The Maid and Her Princess - Chapter 44: Chapter 44

The cold wind brushed over her skin as Madoka climbed over the rubble. The stairs and path from the Palace gates were ruined. Roots protruded out of the concrete and roads. As she looked further, she noticed fires and even bigger roots were growing across the entire city. They crushed whatever they grew into. It was then when Madoka realized something: She had no idea where to go. Elise chuckled at Madoka's confused expression.
"The world's about to get bigger, Madoka!" Elise said. "Step 2 of my plan is this: We have to get the heck out this town. It's got some complications. Brother's magic affected his soldiers. They're uncaring monsters and they're probably creeping and crawling around the streets of Fiara. I saw them cutting anyone down and tossing them to the roots. Like they were feeding whatever was growing in the throne room."
Elise looked angry for a moment.
"I've never even heard of such magic," Madoka said.
"Me neither," Elise said, shying away from the thorny root next to the gate. "It definitely reeks of some demonic type stuff."
"D-Demonic," Madoka choked over the word. Did she truly hear a demon's thoughts?
"Yeah, I walked by some terrible things as I snuck around in the Palace. This whole kingdom has those dark manas floating around it."
The two walked down the steps. The smell of smoke and fires still filled the air. Even the Palace's city was not safe from that magic. People live here, Madoka mused in her head. A massive root tore apart of a section of a nearby row of buildings.
"Are those stores?" Madoka asked. She saw buildings like that back at the towns near the North Estate.
"Welp, those buildings probably have clothing in them," Elise said. "For your, erm, wardrobe malfunction."
Madoka looked down and realized her skin was exposed. She blushed and became embarrassed. As much as those black roots creeped her out, she ducked under one and went inside the nearest store. There were several cloaks like Elise's strewn across the ground. Madoka scooped up a set and threw it on.
"Not much of a shopper, huh?" Elise remarked. She scooped one up and tried it on, tossing the one with her brother's crest on it off. Madoka gasped as she noticed someone was buried under the wreckage where a root pierced.
"Elise," Madoka's voice shook as she pointed at the body. Another dead woman lay upstairs, crushed by a vine.
"A lot of people fled this kingdom already," Elise remarked at the sight. "Others are unlucky like this... I don't wanna think about them being locked away in their houses."
Madoka still apologized to the dead people she was stealing from and prayed for the kind gods to give them peace. She shuddered as she looked back at the dead. Madoka was not sure if she would ever get used to the sight of dead people yet she's seen a lot of them today and even experienced death itself. She stuffed the feelings deep within herself and headed through a room to see if they could take more clothes.
"Hold on, Madoka," Elise said, fumbling with the bag of talismans she had. "I got this, like, super OP item."
She fished out one of the talismans and began to manifest her magic ring. Madoka was mesmerized by its beautiful white color. It matched the twin moons' light. Wondrous strands of whites covered the talisman and began to form a hexagonal pattern under Elise's hand as she held it. It was a strange portal. Elise tossed multiple cloaks into the portal.
"They vanished?" Madoka gawked as the princess reached into the spell's portal and took out a maid dress out from it.
"See? I grabbed as many as I possibly could from your room," Elise laughed. She tossed the uniform to Madoka. Madoka put it on immediately and scavenged a more fitting traveler's cloak to wear over it. "It's the little things I suppose. This Item Storage talisman is totally wicked, right? I can shove stuff in here and pull them out if I think about them. I wonder what the Devs were thinking when they added it."
"Devs?" Madoka continued searching the upstairs rooms for something.
"It's, ah, just a little joke," Elise blew off the question, looking at Madoka oddly. "Hey so, uh, what are ya looking for?"
"You said that those talismans speak to you, right?" Madoka asked, ignoring the question. "T-To think that you can just use them..."
"Yeah," Elise said, inspecting them. None of them were organized neatly in the bag she held. They were for a Hero, right? Madoka noted that when they were safe she would sort them out properly. "They sort of belong to those altars. Though the one we visited did not have such a talisman. I guess it's just another lame side quest like 'collect all the things.' Bah!"
