Queen Juana stood in her throne room. Ness had finally finished cleaning out all the dust and cobwebs, so it was now somewhat fit for use. It was a decently sized throne room, with two rows of columns on either side of the bug-eaten carpet. Crystal lanterns were attached to their sides, and most of them still worked.
Her throne was made of wood, restored but still missing various parts. Most likely, she would have to find a skilled craftsman to make her a new one from scratch. On one side was the stone form of a coiled up naga, bearing her fangs. She was quite willful, hard to break. Still, she was a trophy of conquest of this very castle. On the other side was the statue of a human woman holding a copper sword, gritting her teeth. She had been stripped of her armor and clothing and now stood nude.
A pair of skeletons held up a large oval mirror with a carved golden frame. Carefully, they attached it to one of the pillars. Juana finished the job, securing it in place.
"There, all set." Juana smiled. The mirror reflected her image at first, but with a word the image distorted like ripples in a pond. Soon, it shifted to a view of the forest. "Excellent. Now to test it out." With a wave of her hand, it passed over a village and stopped at a field on its outskirts. With a wave of her other hand, it passed over the village again. After a moment she honed in on the village square. She could see the people walking about their day. Each of them had the ears and tails of wolves, and they mainly wore pelts.
"Oops, wrong village." Juana looked at them for a few minutes before moving on. It passed over a random oni beating his chest as he stood over a slain bear. It then passed over another village before long, this time Giha.
Signs of the fight from before had been cleaned up. A number of skeletons were guarding the gates. They mainly just stood there, holding their spears and swords. The people seemed uneasy around them and avoided the main gates. Still, they went out to tend the fields.
Juana spun her index finger around and the image zoomed out. She spun it the other way and it zoomed in. "I've got to remember how to work this thing." It slid to the side with another gesture and ended up in someone's bedroom.
It scrolled past a few people and a few rooms. There was a flash of stone as it moved through a store house. "Wait, stop, go back." Juana waved her hand, trying to return to the store house.
Instead, the view shifted to the inside of a bathroom. A lovely busty woman stood nude in front of her. She stepped into the brick and wood tub of water. Steam slowly rose from it. The raven haired beauty then began to wash her considerable assets.
Juana watched the woman for a while. When the woman laid back to soak, she zoomed out. She found the house she was in and took a good look at it. It seemed to be more of a shop, really.
Moving on, she soon found the store house again. Inside were several stone statues, most of them laying down. There were five in armor, some holding weapons, while others wore work clothes and held large farming tools. She counted them to make sure none were missing. "Wait, was there four or five farmers? Ah, no matter. The fighters are all here."
The image rippled again and soon Juana saw only her own reflection. "I think it's time for another visit."
***
Juana arrived at Giha village. As always, she had a platoon of skeletons following her. Rather then bowing, the villagers instead chose to scatter.
Chief Erdem came to greet her in the village square. He bowed to her. "Welcome... Queen Underwood." There was a certain level of contempt in his voice, which he tried to hide.
Juana stepped out of the wagon. "Thank you, Chief." She put on a professional smile.
Erdem rose to his feet. "We weren't expecting you back so soon. I will get your... tribute ready right away."
"That will give me time to do some shopping. I have been cleaning out my castle and found it quite barren. I need new furnishings." Juana started walking down the street.
"I see. I'm afraid we are but a small village. Our local carpenter wouldn't have enough stock to fill your castle."
"It will be a start. If I like what I see, I will place an order for more." Juana soon stopped at the building she saw in the mirror. The first level was a storefront, while the second level appeared to be living quarters. There also seemed to be a workshop in the back, as well as the bath.
The main room of the building had a few tables and chairs on display. Against the walls were cabinets, dressers, mirrors, and the like, all pretty simplistic looking. However, what really caught her eye was the raven-haired beauty standing in the back next to an older man. Given the resemblance, he was likely her father. Both of them froze when she entered.
Erdem hobbled in after a moment. "This is Henry, our carpenter."
Henry gulped. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Juana took a curious glance around the room, quickly scanning the items. "I wish to furnish my castle. Is this all you have?"
"Yes, ma'am, I mean yes, your highness. This is all my finished stock. I only have incomplete works in the back." Henry seemed nervous as he spoke. "If these aren't enough, then I could build more... with enough time."
