Hmmm. . . .

This was odd. .

With my eyes closed, and giving her full permission to take me, I expected Freyja to jump at the chance. . . But no.

While my body did start to repair itself, it was as though she wasn’t there. Like I was just feeding off the residual energy that just came with having my soul owned by the death goddess. She wasn’t actually putting any effort into it, and wasn’t giving me any strength

A moment later, I opened my eyes. My body felt as good as it ever did on it’s own I guess, but that wasn't going to be enough in this particular situation. I looked to my side to see Harken staring at me with a queer look.

“What?” I asked, as I straightened up

“Nothing. . . It’s just. . Is that it?” She asked, seemingly disappointed.

I knew what she was getting at, but I wasn’t about to discuss my issues with some kid.

“Am I not healed?” I asked, holding my hands up.

“Yes. . . I was just. . . Expecting more. . “ she answered, shrugging her shoulders. “I thought I might be able to feel. . .”

“Can we please just focus on this fight?” I asked, interrupting her harshly.

With that, her scowl returned, and she turned to faced our opponents. By this point, Giselle had managed to peel Silvia off of her, and had tucked the slayer’s corpses into a pouch on her hip. Silvia stepped behind her, like a small child behind a parent.

Giselle stepped forward, strutting confidently toward us. Before I knew what was happening, Harken was sending a prayer down the street to meet her. As expected, Giselle casually side stepped it, before countering with a club smash.

Harken managed to block it, but the blow threw her back and she smashed against the city wall. She recovered instantly and just as quickly another prayer was screaming towards Giselle. Again she evaded, and countered. This time there was no space between herself and the wall and I knew that Harken would be smashed if she tried to block again.

To my surprise, she didn't try to out muscle Giselle and instead ran to her left, avoiding the club. This time, she unleashed a counter of her own, another prayer with medium velocity. Giselle barely managed to dodge, but she may not have been the intended target. The attack passed her, but it was aimed directly at the woman with the club who had been intent on stomping me into the ground.

Her eyes got wide and she dove out of the way at the last second. I saw an opening and was about to cut her down, when Silvia interfered. Her whip lashed out and cracked a few feet from me but it was enough of a distraction to save the woman’s life.

I went then to attack Silvia, but just as I about to, the orange skinned giantess stepped in, swinging her sword at me. I managed to block it dead, but again my counter was ineffective. It was obvious now that none of them were going to let us have a clean shot at each other .

Meanwhile, Harken had dodged Giselle and after avoiding a stomp in quick succession, had ducked behind a building. Unfortunately, Giselle wasn’t trying to avoid buildings, and the house was demolished in a single step as Giselle pursued her. Left exposed, Harken tried another prayer.

Giselle couldn't dodge at such a close range, and had to use her club to parry. The attack took a good sized notch out of it, as it was the equivalent of an axe chop. It may have been progress, but a brutal counter smash sent Harken sprawling. She tumbled to a stop after smacking into the corner of another building.

To her credit, although she was slow to get up, she did stand and face her opponent. By this time I had fled the confrontation with Silvia and company and was on my way to Harken. I got there just in time, grabbing her by the arm at a dead sprint and whisking her away just as Giselle smashed again.

She looked upset to see me, and tried to dig her feet into the ground to stop me, but I continued to put distance between us and them, although I could feel Giselle behind me.

“What are you doing?!” She demanded, trying to pull away from me. “Slayers never retreat!” She declared pridefully.

“I don’t know who told you that, but they are full of shit!” I replied, bolting to the right as Giselle’s club smashed down, just missing us. “We are going to have to work as a team if you want to survive this.”

A moment later, we were out flanked by the orange skinned giantess and another from the eastern coast with a broad sword. We stopped running, and Harken immediately reared back for a prayer, but I stopped her.

“What's wrong with you?!” She shouted at me.

“Brute force isn’t going to win a battle with any giant worth their salt! Especially not these women! There is a reason all of your comrades are gone, and if you are going to survive, you need to learn from them!” I said, probably more coldly then I should have, but now wasn’t the time for sensitivity.

“What. . . What would you have me do?” She asked, humbling herself.

