When the girl and the warriors of her tribe approached the river crossing the next morning there was a lot of excitement. A couple of tribes had come in late the evening before and had heard about what had happened at the crossing the previous afternoon. They could also see the results down by the river, the heads of the giant warrior and the other ten men that the Slayer had killed were mounted on spears to one side of the crossing. None of the local tribes warriors had been seen anywhere near the crossing since the Slayer had killed their war leader and the other ten men that she had picked out from among them. They had run off after the Slayer had challenged them to block her crossing. The warriors of the tribes that had been there to see it had told the new arrivals what the local tribe had tried to do and what the Slayer had done about it.

As the girl and the men from her tribe approached the crossing that morning the warriors of the other tribes had watched them closely, but no one tried to block their way. Most of the warriors from the other tribes, that were present, watched her quietly and showed respect. Some had seen her approaching and had backed up into the crowd so as not to be seen or had left the area altogether. Some of the chiefs and war leaders from the other tribes nodded to her as she passed, but didn't try to speak to her. Everyone stood around watching and waiting for the girl and her men to leave the crossing.

Once they had crossed the river and were moving down the road to the plains the level of noise at the crossing increased in volume. The girl looked back and could see that there was a lot of movement down by the river crossing where the heads had been staked out. Men were talking and yelling and waving their arms and weapons in the air, but not in a threatening way, more as if they were pantomiming what had happened the day before, showing the late arrivals what had happened.

The girl sighed and continued to walk down the trail that would eventually lead to home. She had also noticed that there were no other tribes crossing the river that morning behind her and that there didn't seem to be any on the trail ahead of her and the men of her tribe. She sighed again and shook her head sadly.

Zed walked up beside her and looked over at her in a questioning way, but didn't say anything. The rest of the men behind her weren't talking this morning either, they seemed subdued and apprehensive.

"There's a problem isn't there?" the girl asked, looking over at Zed. "The men seem worried."

"Yes, a little" Zed said quietly. "There was a lot of talk at the crossing last night. There are some people back there that are afraid of you and your 'Powers That Be'. They say that you are a Demon yourself, that you have to be to do what you have done. They are saying that you are a danger to the tribes of the plains."

"Do you and the men believe I'm a Demon?" the girl asked quietly, her head bowed down, staring at the ground ahead of her. "Is that why the men aren't talking? Is that why you've been so quiet this morning?"

"No Slayer, the men don't believe it and neither do I" Zed said as he glanced over at the girl. "But they are worried. It's a four or five day trip home and there are a lot of men moving around out there," he motioned with a hand to indicate the plains in front of them. "People who are afraid do stupid things sometimes, and there are only the seven of us."

"Are they afraid we might be attacked on the way home?" the girl asked as she lifted her head and stared over at Zed to see his expression.

"Maybe a little" Zed told her. "But I think they are more concerned about the future. It's hard out on the plains and winter will be coming soon. They are worried about the tribe and the effect this fear of you might have on relations with the other tribes."

"They blame me for what happened then?" the girl said, hanging her head again.

Zed could see that there were tears in the girls eyes. It shocked him that after all that the girl had done, and all she was capable of doing, that she would be crying. He shook his head and looked at the girl again, even though she was the Slayer, she was still a young girl, barely old enough to be called a maiden. "It's not blame" Zed said to her, "it's concern and worry. The men know that they would all be dead if it wasn't for you. They know that if you hadn't stopped the Demon Lords army that it would be marching across the plains right now. They know this, but they are still worried about the tribe and their families. They don't blame you for anything, but worry is worry. They just don't know what's going to happen."

The girl reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked over at Zed and could tell he was telling her the truth. "You know I would do anything to protect the men and the tribe" she said to him, hoping he understood the truth of what she was saying. "But I don't know how to do anything about their fears. The Powers have given me the strength to fight evil, but I don't know how to stop people from being afraid of me."

"Neither do I Slayer, neither do I" Zed said to her as he shrugged his shoulders. "We'll just have to see what happens and hope for the best."

It took five and a half days to get back to the tribes lands. Tords leg wound had slowed them down a little, but mainly it seemed the men were depressed and just not able to march faster. When they entered their own area of the plains that was home to them the men did pick up the pace a little, but not much. The girl didn't try to push them, she was feeling depressed herself. As they entered the valley where the village was located at the far end, a young warrior of the tribe appeared out of the brush, he had been to young to go to war and had stayed behind to hunt and watch over the village. He seemed excited to see them returning, but when he realized how few of them were returning he became subdued.

He approached Zed, assuming that he was the leader of the returning warriors and bowed to him to show respect and to seek permission to speak to a senior warrior. Zed did not aknowledge him, but turned to the girl to speak as their leader. The young warrior, who was only 15 summers old, was shocked and his mouth fell open, he didn't understand what was going on.

"I see you, Cara" the girl said, she knew the boys name because she had know him from the village before he became a warrior two summers earlier. "Much has changed, the men except me as their leader now."

"I don't understand" the boy said with a look of confusion on his face, and a little outrage, "you're a girl, how can you be the leader of warrior's?"

"Just believe it, boy" Zed said in a gruff tone of voice. "We except her as our leader and so will you. So watch your manners."

The boy's mouth dropped open again for a moment, but he straighten up and bowed to the girl in a proper manner of respect. "We have been looking for a sign of your return for a hand of days" the boy said. "We didn't know when you would be returning, but Chief Malan has had us watching for you. We were not sure if it would be you returning or the invaders army."

"The Demon Lords army was defeated and sent back to their own lands" the girl told him. "We are all of our tribe that will be returning, the rest are dead."

The look of shock returned to the boys face again. The loss of almost four hands of warriors was a blow to the tribe that would be very hard for them to absorb. He looked at the other warriors that had survived to return home and could see that Tord was using a crutch to walk and that Zed and Meza had both been wounded. He also noticed for the first time that the girl was carrying a war spear with a copper point and a large copper sword at her hip. His eyes widened at the sight of the sword. It was obviously the sword of a great chief or war leader. What was the girl doing with it, and a spear with a copper war point? He stared at the other warriors, but none of them said anything to him or indicated that there was anything unusual about a girl carrying a war spear and a sword or acting as their war leader.

"You should run back to the village and let Chief Malan know that we are coming" the girl said to the young warrior in a stern tone of voice. "But only talk to Chief Malan, he should know of our return and our losses before anyone else is told. Do you understand?"

The boy looked at the girl with confusion showing on his face, he was still having problems accepting her as the leader of the returning warriors. When Zed and the old warrior Sheb looked at him sternly he shook his head in bewilderment. "Ah, yes." he said hesitantly, "I will go back to the village ahead of you and tell Chief Malan you are coming."

"No" the girl said with a snap to her voice. "You will run back to the village and only talk to Chief Malan. You will tell him we are returning and tell him of our losses. Do you understand?"

The boy looked at the girl, still feeling confused, but bowed to her with respect. "I understand, I will go now" he said. The young warrior turned around and took off running through the brush, in the direction of the tribes village.

It took the girl and the men another three hours to travel the length of the valley and to approach the village. They could see the smoke of cooking fires long before they could see the village itself. As they neared the village they were met on the path by their tribal chief and a hand of other village leaders. When the girl bowed to him in respect, seeking permission to speak to him, Chief Malan looked at her in confusion.

"I do not understand what is going on here Zed" the chief said. "Why is this girl asking to speak for you and the other warriors of the tribe? Where are the other warriors?"

Zed looked at his chief, then looked at the girl, seeking her permission to speak. The girl nodded her head to signal permission. The chief saw this occur and was even more confused. One of the other men of the village that had come with the chief stepped forward. "What's going on here?" he asked in a tone of outrage at the lack of respect that Zed and the other warriors with him seemed to be showing their tribal chief.

