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Despite the fact that Charles had just taken the life of another it was something that he couldn't dwell on for too long. He still needed to ensure that he and Maxine both survived this ordeal. Thanks to the alcohol laced with sedatives she was out for the count and it was highly doubtful that she would be able to help him. He did feel a great amount of fear as he held the still bloodied knife in his hands.

As he looked at it, he couldn't help but see it shaking. His hand couldn't be steady as fear had completely taken over his body. If not for the fact that he needed to stay quiet he was sure that he would have screamed out in anguish.

Charles couldn't help but turn and look at the sleeping Maxine. She was completely oblivious to what was taking place and she seemed to be sleeping quite peacefully. He knew that if she was awake, she would be able to take down these people down with ease. Even without her sword she would still be more than a match for them. Unfortunately, she was still sound asleep and thus would be no help to him whatsoever. He was on his own and he didn't like it.

Just then Charles began to hear a couple of voices. It seemed that the commotion that had taken place had attracted some attention. He knew that he couldn't stay there and needed to find somewhere else to hide. There was the thought about Maxine being safe where she was, she was completely defenceless and if they wanted to sacrifice her then she could do little to stop this.

One thought that did appear in Charles's head was the fact that he thought it was unlikely that they would kill her. Since it was obvious that this was a ritual sacrifice then simply killing her in her bed like this wouldn't suffice. Like the other patrons they would be taken down to the basement and sacrificed at the altar. Because of this he thought that she was relatively safe, as he had heard earlier, she was too big for them to carry down there and with only three remaining it was becoming less likely.

Even though he was still scared he had to quickly move out of the room before anyone came up to him. Instead he found his way into another room that was just across the corridor. Every movement and action that he did was done in silence as he knew that he couldn't give his position away at all.

No sooner had he closed the door of the room he heard two people arriving. Charles couldn't see them at all since he had closed the door but he could hear them. The first thing he heard was a gasp of shock and he knew what had happened, guilt did overtake him but he still knew that what he did had to be done.

"M-Mother," said a Voice. Charles recognised it as the voice of the Tavern Keeper. "Mother, get up." Although he couldn't see what was happening, he imagined that the Tavern Keeper was cradling the dead body of his mother in his arms.

"I'm sorry Cornelius but she's gone," replied another voice. This one belonged to the Tall Man and Charles imagined him placing his hand on Cornelius's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"There has to be something that we can do! We have supplies downstairs, we can still help her."

"There's nothing that we can do for her, she is now with Lord Xinus." This name did ring a couple of bells in Charles's mind. He remembered hearing stories of this being in what seemed to be fairy tale like. It was supposed to be a being of unbelievable power and destruction. It was the kind of being that parents would tell their children about in order to make them behave. He had heard there was an entire religion based on this being but he thought that it was simply a story shared between people who had drank too much ale. Unfortunately, it seemed like it was true.

"I'm going to find that bastard and sacrifice him!" There was a sharpness to his words and it was quite unsettling for Charles to hear.

"Don't worry, we'll find him. The more we search the less places that he has to hide."

A few more words were exchanged between the pair but they continued their search. They had wanted to take the Old Woman's body away but they wanted to find Charles more than ever now. He was in a room that he had never been in before and because of this he didn't know exactly where he was going to hide.

To stay there and simply hope that he wouldn't be spotted was nothing more than fool's dream. Because of this he began to make his way underneath the nearby bed with his eyes facing the door. It was a pretty obvious hiding space but it was one that at least allowed to see anyone coming through the door.

It was only a few minutes after he made his way underneath the bed that he saw the door suddenly swing open. The room was then bathed in candle light as the two men entered, Charles couldn't see them properly but he could see their feet. They were looking in the room but for the moment were not looking underneath the bed.

Although he was terrified, he still made sure that he remained as quiet as he possibly could. If they caught him now it would be the end of his life. Maxine would likely be next and no one would even know what happened to them.

They were looking all around the room and even checked inside of a cupboard that was close by. For now, they found no sign of Charles and they were about to move onto the next room. However, one of them realised that they hadn't checked underneath the bed yet. This was mentioned and when Charles heard it, he knew that he was more than certain going to be caught.

