Rose opened her eyes.

Several human men and two human women stood in the room with Rose. In her grogginess, she couldn't understand their words. One human female who looked vaguely familiar pointed at Rose.

The familiar-looking woman exited through what seemed to be the front door. The others gathered around, discussing something Rose couldn't make out. She heard the word "it" tossed around.

One man glanced at Rose, his eyes widening in shock. He looked out a large window, gesturing and speaking urgently to the others. They all gathered at the window, talking rapidly. The man slipped away, slowly approaching Rose while drawing a dagger. He walked past her and knelt behind her.

Rose tensed, bracing herself for the end.

"Hi," the human said, "I'm Derrick. Sorry for this." Rose felt her bound arms loosen. "I'm going to cut the ropes a little bit. When I'm gone, count to five and pull, and you'll be free. Please don't kill them, I mean, you can kick their asses, but they're my friends, so don't kill them. I'm sorry for this." He took a breath as the ropes loosened. "Ok, I'm going to run like the devil is after me," he laughed, "which you are. Good luck with your boyfriend. I'm rooting for you both." The ropes loosened enough for Rose to move. She heard footsteps running away.

One... Two... Three... Four... Five...

Rose flexed, snapping the ropes. She quickly got to her feet. The four humans at the window turned in surprise. Before they could react, Rose summoned nature's fury.

The house exploded.

All the windows on the first floor and the front door shattered from the wind's fury. Lightning crackled in the air. Fytistone fell flat with a scream. Hamilton, Battleax, and Thorn watched the scene. Batty dropped into a defensive crouch. Rick's eyes widened, and he whimpered.

"Rose!" Rick shouted, bolting into the house.

"Go help," Battleax commanded Batty, who bounded after Rick.

"My house!" Fytistone shouted as she got to her feet. She turned and glared at the shorter Mayor, "I demand—" She stopped cold, seeing the Mayor's angry red eyes.

Fytistone recoiled but then gathered herself. She straightened up, gave Hamilton her best frown, and pushed past him. Hamilton gripped her arm with an iron grip. Fytistone screamed in pain. Hamilton tossed her to the two guards running to the house.

"Lock her up!" Hamilton commanded. The two guards shrugged and dragged Fytistone away as she shouted threats. Hamilton turned back to watch the chaos inside the house.

The four humans at the window regained their senses and quickly climbed to their feet. Seeing Derrick run out the back door, a fifth human peered into the room. Seeing Rose awake, he grabbed the first weapon he could find, a cast iron skillet.

The man with the iron skillet thought he would sneak behind Rose and knock her out. When he entered the room with the iron skillet raised over his head, he found a Battleax. Batty, the Barbarian Battleax of the Battleax clan from the Barbarian Region of Battleax (Yes, Dear Reader, that was fun to write), charged him in full barbarian rage. The man screamed and ran with the enraged barbarian giving chase.

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"Batty?" Rose asked as the barbarian charged past her.

The lone female and the only magic user of the group held up her hands. She shouted, "Slee—" but was interrupted by an imp flying through the window onto her back. Rick landed hard on the woman, knocking the breath from her.

Rick turned to the largest man, bellowed, and charged. Rick slammed into the big man's chest, knocking him flat with Rick on top of him. Rick clawed at the man's throat, his sharp teeth exposed, and spit dripping from his snout. Rick's eyes glowed red with anger as he bellowed, "I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL!" The man let out a high-pitched scream as he crawled backward with Rick on top, clawing and snarling.

One of the last men standing jumped through the window. He tumbled over the windowsill, found his footing, and began to run. He stopped dead when he saw Thorn, Hamilton, and Battleax. Battleax pointed to the ground. The man, familiar with bar brawls, knew the rules. He lay face down, closed his eyes, and prayed to all the gods, even the orc ones, that Battleax was in a good mood.

The last man bent to help his wife, who was slowly regaining her senses. She stood and watched as the iron skillet man ran past.

In a panic, the iron skillet man threw his only weapon at the barbarian. Batty caught the iron skillet, swung it above her head, and shouted, "I will dine on your flesh!" The now skillet-less man screamed and ran, with Batty chasing him.

The woman looked at Rose, who was now fully awake. She shouted, "Slee—"

Rose held up her hands as ice shot from her palms. The ice hit the woman directly in the chest, knocking her out of the broken window. The woman rolled, gasping for air. She rolled into something and looked up, finding herself face to face with gnarly, dark green toenails connected to a dark green foot. She looked up at the smiling Thorn. The woman lay face down and cried.

The last man looked at his wife, lying on the ground. He turned to Rose, grinning as he drew his dagger. "Well, I guess there's only one way now." He began to stalk toward the shaman.

A loud gong rang throughout the house when Batty connected the iron skillet to the iron skillet-less man's head. He crumbled. Batty tossed the skillet in the air and caught it. She turned and saw the man with the dagger approaching Rose.

The big man crawled into a corner, attempting to hit Rick, but each blow made the imp angrier. Rick had scratched large, deep gashes into the man's spit-covered face.

Rick's red eyes glared into the man's terrified eyes. He showed all his sharp teeth as he whispered, "Your soul smells sweet." The man passed out. Rick smacked him a few times and finally stood up. He looked back to see the armed man approaching Rose.

Rose prepared to fight. She sent a gust of wind, but this man was different. He had seen battle and was ready for the shaman. She shot ice, but he stepped away, his sadistic smile vanishing.

Rose felt a presence on her right. She glanced over and saw Batty step beside her, holding the iron skillet. To her left, she saw a snarling Rick, claws extended.

The man dropped his weapon and placed his hands behind his head. Batty pointed to the door and commanded, "Outside." The man complied.

Rose, Batty, and Rick escorted that man outside. The guards were gathering the two fallen humans. Derrick was having an animated conversation with Hamilton, who stood listening and nodding.

"Two more inside," Batty told the guards. They nodded and rushed into the house.

"You good, girl?" Thorn asked Rose.

"Yeah, they caught me off guard," Rose said. Rick was looking at Rose all over, twisting his hands together. Rose patted him on the head. "I'm fine, Rick."

"I was so worried," Rick squeaked.

"Thank you," Rose said, patting him again.

The guards escorted the two now-conscious men out of the house. Both looked terrible after the battle. The big man looked at Rick and squeaked in terror. Rick's eyes flashed red with anger as he hissed at him.

The big man began to cry, "Don't let it eat my soul."

"Rick!" Thorn commanded. Rick looked at Thorn while Rose clenched her fists, ready to continue the fight. Thorn smiled at the little imp. "You did good, imp."

Thorn nodded to Hamilton, who nodded back. "Let's go home, you two."