Every time she attempted to sleep, Loldirr saw the lifeless eyes of Willis as his head floated down the river to never be seen again. He was someone who would have never hurt another being and despite his naivety would do anything to make other people smile. He didn't deserve to have his life ended in such a brutal way.

It felt like each muscle was screaming in agony by the time Loldirr reached the edge of the forest. She had run most of the way to try and gain as much distance between her and the black knight as possible. The sun had started to set as she eventually found a road frequently used by traders and travellers.

When the sun finally did descend beyond view, the hope that the road continued west was the only thing keeping her going. By the time she reached any sort of civilisation she was cold, wet, hungry, aching, confused and angry, however, she still needed to keep her wits. Until she could get clarification on what was happening everyone was a potential enemy.

Despite the moon being at its highest point, the establishment she had located was not as quiet as Loldirr had expected.

The Rose of White Road. A brothel on a crossroads between Taernsby, Lavender Falls and White Harbour. As a brothel, it would mean most of its business would be conducted at this time of the night.

Looking down at her clothes, Loldirr realised that a woman wearing hunting gear was anything but inconspicuous. Fortunately, everyone was to preoccupied to notice her climb through one of the few darkened windows to hide herself in a corner among various baskets of vegetables.

Initially she didn't want to close her eyes as she immediately recollected Willis' detached head at the river, but pure exhaustion pushed her into a deep sleep.

The dreamless sleep was eventually interrupted by the uncomfortable sound of moans and purring. Initially opening her eyes and adjusting to the minimal light dawn was bringing, Loldirr couldn't quite tell what sounds she could hear until she started to gain her bearings. She twisted her nose in disgust when the realisation that someone was performing sexual acts not far from her hiding place.

'Wait, am I not in the kitchen?" She thought to herself. 'Some people are sick!'

There was along drawn-out moan "When you killed that Manticore, did you use you sword?" A smooth seductive voice of a young woman could be heard.

"A sword would never work." A deep masculine voice responded "you need something longer like a spear!"

There was a gasp from the woman as he emphasised spear.

"Did you penetrate it deep m'lord?" Another gasp came out on the word deep.

"Hold on," Loldir thought to herself, "that voice was different from the first woman. This man truly is a disgrace."

Loldirr squirmed uncomfortably as the gasping and moaning became more frequent and louder, despite trying to remain as still as possible she was becoming more and more agitated by the obvious lustful activities a few metres away from her.

Then as if it was getting to a peak, there was silence.

Loldirr did everything to try and be as quiet as possible, her entire body screamed in agony as she refused to make a move, slowing her breathing down as much as she was physically capable. As far as she was concerned she was not making a sound but was desperately waiting for the three debauchers to move on.

"You there, behind the potatoes, come out slowly." The masculine voice boomed towards her.

Loldirr rolled her eyes but grabbed her bow as she pushed the potato basket to the ground. A physically imposing stark naked man with clean-cut raven black hair and beard stood, facing her directly. Behind him stood two naked women who continued to caress each other's breasts despite knowing there was impending danger.

Despite her face blushing a bright crimson red, Loldirr stood and instantly drew an arrow in her bow and pointed it towards the man.

He smiled with absolute pristine white teeth and his cleanliness suggested that he was highborn. "You better make sure that arrow reaches its target because you won't get a second chance."

His arrogance and calmness suggested that he would be able to back up his threat. So Loldirr lowered her bow just enough to point at his still partially erect penis.

That seemed to make him uncomfortable. "Ok, let's not escalate this!" He said taking a small step back and carefully raising his arms in the air.

He smiled eyeing her up and down admiring her shapely beauty. "Wow, you certainly are a beauty." He commented smugly. He chuckled briefly as he noticed Loldirr's face squint into a frown.

Despite being the one naked it wasn't him who felt exposed. He kept moving slowly around the room, not getting any closer but always keeping his eyes focused solely on the red-haired archer.

Her arm was starting to twitch as she continued to hold the arrow in position. She would be able to maintain this position for another ten minutes or so but his arrogant stance and smile suggested that he would be able to maintain his antagonism for quite some time too.

"Arm getting tired yet?" He smiled continuing to circle around the room.

Assessing her options, Loldirr could only see two likely outcomes. Kill him, though she quite frankly had enough of death for the last couple of moons, or find a way out. As she edged slightly towards the exit the sword slipped out from the robe as she had left them on the floor.

'Damn!' She thought 'I had completely forgotten about that.'

Escape was now not an option either.

The naked man seemed to snarl as he stared at the sword pommel. "Where did you steal that impressive piece of steel?" He questioned Loldirr looking squarely in the eyes.

"It was given to me by my late guardian, I did not steal it!" Loldirr protested.

The man turned and sat between the two whores as they shuffled out of the way for him. One attempted to grab his manhood but he pushed the advance away. Once again looking at Loldirr he responded "Get out of here wench before I decide to kill you!"

Loldirr couldn't believe his insolence, and to call her a wench! She had to have restraint though, something Edric had taught her. 'Don't fight pointless battles, it achieves nothing.' He frequently told her after returning from fights with the butcher's son as a child. This was an opportunity to take her leave and she was going to embrace it.

