She seemed surprised and a bit angry but I didn’t care, she won’t be able to do anything to me, at least while we were in the woods. As the day turned to night, we stopped and me and Varin went hunting, discarding our armor and creeping along noiselessly through the forest. We split up and soon returned an hour later, me with two of what looked to be a rabbit and Varin with a strange bird, almost like a chicken. No matter, as long as it was meat, it was edible. I started a fire and using one of the goblins—those creatures that captured us—spears, we began to cook the meat after preparing the animals to be cooked.

We distributed the meat equally and dug in, soon finishing our share. The women appeared to be still hungry so I made a mental note to hunt more, it wouldn’t do to have unsatisfied soldiers… and peasants. Nobles look down on them but they are nothing to laugh at if they band together, Morsad nearly fell a few times because of such revolts. But time and time again, the soldiers of Morsad proved themselves to their country and suppressed the revolutionaries. I remembered slaughtering many of the insurgents, cruel but necessary. Their families were not spared either, that would only allow hatred to fester and to birth an even larger revolt.

A few more weeks passed and finally, we were out of the forest, grass plains stretching out to the horizon while the ominous shadows of the woods were at our backs. The women seemed glad to have left the woods but I and my comrades were worried, how were we gonna get food now? That was soon solved, there were great herds of these strange creatures that resembled cows with the hair of bears. But with such a large number of them, it would be a pain in the ass to hunt them. We’d have to pick off stragglers or those that wander too far from the rest.

We continued on our way, Inaris, Aran and Adaris forging on ahead, their large frames flattening the grass so that it would be easier for the rest of us to pass through. I and Izlir were behind them while Deryn and Varin following up behind the women. We continued to march, following the direction of the woman, finally stumbling upon a road on our third day on the plains. The women chattered excitedly, apparently if we followed it, we’d soon stumbleupon a small city and there, we would finally be safe.

I didn’t think too much of it, it just meant that we would part ways and me and my comrades would be able to find more information about this strange world. By now, we were able to speak quite fluently so language shouldn’t be a problem. If all else fails, we can just say that we are foreigners of a distant country, though we’d have to be vague. I yawned tiredly as we stopped, my belly demanding food. I and Varin went off road, our armor off and keeping low to the ground, hunting the creatures that the women identified as buffalo.

I kept my sword, its large size ideal against fighting these things, for one thing, I could use the flat of the blade to either block or stun the animal. It would be hard trying to conceal it but I wouldn’t part with it willingly, either it stays with me or I stay with it. But Varin’s spear would be more useful in this situation, to do as little damage as possible to the flesh but still able to kill the creature. I would only be defending him and to help him carry the body back. As we neared the herd, we began to look for easy prey, finally singling out a loner that grazed some ways from the herd. Varin inched closer and closer until he was about twenty feet away from the creature, tensing himself, preemptively aiming so as to not waste time.

In one swift movement, he stood and threw at the same time, the spear flying through the air and hitting the beast in the side. It lowed in surprise, galloping away. The herd began to flee in the opposite direction but we didn’t care, it was this one that we were after. We began to walk leisurely after it, following the trail of destruction and blood that it left behind it. After an hour, finally, we found it, huffing painfully as it struggled to keep moving.

I wasted no time and decapitated it, gutting the buffalo and ridding it of its organs. We buried the organs and I sliced it in half with my great sword, the blade cutting through bone and flesh alike. We each took a half and began to head back, positioning it so that the hide of the creature was on our back so that the blood didn’t drip on us. We had no difficulty spotting our comrades, they had started a fire. I was slightly bewildered as to how but upon arriving, it seems that the women used the shit of the buffalo as fuel, the shit being made up of the flammable parts of the plant that the creature couldn’t eat.

No matter, it meant that we could cook the creature instead of eating it raw. We also saved the hide, though it being split in half was a boon, it allowed for two weakest of the five women to have greater chances of survival. But as it was becoming dark and the herd of buffalo were now long gone, we couldn’t procure anymore hide.

But it should be alright, the women should be able to survive and if necessary, Aran and the other two who fucked could warm them up. But it should be fine, though if they do fuck, it would also fuck up with the watch rotation. Out here, we would have to be more so on the watch, the light of our fire could be seen for miles, there may be people who don’t have such good will towards us.

I had watch at midnight so I didn’t waste what time I had to nap, later being woken up by Izlir. As he went to sleep, I began watch, settling down in a comfortable sitting position and not moving, regulating my breathing to match those that slept around me. My ears became sensitive as they always do and I strained to hear anything, careful not to expend all of my focus, needing it to last an hour. Suddenly, I heard a gasp and I swiftly drew my dagger, turning to the source of the noise, slowly relaxing when I saw that it was one of the women.

