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Family First By: Light Clark Synopsis: Adam had always known his family was unlucky. Since before he was even born, it seemed like misfortune was just drawn to them. Now a grown man and off in the army, he'd thought that string of bad luck had finally come to an end, but apparently, life had one more curveball to throw his way. Warning: This story takes place in my Tannen universe and contains spoilers for events in Trials of Tannen 04: The Sword That Was Lost. It is not necessary to have read that story or any of my other Tannen Tales to enjoy this one, but it is highly recommended that you read through the main storyline at least to that point before doing so. The entire series can be found at https://lightivation.wordpress.com/ all completely free. Chapter 01 - The Call Heat smothered me, dry and unbearable. In every direction, I saw a very similar scene, nothing but rock and dirt. The only noteworthy distinctions were that, sometime, those materials held the form of low ridges that looked down upon a road below. Of everything that bothered me, those were the most worrisome of all. I wanted this mission done, so that I could get away from them. Clinging a little tighter to the rifle in my hands, I glanced at the squad around me. My particular post only had a handful up there, scattered in a loose grouping to serve as lookouts for the men and equipment on the road below. There were a lot more of them down there, a few transport vehicles as well as some bomb disposal technicians and handful more grunts and the unit's lieutenant. Techs were busy clearing an IED from the path while the lieutenant served as overseer. I knew he didn't like the assignment anymore than I did. Sure, we were supposed to be far from hostiles, but it was still lousy terrain, and one never knew who might be using that to hide out there. "Sergeant, how are we looking up there? Over," my radio crackled to life. "So far just sun and sand, sir. Out," I answered, clipped and professional. "If only we had an ocean, some swim trunks, and a few pretty girls, this would be just like a beach holiday," one of the troopers near me, joked, getting a few chuckles from the others. Another day, I would've let the comment slide or even joined in the mirth. On that day, however, I was too on edge, causing me to bark, "Eyes open and mouth shut, Miller." "Sorry, sarge," the man in question quickly mumbled in apology, returning to his task of scanning the ridge on the opposite side of the road. With the brief exchange over, silence fell over the lookout post again. There was just the faint whistle of a breeze and the distant sounds from the men working below. In that stillness, one could feel every second as it dragged on. There was a bead of sweat just starting to trickle down my brow, the shimmer of a mirage off in the distance that kept tweaking my peripheral vision with illusions of movement, and sweep after sweep of my eyes over the surrounding as I searched for that first sign of danger. "Uhh ... I got movement, sarge," another of the soldiers up there with me spoke up. "Where?!" I demanded, heart racing as I twisted toward the direction that the man was responsible for. "Far north ridge, just into the turn," came the answer. Bringing up my binoculars, I oriented on those instructions. For one tense moment, I saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. There was just the powerful thud of my heart as waited for the moment of terror when an enemy attack sprang into sight. It didn't come. When I finally saw what had prompted the call, it was just some rocks sliding down the side of the ridge. That was still a threat in its own right. Well, more of a threat of a threat. After all, rocks didn't move on their own. Intent on the ridge, I scanned it slowly, back and forth, looking for any glint or shift. The rocks could've just been from a scout that was now leaving. They could've marked nothing more than a bird or rodent scurrying about. With every second that passed, those beliefs grew stronger, but I didn't abandon the vigil. Something about that day just made me certain that events would turn for the worse. "Sergeant, the bomb guys say we're clear down here," the LT's voice came over the radio. "Get your men down here so we can get back to base, over." When I heard those words, one might've thought they were a gunshot from the startled twitch that ran through me. I manage to keep from blurting anything out, at least. My voice was even steady as I acknowledged the command then relayed to my men. Even with the recall ordered, the mission wasn't quite done, though. I watched that north ridge the whole way down the rocky incline to the transports. It nearly cost me a painful tumble on three separate occasions, but I couldn't ignore my apprehension. Still, nothing attacked the unit, not on the way down the ridge, not while we clambered into the vehicles, not while we rode away. It seemed that I was wrong about that day. *********************************************** *********************************************** My salute was razor sharp as I stopped in front of the lieutenant. I waited for him to mirror it before letting my hand drop to my side. It was the order of, "At ease," that let me actually relax some, though. "All the equipment is stored and the men have returned to the barracks, sir," I reported crisply. My commanding officer nodded at the news. "Good work, but it's only going to be for tonight. We're headed right back out tomorrow morning." "The same road, sir?" I inquired. "No, different one, but the same job as always," the lieutenant replied, shaking his head. "I keep trying to tell the brass that the roads won't stay clear until we deal with whoever's planting the explosives, but they aren't interested." "Hard to find a handful of saboteurs hiding amongst miles of rocky ridges and shadowed outcroppings," I pointed out. "Sure is, but seems like it would be easier to do that then putting up with having at least one road closed every day while we race around trying to fix it all up," the officer countered, only to then let out a weary sigh. "But regardless, orders are orders, and I don't want to keep your here just to listen to me bitching." A slight smirk cracked my impassive, militant expression. "That's what NCOs are for, though, sir." The remark earned me a solid laugh from the lieutenant. "Maybe, but you've got someone a little higher ranking to answer to tonight then me, don't ya?" "In a manner of speaking, sir," I confirmed. "Fortunately, she's half a world away, so even if I get her mad, the worst she can do is yell at me." "Well, I think I'll spare you from that all the same, Fisher," the officer replied, shaking his head. "Dismissed." "Good night, sir," I gave as a farewell, sketching one more precise salute to the other man. Once I'd received the same in return, I spun on my heel and walked out. Once outside, the sights and sounds of the army base were my world. It was a big bustling affair with soldiers and equipment always moving this way and that. Sometimes, I wondered if some old general didn't issue orders just to make things look busier, because the activity level was just so consistent. Now off-duty, I would've usually turned toward my barracks. There, I could get what peace and quiet could be found in the midst of a war, allowing my frayed nerves to rest and recover. Others in my unit would've prefered to find some amusement, anything to distract from the fact that any day could be their last one. Of course, there weren't many casualties, but tripping some home-made explosion with a wayward step was a particularly terrifying threat even if the odds of it happening were low. Instead of either of those options, I started off toward a different location, one that I visited with some frequency - communications. There, I was scheduled to have my chance for a call back home. I never missed one of those calls. "Where you off to, sarge," one of the men in my unit called out as he and fellow approached from the opposite direction. "You don't know?" the man next to him responded before I could. "Sgt. Fisher might look all tough and serious, but he's actually a real soft momma's boy. Has to call home all the time or he gets all anxious." A scowl shadowed my face as I leveled a threatening gaze at the latter soldier. "You sound like you want shit detail for a while, Miller." "No, sir. Sorry, sir," the man quickly apologized. "Then carry on," I ordered before quickly moving by the two men. If they talked about me more after that, they made sure to either whisper or wait until I was out of earshot. Before long, I found myself at the Comm building, doing what soldiers do best - waiting. In the army, there's always waiting to be done, even when one's not early. I, of course, was early, which just meant even more waiting. I didn't really mind, though. The building was relatively quiet, so sitting there in a chair was one of the most peaceful things that I could do on the base. After the stressful, if ultimately anticlimactic, day, I was glad for that. Eventually, though, one of the staff told me it was my turn. I was led to a small room with nothing but a chair, small table, and a laptop on it. By the time I entered, the connection had already been made, and webcam video showed my mother's face on screen. Beyond her was a similar room to the one in which I sat, small and sterile so that the military could be sure no one listened in on our conversation except them. "Hello, Mom," I greeted warmly as I took the chair, hearing the staff member close the door behind me. "Hi, sweetheart," my mother answered, smiling warmly. The act showed plenty of wrinkles, even though, she really wasn't that old, only forty. A teenage pregnancy with me, then years of hard work after my father abandoned us had put some of those extra wrinkles on her. The death of my step-father just before I'd enlisted had put a few more. My tours in the middle-east were the rest. "Hey, Adam!" a young boy's voice added right after my mother just before his face popped into view. That was my half-brother, James, a rambunctious ten-year old with dirty blonde hair. He was probably responsible for a few more of those wrinkles, too. A smirk curled my lips at the sight of him. "Hey, James. How's baseball going?" "Ugh ... it's been too hot for long pants. Plus, we lost our last two games," James groaned in disappointment. I chuckled at the complaints. It was hotter where I was than back home, and I was out in it wearing body armor and full camo, while carrying a few dozen pounds of other gear. The kid didn't know what hot was. "Well, it's probably just a slump, so stick with it," I told the kid. "I'll try," James sighed heavily. Rolling my eyes, I glanced about the narrow field of vision I had in search of signs of a third speaker. "Nikki come, too?" "Nah, she said she had some crisis to deal with," my younger brother informed me. "It seems to be about a boy at school," my mother added, shrugging. "I tried to tell them that they're all idiots, but she won't listen to me." "Well, she's at that age, I suppose," I remarked even as I myself had a hard time believing it. Ever since I'd joined the army, I hadn't gotten to see my family all that much. Nicole, I saw the least. She was thirteen now, too old to worship her big brother like she used to when she was little. In fact, I couldn't remember talking to her once since I had started this most recent tour. At that age, there were just more important things. My mother shook her head wearily. "I guess ... I just wish she'd listen a little, though. I don't want her making the same mistakes I did at that age." Me. That was her mistake. It hadn't stopped her from loving me with everything she had, but I was old enough to realize that I'd cost her the life that she'd really wanted to live. All I could do in return was try to be the best son I could be. "Yeah, I know," I agreed softly before changing subjects. "Anyway, how are you guys doing? Am I sending enough money back?" "You're sending more than enough," my mother told me. "A young man like you should be out spending that on having fun, not sending it home to your mother." "Not a lot of fun to be had here," I pointed out. Rolling her eyes, my mother sighed heavily. "Yeah, well, you shouldn't be there either. It's a stupid war, and you never should've enlisted in the first place." I just smiled through those usual remarks. It was an old argument, one of the few we ever had. My mother had never approved of my joining the military, but I knew it had been the right decision. There had been no money for school, not after my step-father's treatments had sapped away all the family's savings and then some. I wasn't smart enough to get to go for free. However, I was smart enough for the army to want me; big and strong, too. If I really wanted school, they'd pay for it once I was done. In the meantime, I had good, steady pay and few expenses, allowing me to help support my mother and siblings. "But anyway ... " my mother continued when I didn't start arguing with her. "How are you doing? Staying safe?" "As safe as I can, Mom," I assured her, not allowed to go into any more detail than that. "Kill anyone?" my brother interjected in the chipper way only a naive child could. "James!" came the immediate scolding from my mother. "We don't ask things like that." Slouching, the boy muttered, "Yes, Mom." With James handled, my mother turned back to me. "I sent a care package a couple of days ago, Adam. Hopefully that'll make it a little easier out there for you." "It always does," I replied gratefully. Those packages were the only thing I spoiled myself with. "Good, because I-" my mother began before suddenly, the video feed went dark. "Huh? What's -" This time, she wasn't just cutting herself off like a moment before before. The sound just lurched to a stop. "Mom?" I questioned, rising from my seat. Leaning forward, I checked the laptop's connections. It seemed to have been an issue on the other end, but I looked just in case. It all seemed to be in order and tapping a few keys didn't help, so I ended up turning away from the computer. If I went and got one of the staff, maybe they could figure out what had happened. "Not so fast, Sergeant," someone said as my hand grabbed the door knob. Their voice was low, hard, and commanding, but female. It also seemed to be right behind me. Skin crawling, I whipped around to face the person, but there was no one there. There was just the small, almost empty room with its chair, table, and computer. Of course, that was all that should be there. After all, there was only the one door, and no one had come through it since I had. There was no place to hide in there either. "Hello?" I called out carefully, wondering if maybe the voice belonged to whoever eavesdropped on these calls to make sure no confidential information was leaked. "Let's save the greetings for the other side, shall we?" the voice responded, and I was not given a chance to argue. Like a snap, the world around me went dark. Not just like the lights had gone out, but a true pitch black that had no idea what light even was. Startled, I fell back a step. There should've been a door there to stop me from going further and to rest my back against defensively, but there wasn't. I passed right through where it was supposed to be. Confused, I tried to take another step, but still no door was found. All I located was a mysterious bump in the ground that caught my heel, turning my retreat into a stumble. I might have caught myself after a few steps, or finally found that door I thought should be there, but I didn't keep my feet for that long. As quickly as light had been sucked out of the world, new illumination burst into it. It wasn't the weak, sterile lighting of some hastily built military building either. No, this light was the blazing brilliance of a midday, summer sun. It hit my eyes with a palpable force, forcing me to squint them shut as I raised my hands as a shield. The distraction and balance compromising movement was the end of my hopes of recovering. My feet fell behind, leaving my upper body to topple over. A second after the light appeared, my butt smacked painfully against the ground. "Gah! Ow!" I hissed at the tumble, but it sounded wrong in my ears. That wasn't all that was wrong with the world. When I shot a hand back behind me to prop me up, it didn't find smooth floor, but the uneven prickliness of grass. When my other hand moved to rub at my but, it didn't feel the slick synthetic feel of my fatigues but some coarse, natural fabric. Just those sensations were enough to bewilder me, but then I cracked my eyes open. The bright light was still a bit much, but strangely, my eyes were actually shaded at the moment, even though, my hands were busy elsewhere. A curtain of long strands, a brilliant cherry red in color, filled my vision. "What the hell is goi-" at first, I was just muttering in confusion, but when the sound reached my ears I stopped. It wasn't my voice. My voice was low and sharp. The one I was speaking with, though, was much higher, and had a warmth and softness that made it not even sound like a man's. The hand that had been rubbing my butt leapt to my throat. The action only presented a whole new slew of things that were wrong. My throat seemed too slim and lacked the roughness of a five o'clock shadow. Even stranger, my chest was pressing into my arm as I held it in front of me, and not in