“When I attack, you get ready to defend counters. They use numbers to make sure we can never strike openings.” I explained, just as the orange skinned giantess attacked.

She swung her sword at a sideways angle, smashing through a building and creating a cloud of dust and making it hard to defend. Harken swung her axe to meet it, stopping it dead and I used the opening. I jumped on the blade of her sword and ran skyward, as she went to kick Harken.

Anywhere but on the ground it was difficult to find the footing to launch prayers, so instead I would just attack by conventional means. I made it to her hands and let my blade drag up the back side. Blood began to run out as she flinched. She predictably let go with one hand to try to grab me, but Harken was right on cue.

Below me, the woman’s sword clanged to the ground, crushing another building as Harken struck it, disarming her. The woman's face was shocked, as she knew she was wide open to Harken, but Harken didn't get the chance, as Giselle caught up with us, and she had to dodge another club smash.

Fortunately, while the orange skinned woman was waiting for a prayer, she forgot about me, and by then I was up her arm. She saw me at the last second and my sword only managed to cut her above the eye, before her hand swatted me, but it was just in time, as an orange prayer tore from below. It was obvious it wasn't aimed the greatest, but it hit it’s mark, and the woman's arm fell to the ground. She let out a scream that could be heard for miles, and collapsed. The easterner rushed to her aid.

Luckily, there was a tall building nearby and I landed unharmed. From there, I jumped down, just in time to block Silvia’s whip from Harken’s blind spot as she fought off Giselle.

“Let’s focus on her!” I said, pointing to the woman trying to stop her sisters bleeding arm. “I'll defend, you find the opening.”

Harken nodded, and we began to close the distance. Silvia saw where we were headed, and went to block us. I planted my feet, and sent a sweeping blue prayer, up towards her head. She stopped dead, barely managing to stop in time for it to pass inches in front if her face, taking some strands of her hair with it. From the other side of the gauntlet, Giselle tried to stomp on Harken, but miraculously, she rolled and avoided it, while barely breaking pace.

I punished Giselle with a prayer in her direction, if nothing more than just to let her know I was there. She blocked it with her club, but another chunk was taken from it, and a crack formed down the center. It must have cut her hands as well, as they began to drip blood. Knowing it was garbage, she hurled it at me, and the unpredictability of it caught me out. The bottom end of it hit me and sent me flying.

I was dazed as I tumbled down the street, landing on my stomach. My eyes were still rolling when a shadow shrouded me. Before I could react, I heard the crack before I felt it. Silvia’s whip final caught it's prey. . .

White hot pain, as my body felt like it might explode. It honestly felt like it might. . . Have you ever been in so much pain, that you just feel cold?

I contemplated not standing up again as blood soaked the back of my cloak. The tails of the whip just were lifted, and my body along with it, before I plopped back to the ground. The back of my neck down to my thighs, were raw and bloody now, but still I stood again, knowing that another lash was probably on its way.

I was correct.

I turned around to see that Silvia was looking down on me with contempt, her arm raised and ready to whip me again. To my right, my sword lay on the ground, out of reach. Without it, I knew there was no defending myself.

I saw her next move in time to react if I had a weapon, but that didn’t matter. With a twitch of her eye, Silvia went to lash me aga. . .

To the east, the most powerful prayer I had seen all day exploded toward the fallen giantess and her aid. The sheer energy of it froze myself, Silvia, and Giselle in our tracks. I could personally rip the faces off of buildings with a prayer, but this example of dark orange heat completely tore buildings from their foundation, disintegrating them in its wake.

A moment later, the two women were gone, for lack of a better description. Incinerated by this awesome destructive force. The shock on Silvia’s face spoke volumes. Her expression screwed into an awkward mix of bewilderment and fear. With her attention off of me, I quickly grabbed my sword, and limp ran in Harken’s direction.

Snapping out of the initial shock, Giselle spotted me although she didn’t attack. It appeared she didn’t have a weapon, so she did what someone of tremendous size does best. . . She ran.

She ran back the way she had come, scrambling for one of her sister's weapons. I let her go, in favor of regrouping with Harken, who was just standing in the middle of the street a block ahead.

