?We are approaching my house!”

  Abram exclaimed.

  Through the day, surroundings have changed a lot. From foggy wasteland with barely any greenery, the scenery changed to a regular, creepy forest. Even the fog was no longer obstructing their vision as much as it was just a half an hour earlier.

  Franz cried again. They were probably tears of happiness, as he was barely managing to keep himself from collapsing.

  It was Valeria’s original intention. A man who has to put his all into dragging his feet another step won’t be able to think of escaping, let alone assassinating his captors.

  That being said, she wanted to rest as well. After all, even miraculous massage was only enough to make her feel like she was in her late sixties again.

  A huge improvement, but still not exactly enough for days of marching through hostile territory.

  “How much time until we actually reach it?” She asked.

  “Not much. I’m not sure how much exactly.”

  “Is your house perhaps only minutes away?”

  “Maybe. Why?”

  “Then we must hurry, unless your wife frequently throws parties for local low lives.”

  Abram’s expression turned to one of alertness.

  “Of course she doesn’t! What do you mean by that, exactly?”

  “I am merely stating that I can smell unwashed alcoholics from the direction we are heading to.”

  Abram asked no further questions, and started running.

  Valeria followed, dragging Franz with her. The necrophi… Necromancer dropped the bag of valuables he was carrying, but to his pleasant surprise, Valeria paid it no mind.

  Once they had gotten closer, sounds of fighting could be heard. Both Valeria and Abram sighed with relief. If there was still fighting, then it wasn’t over.

  But that was all the more reason to pick up the pace, which they both did. This time, Abram got ahead of Valeria, mainly because of the deadweight she was dragging with her.

  She grimaced, realizing that stubbornness could have tragic consequences, and decided to live the Corpse Pimp behind.

  Not forgetting about caution, she once again rattled his brain with a quick elbow, and cuffed his ankles together.

  No longer having to worry about her prisoner, Valeria quickly caught up with Abram, who had already ditched the cheese he was carrying.

  “How many people are we talking about?” He asked.

  “How would I know? Give me a break, even a dog wouldn’t be able to sniff out that much!”

  “Wait, when you said ‘smell’ earlier, you were actually talking about your nose!?”

  “That’s what ‘smell’ means, you light bulb. And don’t waste your breath, there is smoke now, as well.”

  Hearing that, Abram accelerated, until his lungs started to burn.

  “We’re almost here!”

  They both heard the sounds of fighting, and readied their weapons. Abram his spear, and Valeria her shepherd’s axe.

  They arrived on a scene of an attempted home invasion, with a group of rag tag crooks trying to make their way into a two story cabin, but failing repeatedly.

  “What a lovely cabin.” Valeria praised the building, which was in the middle of being lit aflame. She immediately identified the culprit, who was standing in front of a wet wall, his hands on fire.

  “Shame about all the smoke spoiling the view. Move.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  She kicked the presumed fire magician from behind, right in the liver. He collapsed with a groan, his robe, which has obviously seen better days, almost catching on fire, but only charring instead, due to its wetness, and perhaps material.

  “Oh, excellent!” Valeria noticed that the robe was to some degree fire proof, and decided to make use of that property. She picked up the magician, and slammed him on the wall, snuffing out most of the fire.

  She turned around, and saw Abram holding off six people with his spear.

  She showed him thumbs up, and continued fighting the flames.

  “Come to think of it, I did want to be a firefighter way back when I was a kid. It stopped being so attractive once I understood those axes weren’t for dealing with arsonists, though. Living my dream today, that I am.”

  Once the wall was no longer burning, Valeria smashed the man into it once more, just to make sure, and turned around once again.

  Abram was now fighting four people, one of his opponents already stabbed to death, the other one bleeding out on the ground. Judging by the terrified expression of the criminal, it was his first time on the receiving end of someone’s weapon.

  ‘How pitiful. To have your first real battle be against an experienced, armed killer. Then again, I understand why Abram is trying so hard to not let them leave alive.’

  Suddenly, two more bandits decided that blocking the doors of the log cabin was no longer the wise course of action, and started to run full speed at Abram’s back, obviously hoping to force him to either turn back on his four opponents, or die facing them.