Before they could check they heard heavy footsteps and some creaking noises. These were too great for them to ignore and they quickly turned and investigate the source of the noise. They even thought that it was Charles walking around but when they discovered the source of the sound, they realised it was someone much bigger.

Much to their surprise and horror they could see that Maxine had gotten out of bed and was walking around. She had been able to squeeze her large body through the door and when the two men saw her, they froze in fear. Standing at her full height her head was pressing against the ceiling and her muscular frame made her seem like an immovable object. They even thought that she was going to put an end to their current plans.

Although she was looking directly at them, she didn't register that they were there. She had even stepped over the dead body of the Old Woman and hadn't noticed her either. This made Cornelius think for a moment and he lifted the candle up that they had been using as a light source. His arm needed to stretch up a fair amount but as he waved it in Maxine's face, he saw no reaction from her whatsoever. The only thing that he could conclude was the fact that she was sleepwalking.

"What the hell is happening here?" asked Cornelius. He wasn't sure if this was something to be worried about or to be counted as a blessing.

"She seems to be sleepwalking," replied the Tall Man. Although he was quite tall in comparison to Maxine, he was small and frail. She was still only wearing her underwear and was even walking around barefoot.

"I can see that but why is she sleepwalking?"

"Well, you know the sedative that we use to knock the sacrifices out? Well there is also a small chance that it can cause sleepwalking. Normally we've sacrificed them before this has happened."

"Damn, of all the things to happen..." He was about to get angry but then he realised that this was actually a good thing. A small smile appeared on his face as an idea popped into his head. "Wait a minute, if she's sleepwalking it means we can take her down to the basement without needing to carry her."

"Oh, that's good then, she weighs a literal ton."

"I'll take her down to the basement, you continue looking for that bastard. If you see Amanda tell her to come down to the basement as well. When you find him, maybe break a few bones but I want him alive. He needs to see his friend here getting sacrificed. He'll see what it's like to lose someone he cares about."

"What about your mother? We shouldn't leave her there."

"For now, she can remain where she is. She knew how important our work is here. At least now she is with our lord." He then extended his hand and gently grabbed onto the much larger hand of Maxine. He couldn't help but feel quite small in comparison to her, if he wasn't looking at her right now, he wouldn't believe that anyone could get as large as her. Especially a woman. "Come along now, you need to come with me."

Normally Maxine would have resisted this and likely even lifted him up and threw him to one side. However, in her restricted mind she couldn't help but go along with what he wanted. It only took one small tug from his hand for her to start following him. She didn't even register that she wasn't wearing her armour or carrying a sword. These were two things that she would never do without while on the road but now she found herself being led to a place of horror by a man who didn't intend for her to walk out alive.

All of this had been heard by Charles who was still hiding underneath the bed of the room. He hadn't been able to see what was going on but he could hear it clearly, it caused his fear to skyrocket as now he knew that there was a lot on the line now. Beforehand he had taken comfort in the knowledge that Maxine would be safely asleep in her bed. Now she was being taken down to the basement and he knew what lay down there. The thought of going back into that hellscape terrified him more than he thought was possible. It was taking a lot of willpower to prevent himself from accidentally urinating.

There was at least one good thing going for him, this was the fact that Cornelius was giving up the search for him for the time being at least. This meant that he only had to worry about the tall man for now, there was another name that he had heard as well. This was Amanda and assuming based on the people he had seen he thought that she was the young woman who had served him earlier that night.

From what Charles could remember, she was a stunningly beautiful woman. It was hard for him to imagine at that time that she was part of some kind of cult that encouraged human sacrifices. It was likely that she would use her beauty to lead unsuspecting men to their doom. If there was a woman as beautiful as her hitting on him, he would likely react the same as many other men would.

Now he had another problem as he knew that he had to save Maxine but with everything that was happening he had to ensure his own safety as well. He would be no good to her if he was killed as well. Carefully he crawled out from underneath the bed and continued to hold a firm grip on the knife. There was still blood on the blade from where he had stabbed the old woman only a few minutes before.

