On the horizon she could see several smoke tendrils, which had to be from campfires. Without anything better to do Marion started to walk towards the smoke. Upon reaching a small hill close to the village, Marion saw a scene that made her blood run ice cold.

  It looked like the villagers were rounded up in the middle of town with bandits ransacking the house. Marion couldn’t stand that, so she decided that she was going to do something about it. It was time for her to get up close and personal and since she didn’t have any arrows she slung her bow over her shoulders and pulled out the kusarigama she kept in a thigh sheath.

  She took out the one bandit who was supposed to be watching. Once Marion walks into the town square, she takes out another bandit which gets the attention of the rest of them.

  “You need to let these people go, or I’ll kill all of you!” Marion said loud enough for the handful of bandits to hear.

  The leader scowls at the newcomer and with a hearty laugh he says, “Young lady, you are outnumbered, you should leave and mind your own business.”

  With this commotion the other bandits come out of the house and attempt to surround Marion, but this only puts a wicked predatory grin on her face. She would save these people, unlike how she couldn’t save her mother.

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  Without waiting any second longer she lashes out at the bandit to her left and within minutes Marion had all the bandits dead.

  The villagers stare at her display of martial prowess. The village elder walks up to her as she is looting the bandits and asks where she is from and when she tells him she doesn’t have a home, he immediately pleads with her to take the old blacksmith’s house.

  She hesitates at first, but after discovering the bandits didn’t have anything she wanted except for a quiver of arrows, she asks him to take her to the house and without asking the other villagers start stripping the bodies while others start digging graves.

  “Thank you for saving us from those bandits. We could use someone with your strength to stop more bandits from harassing us” the Elder tells her.

  “There are probably going to be more, I also don’t think these will be the last unless we all do something about the villages defenses” Marion replies.

  After a quick search of the house and thorough inspection of the forge she agrees to help the village and decides to move into the house.

  Throughout the day several villagers showed up to Marion's house to supply her with various extras they had.

  Later that night Marion decides to take full stock of the forge and the materials. It did not take her very long to find a piece of what looked to be iron and toss it into the forge.

  It was close to midnight by the time Marion was wound down enough to allow her to sleep.