Hanna woke up from the noise of the garrison coming to life in the morning. She wanted nothing more than to bury her head under her pillow and return to sleep, preferably for a couple of days. That was out of the question though. She had no time to lose and the few hours she had stolen for herself could well come back to bite her in the ass. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and began packing up her stuff. It was hard to believe that it had only been a couple of days since she first left this room behind. She could have sworn that she had been away for weeks, if not months. Maybe that was to be expected when you were abducted and forced to fight in an arena with your life on the line. She was just thankful that she had chosen to leave her stuff behind before she left. Hanna would hate losing her crossbow and there was no way she was ever starting over on a new spear. If Anders would have pestered her about it she would have told him to sit on it and rotate.

She had gotten away easy really. Abducted, imprisoned, made to fight, bursting free, all it had ended up costing her were two missing knives, her sword and an ugly hole in her armour. And hour after hour of mind-numbing boredom. That might actually have been the worst part, just sitting the time off, hearing the non-existent clocks tick away.

Hanna finished packing and left the room. She bumped into Kurt on her way out and forced him to feed her before she left. The food that the guards ate wasn’t fancy, just dry bread, some cheese and an egg or two. It still way better than the brown slop they had been served in the arena. Hanna almost gagged at the memory. Once the food was wolfed down, she said goodbye to Kurt and made the long walk to main street. Kurt had seemed glad to be rid of her. Hanna was curious if what bothered him was his sort-of responsibility for the arenas continued existence, or if it was his betrayal of the count’s plans for the Dwellers. The former would be endearing and the latter would make him an asshole.

Main street turned out to be as busy as ever. At least people were carefully avoiding her, probably because of the big spear that was resting on top of her shoulder and was swinging dangerously to the sides as she moved around. Before she could leave the kingdom behind she had some business to take care off. Kurt had stoically refused to arrange a carriage for her and she lacked both the money and the competence to travel back on horseback. It wasn’t unexpected but it still sucked, since it meant that transportation would be taken care off by her own two trusty old feet. It also meant that it would take ages. The trip to the kingdom had taken close to ten days, at a pace that was maybe twice her walking speed. Some quick maths told her that she could expect to be on the road for about two thirds of a month, provided she didn’t spend any time walking in the wrong direction. Knowing herself, that was more or less guaranteed to happen.

Hanna wasted the better part of an hour in search of a map. It turned out that in this satellite-free world, maps weren’t only way out of her price-range, they weren’t even for sale. At least not to the working man on the streets. It was reasonable but also really bad news for her. She would be lucky if she made her way back at all without a map. Hoping to make the trip in under a month would be plain foolish. The only thing that made Hanna remotely hopeful that she could find her way back was that there weren’t a lot of roads to chose between. As they had travelled in the carriage, they had followed one singe road the entire time, and only once or twice had Hanna spotted any crossroads.

Hanna spent the remaining hours until lunch and the little money she had on buying a water skin and rations. In the end, the money she had didn’t get her a lot. She had a backpack full of cured meats and dry bread, which would keep her full for at most a week, maybe two if she barely touched the food. She had her crossbow though, which she could use to hunt if she could just figure out how to find any game. Needs usually produced means. Hanna just hoped she would sort that out before she starved to death.

Lunch was quick and greasy, a couple of sticks with meat on them from one of the many food stalls. Hanna licked the fat from her fingers and wiped them off on her pants. It was time to go. She walked through the gate that they all had entered on their way here and left the city behind her. The road she walked was dusty and dry, despite autumn clearly approaching. It was pleasant enough to walk, around her were beautiful fields ready for harvest and miniscule villages in-between them. It was also boring Hanna out of her mind. Despite walking for a long time, the city was still visible behind her, and she constantly came back to the fact that she had maybe a month of this ahead of her.

