MIYAMOTO WAS TRUE TO HIS WORD as the camp was packed back up the next morning and all the horses were on the road and making a decent distance before lunch. After letting the horses drink and feed, the old samurai pushed them all back on the road all that afternoon, using the trees in the forest to shade them while walking the path to the next town. It was a quiet and peaceful ride into the next town, which looked a little bigger than Moonshire, but there was no wall and they looked to be living a more peaceful life. That was certainly not the case as appearances were completely deceiving as they three of them rode into town. As they were making their way to the hotel in the center of town, the town folk were just looking at them, and wondering why they were even there, which didn’t appear rather hospitable. Even one of the town folk came up to Calissa and talked to her as she rode by.

“Are you doing here?” he called out to her.

“We’re just travelers passing through,” Alfred answered for his daughter. “We’re not here to cause trouble.”

“There’s trouble already here!” The man replied, “This town is cursed! You’re all going to die!”

“That doesn’t sound very good,” Calissa observed, “What seems to be going on?”

The man didn’t reply and just ran off in his panicked state, probably looking for a place to hide out. He did appear to be petrified, and whatever was bugging him seemed to genuinely scare the life out of him. Calissa could also see the fear in everyone’s eyes as they rode through town. They were all scared and worst of all didn’t know what to do.

“It’s not the Hakken,” Calissa said to her father. “I haven’t felt their presence since we left Moonshire. Something different is going on here.”

“Not our business,” Alfred replied.

“We might have to make it our business,” Miyamoto retorted, “Let’s speak to the people in charge and find out what’s really going on here.”

“Are you sure about that?” Alfred said, seeming worried himself. “We have enough trouble with the Hakken after us, and now you want to possibly help this town with whatever the hell is bugging them?”

“It is our duty as warriors, Alfred.” Miyamoto reminded his friend, “And soon it will be her duty as well, if it isn’t already. Let me find out what’s going on and then we can all decide if we want to help them.”

“Alright,” Alfred conceded, “You find out what’s going on, and Calissa and I will take care of accommodations. Fair?”

“Yes, quite.” His friend agreed. He parked the wagon in front of the inn they planned to stay at. “Here we are.”

“Still here and looking the same after all those years.” Alfred observed.

“What are you talking about?” Calissa asked.

“When working for her majesty’s royal guard, I used to spend a many nights here whenever I was summoned to do so.” Her father answered, “and now it will be our home for the next few days.”

“Maybe,” Miyamoto reminded him, “Let me find out what’s going on.”

Calissa and her father tied their horses to the railing and then took the wagon to the stable to leave it there for the night, grabbing only the essentials, unworried that the two strong horses inside wouldn’t let anything happen. Her father went into the lobby to book a room and the clerk was reluctant, which was unheard of.

“We are afraid,” The clerk replied, “We can’t take responsibility based on what’s going on.”

“We don’t care!” Alfred roared at him. “We’re warriors! IF anything comes to town, we’ll kick their asses. We know the risks, so just give us two damn rooms for the night already. We need one single and a double!”

“Alright, as long as you’re okay with it.” The clerk said as he handed them two sets of keys. Alfred handed one set to his daughter and kept the other for himself and he and his friend would be taking the double to give the young lady her privacy.

Miyamoto didn’t return quickly, but Alfred wasn’t worried. They went to the pub downstairs from their rooms and ordered supper, even ordering for their absent friend as Alfred knew what he’d want. When his friend did return, he sat down at the table, and started to eat and drink. He waited a few moments to finally break the silence and let them know what was going on.

“Trolls,” he finally said, “The town is being terrorized by trolls.”

“Shit,” Alfred said, putting his glass down with disgust. “I hate trolls. They’re smelly, disgusting, unthinking creatures. How many are there?”

“They think two, maybe three.” Miyamoto answered. “They’ve only been terrorizing people who stray from town and haven’t actually directly attacked.”

“Yet,” Alfred added.

“And that’s what has them frightened,” Calissa said, “We should take care of these trolls and enjoy the rest of our weekend.”

“There is no we,” Miyamoto said, “If we agree to do this, you’re not coming.”

“What?” Calissa asked, rather surprised. “How am I going to become a warrior if I can’t get out there and do things to apply my skills and learn.”

“It’s not that,” her master said, “Trolls are difficult enough, but when there are women around, they go into a rage and are far more difficult to fight. And the last thing you want is a stimulated troll getting his hands on you. Women are usually do not hunt trolls for this particular reason. No offense meant.”

“None taken, I guess.” Calissa said, as she appeared to understand. She didn’t want to make the mission more difficult for them, which could cause more injury. As much as she wanted to help, being there would make things worse than better and it was clear for her to understand.