some solid muscular way. It was a soft mound that squished against the limb. My gaze dropped to see what provided the pressure, and my jaw dropped right afterwards. At my chest, rather than a broad, flat expanse covered by military fatigues, I found what looked like some renaissance fair dress wrapped tightly around two fairly sizable bulges. It seemed impossible, but there they were. "What the fuck?!" I exclaimed at the sight. At the same time, my thoughts swirled about like some tempestuous whirlpool. Those were breasts, I knew what breast's looked like, but they couldn't be. I didn't have breasts. Why would I have breasts? Were they someone else's? Was this some trick of the weird lighting? Had I been drugged? What could- "Ack, pull yourself together, sergeant, you're a soldier," the female voice from before scoffed at me, except this time it seemed to be a few feet in front of me. Jerking my gaze up, I swept some of the obnoxious red curtain from my eyes, barely noticing the distinctly hair-like feel of the strands. I was far more interested in the speaker, who had mysteriously appeared before me, surrounded by some sort of open, grassy field with a bright blue sky and a hot sun up above. The woman, herself, was far more dour than the day around her. Tall and powerful- looking, her whole body was covered by dark gray steel - medieval plate mail from the look of it. On her back was strapped a massive sword and under one arm was tucked a knight's helm. That last item's position left her face bare, showing a woman with short-cropped blonde hair, hard gray eyes, and a handsome face twisted into a scowl. Shocked and more than a little afraid, I scooted back from the woman, preparing to leap to my feet and defend myself. "Wh-who are you?" "I am Alterra, goddess of anger, bravery, and war," the woman declared as if such claims were perfectly ordinary. "And you are currently making me angry, not showing much bravery, and proving to be less of a warrior than I'd hoped." "What?!" I blurted in disbelief. A goddess? But there was no such thing. The scowl on the self-professed goddess darkened at my words. "Perhaps I should just kill you now and concede. It would spare us both some time and frustration." The very real threat in those words broke me from from my bewildered stupor, at least enough to know that I needed to act. Quickly, I scrambled to my feet, ignoring how very wrong every movement of my body felt. The dress didn't matter. The long, weirdly colored hair didn't matter. The breasts I seemed to have attached to me didn't matter. All that mattered was that I be ready to defend myself. Toward that end, once I was up, I got my hands up in front of me and into fists, even as I tried to figure out what the fuck I was supposed to do with them against steel plates and that massive sword. Fortunately, it didn't look as if I was going to have to find an answer to that. My movements made the scowl fade from the blonde's face, transforming it into a slightly amused smirk. "Well, that's more like it." Keeping my guard up, I snuck glances to the side to take in my surroundings. I was outside in a wild, prairie-like setting. It definitely wasn't a military base, nor even the middle east. I supposed that made sense, though. I was in a different body, so why not also in a different place. Still, I needed something to go off of. "I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on here?" I asked, hoping the woman's last remark meant that she was willing to be more helpful and less prone to killing me. "Yes, I can, but I think we should start with you looking at ...," the woman said, pausing briefly to point at the ground. "... this." I followed the gesture, only to find three bodies lying on the grass a dozen feet to my left. That didn't make any sense, though. I'd just glanced that way, and there had been no - wait. It couldn't be. "Mom?" I gasped in disbelief as I recognized one of the people lying there. Thoughts of defense vanished, leaving only terror. Dropping my guard, I spun and raced over to the fallen woman. Along the way, I recognized the other two that lay beside her, as well - my siblings, James and Nicole. Skidding to my knees in to the grass, I reached for my mother, pulling us together so that I could lean over her. My hand went to her neck, pressing my fingertips against her skin. For one panicked moment, I felt nothing, then the slight twitch of a pulse. "They're alright, for now," Alterra assured me. Twisting, I glared back over my shoulder at the armored woman and hissed, "What did you do to them?" "At the moment, I've just locked them in a slumber," Alterra informed me. "That way, you could confirm that they are your family, and then you and I could talk alone." While I certainly didn't understand much, those words put one piece of the puzzle into place. Taking my hand from my mother's throat, I pushed myself up to my feet again and turned toward the woman. "So they're hostages, and you want something from me." "Yes, you see, my compatriots are having a little contest, and you, are my champion. It will begin in thirty days, and to make sure that you want to compete ..." the supposed goddess told me, before gesturing toward my family once more. Fear gripping my heart, my gaze jerked back to my family. For one brief instant, they were exactly as I remembered them, but it didn't last. Like chalk washing away in the rain, the forms I recognized faded. At first, I thought they might vanish entirely, but they were just changing. No, it was more like the life was draining out of them. Skin turned pale. Hair became brown, long, and limp. Bodies because short and gaunt. Eventually, each was a mirror of the other two, all appearing to be young but decidedly sickly-looking girls. The horror of that sight quickly burned away into a bright rage. I spun back toward the armor woman, screamed, "Stop it!" and charged. I got all of a step before my whole body just froze in place, like it had been pulled from the passage of time and left just stuck there mid-stride. "I like that fire in you, but we do not have time to fight right now. Instead, you should use how you feel to guide your efforts to help them," Alterra remarked. As those words ended, I was released from my lock, leaving me to stumble to a stop. Clearly, there was no point in trying to attack someone that could freeze me in place with a thought. Still, I glared at the armored woman, wishing that I could just throttle her where she stood. "How do I help them?" I forced myself to ask through my fury. "You win," the blonde told me. "If you do that, I will return you all to your proper bodies in your proper world. Otherwise, you four remain stuck here as you are, and trust me, they won't last long like that." I ground my teeth together at those words. "How do I win?" "That is a question for another time and a different goddess to answer," Alterra responded. "For now, just do what you will to prepare. If you have any other questions, there's a guidebook for the world and your place in it lying with your family. Good luck, and may your battle be a glorious one." Then, without warning or fanfare, the armored woman was gone and I was left standing there alone with my rage and confusion. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 02 - Day 01 Still. That was what the world around me was. I could almost pretend it was some very realistic 3D movie and not an actual place. That was just wishful thinking, though, and the moment shattered almost immediately. The impetus for the break came when a breeze picked up. It brought the smell of outdoor freshness with the hint of wildflowers that suited a vast open prairie. It brought the sound of brush rustling. It brought the sight of crimson strands blowing into my face. The only thing it didn't bring was the return of that self-proclaimed goddess who had stuck me in this mess. "Okay, Adam, enough dawdling. Assess the mission," I chided myself in the woman's voice that it seemed I was going to be stuck with for a while. As I spoke, I swiped the cherry red hair from my face and looked down at myself. Unlike my first view of the unfamiliar form that I'd been transformed into, I was calm and analytical in this assessment. There were all sorts of questions I wanted to ask, but I kept those away just like I did the desire to panic at the seemingly impossible sight. For whatever reason, no matter how I felt about it, at that moment, this was my body and I needed to know what I was working with. The most obvious thing was that I was female, now. I wore a dress. I had breasts. I didn't even need to check between my legs to know my old friend wasn't there anymore. This basic and obvious trait was clearly a bad one. It wasn't misogyny that drove that thought. It was a simple assessment of my apparent attributes. Most importantly, I was clearly not as big as I had been before. It was hard to guess an exact height, but I was certainly shorter, and there wasn't nearly the same bulk to me. Lifting one loosely-sleeved arm, I tightened my bicep, using the other hand to judge what I was working with. To my relief, the limb wasn't some useless twig. There was a decent amount of muscle there, clearly tight and toned. I certainly wouldn't be as strong as I was used to, but it didn't seem like I would be some wimp. "I do seem to be a peasant, though," I noted as I let my hands fall to tug at the dress I wore. It wasn't much, just some coarse brown fabric made into a rough skirt with a connected sleeveless top that was laced tight. Underneath, I wore something loose, long sleeved, and a grimy tan color. I might've thought it a blouse, but there seemed to be an extra layer underneath my skirt as well, so maybe a shift of some sort. Other than that, I had fairly sturdy looking boots and a belt with one small pouch tied to it along with a shoddy looking, sheathless knife tucked into the band. Lifting my gaze, I looked around at my surroundings. Empty fields mostly with what looked to be a road a short ways away. That and the bodies of three sleeping girls - my transformed family. They were even worse off than I was. They were short and frail looking, with nearly identical clothes to my own except their belts looked empty. The only potentially useful item near them was a leatherbound book laying on the grass. "How am I supposed to win a competition like this?" I asked the air. Part of me even hoped it would answer. I would've taken any hint, advice, or information at that moment. The situation just seemed so hopeless. I wasn't even sure how the four of us were supposed to survive the thirty day wait for the competition to actually start, much less accomplish anything once it did. The sound of someone groaning, weak and pitiful, pulled me from my dour thoughts. Looking up, I saw one of the three girls shifting. She'd managed to prop herself up on one arm, but even that seemed to be too much for her as the thin limb shook from the strain. "Here, let me help," I offered, stepping over to kneel down next to the girl and pull her gently up to a sitting position. Once upright, the girl slouched forward, breathing heavily. She did manage to get her gaze up to meet mine. "What happened? Who are you? Where am I?" "That's ... complicated," I evaded, not sure how to even begin to describe what had happened. I didn't even know which member of my family I was talking to at the moment. They looked identical, and I didn't remember their positions from before that horrible woman transformed them. Glancing about at the wilderness for a moment, the girl turned back to me. "Well then, you'd best start explaining." *********************************************** *********************************************** "So a goddess did this to us? For some competition she's having with others of her kind?" one of the three girls, my mother so she claimed, questioned incredulously, her voice thin and raspy as she sat in the grass. "That's what she said before she just up and vanished," I confirmed, a little frustration creeping into my voice at the mysterious woman's abrupt abandonment of the four of us. "And you're my son, Adam?" my mother double-checked. I nodded. "Yes, at least, I was before we came here and got ... changed." "So unfair!" the girl to the left of my mother, Nicole apparently, whined her voice a touch more lively, but not much. "Why couldn't I be the beautiful redhead with the big boobs instead of this?!" That last bit was joined by a look of distaste as she gestured down at her body. "Hey, at least you've always been a stupid, gross girl!" the last of the trio, James, spat. "Girls aren't stupid or gross, you little dipshit!" Nicole retorted. "They are too and mean and ugly and -!" James shot back. "Stop it, both of you!" my mother barked over the other two, or at least she tried. Such forceful exclamation proved to be a bit much for her, the strain leading to a weak coughing fit at the end of the outburst. Reaching out, I rubbed the girl's back, feeling how thin and fragile it felt under my hands. "Careful, Mom. I don't know what she did to you three, but I know it wasn't good." "I'm alright. At least, as alright as I can be," the formerly grown woman wheezed, adding one final cough. "Anyway, you said something about a book that could tell us more?" "Yeah, this one, I guess," I said, scooping up the book from the grass to hand it to her. "From what she said, it's supposed to be some kind of guidebook to this world and who we are now." "Okay, well, let's start with the world, I g-whoa," my mother began only to gasp in surprise when she moved to open the book. Rather than just the cover pulling out of the way, the tome actually fell open to a middle page where the word Tannen was written in neat script above several paragraphs. "Well, I don't know what was going on there, but I guess this is the world we're in. Any of you ever heard of a place called Tannen before?" If any of us were going to know about some fantasy world, it would've been Nicole. She was the reader in the family. However, she shook her head right along with James and me, so if this Tannen place had ever been heard of on Earth, it wasn't by one of us. "Well, seems to just be some generic fantasy place. A couple of continents some kingdoms ... oh look there's a map of the known world," my mother remarked as she skimmed a few pages. "Nothing that sounds all too useful for getting out of here, though." "That goddess lady said we had to win to get home," I noted. "Yeah, but you said she didn't tell you how to do that, and I wouldn't mind a more certain way back, anyway," my mother replied. "Still, doubt we'd find it in here, so I guess I should look for something more useful like who we are supposed to be now." As she said those words, the girl turned another page, but the book turned several more with it. Suddenly, it was at a whole different section, one which showed a picture of a tall, attractive woman whose hair and clothes were much like the ones I currently possessed. On the opposite page was a bunch of text. "Is that book just moving to sections on it's own?" Nicole asked, looking a bit uneasy. My mother nodded, poking at the tome uncertainly. "It seems so." "Creepy ..." my sister muttered with obvious distaste. "Creepy?! It's a magic book! That's awesome!" James exclaimed in delight. "Well, whatever it is, this looks like a picture of you, Adam," my mother commented, tapping the image in question. "Apparently you're someone named Rania Fahren. Age: Nineteen. Race: Touched? What the hell's a touched?" "No idea," I answered. "I'd bet the book has a section on it, though, if you want to find out." "Let's stick with who the three of us are, first," my mother decided, turning a page. This showed a similar layout, picture on one side and words on the other, but this time, the picture showed all three of the girls. "Jeez, don't even warrant our own entries ... " she muttered as she skimmed the words. "Lynn, Amenia, and Krea Fahren. Same last name, but we're supposedly human, not touched. Age: Sixteen? God, we're all just kids." "I don't know about that," I noted, thinking back to what I could remember from school. "Given our clothes, this seems medieval, and I think adulthood was only like thirteen back then." My mother scowled a bit at that point. "Hmm ... you're probably right, which just brings up a different problem. I'm pretty sure women were basically chatel at that point in history." "Chatel?" James questioned. "It's another word for property," Nicole explained. "Basically, men were such assholes back then that they literally thought of women as being on the same level as stuff like cows and pigs and shit. Not that they're much better, now." "Nikki, watch your language," our mother chided. "Watch my language?" the girl questioned in disbelief. "We got transported to another world and transformed into other people, and you worried about my fucking language?!" Perfectly calm, our mother leveled a stern look at her daughter. "None of that matters, young lady. You still shouldn't talk like that." I could see Nicole gearing up for a retort, but I cut in before she could make it. "Uhm ... maybe we should find out what a touched is or where we are right now? I see a road over there, so presumably, if we follow it, we'll find other people. I'd like to know which way gets us too them quicker, and for that matter whether or not the people we find will be good or bad. I seem to remember fantasy worlds having a lot of pretty evil races in them." "Right, let's see ..." my