"The Slayer speaks for us because she 'is' our war leader" Zed said in a calm tone of voice. "When war leader Toma was killed in battle with the Demon Lord the Slayer became our leader. She became the war leader of all the tribes. When she killed the Demon Lord in combat and defeated his army all the tribes aknowledged her as the leader of our forces."

"Killed the Demon Lord? Leader of all the tribes? What are you talking about? What kind of joke is this Zed?" the man who had spoken before blurted out.

Chief Malan looked at Zed and the other returning warriors and could tell that they were serious and that they did except this girl as their war leader. He looked at the girl and noted the war spear and sword she was carrying. He didn't understand what was going on here, but he planned on finding out. "We need to talk about this, I need to understand what you are saying. But not here, not standing out in the open. We need to go back to the village to talk. We need to gather the rest of the tribal leaders immediately."

Zed looked at the girl, waiting for her to speak. "Yes, Zed needs to explain some things to all of you before your ready to talk to me" the girl said to Chief Malan. "I'll be with my mother. Send for me when your ready."

The girl turned and walked around the chief and the other men that had come with him, leaving Zed and the other warriors behind. She walked down the path to the village, going around it instead of through the center of it. When she got to her mothers home she could see smoke from a cooking fire rising into the air. She started hurrying toward the shelter door, wanting to see her mother more than anything else in the world. Just as she reached the doorway her mother stepped out and took the girl into her arms. The girl let the spear drop to the ground and wrapped her arms around her mother and started to cry, with happiness.

During the evening the girl and her mother heard crying and wailing from the homes of the families that had lost loved ones and were grieving. The girl had sat for hours, wrapped in her mothers arms, telling her all that had happened and about the power that the 'Powers That Be' had given to her. The girls mother had listen to her quietly, soothing her when she became upset over the deaths of so many tribesmen, asking very few questions.

When the girl asked her about the 'Powers That Be' the mother told her that she had believed in them since she was a child and had prayed to them for help and guidance her whole life. She had been taught to pray to them and respect them by her mother, who had learned about them from her mother. She told the girl that she believed the 'Powers That Be' helped her in her healing of the people of the tribe. The girls mother explained that her mother had told her that if she needed help in times of need she should ask the Powers to help her, that is why she had told the girl to ask for help if she found herself in great need. She told the girl that she had expected the help would be in some form that would help the girl to help the wounded she would be caring for if there was a battle. She had never expected the Powers to make her a Demon Slayer. The girl told her about her ability to sense evil. Not just the evil of the Demon Lord, but the evil she had sensed in some of the warriors at the encampment and at the river crossing. Her mother told her that she was able to sense certain illnesses in people when the power was with her.

The girl asked what the Powers were? Her mother told her that she didn't really know, but that she believed in them very deeply, they had been there for her since she was a child and they had been there for her mother and grandmother before her. She told her daughter that her grandmother had been the only survivor of a mountain tribe that had worshiped the 'Powers That Be' many years ago. When the tribe had been destroyed her grandmother had wandered out of the mountains and met a tribe of the plains, because of her healing skills they had adopted her into their tribe. But she had remembered her belief in the 'Powers That Be' and taught them to her daughter and her granddaughter. When the girls mother married a warrior from a different tribe she had taken her beliefs of the 'Powers That Be' with her. When he was killed shortly after marrying her and his family had refused to take her in, she left that tribe and wandered the plains until she had met up with a tribe that needed a healer and had accepted her into their tribe. She had remembered and honored the beliefs of her mother and grandmother and had taught the girl to honor and respect them. That was all she really knew about the Powers, but she was certain they were real and very powerful because they had always been there for her and they had obviously been there for the girl. The final thing they did that night before going to bed was for the mother to teach her daughter the old prayers that her grandmother and mother had taught to her. She told the girl that if the Powers were going to be a part of her life she needed to know how to show them the proper respect and how to pray to them in the proper way.

The next morning the young warrior Cara came to her mothers hut and told them that Chief Malan wanted to see the girl. Cara still did not know how to act around the girl, but decided that the smart thing for him to do was to show her the same respect as the warriors that came back to the tribe had shown her. The girl slipped the strap of her sword over her shoulder and adjusted it to hang at her hip, she picked up her spear and led the way through the village to the chiefs hut. When she got there Zed was waiting outside. He looked very tired, but he smiled at her as she approached. He bowed to her as a sign of his respect and waited for her to aknowledge him.

The girl nodded to Zed and said, "I see you Zed" and smiled at him. "You look very tired. Did Chief Malan and the tribal counsel keep you up all night?"

Zed smiled back at her, "Yes Slayer, most of the night, but they know the whole story now and I think they believe what I and the other men told them. We will know soon enough."

They stood outside the chiefs hut for awhile talking quietly until one of the tribal counsel came to the huts doorway and summoned them inside. Cara was not invited in and was told to wait outside. When the girl and Zed entered the girl could see that Chief Malan and a hand of tribal counselors were sitting to one side of the room. There was also the senior war leader and a hand of warriors that had not gone with the warriors of the tribe to fight the Demon Lord sitting against the opposite wall of the room. The war leader seemed disturbed that the girl was carrying a war spear and wearing a sword, but he didn't say anything to the girl or to Zed. Chief Malan did not react at all to the girl carrying weapons and seemed to accept that she had a right to do so. The tribal counsel members did not say or do anything to show pleasure or displeasure.

The girl bowed to Chief Malan and the counsel members to show respect and waited for them to aknowledge her presence. Zed stood a step to one side and behind her to indicate that he viewed the girl as a senior war leader to himself. The senior war leader of the tribe seemed to take acception to this behavior, but didn't say anything.

"I see you, Slayer?" Chief Malan said with a questioning tone to his voice. "Zed and the other warriors that came back with you have told us what they say you did in the battle against the Demon Lord. They also told us that by yourself you destroyed the warriors of one major tribe and three minor tribes. You also single handedly killed a giant warrior and ten of his men at the river crossing when they tried to force you and the other tribes to pay a bounty to cross the river and their lands to return home. Do you also say that what they told us is true?"

The girl looked at Chief Malan and the counsel, then at the war leader and the warriors with him, she then looked back at Zed and he nodded his head. The girl faced Chief Malan and nodded her head. "Yes. I'm sure that Zed and the men have told you everything and what they have told you is true."

"Can you explain how these thing are possible?" the chief asked. "Can you tell us how a young girl, a girl with no experience with weapons or war could do these things?"

"No, I can not explain. I can tell you that what you were told is true, but I can not explain" the girl said to her chief and the others in the room. "I can tell you that when the Demon Lord broke through the center of the united tribes formation and headed for the wounded I was caring for I picked up a weapon to defend them." The girl indicated the sword she was wearing at her hip. "I can tell you that as the Demon Lord approached I asked the 'Powers That Be' to aid me. I can tell you that I was granted the strength and skill to use the weapon to defeat the Demon Lord and his army. I was later granted the ability to destroy the warriors of evil men who tried to kill me and the remainder of our warriors in the night, so that they could use the other tribes to go plundering. I was also granted the skill to defeat the men that were possessed by evil at the river crossing. I can tell you these things, but I can not explain them to you."

Mumbling started among the war leader and his warrior, but the chief raised his hand and they quieted down. "Can you tell us anything about these 'Powers That Be' that you say gave you these abilities?" the chief asked.

"Only that my mother has always taught me to honor and respect them, and that she told me that in my time of greatest need they would help me." the girl said. "My mother told me that her mothers, mothers, people worshiped them many years ago and passed down their beliefs to my mother and to me. I do not know who or what the 'Powers That Be' are, but I know they helped me when I needed them the most."

