"You know I don't agree with this," Girgy said.

"I know, but I don't care. Someone has to go save her; it might as well be me, since I am engaged to her," Rary replied with exasperation evident in his voice. They'd been over this at least a dozen times--one could almost think that Girgy didn't want to rescue his daughter.

To Rary's surprise, though, the man beside him merely muttered gruffly, "Go, then, and bring her back safe."

Rary nodded, checked to make sure his sword was safely sheathed across his back, and left.

Versila had left her family's house yesterday to come to the Baron's keep, where she could watch Rary learn swordsmanship from his father's weaponsmaster. It was a tradition of theirs, for that was how they'd met--Versila had admired the Baron's son, and caught him after practice, flirting shamelessly with him.

So every day since then, she had watched Rary practice the sword. But yesterday she hadn't made it to the keep. Instead, a note had arrived demanding a ransom for the Baron's heir's fiancee. Perhaps the kidnappers hadn't done their research, or perhaps they'd planned their attack for this time, for the Baron was away.

Distraught, Rary went to ask Girgy's advice on what should be done. Both men agreed that to merely give in to the bandits' demands would appear weak in the eyes of the Barony's populace, and certainly not the sort of thing expected of their normally cool-headed heir. So Rary offered to mount a personal rescue of Versila, since he knew the area backwards and with his eyes shut--part of his training to be the future Baron. Girgy had finally agreed that it was necessary to send only one man to rescue his cherished daughter, because at this point the only people who knew about the kidnapping were Rary and his future father-in-law, and the fewer the better.

Now Rary, alone, had tracked the faint trail of the kidnappers to an uninhabited part of the forest. Although apparently it had been inhabited at one time, for there was a run-down cabin in a clearing. The tracks led straight to it.

He crept up close to the cabin, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Silence was unneeded, though, or so it seemed. He could clearly make out sounds of fighting coming from the cabin.

Versila, he thought worriedly. If the thieves were fighting among themselves, she could very easily be caught in the middle.

He drew closer as quickly as possible without being seen and peered at the cottage door. There wasn't a man guarding it--where was the guard? Even the most amateur of thieves posted a guard.

Maybe he went in to help the others with that fight, he supposed. That made sense.

He started to walk towards the cabin door, unafraid now of being seen. He awkwardly drew his sword a few steps from the porch. He hoped his years of lessons at the keep were enough to handle a few kidnappers.

At the door, he reached for the handle, when suddenly the noise within died down. Surprised, Rary froze in place.

He heard a man moan on the other side of the door, and then all was silent again for a moment. There was a thump from inside, and someone cursing. The door swung open; Rary quickly ducked to one side, sword held ready.

To his shock, it was Versila who stepped out, rubbing her shin. "Who put that chair there? Oh, probably me . . ." she trailed off and glanced to her left. "Rary? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I came to save you," he managed, lowering his sword.

"Oh, that was sweet," she replied absent-mindedly, glancing at the club-like piece of wood in her hand that Rary recognized as the leg of a chair or table.

Rary watched her standing there for a moment before he couldn't take it any longer. He blurted out, "What? How? They--what happened?"

She chuckled. "What, you think that all this time I've just been watching you at your practice? I've learned a thing or two. I think I can handle myself."

"I think so, too," he said, a bit dazed.

"It's recommended that any wife know how to take care of a couple of men," she said and started off towards home.

He stared at her back for a while. "Yeah," he muttered finally before following after her, "but I didn't think they meant it that way."