mother agreed, turning back to the book. Another page swipe set it off to a whole different section. "Well, it jumped to a section labeled, Vernera. Seems to be a town in the southeast of a kingdom called Metellan." "A town? Why would it jump to that?" I question, standing up to look around. "I don't see any town around here." My mother shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it doesn't have a section for random piece of nowhere, so it jumped to the closest thing it did have a section about." "So one of the ways might lead us to this Vernera," I mused, looking back toward the road. I didn't see any way to tell one way from the other. There certainly wasn't anything as convenient as a sign. "But which way." "No clue," my mother answered. After that, there was a moment of silence before Nicole perked up. "I have an idea. Let me see the book." "Alright ... but be careful. If something happens to it, we might be truly lost," our mother said as she handed it over. Once my sister had the book in hand, she quickly flipped a page, then another, then another, and another before she finally grinned. "Ah ha ... it should be to the northwest." "How do you know that?" I asked, leaning over to look down at the book. At the moment, it still seemed to be on the Vernera page. "I just thought about different topics as I turned the page," Nicole explained proudly. "I started with 'closest town to the north and worked my way around the compass. East and south took me to different pages, but west and north both ended on Venera, so that's the direction it must be in." "Huh ... smart," I complimented, surprised by the girl's ingenuity. "Thanks," the girl chirped as brightly as her weak, thin voice could manage. The good humor didn't last for long, though, as the girl slouched glumly. "Not sure how much help it'll be, though." "Don't say that," I reassured her. "It was a big help!" "Was it?" Nicole questioned dubiously. "I mean ... I don't know what this goddess did to us, but it's pretty hard to just sit up like this. I can't imagine trying to hike anywhere." "She's right, Adam," our mother added. "In fact, I'm not actually sure we can walk at all, or even stand up. I tried a bit while you were helping the other two, and I couldn't even get my feet under me. Maybe with some rest that might change, but ..." The hope that had flickered to life within me at having at at least having a direction to go guttered out immediately. Having seen the other three struggle just sitting up, I'd already had some worries, but now they were confirmed. They would be helpless without me, and I wasn't even that strong, not anymore. Maybe I could carry one, but all three? How was I supposed to even get them to shelter, much less find food and water? That didn't even consider that there was supposed to be some sort of competition to participate in later. Unless survival was the competition. I doubted that, though. Alterra had said the competition wouldn't start for thirty days, and I had a feeling that, whatever her other faults, she didn't seem like the lying type. Even as despondence well up to engulf me, I raised a steel wall of resolve to keep it at bay. It didn't matter if I was weak. It didn't matter how hard I had to work. It didn't matter if the contest involved slaying the goddess that had brought us here. I would not leave my family to lives as frail invalids. I would find a way to save them. "Okay," I began, falling back on my military training. A quick glance around reaffirmed the current situation in my mind, allowing me to formulate a plan. "It looks like about midday and we're in a wide open grassland, so you should be pretty safe. We just need to find you some shelter from the sun. Then, I'll go scout for this town that's supposed to be near, find us some food and water and maybe even whatever passes for transportation in this world to carry you guys to safety." "You're gonna just leave us out here on our own when we can't even walk?!" Nicole demanded incredulously. "He's doing what he has to, so that we don't just sit here waiting to die," our mother spoke up in my defense. "The bigger concern right now is do you have any money to buy anything with once you get to town?" "Uhm ... no - wait," murmured reaching down to my belt to untie the small pouch. Sure enough, it clinked a little while I got it free and dropped its contents onto my palm. In total, those contents were barely a handful of small, roughly pressed, copper disks. "Doesn't look like much ..." My mother just nodded at the news. "No surprise." "Whatever, I'll find a way," I dismissed, shoving the coins back into the pouch. Once they were stowed, I glanced about again. This time, I was searching for something in particular, and I even managed to find it. "There's some trees over there that aren't too far. I should be able to carry you all over to them to give you some shade." "Alright," my mother replied. "Then, I'll look through the book while you're gone and see if I can't figure out anything useful about this place." "Sounds good," I agreed, before turning back to my family. "Now, who wants to go first?" *********************************************** *********************************************** "Well, at least, that wasn't as tough as I thought it might be," I remarked as I marched down the road, leaving my family behind me. I'd had an easier time moving them over to the trees than I'd expected. Some of that was undoubtedly because they were incredibly light, but some of it was just that I wasn't as weak as I'd feared. It was possible that I could carry them all the way to town, if my stamina held out, and I might even have been able to hold my own in a fight should one find me. That latter possibility became more and more of a concern as I hiked along the way. The simple act of walking was a pretty powerful reminder that I was not a man anymore. My stride was shorter. My hips felt different. My hair bounced about. In fact, only one place was not as different as I would've thought, my chest. The tight lacing that held the top closed did a good job of keeping movement up there to a minimum. Having the swellings there squashed down wasn't exactly comfortable, though, and it made taking deep breaths pretty difficult Beyond just the different feel, I couldn't help but think of what that might mean. My mother had mentioned that the time period we seemed to be in hadn't exactly been a good one for women. I had no idea what sort of rights I might have. Would I be able to buy things on my own? Move about freely? Talk? There was no way to know for sure, but I was fairly certain that I didn't want to know what a group of men might do to me should they find me out there in the wild by myself. It was almost enough to make me want to leave the road to creep through the brush nearby, but that would slow me down. I didn't know how far the town was, and I had to make it back to my family by nightfall at the latest. Ideally, I wanted to get back there much quicker than that. Acknowledging that concern, I picked up the pace a little on my trek. At the same time, I tried to predict what awaited me down the road. I didn't know much about Vernera, but I had gotten a few more tidbits from the book before I left. I knew it was a central hub for agriculture for the region. I'd seen a map of the place, too. It wasn't very big, mostly just one long main street of shops with a second, shorter cross street. The fact that it was a small town was both good and bad. Small town people tended to be more helpful and generous, but they also tended to be wary of strangers. Which trait would prove the stronger force was hard to predict. I was hoping for the former, though, because I doubted the handful of copper coins I carried would buy much. Such worries filled the trek along the road, occupying my mind throughout the otherwise dull journey. I didn't see anyone else on the road. For a while, I didn't even see any buildings. After a bit, farm houses started to dot the fields which had become properly cultivated. None of the people there seemed to pay me any heed, but I considered stopping at several. They might sell me food and water or even just give it to me for free. I needed more than that, though. I needed transportation and a safe place for my family to spend the night. Four extra mouths, only one of which could work, was a lot for a peasant farmer to take in. It might be a solution for one night, but it would be best for me to keep going and see if I couldn't find a better option. Eventually, that resolve put the first signs of a town onto the horizon - a neat line of rooftops packed too closely together to be farmhouses. As I continued on, the buildings below them came into view, and then, the silhouettes of people on the dirt road ahead, painting a picture of a quaint little town in the country. The sight was a relief, proof that the town was in the predicted direction and not too far away. There was some trepidation, as well though, because, before too long, I would be amongst those people, pretending to be one of them. I wasn't sure if I was going to be up to it. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 03 - Day 01 The first thing I noticed about the town of Vernera was that I was very clearly not welcome there. By the time I'd passed the first building, entering into the town proper, I'd already drawn several nasty looks from people who were out about their days. The more people that saw me, the more glares I received. In fact, no one that looked my way that didn't offer at least a harsh glance. Some didn't stop at looks, adding gestures with their hands as if to ward me away while a couple of scowling men actually spit on the ground as I went by them. The reaction seemed a bit much, but perhaps the town just really hated outsiders. While that was certainly not good news, I tried to ignore the unwelcome reception and focus on the tasks that I needed to complete. Fortunately, unlike the road that Alterra had dumped us by, there were signs in town to help me, indicating which buildings were responsible for what goods and services. Oddly, they didn't do so with writing but with simple painted pictures. A loaf of bread seemed to indicate a bakery. An anvil was probably a blacksmith. A wagon wheel was likely a ... what was the word for a wagon maker? The signs were useful, but they also showed me my next hurdle. There didn't seem to be any sort of general store where I could just go and buy everything that I needed at one time. Food would have to be gotten at a butcher or a baker or something similar. Transportation would probably require a visit to a stable to get a horse or a donkey. Water would ... well, there seemed to be a well in the center of town, but that wouldn't do me much good without something to carry it in. Did canteens exist? Who would sell one if they did? If not, what would I use? A bucket? Drifting closer to the well, I could see that buckets did seem to be the primary porting tool that people were using. Who would have a bucket for sale? Maybe the same person that made barrels? Was there a sign with a barrel on it? As I looked around for such a sign, unease started to creep into the back of my thoughts. I couldn't be certain what was causing it, though. The hostile looks were the same as when I'd first entered the town, and I was making some progress in my efforts, albeit slowly. There didn't seem to be any need for sudden worry, and yet there it was, nagging at me as I tried to focus on my task. Pushing through the uncomfortable feeling, I continued my search, finally finding a building that showed a barrel on its sign. Hoping that would be the place to start, I walked up to the door and pulled it open. There was a small chime on the door that rang as it moved, alerting the shopkeeper to my entrance. It proved a necessary tool as the front room was empty when I stepped inside. "Good afternoon! How may I ... " a hearty voice began from a curtained off back room before a lean, wiry man with a warm, service- oriented smile on his face pushed through the cloth. When he saw me, he froze in place, the bright tone of voice that he'd used faltered, and the pleasant smile that he possessed strained with unease. A heavys wallow later, he concluded with, " ... uhm, help you?" Such a reaction was definitely too extreme to just be a show of hatred for outsiders. For one, this man didn't seem to hate me. He seemed afraid of me. It was hard to imagine why, though. Maybe my size? I might've been shorter than I was used to, but while moving through the crowd, I'd noticed that I was still quite tall, standing well above any of the women that I'd passed and even over most of the men. That didn't seem like enough of a reason for fear, though. Back home, there was almost no way a guy would be afraid of a woman, even a tall one like me, and while this wasn't Earth, I doubted the men here were much different. "I need a water bucket," I answered cautiously, staying near the door. Whatever the reason, the man seemed wary enough of me that I didn't want to potentially upset him by approaching. "Alright ..." the man mumbled, nodding slowly. "One moment." After that, he spun and hurried into the back. I barely had time to start wondering what he was doing before he came back with a small wooden bucket with a simple handle which he set on the counter. "Here, just take it and go." Stepping forward slowly, I reached for the pouch on my belt. "How much do I owe you for it?" My forward movement was met by a retreating step from the shopkeeper, who held up his hands defensively. "Nothing, as long as you get out of my shop right now," Yep, that was definitely fear. I'd seen it before in the army when villagers would occasionally react to the sight of us passing by cowering. I didn't know what was causing it here, though, leaving me to just hope that I wasn't extorting the man for his bucket. Even if I was, I couldn't afford to turn away the opportunity. Striding forward much more quickly this time, I snatched up the bucket and offered a quick nod to the man. "Thank you," I mumbled and whirled around to dart out of the building, not wanting to bother him any longer than I had to. Back on the street, those hostile glares returned, and I grew much more worried about them. A traveller would be tolerated, even if they weren't liked or welcome, so long as they didn't cause trouble or linger for too long. Whatever they saw me as, though, it was something more hated than that, and I highly doubted that their current tolerance for my presence was going to last for long. Disconcerted and anxious, I turned to hurry back to the town center. There, I could fill up my bucket and start back the way that I'd come. There'd been a bakery near where I had entered the town that I could hopefully grab a loaf of bread at. That would have to be enough. I didn't want to risk staying for any longer that that. At the well, there was a small line of women, waiting to use it, all with buckets of their own. As I approached, though, one of them noticed and pointed my way. The other women followed that gesture, looking aghast when they saw me. I'd been planning to just quietly take my place at the back of the line, but there was no line to join by the time I got there. The women had fallen back at my arrival, abandoning their need for water to escape me. I cringed at the reaction, but that was as much as I allowed myself to worry. Instead, I tried to just stay on task, shifting my path to head straight for the well. The faster I got what I needed and left, the better it would be for everyone. "Get away from our water, accursed!" a male voice let out a vitriolic bellow from behind me. Accursed. That's what he'd called me. It was a clearly hostile term, one which certainly seemed worthy of hatred, but I didn't understand what it meant beyond that. What curse did I have besides the misfortune of drawing Alterra's attention? What about me made this state so readily apparent for all to see? It wasn't as if I was branded or something. I was bigger than most, and I hadn't seen anyone else with red hair. Were those the tells? Shaking free of the questions that didn't really matter at that moment, I turned toward the voice. There, a group of five men had gathered to stand against me. In the front was a big, burly guy with a black beard, one of the only people that I'd seen so far that was taller than me. He was clearly an angry fellow, too, with a face full of self-righteous rage. The men around him were smaller and less aggressive looking, but all showed steely resolve in their eyes. They were not going to back down or cower like the shopkeeper or the well users had. "I just need a little, and I'm more than willing to wait my turn," I offered, raising my hands non-threateningly in the hopes that maybe I could talk my way out of the situation. "Well, you ain't gettin' any," the bearded man countered, stepping forward to glower at me ominously. "So get outta our town before we decide to kick ya out ourselves." Facing down five grown men, I wanted to just back down and do as they wanted. After all, while I'd had some unarmed training in my days, and Aterra hadn't left me as some delicate flower, I was clearly far too outnumbered to try to fight. There was no way to know if the five were all I'd have to contend with either. There were other men coming out of shops and hanging back to watch the altercation. They could easily join in, if the conflict turned to violence. Still ... I couldn't just