"We are getting close," Giselle said in a hushed tone.

"Past those trees in the yonder is a cave...the bad men are in there," she continued, her eyes fearful.

The small party had tethered their horses to some trees roughly a mile back and Zenvix had tasked two soldiers to guard them. There wasn't a choice - approaching the bandits' hideout with horses is tantamount to alerting those criminals to their presence.

As they approached the line of trees slowly, Zenvix began to hear voices directly ahead. He halted, looking immediately at Yurisviel and Alvaro.

They nodded.

"Those voices. Proceed from the flank to avoid being discovered. These trees are encircling the mouth of the cave," Zenvix said quietly.

The party followed the line of trees due west, treading lightly while remaining concealed behind vegetation as much as possible. "Here will do. I can see them now," Yurisviel said, proning her body and looking out between a few bushes, her eyes directed eastward.

Zenvix and Alvaro followed suit after the prince commanded his four soldiers to kneel. Giselle crouched down beside them. The voices are loud and angry, resounding from a small clearing outside of a rocky cave.

"You dumb whore-son! What do you mean you can't find her?!" A burly man who looked to be the leader punched his fellow across his left cheek. The smaller bandit fell to the ground quickly, trembling and raising a hand to his face.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry Magnus! I searched everywhere but that girl is nowhere to be found!" The bandit exclaimed, eyes widened in dread at the bigger man.

"Useless piece of filth." The man called Magnus spat. Sporting a bald head and a black unkempt beard, Magnus folded his muscled arms in apparent displeasure. He donned leather armor on his wide torso and from his hips, a broadsword hangs in its scabbard. From the side, a large shield can be seen strapped to his back.

Near Magnus were four other bandits and more strikingly, a woman laid on her side, bound on the grass, her clothes utterly disheveled and torn in certain places. He walked over and kicked her in the stomach. The woman cried out in pain, which dissolved into repeated coughs as she curled up defensively against the sudden assault.

Magnus crouched down and grabbed a fistful of her long hair, holding her head up. "Now see here, woman. I want that gold, and I want it quick. Tell me where your girl ran off to...now." He shook her head roughly.

"Or else I will just have to let me lads here share the fun we had last night, mayhaps after a few rounds with my boys you should be more willing to talk?" Magnus smiled, a shady grin spreading his lips.

Zenvix heard a loud rustling of leaves from his right, and before he knew it, Yurisviel had sprinted ahead.

Damn it. Zenvix nocked an arrow to his bow and in quick succession, laid a shot to a bandit who had just realised the presence of unwelcome visitors. That reckless sense of justice never changes.

The arrow perforated the bandit just as he turned his head towards the charging warrior lady. It struck squarely through his forehead and he fell lifeless to the ground with a quick thud.

"Ambush! Kill these maggots!" Magnus bellowed, as his underlings drew their weapons rapidly. A clash of swords, axes and maces resounded as Zenvix's soldiers rushed forward to engage the bandits. The prince drew his sword and raced to aid his comrades.

"You dare challenge the Black Vipers? Do you know who we are?!" Magnus raised his heater shield just as Yurisviel landed a roundhouse kick intended for the brawny man's hips. The blow's impact was absorbed somewhat by the shield, but was enough to make Magnus jerk slightly to his right.

"Dead men. Or snakes, whatever you are." Yurisviel retorted. Magnus seemed surprised by the force of the kick, but collected himself quickly.

"Well, well...I expected the usual vermin but what do we have here? A great beauty playing at being a warrior." The hulking man eyed the curves of Yurisviel's body hungrily.

"What do ya say...we get down to some business between your legs toni-", Magnus's words were cut short as Yurisviel swung her gauntleted fist, which was barely dodged by the man.

The Black Vipers. They are one of the three largest bandit syndicates in the region. Notorious and brazen in their actions. Little wonder they dared attempt a kidnap so blatantly in the day. Zenvix thought as he sliced the neck of his opponent cleanly with the tip of his sword. The bandit fell with dying gurgles of his own blood.

But from the sound of it, they are just doing what all bandits do. In it for the gold. What has Aderis got to do with this? Zenvix sneaked a concerned glance back towards the bushes where they came. Alvaro had kept back, choosing to keep Giselle safe while the rest engaged the criminals.

Meanwhile, the fight between the Blood of the Valkyrie and Magnus seemed to have reached a pause. Yurisviel smiled sweetly at her opponent.

"Sure."

Magnus could scarcely believe his ears.