The chief nodded his head in acceptance of what she said. "Perhaps we can learn more from your mother at a later time" the chief said to the girl. "Can you tell us where this name 'Slayer of Demons' came from?" the chief asked.

"The words came to me after I defeated the Demon Lord" the girl said. "They must have come from the 'Powers That Be', because I had never heard of a Slayer of Demons before, but I know the words are true. The Powers have given me a mission to seek out and destroy the Demons and their followers."

The chief looked over at his counselors, but didn't comment on what the girl had just said. "Some of my advisors have a problem believing in these 'Powers That Be' you speak of. They are of the opinion that the sword you wear is magical in some way, and that is how you were able to do what you did. They think that if anyone else had picked up the sword it would have given them the same powers you claim came from these 'Powers That Be' and that you do not have any special powers of your own."

The girl heard Zed grunt at what they had just heard and looked at him quickly, shaking her head to signal him to be silent. "If that is what some of your advisors think is true" the girl said looking at the chief and then over at the war leader, "then they are fools."

The war leader looked at the girl with hatred in his eyes and started to get to his feet. The chief signaled him to sit back down. "The man who carried the sword before me was a coward running from the battle" the girl said to all the men in the room. "He was running so fast he dropped the sword and was to afraid to stop to pick it up. He was also one of the chiefs that tried to make me lead the other tribes on a war of plunder to make them rich. I killed him with the leg bone of a deer, not the sword."

Chief Malan nodded his head in acceptance of her words. He had know this from his earlier talk with Zed and the other returned warriors. "I did not say that I agreed with my advisor" the chief said, not looking at the war leader. "But I wanted you to know what others are thinking. You must understand that some people will never be able to accept your story because they did not see it happen with their own eyes, and even if they had, they probably still wouldn't believe it because you are a girl, barely more than a child."

The girl nodded to aknowledge what the chief had said to her. "Fortunately for you" the chief continued, "I do believe what you and the others returning with you have said." The war leader got an outraged look on his face, but didn't say anything. "But believing you doesn't deal with all of the problems that your story brings with it. If one of my advisors is wise enough to believe that it was your sword that gave you the power to defeat the Demon Lord, others may think that to be true also. Others may think that having the sword will give them great powers also and may seek ways to gain the sword as their own. We are a small tribe, and since the recent battle with the Demon Lords army, we have grown smaller still."

The girl nodded to the chief again to indicate she understood him. "Yes, a story like that would be easy for some people to believe if they thought of it" the girl said. "They would be wrong, but people seeking power often make mistakes like that in their greed for power." The girl lifted the strap of the sword over her head and wrapped it around the sheath of the sword. She handed her spear to Zed then walked over to Chief Malan and handed him the sword. When she returned to where she had been standing before she looked around at all the men in the hut. "Perhaps we could sell the sword, for the benefit of the tribe" she asked? "Or maybe beat it down into copper bars?"

The war leader and several of his warriors started mumbling again amongst themselves. The chief looked at them sternly and signaled them to be silent. "I think selling it might be the better idea, no one would believe that it had been destroyed to make copper bars. But even selling it will take some time." the chief said to the girl. She nodded her head in understanding.

"There are other problems that also have to be considered" the chief said looking directly at the girl. "This name, 'Slayer of Demons' could be like sweet sap to stinging ants for some. There are people out there that are drawn to evil. There are some that are drawn to the service of evil, looking for rewards. There are others that are drawn to fame and glory. There are even some that are drawn by envy of others. Any or all of these people could be a threat to the tribe. There are people out there that would willingly destroy the tribe in their effort to destroy the 'Slayer of Demons' to serve their needs." Again the girl nodded her head in understanding. "Zed has told me that very few in the tribal army even knew the name of our tribe and that most of those who did are probably dead. If it were not boasted about that the 'Slayer of Demons' were a member of our tribe, the fact might even go unnoticed."

The girl looked at the chief and shook her head. "I do not need a name that others would be drawn to" she said ernestly, "but the 'Powers That Be' have given me a mission that I cannot turn away from while I live. The message was very clear to me, I must seek out and destroy any Demon or those who serve Demons that come to the plains. I do not even need a fancy sword to do what I must do. But I must destroy evil if it comes to the plains, I have no choice."

Chief Malan nodded his head in understanding and acceptance, he was old, but wise. He understood that there were things he could ask of the girl, and others that he could not. "I can believe and understand that there are some things that have to be done. That evil has to be opposed by those most capable of doing so. I also believe that opposing evil can sometimes be done in 'secrete', shall we say. That if someone were to have a few warriors, a hand or so, to help them, they might actually be able to find and destroy more things evil than if they were to let evil know how to find them."

The girl quickly turned to look at Zed, who smiled and nodded his head to her. She turned back to her chief and smiled her agreement. "I think that you are probably correct" the girl said.

"I also think that the less said about your adventures around the village the better" Chief Malan said to her. "People sometimes talk about things they shouldn't talk about. If they don't know something they can't talk about it, don't you agree? Also, what name would you be called by if you did not use the name the Powers gave to you?" he asked.

The girl nodded her head in agreement to what the chief had suggested. "I suppose I would just use the name I have always had" the girl said, "the one my mother has always called me by, Flower."

For the next year very little seemed to happen in the girls life. The winter was cold and snow hampered the hunting for game. One of the axe heads from the battle with the Demon Lord was beaten into copper bars and traded for food when possible. Times were hard for the tribe. When spring came and game returned to the plains things improved a little. The tribe had always been small and the loss of almost four hands of seasoned hunter/warriors was hard on the tribe. Most of the men that had not gone to the battle against the Demon Lord had been either older men or young men that were felt to be to young and inexperienced to risk. With the spring the total count of those that could hunt and defend the tribe was fifty-three. These men had the responsibility to hunt for and protect over two hundred women and children. During the summer seven boys were allowed to become hunter/warriors in their twelfth summer. Normally, in the past, this would not have been done until they were in their thirteenth or more likely fourteenth summer. But the needs of the tribe made it necessary.

The girl passed into her thirteenth year that summer and grew several inches taller and her body filled out a little. When the people of the tribe met with others of the plains they did not mention the Slayer or the battle with the Demon Lord unless it was brought up by the others. When it was brought up they pretended not to know who the Slayer was or what tribe the Slayer belonged to on the plains. In some circumstances they even gave false information about what the Slayer looked like and what part of the plains she was from, usually suggesting that she must be from some distant area. This was fairly easy to do because most of the men who had seen her in battle had only seen her when she was covered in blood and filth and had never seen her close up. The people of the tribe that knew the truth kept it to themselves, they knew that the truth was a danger to the tribe.

During the summer Zed and the other five warriors that returned to the tribe spent a lot of time away, trading bars of copper for things the tribe needed and gathering information. All of the men had grown beards and changed the way they dressed to change the way they looked so as not to be recognized by others. Zed was no longer a sub-leader of warriors, but was now considered to be a senior war leader and hunter/trader of the tribe. There was friction between him and the most senior war leader who had made it plain in the tribal counsel that he did not believe the stories about the Slayer or what she had done. Chief Malan had intervened and had told the senior war leader to keep his opinions to himself and to stay away from Zed and his men and to especially stay away from the girl. With the coming of fall Zed returned to the tribe with information that he needed to share with Chief Malan and the Slayer.

