Burc nudged Alice’s cheek. “He’s asking you if everything’s okay. You look a little stunned.”

Alice took in a deep breath and stored the candy into her pouch. She put on her business smile and nodded at Suleiman. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Suleiman scratched his head and looked at the Janissaries surrounding him. They shook their heads, and Suleiman focused his gaze onto Burc. He said something, and Burc translated. “He wants to know if you can communicate with him somehow: a different language, sign language, writing.”

Alice frowned and shook her head.

“But you can understand him through me, right?” Burc asked for Suleiman.

Alice nodded.

Burc listened for a bit before tapping Alice’s arm. “He wants to see you do other magic, the thing with the growing shield.”

Alice furrowed her brow and shook off the feeling of being an animal in a zoo. She took her shield off of her wrist and willed it to expand. It grew to the size of a buckler, and the Janissaries gasped while pointed. Alice willed it to grow even further, and it became a tower shield that was a little taller than her. She peeked her head around the side, and Burc copied her action. “Well?” she asked. “What do you think?”

Suleiman applauded and said something to the Janissaries in the back. They instantly quieted down. With a smile Suleiman approached Alice with his hand in his pocket. He took out another piece of candy and offered it to Alice while saying something. Burc snickered again. “He wants to know if you can teach other people how to do this.” Burc gestured towards the candy. “Even if you don’t know, he’s still going to give you the candy.”

“I can’t,” Alice said and shook her head. She resisted the urge to slap the candy out of Suleiman’s hand and took it before placing it into her pouch.

Suleiman’s brow furrowed before relaxing. He smiled and nodded before saying something else. “Now he wants to know if you can make other things expand at will,” Burc said. He was staring at Alice’s pouch, the one that she had placed the candy in.

Alice shook her head again. “I can’t,” she said. It was only thanks to the runes inscribed on her shield that she was able to make it shrink and grow. As for magic, the majority of all humans wouldn’t be able to cast spells. Of course, she had no way to tell that to Suleiman.

Suleiman frowned and gestured towards her shield. “He wants to know if your shield is special.”

Alice nodded.

“Can he see it?” Burc asked, translating for the Padishah.

Alice shook her head. There was a protective enhancement on it that bound the shield to her. If anyone else tried to use it, they’d receive an unpleasant surprise. While Alice tried to think of a way to communicate this to Suleiman, one of the Janissaries walked up and grasped the top of her shield. Out of reflex, Alice leaned her shoulder against the inside of her shield and kicked the ground with her legs, initiating a bash. It was only when the Janissary was flying through the air and about to hit the ground that she realized what she had done. She peeked around her shield just in time to see the Janissary roll along the grass repeatedly like a log going down a hill until he hit a tree in the distance. The ground was perfectly flat; there was no hill.

The Janissaries gaped at Alice, and Suleiman had retreated back by a dozen steps, hiding behind one of his Janissaries who looked as equally frightened. Burc blinked and stared at the side of Alice’s face. “Well,” she said and hesitated. “Do you think saying sorry will cut it?”

Burc stared at the fallen man in the distance. He wasn’t moving. Suleiman cleared his throat and said something while still hiding behind a Janissary. Burc nodded. “It’ll be fine,” he said. “The Padishah wants to recruit you into his army. You’ll be his personal bodyguard.”

Alice tilted her head. She accidentally beat up a Janissary and claimed his spot? Wasn’t this too similar to the method Vur showed her to take over a country…? If she had reflexively bashed the Padishah instead of a Janissary, would she have taken his place? Probably not. However, being the bodyguard of a monarch was a pretty high position, right? From there, she could convince the Padishah to send out information that would help her find her companions. Of course, that required her to learn some of the local language, but there was probably plenty of time. Suleiman looked at her with expectation in his eyes, and Alice nodded.

“Looks like I’ve truly become royalty,” Burc murmured and nodded. His tail brushed against Alice’s cheek as it extended towards the sky.

***

Tafel sighed and stared at the woman standing beside her. “Let’s go,” Tafel said and extended her hand.

The woman hesitated before grasping the demon’s hand. “Where are we going?”

“To a church,” Tafel said.

“Wait,” the woman said and furrowed her brow. “Why are we going—”

Tafel opened a portal and pulled the woman through. A pile of firewood greeted her and the woman. They were back in the square where the woman was nearly burned. Tafel let go of the woman’s hand, and the portal disappeared. “Where’s the nearest church?”

“Why are we going to a church!?”

“To clear up your status as a witch,” Tafel said.

“How am I going to clear up my status as a witch? Everyone in the town saw you take me away!”

“Don’t worry so much,” Tafel said. “I’ll tell them it was a misunderstanding.”

The woman stared at Tafel as if she had three heads. “Do you think they’ll listen to you?”

“I’m very good at persuading people.”

“I think this is a bad idea.”

Tafel shrugged. “Well, what do you want me to do? Drop you off somewhere far, far away? You live here. This is your home. I’ll convince those people. Trust me.”

The woman furrowed her brow. “What if you fail?”

“I’m not going to fail.” Tafel placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder and made eye contact with her. She smiled. “Trust me; I have a plan.”