abandon the mission and my family's needs with it. "Please, I just need a -" I began to beg, but I never got the chance to finish. "Wrong answer, accursed," the man spat, lunging toward me. Now, I'd been in a few, real, fist fights before in my life. They were fast, brutal messes where I'd barely had any time to think or plan. At best, I'd managed such simple strategies as predicting a punch to slip it and throw one of my own. This fight, though, was nothing like that. As the man came at me, he seemed to do so quite slowly, lumbering forward with movements that appeared obvious and sluggish. I knew, without a doubt, that he was going to grab for my wrist, probably to snatch away the bucket that I held. I didn't just know that, though. I knew all sorts of options to defeat the attack. I could slip back out of range. I could intercept with a quick side kick. I could deflect the grab, then go high with an elbow to his face. I could deflect then go low with a kick to his knee. There was even more information than that, too. I knew how he'd respond to each of those options. I even seemed to have a good idea what the men behind him would do, as well. The one second to the left would be easy to send running. The far right guy would fight until he literally couldn't stand. The far left was the best brawler. The second to the right was the worst. All of that knowledge flooded my head before the bearded leader even finished his first step. That didn't meant that I could parse it, though, much less make use of it. There was just too much, It was an overwhelming amount of understanding that sat at complete odds with my own experience and abilities. As such, my thoughts just froze, unable to process it all in time to even begin assessing the various options. Then, the man's hand came lashing out. My mind might've been frozen, but my body apparently wasn't. My right hand, still holding my bucket, fell back as my left cut across. That deflected the big guy's grab attempt wide, leaving him overbalanced forward. With perfect fluidity, my left foot kicked out right after, catching the side of the man's knee. It wasn't quite hard enough to break anything, but it was more than enough to twist and buckle the leg. Bellowing, the man toppled, trying to get his hands into position to catch himself. My hips were already twisting back the other way, giving me the spacing I need to bring my knee up right into his face. When the man finally hit the ground, he didn't even try to catch himself. He was out cold with a shattered nose. In the wake of that flurry, I made one final move by instinct, dropping myself back into a balanced stance with hands up at the ready. Only then did my thoughts start to catch up to what had just happened. While they did, all I could do was breathe heavily as I looked down at my hands with utter bewilderment. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed very long to wonder about what the fuck was going on. "She ... she got Bren!" the coward of the group exclaimed, falling back a step in fear. "Then let's get her!" the most stalwart shouted, rushing forward. The two of his braver colleagues followed after him. Again, a dizzying array of information assailed me. The three men were unorganized, so they wouldn't strike together. The new leader would come in first, planning a tackle. I had several options against it much like the previous leader's try to overpower me. I needed to take this guy down quickly, though, because he was the one that would hold out and rally the others. Without him, their morale would crumble, and they'd flee. At the same time, I couldn't let them land any strikes while I took him down, either, so I had to have a plan for their attacks. The second in line, the weakest combatant, would be easy to handle. The third, though, knew how to fight, but apparently, not well enough. A bit more prepared than the last time, I did my best to accept all those strategies and observations and use them formulate a plan. Truthfully, I didn't do all that well. I was maybe a couple options into assessing things when the time for thinking ran out and the time for my body to react arrived. A quick twist to the side put me out of the way of the first man's attempt to tackle me. I let a foot trail behind me as I moved, though, tripping him up and sending him sprawling. The inept second attacker got my water bucket tossed right into his face, stalling his attack as he fell back and tried to swat the harmless projectile away. That left me one-on-one with the final, actually capable opponent. To his credit, the last of the attackers learned from his friends' mistakes. He didn't just rush in obviously, so that I could easily counter him. Instead, he slowed, approaching cautiously. Undoubtedly, his strategy was to keep my attention while his allies recovered. Against someone else, it might have worked, but even if my brain was slow on the uptake, my body knew how to win. Darting forward, I threw a weak jab, just enough to pull the man's attention upward. He blocked the faint like I knew he would. That just left his gut open for the mid kick that followed right on the punch's heels. The man folded as easily as paper, breath rushing from his lungs, before finally, he was tossed back on his ass by the force of the hit. With him down, I spun about and darted toward the man that I'd knocked down. He was just starting to claw his way back to his feet. On his hands and knees like that, he was defenseless. I could've even killed him if I'd wanted to. Instead, I sent a hand lashing downward, catching the back of his head just right. A moment later, the man flopped limply to the ground, out like a light. That freed me to turn to face the assailant I'd stalled with the bucket, but the spin didn't prove necessary. His friends trounced, he was already running as was the cowardly one that had never even tried to attack. Fight ended, I lowered my hands and glanced about. Two of the men were down for the count. A third lay there groaning weakly as he tried to get his lungs working again. Seeing that, I had to admit that I had underestimated the body that I had been given. Even as my old self, I doubted I could've handled such a brawl. At the very least, I couldn't have done so so cleanly. I could see now why Alterra had been talking about me as a champion for whatever this contest was. "Don't wanna know what she had to do to my brain to make me capable of all that, though," I muttered, my doubts about the blonde's claims to divinity fully disappearing. In their place was a very real fear of what she had done and presumably still could do to me. Shaking off the worry, I walked over to grab my bucket from where it had fallen. Even as I reached down to scoop it up, though, my skin crawled. Snatching it from the ground, I quickly straightened up and spun about, facing what I was sure was going to be another threat. To my relief, no one had snuck up behind me for an attack while I'd been dealing with the bucket. The men that I'd taken out were still down and the crowd around the area had been sufficiently cowed by my decisive victory to not try anything. Unfortunately, there was a small squad of armed men barreling down the side street toward me, and unlike the citizenry, they were definitely not cowed. "Shit ..." I hissed at the sight. The part of me that had just kicked the asses of several grown men told me that I could probably beat the guards, too. None were all that skilled and there were only six of them. The rest of me said six was more than five, and they were all bearing spears and swords. Meanwhile I was alone, in a hostile town, with nothing but a bucket to fight with. There was no way that this well was the only one in the area. I could avoid the fight and get water elsewhere. With that thought in mind, I whirled about and took off. Long hair and a dress were something of a hindrance, but they were less of one than heavy weapons and armor. The townsfolk weren't a significant problem, either, hurrying to move out of my way as I ran. As such, the gap between me and my pursuers quickly increased. By the time they reached the well, I was already most of the way out of town. In fact, they didn't even bother to try to continue pursuit after that. They stopped to help the injured men, instead. Even without pursuit, I kept right on running, sprinting down the road well past the edge of town. I might well have kept right on going all the way back to my sisters, but the breakneck pace I'd set and my confining clothing robbed me of the breath that would've taken. Eventually, I was forced down to a trot and finally a slow walk. Gasping for air, I clutched one hand to my chest while the back of the other one tried to swipe sweat-soaked locks of hair away from my face. The former could hear my heart racing, from both the dash and the fear that had fueled it. It was already starting to settle down, however, especially once I glanced back and reconfirmed that no one was chasing me. "What is with this place?" I huffed breathlessly, cursing the crazy situation that Alterra had dumped me into. Villagers were ready to attack me for getting water. I was pretty sure those guards would've tried to do the same for the fight, even though, I'd just been defending myself. At least, I was apparently some badass martial artist, so I'd escaped death, but that just added a whole new layer of confusion regarding what was going on. Lifting the hand from my chest, I held it up in front of me. It looked like a perfectly normal woman's hand, smaller than the one I was used to with slim fingers and nails just barely past the finger tip. There was definitely strength and skill in it, though, the latter so extensive as to be almost unfathomable to me. It wasn't just deftness of movement either. I'd known all sorts of strategies and techniques. Hell, I'd even known what my opponents were likely to do and how skilled they were. In many ways, that part was as weird as suddenly finding myself a woman had been. With a shake of my head, I shoved that line of thinking away. I didn't have time for that at the moment. Right now, I needed food, water, and shelter for my family. The town was clearly not an option anymore. I'd only barely managed to escape the place with my life and a bucket. Clearly, I was going to have to figure out some other way to get what we needed. "Well ... water first, then regroup?" I suggested to myself, lifting my gaze to glance around me. There were farms about which meant there had to be some source of water nearby for irrigation or at least for the family's to drink and use. The only other option was that they trekked all the way into town for that lone well, which just wouldn't make sense. The community was too big for that to be feasible. There had to be other water sources. I just needed to find one of them. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 04 - Day 01 "I really hope this is drinkable," I muttered as I pulled the bucket from the stream that I'd managed to find. The water within was running, not stagnant, and was clear enough that I could easily see the rocky riverbed below it. I knew that wasn't enough to be certain, but I hadn't found another well. Desperately in need of a drink and wanting to get back to my family as quickly as possible, relying on the stream was a risk I had resolved to take, having gulped down several handfuls before filling the bucket. I didn't feel sick, but that didn't mean much. It could take time, and while I could probably survive a bout with tainted water, I wasn't certain that my frailer family would. Unfortunately, there just wasn't a better option. Resigned to the situation, I stood up and glanced about. At the moment, I was surrounded by farms where I could see people working their fields. To my relief, none had made a move to try to harass me. I didn't know whether that was because they hadn't noticed whatever marked me as something to fear and hate or if they were just too busy with their own tasks to bother with me. Either way, I was grateful to not be headed toward another fight. With water finally retrieved and no threats in sight, I started off, hurrying through the fields to get back to the road. From there, I turned south, but only for a short while before the small group of trees that I left my family at came into view. I was back, but much of the afternoon had been wasted and the bucket it in my hand was all that I had to show for all the time and effort that I'd spent. Plowing into the brush along the side of the road, I trudged toward the trees. As I did, the dark weight of worry started to creep into my chest. Due to the tall grass and the fact that they were probably lying down, I couldn't see my family, yet. As bad as the trip to town had been for me, what if something worse had happened while I was gone? "Adam?" a thin, raspy voice called out softly, sounding worried about the approaching noise. Relief flooded me at the sound. "Yeah, it's me," I replied before finally breaking through enough of the brush to see the speaker. Just as I had left them, my family lay at the base of one of the trees. Two of the identical looking girls were curled up, looking sound asleep. The third, sat up against the tree trunk in between the other two. In her lap was the leatherbound guidebook which she'd probably been reading before my arrival had drawn her attention. "Thank God, you're alright, sweetheart," the girl, clearly my mother from the way she addressed me, sighed. The relief in her voice sounded even greater than the one that I'd felt at finding the three of them still alive and well. "Yeah, but only barely," I admitted the truth as I walked over to sit down across from her, setting the bucket on the ground. "And all I got was water." "Well, that's better than I expected after what I read in this book," my mother replied, tapping the tome in her lap. I raised an eyebrow at that remark. "Oh, so it knows why I got attacked just trying to get water out of a well?" "You were attacked?" my mother gasped, clutching a hand to her chest. "Are you hurt?" "Yes, I was, and no, I'm not hurt. Actually, the fight was pretty easy to win," I told her. "Whatever that goddess did to us, it apparently included some pretty significant combat training, because I beat up four guys like it was nothing." While I had expected surprise, my mother just nodded in acknowledgement. "Good, then that means the book wasn't lying about that." "It says I'm supposed to be able to kick ass?" I queried in surprise. "Well, not in those words, but yes," my mother replied, flipping a page to get to the one that showed an illustration of me. On the opposite page, she swept down the lines until she found what she was looking for. "According to this, you're supposed to be incredibly skilled at unarmed combat, weapons, acrobatics, stealth, and have some sort of battle sense because you're a touched. Whatever that means." "Battle sense?" I repeated the term, having a feel that it had something to do with all that information about my opponents that had been flooding my brain during the fight. "I think I encountered that. You said it was from being a touched? Are they supposed to be great warriors or something? It would explain why everyone seemed to either fear or despise me." Scowling, my mother turned to another page, this one with Touched written clearly at the top. "No, uh, they're ... complicated. Apparently, people believe the touched have been cursed by the gods to bring misfortune everywhere they go." "Ah ... that explains all the curse talk," I remarked. "Can't say I'm stoked to know I've been afflicted with such bad luck that people attack me on sight, though." "Yeah, well, funny thing is, that you actually aren't," my mother told me. "Apparently, Tellia, this world's goddess of fate and luck, makes children into touched as warnings of coming peril. She even makes them exceptional specimens of their race, taller, stronger, and more capable than normal. Then somehow, people got that all mixed up, thinking the kids themselves were causing the trouble, and so, most of 'em are killed at birth. The ones that manage to grow up are scorned by basically everyone." "You're joking," I muttered, shaking my head. "So everyone is going to hate me for literally no reason?" Letting out an exasperated little laugh, my mother nodded. "Yeah, pretty much." "How do they even know I'm one of these things?" I inquired. "It must be something pretty obvious." "The hair," my mother informed me. "Every touched is marked in some obvious visible way that sets them apart from others of their race. Red-haired humans supposedly exist here, but they have the same copper-orange coloring we're used to on Earth. Cherry red isn't a thing." "So I just have to cut it all off, then?" I proposed, not having an issue with that. Being in the army, I was used to having my hair buzzed short, and long hair had already proven itself a nuisance in just the short time that I'd had it. The idea had my mother shaking her head. "No, the three of us talked about that idea while you were gone. If you shave it off, then you're just a bald woman, which would probably also get you pegged as a touched. Besides, Nikki said she'd kill you if you cut such pretty hair." A helpless laugh slipped out of me. "Are you serious? She'd rather everyone I meet hate me than let me cut it?" Smirking, my mother shrugged. "Well, as she often says, I don't understand her, so I don't know why, but that's the gist of it." "Hmm ... since shaving it off won't