We made what I would call a clean getaway. Everyone that I had led out made it. In the last area, we grabbed torches so that we could see our way down the tunnel. Once I got us out, I pulled Kasidy and Iris off to one side. Most of the escapees took a quick look around and fled where they were.

I looked at the two. “Okay look we need to get back to the inn and hope that none of this blows up in our face. I don’t know how bad it will be but I already hear guards shouting.”

The girls nodded, and we started to run back to the inn. As we were fleeing, Blink sent me the image of her hacking off the head of the guild master. She had already shot him in both eyes. Then my murderous ropola took the head and vanished. It wasn’t till we got back to the inn that she showed me what she did with it.

She took the head to the main gate. There were other heads there, but most were just skulls. She cleared them out and placed his right in the middle. Then she wrote something in blood, but I couldn’t read it.

I thought to her. “What did you write?”

I felt great joy from her as she replied. “Praise Chaos.”

Godfrey was behind the bar of the empty inn as we came in. He took one look at us and knew something had happened. First, I had blood on me. As much as I tried to wipe it off, it just didn’t all budge. Second, the girls had obliviously been crying. Worse still, Iris had a black eye, and her dress had been torn.

I said. “Godfrey, things happened but probably for the best. I expect there to be some guards by soon or later and its unlikely anyone will be leaving town for a while.”

He looked at me and asked. “Arn, What happened?”

I shook my head. “Not right now I need to get cleaned up. So do the girls but they don’t have blood. Just know that the head of the merchants guild was killed today. Not by me but I was close by. His head just got put on the gates.”

Godfrey looked at me with horror for a second, and then he smiled. “The snake lost his head? That’s good I hope that he rots.”

I smiled as Iris moved behind the bar and hugged her dad. She started to cry, and I headed up to where the water was. Then I stopped.

I asked, “Godfrey is there a better place I can wash to get the blood off?”

He nodded. “Go through the back. The well is out there and I keep water on the fire in the kitchen.”

I headed through the back door. As I went through, Kasidy followed me. We grabbed a couple of rags and then the pot of water. When we got out to the well, I sat down and started to take off my armor. I had blood spatters all over it.

Kasidy walked over and picked up a rag. “Arn, thank you for saving us. I knew that you would come but I was scared. You saved me. I don’t know how you did it all other than you are truly the chosen of my god.”

She started to wash my face off once I had the cowl off. I needed to replace that thing as the winter was coming on strong, and it dropped my temperature by 10 degrees. Once she was done washing my face, we peeled off my armor, and I passed her my shirt.

I worked hard on working on getting the blood off my gear as she washed it out of my clothing. Then she hung my shirt up and came back to help me. Godfrey had a large outdoor bath that she pointed to.

Kasidy started to fill the bath up. “Look Arn. You need to take a bath. I don’t know what you did but it looks like you waded in blood. If the guard comes now they won’t listen to you. I know people saw us but they saw lots of people to. Now get in there.”

I went to step in, still wearing my undergarment, but she said. “Just pass them to me now; they need to be washed. I’ll go get you more from your bag.”

I nodded and stripped. She was right after all the fight had gotten me covered in blood. While I tried to hang back, I wasn’t really that far back, and I was still looking for things that I thought we might need. I wasn’t sure what it would be, so I tried to loot anyone that looked like they were important.

I worked for the next twenty minutes to get the blood off of me. Then Kasidy came back and handed me a towel. Soon I was dressed, and the tub was drained out. I was trying to think about Kasidy seeing me naked, but she didn’t seem to flinch. I knew on Earth in the past that public bathing was the norm, so it might just have been the same here. Though she did accuse me of watching before.

My armor was dry, so I put it back on. I needed rings that I could enchant with vitality. Losing most of my HP when I took off my armor was something I didn’t like. When I was in the woods, it was mostly okay because I wouldn’t go anywhere without my gear.

In the city, however, it just seemed odd. I knew that I could, and today I was glad that I did, but I could see many reasons not to be armored all the time. So I needed to fix the problem or just start leveling. I should probably plan on doing both and not limit myself.

As I was putting my gear on, Kasidy refilled the bath. I was just about done when Kasidy headed to the tub herself. I grabbed my stuff and started in.

I was opening the door when she said. “Arn. Stay I’ll feel safer with you near by right now.”

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to deal with this, but I understood. While the courtyard behind the inn was mostly private, it was far from secure. I turned back around and sat down. Then I kept working on my gear. I might have cleaned it all already, but I was going to work on it again.

