”Simulacrum! You’ve not killed Anastacia. Am I correct in assuming you do not wish to harm her? If so, place her on the ground and back away.” Coquelicot demanded.

The forest king slowly put down the girl but refused to back away from her. The people he had ran into knew Anastacia’s name and hadn’t attacked on sight, so there was a chance they could help her.

“Alice, come with me and check Anastacia’s condition. I’ll keep an eye on the simulacrum.” The high inquisitor said and gestured for the other two necromancers to stay vigilant.

“Why is it always me?... ‘Alice, go next to the murder statue. Alice, go activate that trap. Alice, go kick the hill giant…’” Alice muttered to herself, but followed her orders.

The king stood next to Anastacia, carefully observing every move the necromancers made. As Coquelicot and Alice came closer, he adjusted his footing and prepared to tackle the necromancers away from the girl.

Alice kneeled down, placed her hand on Anastacia’s chest and began looking for any internal damage she might have.

“Alright, found a couple of broken ribs. One of them has scraped a lung. Probably why she has coughed up some blood. Spine seems to be fine and the heart is beating more or less like it should. I could pull them back to their places while she’s still down?” The apprentice necromancer reported.

“Go ahead.” The high inquisitor replied while staring down the simulacrum.

Anastacia’s chest made a crunching sound as Alice pulled on her ribs. Suddenly Anastacia opened her eyes and began screaming from the top of her lungs. This set off the forest king who didn’t quite understand what was happening and assumed that Alice was hurting Anastacia. He swung his fist at the blue robed necromancer, but one of Coquelicot’s skeletal arms grasped his wrist and stopped it seemingly effortlessly.

“Please, don’t bother her, one wrong move and she will accidentally tear Anastacia’s ribs out. Not that I would let you.” Coquelicot said and tightened her grip on the metal plate on the king’s wrist. The grasp was powerful enough to cause the metal to dent slightly.

Anastacia’s scream weakened and she passed out again. Alice exhaled slowly and stood up.

“Thought I was going to die there for a second, thanks Madame.” She said while cleaning off some moss from her robe.

“The simulacrum wasn’t really a problem, I had that covered. Though there was a good chance that Anastacia would rip you apart on instinct.” Coquelicot admitted and released the king’s arm. “Now then, simulacrum, I see you seem to care for Anastacia for whatever reason. Would you mind carrying her for us?”

The forest king looked at his dented wrist plating and understood that if this person wanted Anastacia dead, she would already be dead. He decided to do as he was asked and lifted up the unconscious girl.

The group began travelling back to the elf village. Alice complained about how her life wasn’t valued at all by the rest of the group, Coquelicot came up with some half-assed excuse about how Alice wasn’t the type to die just like that, and it seemed to work.

“So why has the stone fellow taken a liking to our would-be anchor?” Duke asked.

“Everyone has a type, right? Maybe he just has a thing for… terrible haircuts, I guess. What the fuck is up with her hair anyway? it looks like it was cut by a blind armless dwarf.” Alice joked.

“Once we get to the village, Alice and Duke should leave for Valor to get the priestess who resides in the inn I described. I imagine she should be capable of easing Anastacia’s pain a bit. The elves use tonics that are too strong for her and I’d rather not have her drugged when I’m trying to get the full story out of her.” Coquelicot instructed her companions as they got close to the village at the edge of the forest. “And ask if we could get some fried chicken and cheese too, tell them that they’re for Anastacia.”

When they entered the village, the elves dropped whatever they were doing and rushed inside. Coquelicot tried knocking on some doors but didn’t get an answer.

“That’s weird. Did we do something?” Cyan wondered and peered through a window.

The scout who had visited Mournvalley came out from one of the houses to meet them, but kept his distance.

“Why did you bring that… THING here?!” He yelled and pointed at the forest king. “It looks just like the survivors told us. Where’s the other one?!”

“The simulacrum? It was probably bringing the girl here and we took it along since it seems harmless.” The high inquisitor replied, not understanding the situation. What could the elves have against simulacra?

“HARMLESS?! Two of those things killed almost all of our hunters some years ago! Just take it away from here!” The elf demanded and grabbed his bow. “I know you people could turn this village into a red smear, but that thing is not staying here.”

Coquelicot stopped to think for a second before turning to the forest king, she whispered something and took Anastacia from him.

“Does this meet your conditions?” She asked from the elf and ripped off the simulacrum’s faceplate, causing him to go limp and fall over.

“You… you killed it? Just like that?” The scout said in disbelief and ran over.

The elf kicked the lifeless simulacrum and took a closer look. She had trouble believing that something that had killed dozens of their most capable warriors could be killed in a second like that.

“Most things become easy when you know what you’re doing. High inquisitors have to have the skills to topple kingdoms, and you think a mossy pile of stone and brass could even slow me down?” Coquelicot declared proudly. “I believe you promised us some housing. My subordinate here will drag the simulacrum back to the forest.”

The elves were glad to offer a room for the necromancer who rid them of the simulacrum, they had lived in fear of them for so long. Now they had a way to beat them, though they had no idea that the prince had already been broken.

Alice and Duke left for Valor as was planned, and Cyan got some food and water in case Anastacia woke up before the priestess got there. Coquelicot kept an eye on the unconscious girl and read some books that happened to be in the room they were given.

“How did you know that the simulacrum could be killed by removing the face plate?” Cyan asked to make conversation while they were waiting for the other to arrive.

“They can’t, I just told it to play dead. It’ll wait for us near Valor.” The high inquisitor replied calmly.

“But why would it listen to you?” Cyan asked while lowering his voice to make sure the elves didn’t hear. “I mean you’re hard to say no to, but damn.”

“What choice did it have? The simulacra are not stupid, it knew that the alternative would be me actually ripping it apart.” Coquelicot answered and took a sip of the tea the elves had prepared for her. It tasted like berries.