"Why... why should I?!" declared the Drider, attempting to be defiant even though she had now been strongarmed off of her golem and rather unceremoniously carried down.

Fanilly stepped forward, facing the drider with her eyes narrowed.

"The one you are protecting sent a band of orcs to slaughter a nearby town. Is she truly worth it, knowing that?" she asked. The blonde knight girl didn't understand any of this. The Drider seemed adamant that her teacher had done nothing wrong... if she had to guess, she suspected that the Drider had been educated in magic outside of the normal circles. That, of course, would make her a witch. Witchcraft, of course, being the practice of magic through methods outside of normal education. Tutors and mage academies were freely accepted in most countries, but the practice of magic in wild places with unknown teachers certainly was not. In Thaln, practioners of witchcraft were not persecuted, but it was technically illegal, and those who pursued such endeavors were often shunned in rural areas. The Drider was likely no exception to this.

Perhaps she adamantly believed the 'dark lady's' innocence because she had been treated well by her?

"What?" the Drider looked shocked, "There's no way that could be true! Orcs... orcs are evil, but my teacher was using a spell to control them! She even showed me! They shouldn't be able to attack innocent people..."

"I saw it with my own eyes," Fanilly asserted. She didn't understand what was going on here. Using orcs, but hiding it all from her student? Just what was going on here? The drider seemed to be innocent of any actual crimes beyond witchcraft, at least, but... what was happening? Ah, it was just too confusing!

And then...

At the top of the stairs, there was [url=https://safebooru.org//samples/2562/sample_cbd8d0de566b98d9366a0732af79e623616253ce.png?2669261]a woman. She was beautiful, with long, black hair, pale skin, clad in a black dress with a furred collar...[/url]

"... Oh, dear me, what terrible ruffians," she commented, placing a hand to her cheek, "What [i]are[/i] you doing to my student?"

The drider immediately brightened on seeing her.

Fanilly raised her sword carefully, eyes fixed on the woman. There was almost no chance this wasn't the dark lady they had been told about.

"Now she can explain!" declared the drider, confidently.

[@TheFake][@Raineh Daze][@PKMNB0Y]