Eventually someone scooped me up carefully. I gasped because it hurt more in several places.

I opened my eyes and saw the ample bosom of Miss Tessa swaying in front of my face.

I blushed for crying out loud!

Carefully she carried me to the carriage.

A bit down the way in front of the carriage I could see a tree barring the road ahead. Two men were swinging axes to remove branches.

Miss Tessa entered the carriage. Two beds were hovering just over the cushions. Milly was laying on her bed at the back. Her head turned in my direction. She looked horrible.

Miss Tessa gently laid me down on my bed. The beds sported extra blankets.

Then she pulled down Tilly’s bed and left the carriage again.

A short time later she came back with Tilly, settling her on her bed.

She closed the door.

Miss Tessa then carefully removed the sad remains of Tilly’s clothes, throwing them in a pile on the bench beside her.

She got a rag out of her apron’s pocket cleaning Tilly carefully thereafter.

She examined the cut on her hip and bandaged it. After that she took care of the cuts, she fetched a jar from her apron containing a greenish salve.

She painstakingly covered her bruises with the salve. Then she rolled her over on her stomach carefully to take care of her back.

Finally she pushed the bed up, but it didn’t vanish in the wall, it simply floated up to the ceiling out of her hair.

Approaching my bed she cut off the remains of my clothes.

After cleaning me she bandaged the cut at my left leg and the other at the waist.

Then she lubed my concussions, and she put a wet rag on my left eye. Finally the bed levitated under the ceiling.

I felt numb somehow. The pain of my wounds faded considerably. Slowly I truly realized what happened. Fragments of memory of the fight entered my mind.

The start of the assault.

The bandit entering our carriage from the back with a sword in the hand, threatening to rape us.

Fighting him and forcing him out of the carriage.

Fighting him outside an finally choking him to death after he knocked Milly and Tilly out cold.

They had tried to help in spite of having no melee training.

I killed him!

I killed a human!

A fucking rapist, but a human!

Tears started to run down my cheeks in streams.

After a while I felt someone caressing my head. It felt a bit comforting.

The death of my late wife was the last time I wept really hard.

Later on I felt another hand caressing my head.

Eventually the weeping faded to a sobbing. After a while got back my bearings.

This bandit wasn’t worth crying about I tried to tell myself.

Slowly I became aware of my surrounding again.

I heard killing someone was hard.

Maybe I was more emotional now.

I didn’t know.

Finally I opened my ... eye. I couldn’t really open the other.

Someone had rolled me over as I’m looking at the ceiling now.

I was wearing my nightgown. Well everything else is torn I guess.

To my right I could see the Tilly’s arm. She sat on her bed leaning over while propping herself up at the edge of my bed with her other arm, looking at me in pity.

I tried a shy smile. Then I turned my head a bit left, seeing Milly doing the same.

She smiled as our eyes met.

“You all good?” I sniveled.

“Just a few scratches, dear.” Miss Tessa chimed in.

“Take your time. Killing the first time gets every sane person.

I saw many despair.

I was an officer in the army once.

And no speaking if it hurts for now! That’s an order!” She glared at me.

“Thank you, Miss Tessa!” I whispered.

Whispering seemed to be okay for now.

“I’ll go outside now, helping with that tree and hiding the bodies.

We don’t want to draw attention.” She tilted her head.

“We will talk some more later. Rest for now. All of you!” she ordered.

Then I heard the door.

They continued rubbing my head.

“You’re scary!” Tilly looked at me with wide eyes.

”I was intimidated by you back in the train.” she gulped.

“Well, I was stronger then.” I whispered.

“I am happy to have you on our side!” Milly smiled.

“Self-defense is useful. I never needed it back there, but now I’m happy to have spent the time. I am no master, but I can teach you a bit if you want.” I tried a smile.

Speaking louder started to hurt.

“You’re our hero!” Tilly exclaimed.

“Heroes are dead adventures.” I shook my head.

“Seriously I’m no hero. I’m just someone who stands up for hi-her friends.” I croaked.

“That’s my hero!” Milly smiled at me.

“Helping me when I need it. Starting with a heavy suitcase!” She caressed my cheek.

“The suitcase was nothing. And it wasn’t heavy at all.” I whispered.

Milly just smiled at me.

“We were seriously scared as you jumped out after him! You are a foolish hero!” Milly scolded after a while.

“It was necessary. He would have come back without his brain clouded by the dream of ...“ I scowled.

“He was an asshole! A scary one at that!” Milly furrowed her brows.

“Let’s talk about something else.” She sighed

“Like?” I was happy for a little distraction.

“Like all the cute dresses I’m going to make you or trying out all kinds of braids with your beautiful hair. How cute you look when you blush. And calling you a cutiepie is even better.” She gave me a smug smile.

Of course I’m blushing again!

“It hurts my eye!” I whined hoping to stop her.

“Nonsense!” she rolled her eyes.

After a while the door opened again and Miss Tessa came in.

“The road is clear. We pulled the tree out of the way with our horses. We will skip lunch today, to make some distance from this place quickly. You’re in for a luscious dinner tonight, girls.” she propped her hands on her hips.

“As your attire is shred into pieces and we have only one spare dress, you have you wear your nightgowns for now! I will focus on finishing the simple dresses today. You all lay down. Now! We keep the beds in the open today. Continue chattering. I’m listening in.” shooed Milly and Tilly back into their beds.

“Yes, Miss Tessa.” we replied.

We started chattering about anything we could think off. Miss Tessa chimed in once in a while to explain something or to answer our questions.

“Miss Tessa?” I looked at the ceiling.

“Yes, Lilly?”

“How does it come we don’t need to go to, umm, to the toilet? We’re several days here now! That’s not normal!” It was irritating.

“Well, that’s simple. Your beds take care of it. There is an enchantment which takes care of your wastes. Later on, you would have to visit a certain location again.” She chuckled

“Are all carriages equipped like this?” I asked.

“No.” She laughed.

“It may be unique. Every powerful noble house will have a certain enchantments on at least one carriage. Once built they last generations.” She explained.

“Thank you, Miss Tessa!” A first class carriage.

Eventually we were sent into hiding for some time.

“You feel better, Lilly?” Milly asked when we were alone again.

“A bit. It’s still not good. At least he was an asshole.” I sighed.

“The wounds are already getting better as well.” I gently touched my eye.

“Miss Tessa had really softened up today.” Tilly giggled.

“Enjoy it while it lasts.” Milly laughed.

“As soon as we’re better she will return in full force.” She chuckled.

“She’s a force of nature. Remember the first night?” I coughed.

“Oh yes!” Milly exclaimed.

“Quieter” Tilly and I hissed.

“Oops!” Milly whispered.

Eventually we were in the cabin again. The carriage had already stopped for the night.

Miss Tessa treated us with a lavish dinner with various exotic dishes. She served us this evening all the way pointing out details to observe and how to tackle each dish properly.

In the end all were full, unable to move.

Laughing she scooped us up one after the other, settling us down on the other side of the carriage side by side.

While we huddled against each other, unwilling to move. She ate her fill, cleared the table and left the carriage after informing us she was around and we should call if something important happened.

Enjoying the cozy huddle we eventually felt asleep.

We woke up in our beds next morning.

We all got simple dresses soon. Miss Tessa made us repair our attire. She informed us we had to learn sewing anyway, and it was actually good training since they had all possible issues.

The simple dresses were much easier to handle dressing up. She came back in full power soon but the time I spent with my knees tied together decreased.

The last day I had avoided it entirely.

The terrain got more mountainous lately.

Nothing else noteworthy happened.

Tomorrow we would cross the border.