The girl was sent for after dark and came by a back way to Chief Malans hut. When she entered the hut the only people present were the chief and Zed, no advisors or other warriors were present. She bowed to the chief to show her respect and waited for him to aknowledge her. After he aknowledged her he told her to sit down and let Zed tell her what he had learned. Zed told the girl that he had just returned from a hard march to the west that had taken three hands of days. He told her that he been trading for the tribe and had heard from a trader from another tribe that two hands march further west and north that a tribe was making war on it's local neighbors and was preforming human sacrifices to some kind of dark gods to gain strength for their tribe in war. He told her that young maidens were the focus of the sacrifices and that the drinking of blood was a part of the ritual.

The girl listened to Zed and as he talked a feeling came over her body. She could sense the evil in what he was talking about, she could feel the power of the 'Powers That Be' touching her. This was the first time since her return to the tribe late last summer that the Powers had touched her in this way. She had not felt this sense of 'evil' since the time at the river crossing when she had felt it in the giant warrior and the ten men she had picked out to battle against her. She knew she was being told that she had to seek out and destroy this evil. The girl had been sitting with her head bowed as she listened to Zed. When he finished speaking she looked up at him and Chief Malan. They were both looking at her with very focused attention.

"I must go" the girl said to them quietly. "I can feel the evil in what you have told us. There is a Demon at the heart of these sacrifices and if it is not stopped the evil will spread out across the plains."

Chief Malan shook his head sadly, but acknowledged what she had just said. "Will you go alone, or will you want to take men with you?" he asked. "With winter coming we can not spare very many men to go with you, they will be needed to hunt for the tribe."

"If you allow it, and he agrees, I would like to have Zed show me the way. I do not know the plains well enough to travel that far without a guide" the girl told the chief.

"I will go with you" Zed told the girl, "we will take Meza and Sheb along also. They will be willing and the four of us will be more secure that just the two of us."

Chief Malan nodded his head in agreement. He got up and walked to a wooden chest against one wall and opened it. He retrieved the girls sword and brought it to her. "You will probably need this" he said as he handed it to her. "How soon will you leave?"

The girl looked over at Zed for his opinion. "Tomorrow night I think" Zed said, "I would like to travel at night in the beginning, until we are far enough away from the tribe that no one who might see us will know who we are or where we are coming from." The girl nodded her head in agreement. The chief nodded his head in acceptance. "May the 'Powers That Be' guide and protect you on your journey" the chief said quietly. A sense of energy passed through the girl briefly. "They will, I'm sure of it" the girl replied in return.

The trip across the plains took seven hands of days. With the onset of winter they were slowed down by an early snow as they approached the lands of the tribe that was making war on it's neighbors. They had also slowed down for the past hand of days to scout out the land before them and to avoid any contact with others. The trip had been hard, but the men were all hardened warriors and were up for the trip. The girl prayed to the 'Powers That Be' every night and did not have any problems keeping up with the men.

The small group was traveling at night to avoid detection when Meza, who was scouting ahead, came running back to join them. "I have found something you need to see" he said to the girl. He led them over a hill and to the right of the path they had been following. They came into a small valley between rolling hills and found an area where all of the grass had been beaten flat by many feet. In the middle of this flattened area they found three poles that were sticking up from the ground. From each pole there hung the remains of a body. As they looked the bodies over the were able to determine that they were all young women, not more than twelve or thirteen summers old. Each of the bodies had been slit open like the carcass of a butchered animal and the internal organs had been removed. By the looks on the girls faces this had been done while they were still living. They could not find any trace of the girls organs and very little blood was on the ground. The girl wanted to take the bodies down and bury them. Zed refused and explained that if anyone found the bodies missing it would be a signal to those for whom the were searching. The girl reluctantly agreed, but said a prayer to the 'Powers That Be' over their bodies before they left them behind.

Two nights later there was the sound of large drums in the distance, they had a deep and menacing sound. The girl and the men approached the drums carefully. When they could tell that the drums were on the other side of the hill they were on, they got down and crawled to the top to see what was happening. When they got to the top they could see that there was a large gathering of warriors in the valley below. The girl was not good at counting large numbers but she estimated that there were maybe two tens-of-ten men gathered below. They could also see that there were four stakes in the ground, each with a woman hanging from it. One of the young women was already dead and had been gutted out and bled already. A second girl had just been split open by a man standing in front of her and was dying as they watched. The man pulled her still beating heart from her body and held it up so that the other men below could see it. A howl of evil pleasure rose from the men below. The man that had pulled the heart from the girl held it over his face and let the blood from the heart run into his mouth. He then threw the heart to another man who started eating it. He then reached back inside the girl and started pulling other organs from her body and throwing them to other men to eat. There were three men kneeling at the dead girls feet, catching the blood as it flowed from her body in bowls, and passing the blood to other men to drink.

The girl was shocked by what she was seeing, but quickly backed off from the top of the hill and drew the men with her. She pulled the strap of her sword from over her head, drew the sword and handed the sheath to Zed. She turned to the three men standing with her and said to them, "If I do not come out of this valley you have to promise to spread the word to every tribe in the area and tell them what you have seen. They have to know about this evil and unite to stop it." She looked at each of the men until he nodded his head in agreement to her will. She then walked back to the top of the hill and looked down into the valley again.

The girl stood there for only a few seconds then cried out to the sky above her "Oh Powers That Be, grant me strength in this time of need. I have come to destroy this evil below and beg that you lend me your powers!" A rumble like thunder passed through the sky above and a bolt of lightning seemed to come up out of the ground to strike the girl. She was not harmed in any way by the lightning and seemed to glow from it's effect. Her hair stood out from her head and her eyes started to glow. The effect on her lit up the top of the hill she was standing on and drew the attention of the men in the valley below. In a voice that could be heard by every man in the valley she spoke to them. "I am the Slayer of Demons. I have come to avenge your victims and will destroy you all." The girl started running down the hill directly at the blood crazed monsters below.

As the Slayer came running down the hill toward the men below all of the fires and torches in the valley went out at once. They did not gutter out or burn down to ashes, they just went out, cold. With the cloud cover of winter blocking any chance of moon or star light the valley was plunged into total darkness. The men in the valley were the same as blind, the darkness was so complete they could not see their own hands or the man standing next to them. The Slayer did not suffer from this problem. Every man in the valley was outlined by an aura of evil that glowed in her sight. She came in at an angle to the edge of the crowded men. She stabbed them, slashed their throats, chopped limbs and heads from their bodies. She ran along the edge destroying everyone who came within her reach. Men on the other side of the valley tried to climb the hillside to get out of the pocket of darkness. The Slayer ran with the speed of the wind around the valley and caught every man as he tried to escape the darkness. The screaming of the dying men, coming from all sides of the valley, made those in the middle think they were being attacked from all sides. They started crowding into a tight knot. As the Slayer continued to run the edges of the mass of men she continued to slaughter them in great numbers. It was like peeling the skin from a fruit, as she circled the crowd, layer after layer of men died on her blade. The men, unable to see who was attacking them packed tighter and tighter into the center. Men along the edges, unable to see their enemy, started attacking anyone who came within touch or sound of them. The group in the middle packed in tighter and tighter. In a relatively short period of time a third of the men in the valley were dead or dying, their bodies slashed or chopped, lying in heaps. The men in the center were packed so tight that they were shoulder to shoulder, stomach to back, facing out into the darkness at the unseen terror that was killing them. The Slayer started picking up spears as she rounded the knot of men. She would throw the spears with all her strength, they would pass through two or three bodies before they stopped. Men who tried to break out of the knot were caught immediately. The sounds of their slaughter drove the remaining men in tighter and tighter. For two hours the slaughter continued unstopped until there were less than thirty men left alive in the valley. These were the men who had been in the center from the beginning. These were the leaders of this tribe of murderers. These men glowed brighter than the others with their aura of evil.

