Gorgon

The Demon Lord was furious.

"What is taking you so long?" His deep voice echoed in my head. I kneeled in front of him, staring at the ground, but failed to recall how I got here in the first place. "Answer Us, Gorgon. We gave you a mission and told you failure is not an option. Report to Us at once."

I wanted to, but my mouth was gone, simply fused shut. I could not say a single word. It caught me by surprise but no matter how much I tried I couldn't make a sound. I looked up to see eye to eye with the colossal being, but he didn't seem to care about my strange condition.

He stood at his massive throne but we weren't in the Ghell fortress. We were on the highlands, lizardmen hordes swarming in from all sides. This couldn't have been real. I needed to do, or at least say something but couldn't. The Demon Lord did not even acknowledge the looming threat around us, he kept repeating his demand.

"Answer Us, Captain, or after your ability to lead, you lost your ability to speak too?" He asked, and I tried nodding my head.

"Don't worry, Bullhead, I'll deal with this." Someone suddenly touched my shoulder. It was the Fire Witch, but somehow she looked much larger than usual. Looking up at her statuesque body, I was truly in awe of her feline features. Her cat ears were hidden under that pointy hat, but her fluffy tail swished with anticipation. She held out her hand like when she blew up that bridge.

But she wasn't aiming for the quickly approaching reptile swarms. She reached out toward the Demon Lord directly, his eyes menacingly glowing in red, almost like that strange crystal we found at the lizardman village. I was convinced, it was the same crimson magic stone, aiming to take over my mind and body and transform it.

"We were all betrayed, but these glorious flames will cleanse everything touched by sins," Ember announced, steadily raising her voice. Her red tunic danced in the vibrating air currents like fire itself. I could already tell, what was about to happen, but couldn't do anything about it. Not only my mouth but my legs and arms became useless too. "Fret not, Bullhead, if you have a pure heart, you'll survive. Probably. Come forth, my beautiful, glorious Backfire."

"Wait!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Finally, I was able to make a sound and found myself hugging the shapely legs of the witch. Her eyes were wide open, and she looked at me surprised. There was no time for that, the lizardmen must have been near but... Now that I turned around, they were all gone. The Demon Lord too, and the highlands. I was still on the imperial road but held Ember's thighs instead of the reins.

"B-bullhead!" Her face was bright red, trying to push me away. I was confused. "Y-you are a pervert, let me gooo!"

She smacked her fist into my head, right between the horns. She was way stronger than I would have expected. I fell, still struggling to make sense of the situation. She ceased her attack but held her hands in between us. If I were to move, she was ready to release a firestorm.

"Oh, sorry about that." I heard an unfamiliar voice. "It must have been my animals causing some sort of hallucination."

The witch turned to look at the stranger, then glanced back at me.

"Are you back to normal?" She asked me suspiciously, and I vehemently nodded. "Did their aura knock you out from that far away? Ugh, your mind is much weaker than I thought."

"W-what are you talking about?" I stuttered, unsure if I should stand up, or if she would burn me alive if I moved. "What happened?"

"I must apologize, dear beastmen." I heard that voice again, this time from much closer. "Your raptors kind of scared me for a moment, and this stallion released his fear aura on you."

It was a dwarf, casually waving and walking towards me. His wagon was huge, he parked it on the other side of the road, right next to us. And his horses, they were no regular animals at all. I was flabbergasted, and about half of our men were in a similar state.

Avalon rode his raptor back before I could even say something.

"Who are you?" He demanded, trying his best not to act hostile towards the stranger. "And where did you get those abyssal monsters? Are they following your orders? Are you some kind of mage?"

"Hahah, I wish, Sir Goblin." The dwarf hollered, spanking his large belly. "I'm just a wandering smith, but the last time I ran into pack animals like yours, they ate my horse alive, poor bastard."

"Raptors ate a Nightmare?" Ember asked, sounding rather surprised.

"So you know what they are? That's a witch for 'ya." He laughed again, before asking. "Is your name Omerta by any chance?"

"What? Do I look like an orc to you?" The Fire Witch protested but seemed genuinely taken in by the stranger's equines. I finally got to see them too. They weren't ordinary animals. "My name is Ember, the Fire Witch, but I'll forgive you since your Nightmares are majestic."

