I stood frozen on the spot, and so did the three people.

“Don’t move,” the woman said. “Just grab your weapons slowly and wait till I untie the girl. Then each of us move out one by one.”

“The bastards’s just stuck in there Marika!” the bigger man stood up, a toothless grin on his scrawny face.

“Sit down idiot! We don’t have silver, it’s like battling the Arglens with sticks and stones.”

So they possessed no silver. It was good to know at least a tiny fraction of luck was looking down upon me. But the bigger man didn’t seem to mind the woman’s words. He came close and knelt down beside the cave entrance. It was pretty obvious he couldn’t squeeze his fat body through the little hole, but then he pulled out a knife from his back.

“I’m going to stab the bastard’s eye, and we all leave while it howls,” he grinned, the blade coming close to me.

“Bor, get the fuck out of there,” it was the woman’s voice again. She was about to yell something louder when I opened my mouth.

“Kind sir, I believe there is no alternative where you exchange the girl for an eye?”

“What the fuck?” the bastard called Bor almost stepped back. “He talks!”

“And he also spits!” I drew close to the edge of the cave and spat strong enough for the drool to fly right at the man’s face. The impact wasn’t pretty. His nose started to bubble up in red, and by the time he started to howl I was clawing my way out of the cave. During the attack, the big guy had thrown down his knife, and it clattered towards me. I gripped that, and kept the sword inside the cave. If the bastards didn’t have silver, I didn’t want to hand it over to them.

When I emerged out from the other side, I heard the shouts more closely.

“Get the girl!” it was the woman. “We’re getting the fuck out of here!”

“Bor’s dying!”

“Then let him die. He brought it on himself.”

It was followed by a rapid howling of the big man. It sounded like the roars of a wounded lion.

“Keep a lookout!” it was the woman again. “I’m untying the horses.”

“I-I can’t stay here alone!”

“Then you want to get the horses?”

A pause.

“No.”

“Then stay the fuck in there!”

More howling followed, but there was no sound from the two bandits. I looked at the jagged path on top of the cave. It would have been great to have that skill of monkeys, but then I wouldn’t have a chance to spit a man dead.

Spit a man dead…how did my life end up like this?

I scrambled up to the rocks, gripping onto any holding then pushing myself up. I slipped several times, but managed to get hold of something then push up again. An advantage of being an undead is how you can easily disregard broken ankles, stretched muscles, and disjointed feet. And that was probably the only advantage of being undead.

The scree slope led back to shrubs, and I sneaked behind until I realized I was right behind the young man. The bigger man, who called himself Bor now lay on the ground, unmoving. I killed him. I didn’t know what to feel. There was guilt, but there was a very large empty void too - possibly effects of not having a beating heart.

The young man who was called Levil, now stood staring at the cave, sword pointed at it.

“Don’t you dare crawl back!” he yelled. “If you do, I swear I’ll….I’ll…”

He seemed to ponder on what to say.

I looked around, searching for signs of the woman, and when I saw none, I sneaked from the back. The girl tied to the tree saw me. Her eyes didn’t lit up with fear, it didn’t give any friendly look either, as soon as she saw me, she turned away and pretended not to see me.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Her father sat down beside an undead man and had a meaningful conversation, I’m not surprised.

But that gave me the chance to sneak from the back. Levil didn’t notice me until I was close to the fireplace, but then it might have cast a shadow, or his ears started to work more than his legs, because the man turned, and he turned with a face glistening with sweat and eyes that of a rabbit caught to a lion.

“AAARGH!” he screamed and brought his sword down, I raised the hand that held the dagger. I didn’t know what I thought of. Perhaps a really stupid part of me thought a bronze dagger could deflect an attack from a sword, but in truth, it didn’t. The sword moved past the dagger until it reached my elbow. The blade passed through the skin, drawing blood and slicing the arm in half.

I stared with my mouth wide open as a part of my hand cleanly fell down. Dark red blood oozed out, dripping on the floor. There was a spasm of pain that almost blinded my vision and rang in my ears.

“AAARGH!” Levil screamed again, watching the fallen arm.

