Counting out a few triangular coins, Ferene paid the street vendor and took the small wicker basket offered. It was filled with small pieces of fruit, which she picked out and ate one by one as she walked through the town. The top layer had a mix of blackberries and raspberries, but under that it seemed to be mostly grapes.

Her food from the Hatharen had run out, but she was glad to be back in places where she could find fresh fruit. Bread and potatoes weren’t the most exciting meal, and after a week of the dried food on the road she was more than ready to move on to something else.

So she ate her overpriced basket of berries and grapes, walking through the crowded street of a city she didn't know the name of, in a kingdom she was equally unfamiliar with. At the very least, people on the street gave her some distance. Most of them seemed to steer clear of her with just a glance at her weapons, while others stared at her more closely as they stepped away, muttering to themselves.

Tossing the last grape into her mouth, she stepped into an expensive-looking shop, the owner frowning at her. Approaching the counter, she wordlessly pulled out the pouch Telhrian had given her and set it down.

“What’s this?” The man behind the counter asked, poking at it experimentally. He stood a good deal shorter than Ferene, giving her a good view of the top of his bald head as he leaned forward.

“I was told to sell it.”

He glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow, then looked back down, pulling the bag open to reveal a thick glass bottle with some sort of silvery substance inside. After staring at it for a few seconds, he slowly flipped the bottle over, then back again, before setting it down on the wooden counter. One of the few other people in the shop turned to watch from the side.

“Looks like junk to me.” The shopkeep said, shrugging as he looked up at Ferene. “I could give you three half-circles for the bottle, if you wanted.”

“I was told it was worth a good price.”

“I think you got scammed by someone, then.”

The other customer stepped forward, looking more closely around Ferene. Turning, she looked at him more closely. Barely shorter than her, the man looked malnourished. Bags under his eyes, his yellow hair a mess, and a flowing, long-sleeved shirt hanging loosely off his shoulders. Staring at the bottle, he worked his jaw, rubbing his lips together. “Would someone really try to scam a long-ear? They must be very brave. Or very stupid.”

The shop owner looked sharply at the other man.

Ferene reached for the bottle. “I’ll try somewhere else.” The owner opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, watching intently as Ferene put the bottle back into the cloth bag.

As she left the story, the skinny man trotted to catch up with her, panting slightly as he did so. “Wait!” He called out, and Ferene stopped, turning to him. “That’s quicksilver, isn’t it?”

“Don’t know what it is.”

“It’s…” He caught his breath, standing up fully, looking her over, his eyes stopping on her weapons. “Are you a warrior? Can you fight?”

“Yes.”

Going silent for a moment, he glanced away from her, his eyes wandering up and down the street, even looking over his shoulder. “C-can I hire you?”

Ferene stared at him. “For what?”

“For…for protection. I’m, I’m moving some valuable goods. And certain people want them. Thieves hired to attack me once I’m out of the city.”

“I’m going to Ettsgras.”

Something about what she said made him change. He stood up slightly straighter, his eyes taking on a more serious look, yet there was desperation there. “I’m also going to the capital. If, if we traveled together, could you-“

“Yes, but you have to tell me the full story.”

The serious, desperate expression vanished, his face lighting up as he gave her an almost boyish grin.

Velan, as he was called, brought her back to the inn he was staying at, showing her to his room. He spent several moments fumbling with the key to the door, before he managed to get it open. The inside was sparsely furnished, a simple bed against one wall and a desk against the other. Closing the door behind them, he pointed to the desk, which was piled high with thick books.

"This…these are what they want. I'm from a small village, and everyone came together to pay for my education, so I could go to the capital and become a scholar. I have some amount of money to make the journey, but these books are worth a lot more than that."

Ferene didn’t know how much books were worth. Taking out the bottle, she placed it on the desk. She didn’t know how much a lot of things were worth “How much is this worth?”

“The, the quicksilver, to the right person, is worth a lot. You need to sell it to a proper alchemist. You can find one in the capital. It can be used for-“

“More or less than a book?”