She had a panicked look on her face, a look I had seen on many a soldier, especially when the Twentieth Scout Division encountered a dragon. I knew what to do but was unsure if I should do so but her gasping was fucking with my concentration so I made my way to her, grabbing her by the shoulders, staring into her eyes. I just stared into her eyes, her panicked eyes calming down as they focused on mine.

Once she was calm, I stood and returned to my watch, saying, “Go to sleep. We march in the morning.” She followed my advice and was soon asleep, her breathing slowing gradually until it blended with the breathing of the others. I remained on watch till the hour was up, waking Varin to take over, dozing off as Varin remained vigilant.

I did not wake till early in the morning, my comrades waking up in sync. I breakfasted on what meat was left over, leaving enough for the women. Once the sun peaked its head above the horizon, we woke the women, giving them the rest of the meat to eat. Once they finished, we packed up what was left and continued on our way, keeping a slow pace so that the women could keep up.

When the sun was high in the sky, I was warned by Varin who was bringing up the back that a caravan was approaching. After a quick discussion, it was decided that we would ask them to lend us a ride, it was for the women. So we waited by the side of the road until the caravan pulled to a stop near us. The women asked for a ride, saying that we were their escorts for the time being but were in need of faster modes of travel.

With more leisure time, we had the women teach us the letters of the language, the noblewoman being the only one of real help as she was the only one with sufficient education. The other women were taught as well, though we had a better grasp as we already knew the letters of our language. But it still took three months of learning, all through which we continued to travel, most of the women having been dropped off in nearby churches, only the noblewoman stayed with us.

Then one day, as she was teaching us some more words, the carriage rumbled to a stop and I heard the screams of men and horses, an attack. I leapt onto the ground from the carriage, drawing my sword and ran toward the source of the noise, appointing Izlir to guard the woman. He wasn’t too happy about it but his two short swords would be better for combat in the wagon. I and the rest of us got into formation and marched toward the battle, Aran with Deryl and Inaris with Varin. Adaris and I weren’t partners so we couldn’t fight with each other so I just said that he should do what he thought best.

He grunted and went to work, his axe making short work of the enemies before him. I got to work, cutting down enemies with a single strike. They were not skilled, merely bandits, men who were down on their luck so tried their hand in thievery. But they did not run after a few were dead, either they were desperate or fearful of something more dangerous than us. It soon proved to be the latter as a booming voice shouted,

“Pathetic! Have you not killed the merchants yet!?”

A woman stepped out onto the battlefield, a strange sight for me and my comrades, women were useless in battle, their weak strength and the fact that enemy soldiers tend to be a lot more harsh towards them meaning that if they were on the battlefield, their nation was desperate indeed. But this one, I sensed that her strength was on par with that of the harem guards, women trained from an early age to protect the king’s harem.

They are far more skilled than most soldiers and I have yet to fight one, though Adaris fought one in order to win the right to fuck her. He was almost castrated as a result. It was amusing to the rest of us but that made us think of their strength. Adaris was no normal warrior. We were all once part of anti-magic units, that was why we were part of the rearguard. Our bodies were magically enhanced to defeat mages, our equipment made to repel magic like wax does water.

We were faster than the normal soldier and our stamina was infinitely greater, by all rights, Adaris should have won but he failed. I got the same sort of vibe from this woman, that she was far stronger than she looked. I decided to take no chances and told the others that I would fight her. Out of all of us, I was the most experienced when it came to killing mages, partly because of my strength, speed and uncanny adaptability.

I walked toward her, slashing aside any who dared to step up to me. Quite soon, I was ten feet away from her, a trail of corpses in my wake. I hefted my blade on my shoulder, saying,

“I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to leave.”

She chuckled, “Of course, I’m already so close to taking the caravan, why stop now?”

“Good point.” I say as I charged.

The woman blocked my blade with swords of her own, sabers which were held out in an x so that they caught my blade. Still maintaining pressure on her swords, I stabbed forward with the dagger I had, the woman slipping away gracefully and my sword biting deep into the ground. Instantly, she attacked and I parried with my dagger, using both pommel and blade to block. As I blocked, I raised my sword once more and began my assault, using its broader surface to block while I continued to push closer with my dagger.

She grinned, “Not bad, how much did they hire you for?”

