So here comes the second chapter, it's a little longer than the first ^^
Thank you very much to everyone who wrote me a commi, of course I'm also looking forward to comments and criticism on this chapter ^^
So, I'll stop talking, have fun ^^
Lg, Lod

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I finally felt the grip release and I was able to turn around.
"Quietly," said the stranger simply. I couldn't see his face because he pulled the hood of his coat low over his face. I took a step back from him, but stayed in the shade of the trees. "what happened there?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. The man laughed. "You can see what happened there, the houses were set on fire," he said.
"Yes, I can see that! But why?" I asked, no matter how angry I was at my parents at that moment, I still worried about them when I looked through the trees at the houses, I was afraid that something similar would happen in my village.“The people from this village are poor,” he said, “very poor. They refused to give the soldiers food.” I looked again at the remains of the village, the riders were just riding out of the village, I heard them laughing up here. These people had to die because they were poor? I looked at the stranger again, I was still a little suspicious of him. He was just leaving the shelter of the trees and stepping out onto the path. He looked at the village behind which the sun was just setting, then he walked towards it. I wondered if he had any relatives in the village. Probably not, otherwise he would not have laughed. I didn't know why, but I followed him. I probably just didn't want to be alone. I eyed him curiously, he was tall and looked quite strong. He had a sword on his belt. I had no doubt that he had used it many times. We reached the village and the stranger started looking for survivors in the destroyed houses. In many places there were still flames, some houses were still burning brightly, so it was bright enough to see well.I wish it wasn't like that, my eyes kept falling on severed body parts, or faces that were frozen in a silent scream. I heard a rattle and when I turned around I saw that the stranger was bending over a man who was buried under some roof beams on the floor. He already looked more dead than alive, and when the man opened his mouth to speak, only a gush of blood came out. I averted my eyes, feeling nauseous and if I had eaten more I would certainly have thrown up. I heard the stranger draw his sword and shortly afterwards how the steel cut through flesh. I got worse. I still didn't dare to turn around. I heard the stranger put the sword back into its scabbard and walk on. I followed but didn't dare look at the ground. After a while, it felt like an eternity, the stranger turned around and walked back to the small group of trees. I followed him and sat there on the floor."Why does someone do something so horrible?" I asked, but the stranger didn't answer me. I was tired and so I went to sleep, since I had nothing of value with me that he could have stolen, I wasn't worried about the stranger.
When I woke up the next morning the man was gone. I got up and found fresh hoof prints in the ground. I was astonished that I hadn't noticed the horse, but finally thought that it was useless to ponder about it and sat down on the path, where the sun warmed me up a little, and had breakfast. Then I got up and looked at the village. In the bright daylight it looked even more terrible, the picture of destruction that presented itself to me was cruel. Flames still blazed in the ruins of the completely destroyed houses. I took a few steps towards the village, then stopped, unsure. I didn't want to go into the village, I could still see the faces in front of me, how they stared up at me, screaming in silence and reproach.But finally I forced myself to go further, and as I entered the village the smell of death instantly struck me in the face.
I almost felt his presence, it was almost as if he was reaching out his long, skinny fingers to take me with him into his cold realm. I walked on, shivering, also because of the cold, because the sun was almost completely covered by the low-hanging clouds. Delicate veils of mist covered the ground and crawled around my feet. The wind that blew my hair in my face rustled in the dry leaves of the trees. I ran faster until I finally ran, I wanted to get away from this village where death lurked in the shattered houses.
Only when I had long left the village behind and you could hardly see anything of the rubble did I slow down again. I was terribly afraid that what I would achieve in the next village would present a similar picture of horror.But I had to go to the next village to get something to eat. After all, my bread wouldn't last forever. So I reluctantly went on, just following my nose. I did not know how far away the next village was and which direction was the shortest way, it could well be a week or more before I would reach the next village. I went on as fast as I could, repeatedly seeing hoof prints on the ground. Apparently the riders who set fire to the village and slaughtered the residents had also ridden in that direction.