“We can’t agree to take the mission until we know what we’re dealing with.” Her master explained. “Alfred and I will just scout out there and find out just how many we’re dealing with here. Once we know the count, we can decide what to do next.”

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day,” Alfred admitted.

“That seems fair,” Calissa said, hoping that if they just found one or two trolls rather than many, they might reconsider letting her go too.

“Just stay here and protect our assets,” Miyamoto ordered, “And we should be back before dawn. Understood?”

“I get it,” Calissa said, “I don’t like it, but I get it.”

“That’s more than we could ask for,” Alfred said as he kissed her brow. “Your time will come, I’m sure of it. Be patient.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Calissa said, toying with her supper.

“He’s right,” Miyamoto replied, “Let us scout the situation, and maybe we can revisit this decision based on how dangerous it is. Is that fair?”

“It is,” Calissa said, smiling back, “Thank you.”

“It doesn’t matter how old or strong you become,” Alfred said, “We are always going to look out for you. Even when you’re tougher than us and can kick everyone’s ass six ways of Sunday, we’ll still try.”

“Gee, thanks.” Calissa said, “Two worry warts for parents.”

She left the table and the two men laughed.

“I heard they get more rebellious at this age,” Miyamoto said, “I feel for you my friend, she’s not slowing down and will be a women soon.”

“Don’t remind me,” Alfred said, need something stronger to drink.

“She’ll be fine,” Miyamoto assured him, “We are preparing her for almost anything that’s out there. When we are long gone, she will take over and be the greatest warrior this world has ever known. She’s not there yet, but I am confident that’s the path she’s taking.”

“I get it, and appreciate the pep talk,” Alfred said, sighing. “Let’s get this over with and find out how many of those smelly things are out there.”

“Alright,” his friend said, as he was finished his dinner. “We’ll leave within the hour and use the night to cloak our mission. If all goes well, we’ll do a simple head count and then return her to formulate a plan to take care of them.”

Calissa returned to her room and never talked to either men before they left. They knew how she felt and didn’t bother to speak to hear aware that it might just upset her again. It wasn’t just that she was being left behind because she was a young teen, but because she was a woman. They had never done that to her before, but there was something they knew that scared them as well. She decided to stay in bed and just rest for the night, catch up on her sleep and maybe practice in the morning. The men had been gone several hours, and the sun was long gone when a loud noise woke Calissa from what was a really deep sleep. She heard something crash, and thought nothing of it, probably just an accident. It was a loud piercing scream that came right after it that caused the young girl to jump out of bed and run over to her window to check on things for herself. What she saw when she looked out was shocking and the last thing she expected to see.

There was a troll, and it stood at around eight feet tall and looking rather heavy as well, and rather mean as well as it was picking up random things and throwing it everywhere, hence the loud crash. Calissa considered staying in and letting the town deal with their own problem, but the loud screams coming from the street suggested that might not be the best way to handle things. She grabbed her sword and stashed a dagger in her back pocket before running out the door and down the stairs to get outside and into the chaos running amok. People were all running for their lives, and she could blame them. This troll was freakishly large and out of control. She kept her distance from the big, gross looking thing, watching to see what it did and how it conducted itself. She had never encountered a troll before and just wanted to see what she was dealing with. There were no weapons, no blades and the thing appeared content to use his fists to break things, so a bit of a brawler, as her master would call it. Calissa wanted to watch it a bit longer but wasn’t given much of a choice as the thing grabbed a woman who was a source of the screams. It hasn’t done anything to her, but clearly was in the process of starting some sort of assault, so Calissa had to act.

Using only her sword, she used her speed to run up to the troll and strike before he could even tell she was there. She sliced through the entire calf on one of his legs, which would make it impossible for it to walk normally now which caused the troll to roar angrily. Calissa used the confusion to pick up the woman it was attacking and carry her away. The troll one calf short was hobbling after them but moving too slow to make up any ground. She escorted the scared woman to a nearby tavern, and they unlocked the door and opened it for her. After the woman was safe, Calissa refused entry for herself and walked back into the street and towards the hobbling troll. She was eager to finish him off, and maybe prove to her father and her master that she was capable of doing any job, even one this ugly. With sword raised, she started to charge at the troll as her plan was to take out it’s other leg before giving it a fatal stab through the skull. She would never get the chance to try that strategy as a second troll came out of nowhere and grabbed her from behind. She tried to swing her sword at it, but a third troll caught her arm and just swiped it our of her hands with ease. She was fighting with all her strength, but it was no use as the two trolls holding her were just too strong. It was at this point where the troll she injured finally hobbled over and looked at her with it’s grotesque face. It was at this point where Calissa gave out a loud shriek as the trolls were attempting to remove her clothing.