"Jesting, are you? Never thought the Lady Yaleheart is such a vamp!" the bandit leader guffawed.

Yurisviel continued to smile in a faintly coy fashion, and Magnus's eyes widened slightly.

A fist struck out squarely to the front of Magnus who by instinct, raised his shield at the sudden onslaught, protecting his face. But the fist never connected. An instant later, he felt a pedal kick slam to the back of his head and he stumbled forward, losing his balance.

"We can get down to some business alright....."

Yurisviel landed gracefully behind Magnus from her cartwheel.

"Between your legs."

She drove her right leg upwards at the nether region of the bandit leader.

Magnus's eyes seemed to pop from their sockets. He dropped both his shield and scimitar, grasping the precious organ between his legs as he sank to the ground in pain. Words failed him.

Upon seeing that their leader had fallen, the remaining bandits fell quickly from the combined attack of Zenvix and his soldiers. As two men gripped Magnus firmly by the arms, Zenvix bound the bandit tightly with a rope.

"Didn't know you had a knack for poetic justice," Zenvix smiled wryly at Yurisviel.

"This oaf deserved it, after what he did to Giselle's mama. And for insulting my honor." Yurisivel snapped, but returned a half-smile.

"Mama!" a scream echoed from Giselle, who came running towards the woman lying still on the grass. Zenvix unbound the lady who had already passed out from the toll on her body. Alvaro, who followed behind Giselle, placed two fingers on her mother's pulse.

"Don't worry Giselle, she is fine. Passed out from exhaustion, but she will survive," Alvaro reassured.

Giselle grasped her mother's hand, tears streaming down her face. Relieved that the pair was finally reunited, Zenvix's attention focused back on Magnus.

The trio made their way to where Magnus was kneeling, his face contorted in pain though the initial shock had subsided.

"Now then Magnus, if you do not wish for our Lady Yaleheart here to continue her coquettish business with you again, I suggest you best spill the beans. Why did you abduct the two villagers?" Zenvix questioned.

A shade of consternation passed briefly across Magnus's eyes, before he grudgingly spat. "We were promised ten thousand gold pieces in exchange for the two villagers. The exchange was supposed to happen today at evenfall, but you knuckleheads ruined it."

Ten thousand gold pieces? Few can provide such a reward. Only someone with status in society.

"Careful now." Zenvix warned, as Yurisviel glared threateningly.

"Now, who put you and your little gang up to this? Why did the perpetrator want to kidnap two mere villagers?"

Magnus suddenly looked flustered, and for the first time, Zenvix could see true fear.

"I-I...I cannot say."

"Say it, or I will end your life right here." Zenvix narrowed his eyes as he unsheathed his blade once more.

Magnus seemed to undergo intense struggle as he fought to keep his nerves under control. He smacked his lips in trepidation, eyes darting between Zenvix's sword and the ground beneath him.

"...Bismarck. T-that's all I can say. I don't know anything else‒p-please stop forcing me!" The arrogant, strapping man who was but half an hour ago taunting Yurisviel is now reduced to a fearful wreck.

Preposterous‒to think he became this afraid of one person. Bismarck? Is this even a first or a last name? Who is Bismarck? This sounds foreign even by Elaria's standards. Seven hells, and why or how is this person even related to the Scent or Aderis?

Zenvix became deeply entrenched in his thoughts.

And then he saw a spurt of crimson. Yurisviel gasped.

A loud gushing sound erupted from the man before him. White brain matter expelled from Magnus's head as a long, tentacle-like appendage emerged from the other side, blood and gore dripping from the obsidian hook attached to it.

Alvaro yelled, stepping back in shock. Yurisviel shoved Zenvix back from the now-dead man, perforated where he knelt. As the appendage withdrew from its target, a violent stream of blood poured forth from the gaping cavity, enveloping the grass beneath in a sea of red.

Magnus's head slumped, eyes still open as the last vestiges of life left them.

The writhing abomination coiled and twisted almost off-handedly, as it retracted slowly to its origin. The trio traced the appendage, their eyes following as if in a fearful trance.

"W-what happ -" For the first time, the warrior-lady was shaken.

The voice that responded was unnaturally high-pitched, hollow, and layered-in. Like two different voices meshed in a chilling symphony.

"What happened to me, dear lady?"

"Oh nothing." The unsettling voice continued.

"I am the sweet Giselle you always knew." The girl smiled theatrically from ear to ear.

Her eyes were subsumed in a deep, scarlet red.