A/N: I would take a brief moment to thank NonchalantxFish who after so long has to step back from beta reading this story due real-life stuff. Without your help, this story wouldn't have been as good. I will also like to thank the SV user STOP who beta read this chapter. On to the show!

Chapter 22: Tyrant Keep

"I'm Richard Pale, Sir Cornwell's squire or at least I was," the boy called Richard explained as he meekly sat down against the tree, his arms wrapped around his knees while gazing into the darkness of the woods.

An alarm bell began going off in Sayaka's head, "if you're his squire, why is Sir Cornwell sending men to hunt you down?"

"Well, you see," Richard stumbled over his words trying to come up with a way to explain a horror that was clearly beyond anything he had experienced before.

"I'm not much in a fight, I mean not terrible but I needed to start learning, and during a trip to King's Landing someone recommended Ser Cornwell to my father and was sent here to squire or him. At first, everything was normal, well his words bit harsher than I expected, but most of the time he was just cold and distant. Then a few months ago, I started to notice creepy things."

"What do you mean by creepy things?"

"Well see, Sir Cornwell would go on a trip somewhere and bring back a young woman to the keep. They were always either a prostitute or a homeless woman from King Lands. At first, everyone thought he wanted them to become his mistresses, but strangely his wife didn't seem to mind, in fact, she almost looked excited. At some point, I notice that these women would disappear a few days after being introduced to the court."

"Did you ever ask anyone where they went?"

"I did, but everyone just assumed that Lord Cornwell just sent them back to King's Landing, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Then one day, I heard a faint sound coming from dungeons, it was hard to tell but sounded like someone was in pain. I tried to ignore it, but eventually, I summoned up the courage to take a look.

"I slipped in while the guards were changing posts, and found two women hanging to the dungeon wall. They covered in small and large cuts, the floors and wall close to them were covered in blood. The older of the two was dead, I could..." Richard suddenly turned a little, and his body started lurching as he forced vomit back down his throat.

"I could tell by the smell the other was alive just barely; I was so terrified ran away. I was lucky not to get caught."

Sayaka's hand clenched into a fist as quiet anger built up. Even after all this time, that asshole was still murdering people! What kind of idiot thought that this was a good idea?! "Why is he doing this?"

"To be honest, I don't know," Richard answered while shaking his head. "Anyway after that, I got called to join that hunting trip. I spent the whole week soul searching, but it wasn't until I got back that I decided I would rescue the woman."

"That was pretty brave you."

Richard lowered his head shamefully, "it really didn't amount to much, I got caught immediately, and Ser Cornwell started beating the crap out of me. Lucky he doesn't seem to have figured out that I know his secret since after the beating he just locked me in my room. After that, I was able to escape my room through the window, and now I'm resting against a tree, hiding from the lord's men who will no doubt cut me down when they find me."

Then all of Richard's composer crumbled apart, and he burst into tears, "I hate this I just...want to...why did father send, I...I just...!" As the boy cried hopelessly, Sayaka wrapped her arms around him. The embrace seemed to calm him a bit. Eventually, Richard was able to calm himself enough to speak.

"You should go now. If they find you with me, they will do terrible things to you."

Sayaka smiled and shook her head, "don't worry, I can take care of myself." She then looked around to see if there was anyone close by and touched Richard on the shoulder. A second later, Sayaka employed her magic, and the boy's wounds disappeared.

Richard's eye winded, "how did you do that?" He spoke in wonder while scanning his body for any sign of the wounds.

"It's quite simple Richard, I'm a magical girl."

After giving a very brief summary of Sayaka situation, she brought Richard back to the inn and introduced him to her travelling companions, after waking in the most careful way.

"So after all this time Ser Cornwell is still the same vicious brute he was back during the sack of King's Landing," Charles said.

"We can't afford to wait. We must ride to King's Landing at once and report this to Jon Arryn. I doubt he would allow such an act of injustice to keep going right under the king's nose," Clifford said while grabbing his sword.