Madoka ignored the princess's ramblings and tore through one of the drawers. Nothing. If this was a clothing shop then they must have what she was looking for. She rummaged around and found it. A sewing kit. Satisfied, she tossed it to Elise.
"Smart," Elise remarked. "We have to get out of here. You hear that, right?"
Madoka heard the thundering march of soldiers nearby. The two ducked under a root and looked out the window. Several groups of soldiers marched out onto the streets ahead. Vines tore through the ground and nearby houses as they walked. Those vines seemed to be growing wherever the soldiers walked. Elise looked at Madoka, her eyes shifting back and forth from her nervousness. It was evident that they were searching for something.
"Do you think they're looking for us?" Elise mouthed. Madoka nodded, noticing Elise's skin was clean and free from the wounds she used to have. Ash stained her clothes but she was still beautiful in every way. Sensing Madoka's stare, Elise blushed and tugged her hand. "Don't look at me like that!"
Madoka kept staring anyways until a noise shook the window.
The soldiers started making their way towards the shopping district. They were in no shape to fight anyone, so the pair snuck out through a hole in the wall that led behind the shop. Madoka squeezed out on to the street while Elise nimbly slipped through.
Madoka sighed. She was still growing taller and did not notice.
Madoka had to scoop the princess up again since her newfound strength made it difficult for Elise to keep up. There were roots knotting and twisting the once peaceful streets of Fiara's capital but further they ran from the palace the less there were. Elise led them to the empty main street again and Madoka looked back to see what became of the once beautiful Palace. Her heart sank at the sight. Fiara's Palace was set ablaze, her walls covered in black roots filled with darkness. Sickening leaflike veins spread from the roots to the outer walls, sprouting more tendrils out of them.
"Tch," Elise clicked her tongue and jumped from Madoka's arms. Her eyes were full of anger as she stared at the tarnished Palace. "What is my Brother even thinking? It doesn't even make sense. He was destined for the throne anyways. Why make a mess of things?"
A commotion roared at the end of the main road closest to the Palace. Elise's eyes widened. There were more from behind the girls. It seemed like a battle between the King's soldiers and the Prince's was going to take place.
"Enemies to the north, enemies to the south," Elise remarked. "Too many enemies. Not enough time."
"What should we do?" Madoka asked. Elise looked around.
"We cut through the alleyways," she pointed. "There should be more places to hide. The two armies will fight here and we can go around them."
It sounded like a good plan. Madoka and Elise ran off through the alleyway and cut towards a street leading to the Palace city's outskirts. Just a little more and they would get out of here, Madoka sighed. The houses were eerily empty, the occasional pair of eyes would peak out at the girls before the blinds shut. Ordinary people did not deserve to go through this chaos, Madoka thought as they ran. A part of her heart wanted to help them but she did not know how. This city seemed doomed from the darkness corrupting it.
As they reached the outer gates, Madoka found Elise's predictions to be right. The two armies were fighting. The girls tucked away in the underneath a small alcove in the wall next to the gate entrance. The barracks connected to the gate was locked. Madoka was thinking, but she did not like that and wondered aloud.
"If that's the King's army, wouldn't they help us?"
Elise shook her head.
"I'm not willing to find out," she said. "We're like, 13 years old, right? They'd take advantage of us for sure."
That thought made Madoka shudder. She supposed she was too naive about the world and that Elise was right.
"Let's get out of here," Elise said, pointing at the gate. "That bridge is the way out, then we can see what my next step can be."
"You don't even know?"
"Look, my plan only extended to getting out of here," Elise complained. "The finer details about what after—"
War horns blasted in the distance. There were even more soldiers headed through the gates. Madoka heard a lot of horses' furious thoughts, but with her new senses the cacophony of thoughts did not hurt her head at all.
"Lots of war horses on the march," Madoka told Elise. They peered around the main gate to see an entire army headed their way and pulled back. The pair would be caught for sure, right?
"Great," she said sarcastically. She looked below the barracks and noticed the sewers and looked at Madoka. She did not like that look.
"You seriously want us to jump in there?" Madoka shifted uncomfortably.
"Yeah," Elise said. "I see a hole we can get through to the other side."