“Uh…more than one, less than two?”

“More or less than a horse?”

“More, unless you find a very good horse.”

Looking over the stacks of books, Ferene considered. The man - the boy? - was carrying a lot of value, if that was true. "Well, we can leave together, and if they attack you, I can kill them all."

"K-kill them?"

Looking away from the books, she saw the horror on his face. Odd. "They are criminals."

"I thought you might just, scare them off. Intimidate them so they leave me alone."

Ferene took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts. "They go after someone else. Or they wait for a chance to surprise me. Unless they aren't criminals, and don't need to be killed." She turned directly towards him, stepping forward. He shrunk downward, having to turn his head to look up at her.

"You can kill them." He said, pressing his lips together. "Nobody will have to fear them if they are dead."

"Good. When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Wake me up when it's time to go." Ferene said, walking over to a corner of the room and dropping down onto the floor. She heard Velan start to complain as she closed her eyes, ignoring him. She could still sleep like this, if she needed to.

It turned out that Velan's village had supplied him with more than just books. He had a small cart and a single donkey to pull it while he sat on a makeshift seat set on top of the bed. Ferene found the entire thing ridiculous, but there was no way he could carry the books. Looking away from him, she directed her gaze down the road. Somewhere over there was the capitol - Velan's destination - and somewhere far beyond that were the independent lands. In the vast area between them, was Ferene's father. Just the thought of it annoyed her.

The two of them walked. Halfway through the day, he called a break and guided the cart to the side of the road, stepping off and grabbing a sack from beside the books. Taking out some bread, he offered one to Ferene. It was flat, hard travel bread, nowhere near as good as what the Hatharen gave her, but better than nothing. And free. He had told her he would pay her only after she dealt with his problem, but was more than willing to feed her until then. She slowly ate the bread while remembering the breakfast at the inn - freshly steamed oats and sliced apples.

Oddly, Velan didn't talk as they traveled, nor as they ate. He stayed silent, fidgeting occasionally, often turning to look back behind them. Ferene was fine with the silence, but his constant movements started to bother her more and more.

"Is it your first time traveling?"

He half jumped at her question, stopping to look at her. "Y-yes. I spent my whole life in the village or visiting my teachers. I've never been this far from home before."

"I don't have a home. What is yours like?"

"You want to know about my village?"

"No, I want you to keep walking forward and stop looking back. It's annoying. Focus on talking."

"Right, uh…I liked reading, growing up, so my parents sent me to study with a scholar nearby. While the other kids learned about farming, I read about the world. I learned about other kingdoms, other races, how things work. When I learned enough, I was sent to the city, where I had another teacher, then another. I learned math and logic. I got letters of recommendation from all my teachers, to show to the scholars at the capitol, so I can become a teacher to others, or an adviser to a rich noble, or…something. Something to make it all worth it. I miss my village, my parents, the animals. I liked reading and learning but I never asked to be sent away."

"So why were you?"

"Huh?"

"Why were you sent away?"

"To prove that my village is worth something. We fell behind in farming, and the local lord had to send for assistance, and he's upset about it. So we need something to show our value. If I can be successful, send money back, they won't have to worry about him taking the land. He wants the land.”

"There's a lot of evil in this world." Ferene said. Velan didn't respond, but he stopped fidgeting. As they turned around a curve in the road, putting a hill between them and the now-distant city, Ferene stopped.

This was the perfect place for an attack. An overturned wagon lay at the side of the road.

Predictably, two cloaked figures stepped out onto the road from behind it, both drawing swords. Two more stepped out the other way, one holding a crossbow, the other an axe, moving to prevent them from running back down the road.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Alright lad, end of the trip for you. You spent a whole day running around the city and only found one guard? Give us the cart, go back home and neither of you will get hurt." One of the two in front spoke, a gruff female voice.

"I won't give you anything, so leave me alone and-" Velan shouted back, but was cut off by a crossbow bolt hitting the cart.

