Alice held the chair tightly as she glared at the door. She’d heard the roar, it was hard to miss, and hard to take it for it being from anyone other than Monica. It was hard to forget the sound of it, it had practically pushed her mind straight back into the forest, into the previous nightmare. Now ready to potentially having to fight, her ears remained sharp, paying very close attention to the sounds outside.

A singular masculine voice had been screaming itself hoarse over the past hours. Alice had barely been able to make out some of the words, orders, something about ‘knights’. Stomping feet and more than one scream, now the sounds were getting closer. And without warning, the door clicked open, and Alice prepared herself, standing right behind it, chair raised and arms straining against the weight.

“I-.”

Whatever the Baron’s next words were going to be, he did not have a chance to speak them. Alice swung with everything she had. The chair shattered as it hit something solid and unmovable. The teacher’s eyes widened as the green Orcish woman had stood in her attack’s way, gray dull armor not even dented from the impact.

Tumbling back a step, Alice barely had the chance to gasp before the tall maiden stepped towards her, a hand grasping the psychology teacher’s arm and shoving her against the wall. With a snarl, Alice swung with her free hand, bringing to bear the letter opener she’d snatched out of the desk. The metal scrapped against the Orc’s throat.

There was only a scratch in the small knife’s wake. Not even a trickle of blood.

Alice’s eyes widened as she saw even that meager injury closing up on its own, gone within the span of a second.

“Negotiations are over, I take it?” The Baron spoke with only a hint of annoyance as the Orc woman smirked, using her free hand to pin Alice against the wall.

“You lost your bargain chip.” Alice snapped, glaring daggers at the man as he dusted off the shoulder-pads of his armor, a piece of bright silver with golden inlays.

Alice sneered, trying to escape the Orc’s steely grasp and failing.

The Baron didn’t miss a beat, amused eyes leveled with Alice. “Did you take me for some fool? I caught your little plot.” At the gesture of his hand, a figure stepped through the door. Pink hair and a bowed head, Dia avoided looking in Alice’s direction, head bowed in shame. “Like the faithful tool that she is, she told me everything once she confirmed my own wife would plot against me.”

The words made Alice’s stomach drop like a stone, her eyes fixed on Dia, wide and frightened. Gritting her teeth, the teacher leveled every ounce of hate she could muster at him. “I hope you rot in hell.”

“Hell?” His back straightened out ever so slightly before he frowned and shook his head, dismissing the word. “I will catch the thief and get what’s rightfully mine.” A cruel cold laugh escaped him as he spoke. “One way or the other, things will change around here.”

“What?”

“Offworlders are valuable, sometimes due to their powers, other times because of the technology. Most look human, even if they aren’t in the true sense of the word. But you? Pure-blood, devoid of a single drop of maiden ancestry, human down to the marrow.” He leaned closer, smiling, eyes wild. “Like with my wife, I believed you were noble merely because of your ancestry, but it’s clear that was a mistake. I will put you and your friends to good use, one way or the other.”

He turned to leave, Dia followed close behind, head bowed, never turning to look at Alice. The psychology teacher held her tongue, glaring daggers at them and the Orc that held her against the wall.

“Behave, miss.”

With a smirk, the green-skinned maiden tossed Alice to the side, turning to leave as well. The door closed behind her, shutting itself firmly and leaving the room in the gloom that poured in from the outside. The teacher growled, rubbing her wrists as she tried to collect her thoughts and find her strength.

If she had the power to burn things with her gaze, she would’ve turned the door to cinders.

What was she to do now? Alice’s lips narrowed, approaching the door and laying an ear against it. She tried to pay close attention to movement outside. The heavy boots were still moving around, stomping their way back and forth, moving, voices calling out, orders being issued.

It would be a couple hours before things would quiet down, the noise leaving and gone. In that time she’d organized her thoughts. Alice had to hope it was a sign they’d left the manor, she walked straight towards the Baron’s desk and began pulling out the drawers, spilling their content all over the floor. Her eyes sifted through papers and pens, looking for anything that might be of use.

