The Lioness Roars

After spending three days in quarantine in Capital Crocus after rescuing researchers from zombies in Silent Cemetery, Leona was finally allowed by Dr. Katrina Miller to leave Crocus Magicka University and return to Silver Wolf Guild Hall. It was determined my multiple medical scientists that Leona was not infected with a viral agent that would turn her into a zombie. Her stomach was clawed, but it was only a flesh wound. She had suffered much worse in the past.

Leona was glad to leave the sterile quarantine room. It was boring to sit or lay around all day and she suspected that a few of the medical students wanted to check her out for more than health reasons. Still, it was a minor inconvenience that was worth dealing with to avoid spreading a zombie plague everywhere she went. Now that she had been ruled safe to go into society, Leona dressed in her normal clothing, reclaimed her personal belongings, and flew home to the guild hall. She could hardly wait.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall-

Leona went to the hot springs and eased herself in. The hot springs were nothing short of miraculous because the waters had healed countless wounds that would have otherwise crippled her for life. The blonde Guild Master was thankful that such a convenient source of healing was readily available. She would spend a few hours in the springs, then get out and see what administrative tasks needed to be completed. A young adult female staff member walked into the hot springs with a letter in hand.

"Welcome back, Guild Master. I have a letter for you." The brunette said to her.

"Thanks. Could you please read it to me?" Leona requested. She hated to order staff to do something so menial, but she did not want to damage official correspondence of any kind. That was not something responsible Guild Masters did.

"Certainly." She replied.

"Dear Leona Jarnefeldt: On my authority as chief of Nebdoui, your exile order has officially been rescinded. You are free to return to Nebdoui at any time you want. Signed, Chief Elijah Hamlin." The young woman read to her. Leona paused in place. What did she say?

"You said the letter was from Nebdoui? And it was written by Chief Elijah Hamlin?" Leona asked.

"Yes Guild Master." She replied.

"And it said that my exile order was officially rescinded?" Leona asked her.

"Yes Guild Master." She replied again. Leona could not believe it. After all this time, she was finally allowed to go back to Nebdoui without facing the death penalty. Leona calmly got out of the hot springs, grabbed her towel, and retreated to the female locker room to dry off and change. She was going to go to Nebdoui as soon as possible.

Leona quickly entered her room and grabbed her gear. She put on a white t-shirt and her desert camouflage cargo shorts. She put on her boots and grabbed her backpack. She donned her Argent Gloves and grabbed both her Nightshade Machete and Kasim's Ram Dao. She had a feeling that they might be needed when she got to Nebdoui.

[Word Count: 522]
[Total Word Count: 522/2,000]

"I'm going to Desierto. I'll be back as soon as I can." Leona said to an older male staff member while striding down the hallway and trying not to break into a run. The man nodded and Leona exited the guild hall, closing the door behind her. The blonde was too excited about going home to feel cold. This was what she had been waiting for.

-Nebdoui, six hours later-

Leona was flying above the desert floor with the aid of Sylvia, Daphne, and Sandy when she spotted Nebdoui. She spotted clouds of smoke coming from the village. That was not good.

"GO FASTER!" Leona shouted.

"Got it!" Sylvia responded. Leona hoped that she was not too late. As she got closer she spotted unarmed people running from others armed with scimitars. In the middle of the village some people were fighting back against the invaders. She would put an end to whoever threatened her village.

"DROP ME OFF OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE GATES!" Leona instructed. Sylvia began to descend and circled around. Leona clutched her ram dao tightly. She could not wait to get into action. As soon as Sylvia released her Leona sprinted towards the nearest scimitar-wielding figure, who was wearing brown leather armor with black boots and a red turban.

"Hey, there's another-" He began to shout before Leona rammed her ram dao through his chest and kicked him off of it. She knew who they were. Slavers. They had been terrorizing Nebdoui, Berreb, and Regudo for decades. Today she was going to kill as many of them as she could.

"What? Where did she come from?" Another asked before Leona stabbed him through his chest. Leona strode towards another who charged towards her with sword raised. She diagonally slashed him across the chest and used a Mach Straight to knock him down for the count. As she approached the village the resistance intensified. More and more of the red-turbaned men were coming after her.

"Looks like we've got a hero, guys! Show her what we do to heroes!" One of the men shouted. Leona was not in the mood for games. She used a Wind Blast to knock down the six charging men and began stabbing them before they could get up. She had killed two before the remaining four scrambled up and retreated to their fellows. Shouts of recognition came from the villagers.

