Chapter 10

The princess was not wrong to be worried. Siraya wondered into the depths of the forest, her head a mix of muddled and sober. She laughed and cried, screamed and shouted. Her voice scared off the birds and beasts around.

She continued walking. She couldn't find any source of sustenance. The animals were very sensitive, if her voice didn't scare them, then her murderous aura definitely would. Her wounds hadn't fully healed, and she was becoming angrier. With nowhere to vent, she could only mutter to herself in frustration.

Siraya was being tortured by hunger and thirst. Her mind became more and more delirious. The pain from her injuries always there. She felt the pain was mocking her. Mocking her weakness, her incompetence. Rage continued to surge through her, causing her to tremble as she moved. Her eyes staring at the ground, filled with rage, seemingly trying to pierce the places she was staring at.

However just as she was about to let out a roar, she heard voices in the distance. Although her sobriety was missing, her instincts were still there. She silenced her movements, and crept towards the sounds.

When she looked through the shrubs, she saw a stronghold. Men came in and out, carrying in boxes. She didn't care what was in the boxes, but she had a guess as to who these people were. When she saw the carriage with iron netting, and the trembling and sobbing women inside it, she was sure of her guess.

She watched indifferently as the women were dragged out of the carriage, and into one of the houses. Some tried to resist and were beaten by the men on the spot, and some begged and pleaded but the men just laughed at their fear.

Siraya knew that they should have food. She wanted to eat. She wondered if she should wait for night, there were probably only fifty or so bandits in the stronghold. "It wouldn't take much effort" she told herself.

She couldn't help salivating at the thought of finally eating. Seeing as it was close enough to night, she simply climbed a dense tree nearby. Her eyes stayed on the group, the moment they began cooking, she would kill them.

The bandits had made off with a large amount of treasure and women. They chose to hold a feast to celebrate, thinking of rewarding themselves for their success.

So they split into two groups, some of them began cooking, while others went to enjoy the women they kidnapped. The cheers outside as they began to drink and barbecue, mixed with the screams of the women being humiliated inside made Siraya annoyed.

She hated hearing these sounds. They pierced into her ears, testing her remaining sanity. She hoped that they could finish cooking quickly, because she needed somewhere to lose control.

Thankfully it seems someone was willing to answer her wish, she saw the barbecue that was being placed on the table. With so much food being placed on the table, she felt that she couldn't wait any longer.

The sun had just begun setting, when she flashed from the tree, appearing in front of the bandits. She didn't wait for them to come to their senses, she had no weapon to use, so she simply tore them apart. It wasn't until the third bandit was killed that the rest of them understood the situation, but it didn't matter.

Siraya was like the wind, even with all of the bandits outside attacking her, they couldn't even touch a piece of her clothing. Their shouts alerted the ones inside that were enjoying themselves.

They quickly pulled up their pants and ran outside, angry that they had been interrupted, but what awaited them was not their brothers fighting against others, but only corpses. Siraya continued to attack the ones that had just come out, pushing into the house and mercilessly executing every bandit she came across.

After the last one was dealt with, she looked down at the women that were naked, covered in dirt, blood and other fluids. They stared at her in fear, but she couldn't care less. She walked out of the house, her still tattered armour clanging as she walked. Her steps were calm and focused, and she headed straight for the food and drink.

The women in the house looked at each other. Most were unwilling to get up, not wanting to incur even greater torture, but some brave ones still stood up and inched their way towards the door.

They tentatively peered outside and the carnage they saw made them retch. It was more brutal than the corpses in front of them. They heard a munching sound coming from the middle of the stronghold and saw the person that killed all the bandits, standing in front of the table, eating voraciously.

They were a little scared of the person, the way they ate was like a wild beast. Not even caring about the blood of the bandits that stained their hands.

Siraya could feel the gazes on her, but she felt no threat from those women, so she just continued to ignore them, her hands not stopping as she ate. She felt that the dizziness that plagued her for so long was finally easing, and she had to admit, it felt like bliss.

More of the women slowly became brave enough to wander towards the door. They stepped out of the house hesitantly, their eyes searching for any bandits still lurking around, but only saw the corpses strewn about, and the person in tattered armour, that hadn't stopped eating from beginning to end.

They teetered over, trying not to startle the person. When they arrived next to her, they saw Siraya's eyes staring at them. The women shuddered but didn't choose to flee, they had been hungry for many days, and after being tossed around by those bandits, they needed something to replenish their energy.

They gathered around the table, and under the sharp eyes of the tattered soldier, they started to pick up some food with their hands. They saw that the soldier didn't seem to care about them, and became more confident in eating as well.

So a strange sight appeared in a bandit stronghold that night. A group of naked women and a blood covered soldier in tattered armour stood around a table eating with their hands, while torn apart corpses lay all around them.