The Reprieve - Part 6

Olivia stood in the bedroom, standing guard over their prisoner. He had been grunting trying to free himself, but with the bindings in full view, she could see he hadn't yet succeeded.

She also took this time to clothe herself having been nude the entire time after what happened with Lyrika. As she changed, the intruder spoke up.

"You're a monster."

Olivia didn't know how to take that. Sure, she was one, technically. But for this man to be saying that to her just… felt wrong.

"I'm a monster? Sure, I guess. But you're the one who came here to free bandits that have been enslaving and killing people from this village. Also, given the knife, you had you probably meant to kill Yoban. You're more of a monster than I." Olivia rebuked.

"I know what you did to that girl. For a monster like you to enslave such a beautiful girl and force her to do... that with you. You are a horrible creature."

She was fairly certain that when he said 'that', he was talking about the sexual activities they had together. She could understand how it looked, she was the large monster with a penis and Lyrika was the smaller, innocent cat-kin being forced. How wrong he was given that she had initiated all of their times together.

"You were in the church when we first arrived right? I'm pretty sure Lyrika told you she was with me of her own free will. And really, forcing her. You are very much mistaken if you think anyone can force her to do something she doesn't want to." She replied with a grin at that, her thoughts going back to the times Lyrika had attacked her.

"She did say that yes. But there is no way that can be true. You must have told her to say that, threatened her life or the lives in this village if she did not. You - you won't get away with it."

As he continued to rant about how she was the worst being in the land, Lyrika turned up with the Yoban and a couple of the temporary guards.

"I apologise Olivia. For you to have to go through something like this in my own home is just appalling. I feel like such a failure of a chief that I am unable to protect my people and my guests"

Olivia could understand how he felt, but really, as a small trading town, no one would imagine they would be besieged by a large number of bandits. Tonight, was just an after-effect of it as well. With many members of the village gone, he no longer has guards to stop this from happening.

"Lyrika explained to me some of the situation. For there to have been someone in the village working with the bandits. It is hard to think about."

The guards moved over to restrain the man and hold him up, which gave the village chief a good view of who he was.

"Jonah, this can't be. Why would you do something like this? You wanted to free the men that have enslaved so many people from our village. Why? Why would you do that? Why would you work for them?"

*Ptui* the man Jonah spat at the ground. "You are such a fool. This village is a soul-sucking graveyard. Traders from the nearby towns come to trade, yes, but they all look down on us beast-kin. I have worked and worked a good deal of my life, living with the disrespectful gazes from the human traders. I just wanted to leave, but you never make enough in this business to do so."

He looked away as if thinking back on the problems he faced as a trader.

"Trekking through the woods helped me deal with the stress of it all. But one day I was caught by the bandits out there. I was scared for my life, but as I learnt what they planned to do, I figured it was the opportunity I was waiting for. I could get a cut of the action by helping them, get out of this place, live my life how I want. All it took was letting them know what was happening in the village and…leaving a few gates open."

"You helped them from the start!" Yoban shouted once he heard this. "You helped them enter all of the watchtowers, letting them kill all of the guards and anyone who resisted. You disgust me. Search him and then take him to the jail cells with the rest."

"This will not end here. I will get out of this village and be free." He had a seething look in his eyes as they picked him up, which he then turned onto Olivia, "Then I shall go after that monster for what she has done."

The guards had taken him out of the room by this point and his voice ended up muffled.

"What was he talking about?" Lyrika asked.

"Oh, he seems to think I've enslaved you and am forcing you to do things you don't want to."

"Pffft, what an idiot."

Turning back to the chief, he apologised again, saying he would leave us to get the remainder of our sleep and would talk in the morning.

Given all the excitement, they managed to collapse and fall asleep almost instantly.

…

While she thought it was the new day rolling in, it was actually the afternoon sun that caused Olivia blinked her eyes open. As she woke, she also felt a slight pressure on her body. Nothing like last nights fun, but as she looked down, she found Lyrika leaning into her with her arm over her chest, almost hugging her. It was adorable.

But, as much as she wanted to stay looking at the lovely view, they needed to get up, and so she reluctantly woke Lyrika. As she stirred from her sleep, Olivia bore witness to a lovely sight as her cat ears twitched and she rubbed her eyes.

"Good. *yawn* good morning."

"I think its actually good afternoon now. Sleep well."

"Really. Well, I guess that means I slept very well. The bedding I was sleeping on was very comfortable…"

As she slowly rose, her cheeks tinged the same colour as the action, when she noticed how she had slept and what she was sleeping on. It probably also didn't help that she recalled what she had done last night as well, before they had been interrupted.

…

They got ready for the day, and left the room, making their way through the Yoban's manor. The plan was to head off today, hoping to reach the village he had spoken of, but first, they needed the letter he said he would write.

As they made their way down the stairs, they found him in what looked to be a study of some sort. He sat there bent over the desk writing on some paper and as they came into view, he noticed and greeted both of them.

"Good morning. I hope you were able to have a good night's sleep, even after everything that had happened."

"It was fine." Olivia looked over at Lyrika and found her yawning, so she decided to get things moving along. "Thank you for your hospitality and for allowing us to stay here. But we should be off. We still have more villages to go to and chiefs to talk with."

"Ah yes," Yoban said before standing up and heading over to them. "Please take this with you. If you give this letter to Teagan he will listen to what you have to say. I cannot promise he will believe or accept it, but he is more likely to if he knows I have vouched for you."

"Thank you."

"Other than that there are a few other things to mention, First-." He said taking a pouch from the desk. "-As I mentioned yesterday, here is the coin the rest of the village put together to say thank you. It is not much as with everything that has happened, we don't have much to spare. But with the bandits we have in the cells, we should be able to sell them off so that they are sentenced to forced labour. Make them do some good with their lives. It shouldn't take too long to do this, so I should be able to send the coin we will get to Teagan's village where you can receive it there."

"That's very generous." Olivia had no reason not to believe him, being the village's 'saviour' and all. She had no idea how much you get for selling off a bunch of bandits, but hopefully, it would be a good chunk of change for her to be able to actually buy some things. Not that this mattered unless she had a place to go and buy stuff.

"Next is the matter of the gear from the bandit camp. A group headed back to the camp early in the morning and brought back the rest. Most of it has been distributed back to whom it belonged to, as you can imagine. Stuff from people we have lost has been returned to their family members and other relatives. Food and the like we have just kept in our stores, but you are more than welcome to take what you like for your journey. The only stuff left is unclaimed items and the gear the bandits had. All of which the village has decided belongs to you."

"Wha- really."

"Of course. Now follow me and I'll take you to it."

Not really sure what to expect from a group of bandits and thieves in the woods, they both followed Yoban to see what things Olivia had 'earned' from dealing with them.