"IT'S LEONA! LEONA'S BACK!" A male called out. An ear-splitting cheer filled the air. The slavers momentarily paused.

"Leona? Is she- Leona Jarnefeldt?" One of the men asked a tall man in a red turban with a black pin. He must have been a leader of theirs. It did not matter what rank he was. The man had invaded her home and tried to enslave her people. He and his minions were not going to leave Nebdoui alive if she had her way.

"It doesn't matter who she is! Kill her!" The tall man roared back. Leona was not daunted. Plenty of people had tried to kill her before. All of them had failed. These slavers would be no exception to that trend.

[Word Count: 520]
[Total Word Count: 1,042/2,000]

Leona stared down the slavers. Her harpies hovered behind her. Behind the slavers was assembled a militia of angry villagers. Faced with the prospect of death in front of them and death behind them, the slavers were uncertain of what to do.

"What do we do?" One of the slavers asked.

"GET HER!" The leader repeated his order. This time eight slavers charged at Leona. She was ready for the attack and had just the perfect counter.

"Don't just stand there! Drive them back!" A familiar male voice ordered the village militia. It was Joshua. He was holding a bloody sword in the sky and rallying the villagers to drive out the invaders.

"Get them!" Leona ordered her harpies.

"Let's do this!" Sylvia said.

"OK!" Daphne chimed in.

"We've got this!" Sandy said. The trio flew high into the air as Leona used a Wind Blast to knock down four of the men. The rest got through and engaged the blonde in a heated sword battle. Leona stabbed one with the ram dao and kicked him away before blocking a sword swing with her left Argent Glove. A second slaver kicked her ram dao away, so she drew her machete and stabbed him in the chest. Her original attacker stepped back as two men charged her.

Leona swung her machete horizontally and cut both of them across the chest, forcing them back for a moment while she dealt with the first by casting a Smashing Crescent to knock him off balance. Her harpies descended on the men in front of her and harassed them with their talons. They ran away while trying desperately to fend off the airborne threat, leaving Leona to defeat a slaver who made a lunging stab by stepping aside and ramming her machete through the back of his chest. She spun and used the man as a shield to defend against two more stabs aimed at her.

While the men tried to free their weapons Leona stabbed one in the chest and knocked down the other with a Mach Straight to the face. The survivors crawled away to their leader, who angrily killed them.

"SHE'S JUST ONE PERSON! WHY CAN'T YOU KILL HER?!" He raged at his men. Suddenly the sound of hooves filled the air. A rain of arrows began showering the slavers, bringing down seven of them and wounding that many. Leona turned to face the source of the arrows. It was the Regudo tribesmen!

"AGGGH! DAMN! DAMN IT! SALIM TOLD ME THAT THERE WOULDN'T BE MUCH RESISTANCE!" The leader ranted. He looked around for a way out and cursed when the Nebdoui militia started to press against him and his six-dozen strong group. Another volley of arrows rained down and ten more slavers fell to the sand. The leader looked desperate.

"You've won today, but we'll meet again! That I assure you!" The fuming leader bellowed before starting to glow gold. Once his incantation was complete, he yelled and slammed his hands palms-down onto the sand. A blinding golden dome of light was emitted, blinding everyone who was looking in their direction. Moments later the slavers were gone. Leona was not happy about that.

"Damn." Leona muttered. Most The hated slavers had gotten away. There was nothing that could be done about it now. The Regudo tribesmen rode up to her with a group of twenty captives in tow.

"Hello Leona. We meet again." Prince Hakeem greeted her. Behind him were three dozen horsemen and on the backs of their horses were captives from the village. Among them were Whitney and Erica. Those two just could not seem to stay out of trouble. They were not the only familiar faces in the group.

There was a blonde-haired woman with blue eyes sitting on the back of Prince Hakeem's horse. It took a moment for Leona to recognize who she was. Her left eye was blackened and her bottom lip was bloody, presumably from being struck by a slaver.

"Leona? Is that you?" The woman asked her.

"It's me." Leona answered. The woman leaped off of the horse and fell onto the sand, then got up and ran over to Leona. It was her. It was her mother Sophia Jarnefeldt!

"Leona! You're back!" Sophia said while embracing her daughter. Whitney and Erica too dismounted and kept a respectful distance while mother and daughter embraced. Prince Hakeem smiled.