"You're weak. We're strong. Give us what we want, or we'll take it from you. The strong take what they want." This was the other one in the front, a male voice.

Humans. Fighting over stupid things, going on and on about strength and weakness, preying on those that couldn’t fight back, stealing and hurting and killing for fun. She hated it. Just as she hated the Hatharen outside of her family, she hated these humans as well. That hate instantly overflowed.

Ferene drew her sword and time exploded.

A second crossbow bolt flew over her head as she ducked, running full speed towards the shooter. The one with the axe tried to step in her way to protect the crossbow user, but she slammed her shoulder into them as she approached, far faster than they anticipated, shoving the weapon aside before cutting down the one behind. Blood flew everywhere, but she was already turning, bringing her sword around to slice into the chest of the Axe-wielder. Ferene caught another splash of blood as that one fell.

Ferene specialized in running. She was already back at the cart, cutting the hand off the man as he made a grab for Velan, even before the bodies behind her stopped moving. He screamed, and she brought up her gauntlet-clad arm to block a sword swing from the woman. Kicking the man in the chest, Ferene advanced on her, simply battering the woman's sword as she tried to block Ferene's assault.

It was pathetic. After all her practice with the Hatharen, it felt so easy to just slaughter these four. Ferene knocked the woman's sword out of her hand and then slashed her neck, then turned on the one-handed man, who looked at her, dropped his sword, and fled. Ferene ran him down like an animal.

She was the strong one, and they were the weak ones. Ferene breathed heavily, the smell of blood filling her nostrils. She was covered in it, but she didn't care. She felt powerful. She felt excited, in a way she hadn't felt excited before. It had never been so easy to remove filth like those four. She looked to Velan. He was pulling himself up off the ground after ducking under the cart. Stepping towards him, she offered him a hand up. He smiled nervously at her as she helped him to his feet.

When he stood up and leaned back against the cart, breathing heavily, Ferene found herself staring at him. When she thought about it, she hadn’t been this close to someone like him before. His skin was pale from staying inside, his arms thin, lacking muscles from working in the fields or training. He was weak and delicate, yet despite that she found herself drawn to him. She remembered the way he smiled, the way his eyes lit up despite how tired he looked.

“Ferene?”

Coming back to her senses, she found herself face to face with him, leaning in, far too close. His eyes were wide, a mixture of confusion and…fear?

He was afraid of her. Of course he was. She killed four people in a number of seconds. She was covered in their blood. He likely never held a weapon before, never saw someone die.

"I'm…going to clean myself up." He nodded at her, his hands shaking as he climbed back into his seat. She picked up her sword and grabbed a waterskin from the cart, carelessly pouring it over herself. She could only wash away the blood, but she wanted to wash away the memory.

What had come over her, in that instant? A little more than a month away from humans, and this was how she started acting? Her training with Relgren made her faster, stronger, but she lost control of her emotions so easily?

The last time she had killed people - actual people, not the monsters from the north - in that cave, something else had happened to her. That was different. Rather than desperation, she found herself feeling…arrogance? These human thugs were beneath her, yet she still wanted to destroy them. To cut them down.

Slowly, she realized she never valued herself more than them before. She wanted to kill them, but she never thought herself any better than them. She did not. She had become arrogant. An idea lurked in her mind, a whisper that she was more than humans. Better than them. She pushed back against it.

The two of them traveled down the road, wordlessly, leaving the corpses behind. Ferene walked in front of the cart now, not wanting to look at him. She wasn't sure if he was staring at her, or watching the ground. She didn't know which she wanted him to be doing – watching her in case she did something else, or refusing to look at her at all? She didn't look back to find out.

She remembered her dream, all those weeks ago. Giving orders, having whatever she wanted. She had forgotten about that part, given where the dream had gone after that. She could become that person, if she wanted. It would be so easy to do so. Everything she had done so far would mean nothing, everything she had worked to change would become undone. She could be so much worse than all the people she had killed. Today she learned that. She needed to be more careful. She was stronger than she was before, and it would be harder for someone to stop her.