Her axe was blade end down at her side, and she was breathing heavily. She barely seemed to notice me as she stared off in the direction of where two souls had just been wiped from existence.

“Are you alright?” I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning her to face me.

“I'm. . . Fine. . “ She said, somewhat distantly. “It just. . .got away from me.”

This was something that was common when slayers are young. Our bodies are very durable, but they aren’t designed to withstand all the power that a god has to offer. If you aren't careful, you can release too much energy and effectively “snuff your own fire” so to speak.

Essentially, your body overloads and shuts down for a time. The risk of that is you are left vulnerable to anyone and everyone. The flow of power is something we learn to control. You want to get as close to the max without going too far. The fact that this child could unleash that amount of power without snuffing herself said a lot about the strength of her soul. . .

“Come on. This fight is far from over.” I said, as I turned to face Silvia. Behind her, Giselle had picked up a long sword. The woman with the club also walked around to flank us. It seemed that this was all that was left of Zahra's sisterhood. I don’t know what happened to the other two giants that we didn’t account for, but hey, kingdom slayers weren't completely incompetent I guess.

“Do you have a plan?” She asked, a little worry in her tired voice.

“Giselle is the strongest. . . Silvia’s spirit can't take much more and this one isn’t really a joy either.” I replied, pointing my sword at the woman with the club.

“So we take her first?” Harken asked, like she honestly valued my opinion.

“We scramble until an opening appears. . . . Just remember this. . . Prayers aren't the only weapon you have, ok? Contrary to what my sister preaches, sometimes you have to close the distance and scrap with your body.” I said, looking her in the eye.

“I'll. . . Follow your lead.” She answered, humbly.

I nodded, and with that, we faced our enemy. We were out of range of straightforward prayers doing the trick, so I decided to try something my team had developed in our travels. . .

I began to run the ground between myself and the club woman. She remained in a defensive stance, club at the ready. As soon as I broke into the run, Giselle made her move, going to strike me with a powerful downward strike from the long sword. Harken saw it coming and met it with an upward slash from her axe. While she did block the attack, the strength difference between them was only becoming more apparent.

Harken stumbled forward, getting knocked out of her stance on pure strength alone. Giselle followed up, with a sideways smack with the side of the blade, more or less just trying to swat the tiny girl out of the way. Harken quickly pushed her axe out with both hands, meeting the blade with force and planted feet but ultimately getting pushed back anyway.

The woman in front of me focused , trying to predict my movements but I had a move she hadn't seen yet. First I launched a straight vertical prayer to set it in motion. Just as I wanted, she began to move to my right.

Another prayer just behind her to keep her going. . . And finally, the finisher.

Closing my eyes, I dialed up a prayer from the god of chaos and misfortune. Shitty things to be the god of, but when called upon, he was reliable for the most part. He was exactly what you needed for this type of attack.

With a flick of my wrist and a special twist of my sword, the relatively small prayer left me traveling upward and on a nasty left hook at high speed. To be honest, I don’t think she even saw it coming. . .

My left hook met her left run and collided to create a headless corpse that continued to run for a few steps before crashing brutally to the ground. I didn’t even wait for her response, sending another curve at the dumbfounded Silvia.

She snapped out of her stupor as the attack turned in her direction. She barely escaped it, dashing a few steps to the side and forward, out running the arc of it. With the odds even now, I finally felt like I could push without being blindsided.

That being said, I wasn’t completely comfortable leaving Harken to handle Giselle alone. I continued to press my attack with two more prayers in quick succession, making Silvia scramble to keep from getting caught, but as I looked over, I could see that Harken was beginning to lose her battle.

Giselle was very experienced at fighting slayers, and as such, she made sure that there was never a sufficient gap between herself and Harken that the girl could use to set up an attack. Giselle’s sword seemed to be everywhere at once as she battered Harken’s defense just waiting for her strength to wear out. She was smashed this way and that as the bigger, stronger woman had her way with her, culminating in a swat that sent Harken through a wall, collapsing the building in on her.

Giselle punctuated this with a heavy stomp, before grinding her foot on the rubble. I knew I had to act. While I figured that wouldn't be enough to finish Harken off, you could never overestimate how much a slayer had left.