"Ugh!" Madoka did not want to get that gross but followed Elise down the stairs to get ready to jump in. There were soldiers from who knows army headed from the alleyway. Suddenly, the houses and streets burst with violent roots causing even more chaos. The King's invading army started shouting and drawing flaming arrows. She was distracted. Why did they shoot fire arrows at their own people? Madoka was still hesitant to jump in the murky water. Elise sighed.
"I don't care how bad it smells, get in there, Chewy!" Elise said. Madoka was distracted by that name. "We gotta git!"
"Who's Chewy?"
"Nevermind that! Move, you big oaf!" Elise shoved her the best she could, causing Madoka to tumble into the sewer. Slop sloshed on her hands and knees as the disgusting water's malodorous stink penetrated her nose. Madoka was overwhelmed by the disgusting slush on her legs.
Elise splashed in after her.
"You... pushed me in!"
"Yeah, I did, Madoka. We go through here," Elise snapped. The sewage gate was open on both sides, but the way was waist deep and disgusting. "You clean like all the time! Jeez, I didn't expect you of all people to be grossed out by this!"
"I didn't expect you not to be grossed out!"
"What do you think we were supposed to do there?" Elise helped her up with a grimy hand. "There was, like, a thousand guys up there! Not to mention those creepy ass vines!"
They waded in between the small sewage gap and bickered for a moment under the noise from trampling and war horns. Madoka noticed the shadow of a soldier from the Prince's army passing nearby and warned Elise. They pressed against the slimy walls of the sewer gate, unable to move since he was almost close enough to see them. Madoka's pulse pounded as they waited in the murky water.  She caught a terrifying glimpse of the soldier. He seemed like he was made out of the dark vines, twisting his face in shades of char and wood. Moments later, vines burst through the alleyway. They seemed to be under his command. A few moments later he finally left and joined his fellow comrades to fight the large army.
"Okay," Elise said. Madoka scoffed. "Nae waah! Don't tell me you're mad at me for this grossness!"
Madoka crossed her arms and scoffed again.
"L-Look," Elise protested. "Next bath's on me. I will scrub you down squeaky clean. Madoka, please. At least let's get out this gross moat."
With another cantankerous sigh, Madoka followed the princess out onto dry land. She immediately wanted out of her disgusting clothes. The two trudged uphill for quite a distance, the same ones they rode by on their way back from the North Estate. Madoka wondered if they could go back there after all.
"I-I think it's safe for now," Elise said, pulling the storage talisman out of her bag. She produced a few clothes from the storage talisman's portal and began to tear off her sewage covered cloak. Madoka did the same, flinging the nasty clothing off the side of the hill. Soon, both the girls were naked under the twin moons and stars.
"We made it," Madoka breathed. She realized how tired she has become during they escape. Her newfound strength was something. If it was the old her, she would have collapsed at the sight of those awful vines. Elise wrapped her arms around Madoka. "Elise?"
"I said I owed you a bath, right? We're ridiculous right now," she laughed. Then Madoka felt cold soap water trickle down her backside. She shivered as Elise's smooth hands ran up and down her skin. Madoka gave in and let her touch wherever she wanted. Soap was a Noble's luxury, but now Madoka was not sure what they were anymore. "Absolutely ridiculous."
She hummed along as she cleaned Madoka and then she started on herself. Madoka noticed the multiple orbs of soap water floating above them. Elise made her strange magic seem effortless. After the two washed themselves down and dressed for the night, Elise pulled a large cloth out and laid it across a dry patch of grass for them to sit down on. It was a clear night but Madoka was not sure if they could rest here. What if someone attacks them?
"What are we going to do next?" Madoka asked quietly. Her feet gave in and she eventually sat down. Elise sat down next to Madoka without saying anything. She instead looked out towards the burning kingdom. Lots of people died in there, Madoka thought as she watched the chaotic flames rise to the sky.
"Step three... is to... let's see..." Elise mumbled. Madoka looked into her friend's eyes. They were watering and overflowing with crystalline tears. Her lips quivered as she collapsed into Madoka's arms and weeped. "Step three is to cry."
Soon both girls were weeping out under the stars and moons on a hillside.