"Hang on a moment; we can't leave just yet, Cornwell still as someone imprisoned his dungeon if she not rescued soon she might die," Sayaka interjected.

"While you do make a valid point, I must point that we still have Richard's well being to consider," as Charles spoke, everyone turned to the young squire.

For a moment, Richard twitched nervously; then it suddenly stopped as he took a deep breath and a small fire lite inside him. "Don't worry about me; just save the woman."

The three travellers looked at the boy with surprise. "Are you sure about this, Richard?" Sayaka asked. There had been a time when she would have been outraged if Richard had chosen to leave. Not enough to force him to stay, but definitely enough to get angry and rant at him. It was funny how transforming into a witch and getting transported to another world could change one's perspective.

"To be honest, I'm still terrified, and I want nothing more than to get away from this horrible place, but I don't want to live with the guilt of someone else dying because I choose to run."

"You're a courageous young man," Clifford said.

"I doubt that," Richard deflected the comment glumly before looking at the ground.

Charles tapped the table, grabbing everyone else's attention, "right, now that we agree on our goal, allow me to share a few ideas I have had."

It was times like this that made Malcolm question his decision to become a man at arms for Lord Cornwell. True the work was mostly straightforward, and the pay was pretty good, but if he became a merchant he wouldn't have to stay up all night in the cold because of some idiot might get the stupid idea to steal horses from a Lord. Malcolm let out a loud bored yawn and looked where Jones would typically stand, he wondered when everyone else was coming back, and how long did it take to find some brat. Malcolm wondered what the squire did to piss off Lord Cornwell so much, maybe the brat spot the Lord making love to his whores.

Suddenly a man with a hunched back rushed up to Malcolm.

"I found him. I found the squire, can I have the reward?"

For a second Malcolm was confused, not quite sure what this stranger was referring to, but then it clicked into place.

"Alright show where he is then we will talk."

The hunchback very excitedly leads Malcolm into an alleyway between the south watchtower and the barracks. "He is here!" The hunchback gestated excited at the alley.

Malcolm headed into an alleyway with the torch raised; the gap was empty. Before he could confront the hunchback about his lie, Malcolm felt the cold pain of iron slamming into back his head, which was followed by the darkness of unconsciousness.

Clifford looked down at the unfortunate guard.

"Is he going to be alright?" Charles asked.

"I hit with just the right amount of force. Besides a small headache, tomorrow he should wake alive and in good health. Regardless we have some animals to release," Clifford said as he approached the stables.

Over a short period, Charles and Clifford carefully released every horse, pig, sheep and cow from the stables, allowing them to run amuck in the courtyard.

"Ok, the animals are safe, time for me to set the fire and for you to get the cart ready."

Charles nodded and left Clifford to his work. The hedge knight for his part bent down next to a pile of straw. There was never a point in his life were Clifford thought he would burn down a stable for just cause, yet that was the situation he found himself. There was a tiny bit of hesitation in the back of his mind, but Clifford forced it away. Stables could be rebuilt; lives could not. Without any more delay, Clifford put the straw to flame and then ran for it as the fire and panic consumed the building gripped the battlements.

"I have had a terrible day; first my idiot squire then I came back to find that my stables are on fire," Clifford turned to the voice to see no other than Lord Cornwell glare at the knight with accusing eyes while his men were pointing their weapons at the hedge knight.

From her position within a thick bush, the magical girl watched the shadowy silhouettes of panicked men rushing out the keep. Sayaka quickly pulled her hood over her head and leapt towards keeps walls; it only took a few jumps to get to the tops of the wall. Upon finishing her jump, Sayaka turned around to see an armed starting at her completely god smacked.

Before he had a chance to do anything, Sayaka punched the man right in the nose, causing him to fall ground while in pain.

