The moment I stepped onto railcar 91 I was met with glaring sunlight.

“Took you long enough.”

The railcar was an open flatbed and we were traveling through a low mountain pass. The woman that spoke was on the far side of the flatbed and she was standing with her back to me around four bodies lying on the ground. The out-of-place archway and door right behind her.

“I hate vagabonds.”

She picked one of the bodies up and threw it off the train. Before it could hit the ground, it disintegrated in a cloud of dust. Well. There goes my thought of escaping this train by jumping off. She threw off the remaining three right after.

“You’re not a vagabond, are you?”

She turned around to face me and pulled a sword from the sheath on her back.

She was blonde haired with freckles. She was wearing a tight black outfit with a satchel at her side. She stared at me as she raised her sword. I pulled mine from my scabbard. Ready to defend myself.

“I’m no vagabond. Who are you?”

She said nothing as she dashed towards me. I brought my sword up horizontally as she slashed downwards. Clang! She kept swinging at me relentlessly, but I could tell she was going slow enough to give me enough time to block. As she swung, she was eyeing me the whole time, visibly thinking about something.

After the barrage of swings, she stepped a few paces back.

“Is that a 95 original? K’ali does make the best swords. Even the basic ones.”

K’ali? So that’s the blacksmiths name. I tried seeing what her sword looked like, but she started her assault on me once again. She picked up the pace this time and increased the strength of her swings. I was barely able to keep up with the blocks. She would throw in the occasional stab and I would have to jump to the side to avoid it. She’s playing with me.

“Why did it take you so long in 92? I gave those yetis plenty of gems to allow my passage and yours. Were they being greedy again?”

She laughed as she came at me again. This time she was throwing in punches and kicks. I was unprepared for them so I took several kicks to the ribs. Does she want me to fight back? I was unsure as to what her intentions were, because it sounds like she was helping me. She grabbed me with her offhand and threw me across the flatbed. I slid until I was nearly falling off.

The train started to climb.

“Why are you doing this?! Why try to kill me if you were helping me?”

I stumbled trying to get up, with the train moving up the incline. She walked over and rammed the hilt of her sword into my back. I collapsed back down.

“I’m teaching you. Haven’t you learned anything?”

No. No I have not. I watched her feet as she walked away. I scrambled my way up and swung my sword at her legs. She jumped over it, laughing.

As I stood up, she faced me while she grabbed something out of her bag. A white gem. Without saying a word, she flicked it in my direction and it immediately glowed brighter than a bulb, just like the one the yeti used in the cave. I could not see a thing. A moment later, I felt her fist connect with my nose. I started bleeding profusely. Cheap trick!

“Go on then, eat some food, heal up.”

She paced alongside the flatbed towards the door back to 92 as I was using one hand to staunch the bleeding and the other to search through my bag for the rotting green fruit. She laughed again when she saw me pull it out.

“Is that all you’ve got? Does Cornrose not feed you enough? Is he holding out on you? That rascal.”

Who is this woman? She seems to know everyone. The paltry fruit barely healed my nose enough to stop the bleeding and I still felt the aches and pains of where the woman had kicked me. 

The train plateaued and evened out.

I two handed my short sword and ran towards the woman and put as much strength as I could in a downward slash. She saw it coming a mile away and parried it. She then shove-kicked me in the stomach and I fell straight to a seated position. I held my sword pointed at her, while I struggled to get up. Just then, at that point, the train dipped into a decline causing her to stumble into my sword. It slid right into her stomach.

“Ow. That fucking hurts.”

She backhanded me across the face and I let go of the sword as I winced.

A step back, she pulled my sword from her stomach and threw it onto the ground and proceeded to pull something out of her satchel and started to eat it.

“How dare you make me waste this food.”

Now aggravated, she walked over to where I was lying on the ground, hand still holding my face. Her boot kicked my hand away and she pressed it firmly on my temple. The pressure made it feel like my head was going to explode.

“I’m only doing this as a favor to someone. Those four dipshits I took care of for you earlier would’ve mopped the floor with you. They would have stolen everything you owned. Consider this favor completed.”

Letting off my temple, she proceeded to kick me in my side. I gasped for a breath, since it was kicked clean out of me and I watched as she strode off through the door to railcar 90.

The door was not completely shut.

I laid there, wondering what the hell was going on. Who was she? And why was she doing someone a favor. I can handle this myself. I will get myself off of this train.

I crawled over to where my sword was, inching its way towards the edge. I grabbed it just in time and I dropped to my stomach so I could just breathe and rest. She kicked my ass.

Once I pulled myself together, I too, walked through the door to railcar 90.