1-2: Rescue of an Ally

"Ugh....Shit..." Shadow groaned lowly. He didn't sleep well last night. Nightmares still plagued his mind as he slept. Sitting in the same fancy blue seats as he did yesterday, Shadow looks out the window. Ever since the Domestica basically traded Shadow for 20,000 gold coins, the two have been moving forward and away from the Arachniom Kingdom. They had stopped twice. Once to eat, and once to allow the horses to rest.

The thorn-covered forest where sunlight could not enter had been replaced by green trees that towered higher than Shadow could see while looking up. And now, those trees were replaced with the arid desert. The sky was a light blue, with no clouds in sight for miles. The sand that was thrown up by the spinning wheels were blocked from hitting the boy's eyes by glass on the windows of the carriage. He could only guess how far they had gone in the overnight. Two hundred? Three hundred miles?

There were so many questions left unanswered. Why didn't Shadow die back there, as he thought was his destiny? Who was this Domestica that wanted to save him?

Shadow made a confused face to himself for a second. He thought of another question that was as urgent and as unanswered as any that he had. Looking down at his bare feet, he wonders: Where the hell did his shoes go?

Every so often, he would hear the horses neigh over the ongoing sound of their galloping hooves. He could have gone back to sleep, but what was the use? He would have just been raked with more terrible dreams. Where they remnants of the past few days of being imprisoned in such a nightmare as the Arachniom Kingdom? Or were they of a different origin?

"Hey, Shadow!" A call from outside came.

Snapping out of his deepening crevice of thoughts, he looks out of the window again. Without his realization, the carriage had stopped, and the Domestica had gotten off of the driver's seat. From outside, he waved a hand to Shadow. "Come on! My hand can't beckon all day!"

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Opening the door and stepping out, the bright sun nearly blinded him. He had not seen the sun for literally days straight. Putting his arm up to shield his eyes fared little help. His feet began to get hot on the desert sand. His black clothes quickly began to absorb the heat from the sun that was high in the sky, also. But these things did not bother him all that much. "Alright. You got me outside. What do you want?"

"I need your help. There's someone here we need to go get." The Domestica smiles, looking behind himself. Shadow moves a bit to look around the taller man. A small village of a few stone buildings and mostly wooden homes, was about three hundred yards (900 feet) away.

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. Looking back at the Domestica, he said: "So, what do you need my help with?"

"Well, our person of interest is in that village. She, like you once were, is up for execution today. Unfortunately, I cannot buy her freedom as I did with you. So.....We are going to break her out."

"W-What?!" Shadow was taken back by those words. "Are you insane?"

The Domestica went on, like nothing he was saying was wrong. "Oh? So you don't want to go into a village and cause havoc? I guess the charges on you in the Arachniom Kingdom were false?" He smirks after, giving the human a contemptuous look. For added measure, he even crossed his arms.

Shadow glared at him. This Domestica was pressing all of his buttons. His green eyes squint slightly from having to look up slightly at him, the sun getting in his way a bit. He didn't like it when people teased him like that. "Fine.Lets go."

Uncrossing his arms, the dog pointed all of his fingers straight at the village. Claws, the signature weapon of the Domestica, extend from each of his five fingers. He did this for dramatic effect. The claws on his other hand also appeared. "Alright. Im going in first. Just try to keep up with me." And with that being said, he ran towards the village on all fours. His tan hair flowed from under the still top hat.

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A large structure, built of white-colored stone, centered the village. This place was the jail. Small in size, it was only able to have 3 separate cells. Currently there was only one cell in use. A girl sat on a hard bed, not a smile on her face.

Her black fur was scraggly from lack of care. None was able to be provided to it by her. She didn't have what was necessary to do so. Three white stripes connected at her red nose and split off as they went past her blue eyes and over her forehead, head, back, and long bushy tail. Her dark-green dress was made entirely of wool. It went from just over her breasts down to her knees.

Across from her cell, was the desk of the warden. He was reading his newspaper it seemed. "Well, look here." He closed the paper, putting a finger to save the spot between the pages. He stood up and walked over to the cell, unfolding the paper to show the girl.

