Shera doesn't have some spell that can tell her how many people are in a house. It would be too much of a cheat if she did. I asked her about it and spells like that do exist in this world.

"Come here." It's Ake. We've decided to break into the nearest house. For two reasons. a) we just have a limited amount of time until the attack and b) the sooner we hide, the better.

The back door is barred up but it shouldn't be a problem for Ake. Shera and Moon are waiting at the front door. Shera will restrain them with her magic if push comes to shove but we've barred the door from that end.

I'm paired up with Ake because these guys think of me as a combatant. It's because I killed that prison warden. It is the elephant in the room but I don't think they care that much. It's shifted their perception of me.

Ake is about to punch open the door but I stop him for a second. I knock on the door. I knock on it again. There isn't a response. Well, force it is.

Ake breaks open the door in a few clean strikes. It's not made of sturdy, durable material. He aims for the area near the hinges and punches it open.

We move in and somebody is right in front of the door. I sock him in the face and Ake puts him in a chokehold. He struggles for a minute or so but goes down with ease. It's because of his age.

Next is a woman. She has a kitchen knife in her hands. Her hands are shaking but she tries to stab me. I grab her arm and punch her in the stomach. The air rushes out of her body and I put her in a chokehold following what Ake did.

They should have some kids. We'll have to look for them but other than that it's fine. This shouldn't be a problem. If life was that easy, what would be the point?

A twang sounds beside my ears and I hear a piercing thud behind me. I don't have time to look behind. I grab the knife, on the floor and place it on the woman's throat.

We don't have those short-swords we got from the priest anymore. They were taken away by Ryland.

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"If you move, I'll slash his throat!"

"Let's see who's faster? You or me?" It's a woman, no a girl. She's somewhat around this body's age. She has red streaks running through her hair. It would be strange and charming if she wasn't about to kill me.

"He might not be fast enough but I am." Ake's hands are gripping the man's head. "I'll rip his throat off if you move."

She's afraid. I see it in her eyes however, the dagger in her hands is still there. "Why are you here?"

"We just want to stay here. Until the war is over, then we'll leave. That's all we want." I'm want to convince her to lay down her arms by herself. I've had enough of killing people. I'm still torn on killing that guy. Do I need a kill policy? Please fill this form, if you meet the requirements I'll butcher you.

"Why can't you go someplace else?"

"We don't have a home? We came up from Frey's."

"You fucking cockroaches." Hey, she doesn't have to be polite while we're extorting her. Also, I think our status as refugees garnered the cockroach comment.

"Ok, but if you try and come near me, I'll kill you!" I see her hands flick or something and the dagger rushes past me. At least, it didn't nick me this time. Ake would've been able to dodge that with ease. Have I mentioned that I want to learn his skills?

"We have to tie you up though."

I can see her fuming at me. She wants to rip off my throat. "What do you expect us to do? Trust you to not kill us?" She has another dagger in her hands, brilliant.

"Listen, we'll tie you up, feed you, spare you, and won't lay a finger on you but if you think we'll just let you wander around we can just settle this." I keep on staring at her and stand my ground. To be frank, we have all the cards. She can kill one of us in time, I have no doubt but both of us is a whole other story.

She drops her dagger and nods. I tell Ake to tie them up with some rope we found in the house. He only has the girl to deal with so, he'll be fine.

I wipe at my cheek and its got a lot more blood flowing down then I expected. Ake herds the people into the center of the room and ties them up.

Shera and Moon walk into the room and survey the people in here. "Should we kill them?"

Panic fills red-streaks face and she shouts, "Oi, we had a deal!"

"Yes, yes. I promised them we won't kill them." Shera looks at me with disbelief in her face. What does she think of me? That I'll just slaughter a family for no reason.

Well, there's plenty of reasons, we'll be much safer, we can focus on our digging, we won't have to guard them or keep them in sight. The peace of mind will be irreplaceable. Should we do it?

I sigh and rub my forehead. "No...they can help us out with the digging. If they try anything though, everybody should feel free to kill them. We're not running a charity after all."

I pause for a second and consider some things, "Ake can you put her to sleep?" I make a mock demonstration of a choke-hold.

I don't think she should hear what I'm about to say.