By now, Silvia had regained her composer, and decided to charge me. She accurately predicted a defensive prayer, before trying to demolish me with a heavy kick. It narrowly missed me, but she was into close quarters now. I was made to avoid a flurry of stomps, all while getting bashed side to side by near misses. While I didn't get crushed, it did make me dizzy, and vulnerable.

I couldn't get myself together before Silvia whipped me again. The weight of the tails crumpling me into the street. This time getting up wasn’t an option. The thought of it never crossed my mind. The sword felt from my hand and I just lay still, enjoying the view of rubble, destruction, and flames that my swollen eyes afforded me from my place in the street.

Harken. . . . The humans. . . My family. . . They would all have to make due without me, I guess.

Oh well.

Silvia stepped over me, and I felt the edge of her sandal in my ribs as she used her foot to move me from my side to my back. I offered no resistance, just laying spread eagle and limp. Her face was covered in dirt aside for the river system of tears flooding down it.

I flinched as she dropped down heavily to her knees over me, and began to sob.

“This. . . This day went too far!” She bawled, covering her face.

As much as I wanted to argue the fact that she and her sisters had literally wiped out all civilization on the southern half of the realm, I held my tongue. It didn’t seem to matter now.

“Why!?” She screamed to no one in particular with a pound of her fists that smashed into my prone body.

I responded, coughing up blood. I noticed Giselle was standing over me as well. As far as I knew, she had finished off Harken and now it finally my turn. She placed a hand supportively on Silvia’s shoulder.

“It's over now, sister. . . “ Giselle said, solemnly. “It came at a high price in the final act, but we avenged Zahra now. “ she finished, throwing down the sword she had been using.

“Everyone is. . . . Dead. . How could this have happened?. . . . Zahra never would have let this happen!” Silvia wailed.

By now her tears were beginning to soak into my already blood soaked cloak.

“Don't you dare blame yourself!” Giselle said, tightening her grip on Silvia’s shoulder. “Zahra. . . . “ she began but trailed off as her eyes got glossy and then teared up.

She let out a frustrated holler and I found myself hammered with her heavy boot. Lucky for me I guess, she didn’t twist or grind. I wouldn't have survived it. . . I barely survived this. Up to this point I had just been opting to stay down, but now I officially couldn’t move my limbs.

“I have to blame myself! If I was stronger, I could have saved them!” Silvia cried, her head in her hands.

“That's enough, Silvia!” Giselle snapped. “You are beautiful because you aren't a fighting piece of garbage like the rest of us!” She declared, her voice cracking with emotion as she failed to hold it together and began to cry hard.

This was honestly too much emotion for me, and I would rather have taken another whipping then continue to have to experience it.

“Giselle!” Silvia wailed with an almost reprimanding tone. “It's all my fau-

I gazed up to see that Silvia had a look I knew all too well on her face. It was the look of getting ran through with a sword when you weren't expecting it. Her face scrunched as her mind grappled with the situation.

A moment later, blood began to run out of her mouth, covering me as I confirmed the sword tip protruding from her chest.

It must have taken Giselle a bit to realize what had happened, because only after Silvia fell forward, right on top of me, did she look back to see Harken. She was looking worse for the wear, and appeared to barely be able to stand.

I could only watch as Silvia slumped down on to me, breasts first. I craned my neck back, trying to avoid being smothered by massive tits that rolled up my body, straining my bones and finally coming to a rest at my chin. Although my face wasn’t covered, I still really couldn't breathe under her weight.

“H. . .Harken!. . . “ I groaned. “Get her off of me!”

*

Giselle went from teary to furious in the blink of an eye. She pulled the sword from Silvia’s back, and immediately began her revenge, looking to smash the tiny girl to pieces. Harken narrowly dodged to her left as Giselle swung down, splitting the street and sending chunks of rock flying.

Harken sprinted around her, avoiding being trampled and made it to me. There was no time to do anything more than pull me free and lean me sitting with my back against a wall before Giselle was all over her. Harken was forced on the defensive as Giselle hammered her with blow after blow, tossing the girl this way and that.