The remaining men were better armed than most of those who had already died. They carried heavy war spears, copper swords and axes, and they made a wall of the dead to hide behind. The leader of these men was in the direct center, shouting orders and encouragement to his remaining men. He couldn't see anymore than the others, but the evil within him overcame any thoughts of fear. Waves of hatred and evil emanated from this final group of men. It was as if they were all insane beasts, monsters from the pits of hell.

Also in the center of the valley and the center of this group of men were the four poles from which hung the bodies of their four victims. Two of the victims were already dead before the Slayer started her attack, two of them remained alive. The leader of these men found his way in the dark to one of the victims that was still alive and started slashing her with a knife, opening great bleeding wounds. He plunged his blade into her belly and ripped her open, he thrust his hand inside of her and sought out her heart and ripped it still beating from her body as her dying screams tore the night. The men that remained in his command growled like savage beasts at the sound of the scream. The man brought the heart to his mouth and sucked the hot blood from it then started eating it like an animal.

The fires and torches that had gone out at the beginning of the Slayers attack suddenly burst back to flame. Not the flames of a normal fire, but the intense white flames of a burning star. Light so bright that it was blinding to every mans eyes. Heat so intense that those that were near the fires had to run away or burst into flames themselves. Bodies started to sizzle from the heat, copper swords and knifes became to hot to hold onto, Spear shafts caught fire and started burning with the same intense white flames.

Into the midst of the conflagration the Slayer sailed over the heads of the remaining men. The first man she killed was the leader. She brought her sword down with both hands, chopping down crosswise, at an angle. The mans head, right shoulder, arm and the hand still holding the heart of his victim, fell to the ground before the rest of his body collapsed. The Slayer turned her vengeance on the remainder of the men and slaughtered them one and two at a time. The men could not open their eyes to see to defend themselves. They were helpless as they died, just as their victims had been helpless. When the last of the men died, the intense white light of the flames faded to a normal yellow glow. Every man in the valley was dead. Everyone who had eaten the flesh of other human beings and drank their blood had died on the sword of the Slayer. Not one of them had escaped to the rim of the valley and out into the plains beyond.

The Slayer stood alone at the center of the valley surrounded by two hundred dead men, and the bodies of three of their victims. The Slayer was covered from head to toe in a bath of blood, it was as if someone had poured buckets of blood over her body. There was no sound anywhere, except for the popping and sizzling of burning flesh and the crackle of the flames of the fires. The Slayer slowly turned in a circle looking to see if any sign of the aura of evil remained. As she turned she noticed a glow on the top of one of the surrounding hills. At first she thought it might be her enemy, but after a moment she could see that there was no evil in the glow. She looked harder and realized that the glow was coming from three men as they slowly walked their way down the hill to the valley floor. They were her men, and the glow was the warm glow of goodness, there wasn't a touch of evil in any of them.

When Zed, Meza and Sheb reached the valley floor they worked their way through the piles of dead bodies toward the Slayer in the center. When they reached her they stared at her in silent awe. Zed was the first to speak, "We saw it all, from up there. For some reason we were able to see you and these animals in the dark, and when the fires relit, they didn't blind us. We could see everything you did while we just watched."

The Slayer looked at Zed and the other two men closely. She did not see any sign of fear or disgust or anything else on their faces except pride and respect for what she had done. A thought came to her and she understood why they had been allowed to see what she had done. "It was the 'Powers That Be', they touched you" she said to them in a clear open voice, "they wanted you to see and made it possible. For some reason they wanted you to be able to watch. Maybe they want you to be able to tell others what you have seen. It could be important that others know what happened here."

"Being a watcher is almost as hard as fighting in a battle yourself" Sheb said quietly to the Slayer, "seeing you fight and not being able to help you was very painful. We are all warriors and would fight with you to the death, but coming into this valley while you fought these men would have been suicide. There wasn't anything we could have done to help you. All we could do was watch."

Meza stood there shaking his head slowly from side to side. He tried to say something a couple of times but couldn't get the words out. Finally he just smiled at her and kept his silence. As they all stood there a barely heard moan came from behind them. The Slayer turned around quickly searching for the source. I was then that they noticed that one of the young women hanging from the posts was still alive. They moved to where she was hanging and cut her down and laid her on the ground. Sheb gave her a sip of water from his water skin. Meza looked around for something to cover her with as she laid there naked. Zed tried to revive the girl, to see if she could speak. Meza found several heavy cloaks and used them as blankets to cover the girl and rolled one up to place under her head.

The Slayer looked at her men, "It's not over you know" she said to them quietly. "These were the warriors of their tribe. They were out here to hold a sacrifice to gain strength from the deaths of their victims. By the looks of all these girls they were virgins. My mother told me that some of the tribes believe that virgins have powerful magic in them. They were trying to steal that power for themselves." The men all nodded to her to show they understood. "But somewhere out there is the rest of their tribe. There will be warriors that did not come with this group. There may be other groups out there that are as large as this one. There should also be others that were captured, unless they killed everyone but the virgins, when they raided other tribes. This isn't over until we find them all. Do you understand?"

"We are with you Slayer" Zed said, speaking for himself and the other two men. Meza and Sheb nodded their heads in agreement. "We will follow you where ever you have to go. We will stay with you until your mission is completed. We may not be able to fight this evil at your side, but we will stay at your side and watch over you the best we can." Again the two other men nodded their agreement.

The Slayer nodded her acceptance of their pledge and smiled a crooked grin at them. "If we can wake this girl up and she is able to talk, we might learn something about the tribe of these animals and where their village is located. At the very least we should be able to learn which tribe she came from, and if there are any of them left, return her to them."

It took them over an hour to revive the young woman. When she opened her eyes and saw the Slayer sitting close to her, covered in blood and looking like a demon herself, she gasped and tried to crawl away from her. Zed caught her and soothed her fears. He told the girl that the Slayer had saved her life and rescued her from her captors. At first the girl didn't believe them, but when Zed helped her sit up and she could see the piles of bodies all around her, she calmed down. She thanked the Slayer for saving her, but could not bring herself to look directly at the Slayer, the blood upset her to much. She asked about the other girls that had been with her and Zed told her they were all dead, only she had survived. The girl cried and told them that one of the other girls had been her twin sister. They decided to let the girl sleep for the rest of the night and talk to her more in the morning.

By morning the temperature had dropped below freezing and a light snow was falling. The men had gathered wood and kept a fire going all night. When the young woman woke up Zed was sitting next to her. He gave her some herbal tea to warm her up. The girl looked around and could see the valley more clearly than the night before and could see the hundreds of dead bodies lying every where in the valley. She asked Zed where the rest of his warriors were, the ones who had saved her. Zed explained to her again that it was the Slayer that had saved her and that there were no other warriors. He told her that the Slayer was their leader, not Zed, and that she had fought all these men by herself and had defeated them alone. The girl could not understand how this was possible and Zed explained to her about how the 'Powers That Be' gave the Slayer the power and strength to fight evil and defeat it. The girl still didn't understand, but she excepted what Zed had told her as the truth. When the girl looked over at the Slayer sleeping on the other side of the fire, wrapped in a blanket but still covered in drying blood, she cringed and asked why she didn't clean herself of the blood on her. Zed told her that when the Slayer fought a battle she did not clean the blood from herself until the fighting was over. He told her that the Slayer wasn't finished with her fighting yet and that was why she hadn't clean the blood from herself yet.