The door to the room was wide open but there was a decent space between the wall and the door. This allowed Charles to be able to stand behind it and as silently as he could he moved into position. There were two things in particular that he could hear, the first was the beating on his own heart in his chest and the second was the footsteps of the Tall Man.

Fear had more or less overtook his body but in his mind, this was a good thing. It caused his senses to increase and he took notice of every small detail around him. If he was going to survive then he would need every small advantage that he had. These people knew this tavern better than he ever could, this was one thing that was going against him. He had to use his own intelligence to ensure that he saw another sunrise.

Just then he heard the footsteps of the Tall Man beginning to enter into the room that he was hiding inside. This caused him to take a few silent deep breaths before he waited for the best time to strike. Several scenarios were going over in his mind and none of them ended particularly well. A few did involve him surviving but at a cost that he didn't really want to think about.

With a quick motion Charles pushed the door as hard as he could and it quickly swung and struck the Tall Man who was entering the room. The suddenness of it had caught him by surprise as the door struck him square in the face and caused him to stagger back by several feet.

It was around this time that Charles quickly came out of hiding and attempted to attack while his enemy was dazed. He didn't lunge with the knife but still kept it in hand, after what had happened, he preferred not kill anyone else. The memories of what had happened a few minutes before were still fresh in his mind.

Much to his horror however he felt the Tall Man's large hand grab onto his wrist before he could land a proper strike. In an instant it seemed like his plans of surviving had completely disappeared as he saw the smile on the Tall Man's face. It seemed like he was glad that he was happy with what was happening. Also, he was surprisingly strong for his lanky frame, his grip was too strong for Charles to break free from.

"There you are you bastard," stated the Tall Man with a small amount of glee in his voice. His grip around Charles's wrist grew tighter to the point where it was causing the smaller man some pain.

"Hey!" replied Charles with some determination. "Let me go!" He was still holding the knife but before he could use it, he felt his other wrist get grabbed onto as well. This left him more or less helpless.

"You're going to pay for killing Mary-Ann. Your soul will be sent to our lord to suffer from now until the end of time!"

Charles knew that if he didn't do something here and now, he was going to die just like the other patrons had done a short time before. The images of them being sacrificed replayed in his mind over and over again. Their death cries would likely haunt him for the rest of his days and he tried to think of a way out of the situation. There was one idea that did pop into his head and although there was a low chance of success it was still better than no chance whatsoever.

Quickly Charles leapt up into the air while his wrists were still being held onto. His feet placed onto the wall that was behind him and using all of his strength he pushed himself forward. His complete bodyweight was pushed forward into the Tall Man's body. Once again this caught him by surprise and he fell back with Charles landing on top of him.

The Tall Man began to cry out in pain as he impacted the ground. It seemed that the pain that he was experiencing was greater than the impact had warranted. Charles looked down and saw the source of the Tall Man's pain and this was the sight of Maxine's hunting knife that was now sticking into the Tall Man's chest.

It had gone into his chest so far that it was close to impossible to see the blade. Instead all that could be seen was the handle of the knife. Blood was seeping out of the wound and almost through instinct the Tall Man began to pull it out. Charles attempted to stop him as he knew what was about to happen next. Unfortunately, he was too slow and the blade was pulled out of the Tall Man's chest.

This caused the bleeding to suddenly speed up as the now gaping wound was exposed. Charles pressed down onto the wound but it was too late, it was too much for the Tall Man's body to take and he felt his own life fading away. He had been responsible for the deaths of a lot of people, now that it was his turn all he could think about was his own childhood and how happy he had been back then. The last thing he thought about was the face of his own mother before the life inside of his body disappeared and his time in this world came to a screeching halt.

In horror Charles quickly got back up to his feet and stepped back as he saw the lifeless body of the Tall Man lying in front of him. With no words spoken he covered his mouth as he realised that he was responsible for the death of another person. This was the second that he was completely sure about but there was one that was a possibility. Despite this he was still horrified by what had happened.