The day was over quickly and when it dawned I went to sleep. The next morning I woke up just before sunrise. I ate something and went to the brook, which rippled quietly near the path. I had a drink and splashed some of the cold water on my face to wake up completely, then I walked on until I finally went to sleep again in the evening. So the whole of the next week went by, on the sixth day I ate the rest of my bread, it was high time I reached the next village.But I was out of luck, it took another half a week of starving until I finally saw smoke rise in the distant and made out the outlines of a small town in the twilight. Hesitantly, I went closer, I was afraid of finding a destroyed village again, but the houses were still there, and some small children who were still too young to be around their parents at the daily work on the farm or in the blacksmith's shop or elsewhere to help, played between the houses. The village appeared to be quite wealthy, for the children wore simple but clean clothes and were well fed.
I passed a few houses, I had never begged before and I tried very hard to have to do so now in order not to starve.
Hesitantly, I went to a house and knocked. An old woman opened the door. "Good evening", I said hesitantly, then I took heart and went on: "Excuse me, but, I have no money and ..." the old woman did not even let me speak and immediately led me into the cozy and warm house .Well, warm was maybe an exaggeration, but at least the cold wind was locked out. The old woman had a soup hanging over the fire, so she gave me a plate and watched smilingly as I emptied the plate within a few seconds.
"Thank you very much," I said politely, but the old woman just smiled and filled the plate again. While I was emptying this too, the old woman got up and since she had noticed that I didn't even have a water bottle with me, she brought one for me. In the warm hut and with a full stomach, I suddenly noticed how tired I was. The old woman smiled slightly when she noticed, and led me into a small room with nothing more than a cot and a small wooden cupboard. I thanked the woman a thousand times, then lay down and fell asleep within a few seconds. I must have been really exhausted because I didn't wake up until late afternoon. I got up and went downstairs, the old woman was in the kitchen making tea, I wondered if she lived here alone."How are you girl?" she asked me kindly without turning around. "Good, and thanks," I replied when the old woman turned to me and gave me a cup of the freshly brewed tea. I sat down at the table, the old woman sat across from me and looked at me, she had a thoughtful expression on her face. She sipped her tea and continued to look at me, I returned the woman's look uncertain and asked myself what she was thinking about. We drank our tea in silence, I sighed when I had finished it and looked out the window, it looked terribly cold outside.
The woman seemed to guess my thoughts and continued to look at me.
"Stay here one more day, it will be dark soon anyway," she offered and I smiled gratefully. "That's really very kind of you, I would very much like to stay here" I said, the woman smiled pleasantly, she was perhaps also happy when she had some company. We sat there for a while and drank our tea, the woman had given me more, then she got up and put some wood on the fire.I also got up to give the old woman a hand, because she now apparently wanted to prepare the meal. She waved her hand with a smile. "It's okay, I can do it on my own, you just go out and have a look at the city," she said, and I nodded, it was probably not bad at all if I moved a little. I went out, the cold wind hit my face and I wanted to have slipped back into the house right away, it was really damn cold outside.
I went out and looked around, the village seemed to be really wealthy, everything was clean and a lot of the people I saw wore clothes that were modeled on the clothes of the nobles. I went a little further, slowly it was getting dark that I should return soon.
"Hello darling," I suddenly heard someone slurping next to me, and a moment later I was pushed against the wall of a house. The man was obviously very drunk.
I tried to push the man away, but the man was too strong.The man stank of alcohol as if he'd fallen into a beer barrel. Suddenly he rolled his eyes and fell unconscious to the floor. A man stood behind him, his face couldn't be seen because of the hood that was pulled down over his face. "Thank you," I said, and looked briefly at the man who was lying on the floor, then I took a few steps away from him. The man turned away and mounted his horse, it was a beautiful frieze, its black fur shimmered in the weak light of the setting