When the Slayer woke up a short time later she suggested that they leave the valley to the dead and find a better place to talk to the girl and get the information they needed from her. During the night while the girl slept, the men had cut down the bodies of the other three young women and had buried them on the hillside of the valley. When they left the valley they showed the girl where her sister and the other two young women had been buried and let her say a prayer over their graves. The Slayer also said a prayer to the 'Powers That Be' over their graves. They left the bodies of the raiders in the valley as they were, without prayers.

They walked for two hours before they found a safe place to camp and build a fire. They then sat down with the girl and asked her the questions they needed to ask her. They found out that she and her sister had been captured two hands of days earlier when their village had been raided by the dead warriors. The girl told them that a lot of people had been captured and taken away. She told them that men, women and children had been carried off by another smaller band of warriors. The largest band had taken just the young girls and had continued their raiding. She told them that there had been two other nights when young women had been sacrificed like her sister had died. She told them how the warriors had eaten the internal organs of the dead girls and drank their blood. The other band that had split off with the other prisoners was taking them back to their own village to be slaves. She told them she wasn't sure but she thought that the raiders village was to the north somewhere. She knew that her village had been destroyed and that only a few could have escaped from the raiders out onto the plains. She told them that her tribe had a sister tribe that was to the east of where they were now. It was a larger tribe than the one the girl had come from and the raiders had not attacked it yet. She told them that several tribes had been raided in the past months and that she knew of two other small tribes like hers that had been destroyed by the raiders. She told them that she had heard, before her tribe was attacked, that some of the larger tribes were banding together for self defense. Her tribe had been talking about joining the other tribes when they were raided and their village destroyed.

The Slayer told the men that they would take the girl to the sister tribe and see if they would take her into their care. They would also try to gather information from them about the raiders and see if they could be of help to find the tribal village of the raiders and free the captured slaves. The Slayer also told the men that she wanted them to get rid of anything they had with them that might identify what tribe they came from and that she wanted them to all start wearing hoods with face scarves to hide their identities. When the men had done what they were told they set out across the plains heading east. It took them three days to find the lands of the sister tribe and another day to find the tribal village. Long before they got to the village they sighted warriors in the brush and along the ridge lines watching them approach their village. The girl told them that with the raiding going on in the area, a lot of movement had been taking place between the tribes. She also felt that the sister tribe probably didn't think that five people, two of them women, was a threat and were only keeping an eye on them for security reasons, making sure they didn't meet up with other small groups and become a large group that could surprise them with a raid.

When they got to the outskirts of the sister tribes village, the Slayer took off her heavy cloak and revealed herself and the blood that covered her. The men covered their faces with scarves. The Slayer then took the position of leader and lead them into the village. When the warriors saw the Slayer and the blood that covered her hair and clothes from head to foot they were very shocked by the sight. They were also shocked that she was the leader of this small group and not one of the men. When they got to the center of the village they were surrounded by a large number of warriors. When the chief of the tribe came out of his hut to meet them it was the Slayer that bowed to him in greeting and a show of respect. The chief took in the fact that the Slayer was carrying a heavy war spear and was wearing a copper sword at her hip. The chief was old and had led his people for many years, he was also wise in his judgement of people and could tell immediately that this young woman standing in front of him was much more than she seemed and was not someone to show disrespect.

The chief bowed in return to the Slayer, "I see you stranger" he said in a clear voice that quieted the warriors surrounding the Slayer and her men. "Why have you come to us in such a manner?" he asked in a polite tone of voice, but waved his hand at the Slayer to indicate the blood she was covered with and the scarves that the men were covering their faces with to hide them. "Friends do not usually come to us in such a way!"

The Slayer looked at the chief and the warriors surrounding her, she spoke to them in a calm and quiet tone of voice, but every man could hear her words, "I come this way so that you will know who I am, my men cover their faces because I have told them to do so. I am the Slayer of Demons, I hunt the evil that is raiding the lands, I have come to destroy it. I have also come to return to you a stolen child of your sister tribe who was taken when her tribe was destroyed." The Slayer waved her hand to indicate the girl that was standing with her men. The girl let the cloak she was wearing slip from her head so that her face could be seen.

The effect of what the Slayer had said sent a shock through the surrounding warriors. Almost as if it had been planned they all took a step back to place more distance between them and the young woman standing before them. The chief had not stepped back because he had a suspicion of who the Slayer was when he saw the sword that she was wearing. He had heard stories about the fighting between a Demon Lord army and tribes to the east that happened last summer. The stories told of a young girl that had fought the Demon Lord and killed him in single combat. There were other stories of her killing hundreds of warriors of her own army and others of her killing a giant. The chief did not believe all that was in the stories, but he was wise enough to know that in any story there was usually a seed of truth if you could find it. He was also intrigued by what the Slayer had said about the young girl that was with them. A survivor from the destruction of his sister tribe, how was this possible? They had been raided and destroyed three hands of days ago, his warriors had searched for survivors and had not been able to find any on the plains. He looked at the girl more closely, but did not recognize her.

The chief spoke to the girl and asked who she was, and how was it that the Slayer had found her when his own warriors had been unable to find any survivors. The girl told him her name and her fathers name and position in their tribe. She told of her capture and her rescue by the Slayer. When she started telling of her rescue the chief stopped her with a look of shock and disbelief on his face. He immediately called for a gathering of his tribal counsel and war leaders and led the Slayer and her men to the large hut that was used for tribal meetings. When everyone was gathered together and seated he told the girl to start her story again. The girl told the chief and his counsel all that had happened in the raid and of her and her sisters capture. She told them about the sacrifices that had been preformed and about the eating of human flesh and the drinking of blood. She also told them what she knew of her rescue, or what she had been told by Zed about her rescue anyway.

The chief and his counselors and war leaders listened to what the girl said and accepted most of what she had told them. When she told them of her rescue and what the Slayer was suppose to have done, they were much more sceptical. That a single girl could kill two hundred warriors all by herself was impossible, wasn't it? The chief was the least sceptical of all his people. He had watched the Slayers face and the eyes of her men as the girl told her story. There was a seed of truth in this story and he had to find it. He sent for relatives of the girl that were in his tribe and when they arrived had them identify the girl. They verified who she was and that she was a part of the sister tribe that had been destroyed. He sent the girl off with her relatives for food and shelter, then turned to the Slayer and her men with many questions to ask.

For the rest of the day the chief and the counsel questioned the Slayer and her men. They had the hardest time believing the story of the Slayers destructions of the raiders warriors. The Slayer had Zed tell the story of the battle as he had seen it. He was also able to give the chief directions to where the battle had occurred. The chief had his senior war leader send four hands of men to go to the battle site and investigate immediately. They also talked about the Slayers mission to find and destroy the rest of the raiders tribe and to free the captured slaves if any were still alive. They talked of the other tribes in the area and how some of them had been uniting their forces for defense. The chief had runners sent to all of the tribes within a hand of days travel to call them together for a tribal counsel of defense. The knowledge of the human sacrifices, blood drinking and cannibalism had to be spread among the tribes as soon as possible.

It took two hands of days for the tribes warriors to travel to the site of the battle, investigate the area and return to the tribe with what they had learned. During those ten days representatives from the closest tribes had arrived for the defense counsel. During those ten days Zed, Meza and Sheb had been asked to describe the battle many times and the part in it the Slayer had played. They did not question the Slayer, no one was comfortable enough around her to dare to ask questions. The sight of her walking around the village or sitting alone, still covered in the crusty dried blood of the dead, disturbed them to much to approach her. The chief had talked to her several times and had asked her questions about the 'Powers That Be'.

