The bow felt familiar in my hands. I sighted down the shaft and drew back the bow until the string was touching my cheek. A slow breath calmed my mind and my arms lost a slight shaking. I brought the point of the arrow slightly above the rat as I drew a mental arc from the arrow to my target.

  I released the arrow, my fingers opening with no wasted motion and no jerking. The arrow sailed out and struck the rat cleanly in the side, driving through the creature and into the ground. it struggled for a moment then went limp.

  You have slain a youngling rat! 8 experience points.

  “One,” I thought.

  I heard some chittering, and another rat came over to investigate the one who had died. I quickly drew a second arrow. I sighted quickly and released.

  In my eagerness I failed to release my hand smoothly. The arrow wobbled slightly striking the rat in the hindquarters. It gave a loud squeal and other rats emerged from the barn.

  The wound was fatal however, and the rat died after thrashing for a moment on the ground.

  You have slain a youngling rat! 8 experience points.

  Two rats poked out their heads and emerged running over to the two that had fallen.

  I drew a third arrow and sighted being more careful in my release. The arrow flew true and a third rat fell. I was elated with my skill.

  You have slain a youngling rat! 8 experience points.

  However, this time the second rat determined the source of the deaths of its mates and gave out a squeal and ran straight towards me.

  I drew back a fourth arrow. This shot would be harder. My target was moving towards me running over the uneven ground. Instinctively, I shifted my aim to a point ahead of the creature and released.

  The small creature tried to dodge but the speed of the arrow made the effort useless. The arrow struck squarely in its back and went into the ground. The rats momentum carried it part of the way up the shaft.

  You have killed a youngling rat! 8 experience points.

  I was just about to congratulate myself when I heard several chittering noises and a bunch of rats came out of the barn as a group and began racing towards me. I considered going for my sword but I doubted if I could kill them all before I had taken several serious bites.

  I turned and ran.

  The rats chased me for several minutes. Then one by one they began to give up and turned back to the barn.

  When there was only one left I turned around. The lone rat charged ahead oblivious to the lack of support. It had led the charge and been in the front of the group the entire way. It squealed angrily as it closed the distance between us.

  I reached into my inventory and pulled out the strange sword I had acquired and pointed it at the rat intending to run it through.

  However, this rat was not as foolish as its brethren and dodged to the side. My strike went wide. And the rat leaped for my leg.

  I jumped to the side and swung the blade clumsily just managing to knock it away from me. I turned to face it when I heard more chittering behind me.

  I turned and looked back to see that two more rats had returned. My glance backward was a mistake as the first rat leaped, caught my leg and bit down viciously.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Feeling the sudden weight, I yelped and swung my hand trying to knock it off me.

  Alpha youngling rat bites you for 2 points of damage!

  I missed the swing and tiny claws clung to my pants as I swung back to face the other two. As they leaped I almost panicked, but then an icy calm descended and I swung the sword at the leaping rats catching one and cutting it in half.

  You have killed a youngling rat! 8 experience points.

  The second one landed on my arm and scrabbled for a hold. I reached up and grabbed it by the neck, pulling it off me. It turned and bit my hand. Blood spurted, but I did not let go.

  Youngling rat bites you for 2 points of damage!

  I held it at arms length and brought down the sword and cut it in half.

  You have killed a youngling rat! 8 experience points.

  The alpha bit me again and tried to climb up my pants, but I remained calm.

  Alpha youngling rat bites you for 2 points of damage!

  Holding the sword I carefully stabbed at the rat. Its claws were entangled in my clothes and it could not twist away. But the angle was terrible and I could do little except cut at it and try to pry it away.

  You have cut the alpha youngling rat. 2 points of damage!

  One of its legs was severed, and it gave a fierce cry and bit at me again. However, the sword blade was in the way and it did no damage. I sliced away, and another limb was cut. It released me and fell to the ground trying to flee. But with two limbs damaged it didn’t go far. My sword thrust ended its life.

  You have killed the alpha youngling rat! 10 experience points.

  I was breathing heavily, the adrenaline in my body finally giving over to relief. I tried to return the sword to my scabbard but my hand was shaking. I noticed I was still bleeding.

  A voice came from behind me.

  “You should let me tend those wounds.”

  I turned to see Choral holding a long knife and a makeshift shield.

  “There are still four more in the silo.”

  “They can wait. We should stop the bleeding and make sure you don’t get the pus. Rat bites can go bad if untreated and dying to rat bites is a very unpleasant way to go.”

  “I’ve been through several worse, but I’d like to avoid dying any more if possible.”

  She looked at me strangely. She started to speak then simply stopped and shook her head.

  “Let’s get those wounds fixed.”

  She put away the knife and removed a bandage from a pouch around her waist.

  I walked over to her warily. Was this the same woman who just threw me out of her business just a short while ago?

  She unraveled the cloth and looked up.

  “Give me your hand.”

  I held it out, and she wrapped the cloth around the wound.

  “Not so tight,” I said.

  “Don’t be a baby you can deal with the pain,” she snapped.

  “It’s not the pain,” I replied. “I need it a bit looser so I can smoothly release an arrow. If it’s too tight or to thick, I won’t be able to shoot accurately.”

  She shook her head.

  “If I make it looser, you will lose blood every time you use that hand.”

  “I’ll survive a bit of blood loss. I won’t survive if I miss my shots.”

  “It will also hurt like hell to use that hand.”

  “I won’t feel it.”

  “Really?” She pressed down on the wound. “You don’t feel that?”

  Her smug look turned to surprise has my face remained expressionless.

  “No. I don’t feel any pain.”

  Her jaw dropped.

  “What kind of man are you?” She demanded.

  “Ordinary,” he replied.

  “Still trying to be funny.” She shook her head.

  “No. I’m simply an ordinary man.”

  She just looked at him, her eyes widening in disbelief. Then she snapped.

  “You waltz in here waving a fortune in cash making fun of our poverty. You then proceed to slay at least a half dozen rats that have been plaguing us for months. You shoot like an expert but claim you don’t know anything about our country. You fight six rats at once when our rat hunter got severely injured just fighting two. You get bitten in the hand and claim to feel no pain from a wound that should have you crippled for weeks…”

  I looked down and noticed that my leg was still bleeding.

  “My leg too,” he said.

  “What?”

  “They bit my leg too. A couple times if I remember correctly.”

  She looked down at his leg. The bandage roll dropped from her hand. She reached out, but he bent quickly and caught it. He rose with her and handed it back.

  “How… How can you even stand on that leg?”

  “It will be fine.” He reached into his pack and withdrew a healing salve. He smeared it on his leg. The wounds made a sizzling sound and closed, stopping the blood loss.

  Her eyes widened as she heard the burning of his flesh. She looked up at him expecting to see his face twisted in agony. She saw… nothing. His face was impassive.

  “I can’t use the salve on my hand - it would get on the gut string and weaken it. So, thank you very much for the bandage.”

  He held up his damaged hand and flexed it a few times. She could see the blood seeping into the cloth, but he remained unfazed.

  “That should hold long enough to finish the other four,” he said.

  He turned and started to walk back towards the silo.

  She simply stood and as she watched him walk away she thought.

  “What kind of man is he?”