help, I suppose I can leave it as is," I conceded, shaking my head. "How about you three? Did the goddess give you any special skills?" When my mother's gaze fell solemnly to her lap, I knew I had my answer. "That bad?" A nod came in response. "We don't have any skills besides what we knew before coming here, and it just gets worse from there. James tried several times to rise and walk around. With the help of the tree for balance, he could manage to get up and even take a few steps but that was it. He conked out pretty much the moment he gave up on it, too. Nikki ended up needing a nap after just sitting there talking to me about what I was reading in the book. As for me, well after staying up all this time waiting for you to return, I feel like I could just fall right over, even with this tree behind me. We're ... not going to be able to help much, I'm afraid." I could tell that my mother had planned to say something different at the end there. She and I both knew what the three of them would really be - a burden. They could do little for me besides read a book and offer advice. They couldn't even handle their own basic needs. I would have to do almost everything on my own. "It's alright. I'll take care of you and win this thing for us. I promise," I assured her. Looking up, my mother smirked. "You sure about that? Because, I really need to use the bathroom, and I can barely keep my eyes open, much less stand." "Okay, here," I agreed without hesitation, even as my stomach churned a little at the mere thought of the task demanded of me. I ignored it, though. My family needed me, so I would do whatever that meant. As I fought off the revulsion, I scrambled to my feet and offered my hands to the frail girl who had once been my indomitable mother. "Let's go." "You sure?" my mother questioned dubiously. I nodded. "Yeah, what else am I gonna do? Just let you lie there and wet the bed?" "Alright ..." my mother conceded, setting aside the guidebook to take my hands. "And up!" I declared as I gave the girl a tug. Small and light as she was, it was easy to pull her to her feet. Then, I wrapped an arm around her, so that I carried most of her weight while she walked. "And now off we go." *********************************************** *********************************************** A heavy sigh slid from my lips as I looked out across the brush toward the west. There, the sun was starting to dip low in the sky, a show that the day was coming to a close. It had been an incredibly long day for me. When I'd first been brought to the this world, it had already been evening on Earth, and I still had what seemed to be a couple hours until sunset here. Unfortunately, it's length was only matched by its difficulty. There'd been a stressful mission back on earth, then an even worse one here. At least, the earth one had gone well, unlike my trip to town. I'd had to spend hours of time and a go through a brawl all to get a bucket of water. Glancing over that way, I saw the bucket and my sleeping mother. After returning from the bushes, the latter had barely managed to take a drink from the former before she'd collapsed into a deep sleep. A meer afternoon of reading had been all that it had taken to exhaust her. I could feel my face tighten at those thoughts. It was so weird to see that frail, young girl and know it was my mother. She wasn't supposed small or frail. She'd always been a pretty big woman with an steel will that had dragged us through some very hard years. Now, she reminded me of my step-father, not when he'd first met my mother, but at the end, when he'd struggled to even stay awake during one of our visits to his room at the hospital. He hadn't lasted long after that. Eyes burning, I swiped a hand over my face and blinked quickly. There were similarities, but things would go differently this time. This time, there was something I could do besides just watch as a person I cared about wasted away. I could take care of my mother and my brother and sister, too. Then, I'd win the stupid competition and get us away from this nightmare. I didn't care what it would take or how hard I'd have to work. I was not going to fail. A nearby rustle broke through my thoughts, causing my head to jerk rapidly toward it. A tiny moment of fear gripped me before I saw the source of the noise. One of the other two girls was stirring. I couldn't tell if it was James or Nicole, though. "G'morning," I greeted softly. Rubbing at her eyes, the girl propped herself up on one shaky arm to look at me. "Oh ... you're back." I nodded in confirmation. "Yep." "Bring any food with ya?" the girl inquired while fighting to get herself settled into position to recline against the tree. This time, I had to shake my head and point toward the bucket. "No, but there's some water over there if you're thirsty." Following my gesture, the girl licked her lips, before biting down on the lower one and shaking her head. "Uhm ... no that's alright." "You sure?" I questioned. "You guys have been out here a while, and it's a pretty hot day. Easy to get dehydrated." "No, I'll be alright," the girl insisted, rubbing at one arm for a moment before continuing. "Anyway ... I take it no food means things didn't go so well in town." "They did not," I admitted. "Ended up in a fight just trying to get some water." The girl nodded in understanding. "Yeah ... mom was worried that something like that might happen. You don't look hurt, though, so I guess you really do know martial arts and stuff like the book said." "Yep, four grown men taken out like that," I replied, snapping my fingers. "Badass, too, huh?" the girl murmured, looking down even as she smirked. "It's just not fair." With that, I knew this girl was Nicole. James would've been bursting with excitement, wanting to know every detail of my bout with in town. He might even have demanded that I show him some of my moves. I wished it had been him, though. I could've handled his exuberance, maybe even lost myself in it. I would've known what to say and how to frame it to play along. With Nikki, though ... Silence filled the air, growing longer and longer as I tried to think of some way to break it. I couldn't think of anything good, however, and it just grew more and more awkward. Finally, I just blurted, "So, I hear you don't want me to cut my hair." Lifting her gaze, Nicole looked momentarily surprised, before a smirk finally cracked her lips. "Yeah, I'd be real mad if you did." "And why's that?" I inquired. "It's gonna cause me no end of trouble, y'know? And not just from people trying to beat me up, either. It's a real nuisance having hair this long." Covering her mouth with one hand, Nicole giggled at my complaint. "Yeah, well, too bad. If I'm gonna have to be stuck like this while you get to be the hot, kickass girl, you gotta at least look good doing it." I let out an exaggerated sigh at the demand. "Do I have to? It hot and heavy and constantly gets in the way." "No cutting it," Nicole insisted, wagging a finger at me. "But if it's really that much trouble, I might be able to help you with it a bit." "How so?" I asked. Raising a hand, my sister beckoned me over. "Come over and sit by me." "Okay," I agreed, pushing myself to my feet to do as asked. When I started to sit down, Nicole cut in, "No, back facing me." Shrugging, I did as I was told, plopping down with my back toward her. "Okay, now what?" I asked, but there was no immediate reply, causing me to glance back over my shoulder at the girl. "Nikki?" Reclining there, Nicole had twisted her hips around, while wrapping her arms tightly around herself. There was also a red flush to her cheeks, one that only grew when her gaze met mine. She quickly looked away, but that didn't hide her blush. "Something wrong?" I asked, crinkling my brow with worry. "No ... uhm ... I just, uh ... " Nicole stammered before finally adding at barely a whisper, "... need to use the ... bathroom." Memories of the ordeal of helping my mother with the same thing had my face scrunching up in distaste. There was nothing to be done about it, though. This was just one of the things I was going to have to get used to doing, now. Quickly forcing that expression away, I shoved myself back to my feet. "Alright, let me help you up." "What?! No!" Nicole refused my help trying to scoot away from me. That seemed to be a bad idea, though, as she twitched with obvious distress. "Look, if you feel up to doing it on your own, that's more than fine by me. I'll just help you get up and walk to the bush," I told her. "If not, do you really want to just lay here until this becomes a whole different kind of embarrassing?" That point had the girl glaring at me as if I was the one responsible for her situation, but after a moment she finally relented. "Alright, but you're just helping me get to some privacy, then you're getting the fuck away." Snapping to attention, I sketched a crisp salute, "Yes, ma'am." *********************************************** *********************************************** "There," Nicole declared from behind me patting my shoulder to let me know that she was done. "How's that?" Twisting my head about, I noted the new feel of my hair. It still swished about a little, but nothing fell into my eyes like before, not even when I tilted my head forward. "Wow ... that's a lot better." "I might've been able to do more with some real ties or pins, but with just a bit of scrap cloth to serve as a ribbon I was kinda limited," my sister hedged. "Still, it should hold up under a fight ... I think." "Sure feels like it would," I remarked, scrambling to my feet. Stepping away from my prone family, I settled into an easy stance and just let my body do the rest. A few punches, a pair of spins and one very powerful roundhouse kick later, I settled back into the stance. "Wow ..." I heard Nicole breath. Not too concerned with my own performance, I reached up to swipe my hair forward over my shoulder. There, I got my first good look at the braid my sister had woven it into, tying off the end with a scrap of cloth cut from my dress's skirt. It was long and thick, draping down over my bust and almost to my stomach even after all the weaving and the toss over my shoulder. Still, it had stayed under control during my experiment and showed no signs of coming untied. "Feels great," I declared, turning back to my sister. "Thank's a lot, Nikki." The girl shrugged disinterestedly. "Just didn't want you to find some excuse to cut such pretty hair." "Well, I wish other people felt the same way about it you did," I remarked, coming over to sit back down again. "Maybe then, they wouldn't want to attack me just for coming into town." "Yeah ..." Nicole muttered, looking off into the grass. After a moment, she sighed heavily. "What are we going to do, Adam? Everyone hates you, and Mom, James, and I ... It seems hopeless." I wished that I had a good answer to that question, and not just to help reassure my sister either. It would've been nice to have a plan. I'd thought about it while she'd braided my hair, but I hadn't come up with anything all that good. Maybe there just wasn't any good plans to be had, though. "Well, there's farms a little way that way," I answered obliquely, pointing out into the grass. "I saw a few with barns, so in a little bit, I'm going to wake up the other two so I can start carrying us over to one of them. That way we'll have some shelter for tonight." "That's not what I meant, Adam," the girl huffed, swatting a tall stalk of grass in frustration. "I meant-" "I know, but the real truth is that tonight is as far as I know," I admitted wearily. "That Alterra person ... she fucked us good. For a while here, it's gonna be a day-to-day sort of thing just to meet basic needs. Hopefully, in between all of that I can work toward finding some more permanent solutions." Nodding in understanding, Nikki smirked slightly. "I'm surprised you actually told me that." "Why wouldn't I? You're in this mess, too, aren't ya?" I pointed out. "Sure, but Mom wouldn't have admitted it," my sister replied. "I tried to get her to talk about our situation, but she just kept going into evasive mom-mode, treating me like some kid, like James." "Well, try not to hold it against her, okay?" I suggested. "Old habits die hard and Mom's used to having to put forth a brave face and tell us everything's gonna be okay." "I guess ..." Nicole conceded. Knowing I wasn't going to get anything better than that out of her, I decided to switch topics, pushing myself to my feet. "Welp, time to get everybody up and moved. You need anything before I get started?" "Not unless you snatched a biscuit or something and didn't tell me about it," Nicole joked. Smirking, I shook my head. "Nope, but I can help you go potty again if you need." "Ugh ... Adam!" Nicole groaned in embarrassment, her cheeks even turning rosy. "What?" I asked as if I actually believed the situation hadn't been awkward. "Mom used to let me help change you, potty train you, and bathe you when you were little. Compared to that, a little help in the bushes in nothing." Another groan accompanied my sister smacking her hand into her face. "God, kill me now." *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 05 - Day 01 "And down we go," I muttered as I carefully set my mother down on the blanket covered pile of straw. It wasn't exactly a great bed, but it was the best that I'd been able to manage in the dark barn. "Thanks, Adam," my mother offered by way of gratitude, but there was a tinge of resentment in her voice as well. That was no surprise. She was a little too strong and proud to be happy having to get carried everywhere. Nodding, I straightened back up, only to grunt as several painful twinges ran through my body. None of my family were all that heavy, but lugging each of them a good half mile or more wasn't fun, especially not after all the hiking and fighting that I'd done that day. I was sore and tired. "What now?" James asked while I tried to work the kinks out of my back. "Now we get some sleep," our mother answered. My little brother rolled his eyes. "But we slept all afternoon!" "And now we're going to sleep some more, so just lie down and close your eyes," our mother answered. "But I'm hungry!" James whined out another complaint. "Well, we don't-" our mother started to reply, but that was all the further she got. A loud thud from behind had me abandoning a stretch mid way, so that I could spin around and get my hands up. As I did, I saw the door to the barn open and swinging loosely after the noise-making hit. Framed by the entryway was an old, weathered looking man with a sickle in one hand and a lantern in the other. "Keep your hands off my livestock you dirty thieves!" the man growled, stepping forward shaking his farming tool with threatening rage. Instantly, I abandoned my defensive stance, shifting my hands higher and open to show that I had no weapons. "Wait! We're not thieves! We're just-" "That hair!" the old man gasped, recoiling at the sight. "You ... you've been touched!" "Yes, but-" I tried to explain, but I never got the chance. "Stay away from my family, accursed!" the man shrieked, charging right at me with his sickle raised for a deadly slash. With the man a few steps away, I had enough time to sigh as I dropped my hands back to the ready. He came in wildly with essentially no skill at all. It was almost too easy to beat him, my mind providing a massive plethora of options from the simple and straightforward to the flashy and very lethal. I went with one of the former. Crashing in, the man slashed at me with as much power as he could muster. It was a steep diagonal cut with lots of wind up, making it trivial for me to sidestep out of the way. The sickle blade whooshed by harmlessly and the man stumbled. While he was overbalanced by his foolish attack, I was not so hindered, allowing me to step in right behind my dodge. I snatched the man's wrist and twisted it painfully. He gasped and dropped his blade. My free hand was there and waiting to snatch the tool from the air. Then, I released his wrist and thrust out with my palm, slamming him in the chest. Having pulled my punch some, the man just went from stumbling forward to stumbling backward. That lasted for a couple of steps before he finally caught himself. When he did, he clutched a hand to where he'd been struck, hissing in pain. "We're not thieves, and if I wanted to harm you or your family, I'd have done it," I spat, tossing the stolen sickle onto the ground at the man's feet. As I spoke, I twisted to the side so that I could gesture down at the trio behind me. "I just needed to find some shelter for my family tonight." Wincing with every panted breath he took, the man, thankfully, actually listened to what I was saying, looking beyond me at the three prone girls. My mother sat in the front of them, arms spread protectively. Cowering behind her were James and Nicole, obviously terrified by the man's murderous rage. "Sickness?" the old man questioned, returning his gaze to me with an icy glare. "Did you bring some plague with you to-" "We're not sick. We were born like this" my mother spoke up in their defense. That claim was met by a doubt-filled expression, but at least, the man appeared calmer. That was a relief, because if I couldn't talk him down, then things would get messy. I'd have to subdue him and his family, who would probably worry about him if he didn't return to the house soon. Someone might get seriously hurt during such an activity, and I didn't