Night fell, and Velan broke the silence. “I need to sleep.”

“I don't. I'll keep watch.”

She turned to look at him, catching him staring at her, an odd expression on his face, before he shook his head.

Staying awake was easy, as Ferene was horrible at keeping track of time. She slept when she got tired, or when someone else told her to sleep. Traveling with others, she'd sleep when they did, even if she didn’t need to. When she was with humans, she slept like a human. With Linara or the Hatharen, she slept less. She wasn’t sure why that was, but right now she didn’t feel tired. She could probably keep walking at the same pace through the night and the next day, if she needed. How tired she felt seemed more about activity than time.

Somewhere on the road behind them were four dead bodies. Was that everyone he had been worried about? Were there more? Ferene watched the road for hours, but it was boring. Her mind wandered. She looked over at him, sleeping. The memory of what she had done came back to her, and she looked away. She should leave him, if the threat is gone. He'd be better without her, since she was the threat now. Unless the threat wasn't gone, and he'd end up just as dead as the four she had killed. She ground her teeth together. She ran away from human lands after making a mistake, and as soon as she came back, she made another one.

Morning came, Velan woke up, and he handed her more flatbread. They ate in silence. She did not ask him if more people were after him. The two of them continued walking on the road, Ferene still in front. She didn't know if he was fidgeting or not. She had spent too long away from this world. Alongside the arrogance, she could feel the hatred there. Telling her who she was, what she was, contradicting the other thought. Fighting and training with immortals didn’t change the fact that she was still a murderer. She enjoyed using her newfound strength to kill those people, unlike before. She was worse now, not better. Those were the words it whispered to her.

Shaking her head, Ferene rose to her feet, stepping away from their small campsite. Too many thoughts in her head, too much introspection, too much worrying. Could she go back, return to the way she was before? Before Linara, before Rilya, before Telhrian and Sathar and Tahrean?

Did she want to?

Did she want to forget about what it felt like to be loved, to be wanted, to have a family that cared about her and looked after her? People that would stand up for her? A teacher that wanted to help her? Her thoughts now were because of that. She looked down on the humans because they had never shown her that much kindness. Or they had, and she had not trusted them. Tullund had offered her friendship and she rejected it. The bounty hunters offered her a place with them, and she ran away.

Part of her was human. Rejecting humans would be no different than the Hatharen rejecting her.

“Was that all of them?” She asked.

“Huh?”

“The people following you. I killed four yesterday. Are there more?”

Velan hesitated before responding. “I don’t know. Two of them approached me and told me to hand over everything. I refused, they said they would take them from me soon. I hope there aren’t any more.”

Ferene stayed silent for a time before speaking. “If there aren’t any more, you don’t need me.”

“I…I’d like you to stay with me until we reach the capital.”

Stopping, she turned and faced him. The donkey drew to a halt as well. “You’re scared of me.” She stated.

“I am.” Velan responded immediately. “I don’t think anyone wouldn’t be, after seeing what you can do. But you protected me. So I know that you’re on my side.” He smiled down at her. She thought he was cute when he smiled. She never thought that way before. It bothered her. She turned around and kept walking down the road.

That night, they stopped at a roadside inn. Several other wagons sat outside, and the stable was half-full of horses. Velan told Ferene to stay with the wagon as he went inside, then came back, followed by a young man who took the donkey into the stables.

Velan stood next to his wagon, staring at the books. “We could carry them to the room, but there’s a lot of people inside, and they would see. I could leave them here, but if anyone sees them they can just take them without us knowing.”

“Take them up.”

“But-“

“Why am I here?” Ferene looked at him. He nodded and picked up half the tomes, his arms straining under the weight of the stack. Ferene didn’t grab the rest, but walked ahead of him, shoving the door open loudly and walking into the middle of the room. Heads rose from drinks and plates to look at her. Ferene turned in place, surveying the room. Some fifteen guests, scattered about. A few of them looked like mercenaries, their weapons and armor too mismatched to be proper soldiers. Most were clearly merchants of one kind or another, with the last few people dressed in simple farmer’s clothes. Velan walked up the stairs without drawing much attention, as most who looked up at Ferene turned back to their tables after meeting her glare.