"Sorry," Sayaka smiled while turning away. It was then she began to wonder how many of the people working at this keep knew about what Lord Cornwell was doing. He couldn't get away without help. Was it only a few twisted people and everyone else was kept in the dark? But if Richard suspected something was wrong, other people must have noticed. Did they know just kept quiet out of fear? The thought caused a small fire righteous fury to appear within Sayaka, she suddenly wanted to kick the ass of basically everyone at keep but ignored the impulse as life was at stake she didn't have time to waste.

According to Richard, the woman was kept in the Keep dungeon, which could only be accessed using a staircase in the south-east corner of the ground floor. Lucky, thanks to her magical girl abilities Sayaka just cleared the wall and with everyone looking for Richard or trying to stop the fire, sneaking in should be easy.

Sayaka leapt from the wall onto the ground, then pleated through a nearby window. The room Sayaka found was big, and due to the lack of people empty, it was hauntingly quiet and dimly lit with torches. On their own, they weren't noticeable, but when combined with the knowledge of what was going made, Sayaka felt like she stepped into a scene from a horror movie.

A sense of unease followed Sayaka as she crept down the stone staircase, the only sound being the echo Sayaka's boots against the floor. As she got further underground, everything got darker. Luckily, Sayaka had a solution for that. She just pushed a little bit of magic into her soul gem, and it began to glow blue, illuminating the area around her. After a short time, she encountered an iron door that was heavy and reinforced strong enough that it would take a group full armed men some to break it open.

The magical girl approached the door. Sayaka grabbed the handle and turned, and the door reminded in place; it was locked. If she wasn't under pressure, Sayaka might have found a more subtle way to open it, but she was under pressure, so the magical girl created a cutlass. She slashed through the hinges and tossed the door to one side, creating a loud crash.

"What in the Seven's bloody hell are you doing?!" A shrill terrified and yet anger voice cried out as Sayaka looked up to see an oldish woman wearing an expensive big dress which was common for women of the nobility. Her body was very skinny, with a long neck and a hooked nose, her red hair was tightened into a big bun. But what really drew Sayaka's eyes was a bloody knife.

Directly behind the woman was a girl who appeared to be only a little older than Sayaka, and she was a mess. Her blond messy, unkempt hair was grim and dirty, but that was nothing compared to a state of her body. It was malnourished, covered in cuts and scar's both small and deep, blood slowly dripping away, creating a small red puddle on the stone floor.

The girl who was chained to the wall suddenly looked up at Sayaka with desperate eyes as she tried to speak, but her voice which had been rendered so weak by the punishment she had endured only made quite noises.

Sayaka gave the woman a glare, "I'm here for the prisoner; stay out of the way."

The noblewoman suddenly became very irritated, but quickly caught herself and forced a fake smile onto her face.

"Listen I think there has been some gross misunderstanding I sure I could..."

"Stop," Sayaka said with a calm yet angry voice, "you seem to be the kind of person who is used to getting their way all the time, so let me make something clear. I don't care what you have to say or who your friends are. Get out of my or you will end up like that door."

The noblewoman took one look at the door, all her bravado crumbled into dust, and she stepped to one side. Sayaka approached the prisoner and bent down, so their eyes meet while making a warm smile.

"Don't worry; I'm getting you out of here."

The prisoner's eyes unexpectedly widened in horror, Sayaka spun around to see noblewoman with her knife raised over the magical girl's head. Sayaka quickly turned her left hand into a fist and punched her attacking in the face. The noblewoman fell to the floor like a sack of heavy bricks, her right eye now presenting a painful-looking bruise.

"Now, as I was saying, I'm going to get you out of here," Sayaka then placed a hand on the prisoner's arm, the only part that wasn't covered injuries, and called on her magic to heal the wounds. As Sayaka's soul gem glowed, the prisoner's wounds disappeared while life returned to her eyes, though scars still remind. She looked at her wounds with tears in her eyes, "Who… what are you?"