To mix things up a bit and just maybe speed things up, Hanna tried jogging. It turned out to be a good choice. The backpack bumped around like mad and never ceased to annoy her, but she was untroubled by the weight of all her gear. The biggest hurdle to jogging was what she would do with her spear. It was awkward to keep on her shoulder. In the end she settled on holding it in one hand, parallel to the ground. It was still bothering her but it at least allowed her to swing her arms as she ran.

Hanna kept the pace she had set until darkness fell. She walked a couple of hundred metres off the road to a bundle of rocks and trees between two field. There she made camp and made a fire. It was only the second time ever in her life that she used a fire steel to start the fire and it took way to long. Her sergeant in the army would be fuming at her if he was here. He wasn’t though, making Hanna smile as she made herself comfortable, kicking her boots off and warming her feet on the fire. The day was finished with some sausages and a good night’s rest under the star-littered sky.

Like always when Hanna slept outdoors, she awoke feeling rather miserable. The morning dew had made her wet and she was shivering in the cold. At least the stiff and aching back that she usually got was a thing of the past thanks to her healing. The day that followed was a study in monotony, the only things of note was a man and a wheelbarrow that she passed and that there no longer where any fields around after the second half of the day. The third day progressed much the same way except for one major difference. As the day grew older, the sky darkened and winds began picking up. A storm was coming.

Hanna hated getting soaked. There was no way she would be sleeping outside tonight. She kept an eye open for signs of humans and found what she was looking for after a couple of hours. A small group of houses was nestled together far away from the road. A distant crack of thunder rolled in the background as Hanna hurried along to the group of houses. The storm got ever closer as she ran, and by the time she knocked on the door of the nearest house, rain was already falling.

“Hello?” It was a woman that opened the door, a mother judging by the kid that was partly hidden by her skirt.

“Hello”, Hanna answered, doing her best to up her charm and to not look too vicious with her armour and many weapons. “I was travelling on the road when I noticed the storm. Could I maybe wait it out in your house?”

The woman smiled at her, even if her eyes looked a bit worried. “Of course. Come inside”

That’s people on the countryside for you, Hanna thought. The woman was clearly taking a risk when she let Hanna into her home, but still didn’t hesitate to help her. It had been the same where Hanna grew up, people would always look out for each other. Far out from civilization, you needed the support of your neighbours.

Once inside, Hanna took a look around. It was a really small house. The only light that was there came from a small lamp on a rackety table in the middle of the room. A man and another kid were sitting on the table, eating what looked like porridge. A singe wall hid the remaining part of the house. Hanna could just about see the rear part of an animal and some straw poking out from behind the wall.

“Would you join us for supper?” The woman asked.

Hanna accepted with a thanks but didn’t have the heart to take their meagre food without adding some of her own. When she pulled up some of her sausages, the kids’ eyes shone. Her contribution was accepted almost reverently and did much to lighten the mood. These people probably didn’t eat meat very often. They chitchatted as they ate, talking about the villagers’ daily life and Hanna’s journey as the storm raged outside the thin walls. Even though the small village was only three days of jogging away from the kingdom, none of them had ever gone there. Hanna was amazed by how small their world was, it began and ended with their immediate surroundings, and the only future that the two kids could look forward to, was to one day inherit their parents’ meagre possessions. It reminded her about a story that her grandmother used to tell, that she was widely known in her village as well-travelled since she had once visited the closest town. It put things in perspective and made her feel like a spoiled brat for taking a flight to the other side of the world once or twice each year.

Their pleasant dinner was cut short by someone pounding on the door. This time the man left the table and opened the door slightly, careful to not let the storm inside. As soon as the door opened, a gloved fist grabbed the edge of the door and slammed it open. A second later the man was kicked to the floor, hitting his head on the edge of the table as he fell. The kids started crying and the woman rushed to his aid. In the doorway stood a man dressed in full armour and with a sword on his hip. Behind him were two others, armed and with menacing smiles.

“Stop fretting”, he growled towards the woman who was cradling her husband. “You will all be dead soon anyway”, he continued and reached for his sword.