Inevitably she was smashed to the ground by an especially vicious blow, followed by an earth shaking stomp that was sure to put her down for the count in her current condition. That should have been the end of it, but it was clear that Giselle had snapped and the frustrations of the day were being worked through now. She reached down, scooping Harken from the dust, before slamming her right back down, embedding her in the street, face first.

I closed my eyes with the impact. It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen slayers brutally killed, but I was just starting to. . . Not. .like her, so much. . . But definitely respect her as a fighter. Now she was going to die the same shitty death as me. . . Albeit probably less painful if I didn’t manage to pass away before Giselle could finish with her. In my current state, all I could do is sit and watch her demolish Harken.

Again Giselle peeled her from the dirt, this time tossing her up, before punching her down. Harken flew, before skipping across the ground and colliding back first with a wall. She stayed there, slumped in a seated position the same as me. A second later, her axe fell from her hand, clanging to the ground.

Giselle just stood over her, waiting to see if she would stand again, but she didn’t move at all. I couldn't tell from as far away as I was if she was even still breathing, but I could see a trickle of blood running out of her mouth.

After a few seconds Giselle must have been satisfied, because she turned and faced me. In two steps she was above me, her eyes burning with hatred. It was honestly the most emotion I had ever seen from her. Usually her expression was neutral when she was beating the tar out of me in the woods and taking every penny I had.

I think she was of a rare variety who truly didn’t care one way or the other about fighting. She was supremely skilled at it, but it didn’t make her happy or anything. She was always just serving her sisters. But now though. . . This was Giselle pushed as far as she could be pushed and I was the outlet for whatever she was feeling.

I had been near death plenty of times, and you do honestly get used to it. I wasn’t really fearful of what she would do to me at this point. Maybe it was the fact that the death goddess had killed my friend, tortured me, and then just flat out abandoned me out of spite, but right now, I was just longing for the days when Jacob and I roamed around, drunk off our asses, not fighting anyone.

Days long gone I guess.

After another moment, Giselle finally decided to break the tension. I closed my eyes as she knelt and reached for me. I could feel the warmth of her skin on my face and that is when it happened.

I felt it.

We felt it. .

We felt. . . Her.

Giselle froze in place as a cold chill went through both her and I. She withdrew her hand and looked over her shoulder.

Standing there, apparently unconscious and with an ominous green glow, was Harken.

I knew immediately what she had done. That Damned fool! In her desperation to survive, she prayed to the goddess of death. And yes, I had made the same mistake. . . But I fully understood the consequences of my actions. For her to be so young, and to throw her life away like this. . .

Giselle’s head snapped back to me and impossibly her hatred doubled as she glared at me like I had something to do with it. I'll admit, it was a bit strange to see it from the outside. Harken had a slight twitch and rock to her and her face was twisted in agony as she burned as the payment for such power. Her beaten and mangled body began to straighten and a second later, her face was just blank.

Giselle let out a scream of rage, raising her sword high above her head before swinging it with all the force of a giant woman scorned. Harken took only a small step to her left, and used her axe to only slightly deflect the attack, but it was enough to throw Giselle off balance.

What happened next seemed to unravel in slow motion. Harken charged a prayer, but instead of just letting it go, instead she charged Giselle. Unexpectedly, she threw her axe, charged with green and orange prayer. It arced off to the side, flying end over end.

Harken continued straight forward, using the rubble of buildings to elevate herself to around Giselle’s waist. Giselle removed one hand from the sword, and with lightening fast reflexes, she caught Harken with a right cross but it was too late.

A second later, Harken’s prayer charged axe found its mark. Simultaneously, I heard Giselle hit Harken, a sickening crack, and Harken’s axe hit Giselle. Harken was brutally smashed into the street, but she got the better of the exchange as the axe burst out of the left side of Giselle’s back. Right where her heart should have been.

There was a column of blood and other body matter that was completely pulverized that blasted from the exit wound as the axe barely slowed down, flipping off into the distance. Giselle was dead before she hit the ground, falling backward and to the side before coming to a rest in a cloud of dust and shaking the entire city.

