that was an actual rumour that Gnarl was repeating, spread by my father as there is apparently no low that he won't sink to.

There is still something I need to know, something I should have asked weeks ago. "H-how many knights made it back?"

To my surprise, Gnarl tapped his chin in contemplation. "That's a good question, more dead heroic knights the better I always say but with the amount of propaganda the Empire is pushing out it's hard to gauge exact numbers which is a problem if you want to avoid a dragon incinerating you. I do know that blasted fop of a hero 'Ooooh he's the youngest to ever reach captain in the dragon knights' Glenham made it back carrying you after your 'grand victory' over evil, I think your father is still throwing honours on him, certainly likes him more than you, his own flesh and blood hehehehehe!"

I ignore the last bit and place my hand to my breast, giving out a sigh of relief and a smile. I'm glad he survived, he was so kind to me and these days kindness is a rare thing… Not that I am not glad other knights and dragons survived! It's just ummmm…

"Oh wonderful, the princess has a maiden's crush on the handsome knight. How utterly typical," Gnarl sneered at me causing my cheeks to emit a great deal of heat and a wheezing chuckle to emanate from Ylva.

"Ylva?!" I exclaim in shock only for Ylva to shift herself so that she could give me a playful nuzzle while Gnarl just grimaced.

"Ugggh don't call it cute guardian! I found some weevils earlier and I'd like to keep myself from hurling from images of maidenly fawning in my head!" A pause followed by a look of dawning horror. "Oh no, there's an elfmaiden fawning in front of me! By the abyss, I can feel it rising! Hurk! It's coming! Huuuuuurk!"

As Gnarl gagged I sank deeper into Ylva's fur, face burning and desperate to change the subject I say, "S-so h-how much l-longer until we r-reach-"

And as if the Mother Goddess herself answered me, I was interrupted by a sudden lurch and loud grinding sound. If I wasn't against Ylva I would have been lightly shaken a bit but Gnarl stumbles away before suddenly being thrown off his feet in my direction, arms outstretched and an obsessive expression on his face complete with lolling tongue.

I stand up before he reaches me and Gnarl lands face-first at my feet, letting out a sob of "So close! They were so close!" as I run up onto to the deck to see what's the-

By the goddess it's cold! A frigid wind hits me square in the face as I emerge into a light fog that did little to obscure the ice-covered cliff face that towered over us nor the fact that we were beached in an inlet with waves crashing against the cliff. The fog still obscured everything beyond that so I could not see where we were.

Two Minions came up to me and one with a big grin shouted "LAND HOOOOOOO!"

The other Minion slaps him. "Stupid! Supposed to shout before crash boat!"

Wait, are they saying… "D-did… Did you crash the ship deliberately!?" I accuse them, voice getting shrill with disbelief.

"Yep!" Both Minions say proudly and my face goes into both my palms, Mother goddess help me.

"Well, the useless sacks of pus didn't damage the hull with their stupidity." Gnarl says as he makes his way up onto the deck "And by some dark miracle managed to get us where we needed to go!"

That confused me for a moment, until my eyes fell back onto the cliff and made out the slight difference in rock colour from the rest of the cliff. I must admit if I wasn't deliberately looking for it I would never have seen it though now that I have I begin to notice other details "T-this… t-this is a secret h-harbour!" I exclaim.

"Drat, will need to refurbish this port if an Elf can notice it." Gnarl curses "But yes, this is but one of the secret harbours the Overlord of the time implemented after the fall of the Glorious Empire and we minions further expanded it throughout the centuries. Nordberg was proving problematic to base a fleet in and with the rise of the Empires of Light and Dark, it was clear naval power was-"

"It's c-covered in ice…" I remark with a shiver, more to myself but still interrupting Gnarl while I rub my arms. Is it not still fall? Why does it feel like the middle of winter!

Gnarl just rolls his eyes "Yes princess, the ice is clearly more important than evil's foresight! Speaking of…" he glares at the Minions lazing on the deck "You useless maggots! Fix your stupidity, get the ship unstuck and open the sea gate!" There was an immediate scramble of Minions as they leapt off the ship, leaving a few aimless ones on the deck with us.

I watched as around a dozen minions raced along the shoreline and dive into the bushes at the cliff face, vanishing in the process as the rest began pushing on the grounded front of the ship.

I watched with interest until a bone-chilling breeze reminded me that I should probably go below deck and find my ances-

"Here Mistress!" two minions say as they bring my ancestor's cloak to me.

