Esme was feeling nervous, she hadn't even seen her town since she had to leave a year ago, but it was time to put her costume on and face it.

The ride back to Maleficia felt like an eternity, it was hard to believe that she'd run all that way back then, but eventually they made it. Fran tied the horse and cart to a tree and the pair hid behind the bushes.

The entire town was in flames, people running with fire torches, shouting and screaming. There was fighting everywhere, buildings were destroyed, people coughing from all the smoke.

Completely in shock, Esme just took in her surroundings. While she'd run somewhere else, people had lost their homes and their safety, all to try to get her back, it was all in protest over what had happened to her.

'It started when you left,' Fran said, 'and it hasn't stopped since. As soon as we found out that you'd be coming back to stand trial it got even worse. That was when the town tried to break into the palace.'

'It's awful,' Esme breathed, 'Fran we have to do something soon, before the trial.'

'Somehow I don't think you'll be doing that, the courtroom got burned down as soon as we heard what happened.'

'Well at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about.'

In the distance, they could hear a man's voice, coughing and spluttering. He stumbled into view, a cloak covering his face.

'Please, I've been searching for so long now, someone must know where she is. Someone must be able to bring her back.'

He collapsed to the ground. A knight glared down at him.

'She gets what she deserves, she will never return.'

'I'm too weak to go to her, and no one else can go for me'.

'She's a witch, and a traitor, if anyone has any communication with her they will be the first to be killed. Now get off the ground before I stab you.'

The knight marched away from the man, and Esme could finally see who it was. Her own father. She rushed over to see him.

'It's me, Esme. I'm alive, and I'm here, we're going to help you.'

She nearly cried, he looked so weak and tired and couldn't stop coughing. But he knew who it was and managed a smile.

Fran and Esme helped him up, but Fran looked concerned.

'We can't take him back with us to Bellicosus,' she said.

'We have to, he can't stay here.'

'I don't think he can survive that journey, Esme. Let's take him to the infirmary tent and then we can take him back with us next time we come.'

As much as it hurt her, she knew Fran was right. They got him to the tent as quickly as they could, and said their goodbyes. They couldn't stay much longer, the smoke was getting too much even for them.

Back on the horse and cart, Esme was in shock at what she'd just seen.

'Fran, what do we do? How does this end?' She cried.

'Well, the town is fighting the palace for not protecting you as one of their citizens. They don't like the King and Queen for letting the guards go after you. They're also upset because the knights found you and arrested you, and are making you stand trial. Essentially, after what happened to you, they want something to change, because you didn't technically do anything morally wrong. It's not like you killed someone, you just fought in a competition as a woman. The town wants this to be the start of a new era, where we allow women more rights, just like the kingdoms around us. The palace don't want that change, and they set the guards on you.'

'So it stops when the king and queen decide to do what the people want, or when the people go back to how it was?'

'It's never going back to how it was. The people aren't going to do that, this stops when the palace accept what the people want, or when everyone in the town is dead.'

'So how do we stop this? Who do we have to speak to to make it stop?'

Fran laughed.

'You think speaking to people will make that stop?' She scoffed. 'No, you'll have to defeat the knights and eventually face the king and queen. You have the skills that we don't have to be able to fight them and win. That's why we need you to help, it'd give us a huge advantage.'

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

Esme took a deep breath.

'Well, that's what I'm going to do.'