Making sure to make as much noise as possible, she didn’t hear movement from outside. So that meant the guards were gone? That would certainly be a boon.

Not that she had a concrete plan right now, but looking for one was better than just sitting and waiting. She had to get out of the room somehow, a likelier prospect now that at least some of the guards were gone.

There were several keys amongst the litter, none the proper shape or size for the door or window. She found another letter opened, not that she could really do much with it, she still pocketed it just in case. There were several letters and pens, an inkwell, and-

There was a knock at the door, Alice grabbed the inkwell with one hand and the letter opener with the other. “Who is it?”

“A friend, I hope.”

The voice startled her, the Baroness? Alice frowned. “Come in.”

“I will wait here, thank you.”

The psychology teacher had expected the woman to enter, perhaps cuffed, but she did not expect the door to merely open and the woman to stand outside, beckoning her to follow. Confusion welled within Alice as she warily stepped towards the door, holding the letter-opener and inkwell, not quite sure what was waiting for her but wary all the same. Slowly, she stepped out of the room and into the warm glow of the corridor.

There were a dozen maidens, three armored, the rest wearing dull gray uniforms, all bowing deeply. The confusion grew further, her eyes returning towards the Baroness. “What’s… happening?”

“What do you think is happening?”

“These maidens are under you?” Alice frowned. “But the Baron wouldn’t…”

“You’d be correct in assuming my husband took the liberty to breaking the bonds of my knights and reforge them for his own use.” She shrugged. “But he forgot the basics of controlling maidens. The bond is a leash, and leashes are more useful to restrict.”

“I don’t understand.”

“A lesson, then.” She gestured at Alice to follow her, the taller woman walking down the corridor. “Little boys like to believe that merely because a maiden is bonded to you, they will obey anything you tell them to do.” A slight smirk came upon her features, her hand lingering on the stair rails as she walked down it. “Say you bond an unwilling maiden, one who loathes your guts. Where would you believe to be the limitations of your power over them?”

“I don’t like where this is going.” Alice spoke with a grimace. “Maidens are people.”

“I am discussing far more practical things, Alice, do pay close attention for you’re going to need to put the lesson to use one day.” The Baroness chided, turning the corner and pausing as a maiden stood on their way. The woman was forced to kneel, a dagger held to her throat by two armored knights. “Observe.” She leaned closer, reaching out to touch the blue collar on the kneeling maiden’s throat. “What were your orders?”

“I was ordered to fight any maiden under your command.”

The Baroness smiled. “And do you want to fight?”

And the maiden smiled in turn. “No.” She raised her throat, baring it for the Baroness to unlatch the chocker. A slight gasp escaped the maiden, and a shudder as the woman waited for only a heartbeat before latching it back on.

The knights released the maiden, and she bowed her head low. “I serve only you, my Lady.”

“Help the others.”

“Yes, my lady.” The maiden stood, marching away with the others.

“Not the example I was hoping for, she always was one of my favorites.” The Baroness glanced at Alice and chuckled lightly. “Perhaps we’ll find one a bit more loyal to the wrong cause.”

Alice shook her head, refusing to be swept up in this woman’s rhythm. “We need to help Rick.”

“Unfortunately, there’s not much more we can do in that regard.” The Baroness shrugged.

“Then…?” She scowled. “What? What are we doing here?”

“I am preparing to capture or kill my husband upon his return.” The woman replied. “I’ll inform the Hunters he likely intends to have the Major executed under trumped up treason charges, which should at the very least get them to not interfere in my husband’s favor.”

“Wh-.”

“We’ll only need to stall for time. The second feral wave should be enough to ensure the fight will be in our favor since they will be outside and we won’t.” There was a slight pause as she met Alice’s gaze, the tall woman’s eyes glimmered with anger. “I’ve done what I could to help your friend’s chances of making it out alive, but I will not place my life and that of the other women at risk.”

There was a long silence, the psychology felt her step falter before she realized something.

“Help him… how?"