Stepping towards a table occupied by two of the mercenaries, Ferene slid into the third seat, nodding to them.

“Who are you?”

“Hired guard.” She replied.

“Hired guard? Not responding to the call? Missin out on the good life.”

Ferene frowned. “The call?”

“Thought you’d know, given all this.” The other one said, gesturing at her weapons. “War coming, army being formed. Figured we’d sign on, get in on some extra gear and training. Hear the General is the best.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ferene saw Velan carrying a second stack of books upstairs. “I’m from far up north. Don’t know anything about any of that, war or general.”

“King got a special general with a magic sword. Training up the army in ways nobody has ever done before.”

Ferene raised an eyebrow. She had never heard of a magic sword before. “Have you seen him? What’s his name?”

They both shook their heads, and the first one answered. “He’s been around for the past ten years, but mostly in the castle or at the military fort. Common folks like us don’t get to see him, until now. Two more days of travel and we’ll be there. Don’t know his name, everyone just calls him the General.”

Nodding, Ferene stood up, dropping a few triangular coins onto the table. “Some drinks, on me.” Then she walked upstairs, looking for Velan. She met him as he was coming back down a hallway.

“Is there a war coming here?”

He stopped in his tracks, staring at her oddly. “People have said there’s going to be a war for as long as I can remember.”

“Men down there say there’s an army being formed at the capital, and a general is there.”

“Everyone knows about the general.” He craned his neck, looking past Ferene towards the stairs. “Let’s talk inside.”

The room he led her to was smaller than his last one, with a bed taking up the entire wall, a large chair in one corner, and the two stacks of his books in the other.

“Ettsgras and Celngi have been going back and forth on a strip of land to the west for some forty years or more. One side claims it, the other side makes a counterclaim, there’s threats, treaties, treaties get broken, more threats are made. Fifteen years ago both sides put soldiers near it, a few battles broke out, and Celngi took it. At first people said there would be a full war over it, but Ettgras accepted the loss. Then they said Celngi will gain confidence and push for more, try to take the border towns. I don’t know any more than that.”

Ferene let out a deep breath. She remembered the fighting in the north. A battle. With the humans it would be even larger, with more dead, more dying. Of course humans were fighting wars. It shouldn’t concern her, but the memory of watching the fighting, watching people die, clung to her mind. One of many things she couldn’t forget.

“We should get to sleep.” She said, turning and stripping off her gear, piling it beside the chair.

“I ordered a bath for you, if you want it.” His voice came from behind her, muffled. She turned around and saw him staring at the opposite wall. “Down the hall on the right, there’s a second set of stairs. Goes to the baths.”

Ferene didn’t need any more information. In just her undershirt and leggings, she trotted off, finding the stairs down to a room branching off to a number of stalls. One was open, and inside she found a large bucket of clean water set in the floor, with a towel and soap next to it. Closing the door behind, she set about scrubbing the grime, sweat, and blood off of herself.

Upon returning to the room, she found Velan already in bed, rolled over to one side. She walked over to the chair, sitting down and pulling her jacked over herself. It was Lebb’s jacket, from all those weeks ago. Maybe even two months, it was hard to remember.

“We can share the bed. If you want.” Velan’s voice came from the other side of the room after a few minutes.

Ferene stopped breathing. “Are you sure?” She finally said.

“I-If you aren’t, um, covered in blood. And other things. I’m a lot more open to you, well, pushing me down.”

She felt herself swallow. Standing up, she slowly walked over to the bed, sliding under the sheets. “I’m not going to do that.” She said, firmly, as she lay next to him. He was cute, but…she shouldn’t want him. She didn’t need him. What happened before was a random impulse. She held onto that thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep.