Anastacia got out of her metal restraints and stretched her body to get rid of the stiffness they had caused.

”I freed you, now go help those guys.” Xamiliere demanded and pointed at the struggling necromancers.

”I suppose I could.” Anastacia said and sneered.

The freed necromancer ran at the skeletal dragon and picked up any material she could find along the way. When the beast was finally within reach, she lit the lump of bone on fire and launched it at the dragon. The projectile hit the dragon’s side but didn’t cause any meaningful damage. Instead, the burning ball of bones exploded, scattering burning shards everywhere. All the attack really did was alert the dragon about Anastacia’s presence and showered a couple of the nearby Inquisitors in flame. Luckily their robes had been drenched in the rain and didn’t catch fire as well.

“Inquisitors! This is your last chance to keep your lives! Either you bow to me now, or your corpses will when I’m done with you!” Anastacia declared. “What do you say, Coquelicot?”

The high inquisitor didn’t really have any other options. If she said no, Anastacia and the dragon would kill them. If she ordered everyone to flee, the dragon would kill Anastacia or she would follow them and probably kill most of the inquisitors. All of these would ruin her plans.

“Fine! The new inquisition will serve you.” Coquelicot answered, obviously pissed off. “Now help us with the dragon!”

“I can’t believe you’re having so much trouble with this. I’ll distract it, you get your act together and start taking it apart.” Anastacia commanded her new troop and started flinging bones and fireballs at the dragon’s head to make sure it focused on her.

It worked well and the undead dragon took a swipe at Anastacia, but as its claw was about to hit her, it bounced off and a couple of the bones in it cracked slightly. After a couple more swipes, one of its toes broke off. While Anastacia couldn’t fully take over the skeleton, she was able to easily stop a few bones in its front leg when they were close enough.

As Anastacia kept the dragon busy, the inquisitors regrouped, paired up and began wrapping bones around its back legs, tail and wings. Now that they were able to work in peace, they were able to pull apart its lower body, which seemed to be enough to kill the dragon for the second time. Coquelicot had used the time to find whatever was left of her arms, but was only able to find three of them in the pile of bones she had collected earlier, and couldn’t attach them back to the harness, so instead she just floated them around her. To make sure the dragon stayed down, she proceeded to shatter its neck by punching it.

“Why the fuck is she free again?!” Duke asked and pointed at their new leader.

“That’s no way to address your superior.” Anastacia grinned.

“Madame, what does she mean?” Duke demanded an explanation. “There’s no way I’ll work with this bitch. She killed Alice!”

“Just shut up for now, okay? We work for her now. It’s better than all our work being for nothing or dying here.” Coquelicot admitted to her apprentices. “Besides, I feel like our goals are now more aligned than ever.”

“Damn straight, cupcake. Now bow to me and I’ll let you take Alice back to Mournvalley.” Anastacia said.

“I am not going to…” Duke started but stopped when Coquelicot kneeled. “Really?! We’re doing this now?”

One by one the Inquisitors kneeled before Anastacia. With an exceptionally smug grin on her face, she excused them but told Coquelicot to stay behind for a bit. The new inquisitors left in silence and shame. While they weren’t technically defeated, it was the first time they weren’t good enough for the task.

“So the whole rebellion is now led by that kid?” Maya asked while they were riding away.

“I doubt that’s what it is. More like we’re no longer in control of her.” Cyan answered. “The way I see this playing out, is that she’ll tell us to attack the cult with her, so the plan is more or less the same. What I worry about is the aftermath. If nothing changes, there’s no one to stop her from declaring herself the leader of Mournvalley.”

“Boss won’t accept that, no way she will. This whole rebellion was her idea, she deserves to lead us!” Duke pointed out. “She’ll figure out a way to get rid of the bracelet and return that twit to normal, or kill her.”

Anastacia sat on the dragon’s skull and watched Coquelicot inspect the arms she had found. The high inquisitor seemed disheartened over the broken harness.

“What’s up, you seemed to still pack quite a punch even without those?” Anastacia asked.

“You wouldn’t understand before someone rips your arms off. These are the last set Alizarin made, so I’ll have to find someone to make new ones…” Coquelicot said and sighed. It took all her self-control to not attack Anastacia.

“I see… Well, now that you’re mine, how about we upgrade you? You clearly need all the help you can get.” Anastacia suggested and looked around. “We’ve got all this dragon bone lying around now, so how you about ask this one blacksmith I know to carve you a new set?”

Coquelicot didn’t care either way, so she just followed Anastacia and Xamiliere to Valor. At the gates, Anastacia told her where the blacksmith was and returned to the inn with the spriggan. The high inquisitor entered the shop and looked around to judge the quality of the weapons made there. The blacksmith and his brother were talking by the counter when they noticed the high inquisitor.

“Val, I know you never listen to me, but please, do not open your mouth.” The blacksmith whispered. “She will skin us alive.”

“Your craftsmanship is impressive, dwarf.” Coquelicot stated. “I’m here to request a very specialized item from you.”

“What would that be?” The blacksmith asked. He was both terrified and proud that the high inquisitor herself had found his work sufficient. “I’ve worked with bone quite a bit ever since that lass arrived here. So I’ll probably be able to help. It would be an honor.”

“You see, I broke my arm prosthetics in a recent battle and I need you to make me a new set out of dragon bone.” Coquelicot explained. “You can get as much dragon bone as you want from outside the gates, there’s a full skeleton there. I will bring the harness they are going to be attached to once I find a way to get it off without hands.”

Before the dwarf was able to stop his brother, Valimir had already moved over to Coquelicot and grabbed onto her robe.

“A woman in need? Fear not! I shall help these clothes off you!” The dwelf stated triumphantly.

The blacksmith assumed that this was the end for his idiotic brother and took cover behind the counter to avoid the spay. He began wondering what was the most graceful wording to use in the letter to their mother.

“Let me tell you a short tale of the last time I met one of your kind.” Coquelicot said and smiled to Valimir. “He was never heard from again, and they only found his eyes in a puddle of blood. The end.”