  ‘Am I invisible, or what?’ Valeria felt… Weird. She was not used to being ignored. Not when she towered over most people.

  She ran forward, and hooked the ankle of one of the running men with her shepherd’s axe, kicking the other one’s knee straight from under him.

  Both lost their balance, the one she kicked actually falling over.

  Valeria struck the one who remained standing behind his ear, straight through the skull.

  ‘Strange. Such weak bones, light bodies, are they malnourished? But they don’t look like it…’

  Not important.

  Before the other one could stand up, she kicked him in the sternum, breaking it in the process. His scream turned out weird, indicating damage to the airways.

  “You can leave the remaining garbage for me to deal with, kid. Go check up on your wife.”

  Valeria relieved Abram of his struggle, and stepped forward. He hurriedly retreated to his house, leaving Valeria alone with the crooks.

  They attacked at once, attempting to surround her.

  “Even that child was able to hold you off, and You hope to beat me? A wise course of action would be scattering in all directions, so that I can’t chase you all down.”

  The bandits didn’t listen, continuing their assault despite failing to encircle Valeria, who slipped through their sloppy formation in a way that made them all block each other’s way.

  The one closest to her was pretending to be a swordsman, waving around a jagged blade, most likely made of a woodworking saw. It was a sight terrifying to his victims, but to Valeria it was annoying enough to cut his wrist in a way that left his hand hang on a thin thread of skin and tendons. He looked at it in disbelief, and fainted right away. The rest looked at each other, most likely in an attempt to communicate, but before they could make the decision to attack or retreat, the woman was upon them, like a bird of prey hunting rodents.

  Regular rodents would try scattering.

  A group of dirty peasants who decided that hurting other people would be better than fieldwork, and got drunk to get their courage wasn’t capable of maneuvers as complex as running away correctly.

  Valeria looked at her feet, beneath which there were several people too busy dying to pay her any mind.

  She spotted one with the least grievous wounds, and got rid of his barely attached hand, preparing to give first aid.

  “You should really listen to the elderly when they give honest advice.” She sighed, and tied the man’s stump.

  “You’ll be answering some questions once you wake up.”

  Valeria focused her attention on the wooden cabin, and headed it’s way.

  ‘Gotta interrupt them before they start making out without caring for their guest.’

  Valeria Leonova was very particular about guest rights, especially when she was the one visiting someone.

  She knocked at the opened door, and waited for the response. She did so because she could see an absolute cow of a bear, standing there, menacingly, and a few bodies which were obviously the work of an undead mountain of fur.

  ‘It probably attacks anyone who would try to get inside without the permission of its master. Or mistress, I suppose.’

  “Please, come inside.” A young woman inside said over her husband’s shoulder.

  ‘Permission granted, then.’ Valeria dipped her head own, to fit through the doors, and entered the house.

  “I am sorry for the mess.” She added.

  “It’s alright, I understand the circumstances. Mrs. Flora, I suppose? My name is Valeria. Valeria Leonova.”

  “Nice to meet you. And thank you for your help, of course. Abram already told me about you.”

  ‘Impressive. I gave them at most five minutes…’

  The only reason for a freshly married woman to begin the reunion with her husband by asking him about a person he came back with, is if she felt danger.

  ‘Does my voice sound that young? I am certainly flattered.’

  “He told me a lot about you as well.”

  “I hope he said good things?” Flora asked, looking at her husband for a reaction. Abram was calm, but started sweating, despite being innocent. Such is the way of interrogations.

  “As a matter of fact, yes. I could easily tell you are newlyweds, as most people married for more than five years choose to complain about their spouses instead.”

  Abram immediately let out the breath he was holding. His wife smiled.

  “Where are my manners? Come, sit.”

  “I left an unconscious bandit right outside, and a necromancer about five minutes away from here. I should probably fetch them before they crawl away somewhere.” Valeria explained, and prepared for departure.

  But the younger woman would have none of it.

  “Oh, please don’t mind that. Let Abram get them.”

  One look from Flora was enough for her husband to make his way outside, letting Valeria know what kind of household it was.