Juana slid her hand over a table. It was solid, but far too plain for her tastes. Besides, she had her eyes on something else. "I'm afraid I don't care much for the design. I think I would much rather take the girl to decorate my grand hall. She would make a much better addition then these simple things."
"What!?" Henry turned pale. His daughter shook.
"You should be honored." Juana moved closer. Her ring started to glow.
Henry stepped between them. "I can't let you take my daughter. You will have to strike me down first."
"Don't tell me what to do!" A standing mirror caught Juana's eye. She saw the raven haired woman in the reflection. She lifted up her arm, pointing it at the man first, but quickly shifted her arm to the reflection, letting loose a blast. It bounced off the mirror, hitting the girl in the shoulder.
As Henry turned to look in horror the woman started to freeze up in mid-turn. Her shoulder quickly turned to marble, which spread down her arm and across her chest. Her mouth hung open in terror as it turned to stone. Her braids froze in the air. Within half a minute, it had spread down her legs and she moved no more.
"Kayley!" The carpenter rushed to the stone form of his daughter and embraced her. "Turn her back!"
"I've already settled on it. She shall join me in Castle Underwood. But fret not, if you build a throne worthy of me I shall restore her... once I grow tired of her." Juana giggled before snapping her fingers.
A few skeletons walked into the shop. They pulled Henry off the prize and picked her up, soon carrying her out the door.
Erdem looked at Juana. "Why?"
"I need to build my collection. Show to me to the other statues. As payment, I will restore two of them."
Erdem sighed. "Yes, your highness." He walked her to the store house where the passed victims were kept and unlocked the door.
"No sense in restoring the guards just yet." Juana aimed her ring at one of the stone farmers, firing a blast and turning him back to normal. He was a bit disoriented as he awoke and dropped his hoe. After a moment, Juana hit another farmer, turning her back to normal as well. "That's all for now."
****
Juana arrived at another village by wagon. She had found it in her magic mirror. She was now ready to add it to her growing kingdom. Naturally, she took a large number of minions with her.
This village, which went by Hareville on its rickety sign at the main entrance, had a much different architectural style then Giha, and different fashion as well. The werewolves wore animal pelts and many were half-naked. The guards lacked armor and held wooden and stone spears.
Juana stopped and announced herself. "Greetings. I am Queen Juana Underwood. I have come today to grant you the honor of being the next village to join my grand kingdom."
The guards howled. "We have heard what you did to Giha Village. You will not take us so easily!" Fur started to cover their bodies and they grew in size, their muscles expanding. Their faces extended, turning into wolf snouts. Now each of them were over 6" tall. Without delay, they charged the skeletons.
More appeared in anthropomorphic wolf form. They charged the skeletons and jumped onto the ogres. An ogre grabbed one and threw her away.
Juana summoned a wall of bones as two of them charged through her minions, then colliding with the barrier. When she dropped it, she turned one to stone and struck the other with lightning. She fired a few more bolts at the mob before turning the other to stone. "Werewolves heal quickly. I can't give them time to recover."
A spear flew at Juana. "Ahh!" She was able to deflect it just in time with the bone wall. Before letting it down, she summoned random lightning strikes, trusting her skeletons would be for the most part unaffected. Upon dropping the wall, she fired her ring, striking a werewolf in the gut. She quickly fell to the ground.
The battle started spreading out. The skeleton wolves ran into the village and a few werewolves chased after them. The ogres stayed on either side of Juana, blocking the werewolves as they tried to charged her. Bones were scattered all over the road as the skeletons tried to pull themselves back together. A few of the werewolves fell back to recover.
One of them used an iron broad sword, using it to slice through the minions as she fought her way closer. She sidestepped an ogre as it tried to grab her, and then attacked it's knee, knocking it off balance. Running up its back, she attacked its neck, causing its head to fall to the ground. After a few more strikes, she jumped off before it fell to the ground.
She then turned her attention to Juana, rushing at her and avoiding a blast from the ring. She then hacked away at the bone wall until the other ogre could move around her.
As soon as she could, Juana fired another blast of lightning over a wide spread. She stunned the werewolf long enough to hit her in tail with a ring blast.
Quickly, her tail became heavy, but she was still able to move for now. Having lost her sword from a blow from the ogre, she leaped at Juana bare-handed.
Panicking, Juana leaped to the side. The stone form of the werewolf knocked her down as it grazed her. She landed on her butt and struggled to quickly stand up as more weres approached her.
