Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 3] Ch. 8 Clandestine Meetings

Florence

I rush to finish filling up the bucket and only get it about half full before I realize I'm just going to have to use what I have. I pick it up and carry it to the door just in time for it to slam open to reveal some hooded figure in all black. I screamed throwing the bucket of sweet-smelling solvent on him. He reached for me faster than I expected.

My body reacted, and I caught his hand and pulled him toward me. The next thing I knew I had flipped him over my head onto his back. A tube shot from my wrist into my hand. It was as thin as an arrow shaft and it wasn't much longer than a metal key. I pressed the end against his neck and pushed a button on the other end that popped a pressurized pellet which shot out a small dart coated in paralytic. I turned to the door as another dart tube shot into my hand from my wrist. I spun away from him toward the door. I reached for one of the four vials strapped to my left thigh under my skirt, already calculating my options.

"Hold on! Florencenyah, we don't want to fight you." A hooded figure standing in my door stepped forward. She pulled off her hood and mask to reveal Julie's face. Behind her were two more hooded figures.

"Uuh. Julie...? D-d-don't come any closer." I pulled the vial from thigh.

Julie winced, her eyes were watering and her skin was red and irritated. She held one hand out to pacify me while the other rubbed her eye. "Calm down, we aren't going to do anything. Nya~"

"Y-y-you're the Hoods." I exclaim as I recognize them from the wanted posters.

"I can see why nyou would think that, but we aren't." Julie explained. "The Hoods did this to us." she pointed at her face that was sweating profusely while snot ran from her nose. "We can explain everything."

"He's not dead, is he?" Tiera asked.

"N-no it's just paralyzed." The smell hit my nose again. "Oh spirits, you smell so bad." I gagged and pinched my nose.

"I Nykooow." Julie cried. "It's so bad!"

"Can we do something about the smell first?" I asked.

"Can nyou?" Julie asked.

*

There is a large four-person bath in our house, I had filled it with warm water. But before that I filled a basin with another mixture of the good smelling solvent and made each of them sit in the small tub naked and doused them with the stuff until the worst of the smell was gone. I also used precise water magic with some distilled water to fish the particles out of their eyes which they were beyond grateful for.

Then we left their clothes in the tub to soak while we sat in the bath. Speaking of leaving things places, we left Flint on the floor in my room since he was already taken care of with the first bucket. Tiera insisted we leave him there for something he teased her for earlier that day. And then she stabbed him with another one of my darts. "Just in case."

Tiera is scary...

In the meantime, Julie explained that they had been fighting the Nightclaw, but when I asked why, everyone turned to Nerinin.

"It's up to you nyah." Julie said.

Nerinin was a fierce wolfgirl, but she had a cool intelligence to her. I was about to say that she didn't have to when she began talking.

"You're aware of our fiancé Sebas, and the Marsanth massacre?" She looked off to the side as if recalling the memory.

"Kind of."