Make sure she doesn't soil the bedcover or I'll stripe both your arses." For all her threats, Lady Marchant had a wry smile on her face as though she ...ooked forward to punishing us. "And get the bindings from the bottom drawer. I wish to examine her properly and I don't want her kicking and thrashing about." From the way she spoke, I knew she was going to do more than look at my body."Which way up first ma'am?" Face down." Clarrie helped M'lady fasten the leather bindings to my wrists and. It spread until all the present monsters attacked or ran away. When the uninfected monsters saw the others fighting, they assumed the tentative truce was broken and assaulted each other.This was no army, it was a horde, a mob. It quickly dissolved when events went wrong. They had been fighting for too long with no result and ran away defeated. The villagers spent the remainder of the morning dealing with the aftermath, collecting all the monster corpses, and destroying them. If left to rot,. With 15 km left to go, I catch the leading bike, but I am more tired than expected.I draft up close enough to talk with him and say, “Make you a deal. Every 2 km, we switch. I draft first, then you. The last km is every man for himself. I have a bike computer so I will read it off. Deal.”“If you say, kid. Just know I’m in it to win.”“I’ve already done better than I was hoping, but I will take that win from you if I can.”I let him pull a little ahead so I can get a more efficient aerodynamic. Coming over to join me at the drinks cabinet Zelda fixed herself a large gin then stood there smiling at me."Pity I had to leave when I did last night." Zelda commented. "I would have loved to have a dance with you."She seemed to put an emphasis on the words 'loved' and 'you', but I shrugged that off as wishful thinking. I can't remember what I replied, but as I took another sip of my drink an idea came to me."We could have that dance now if you liked." I voice my thought tentatively."What a.