For a moment, everything was silent. A desolate sea of death and destruction. From afar, it would have been impossible to tell who actually won the battle. While the human toll was obvious, with bodies smashed into red grease all over everything and two thirds of the city completely leveled. . . There were equally as many giant bodies, with limbs missing, heads gone. . . Completely vaporized.

As I stayed seated against the wall, just staring up at the blue sky, but with storm clouds in the distance, against all odds I heard a noise. It drew my attention downward to see a filthy figure struggling to rise from the street. Outwardly, I showed no emotion, but inside I applauded her, as Harken peeled herself from the ground and stood tall.

By this point, I was sure that she was merely riding the adrenaline wave that dealings with the death goddess sometimes provided, because her movements weren’t smooth as she stumbled toward me. She had made it to within 10 paces of me now, and I could see that the green in her eyes had begun to fade.

She took another 2 steps, and stopped. Her eyes were fixed on me, but it looked like she was having trouble focusing. I don’t know how, but even after all that abuse her face still managed to look smug and satisfied beneath all the dirt, cuts and swelling.

Harken opened her mouth, and I thought she was going to speak. To rightfully gloat about her victory, but as soon as any sound escaped her mouth, the weight of the day caught up with her. I watched with amusement as her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed face first into the dirt at my feet.

With that, I sat alone, unable to move for the next hour, just thinking. . . Should I confront Freyja again to see what her problem with me actually was, or would it just end up the same as the last time. All I knew was that this dependability issue was going to get me killed. . . .

Not to mention. . .

Harken had apparently decided to sell her soul. . . Unfortunate, but it's not like I could say a single word about it seeing as how I made the exact same decision.

Just before the storm hit, the remaining human men finally came out of hiding. I was honestly surprised how many had survived. I found out later that there was an emergency escape tunnel under the city that led to the sea. Once the giants had penetrated the wall and us slayers began to fight, the humans evacuated so that even if the city was crushed, they could live on and start over.

Both myself and Harken were taken into one of the few undamaged buildings where the cities doctor worked on us. He managed to stop my bleeding which was the major concern. The typical crush wounds healed after a day or two. Harken on the other hand had less of a tolerance for damage, being young and inexperienced.

Despite the death goddess aiding her, she still had broken bones that needed to be set. For slayers, bones usually took a few days to fully heal under the right conditions. That being said, I wasn’t actually waiting on her, so after a day of rest, I left her to the doctor and went to handle one more bit of business.

That business being the story of what actually happened in the battle. I really didn’t need word getting around that I was here, regardless of the outcome of the fight. The last time the news told of me, the city I saved for leveled anyway in retaliation. Instead, I convinced the writer to paint Harken as the hero of the battle. She deserved the glory. My sister would be proud of her.

Apart from that, I saw to Marcel, who had made his way in with the other horses somehow and was unscathed. Getting all the supplies to travel took longer than I would have liked but finally the next day I was ready to leave. I woke up early and made my way to the front gate, and that was when I saw her.

Harken. . . Fully healed, cleaned up, and perfectly dressed in a fresh kingdom uniform. . . . She had just finished loading a wagon with supplies. . . . My supplies and then some. . . . What's more. . . . She had Marcel and a white horse that must have been hers hitched to said wagon. . .

I don't know if she was doing all this just to irritate me, but she was even brushing Marcel. His horse face looked pleased with himself as she gave him attention and affection. . . . Disgusting.

“What's all this then?” I asked, apprehensively as I scratched the back of my neck.

“I'm just brushing him! He was filthy you know!” She replied, in a scolding tone.

“I don't mean the brushing! I mean why are my supplies and my horse attached to that wagon? “ I asked, trying not to yell at her.

“Because I'm going with you?” She replied matter of factly like it was something I should have already known.

“Umm. . . No.” I answered without hesitation. “I'm not babysitting you and I don’t associate with kingdom slayers.” I said, walking up to her and taking the brush from her hand to get her attention.

“You don't have a choice!” She said, confidently staring up into my eyes. “Either you let me travel with you, or I'm taking you back to the capital. Those are your options.”