Hanna hadn’t been sitting still during all of this. She had been on her feet the second that the man hit the floor and had drawn her own sword by the time the attacker had drawn his. He swung at Hanna with a cocky grin. She swatted the weapon out of his hands and struck him in the head with her sword. His metal helmet stopped the cut but didn’t save his life. The force of the blow just dented it inwards and he fell to the side like a log, dead before he hit the ground. His two companions had drawn their weapons as well and had circled Hanna.

She spun around and tried to clear her back. The small house was cramped and gave her very little space to manoeuvre. Hanna was forced to side-step a swing from one of them while the other was behind her. Just as she had feared, that cost her. The guy behind her rammed his sword through her back, deep enough that she could see the tip sticking out of her stomach. Hanna clenched her teeth as the pain ran over her. It was a good thing she had been through this once before. She afforded herself a second to focus her thoughts, the two attackers thought themselves victorious and had stopped moving either way. Then she took a step forward and felt the sword slide out of her in a disgustingly smooth motion. At the same time she buried her own sword in the guy in front of her. All he had time to do was look surprised as he slowly toppled over.

Hanna pulled her hatchet from its strap on her hip and spun around towards the guy behind her, their eyes meeting for a second before Hanna chopped him in the forehead with her axe. Hanna barely managed to catch him by his armour before he landed on top of the couple that had sheltered her. She tossed his corpse out through the opened door.

“Is he alright?” Hanna asked through gritted teeth. Her body hurt like hell.

The woman that had sheltered her was holding her husband, his head cradled in her arms She was sobbing wildly. Blood covered much of her arms.

Hanna walked over to them with careful steps and winced as she crouched next to them. The man had a nasty cut in the back of his head.

“Do you have some cloth to press against the wound?”

The woman didn’t answer. She seemed distant and unresponsive, probably in shock. Hanna put a hand on her shoulder and repeated the question without much effect.

“Will daddy be alright?” One of the kids walked to them, holding a towel up towards Hanna who folded it and pressed it against the man’s wound.

“Maybe”, She answered while she took the woman’s hands and made her hold the towel. She turned towards the kid that had fetched the towel. “I’m going out for a bit but will be back soon. Can you make sure that mommy doesn’t stop pressing the towel against the wound?”

The kid nodded with teary eyes. That would have to do, Hanna reasoned. She got to her feet with a lot less pain than she had expected. That was good, chances were high that these three attackers weren’t the only ones around. She grabbed her sword and spear and headed out into the storm, pulling her hatchet out of the last guys forehead as she passed his corpse.

Outside the winds were howling, pulling at her clothes. The raindrops stung in her eyes and the stronger gales made her body sway. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Hanna rounded the corner of the house and saw the rest of the village. Just as she had feared, the attackers hadn’t come alone. A lone figure was sitting on top of a horse, keeping track of his men as they went through the houses. Between the gales and the thunder, people could be heard screaming and crying. The man on the horse hadn’t noticed Hanna as she was hurrying towards him in a stumbling attempt at a run, the best she could manage with her wound that had yet to heal fully.

When she was close enough, Hanna swung her spear in a wide arc. Her blow hit the man on his shoulder and threw him of his horse, who began trotting around its owner. She hurried after the man as he sailed through the air. He landed with a heavy thud and scrambled to get on his feet again. He didn’t get very far. Hanna kicked him back to the ground again and lifted her heavy spear. Then she rammed it down, impaling him to the ground like fly in a collector’s book. He coughed blood and grabbed at the spear, trying to pull it out. Hanna smiled in satisfaction when it didn’t move and left him there, hurrying off towards the closest house.

The people in this village were simple, at the very bottom of the social ladder. If they were good or bad was irrelevant, they lacked the means to do anyone much harm. Tilling their fields in steady monotony from cradle to grave, they were unable to do anything that could warrant this sort of attack. The fact that someone could just casually swing by and ruin their lives infuriated Hanna. It was time to take some names and kick some asses. She wasn’t bringing any paper.