The Slayer was impatient with the waiting, but understood that she needed the help of the other tribes if she was going to find the location of the raiders village and rescue the surviving slaves. Zed, Meza and Sheb spent as much time with her as they could, between question and answers sessions with representative from other tribes as they joined the war counsel that was gathering. They told her all that they were able to learn about what had been happening on these western plains over the summer and fall seasons. The Slayer listened closely to what they had to tell her and tried to put the pieces together.

When the warriors who went to investigate the battle returned a large counsel of the tribe and the representatives of the other tribes came together to hear the report. The senior war leader that had gone to investigate told them of what they had found. He told of the piles of dead bodies through out the valley and how they had been left where they had died. He told of the hundreds of men in the valley that had been stabbed, cut, hacked and chopped to pieces and left to freeze or rot in the open. He told of the hundreds of weapons that had been left laying in the dirt. He also told of the graves of the young women that had died and been buried. Many questions were asked, but one thing was clear. Whoever had attacked, and slaughtered the raiders, had to be a small force because there was no trace of a larger force anywhere on the plains and there were no bodies or graves to be found anywhere in the area. They also reported on the second site that Zed had told them of where the bodies of the dead victims had been left unburied. They had buried what remained of the bodies at the site, but told the counsel of the way the bodies had been slaughtered like animals and of their missing internal organs.

For another hand of days, as representatives from the tribes coming the farthest joined the counsel, more meetings and discussions were held. Decisions on what to do and how to defend the tribes of the plains were discussed. Zed, Meza and Sheb were questioned again and again about the battle and the Slayers part in it. Again and again they told of what the Slayer had done, all alone, without their help, and that they had only watched the battle and not taken part in it themselves.

On the day after the final representative from any of the tribes expected to attend the counsel had arrived, the Slayer stood before all of the representatives and spoke to them. She told them that it was now four hands of days since she had destroyed the raiders army and six hands of days since the captives of the destroyed tribe had been taken. She told them that she had only waited for this counsel to assemble because she believed that as many people of the plains as possible needed to know what had been happening. She told them that there was a great evil on the plains and that she had come to destroy it. She also told them that she would not wait any longer, that she was going to the north to find the tribe and village of the raiders and destroy it forever. When the representatives heard what she had to say they were shocked and bewildered that she thought she could do this alone. She told them that she was not alone, that she was on a mission for the 'Powers That Be' and that they would aid her in her time of need. She told them that she would be leaving the next morning, then left the meeting, followed only by her own men. For the rest of the day and long into the night the counsel met. The defense of the tribes was discussed and plans of mutual support were talked about. It was finally the chief that had called the meeting who spoke. He told them that all of their plans and defensive strategies were fine and nobel, but that the Slayer was leaving the next day to find the enemy and that they should all unite behind her and follow her to the north to destroy the raiders. He told them that he was going to send ten-of-ten warriors to go with her and suggested that other tribes send warriors to go with her also.

The next morning the chief of the tribe and his counsel met with the Slayer as she prepared to leave their village. He told her of his decision to send warriors with her and that he had asked others to do the same. He did not know if they would, but he believed her story about the 'Powers That Be' and what she was trying to do to make the plains safe. He was willing to back this belief in her by sending almost half of his tribes warriors to support her efforts. The war leader that he had chosen to lead his tribes warriors was the same one who had gone to investigate the battle site. The Slayer thanked him for his help and told him it was time for her to go. As the Slayer and her three men started walking from the village they were met by the girl they had saved from being sacrificed. She thanked the Slayer again for what she had done for her and told her that she would pray to the 'Powers That Be' every day that they help and support the Slayer.

When the Slayer and her men reached the edge of the village the were met by the war leader and the men that were going with him. He told her that every man with him had volunteered to go with her to battle. They had been on the trail for less than an hour when four hands of warriors caught up with them, they were the war leaders of the tribes that had sent representative to the counsel and told her that they were going with her and that they would be gathering more warriors to go with her as they passed through their own lands heading north.

For three hands of days the Slayer and her rapidly assembling army of warriors marched quickly to the north. By the time they left the lands of any of the tribes that were with them on the march they had gathered a few more than six tens-of-ten warriors. This was unknown lands to the warriors marching north, but they continued to move rapidly searching for the lands of the raiders and their village. They had traveled a hand and four more days before they made any contact with the warriors of the raiders. Scouts had found the trail of a fairly large band of men moving across the plain to the north west of them. They determined that the band could not be more than four or five hours ahead of them. The Slayer climbed up to the top of a hill and stared off in the direction the raiders had been traveling. She stood there and prayed to the 'Powers That Be' for assistance. A feeling came to her that she was near to the evil she was looking for and that she needed to hurry. The Slayer pushed the assembled army to hurry. They traveled until dark and were losing the trail in the darkness when they started to hear the sounds of drums in the night. Like a beacon they were lead to the raiders by the sounds of their drums. The Slayer and her men led the way, followed quickly by the war leaders of the tribes. When they determined that they were close the army spread out and moved quietly over the hill in front of them to gain a position where they could see their enemy below them in a valley. The valley was lit by fires and torches and in the center of the valley there were approximately three tens-of-ten warriors gathered for a sacrifice. They could see that in the center of these warriors that five poles had been erected and that from four of them young girls were hanging. A fifth girl was being dragged by two men to the final pole where they would hang her up beside the others. They had arrived in time, if they hurried.

The Slayer signaled to the war leaders with her and they ran off to join their men so that they could lead them into the battle. Zed, Meza and Sheb moved to join the Slayer and to join her in battle this time. The Slayer nodded to them without a word and accepted their determination to be a part of the battle this time. She moved forward of the waiting army and stood alone, preparing to pray.

"Oh Powers That Be, grant me the strength and skill to destroy the evil that is below us. Grant me your power in my time of need." A rumble of thunder sounded in the sky and a bolt of lightning seemed to come up out of the ground striking the Slayer. She was not harmed, but instead absorbed the energy of the lightning strike into herself. All weariness disappeared, energy and strength coursed through her body, her sight and hearing doubled and doubled again, her hair seemed to crackle with sparks, as she drew her sword from it's sheath a glow seemed to spread across it and it felt as light as a feather in her hand. The Slayer looked to both sides to see that the warriors of her army were ready, then charged down the hill leading the tribal warriors into battle.

As the Slayer ran down the hill she let out a scream that chilled the blood of her enemies below. Fear gripped their hearts and made them turn in her direction, fearing some unnamed beast was coming at them from behind. At the same time the scream was terrifying the raiders below, it was sending a surge of energy and determination through every warrior that was charging down the hill, following her into battle.

The Slayer charged straight for the center of the mass of men below. She hit the edge of the mass head on and like an axe cutting soft wood she cut and slashed her way deep into the crowd of raider warriors. Close behind her, Zed, Meza, Sheb and a core of about fifty warriors smashed into them, stabbing, slashing and cutting to the sides to open a path straight to the middle of the valley and to the leaders of the blood drinking army. The Slayer was like a whirlwind, cutting down anyone that was directly in her path. Weapons were smashed to splinters as they met her swords blade. Arms and head were chopped from the bodies of the men before her and had not even fallen to the ground before she moved past them to attack deeper into the center of the mass. Like a ripe fruit the raider army split open and the Slayer was into the middle of them, moving directly toward the war leader that lead them. The Slayer caught him just as he was about to kill his first victim and pull her beating heart from her body. She caught him across the small of the back with her blade and cut his body into two parts. She moved quickly around the poles holding the five victims and killed anyone that came near them, protecting them from any attack. The rest of her army fell upon the raider army and cut them to pieces. The fact that they numbered twice as many as the raiders gave them such a massive advantage that they were able to roll right over the raiders in one unstoppable charge. No prisoners were taken, not one man of the raider army was left alive, there was no mercy shown to the army of blood drinkers and flesh eaters.

