No man could save her, for once in her short,

No man could save her, for once in her short, but long lived life, she had to do this herself. And she was afraid.

She straightened up and squared her shoulders. Why am I afraid? Man or no man to do it for me, this door will be opened. She placed her hand on the knob, held her breathe and turne

d it to the left. The knob was sticky and the hinges were squeaking, but the door did open. Inside the hallway lay her brother. She hadn't been prepared for the worst, she realised

,and that was ok:her brother was alright, as far as she could tell.He was just laying there,twitching and groaning,as was his custom."Brrg-..nnnhhlii?",he mumbled in his sleep.

Which must have been a summoning or more like a sending because I was suddenly transported to the scullery of a Medieval castle underside. From the smell of things the seige was a

success, and the kobolds had conquered the kitchen. "Put me down!" one such stupid little lizard-thing screeched. "You were adopted," I obliged.

That one kobold I didn't kill wasn't because I was being merciful, but because I wanted to torture him with my kitchen utensils. I tied him up and

ram six chopsticks up his nostrils, one at a time. He sat stoic at first, being tough, pretending thats all. But tears started to fill his eyes when he saw me reach for

not a seventh chopstick, but real nightmare material, because what I held in my hand was not something big and painful, but a single corn of Sichuan pepper. "Bless you", I said...