I replied, “I’m just traveling with them, but if you are inviting me, I’ll have to refuse.”

She pretended to lament, “Oh why is it the good men always refuse?”

I didn’t reply, only attacking faster. My dagger quickly flicked out, a barrage of jabs which she masterfully blocked. After doing this for a minute, I quickly sheathed the dagger and gripped my sword two-handed, swinging with all the speed I could muster, the woman dodging the strikes or deflecting them with her blade. But soon enough, one of her blades broke, unable to withstand the constant barrage of my attacks.

I gave her no reprieve, continuing to slash away as my comrades kept any enemies away from us. I then began to duel-wield, taking out my dagger once more and did many combos with jabs and slashes, stabbing quickly with the dagger and slashing away with the sword. She managed quite well with only a single blade and I also threw in kicks and often tried to ram her with my shoulder but she was too elusive.

But she was able to get in a few knicks here, though they didn’t pierce my armor, though more of her powerful strikes may leave some good bruises. She managed to knick my cheek as well but in return, I used the flat of my blade to bat her aside, my attack managing to catch her though most of the energy was absorbed by her blade. We continued this dangerous dance of ours, neither of us gaining the upper hand and it soon became clear that it would be a battle of attrition.

But if this was a battle of attrition, then I would win, my stamina would be far greater than hers and I could probably keep up this fight all day if necessary. Finally, she retreated, breathing hard. I was about to chase her when I noticed the crossbow men who were aimed at me, prepared to fire. WIth my attention away from her, it allowed her to take a moment’s respite and have her remaining men surround her. She grinned,

“It was a fun dance while it lasted, but I’m afraid you’ll have to die now.”

She made a fist with her right hand and the crossbows twanged as a dozen quarrels made their way toward me. I simply used the flat of my blade to get as much surface area as possible and batted them away, missing a few but my dagger took care of them. While they reloaded, I charged, slashing once to get rid of the men guarding them and another slash to kill them, cutting through all of them as I used more strength than usual.

She still had a grin on her face as she looked at me, asking, “Are you sure you don’t want to join me?”

I shook my head, “I already serve my emperor, I will not betray him.”

She shrugged, “Very well, then goodbye. You’ve won this round but I’ll be back.”

They retreated off into the distance and I watched them go, waiting until they were out of sight before returning my attention to our dead and wounded. There were five wounded and three dead of ours, there were thirteen dead bandits and five more soon to join them. The other wounded were taken by the bandits. We gave the five a proper burial and dragged the corpses of the bandits far off road so that the smell wouldn’t disturb future travelers.

We then continued on our way, people looking at me and my comrades with awe, respect, and a slight amount of fear. I liked that they feared us, it would make them less likely to try and kill us though the opposite was just as likely. But, no matter, if they turn on us they will be killed, if they don’t then I’ll leave them alone.

After that, there were no more major incidents, there were some large creatures called ogres that attacked but I and my comrades easily dealt with them. Then, after three months traveling with the caravan, we finally arrived at Carthen, the city which the noblewoman’s family was located. We parted ways from the caravan there and said our goodbyes to the other women, escorting the noblewoman to her clan’s mansion, our armor attracting many curious glances.

Finally, we stood before the gates to her home and we had slight trouble trying to get through, the guards were adamant of blocking our passage. But after the noblewoman introduced herself and showed them a silver and sapphire rosary, things changed.

“Ah, Lady Atherton! Forgive us!”

They quickly let us in and we escorted her to the front door, where she knocked and waited. Soon, an old maid opened the door, her eyes suspicious when seeing me and my comrades but turning to shock and relief once her eyes settled upon the noblewoman.

She gasped, “Esmeralda!”

Turning from us, she called back in the house, “The young Lady has returned! Master!”

She shuffled back into the house, leaving us standing there awkwardly for a few more moments until the master of the house appeared, ignoring us and hugging his daughter. He withdrew after a few moments and began to question his daughter about her time in her disappearance, rage appearing on his face as he heard the injustices that were piled upon her. But upon mentioning that we were her saviors, he turned a kind eye to us and bowed deeply,

“You have my greatest thanks for saving my daughter. There is a reward for bringing her back, I will get a servant to fetch it immediately.”

I bowed my head slightly, “Please do.”

He seemed surprised at my thick accent and I explained, “Me and my comrades are… foreigners I think is how you say it.”

He seemed to muse on what we said, finally saying, “Well, foreigners or not, you saved my daughter and that’s all that matters. Please, come in. It would be rude of me not to serve you some food after what you have done for my family.”