When the fighting was over everyone was amazed to find that only forty of the tribes warriors had been killed and another sixty or so wounded. The casualties were extremely low, and all of the young girls had survived the sacrifice that had been planned for them. When they were cut down and wrapped in blankets they cried in gratitude to the warriors of the tribes. The rest of the night was spent burying the warriors of the tribes and tending to the wounded. Nothing was done for the dead raiders, their bodies were left where they had died. The weapons of the raiders were collected, because in many cases their weapons were of better quality that the weapons of the tribal warriors. Many copper swords, axes and spear point were collected and distributed fairly. The girls were also questioned after they had calmed down from their rescue. They told the Slayer that they had been captured a hand and three days earlier and had been marching quickly every day since then to return to the raiders village. A small number of warriors had taken the rest of the prisoners ahead to their village that afternoon while the largest part of the raider army had gathered for the nights sacrifice. There had been no other sacrifices on the march before so the girls did not really know what had been planned for them except death. The knowledge that the raider village must be very near was the most important thing they learned.

In the morning the Slayer prayed to the 'Powers That Be' to care for the spirits of the dead warriors of the tribes and to care for the wounded. She then assigned a ten-of-ten warriors to care for and protect the wounded while she led the rest of the army in search of the raiders village. It took all of the day to finally find the trail of the raiders that had split off from the raider army the afternoon before. They followed the trail as long as they could, but lost it in the darkness. The Slayer climbed to the top of a hill to see if she could pick up any trace of the evil that had led her to the raider army the night before, but was unable to locate a focus. The whole country side seemed to emanate a sense of evil, it seemed to be everywhere.

The next morning at first light they were following the trail again. It took two more hours before scouts reported that they had found the village in a deep river valley. They approached the village carefully, but did not spot any sign of guards or raider warriors. They moved down into the valley and surrounded the village. The Slayer led a force of a ten-of-ten directly into the village. A guard standing in front of one of a dozen long wooden huts sounded an alarm when he saw them and about sixty or seventy men came boiling out of the long hut with weapons and attacked. The Slayer was in the middle of the fighting and killed many of the attacking warriors herself. Other men and women came running out of smaller huts with weapons and attacked the Slayer and her men. The tribal warriors that had surrounded the village came in from all sides and joined the battle. From one end of the village older men and women and children appeared with weapons, many times just clubs or sharpened sticks, and attacked. The warriors of the tribes fought back and killed all those that attacked them, even the women and children. When the battle was finally over, only a few dozen men and women of the raider village had survived and almost all of them were wounded. There were also several dozen younger children that had not been old enough to fight, but stood huddled together with their hatred showing on their faces.

A search was made for captive slaves, but none had been found alive. It was then that it was discovered that the entire population of the village were cannibals. When the warriors had returned two nights before with their captives the village chief had ordered a feast and all of the prisoners had been killed and butchered like animals. They found the bodies of some of them hanging like butchered game in one of the huts. They found the remains of some that had been cooked and eaten over the past two nights of feasting. Fortunately they were able to tell that all of the captives had been killed two nights before, none of them the previous night. At least they didn't have to suffer the guilt of not finding the village until this morning, even if they had found the village the night before it was already to late for the captives, they were already dead. They also found a deep pit at one end of the village that contained the heads and bones of at least a thousand people that had been butchered and eaten by the people of the village.

A sharp discussion started among the leaders of the tribal warriors. What should be done with the prisoners? Some thought that they should be put to death, others were hesitant to kill them in cold blood. The Slayer stood before them all and spoke in a voice that every man could hear clearly. The sight of the 'Powers That Be' was with her and she could see the evil that infected every single man, woman and child in the village. The Slayer told them that there was no way to save these people, the infection was to deep, to much a part of all of them, even the children. The Slayer then walked among the village survivors and killed them all, including the children, even the babies. She did not allow anyone else to help her, the burden was hers to preform. When everyone in the village was dead the Slayer had the tribal warriors dump all of the dead bodies into the buildings and had the whole village burned to the ground. She also had them cover the pit with the remains of the dead and eaten victims with dirt and spent the rest of the day praying to the 'Powers That Be' to protect their spirits from any further harm.

The Slayer would not spend the night near the village and marched with her army of tribal warriors all night to put distance between them and the smoking ruins of the destroyed village. When the sun came up the next morning, the Slayer found a stream and washed herself and her cloths until all of the blood was washed away. She then wrapped herself in a blanket and laid down on the ground under a tree and fell to sleep. Zed, Meza and Sheb made a fire near her to keep her warm and sat down around her to keep watch over her as she slept. The war leaders of the tribes were confused by the Slayers behavior and that of her men, but did not protest. Zed told them that the Slayers mission was over and that the evil that was on the land had been defeated. He told them that they could return to their tribes and villages and report this to their chiefs. All of the war leaders and their men waited the rest of the day and through the night for the Slayer to wake up and speak to them, but when she continued to sleep the next day and Zed would not let them try to wake her, most of them packed up and started the march back home. One of the leaders, the one who had been with them from the beginning sent the majority of his men home, but picked out two hands of warriors to stay with him and remained with the Slayer and her men.

The Slayer continued to sleep for two more days. It was not until the morning of the forth day that she finally woke up. Zed was sitting next to her tending the fire to keep her warm. When she opened her eyes and saw him, he smiled at her and offered her a cup of herbal tea. The girl sat up and excepted the tea and looked around. Sheb came over to her and offered her a plate of food. The girl started eating as if she were starving, wolfing the food down. Meza brought her more food and the three men sat near her while she ate, not trying to talk to her, just waiting for her to finish her meal. The girl could see the other men that were camping with her and her men, but did not comment. When she finished eating she made a deep sigh and turned to her men, "We have a long way to go before we get home" she said to them quietly while she looked them each in the eye, "do you want to start today?"

The men looked at her calmly, and as each one met her eye to eye, they nodded their heads in agreement. They all got up from the ground and started packing their bedrolls and supplies, arranging their weapons and getting ready to march. When the leader of the men that had stayed with the Slayer saw what she and her men were doing he signaled his men and they quickly broke camp and prepared to march with her. The leader came over to the Slayer and bowed with respect, seeking to speak with her. When she acknowledged him, he told her that no matter what direction they were planning to travel they had a lot of unknown land to cross. He and his men were going to stay with her for awhile to help her cross the lands that they were familiar with and see that she did not have any problems with any of the local tribes that might cross their paths. The girl thanked the war leader and asked him to thank his men. He told her that it was the very least that they could do to show their respect to her and the 'Powers That Be'.

It took the girl and her men seven hands of days, traveling quickly and late into the day to finally reach home. The war leader and his men had stayed with her for three hands and three of days before they turned back for their own homes. During the time of travel the war leader had asked her questions about the 'Powers That Be' and had joined her in her prayers to them. When they got home it was already into spring and game was returning to the plains in great numbers. New grass was growing everywhere and early spring flowers were blooming. As they neared their own lands the girl had removed her sword and packed it away in hiding. Zed had taken over as if he were the leader of their small group and the girl took the part of a young maiden traveling with warriors, helping to cook and take care of womanly things in the camp.

When they got to their village Zed took the sword and returned it to Chief Malan. The girl went by a back way to her mothers home. When she entered her mothers hut her mother wrapped her arms around her and held her tightly. For the rest of the day and all evening she stayed in her mothers arms, telling her what had happened and crying at different times. Her mother soothed her and calmed her and dried her tears when needed. Her mother kissed her often and praised her for what she had been able to do to defeat the evil that had come to the land. But mostly her mother had held her and called her 'my precious little flower'.

Return To Stories