Shortly after Maedel finished breakfast (which lasted hours) we were greeted by yet another visitor.
"Witch! Release my daughter or suffer the wrath of Molossia!" Someone shouted from outside.
"Wait, Connie is the princess of Molossia?" Maedel asked.
"I know right? I feel like an idiot for having run away." Morgana said.
"So what're we gonna do?" Maedel asked.
"Well, you and I could go kill them, or I can put them to good use." Morgana said.
"Tough choice." Maedel said.
"That wasn't supposed to be a... OK, you know what? I'm just going." Morgana said as she got up and walked over to the door.
"Would you keep it down? We're trying to have a conversation!" Morgana yelled at the army outside.
"Is this really a good idea?" I asked.
"Molossia takes up half a city." Maedel said. I now understood why Morgana felt like an idiot.
"Release my daughter now!" The king shouted.
"Fine, but I don't think you'll like what you see." Morgana said. I turned around in my chair to see her pull some shiny black thing that looked partially human out of her room.
"Is that Connie?" I asked.
"Yep." Morgana said.
"What did you do to her?" I asked.
"Tell ya later, I have work to do." Morgana said as she walked outside.
I could still hear the conversation going on outside.
"What trickery is this foul wench?" The king roared.
"This is your daughter, couldn't you tell? And doesn't she look just adorable?" Morgana said.
"Turn her back this instant or we will kill you where you stand." The king threatened.
"That doesn't make sense. You need me alive to turn her back, so why would you kill me before I do that? It just doesn't make sense. However, I'll make you a trade. Your daughter for your army." Morgana said.
"Do you think I'm a fool? To give you my whole army-" The king began.
"Seriously? It's only nine guys! Are you really saying these idiots are more important than your daughter?" Morgana asked.
"Sire, it's a trick. Kill her now." One of the knights, assuming he even was a knight, said.
"No. I agree to your deal witch. But know this! You will be hunted and burned for your crimes." The king said.
"Works for me." Morgana said. I ran to the window to watch what happened next. Fortunately, none of the soldiers saw me. Morgana cast a spell on Connie, turning her back into a human girl. Albeit, a human girl wearing a tight latex swimsuit, but still a human girl.
"Need... more." Connie stammered as she stumbled over to her father.
"Don't worry dear, you're safe now." The king said. He pushed the closest soldier off his horse and helped Connie onto it. They rode a bit aways before the king turned around again.
"Kill her now men!" He ordered.
"I should have known. With such a small army, you must have a small amount of honor too." Morgana said. It sounded stupid (small amount of honor? Really?) but it obviously struck a chord with the king.
"How dare you speak of honor?" He bellowed.
"Well, I kept up my end of the deal, but you're trying to take back your end. If your knights work for me, you can't give them orders." Morgana said. The king paused for a moment before responding.
"Very well. You have bought yourself time. Be warned, you don't have much." The king said before riding off.
"Come on in boys, I'll whip up some lunch." Morgana said as she came inside.
"Maedel! Could you get the pork out of the pantry? I got us some new friends and they're hungry! Oh hi Sara, did you enjoy the show?" Morgana said. The soldiers were coming in single file, obviously nervous to be entering a witch's home.
"Morgana, please tell me you don't intend to transform these men." I said.
"Oh I do. Not in the usual way though, I have something I need them to do." Morgana said as she walked into the kitchen.
After she summoned some more chairs and made the table larger, Morgana served all the soldiers pork. Shockingly, Maedel ate some as well.
"How could you still be hungry?" I asked.
"I'm not. This body doesn't need nutrients, I eat because I want to." Maedel said.
"I'm sorry but who are you two?" One of the knights asked.
"I am Princess Sara, and this is Maedel, the elven ranger." I said.
"Why are you here?" Another asked.
"Because Morgana is a creepy slut." Maedel said.
"Hey! No more ham for you." Morgana said from the counter.
"What does she want to do with us?" A smaller knight asked.
"Beats me. She comes up with a different scheme every time." Maedel said.
"I was about to tell you if you'd quiet down." Morgana said, "As you can see, this house is not exactly built for this many people. Hell, it's barely built for the three of us. As such, you nine are going to help us expand."
"Can't you just use magic?" A knight asked.
"Not for what I intend to make. No, it would be too big. Now, you have two options for your job. There's the hard way, or the sexy way." Morgana said, drawing a groan from Maedel.
Four of the nine knights requested the hard way, clearly cautious of whatever Morgana considered to be a 'sexy way.' The other five were apparently more scared of what she considered the 'hard way.' Both groups were right to be frightened.
"Well, that's convenient. Nice semi-even split. Those of you who chose the hard way can head outside with me. The rest of you can stay here and eat more. Maedel and Sara, one of you stay here to make sure they have food." Morgana said. Maedel immediately sprang up and started cooking (and tasting) more pork, "Alright, Sara why don't you come with me?"
When we got outside, Morgana turned around and started casting on the four men that came with us. They weren't weaklings, but they weren't as buff as the man who had come in just a few hours ago. Within moments, Morgana changed that.
"There. Now that you're all built for it, it's time to get to work. I want you to go into the forest and shop some trees down. Bring them back and I'll magic them into what we need." Morgana said as she walked back inside. Unsurprisingly, the five remaining soldiers were waiting nervously for what Morgana would do.
"So, what happened out there?" Maedel asked.
"She made them buffer. They're chopping down trees right now." I said.
"Huh, weird." Maedel replied.
"So what are we gonna do? What's the 'sexy' option?" One of the knights asked.
As an answer, Morgana transformed them. They went from being mildly strong men to athletic women. Their makeshift armor was stripped away into a cloth leotard with thigh high boots and small gloves.
"That is the sexy option. I need you five to go out and find a quarry, then convince them to give you a lot of stone. Once they do, bring it back here so your partners can use it." Morgana said as she pushed the five women out the door, "And don't try to run away, I'll be watching!" Morgana shouted after them as they headed down the road.
"How are they supposed to get the stone back here?" I asked.
"They'll think of something I'm sure." Morgana said.