"Th-th-th-thank you!" I chitter out as I quickly grab the cloak and wrap myself up in it. Almost immediately the chill seemed to vanish and I quietly thanked my ancestor for whatever enchantment cast on this cloak to block out the chill.

"Now Mistress won't blame for ship crash!" One Minion exclaimed joyously only to be smacked by his companion.

"Stupid, don't say it in front of Mistress!"

… Goddess help me.

Blessedly, I heard the scraping of claws on wood as Ylva hoisted herself from the cargo hold onto the deck to watch the Minions attempt to unground the ship alongside me. As soon as she was beside me, my unguantled hand stroked her fur. A smile comes to my lips, at least I have her with me in all this… I do not know what to call it.

The sound of cracking ice and the grinding of massive gears draws our attention away from the struggling Minions as the cliff, for the lack of a better term, opened like two double doors with surprising speed, pushing away water and silt in a great wave. Ice fell in great sheets as a great cavern, large enough to fit even the greatest of the Empire's ships, revealed itself. Both me and Ylva gaped at the engineering feat. These creatures, who even in the most generous description seemed to barely manage to remember to breathe much less form coherent sentences, created this? Even the great harbours of the Empire, with what little I've seen of them, never created something as grand as this!

Gnarl just got more and more smug "And if you think that's impressive, the next bit will blow your pointed ears off!" he says as the Minions finally push the ship back into the water, immediately the ship seemed to immediately righted itself towards the great double doors and seemed to move on its own towards it.

"W-we're m-moving on o-our own!" I exclaim in shock as I race to the rail to see how such a feat was even possible. The water below the ship seemed to be churning like a river as it flowed towards the cavern.

"Hah! That's evil ingenuity, devious theft from dwarves and dark magic for you!" Gnarl says with pride as we enter the cavern and it looks… Not at all different from the docks I've seen before with many empty berths despite being underground though that was only to see the launching of an admiral's ship or their return from a great sea battle. There were no cheering crowds here beyond the Minions and it certainly seemed empty of even tools.

There was certainly no fanfare as we docked in one of the many empty berths, only the throwing ropes and the lowering of the anchor. I was still amazed by the sheer scale of the dock; more than a dozen ships could dock here completely unnoticed by the Empire and apparently had been for years. I was still gaping at my surroundings as the gangplank was lowered and we made our way off the ship, briefly forgetting my sheer happiness to be back on solid ground.

At least until Mortis said, "Welcome Mistress, to the Netherworld! Glub!"

"Ah, the dank, musty smell of evil. No more trudging through picturesque forests, only evil plotting in the slimy bowels of the earth," Gnarl says with a disturbing amount of happiness.

Ylva glanced at me and rolled her eyes.

Quaver in his jester hat stepped up. "Dank, dark and slimy, the netherworld be the home of evil! Now onwards Minions to the burrows and the Browns, there be evil plots to be scheming!" He sang before racing off down a tunnel along with a small number of other Minions.

I look down to Gnarl. "T-the B-burrows? Is t-that w-where M-minions live?" I ask, confused. I heard the term before but I knew no more than that was where Minions live.

"It is the ancestral home of us Minions, where the first Minion dug his way up to serve the very first Overlord. We've populated and abandoned it many times in the past but it is currently the location of the Minion hives, powerful magical artefacts that uses the lifeforce of the freshly slain (or considerable amounts of raw organic material but let's ignore that) to birth new Minions, evil and efficient!" Gnarl explains before tapping his chin. "Sadly, with how long we were gone, only the Brown Minion hive is probably still there, the other tribes just can't stand being without an Overlord for very long so they always leave with their hive to search for one. Rarely ever find one though, so the new Overlord always has to go-" Gnarl's explanation was cut short by Quaver's high pitched scream from further down the tunnel he ran off down.

Without thinking, I leap onto Ylva and we take off down the tunnel before Gnarl could even get out, "What in the abyss!" The tunnel was large enough that I didn't even need to duck my head. Thick supports of some black material lined the carved and cobwebbed tunnel as we raced down it, going deeper and deeper into the earth with twists and turns every so often.