Lowering her bow she carefully placed the arrow back in the quiver and carefully lowered herself to pick up the rest of her equipment including the sword. She watched the man intently the whole time making sure he didn't make a move.

As the man started to suck the finger of one of the whores, Loldirr carefully made her way out of the room knowing that the man was watching her just as ferociously.

Finding a bench in the corner of the tavern as the patrons started to wake from their slumber she did what she could to not draw attention to herself.

She had heard that taverns and brothels were a good source of information, but she wasn't entirely sure what information to listen out for. The men that were not drunk were certainly planning to shortly and as each of them groped women at various stages of undress it appeared that their minds were elsewhere than talking about rumours.

Just as a group close to her started to briefly discuss business, a tankard was slammed down next to her with another one opposite. Cursing under her breath as another problem was about to arise she looked up to see the naked man, now fully clothed, sit down in front of her.

She frowned "What do you want?"

He brushed down his lightweight black leather armour and smiled again with his pristine teeth. "I fancied a drink, you looked like you fancied one too."

While there was a huge desire to keep away from this man, Loldirr's yearning for a drink was far greater. She hadn't had anything to drink for since well before the previous moon, her throat felt on fire and her lips were cracking as a result of it. Taking one look at the man and then returning to the tankard she grabbed it with both hands and took a huge gulp.

"Urgh, what is this?" She remarked still swallowing the swig she had taken.

The man looked dumbfounded. "Ale!" He replied with a hint of sarcasm. "Have you never had ale before?"

She shook her head before taking another swig. She was simply too thirsty to care about the taste. "Wine normally, Emerald Haven Wine!"

The man screwed his face "That swill can not be considered a drink! Your name girl?"

Loldirr was not impressed by the term 'girl'. "Your name first... boy!?"

The man seemed to smile and relax in his seat at her temperance. He drank, placed the cup down and wiped his mouth. "You're a fiery one aren't you? They called me the Manticore Hunter."

After taking another swig of ale, Loldirr looked at him confused. "What's a Manticore?"

He screwed up his face "What's a... Where have you been hiding all your life?"

"Greenhaven." She replied not that it sparked a response from the Manticore Hunter. "It was in the centre of the Emerald forest."

The Manticore Hunter was looking at her even more confused than before. "There's nothing in the Emerald forest."

"My village was there," she argued trying not to rise to anger "it is no more."

"Ok." The Manticore Hunter replied starting to disbelieve the words she was saying. He changed the subject not wanting to dwell on questions that seemed to have illogical answers. "Your sword?" He asked. "It looked quite impressive, where did you get it from?"

She looked down at it before returning back at the Manticore Hunter. "It's not for sale."

He chuckled at her response. "I'm not interested in buying, just interested in the craftsmanship. Always good to know experienced smiths in the area."

"It was a gift." Loldirr responded looking somewhat downtrodden. "My guardian, his name was Edric, he gave it to me."

"And this Edric, where does he reside?"

A deep burrowed frown appeared once again on Loldirr's face. "He resides with Greenhaven! If you excuse me sir, I must take my leave. I thank you for the ale but I have a long journey ahead of me." She stood drinking the last of the ale. It had gradually become a more bearable drink.

"Farewell my lady and I wish you safe travels." He stood in a chivalrous manner as she walked beside him with minimal eye contact and brushed past the rest of the patrons before exiting the tavern.

The sun was rising now so all she needed to do was keep on the road with the sun on her back until she reached the next town or city preferably by the sea.

A couple of hours had gone by as Loldirr walked along the road with the only people she had encountered being merchants. It was unnerving for her as they stared at this long-legged red-haired beauty travelling from The Rose of White Road to gods know where. At the same time, it was encouraging to know that few of them had escorts and some of them mentioned a place called White Harbour.

Loldirr felt silly not asking the merchants that she passed but she did not know who to trust as a result she felt like she was stumbling around in the dark.

'I'll ask the next merchant!' She thought to herself.

As she kept on trundling along the road she heard the clip clip of hooves echoing behind her. Just one rider by the sound of it. Gaining the courage to do so, Loldirr was determined to ask them once they had caught up, in the mean time she would continue on just to make some sort of progress.

The hooves echoed louder but the pace remained consistent. It was a casual trot just quick enough to be gradually catching up with her.

The trotting then stopped a few metres behind her and the silence felt unnerving as Loldirr looked up to see no one on the horizon. She gripped her bow harder and prepared herself for whatever was behind her.

The sound of the leather saddle grinding against metal followed by the two loud thumps of metallic feet hitting the ground seemed to drown out all other sounds. Loldirr's breathing became erratic as the fear of what was behind was too much to bear, she had to turn and face this new traveller.

As she sceptically turned she took one long deep breath and swallowed deeply. Towering over her with his broadsword to his side and his menacing damaged armour, stood the black knight, the very man or thing that took her closest friend and her guardian away from her, ready to complete his quest.

If eyes were looking at Loldirr through the battered helmet, she could not tell and the lack of any breathing struck fear to her heart. Eventually what appeared to be a struggling wheezy intake of air seemed to fill his lungs as the words escaped his mouth.

"And now you die!"