Over and over again he replayed the memories in his mind and he thought that things would have gone differently. Unfortunately for him it had played out more or less like before and this upset him greatly. He knew that Maxine had killed before as he had washed blood off of her sword on more than one occasion. In his mind he couldn't believe that she showed no guilt towards those that she had killed. It was the same with practically every other knight, the vast majority of them had killed at least one person.

Rather than giving him a sense of power or pride it instead made Charles feel dirty inside. More and more he wanted to throw away the hunting knife and continue on without it. However, he knew that if he wanted to get out of this place with Maxine and their lives then he would need to take it with him. With some reluctance he squatted down and picked up the knife that had fallen onto the ground after the Tall Man had foolishly taken it out of his wound. It was covered by blood and as Charles touched it, he could feel that the blood was still warm, much to his horror.

"So, this is where you've been hiding," said a female voice. This was spoken right after Charles had picked up the knife. As he turned, he could see the young woman who had served him earlier. She smiled at him and she stepped closer he could see her pearly white teeth and beautiful features. It was hard to believe that someone with her beauty could be involved with something like this.

"Stay back!" replied Charles in what he thought would be an intimidating voice. However, it was laughably off. "I'm warning you!"

"Now calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." Her voice was warm and soothing. It seemed strike certain parts of his mind that made him feel calmer. He was still very much on edge but he couldn't help but feel a little calmer with everything.

"I said stay back!" He lifted the knife in an attempt to make her back away. Instead she continued to walk towards him with the smile still on his face. He looked into her stunning eyes and when she reached him her hand came into contact with his arm. The softness of her skin was evident and with a gentle pull she was able to force him to lower his hand but he still kept a hold of the knife.

"It's alright, you're in no danger." Her smile continued and she looked down at the body of the Tall Man. Rather than looking at him with hear she instead chuckled for a moment before looking back at him. "You actually killed Mickey; I must admit that's quite impressive for someone like you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when I first saw you, I thought that you were some kind of hopeless wimp who would hide under the skirt of that giant woman. But now I see that I was wrong, you actually have backbone after all. Mickey threatened your life and you killed him, that takes more guts than some men would have."

"I-I guess it does." Although he was still on edge, he couldn't help but feel more and more relaxed. He knew that he was in a life or death situation but he couldn't help but feel like things were not as bad as they seemed. The young woman's appearance and demeanour had a soothing effect on him. But when he thought about Maxine, he couldn't help but step back for a moment. "I-I have to help Maxine, she's in danger."

"Oh, forget about her, she's a big girl. She can look after herself. But me, there's something that I need from you." Her voice was very seductive and Charles could see what she was trying to do. However, a part of him didn't seem to mind, he was beginning to feel relaxed and almost trustworthy towards her.

"No!" He took a firm step back as he thought about Maxine. It seemed to snap him out of any trance that he was under. He was still afraid but now he was more determined than he was before. "You're trying to seduce me."

"Now why would I do something like that?" She smiled again and he could see that her teeth were not only pearly white but also completely straight. "I mean, if anything you're the one seducing me." She chuckled gleefully for a moment and Charles would admit that it sounded cute if it was under any other circumstance.

"I sincerely doubt that." He then began to walk forwards but it seemed like the young woman was blocking his way. "Now step aside, I need to help my friend."

"Oh, you're not going anywhere." She then placed her hand on his shoulder and pushed him back with more force than he was expecting. It caused him to take several steps back and he was more surprised than anything else.

Somewhat dumbfounded by what had happened Charles did try to step forward again but this time he felt a sudden blunt pain in his midsection. It caused him to step back even further and even drop the hunting knife that he was carrying. The wind had been knocked out of him and he wheezed as he attempted to get his breath back.

It took him a moment to realise that the woman had just struck him in the midsection with both speed and power. He had been unable to defend himself against her and he watched as she stepped towards him. Her smile was still there but somehow it had a different meaning, like it was a sinister smile. This was when Charles began to truly realise that this wasn't some ordinary woman that he was dealing with. There was something abnormal about her and he felt that this was going to be a difficult battle.

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