B01DCAV4W2 (S) Read Online Free

burning another man alive. 
    Whatever Orvin saw in Richter’s eyes convinced the mercenary to back away from the wall and sit down on the damp straw.  Richter watched the Warrior move away, and his own body shuddered slightly with unrealized violence and adrenaline.  He took a deep calming breath before shaking his hands out twice and moving to the other shack.  Randolphus and the other guard stared at their Lord with serious and cautious expressions. 
    Richter told the guards to remove the other crossbar.  The ball of light above his head followed him into the room.  What greeted him wasn’t a defiant warrior though.  The inhabitant of this guard shack was a waif of a girl.  She was a blond haired woman of slight stature.  Her brown shirt was too large for her and was cinched with a heavy belt at her waist, leaving the top loose.  He could just make out a simple wooden necklace underneath.  She was wearing brown hide leggings and matching brown moccasins.  The young woman was sitting on her bed of straw looking up at him with wide, frightened eyes. 
    He thought about what she must be thinking.  She must have seen him through the walls.  He had gone inside of the other shack for barely a minute before coming back out and threatening the man with beatings and food and water deprivation.  Then she saw him threaten to maim a complete stranger just for kicking a wall in frustration.  This all occurred only a few feet away from where she had been huddling down onto her straw pallet, probably hoping that the scary man wouldn’t come over to her shack as well.
    Richter immediately softened his expression and went down to one knee.  He analyzed her so he would better know how to address her. 
    Name: Natosca. Half-Wood Elf, Half-Human. Level 6.  Health 130.  Mana 110.  Stamina 160.  Racial blends are erratic in their disposition.  They can end up with some or none of any of their parent races characteristics. 
    Hmmm, Richter thought.  Natosca was the second hybrid that he had run into.  Maybe Yoshi could relate to her, but he would try first. 
    “I apologize for just bursting in here so loudly.  I also apologize for any ill treatment you have received since you were brought in by my hunters.  Have you been mistreated?”
    “N-no, my Lord,” she stammered.
    “Please,” he said soothingly, “just call me Richter.”  She was still cowering in the far side of the hut, so he lowered himself to ground, looking her in the eyes.  “I heard what the mercenaries have done to you.  I am so sorry.  I want to explain what is going on here.  My village suffered a brutal attack, less than a month ago.  That is why security measures have been so harsh.  I promise that soon we will escort you to the boundaries of the mist and release you.  Is that what you would like?”
    She just nodded. 
    “Is there anything else that you know about the mercenaries,” he asked her.  “Are there more coming?  Did they discuss the Count’s plans?”
    She shook her head and then started shaking more violently, “No, my Lord,” she said in a whisper.  “For the first few days they didn’t say anything, and then after that… After that they would just take me one after another.  Sometimes more than one at once!”  She broke out in sobs that almost broke Richter’s heart.  He half reached out to comfort her, but thought better of it.  She probably didn’t want any part of a man’s touch right now, no matter how well intentioned.  He stood to go, not wanting to bother the poor girl any further. 
    “I’m sorry, but you will have to stay under guard until you are escorted out of the village, but I will have some better bedding and blankets brought to you.” 
    He was walking out of the door when he heard her ask, “What will happen to the man that I was captured with?”
    Richter had already made that decision, so it was not a difficult question to answer.  His voice was dark and heavy with meaning,