want that, not over some silly misunderstanding. "You see? The only misfortune I've ever brought was on my own family. Yours is perfectly safe," I added. "All we're looking for is a place to sleep for the night, and we'll be gone first thing in the morning." Still rubbing at his chest, the old man glanced down at the sickle at his feet then up to me once more. "Just one night?" I nodded reassuringly. "Yes, just one night. Then, we'll be gone and the worst thing that will have happened during our stay will be this conversation." "Alright," the man agreed gruffly, bending over to scoop up his sickle. Once he had, he waved it threateningly at me. "But I'd better not see you again." "You won't," I promised. Holding his glare for one final moment, the man then spun about sharply. Clearly not happy with how the exchange had gone, he stomped off out of the barn. He didn't even close the door behind him. Still, at least the confrontation was over. Sighing, I relaxed, turning to my family. "Okay ... anyone need anything before bed?" "Food!" James blurted demandingly. My stomach gurgled sympathetically at my brothers request, but I still had to say, "Sorry, buddy. We don't have any food for tonight. Anything else?" "I could use some help to the bushes," my mother spoke up. "Sure thing, Mom," I agreed, stepping forward to help the girl up. Once she was on her feet, I guided her outside the barn and over to the side of the building. "Need more than that or can I leave you to it?" "Just let me lean against the wall," my mother directed. Following the command, I got her settled against the boards before turning to go. "Alright just yell when you're ready." "Adam, wait," my mother called before I got two steps. "I didn't come out here for that. I just needed somewhere to talk where those two can't hear." Freezing in place, I winced. The only reason that we'd need to talk alone was if it was about something that my mother didn't think the other two were old enough to handle. Anything like that, I probably didn't want to hear either. It was pretty much all bad. In spite of that feeling, I turned around. "Okay, Mom ... what is it." "We can't stay here," my mother told me bluntly. "You're gonna have to move us out into the field then find another barn for the night." "But the old man agreed to let us stay," I argued. "I know, but you saw how he acted just from seeing you. The only reason he backed down was because you beat him so soundly," my mother countered. "But he's not going to settle for that. He'll go back into that house and stew, thinking about how he's failing his family and has to do something about you. Maybe he'll try to sneak back in the middle of the night. Maybe he'll go get help. It doesn't matter. He can't be trusted. We have to leave." I wanted to argue with such a pessimistic view, but I couldn't do it. Belief was a powerful thing. In the army, I'd seen it make people that were barely more than kids throw their lives away. They were relentless about it, too, and they would take any opportunity given to them. The old man might be no different. He certainly saw me as some demonic thing that had invaded his farm and would bring doom to his family. "Alright," I agreed, nodding in understanding. I was tired and sore, but if I had to move them again to keep my family safe, I could it. "There's more," my mother added. "We need food, Adam, as well as blankets, tools, and countless other things." "I know that, Mom," I agreed, frustration creeping into my voice. "I'm trying but it's not like we have any money, and people seem to like attacking me on sight." "I'm not blaming you, Adam, I'm just saying that we have needs, and they have to be met," my mother answered. "We could struggle for a few days, waiting, pretending it will get better, but it would be pointless. Like you said, we have no money and I doubt anyone is going to hire you to work. We're going to have to get what we need another way." Clenching my hands into fists at the argument, I let my gaze fall to the ground. "You want me to steal it." My words weren't a question. I didn't like it. I doubted my mother liked it either. Neither of us had ever resorted to theft. No matter what happened, no matter how hard we had to work, we had always done it the right way. Now, though, the right way was closed to us. We had no money, and there was no way to make more. "I do," my mother confirmed. "You know it's the only way." I nodded in understanding. "You're right, but we've only got one back and it's already carrying three people, so we can't take much, not until we find somewhere more permanent to stay." "Then that's what you need to be focusing on from now on," my mother told me. "Because barn hopping night to night with nothing but what scraps we can steal from fields and gardens isn't going to work for long." Even though it was night, I glanced around as if I could spot something. "I know. Maybe there's an abandoned home around here we could squat in or at least a forest we could use to hide and make some sort of shelter of our own." "The Robinson Crusoe lifestyle sounds like it might be a little rough for us," my mother remarked. "You'd have to do it all on your own." "If I have to, then I have to," I answered with a shrug. "Okay, well, turns out, I'm actually going to need some privacy, after all" my mother told me. "I'll call you when I'm done." Chuckling weakly, I nodded and turned away. "I'll be waiting." *********************************************** *********************************************** "Mmm ... " I moaned wearily as I slowly lowered myself to the ground and leaned back. Behind me, the stiff wood of a beam and some slightly softer cushioning from a rolled up blanket met my back. While the post was far from comfortable, any chance to recline and relax felt like heaven after the day that I'd had. Following the talk with my mother, I'd had to return her to barn and sneak out to the farmer's garden to find something edible. Raw not even fully grown vegetables weren't exactly tasty, but having expected to not get anything at all, my family had offered few complaints. It might even have made for a pleasant end to the day, but it hadn't been the end. Once everyone had eaten, I had to go out again, scouting for another barn. Once I found one, I'd had to carry everyone to it, along with a few useful items that I'd been told to swipe before we left. Only then, had I finally come to where I was now, about to finally get some rest. However, even as I leaned back, I worried that the day wasn't going to stop there. This barn's owner, like the last one's, could come storming in to ruin it all at any moment. Because of that, I couldn't close my eyes, no matter how much I wanted to. I had to watch the barn doors just in case. As time drifted by without incident, the strength of that demand lessened and the strength of my weariness grew. My eyes started drifting closed, leading to a few attempts to keep myself awake with vigorous head shakes. They didn't do much, though. Quiet, placidity, and exhaustion were tenacious foes, and I was running out of willpower to fight them. Then, in that haze, I heard a rustle. Instantly, I was back awake, snapping my head up to look around. In the dark, I couldn't see anything, but it also told me that none of the doors had been opened. The noise seemed to be coming from over by the makeshift bed that I'd made for my family to use. "Everything okay?" I asked softly. "Yep," came a frustrated huff in response, leading me to slouch in relief. It had been said in one of the thin, raspy voices that my family used. I couldn't tell which one was speaking, but that meant the sound wasn't from an intruder. It also wasn't stopping. "What are you doing?" I inquired, curiosity replacing fear. "Trying to get this stupid body to move," the voice grumbled back. My brow furrowed slightly. "Why? Need a bathroom break?" "No! And I hope I never have to again!" the girl snapped with very obvious disgust dripping from her words. That remark had me smirking in the dark. It also told me who was speaking. Each of my family members had had a different complaint about needing my help to relieve themselves. My mother resented needing help for anything. Nicole was embarrassed by the situation. And James, well, he was disgusted by the stuff that he had to do it with. I couldn't really blame him for that. At that age, anything related to the opposite sex was revolting. Plus, while I didn't have that immature repulsion, I certainly felt that the equipment James and I were used to was much better suited to taking a leak in the bushes. The new configuration was ... inconvenient to say the least. "Sadly, I can't help with that," I remarked with a chuckle. "If you're trying to get somewhere, though, just let me know." "I can do it on my own," the former boy huffed, followed by more rustling that was drawing closer to me. Shrugging, I leaned back against my beam. "Suit yourself." For the next few seconds, neither of us spoke. There was just the sound of James fumbling about it the dark. From the noise he made, he seemed to be crawling about, but I couldn't figure out why. Whatever the reason, I hoped he finished soon, because I could hear him slowing down and panting for breath. It hurt hearing that little effort exhaust a kid that had seemed to have no end to his energy the last time that I'd seen him. Then again, everything about this situation hurt. In the midst of those thoughts, a small hand swatted me on the arm, then grabbed ahold. "Found ya!" "You were looking for me?" I questioned in confusion. "Yep," my little brother puffed breathlessly as he shifted about to sit next to me. "Why?" I wondered. I could feel the small frame beside me shrug. "Can't sleep. Got tired of just laying there." "So you're gonna just sit here instead?" I pointed out the flawed logic. "I guess," James answered. That made it my turn to shrug. "Okay, suit yourself." After that, the two of us drifted into silence. The only sounds were the bugs outside and my brother's still heavy breathing. The latter was steadily easing, though, as was my concentration. The sleepy haze from before started to creep back into my head, and my chin dipped a little. "It's weird, y'know," James remarked, breaking the silence. Snapping my head up, I mumbled, "Hmm? What is?" "Being stuck as a stupid girl," James answered. "Why couldn't the goddess lady just leave us as boys?" "I don't know," I admitted, having wondered the same thing. "She probably had some reason, though, just like she must've had a reason for picking us." Well, picking me. She'd only referred to me as a champion. The others were hostages. Thinking about the situation, I started wondering if the other champions had to deal with similar problems. Strong as I seemed to be, I couldn't fight a deity, so there had to be other champions. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a competition. How many other champions were there? Had all their families been taken hostage like mine had? If they had been, this was essentially a battle to the death. To save my family, I would have to strand other such families in whatever hell their gods had stuck them in. The very idea of it was sickening, but what could I do? Not fight? That would be the same as killing my own family. Resist? No, I'd already seen how powerless I was against Alterra. Find some other way home? I wouldn't even know where to begin, assuming anything but a deity could even accomplish such a feat. There were just no good options. "Adam ... you're gonna get us home, right?" my little brother asked in a soft, doubt-filled voice. "Of course, buddy," I promised with a confidence that I didn't actually possess. "Once the competition starts, I'm gonna kick everybody's ass just like that." I paused to snap my fingers. "Only hard part is waiting a month for it to do that." My declaration elicited a laugh that was awfully giggle-like from James. "It's so weird hearing you talk. The stuff you say is so ... you, but you sound like someone totally differently." "You sound pretty different, too, James," I pointed out. "Yeah ... " my brother conceded, trailing into a sigh. "Sounding like this is easier to deal with than most stuff is, though. I mean, I have boobies, Adam. I don't want boobies. They're stupid." I snorted out a laugh at the childish complaint. "Yeah, well, just be glad yours aren't as big as the ones I got stuck with." "I doubt I could even sit up with those," James joked, laughing along with me. The mirth didn't last, however, not for either of us. A second later, and we were both lost in an awkward silence again that was only broken by my brother muttering, "This really sucks, Adam." Reaching out in the dark, I found James's shoulder to give it a reassuring pat. "I know, buddy, but you and me, we're tough. We may not like it, but we can handle anything, even being stuck as girls for a month. Right?" "Right," my brother chirped in agreement, and he actually sounded like he meant it, too. That was just because he was a kid, though. They bounce back quick. The real question was how long could he keep it up. I suspected it wouldn't be long before I was having to give him another pep talk. That was fine, but I couldn't help but worry about what would happen if the pep talks stopped being enough. The kid was only ten. He shouldn't have to be going through shit like this. That seemed to be the curse of our family, though, always having to face adversity at young ages. My mother had me at fifteen. I'd had to essentially become a surrogate father to two at eighteen. Now, James was being dragged into strange worlds at ten. At thirteen, Nikki wasn't in a much better spot either. It seemed none of us were destined to catch a break. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 06 - Day 04 "Hmm, not bad," I remarked as I scanned the small ridge and the nearby trees. It seemed to offer good shelter and was a decent distance back from the road. The only big worry in my mind was the distance between the spot and the edge of the forest. There was a woodcutter there that I would've preferred to be farther away from. That reason alone was enough to get me to sigh, make a mental note of the place, and start off again in search of somewhere better. The last few days had been full of many similar situations. The primary goal that I had before me was to find some form of permanent shelter for my family. The necessity of it had been literally ground into me in the days since we'd first arrived in this world called Tannen. With every new morning, I'd had to haul the three of them out to a hopefully safe field to hide for the day. The whole situation repeated again each evening, just with me having to sneak them into some barn or storehouse after dark to hide for the night. It was very tiring, especially because, in between, I had to hike all over the area finding water and food to steal. Plus, I had to return at somewhat regular intervals to check on their wellbeing and help them with any needs that had arisen in my absence. It took a lot of time and energy. To my relief, my family had been getting better at handling themselves on their own. They couldn't do much, but at least, bathroom breaks and other simple movements could be accomplished without my help. That had freed me to range further from them in my search for a potential home for us. At first, I'd tried the area around the town, hoping to find an unused house or other building. I had no such luck, however. The only thing I'd found that had any potential at all was the forest on the north side of town. As such, that area had become the focus of my search. It wouldn't be easy, but I could build a shelter if I stole some proper tools. All I had to do was find a good hiding spot, somewhere that I could trust wouldn't be stumbled upon while I was away. It also needed to serve as a good place to flee to, because I had clearly been gaining a reputation around town. Farmers and their families were more vigilant, making it harder to steal food without getting noticed. Currently, they were just guarding their own lands, but there was no reason to assume that would last. Once I had proven myself a big enough pest, they'd probably start hunting for me, and I needed to be sure that any such effort would prove fruitless. It was toward that end that I now hiked through the forest, getting new tears in my already shoddy attire along the way. Given historical comparison to Earth, there shouldn't be any trained and well-equipped law enforcement about. That made the forest an ideal hiding place. The sweeping searches and tracking dogs that would reveal such a hideout with ease on a more modern world just weren't tactics that were used yet. In fact, my searches had shown only a hand full of herding dogs around town, while the only police force was the local lord's guards. The former wouldn't track me down, and the latter looked to be trained to do little more than stand about looking intimidating and occasionally crudely swing a weapon. Even with the seemingly weak options for pursuit, I didn't want to get complacent in my efforts. Things could always change or there might just be an archaic option that I had happened to have overlooked. After all, I was no history expert nor master tactician. Because of that, I wanted to find the safest hiding spot possible. That would take time, unfortunately, as it seemed to be a pretty sizable forest. I hadn't even found the far edge of it yet. Admittedly, I hadn't exactly been trying