Hanna entered the first house and made quick work of the closest attacker. He had his back turned towards her and her sword made a deep cut diagonally across his back. Except for him there was just one other guy in there. Her attack had caused him to stop whatever horrible action he was occupied with and he ran at her with an axe held over his head. Hanna stepped to the right to avoid the swing and cut just under the ribs. The man cursed and held his side. He swung at her again in a slow horizontal arc that Hanna had no trouble dodging under. On her way up, she drove her sword in the path of an uppercut, planting the entirety of her blade inside his ribcage. The two of them ended up face to face, in the intimate distance normally reserved for people about to kiss. Blood ran from his mouth and life left his face. Hanna pulled her sword out and hurried towards the next house, ignoring the surviving villagers.

The last of the attackers flew out into the storm, struggling for breath as he held his tattered ribcage. Hanna finished him with a chop to the head with her hatchet. She filled her lungs with the moist air and let the rain wash over her face. She had worked her way through the houses like a butcher, charging in on people who weren’t expecting any resistance. Hanna had lost count of how many she had fought somewhere after her tenth or eleventh kill. She had also lost her sword at about the same time. It had shattered as she blocked a heavy blow from an axe, costing her a deep cut in her shoulder. She was bleeding from numerous wounds despite her armour, and a shard of her sword was still stuck in her ribs. Hanna winced as she pulled it out. She would have to either change weapon or change her fighting style. Her habit of putting a lot of force into her swings was obviously putting more strain on her sword than it could handle.

The villagers that were unharmed and able were checking up on the others, tending to wounds and making sure everyone was accounted for. Hanna left them to it, she couldn’t do much to help anyway. The horse was still there, which was a relief. Hanna had big plans for that horse, she just hadn’t decided yet if it was for transportation or food. Hanna didn’t know shit about horses but had seen her fair share of spaghetti-westerns. She walked up to it and tried calming it down, patting its sides and talked to it with a soothing voice. Then she took the reins and tied them to a nearby tree. It would totally suck if it ran away when she wasn’t looking.

The rider of the horse was still where she had left him, tethered to the ground in a grotesque mirror of his horse. He looked weak but far from dead. That suited Hanna just fine, he had a few answers to provide before she could end his suffering.

“Please…” He coughed as Hanna squatted beside him.

“Why did you attack this village?”

“It hurts so much”.

Hanna sighed. She was not cut out for this, but this shit needed to be done. She grabbed the man’s arm with one of her hands and her hatchet with the other.

“Answer my questions and this will be quick”, she said. “If you don’t… You aren’t giving me much choice, we’ll have to take this in steps, limb by limb.”

“Why did you attack the village?” Hanna repeated her question, holding her hatchet high for emphasis.

“I don’t…” he trailed off.

Hanna took a moment to focus herself. Then she brought the axe down, chopping off two of his fingers. A third was partly cut through, only attached by some skin and sinew. The man roared in pain. Hanna gave him a few seconds to suffer before she spoke again.

“This stops as soon as you give me answers”.

The man was sobbing meekly, snot and blood collecting on his face at the same pace as the rain flushed it away.

“Josef ordered us”, the man stammered.

Josef. The name alone sent Hanna’s blood boiling. How dearly she wished she hadn’t been hit by that Molotov. If she just had been around for the fight, she would have relished cutting him down.

“Last time I heard of him, he attacked a village far from here. Why is he here?”

The man didn’t respond, too preoccupied with his suffering to bother. Hanna shook his hand a bit to get his attention, sending the man into another agonizing cry.

“He isn’t just a pack leader anymore”, the man paused, swallowing the blood that had pooled in his mouth. “He has taken over”, the man continued. “He is working with the kingdom”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

That was not what they needed now. Things were going south quick.

“Good boy”, Hanna said. Her words put relief into the man. She stood up and saw the longing look in his eyes as he followed the arc of her axe. It buried itself between his head and the rest of his body, and Hanna left it there for a while. She felt tired and soiled.