"I don't have the time to explain what I am but my name Sayaka Miki. Yours?"

The girl took one solid moment to calm herself and for the first time in ages spoke with a firm voice, "Amilia Cook."

"Well Amilia," Sayaka cut through Amilia's chain with her sword and then, with just a tiny bit of difficulty, ripped off the shackles, "it's nice to meet you."

To say that Sir Clifford Waters was in a bad situation would be a gross understatement. Currently, he had been caught burning down the stable of an angry, corrupt Lord and about twenty-five of his men with more heading his way. Clifford could have held his own against three for at least for a time. But twenty-five? Only could Sayaka achieve such a feat. There was only one thing Clifford could do; stall and hope that he could buy enough time.

"Lord Cornwell, I would say it was a pleasure to meet you face to face, but that would be lying," Clifford said with dark words.

That caused Cornwell to raise an eyebrow, "you know of me?"

"I saw your handy work in the aftermath of the sack of King Landing. It turned my stomach to hear about what you did to those people."

Cornwell didn't react to being reminded of his horrific crimes apart from roll his eyes, "did you burn down my stables just to avenge some long-dead traitors? If your heart bleeds so much, why not strom over to Tywin Lannister and try to behead him?" There was a brief pause as the brutal lord looked at Clifford like a lion that was playing with its food. "You wouldn't happen to know where my squire is?"

"Why would I know where they are?" Clifford didn't really think that playing dumb would fool Cornwell, but any amount of time bought was precious.

"To put it simply, it would be a massive coincidence for you to burn my stables on the same day he disappeared." Cornwell formed an expression of false sympathy on his face, "if you turned over the foolish brat, I might show you some mercy, maybe sweeten the deal with a bit of coin."

There was a part of Clifford that considered faking interest in the offer, but Cornwell's very existence so repulsed the rest of his being that he couldn't compel himself to try. The hedge knight stared, reaching for his sword. When suddenly the keep's main door flew open, and from the shadow of the building's interior a storm, Sayaka's cutlasses flew out and slammed into Lord Cornwell and his men. Luckily for them, Sayaka was merciful and blunted her swords. So instead of being impaled the noble and all his men fell to the ground in pain.

"Thank the Seven you got here in time," Clifford said with relief as he turned around to see that Sayaka had a young girl resting on her. While the girl had no visible wounds, her naked body was covered in horrible scar and was so skinny her bones could be seen through the skin.

"Let's get out of here!" Sayaka shouted as they rushed for the main gate, with Clifford following closely behind.

Amilia's body constantly shook as it was pierced by the chilly night air. Yet she did not care, for once in what felt like an eternity she dared to hope. Hope that she wouldn't die alone in that dark dungeon, that she would wake up tomorrow and have something to forward to other than pain and misery. But there was also dread, that Cornwell would catch up to her rescuers and put her back in chains.

But as the night went on and the cart came slow and steady stop, there was no sign of Cornwell or his men.

"I think we have put enough distance between ourselves and the keep," the hunchbacked cart puller said with heavy breaths. He clearly wasn't used to this kind of physical exertion. He then turned around to look at Amilia with sad eyes. Some time ago, she would have been irritated, but after so long of being tortured and exhausted, she couldn't bring herself to care.

"We have some food and spare clothing stored in the cart. Sayaka the clouds are starting to cover the moon, which means there isn't going to be any light, I could use your help."

Sayaka, the strange girl with blue hair and stranger powers, the one who stormed Cornwell keep to save Amilia nodded her head and leapt off the cart with a glowing egg-shaped gem her hands.

"Are you okay?" Amilia looked to her left and for the first time noticed a young boy sitting in the cart with her.

"As good as I can be," Amilia wasn't really sure if that was true.

"My name is Richard Pale, what's yours?"

"Amilia Cook. Um, I don't mean to be rude but, who are you, people?"

"Well," the armoured man said as he took hold of the cart's reins, "it's a very long story."