"Can ya read it?" He asks her.

"Im not illiterate. I speak English, just like you do." She shot back at him, standing up after making her remark.

"That French accent tells me otherwise." The warden laughed. He adjusted the black shades on his face. Handing the paper to the girl behind the bars, he took a step back as to not get grabbed by her.

She scoffed, hating every moment of being in this village and hating the warden even more than that. Taking the paper, she began to read. "Skunkette Archer to be put to death in Village of Osco." As soon as she read that, she crumpled the paper up and threw it against one of the three stone walls and yelled in anger. "Damn you!"

The warden's lower laughter caused her to look over to him. In his hands was....Her longbow. It was made entirely with hickory wood. Its string was made of strong fibers from Arachniom webs. "Heh....Some archer you are. You're just like all them Skunkettes. You carry a bow, you can craft arrows with just about anything you can find. You speak French. But, what makes you so special, Luka?"

"I am special because I am the best archer in all the world!"

This was only partly true. Luka was a great archer, sure. But her bow....It was enchanted. Each arrow shot from it would hit its target without fail. The warden smirks. He didn't know about its enchantment. Grabbing an arrow and putting it in the knock he tells Luka: "Sure. Ya know, Im probably as good as you are." Pulling back on the string, he aims it at her. "Wanna find out?"

She backed away from the bars of the cell. "N-No....Please. Don't do it..."

The warden pulls back as far as possible. His smirk said it all, he didnt need words to tell Luka that he was going to shoot at her with the arrow. Luka was fearful, and her eyes widen before shutting tight.

Until a fateful knock on the door sounded.

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Setting the bow down after relieving tension from the string, the warden walks across the room. "No who the hell needs to see me at a time like this?" He grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. "Shouldn't you be outside enjoying the sun or something?!"

The response was a punch to the face from Shadow. Though it didn't floor the warden as he had hoped, there was a definite stagger effect. Shadow took this time and lunges at the man. Their bodies collide, and another punch was delivered by Shadow before they fell to the ground.

Hearing the chaos going on, Luka ran up to the wall of bars and tried to look to see what was happening. She could barely see the warden and someone else that was throwing punches at him. Running past them was the Domestica. His claws were raised high into the air. "Move back, Luka!"

Unlike Shadow, she didn't care as to why she was being freed by the Domestica. Luka was just happy to be free. She didn't even do anything wrong. She just refused to go with law enforcement and ran from them. She ended up here, and was imprisoned....Her death was decided to be by firing squad. The entire reason that Luka was so far away from her territory and city of Sulvier was for a personal reason. No one was going to stop her from doing it. But now.....

"Move back, Luka!" The Domestica yelled. He thrusts his hand down and slashed at the metal bars with a loud yell. Metal pieces flew everywhere, a few even hitting Luka. But she wasn't worried so long as she could escape. The Domestica holds out his hand.

Luka gasps softly. Now questions began to appear in the young woman's mind. Just like Shadow, she thought.....Who was this man? And why is he saving her?

The Skunkette pushes the dog's hand out of the way and runs to grab her bow, and all of the arrows she could carry. These arrows were real ones, not fabricated. They had traveled with her from the home-city of Sulvier. SHe also grabbed a large leather bag that contained her personal belongings. "Come on!" She yelled, running out.

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The sound of galloping horses began once again. Shadow looks out of the window at the moon. The carriage still moves across the sands of the desert. the moon hung in the sky high, and seemed to almost mock the boy. This was the second night that he was with the Domestica, and the first full day. Just what was his goal here?

Shadow knew he wasn't wrong when he saw his eyes so full of life and goals. He knew that this Domestica was trying to do something. But how and why does it involve a human and a Skunkette that were both so close to death? Speaking of which.... The boy looks over to the Skunkette.

Luka sat on the other side of the carriage, doing the same thing that Shadow was previously doing and looking out of the window and at the sky.

The girl lets out a small sigh. She says softly to herself: "I'll find you, someday....."