Leyla says "Good morning, master!"

"Good morning, Leyla."

Leyla says "What's going on? Why can't I move?"

"Apparently, at some point during the night you all decided to cuddle up to me."

Leyla says "That can't be, I remember going to sleep across the fire from you!"

"Well, it happened somehow, you are currently pinned in place by Isabella."

Leyla says "Is that why it feels like I am being smothered by huge pillows?"

At that I can't help but bust up laughing, which wakes the other three girls. Isabella is grumbling and groggy, Alannis seems embarrassed and quickly moves away, and Myria just snuggles in closer against me trying to wrap herself around me. It was a nice night so we didn't bother to set up tents, I'm sure I am receiving a lot of glares but I don't care.

Drog 'Master, I am so jealous of you right now!'

'Shut up, I don't want to hear it!'

"Alright, everyone up! We need to get ready to go meet the rebel leaders."

Myria grumbles the most as I force her off of me, but everyone gets up and starts getting cleaned up. As I stand up and stretch I notice most of the camps around us have already been broken down. It looks like all the soldiers already left to return to the rebel camp.

The only man I can see is Hawk, other than him all I see are the women I have rescued. When they see us finally up and getting ready they quickly finish preparations and are ready to go before we are. Once we are ready Hawk leads us deeper into the forest.

There are no paths in the forest so all the women are walking and leading their horses. At that pace it takes us three hours to reach the rebel camp. The rebel camp is very well organized, it is obvious someone in charge knows what they are doing.

However, it is quite a bit smaller than I was expecting, there can't be more than five thousand troops here. That is a much smaller force than you would need to be able to fight the king's army head on. My hopes for the rebels being able to win on their own are completely crushed.

Hawk says "This is the commander's tent, she asked to meet with you one on one first."

"Alright, everyone else wait here."

I have to duck quite a bit to enter the tent flap, as I let it fall closed behind me I look around the inside of the tent. There is not much to see, just a folding table and several chairs, but the woman facing me is definitely worth looking at.

Her hair is blonde but cut short in a no nonsense way, her green eyes are sharp and show high intelligence. Her figure is generous yet shows the muscles of combat training, but the thing that catches my eye the most is that she looks like a mature version of Mericel. It is not just a passing resemblance, if Mericel was the same age they could pass as twins.

"Are you Princess Amercy?"

Mercy says "Yes, but how could you know that?"

"Mericel, come out!"

Mericel takes form and then the two sisters just stare at each other in absolute shock. I just stand quietly and wait, this kind of shock isn't good to interrupt. They both thought the other dead, although in Mericel's case she actually is dead.

Mercy says "Mermer? How is this possible?!"

Mericel says "I am a ghost, tied to Ash, it was my death wish that summoned him. But didn't you die with our mother?"

Mercy says "Almost, Alexa saved me!"

Mericel says "Is Alexa alive too?"

Mercy says "Yes, she is the military commander for the rebels."

Mericel says "She is in for a surprise, her little sister is here with us."

Mercy says "It seems there is even more to talk about than I thought, and also more to thank you for Ash."

"You make it sound like you already had things you wanted to thank me for?"

Mercy says "Yes, quite a bit actually. You have caused quite the headache for the king, you killed Tarrik, you caused the army meant to wipe us out to retreat, you have killed enemy heroes, and you have killed a large number of the king's soldiers."

"You seem to be very well informed."

Mercy says "A lot of the common people are on our side and pass us information. I even know about your recent massacre of the church, which they totally deserved!"

"Then do you already know about the women with me?"

Mercy says "I know some, are they all slaves you freed?"

"Yes, and I would like your help with them. Some want to return to their families, others want to join the rebels."

Mercy says "Of course, those who want to join us will be welcomed. Those who want to return to their families, we will do our best to help. Although, to be honest, those from our kingdom will be the hardest to help."

Mericel says "Shouldn't that be the opposite way around?"

Mercy says "Thanks to Zamart we have a portal to Illium, so that makes it easy. Those from Free Union can return from Illium almost as easily. But our kingdom is currently much harder to move around in."

"Alright, what about the beastwomen?"

Mercy says "Getting them home is also easy, the real question will be if they want to return home."

Mericel says "True, they probably won't want to."

"What? Why?"

Mericel says "Following you has much better prospects than returning to being an outcast of the beastmen."

"Oh, I guess I see your point. I hadn't thought of it like that."

Mericel says "You should really talk to Annya about it."

"Okay, I will make a point to talk to her later."

Mercy says "Is there anything else you want from us?"

Drog 'Ask her to join your harem!'

'Would you just knock it off!'

"Now that I know about it I might like to use your portal and visit Illium."

Mercy says "Using the portal is no problem, but we will have to let them know beforehand."

"Ah, yes. Good point, once the king learns I am here he is sure to launch an attack against you."

Mercy says "From what our sources say he already knows you are here."