to either. Finding a good spot was more important than knowing the full extent of the region. In the midst of my hike, a strange sound carried through the air and over the rustle and crunch of my own footsteps. Instantly, idle thoughts vanished from my mind, turning my focus fully to reacting to the potential threat. I dipped low and ducked behind a nearby tree for cover. There, I froze, listening carefully for further sound. Without my own noise to cover it, the sound that I heard was quite obvious, not too far off, and ongoing. It was a man speaking. No, it was two men speaking to each other. There were some other sounds underneath it, too. Movement? If it was, it wasn't toward me which was a relief. For nearly a minute, I leaned against the tree listening, considering the various sounds that drifted to me. My best guess was that I had happened to stumble across some people with their own forest-related task in mind - maybe hunting. The easiest thing to do would be to just go back the way that I'd come and avoid them. I couldn't do that, though. If they were hunters, they might move that way. They might move other ways. They might sweep the whole forest. If so, it might be impossible to declare any place I found safe. I needed more information, and I wasn't going to get it by slipping away. I had to get closer, ideally close enough to see the speakers. Barring that, if I could at least get close enough to make out what they were saying, I might be able to learn enough about them. One or the other was definitely necessary, though. It was the only way to assure my family's safety. Slipping from my cover, I crept forward, doing my best to remain stealthy. However, while Alterra may have given me the skills, hard heavy boots and a long skirt weren't the most quiet of things with dry leaves and branches under foot. There was a near constant crinkle and crunch as I moved. I knew it wasn't that loud, certainly too quiet to be heard over conversation, but it still prompted wince after wince from me. Limitations of my stealth abilities aside, I drew ever closer, making it easier and easier to overhear what the men were saying. It had something to do with a girl. The details of how they found her were a mystery, but I could make some guesses from the way they talked about her. Apparently, she was attractive and they were going to take turns with her. That implied that she was either oddly open to being passed around or, more likely, that she was a victim of some unscrupulous activity. A few more steps and the expanse of trees and brush parted enough that I caught a glimpse of one the speakers. When I did, I ducked low, using the foliage to hide as best I could while moving just a bit closer. Those last few steps brought not just that man but his compatriot into full view. They were scruffy fellows, unshaven and poorly clothed. Hygiene was clearly not a major concern, although, having missed a few days worth of showers myself, I supposed that I couldn't judge. Each had a spear that he was leaning on with a second weapon, one an axe and the other a knife, on his belt. They seemed to be on guard duty, but they clearly weren't guards - at least not proper, government-funded ones. Outlaws. That's what they had to be. Maybe they were technically highwaymen or raiders or whatever else existed in this time period, but they were clearly men that were flaunting society's laws by use of force. Likely, they weren't the only ones. If these two were on guard, they had to be guarding something, probably a camp that lay beyond them. Looking closer, I could even see something of a path, worn into the brush and dirt by frequent travel. It likely lead back to the camp in question. Figuring out what the men were didn't tell me anything about what I should do about their presence, however. On one hand, this seemed to be proof that my plan to hide in the forest was a viable one. Otherwise, the local law enforcement would've quickly found and removed such a band. On the other hand, these men were very dangerous. They were armed and clearly had no qualms about thievery or rape, and probably not about murder either. That fact was enough to even prompt a sense of morale outrage in me, in spite of having been forced to rely on theft myself. As I could see it, I had three options. One, I could decide it was just too dangerous, abandon my hopes for a forest sanctuary for my family, and go somewhere else. Two, I could abandon the side of the forest that was east of the road, head to the western section, and set up a home there. Third, I could try to remove the bandits myself and claim their hideout for my family. Each option had merits. Each option had risks. It was all a question of how to- "Hey, what do you think that is? A bird?" one of the men questioned. It was an innocuous enough sounding inquiry, but it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I found out why a moment later when I looked up from my thoughts to see the speaker pointing my way. Instinct made me want to duck down, but I knew that such a sudden move would likely just give me away. The second man's gaze followed the first's gesture, squinting his eyes. "No ... there ain't no red birds 'round here," he remarked, shaking his head even as his face crinkled up with worry. That answer put the first man on edge, lifting his spear to the ready. "Then what?" "I don't know, but I'm gonna find out," the second man answered as he started stalking forward. A wince flashed across my face when I heard that decision, joined by a silent curse at the stupid, red hair that kept causing me trouble. I might've been considering taking out the bandits, but that would only have been after more scouting. A fight now, when I no idea how many enemies might be back at the camp and what kind of capabilities they had, would be far too risky. I couldn't stay where I was either. My cover had apparently not even been adequate at a distance. Once the man drew closer, he would be able to make out that I was spying on him then sound the alarm. Was the correct option to just make a break for it, right away? Was it better to try to lure the man close enough to disable him then run? Was there some other option, something that I just couldn't figure out as step after step brought the man closer and closer to my position? Having to pick a plan, I dropped a hand to the ground, searching through the leaves and crap for something I could throw. A short, fairly heavy bit of branch seemed like the best option, so I grabbed that. Then, I waited for the man to get a couple steps nearer. With a burst of speed, I broke free of my cover to charge forward. At the same time, I sent the stick spinning through the air toward my foe. My aim was surprisingly good for such an unfamiliar and poorly balanced weapon, heading straight for his face. The guy got his hands up to block, but that was all I really needed. Closing the gap in the moment that I'd bought, I slammed one fist into the guys gut. That doubled him over, weakened his grip, and allowed me to hook the spear with that hand. All of that was done just in time for me to twist and launch a thrust kick. This hit basically the same spot, but with a lot more force, enough to send the man flying back a good couple feet before he hit the ground. His spear, however, remained with me. "Ander!" the man's fellow shouted, charging toward me with spear raised. It was a terrible tactic, one that I could defeat in countless very final ways. There was a temptation to dispense such justice, I didn't want a group of bandits hunting me on some vendetta. Twirling my captured spear about, I settled it in my hand butt first while getting it up into position for a throw. A quick step gave me all the momentum that I needed to launch it. My second opponent tried to get his weapon up to deflect it like the other had the stick, but a spear was a much better projectile. It came in hard and fast, catching the guy on the forehead as he tried to duck. His head snapped back from the force and he dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. On his back, he let out a dazed groan, making it clear that I hadn't accidentally killed him. With both of my potential pursuers incapacitated, I turned and bolted, sprinting back through the forest the way that I'd come. Over all the noise that made, I couldn't hear any pursuit, but I did try a few glances back to check. It seemed like I had enough distance, because every time I did that, I found nothing but empty forest behind me. After a while, I let my desperate flight drift to a slow jog and then just a walk. Sucking in big gulps of air, I ducked behind a tree and stopped there to listen. No sounds of pursuit could be heard over my breathing, and there was still nothing to see. It seemed that, yet again, I had managed to evade a group of armed men that would undoubtedly have tried to kill me if they'd caught me. "I hate this world," I grumbled as I shoved myself away from the tree to get moving again. Even being deployed in the military hadn't been this bad. Sure, some people had tried to kill me, I'd even taken a couple shots on my body armor to prove it, but not everyone. Plus, I'd had resources back then, supplies, weapons, a base, and comrades in arms who helped in fights and kept areas safe when I needed rest. With my family all but invalid and practically nothing to my name besides the clothes on my back, I had only myself here. It was awful. Fueled by that frustration, I trudged off through the forest, heading to the west. With the bandit camp around, it would be dangerous to stay in the forest at all, but I marched on anyway. There just wasn't any other option. I'd found no abandoned homes, and the next nearest town was days away. Maybe with a wagon to carry my family, I could've made such a trek, but it was impossible with me having to carry them one at a time. It would take three times as long with no guarantee of food along the way. No, risky as it was, the western forest was the only option. I had to find something there. *********************************************** *********************************************** Day 05 "Well, what do you think?" I asked as I shifted the weight of my mother on my back. "I think it's a dump," the woman-turned-girl answered critically. Unfortunately, I had to admit that the estimation was an accurate one. The place before us, sitting in the midst of a small overgrown clearing, was definitely a dump. In spite of its current appearance, I had a feeling that, at one point, it had been a very nice hunting lodge, possibly for a trapper and his family. However, it had long fallen into disrepair. A fallen tree had taken out one corner of the place, partially collapsing most of the interior space. Only one room was still fully closed to the elements. "But, I suppose beggars can't be choosers," my mother sighed. "It's not gonna fall on top of us is it?" I shrugged. "I'm no architect, but the one room seems solid." "Can you take me inside?" my mother asked. "Yep, just a sec," I replied, starting forward. With my arms dedicated to holding my load, and the weight of said burden, it took some work to worm my way through all the underbrush then the rubble in the house. I managed it, though, making it to the door of the one room that was still standing. "The door does close," I pointed out as we passed into the room. "I just left it open so it would be easier to get you in here." "Good to know," my mother replied before turning her attention to the room that we'd entered. Like the building itself, the room wasn't much. It was made of simple, bare, log walls with one small window cut into them, which was currently shuttered closed. The floor was also log, although the tops had been planed mostly flat. Other than that, there was some furniture, but it was rickety and moldy smelling, clearly unusable. "If I can get my hands on an axe, I can shop up and clear away all the furniture and moldy cloth. We already have a few blankets but I can steal some more for us to make a makeshift bed for you guys," I explained my plans, tilting my head toward one of the blank walls. "There's a well a little beyond that, so we're good for water, and a fire outside can allow us to actually cook a meal for once." As I talked, I could feel my mother nodding along with the plan. "How many days?" "One to get you guys here, another to find an axe and chop stuff up, a third to haul everything out and clear the brush outside," I estimated. "Maybe less, if I can get lucky on finding tools." "And food sources?" my mother asked. "That's a little trickier," I admitted with frustration. "We're a pretty decent trek from most of the farms around Vernera, but I can manage it in a day. That said, there's a benefit here. Namely. that I might be able to hunt something or use the guidebook to figure out if any of the berries or other plants around here are poisonous. That could help balance our diet a little, and get James to not complain so much about having to eat so many veggies." That last remark earned me a soft chuckle. "Well, that would be enough to make it worth it right there." "I know, right," I replied, managing a bit of a laugh myself. The mirth didn't last long, but when it died down, it was replaced by my mother giving me a firm squeeze, at least as firm a one as she could manage. "Good work, Adam." "Just doing what I can," I replied. It might have sounded like modesty, but in truth, I didn't feel like I deserved the praise. I may have been trying my best to sell it, but all I'd done was find a half-collapsed hunting lodge in a bandit infested forest. It was barely fit to be a shelter, and a far cry from being a safe, comfortable home. I just hadn't been able to do any better than that. "And that means a lot. Without you ..." my mother began, trailing off rather than say the obvious. "You three wouldn't even be stuck in this world," I finished with a different thought from the one that she was obviously trying to express. I could practically hear the responding wince. "You can't think about it like that." "Why not? I'm the one she wanted for a champion. You three are just hostages to make sure I do what I'm told," I retorted. Those words prompted a heavy sigh from my mother. "Alright, put me down. I wanna look you in the eye for this." This time, it was my turn to wince, but I did as I was told. Walking over to the nearest wall, I bent down, so that I could carefully slide my mother off my back. Once she was down and comfortably reclined, I straightened up again, turned to face her, and prepared for the coming tongue lashing. "You are not responsible for bringing us here," my mother began once I was done moving. She even raised a hand to wag a chastising finger at me. It was weird to see that from a girl that looked so young and frail, just as it was weird to hear the motherly tone from the high, thin voice she possessed, but it still managed to make me feel like I was just a little kid. "That Alterra bitch did it all on her own, and before you try to say it was cause you're so special, bullshit. You're a great kid and I love you to death, but you're just an army sergeant with a stupid mom who got herself knocked up. There had to be thousands of other people she coulda picked, and she woulda screwed over their families just like she did ours. It's just bad luck, and it got all of us equally. Do you understand me?" "Yes, ma'am," I mumbled. "Good," my mother stated gruffly. "Then, now that that nonsense is outta the way, would you please go get your brother and sister for me. I get worried when they're on their own like this." "Sure thing, Mom," I agreed obediently before turning to go do exactly that. