“Y-yes, of course,” she replied as she hurried over to the injured girl. Frisha sat down beside Reaylin, laying the girl’s head on her lap, and then watched Rezkin’s retreating form. Without his reassuring presence and protection, she suddenly felt very vulnerable. He was only gone a few moments, but it felt like an eternity to the frightened young women.

Reaylin was reeling from her experience with the giant. She knew that if Rezkin had not arrived when he did, she would be dead. Even with her weapons and training, she had been no match for the mountain of a man. Here she thought she was a warrior, but in her first real battle she had been pulverized. Her pain and inability to move or even breathe comfortably made her feel all the more exposed and vulnerable, and with Rez’s departure, her only source of comfort was Frisha!

Frisha kept replaying the images and sensations in her mind. Being dragged from her horse, the crossbow bolts, the ringing of steel, and the blood. Then, Reaylin engaged the massive bandit, but he threw her around like she was nothing more than a tiny pest. Frisha imagined it was her being beaten and tossed against the tree. She had been terrified watching the woman throttled nearly to death right in front of her, and there had been nothing she could do to stop it. Although she had been practicing with her knives, she had yet to stick one in a target. She had thrown a few at the brute with shaking hands, but she had missed completely.

More than anything, though, the image that played over and over in her mind was that of Rezkin standing over the bandit, poised to strike. When Rezkin had first beaten him with fist and foot, he had been clearly and understandably full of rage. As the man knelt retching on the ground, something changed. For the briefest of moments, it was as if the world stood still. Several strands of Rezkin’s hair had slipped from the queue at his neck. They whipped in the wind around his face as his eyes turned to icy steel. When his wicked blade descended taking the man’s life and releasing his soul, Rezkin’s face and eyes were empty, devoid of all that was human. It was that brief glimpse that frightened her more than anything.

Rezkin returned with his horse and a roll of bandages. He pulled Reaylin’s tunic up to just below her breasts. Frisha sucked in a deep breath. Even she was not sure if her reaction was due to Rezkin’s seeing and touching so much of Reaylin’s body or the deep purple and black bruising that was already setting in over the expanse of the girl’s torso.