Sophia Jarnefeldt:

[Word Count: 734]
[Total Word Count: 1,776/2,000]

-Eight hours later, in the Jarnefeldt tent-

"Hey Leona, how's it going?" Erica asked her friend.

"I've been pretty busy since our last adventure in the Crimson Sashes camp. I'm a Guild Master now. I'm in charge of Silver Wolf." Leona answered her longtime friend. Whitney and Erica gasped. Sophia simply laughed.

"You, in charge of a guild? What's it like?" Whitney asked.

"It's different. It's not just my life I have to worry about now. I have to worry about the lives of my guild members." Leona answered in all seriousness. They counted on her to keep them safe and to look out for their best interests both in the field and back home. The blonde was still working to gain the skills necessary to rise to the challenge. Thankfully Poko had helped forge the Silver Moon Faeries alliance that Leona was benefiting from. The alliance was helping to keep potential enemies at bay while she and her guild members grew strong enough to stand on their own.

"Do you have to do a lot of paperwork?" Erica asked.

"Yeah. A lot of it. But it comes with the territory." Leona replied. Sophia laughed again. The blonde knew that her mother would be amused at the thought of Leona being an administrator.

"How many Guild Masters are there?" Whitney fired off another question.

"There's only nine in all of Earthland." Leona answered. Whitney's jaw dropped.

"So you're one of only nine leaders in all of Earthland?" Whitney asked.

"That's right. It's an honor. It's also a big responsibility." Leona replied. Sophia laughed. The blonde mage frowned.

"My daughter, a Guild Master? A Guild Master who also does paperwork? I never thought that I would see this day." Sophia stated with amusement. Suddenly a male villager stuck his head in through the flaps. He had long blond hair and a scar over his eye.

"Hey Leona!" The male called out. Leona instantly recognized him. It was her older brother Leonidas!

"LEONIDAS!" Leona shouted. The siblings embraced one another. He had certainly gotten muscular since their last meeting.

"Leona, you made it!" Leonidas said to her.

"Yeah. Somehow I'm still here." Leona commented. Leonidas frowned at her.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." He remarked.

"I've been through a lot over the last two years. I've been fighting and exploring and saving people's lives. Part of me still can't believe that I made it this far." Leona explained her remark to her brother.

"Everyone's been keeping up with your adventures, Leona. You've seen more and done more in the past two years than most of them ever will. You're something of a hero to the villagers." Leonidas informed her. Leona raised an eyebrow.

"Me, a hero?" Leona asked in disbelief. She did not know that the village cared about her that much. She knew that she had made some enemies when she beat up Joshua that night.

"Yeah. We heard about you killing Bladdi Maccoi and that Mutura genie. Whitney and Erica told us how you refused to accept his deal to trade the captives in exchange for the power to get home sooner. Since you didn't know if you'd live to see home, I'd say that takes a lot of character." Leonidas agreed.

"No it didn't. I wouldn't want to come home if I sold out innocent people for a chance to come back here." Leona stated. Leonidas put a hand on her shoulder.

"You may not think you're a hero, but you are. We read and heard about what you did for the people of Beanstalk Village. We also heard about you fighting those serial killers by yourself. We even heard about your adventure in Silent Cemetery when you fought through zombies to rescue those researchers." Leonidas continued. Sophia walked over to the pair with a smile on her face.

"You've come so far, Leona. You've become more than the girl who left here two years ago. I was worried sick when you were sent into exile. I was worried that you would be captured by slavers, killed by bandits, or just get lost and die alone in the world." Sophia said.

"But now I don't have to worry anymore. You've found your place in the world. You've shown that you have a strong moral compass and the resolve to follow it." Sophia added.

"I was worried that I had cursed you and your brother when I named you in honor of the lion. But I see that I have nothing to worry about. The world needs more lions, lions with the courage to stand up to evil and fight it wherever it may be. I wish that burden didn't have to fall to you, but..." Sophia started before trailing off.

"What is it?" Leona asked gently. Sophia paused and took a breath. That trait seemed to run in the family.

"I'm so proud of you, Leona. For what you've become. For what you will become." She said before wrapping her arms around Leona's neck. Leona returned the gesture, being careful not to crush her mother with her augmented strength. Leonidas soon joined the hug. For this moment in time the Jarnefeldts were together again.

[Word Count: 868]
[Total Word Count: 2,644/2,000]