I heard the water splash as Kasidy got into the bath then she said. “I know I already said it but thank you. I heard what they were doing to the people they took. If it wasn’t for you and Blink I don’t know what would have happened.”

I looked down when I answered. “Well if it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have been here to start with so you wouldn’t have been in this problem.”

She gave a dry laugh. “Sure. You’re right about that but then what would have happened to be when my caravan was attacked. I know that I was just the closest follower of Batholomew to you. If you weren’t there I would have been found by the orcs. That wouldn’t have been a long life for me.”

I smiled a little. “Well we will never know. As it is I’m here now and I think you are mostly safe from what happened here in the city.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. They won’t let people out for a few days but it will go back to normal. Might not even be that long with the others that got let out. Some of those women had been in there for months.”

The courtyard was large enough that I could move in it, so I stood up and started to go through the steps of my katas. Not the entire thing but just the stepping. It let me do something and keep my eyes off Kasidy.

Kasidy said. “I have seen you do that almost everyday. Would you mind teaching me how to do those moves?”

I paused and thought about it. I had taught in the past, but then again, this world might make things odd. Kasidy was having enough problems learning to cook. Teaching her Tae-kwon-do might be harder here than on Earth.

I shrugged. “You can join me in the mornings. I know how hard it is to learn a new skill so be ready for it to take a while.”

I heard some splashing, and Kasidy asked. “Can you hand me that soap water?”

I looked around and saw that she was pointing at a pitcher that she had brought out. I walked over and grabbed it. I was trying to figure out how to persevere her privacy and take it over to her. I just wasn’t seeing it working unless I looked directly down.

I moved over to the bath, and then she made me trip. “Can you pour it over my hair for me?”

My brain stopped working. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to help her, but I also knew that she had yelled at me just for seeing her in her dressing gown. But I had already seen her naked when I pulled her out of the river. So it wasn’t that. It was just she was asking me to help wash her hair which was more than I could take right then.

Worse I was already bonded to Lannah. Washing Kasidy’s hair, at least in my book, wasn’t in the same need for survival as when I cut her out of her dress. So I was worried about how Lannah would take it, and I didn’t want to lead Kasidy on. While I wasn’t in love or anything with Lannah, I still thought we might as well be married with the contract.

“Kas, What’s going on? You all but attacked me by the waterfall when you thought I was watching and wasn’t. Now you are asking me to help you wash your hair?”

Kasidy cleared her throat, and I looked up. She was looking at me, and she had a slight blush and a little smile on her face. She had drawn her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs to hide.

Then she turned her head away from me and pulled her hair out of the water. She sighed deeply and started to cry. “I don’t want to lose you. I knew that you would come and that was the only thing that kept me together. But now I am worried about Iris. She knows we aren’t together and that I am only traveling with you. I don’t know what to do. You make me feel safe.”

I shook my head slightly. “Kasidy, this isn’t you talking and acting. Here’s the soap water I am going to be out here but not watching you. I get that you are scared from what happened today but acting out of fear is no place to build a relationship from. Besides there are other complications.”

I walked over and placed the pitcher of soap water near the tub. “I am heading back to finish working through my Katas.”

I got going through my steps. As I went I heard Kasidy still working through her emotions. I remembered hearing something about people starting relationships after high stress. It wasn’t something that I thought would make a good base. If I remembered correctly the removal of the stress triggered the same feeling as love did. So it was something that I had to watch out for with Kasidy. Then again with all the violence in this world it might be how most relationships work here.

A few minutes later, she said. “I don’t think we will ever get rid of Iris now. After you saved her and everyone else, she might just choose to follow you.”

I finished a step and said. “No I think she will stay. She only wanted to leave because of the fear of the thugs targeting her. I figured that if I point out that she doesn’t owe me anything and that she is safe here than she will stay.”

Kasidy laughed her musical laugh. “Oh no she already has her sights on you. Unless you tell her no strongly she is coming with us when we leave. She knows she owes you her life and she was very happy with what she saw.”

“Complications that I don’t need or want. I wasn’t sold on taking her with us before but the sword was something that I didn’t want to pass up. It needs some work to be returned to working correctly. That and I just didn’t want her to get hurt like they were saying was happening.”

Kasidy stood up. “Grab me that towel please.”

I walked the towel over to Kasidy. None of this was quite what I wanted. There were going to be some odd complications once we got to Cloudia. I had to figure out how to tell Kasidy that I was bonded with Lannah. It was an odd conversation and one that I just wasn’t sure how to have.