Her father had started to teach and educate her when she was too young, and she had grasped it. Able to read parchments that were written by people but she wondered what her mother had hidden that had made her go so far as to erase the memory. She was sure it was the first time she had done it. But all this while she had thought she didn't know to read and write much until she met Damien, and Lady Maggie tutoring her. 

No wonder she was able to read the theatrical scripts easily. Some parts of her brain knew to read but it had been camouflaged making her think that she had memorized it by its shape. Penny was not an illiterate but someone who had been educated to only be made to be forgotten in the end. Taking a deep breath, she asked Damien,

"Did you tell the magistrate about his son?" 

"Not yet," he replied, pulling and bringing her closer to him, "Alexander is contemplating on what to do."

"What do you mean?" Penny turned around and Damien helped her place her legs on his own so that she could face him without having to crane her neck too much. 

Damien placed a hand on her leg, saying, "The bodies are getting corroded quickly," she gave him a questionable look, "Worse than the condition we found them in. The swap must have been protected with some sort of spell to not let the children rot quickly. With the bodies moved away from the swap, they have been brought here."

"Can I take a look?" Penny asked him. Her eyes searching for an answer. 

"I don't mind you looking at the bodies unless you plan to puke again when there's nothing in your stomach."

"I will try not to," she a.s.sured him but there was a sliver of nervousness as she said it to him. Both of them knew that Penny was not used to looking at rotten bodies but she wanted to look and understand what might have happened. If there was something more than their body parts being in the pot and what ritual were they practicing. Penny couldn't tell how happy she was to kill the black witches back in the forbidden forest. 

Damien took Penny down the mansion, and to the dungeon which the servants were not allowed. Two guards were stationed at the front who bowed at Damien when they walked past through the entrance. 

"What is this place?" Penny asked looking around the walls. 

"It is my grandfather's place," she snapped her head to see Alexander who had arrived, "Few years he had got it built for his prisoners who didn't listen or get along with him."

"Back in the days, there was too much hustle among all creatures of different races. They had to be contained and questioned. We have two lower levels for safekeeping."

As they walked, one could tell that this place was old. Older than any person who now lived here, the smell of iron heavy in the air which came from the iron bars of the many cells while also some smell that came from the deceased bodies which had perished here. Reaching the rusty cell, Penny saw the bodies that did look different now. 

When they had seen the bodies earlier, they still looked...juicy. Like the flesh in them was still soft and the blood still there but right now, they looked dry. Dry like the last drop of blood had been taken out from their body. Their pale skins had turned somewhat green in color. 

"The magistrate said that the boy was abducted two months ago?" Penny confirmed with Damien.

"Yes. He must have been killed right away before the black witches put him for their use. The rest of the children must have gone through the same conditions."

Penny pressed her lips together. Staring at the bodies as the light fell in the dark dungeon with the help of lanterns that hung on the cells, "They look unrecognizable now," she whispered. 

"It is why we have held back on calling the parents. Children are often now shown the dead bodies of their beloved pets. It is one thing to show and another to show it in an unrecognizable state that will cause great pain before chaos falls in," Lord Alexander's face stayed almost expressionless as he said it, "Letting the parents know, it will be painful to let them know what their children went through. The torture they put them through. Information is always put forth in front of people but then comes rumors to add up to it which turns a small spark to a raging flame which will cause a domino effect in the four lands that we have."

"I have already issued the notice for every town and village in Valeria. No one is supposed to walk alone and into the forest. If they do they are supposed to report it to the magistrate. Everyone stays home after seven," said Lord Alexander who had taken precautionary measures for the land he was a.s.signed to, "What about the report?"

"Almost done with it. I will hand it to you in half an hour," Damien replied to him. 

"Good. I will be sending out the letter to Reuben so that he can take a look if needed. The magistrates and others are hard to trust," Lord Alexander stated. These were the times where he failed to believe and rely on. There was hardly a few ones could trust because no one ever knew when the knife would be stabbed on their back.

"That's true," Damien agreed before taking a deep breath and releasing as if he were tired. The children were killed two months ago and now that they were taken from the swamp. They were finally decaying, making up for the loss of time for the body to decompose.