Juana shouted as she summoned more lightning. While the light blinded them she petrified one. The others took the hit. As soon as the ring was ready, she struck another.
By the time the werewolves were in retreat, there were well over a dozen statues littered about the battle field. Juana caught her breath then advanced into the village. "Surrender! The battle is mine!"
A werewolf shifted, his fur retracting and his body shrinking as he morphed back into his demihuman form. "Please stop this! On behalf of the village, I surrender."
"Are you the chief?" Juana raised an eyebrow. "He seems a bit young."
"You turned the chief to stone. I am his first born."
Juana moved closer. "I see. Very well. Will you accept my offer and join my kingdom?"
"Will you turn the others back if I do?"
"Over time, if you serve me well." Juana dawned a wicked smile.
"At least restore my father, the village needs him."
Juana looked over at the collection of statues. She spotted one with a necklace made of fangs hanging around his neck. "Is this one your father?"
"He is." The werewolf nodded.
"Well he will stay like this for as long as I wish. I will only restore him when you have proven yourself. You've given me quite a bit of trouble." Juana aimed her wand at the statue, it's jewel glowing. "Or I could make sure he can't come back."
"As you wish." The chief's son bowed. "The village is yours."
"Excellent." Juana smiled again. "Now I have a few... decrees."
*****
Juana returned to Castle Underwood a few hours later. It took a bit of effort, but she made sure everyone in Hareville Village knew her will. They would alternate with Giha Village in sending her food. She also took a few of the petrified werewolves as trophies.
Two of the werewolves were running on all fours when she petrified them. They were still able to stand upright. The skeletons set them up on either side of the front door of the castle, just past the outer walls. She would have to commission stone pedestals for them to stand on later.
The third statue was the she-wolf that almost got her. Juana had taken both her and her sword. An ogre was in charge of holding her.
Juana collected some chains and a magic collar from her locked box. She chained up the wolf and the ogre held her down. She then pointed her ring and fired.
As soon as the werewolf was flesh and blood again she howled. She struggled under the ogre as it put its weight on her, which admittedly wasn't as much as a living ogre. "What is going on!?" She growled.
"I am Queen Juana Underwood and I have just added Hareville to my kingdom. That makes me your queen as well." Juana moved closer.
"You're lying!" She struggled against the ogre, pushing its hand up slowly. More skeletons grabbed her.
"I'm not. Now shift back to your more human form."
She yelled and struggled.
"I see. So we will be doing this the hard way." Juana opened up a pocket-size spellbook. "Let's see, how did this spell go again?" She pointed the wand at the woman and read the spell.
Her body went limp and fell against the floor. She relaxed and started to shrink. The fur covering her body receded and she shrank slightly. Her eyes closed as she became sleepy.
"That's more like it. Now hold still." Juana put away the book. She then slid the collar around the wolf woman's neck and buckled it. "There, now you will be my loyal soldier." Juana pulled away. The ogre released its grip.
"The hell I am!" She jumped up onto her feet, the chains only slightly hampering her moments, and thrust her hand at Juana. However, she stopped short of piercing her. "What?"
"Did the debuff wear off already? I guess that's a werewolf for you." Juana checked her book again. "How did that work again? Well, no matter. You are unable to harm me or even remove that collar."
"We will see." She reached for her neck, but wasn't even able to grasp the leather strip. She growled and struck the skull of a skeleton, knocking it off the body.
"That was uncalled for. What is your name?"
"Camilla Scarlettpaw." She seemed shocked by her own words.
"Scarlett? How fitting." Juana looked at the reddish hair of the wolf woman. "From now on, you are to protect me with your life. Now hold still for a moment." After removing the chains, she turned and headed to the door. "Follow me."
Camilla followed behind Juana. She kept growling under her breath.
Upstairs, they ran into Ness. She looked at the two of them. "Who is this?" She eyed Camilla's neck.
"This is Camilla. She put up the best fight, so I saw fit to make her the first of my elite guard." Juana smiled and patted Camilla on the back. "Still, I'm going to have to discipline her."
Camilla looked at the neko. "And just who are you?"
"I'm Ness. Welcome to hell."
Juana sighed. "Oh, don't be so dramatic." She looked back and Camilla. "She my maid, in charge of the cooking and cleaning. Try and get along, you two."
Camilla huffed and looked to the side.