We turned a corner and Ylva had to skid to a stop before she trampled the Minions gathered near the bend. The Browns and Quaver were surrounded by five Green Minions who hissed and snarled as they beheld Ylva. "Elf! Guardian! Quaver issss fool! Led good to burrowssss!" Hissed the leader wrapped in leather scraps and holding its wrist blades to Quaver's throat. Before I could shout out the sound of commotion from behind me caused my head to turn in time to see Stench, who had somehow clung to Ylva without either of us noticing, throwing another Green off her back to the ground with an enraged snarl. The leader green exclaimed, "Whaaa? Sssstench!?" as I looked back before narrowing my eyes and raising the gauntlet as swiftly as I could.

"Stop!" I shouted with as much authority as I could muster as a deep horn sound bellowed from the gauntlet.

The Green's froze in place and more appeared from thin air, surrounding Quaver's group or clinging to the walls around us, nearly thirty from a quick glance. I… realise now that we walked into an ambush but I keep my gaze locked onto the leader who has a look of absolute horror on its lizard-like face before prostrating itself in front of us "Missstressss, forgive! Forgive!" It begged and wailed into the ground as its fellow Greens followed suit wailing and begging.

Quaver, now brimming with confidence at seeing his assailant prostrating himself, kicked the leader and laughed "That's right! How dare you assault your new mistress and her jester! Beg! Beg! Hehehehe!"

"Q-quaver stop," I warned the jester Minion to Ylva's growl, causing the Jester to yelp and cower to the other Brown's disgust. I look back to the Green. It was disturbing to see such a dangerous creature suddenly switch to fearful grovelling at my presence. Even though it likely saved my life, I did not enjoy it, I did not enjoy it one bit "I f-forgive you, n-now p-please tell me, w-why you are here?"

The Green immediately got to its knees, a look of utter gratitude and worship on its face that churned my stomach. "Good Missstresss, forgiving Missstresss, guard Burrowssss for wonderful Missstresss."

That makes sense but Gnarl said there would be only Browns here and as if a devil was listening to that I could suddenly hear the huffing of Gnarl and the gibbering of the other Minions closing in.

"You *huff* Elvish *pant* Heroic…" Gnarl wheezed as he rounded the corner with the horde of other Minions and beheld us all, collapsing against a wall until another Minion gave him a waterskin that he drank greedily from. With a sigh of relief, he tossed the waterskin into the Minion's face before wheeling to face me, taking a breath to no doubt lecture and hurl insults at me and my lineage before a look of confusion crossed his withered features as he saw the crowd of Greens "Hang on, Pickle?" he addressed the leader Green "What in the abyss are you doing here?"

The Green scratched his head. "Guarding burr-"

"Yes, I can see that! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you and the rest of the Greens be halfway across the continent by now like always? Unless…" A look of contemplation crossed Gnarl's face before giving away to… Joy? "Oh, this is wonderfully bad! All the Minion hives are still here, no wasting of time to hunt them down! We can start building a new Minion army immediately! Why, beyond those moments of seeing the work of divine perfection that is the naked errrrr" Gnarl gave a fearful look to Ylva who let out a low and menacing growl as I blink in confusion "I mean, this specifically is the most wonderful moment I've had in years and absolutely nothing, nothing can ruin it!"

"Errrrrrrrr." came the reply of Pickle and the other Greens.

******​

"YOU LOST ALL THE HIVES! EVERY! LAST! ONE OF THEM! RAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"


Well, we've finally reached the Netherworld! What dangers and dastardly deeds await Elenaril in the deep, dark and damp Netherworld!

As always, thanks to @MysticKnightJoe for editing

Please comment, discuss and criticize.

 

[Zaealix]

*blinks*
Yanno, I can see worlds where Gnarl lands where he wanted to. I also see worlds where Gnarl winds up lost at sea. I don't see a world where he gets the former without the latter happening, however.

...Those Dragon Knights...My read of them is they WERE a force for good, but got killed off via the stupid brutality of the Emperor, doing it's thing of making it's plan work because if nothing's on the table, it's 'balanced' right? Bahargest.
Or he was a fool. Which sounds like the simpler answer.
...
Didn't expect the Princess was sent out with those Dragon Knights though, but then again, something something she WAS supposed to use that incantation to blast the Overlord to kingdom come as a last resort so...

It sounded to me like there were Spiders in those caves before it turned out to be the Green tribe, but not even having a Brown Hive to work with has got to be a painful break in the plan for Gnarl.
Minions are meant to be disposable and expendable, like tissues! Having to actually look after his troops is just not the way of Evil! But needs must, and I trust Gnarl to know when to maximize EVIL and when to give way to practicalities...