“Shut up idiot!” I punched his face with my functioning arm, sending the poor guy reeling right on top of big man Bor’s body. Then he lay there unconscious like a dying man huddling his fallen lover.

I grabbed the wound, gritting my teeth as the pain screamed through every fiber of my being. I opened my mouth to scream….but then it stopped.

There was no blood, there was no pain, but there was no arm either.

The blue screen appeared on my other hand now, but with a new message.

Tip

First wound? Do not fret, you possess healing. So continue your journey, because help is at hand.

“Stupid messages,” I wagged my arm for the screen to disappear. But I was grateful for the pain removal.

“Mmmmmgh!” a voice came from the back.

Right, there’s a girl.

I turned to see Abel’s daughter struggling to remove herself from the tree. She tried pushing herself forwards, as if she had the strength to break the tree and start walking. When I approached her, she glared. Her glares were the same as old man’s strength. You couldn’t guess it was something to be intimidated until you see it yourself.

“Calm down young lady,” I tried my most polite voice. “I am here to rescue you under the instructions of your father and the temptations for sweet meat…” I cleared my throat. “Assure me you won’t hit me in the balls or try to claw my face and we can get out of here.”

“MMMM!” It sounded like a growl more than a moan, but I didn’t have a choice. I scuttled behind her, and started cutting the ropes with the rusty bronze knife. It wasn’t as easy as I thought.

“Mmmm…mmm…” the girl muffled, which I assumed translated to ‘quickly’ or ‘faster’.

“Well I’m sorry young lady, but as you can see I’m short of a hand.”

I moved faster, cutting the rope like cutting bone, and just as the first binding fell off, I heard rustling to my right. Someone was approaching. And I knew who that someone was.

Faster…faster…

“Mmm..mm”

“Yes, I love you too! Now stop struggling or I’ll accidentally be cutting your arm. And as someone who has lost one arm, I can say you start to value it more after you lose it.”

At that moment the larger woman decided to make her appearance. She came into the clearing with her eyes fixed on the two fallen men. Her eyes gave the look of a cornered beast. And she didn’t have horses with her, she had a crossbow.

“Those are two men I’ve valued,” her voice was cold as she looked at me and Abel’s daughter like two annoying rats. “Now I’ll have to pay for those bastards families at the guild. So you girl, are going to help me pay back that whole money. And you,” she aimed the crossbow at me. “I’ve never seen such an intelligent undead, but that means you will fetch a more better value at the public market. So knife down, and put your hands behind and kneel on the ground. Or I shoot this girl and deal with you myself!”

I considered my options, and then shortly realized there were no such options at all.

There was only one binding in the rope, and I saw the girl trying to wiggle her hands through it. But I doubted she could do anything. She could run away, but that would only mean there would be an arrow on her head. If she was wise, she’d stay still.

I dropped my knife and raised my arms.

“So you are an intelligent undead after all,” the woman looked angry rather than amused. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I nodded.

“Can you talk?”

“I wish I couldn’t.”

“Hah! You’ll fetch a good price in the market! Now don’t try anything smart. Come forwards and kneel on the ground-”

But before she could finish the sentence the girl wiggled her hands out from the binding. With one quick movement she removed the gag in her mouth. The big lady, who had her crossbow turned at me, turned it at her, but it was too late.

“Devolah Ferris!” the girl’s voice was high pitched, but it felt as if four people spoke at once. Little sprinkles of fire blossomed in her fingers and then it turned to a roaring column of fire that sped towards the woman with the crossbow, engulfing her alive. There was no arrow fired, and there was only a single, short scream before her silhouette disappeared in the blazing crimson orange glow. It lasted for a few moments, the heat strong enough to scorch my skin. It turned the air around to a burning smell of charcoal before disappearing into thin air.

By then the large woman was a single black, charred corpse. The crossbow had fallen down and black soot fell down from her skin like cracks of a statue.

I stared in horror, then turned back at the girl. Her eyes were glowing in a dangerous glow of blue, and the edges of her long fingers were scarred black. Then she looked at me.

“I am Catherine Northmorrow, and if you value your life, you’ll say what news my father has for me.”

News? I wondered.

But I started talking.