"They are indeed." The wandering smith answered. These two immediately hit it off, the rest of us were still disoriented, and confused about what happened a few moments ago. If anything, those horses looked like something the Fire Witch would want to ride.

"Where did you hear the name Omerta?" Avalon seemed to be the first to get a grasp on the situation. He didn't seem to mind that his first question went unanswered, he kept asking more. "And how did you know these are raptors? Answer me, dwarf, where are you coming from?"

"Oh, right, you have to excuse me, Sir Goblin." The stranger turned to face him, bowing his head. "I heard she's a powerful witch from another goblin, looking a bit like you, just older, I guess. His name was Dioneras, I met him near Baran and spent a few splendid days together. Thanks to him and his comrades, I got these excellent mounts. Namely the beastman Fang, and an ogre, going by Bastion. And in case I forgot to tell you, I'm Gomel, the Smith."

Hearing him explain himself only confused me even more.

"So why did you think I was Omerta?" That was the only thing, Ember wanted to know. "I mean it's not a bad comparison since she is in the Twelve Champions, but I could beat her in a duel."

"Wait just a moment," I interjected, finally on my feet. "When did this happen, Sir Gomel? To my knowledge, Dioneras and his comrades disappeared a few weeks ago, and Omerta a little later."

"Hmm? When did we part? I think it was two days ago." The dwarf seemed to be pondering. "You have to forgive me, but we have been drinking a lot before that so this old brain might be a bit foggy."

"T-two days? And where did they go? All four of them?" I asked, hungry for any kind of information I could get. The Demon Lord ordered a search team to look for them more than a thousand miles from here, near the Gates of Hell, but this stranger spotted them nearby.

"Ah, no, I never actually met Lady Omerta," Gomel shook his head, pausing. "Sorry if I confused you. I haven't seen a single magician in half a decade. Maybe that's why I assumed, that Lady Ember was her, I apologize for that."

"Man, just answer the questions." Avalon started to lose his patience. That was most certainly a first. I could understand his frustration all too well. "Where did the Captain of the Twelve Champions go?"

"Back to the New Order." The dwarf answered simply. "But they went the long way around, along the shores. Which is smart, considering how troublesome the lizardmen have become lately."

"Tell me about it." Ember laughed, already up close and personal with the Nightmares. "Can I pet them? They are gorgeous."

"Of course, Lady Witch." Gomel nodded. "I'm sure they would feel honored by that. So you people know about the Twelve Champions too?"

"We do, I was looking for Captain Dio for a while," I noted, unsure how much I should reveal in front of him. "Did they travel on wyverns? Were they all right? Did they tell you anything in particular?"

"Oh, um no, they took the colts." The dwarf explained. He seemed to be struggling, with where to start his story. The rest of our men was still rather suspicious of him, and his abyssal pack animals. "You see, a small herd of these beauties were in Baran. Their beastmen tamed them for me, so I took the two older ones to tow my carriage, and they took the other three to ride them home along the shores."

"So they were all right after all," I noted relieved. If Dio was still fine, he could explain to the Demon Lord whatever happened. Technically, my mission was a success before reaching our goal. And to think how much we struggled to get here and get here this fast.

"Well, about that, Sir Dioneras lost an eye when he fought a pack of hellhounds." He added, looking embarrassed. "Taming these splendid beasts was more risky than any of us could anticipate at the time."

"He lost an eye?" I repeated in shock. He was still my senior after all. Avalon asked the right questions at the same time though. I guess I was still under the influence of those weird hallucinations.

"So what did they tell you? And what about Omerta?" The goblin wanted to know, and the dwarf was willing to humor him.

"A long story short, they said something about uncovering some things about a Princess and the Inquisitorias." He started, combing his mighty beard with his fingers. "Something about their Elder fighting this Omerta, and betraying them. And about a human wizard, who makes amazing meals, and lives in a small village, called Nateaser. That's where I'm headed right now. It's near the old capital of Cranta."

I needed a few moments, to make sense of what he said.

"So the orc witch is alive too?" Avalon asked before I succeeded. His mind was faster at comprehending chaos. "And she betrayed them, or was betrayed by this Elder? Did they mention where she was too?"

"She is alive, yes." The dwarf nodded. "Again, I don't know the full story either, they were drunk when telling me most of it, and I was drinking too while listening. To me, the important part was about this wizard boy, living in that village. I got to taste his meals, and they were truly excellent. I believe this orc witch you seek should be there too."