I had to genuinely stifle a laugh as I heard her offer.

“You're forgetting the option where I just kill you and throw your body in a ditch!” I replied, putting my hand on my sword as I tried to menace the much shorter girl.

“Ha! So now you’re out here threatening little girls eh, Lockwood?” a dark, silky voice asked from behind me with a chuckle.

We both turned to see the guard from the jail approaching us. Now he had a broad sword on his hip and a large round shield on his back. His face was now visible under the brim of his straw gardeners hat, complete with a large grin.

“Darius! You beautiful, ebony man!” I said, embracing him. “I'm glad to see you made it through! I had my doubts with the . . . . Condition. . . You described that night, but you always were a survivor!” I exclaimed, happily.

“You two know each other!?” Harken exclaimed, somewhat angrily.

“Yes, this man is like a brother to me!” Darius informed her, putting a big hand on my shoulder.

“So. . . . This whole thing was what. . . Part of some big plan?” She asked, clenching her fists.

We both laughed at this.

“You give us too much credit, girl! This was just fate.” He replied and with that he walked passed us, to the back of the wagon. Harken watched with clenched teeth as he tossed his back in, before climbing inside, making the whole wagon creak with his massive size.

“He. . . He's not coming with us!” She said, keeping her voice down as she spoke to me.

“There is no us!” I shouted, throwing my arms in the air. “There is we” I began motion to myself and Darius “ and you! Two separate parties here!

She was fuming pissed now. There was only silence for a moment before she spoke.

“Fine then. . . . I’M TAKING YOU IN!” She shouted up at me with all the annoyance of a bratty child.

Without warning, I drew my sword in the blink of an eye, and swung. I only intended to make her flinch but to my own surprise, her axe was right there to meet my sword. Impressive.

“Don't forget that I'm stronger than you, Ant!” She warned, with no doubt in her voice.

I admired her spunk. . . I really did, but she needed to be taught a lesson. Fortunately, now wasn't the time to teach her how the world actually works. I was nothing if not cunning and manipulative, so I would use it.

Just as suddenly as I had drawn my sword, I slid it back into its sheathe and was calm. Harken looked slightly confused but mostly suspicious. As such, she kept her axe drawn and her eye on me.

“You want to come with us. . . . Fine.” I said flatly, turning and walking to the wagon before climbing into the seat of the wagon.

Now her mostly suspicious face was completely suspicious. She did put her axe away but I could tell she was still on her guard as she walked up to the wagon, glaring at me as she put her hand on the step to climb up.

“Whoa. . . What are you doing?” I asked, stopping her.

She said nothing, but her nostrils flared and she inhaled sharply.

“You can come with us. . . But there are rules. . . “ I said, trying to sound my most sincere.

“Such as?” She asked through clenched teeth.

“Well. . . Most important to this situation. . . The newest member of the team helps the humans clean up after a battle.” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

Harken’s eyes narrowed as she tried to decipher if I was telling the truth or just messing with her. She turned around to see human men everywhere, some sifting through rubble while others tried to use teams of horses to pull the corpses of giant women to no avail.

She turned back to me, and I could see that she was struggling with wanting to get away, and the natural honor she felt to do the right thing. . . An admirable trait that she would likely lose if she followed me and my path.

“Fine!” She said finally, stepping down from the wagon. “but don't think you're getting rid of me that easily!” She finished, pointing a finger at me.

“Help clear the bodies. Cut them in to pieces with that axe of yours, if you have to. Be the slayer people need you to be. Give your fellow slayers a proper burial. If you complete that task and feel like you still want to join me, we are heading due north following the path. We have a 5 day ride, so you should be able to catch up if you make haste here.” I said, trying to sound reasonable.

She only nodded, before turning and walking back through the gate and with that, we set off back to our family.

“Are you really going to let her join us, or are you just messing with her?” Darius asked, from his place in the back of the wagon.

“I haven't honestly decided. . . Her personality clashes with mine about as hard as two personalities can. . . . But she has a good heart. I think we could all use a bit more of that. The potential in her to learn, and become a legend is there as well. With a little real world experience, she could be a force to be reckoned with. Time will tell I guess.”