The room was dimly lit. Only a single streak of light made its way through the window and inside, leaving the area entirely gloom and dark. Barry stood near the entrance, peering inside and feeling the tension in the air as the guards at either side of him and at each corner of the bed were doing their best not to focus on him too hard.

In the middle of the bed lay a lone figure, her skin so dark that within the poor lighting of the room she appeared more a silhouette. The woman, the Warlock, breathed shallow breaths. There was a tremble to the sound with each exhale. Barry could feel the air wavering with every inhale. His eyes moved from Embla’s mother towards the four maidens that sat each at a corner of the room. They didn’t glow, but the young human could feel as if their bodies were emitting a force of some sort, a palpable pressure that was forcefully saturating the air and making his ears feel stuffy.

Not daring to step further in, he turned towards the door, stepping back outside and nearly stumbling against Embla’s imposing figure. The Dark Lady had a stern expression. Barry had been growing able to read past the stony look, though. The maiden’s entire body was tightened as if ready to jump into combat in a split second. The way her eyes kept bouncing back down to his shadow spoke of the reason for her tension.

“Why… did you let me see her?”

“You need to know the gravity of the situation.” She replied, turning around so he could follow. “Because I cannot wait any longer. We will find a healer and I will need for you to ensure to bond her.”

“What’s… what’s your plan?” He had to hurry his steps to keep up, trying to ignore the dozen guards standing at either side of the corridor as they moved to leave the over-sized oak-tree that was the ‘infirmary’ of the Court.

“There are several human settlements around the area that have been weakened thanks to the feral rush. We will find a healer from one such place.”

Barry froze. “Are you going to attack a village?”

The words made Embla frown slightly. “Not if we can avoid it. Doing so would be not bowing to the Dragoness.”

“Wait, Dragoness? What?”

Embla’s shoulders twitched as her brows rose. An edge of humor came to her lips in the barest of upward twitches. “It means to cause ire from a foe that can end you with little effort. Our Court cannot afford to become openly antagonistic to the Kingdom.”

“But… you have prisoners.”

“And as far as the Kingdom is concerned, they are dead. Lost to a feral rush or in the wilderness. To them we must not exist, and if we do, it must be as something not worth the effort to deal with.” Her lips thinned. “One day we may gain the strength for them to fear our retaliation.”

“But you’re strong. Crazy strong, and your mother… with both of you combined…”

“It would take them three royal knight units.” The answer stopped Barry in his tracks. He noticed a dark glower in Embla’s face, a dark shadow that certainly carried with it far more than she was letting on. “Four if they wish to ensure we stand no chance to retaliate.”

The certainty with which she spoke her words made Barry’s steps slow down. He couldn’t read it from her face, but he was sure he could sense a great deal of concern from Embla. Reaching out, he grasped her calloused hand, meeting her dark gaze and squeezing slightly.

There was something in those troubled eyes. The maiden shook her head and turned away, her hand still within his grasp despite how easily she could have pulled it away. “I will have to ask for your help in this.”

“I’ll lend a hand, though I’m not sure how I’d be able to do so.”

“We…” Embla began to walk faster before coming to a complete stop. She turned to look at him. “…” Her focus turned to his hair before her scowl deepened further. “One of my women told me of a possible way for you to use your power to bond. It would make for the easier way to complete the mission if… done properly. But it would also put you at risk.”

“How so?”

Taking his hand, the taller woman pulled his fingers, so they’d brush against her throat. “Break their bond and impose your own immediately after. Sex would be one of the easier ways to do this.”

“Oh, su-.” He blinked. “What!?”

“It allows the proximity to remove the collar and the emotional intensity needed for a human like yourself to create a new one. Most importantly, they wouldn’t expect a bond to form under such circumstances or so quickly.” Embla’s grasp moved his fingers down her throat, shuddering as she left, his palm pressing against the mound on her breast over the layer of leather armor she wore. “Once bonded, you would need to impose your will on them. Insist they remain quiet and still, to not move, to not scream or raise alarm. We would be able to extract you discreetly afterwards.”

The young man could only gawk at that proclamation of such a plan. “Are you… serious? You want me to seduce some girl so she can be kidnapped?”

“Freed.” A harsh rebuttal. “They live in a world where they are little more than glorified objects. Some are treated as better objects than others, but as things all the same.” A growl followed. “It is a life where service is all there is to be had, a maiden’s value only going as far as their powers and their ability to bear human children.” Her free hand touched her stomach and her brows knitted tightly, letting go of Barry’s hand as she stepped ahead. “Prepare yourself, Barry, you will be a key element in this plan.”

“Embla, wait!” He called out, rushing forward and grabbing her hand again. “I’m not some sort of Casanova. Can’t this be done with a maiden with some powers like Orion’s using shadows to sneak inside or something?”

The woman’s face became abruptly unreadable. She leaned forward and grasped his shoulders. “This is how you can help us, Barry.” The woman lowered herself to a knee and leaving herself only looking slightly upwards at him. “We need you.” Fingers brushed down his arms until they reached his hands, cupping them between her palms and grabbing tightly. “I need you.”

The proclamation struck like a hammer. Barry felt his knees weaken under the weight of the words. He gulped. How could he possibly consider turning her down? It was just that… “I…” His lips tightened, the image of himself walking towards some unknown girl to try to get her to… he could only feel a knot of dread in his gut. “There are other ways I could help.” There was no way in hell he’d be able to pull such a thing off, not when just looking into Embla’s eyes was taking so much willpower. “I just don’t think I’m meant for this.”

She shook her head. “No, you are exactly who we need, Barry.” Letting go of his hands, she stood back up to her imposing nearly three meters tall height. The softness left her features as she turned to look somewhere in the distance. “I will send some of my most trusted for you to bond.”

“I don’t-…” He gulped, going quiet.

“The time to hesitate is over, Barry.” A quick nod. She raised her voice. “Consider it training for the mission.”

Watching her march off, he felt as if the only thing missing from those words had been ‘dismissed, soldier’. Scratching the back of his head and trying to fight down the emerging blush he’d been holding back this whole time, Barry became aware of exactly where the conversation had unfolded.

Out, in the open, within the Court and where dozens of others had been able to see, even hear, their shared words. A pang of nervousness and something else made its way through Barry as he noticed the hungry eyes that were focused on him.

Things felt like they were going to become complicated. He had the sudden urge to go speak with Lala.