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 07 - Day 06 Quietly as I could, I cut through the fields grown high with summer crops. As long as I stayed hunched over, I was all but invisible. Only someone within a few feet of me would have been able to spot me, even with my distinctive hair. Fortunately, for someone to get so close, I would've heard them long before they could spot me, making my movements feel confident. In spite of that confidence, my heart had still been racing since before I had even entered this particular farmer's field. It was unlikely that I would be caught. I had been filching from the locals for most of a week now and none had spotted me after the first couple of days. That didn't mean they never would, though. The fear of that eventually happening filled every one of these trips with anxiety. Beyond my fear of confrontation, there was another emotion that plagued me - guilt. I knew that there was no other way, but I hated resorting to crime like this. Throughout my life, there had been many people that had ridiculed or despised me just because my mother didn't make as much as the other parents. Many others had tried to use that to lure me to shadier paths with promises of all the nice things that I could have. I wasn't perfect. At times, I had caved to both pressures, but my mother had always been there to set me straight. After a lifetime of that, I now felt truly despicable robbing people like this. The fact that they were all jerks that would likely try to attack me on sight didn't change that feeling any, nor did the needs of my family or the knowledge that my mother, beacon of virtue in my life that she was, had told me to do so. I knew it was wrong, and the fact that I was doing it anyway just made it worse. My focus pulled away from my feelings as I neared the interior edge of the field. Slowing down, I crept only a few more feet forward before stopping, listening intently for any sounds that might indicate someone was nearby. In a few moments, I would have to peek out from my cover, and I didn't want anyone around who might catch a glimpse of bright red hair and get curious. There were sounds, of course. The farmer apparently had a few kids, because I could hear them playing. A breeze rustled by. An occasional hammer stroke fell. All of it seemed far away and distracting enough that I would likely be safe. With that knowledge, I starting sneaking forward again. Another couple of feet, and I could see through the crops. Most of the farmyard was blocked by the back of the storehouse in front of me. The rest was clear. That left me free to dart across the few feet of open ground before pressing myself up against the back wall of the nearby building. Then, it was back to creeping, coming to the edge so that I could peek around the corner. There, I caught my first sight of my victims. There was a trio of boys, the oldest maybe eleven, running about playing some childish game which held all three's attention. Beyond that activity, their mother worked on laundry while occasionally glancing at her children to be sure they weren't doing anything too stupid. It was all so normal, idyllic even, causing my guilt to flair up again. All I was taking was a few meals worth of food and a couple of tools, but I knew enough history to know that such families had it rough in the olden days. Could they afford to lose those things, as minor as they seemed? Would one of them get just a bit too little to eat this winter, fall ill, and suffer? Such an event could even spell the end in these backwards times. Ducking back into cover, I shook my head fiercely to get myself refocused. It was the middle of summer. They would be able to plan around anything I did and be fine. My family needed this, so I was going to do it. Resolve steeled, I gave one last peek, waiting for the perfect moment of distraction. When I saw it, I slipped out, momentarily in full view of anyone glancing my way. It was only a couple of seconds, though, then I was around in front and through the storehouse door without anyone giving so much as a peep. Waiting inside was the family's current stock of food. In mid summer, it was quite plentiful, more than enough to handle my meager pillaging. As such, I slipped the sack that I'd brought with me from my shoulder and set to work. Soon, I had what I needed for the day and was ready to go. My escape, like my entrance, required several peeks and waiting for the perfect moment again. It took a few minutes of waiting, then a few seconds of movement until I was back into the cover of the fields. I would've liked to just run off then, going back to the forest and my family, but I needed more than food this trip. I needed tools, specifically an axe, although, some other items might be useful as well. Since I saw no axe lying about the yard, I left my sack of food in the field and prepared for a second incursion, this time to the barn. Fortunately for me, the barn had two entrances and one was completely hidden from the family in the yard. The farmer himself seemed to be out in the field, so I slipped inside without any difficulty. That left me free to go right to my task. There was an array of tools next to the door, including the axe that I was looking for. I walked over to grab it while eyeing the other items to see if anything looked useful. A hand trowel was interesting. It would be easy to carry and I might have need to dig something. There was also a sickle that I could probably use to help clear brush away. As I was considering those options, the scuff of someone walking in boots carried over the other ambient sounds to penetrate my thoughts. Instantly, I tensed, forgetting about all the tools except the axe that I already had in my hand. My worry now was those boots, and the fact that they seemed to be coming right toward me. I knew that I didn't have a lot of time, maybe a few seconds at most. The person could probably already see through the doorway, too, which limited my available range of motion. Between the two, hiding seemed impossible. There was going to be a confrontation. The only question was how it would go. The boots probably meant the farmer or an older son. He might have a pitchfork or other farming tool in hand, but no other weapons and probably no training. I could take him down quickly, disarming him if necessary. Hunkering down, I prepared for the moment the man would come into view. Each step seemed slow and ponderous. At the same time, my heart beat within my chest at incredible speed and volume. Regardless of pace, the two sounds were on a collision course. Finally, the man stepped into view, entering from the far side of the barn door. He looked fairly young, maybe the eldest son. He had no weapons in hand. He offered no threat. I lunged forward anyway. Given the distance, I couldn't get to the man before he could see me, even as quick as I was. The flicker of movement pulled his gaze my way and then the dark shadow of terror fell over his face. At the same time, he jerked his hands up to protect his head while he shouted, "Ah! No!" While I had had no intention of causing any serious harm, the fear in that pleading voice and cowering posture still froze me in my tracks. In that moment, all my fear turned to guilt. It was bad enough to rob this man and his family, but now I was attacking him in broad daylight. Even if I didn't mean to hurt him, that didn't mean he wouldn't get hurt. He wasn't a threat to me anyway. He had no weapon and had made no move to attack. Full of shame, I snapped myself free of the momentary paralysis. Then, I just turned and raced out of the barn. I heard no sound of pursuit, not even after I darted into the cover of the field. There wasn't a shout or cry of alarm either. Only the sound of the man's terrified plea for his life had been uttered, left to echo in my ears. Without slowing down, I scooped up the sack of food and tossed it over my shoulder while I left the axe in my other hand. It was an awkward way to run, not to mention tiring with the load, but I just kept going. I neither stopped nor looked back until the farm was far behind me and I was once more hidden by the protective foliage of the forest. *********************************************** *********************************************** Thunk, thunk, thunk, crack, came the sounds of the axe as I chopped through a piece of the bed frame. What followed was a sizable crash as the whole thing split in half and slammed into the floor. Finally, it was in small enough pieces that I could drag it out of the room. "Whew ... what a day," I muttered as I straightened up. One hand swiped the sweat from my brow while the other lowered the head of my stolen axe to the ground. After coming back from the farm that I'd essentially raided, I'd set to work on clearing out the one room of the lodge that still stood. It had proven a truly trying task. First of all, a lot of the furniture was sturdier than I would've thought after years of neglect and rot. Secondly, there was a problem with the axe. Namely, it's handle was too long to use properly inside. If I tried, I would just hit the low ceiling with the blade. As such, I'd been forced to choke up on the tool and chip awkwardly at the wood. Still, I had managed to get the bed and a wardrobe hacked up enough that I would be able to clear them out by myself. "Still not gonna be much of a home," I remarked, looking around at the place. It was small, a single room, and structurally uncertain. When combined with possible mold and rot concerns, there really was no fixing it. The spot was just a stopgap, a haven for my family for the moment. That moment wouldn't last forever, though. Worry crept into me as my thoughts turned toward the future. Thirty days. That was the time the goddess Alterra had told me I had until the competition. I didn't know what that competition was going to be, but I had a feeling that it would take up my time. There probably wouldn't be the hours needed to constantly run around stealing food or building a proper house or anything else like that. By the end of the thirty days, I needed to have my family secured somewhere safe with everything that they would need, so that I could focus on winning. "But how do I manage that?" I asked myself, and I didn't have an answer. I'd thought about stealing money, but that idea only led to other problems. Would people let me spend it or would they continue to just attack me for the color of my hair? Perhaps, I could hide the color under a hood or find some place with people more concerned with greed than superstition. Even that solution wasn't enough, though. Food, shelter, and care for my family wasn't likely to be cheap, especially since anyone greedy would have a hefty markup when dealing with someone so obviously desperate and lacking options as me. I needed someone rich to steal from. It was at that point where I finally had a potential answer. While scouting the area, I had noticed that there was a large manor in town. I assumed it was the home of the local lord. They might have the money I needed, but burglarizing the walled and well-guarded building was a daunting task to say the least. However, as was often the case since I'd been brought to Tannen, I was starting to think I didn't have any other choice. Unsure of what to do, I just shook my head and turned to go, leaning the axe on the wall along the way. Outside, I threaded through the rubble to get to the clearing as usual, making a mental note that I should probably clean some of that up as well. It would make it easier and safer to move my family in and out of the room. "Hey! Right on time!" one of the three girls called out as I came into view, although, I couldn't tell for sure which one. I'd gotten better at guessing from inflection and word choice, but some phrases and tones were so generic that my family members truly sounded identical. "We were just talking about doing dinner. What do we have?" "Oh ... uhm ... let me get the bag," I mumbled, walking over to the bag of food that was laying against the wall of the lodge. Picking it up, I looked inside as I walked over to my family. "Looks like some of those red carrot things, a jar of something that's green and pickled, and some salted meat." "Dibs on the meat," one of the girls, it had been James, blurted. That started the chain reaction of identification where one of the other two tossed a reproving glare at the former boy. "You can't just have meat, it's not good for you." That was my mother then, leaving the last one, who was currently rolling her eyes, as Nicole. "Here, Mom. Split it up however you want," I said as I set the bag over next to the my mother before plopping onto the ground. Beside me, Nicole sniffed at the air before scrunching up her nose and waving a hand in front of her face. "Whew, you stink." Lounging back to relax after the hard work, I let out a little chuckle. "And you think you don't?" "I smell better than you!" Nicole retorted. "You're like the combination of a week old garbage bag and a locker room." I shrugged. "Whatever." "I don't think personal hygiene is deserving of a 'whatever', young man," my mother naturally cut in, tone full of parental chiding. "We're not wayward drifters, anymore. We have privacy and access to water, so it's past time we got back in the habit of bathing." Suddenly, I wasn't so nonchalant, giving my mother an uneasy look. "Uhm ... are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure, and you three can all stop with those looks, too," my mother replied, revealing that apparently I wasn't the only one that was uncomfortable with what renewed hygiene would entail. "We might need some help with our clothes, but we should be able to clean ourselves. After all, all we have is a bucket and some rags. We can just lay on a blanket and wipe ourselves down." "Guess I'm gonna have to pull up some more water for us after dinner, huh," I remarked, marginally relieved by the plan. At least, I wouldn't have to scrub down anyone else, just myself. "Yeah, sorry for giving you even more work, but that would be for the best," my mother answered. "We don't know what kind of crazy illnesses there are in this place, nor how likely we are to be able to fight them off, especially given how frail the three of us are. Plus, there's no way of knowing if there's even medical treatment out there, much less if we could get. We gotta do whatever we can to avoid catching anything." There was a bit of grumbling, mostly from James, but all three of us siblings ended up agreeing with our mother. Once we had, she set about divvying up what was left of the food that I'd stolen. After that, we all settled in for a nice, albeit simple, meal. *********************************************** *********************************************** Icy cold water splashed down atop my head, running down my face, hair and shoulders. As it did, I let out a little, "Brrr," while shuddering from the chill. "Not exactly a nice hot shower, is it?" I added as I set the bucket that I'd just dumped onto the short rock wall of the well. My fingers lingered on the container as did my attention. It was far from a convenient device, requiring me to winch it up and down several times to get enough water for a proper scrubbing. I'd almost appreciated the work, though, because it had meant a delay from what came next. Now, though, I had nothing else to distract me. Sighing, I released the bucket and glanced down. After getting the water ready, I'd stripped out of my clothes for the first time since Alterra had given me the body they covered. My only other interaction with the form had been the inevitable call of nature, and I'd always resolved that with the absolute minimum amount of looking and touching required, trying my absolute best to hurry through the task and not even think about how'd I'd changed. A bath, though, was going to take some time and require me to touch basically everywhere. There would be no more hiding from it. The sight that greeted me when I looked at myself was ... difficult to process. Up until that point, my dress had done a good job of hiding my body, so I hadn't really known exactly what to expect, but I'd had a few vague ideas. I knew I had some muscle to me and that my ... bust was fairly sizable. Both were true, although, the latter was a bit bigger than I would've guessed. The laced top I usually wore had apparently been squashing them down some. Beyond that, I did have a good amount of muscle on a frame that was tall, lean, and well-curved. In fact, I could've probably made a good living as a fitness model back home, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. If anything, it made harder. Maybe it was because my real dad had been a scumbag or maybe it was because of all the kids at school who had picked on me for being poor, but I'd always tried to be a man amongst men. I'd gotten lucky and ended up pretty big naturally, but I'd worked out to bulk up even more. I'd played every sport I could while I was in school. I'd dated frequently. I'd joined the army and fought in a war. I'd provided for my family financially as best I could. Everything that I'd defined myself by was built on this manly ideal, and now, I stood there looking down at my body and all I could think about was how if it belonged to anyone else, I'd be hitting on them. It didn't matter that I was still strong and could probably have kicked the ass of my old male self with whatever crazy combat skills Alterra had given me. My mind saw only the girlishness, the lean build, desirable curves, and flat crotch, and in seeing those, made me feel awkward and out- of-place. That just wasn't how I was supposed to be. Shaking my head, I tried to fight my way free of such concerns, but that didn't stop my face from feeling quite warm. It also didn't stop me from glancing about nervously as if I thought someone would sneak up and find me in the embarrassing state of being female. Still, I did manage to move to the next bucket and grab the the rough scrap of dress material that would serve as a washcloth. I even managed to power through my apprehension and get that bit of cloth to touch skin. That caused a whole different set of problems, because as unwelcome as it was to have as my own, my body was still felt quite tantalizing. What followed was a war between baser instincts, curiosity, libido, embarrassment, and doubt squaring off like titans in a ring. In the end, none truly proved victorious, but I was certainly the loser. By the time I was clean, dry, and dressed, I had to stay out in the woods for several minutes before I could return to the lodge just to give my face some time to stop being so damn red. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 08 - Day 08 "The lord's manor, huh?" my mother asked rhetorically as she stared into the campfire before us. "Sounds dangerous." "I'm sure it will be," I answered, mirroring the once older woman's gaze. "I can't think of anything else to try, though." In the last couple of days, I had searched for other options. I had tried to find valuables at farms. I had scouted the bandit camp to see if I might get the wealth I needed there. I'd even tried to rob a lone merchant that I'd spotted on the road. None were workable options. Farmers had money but very little of it. The bandits stole mostly goods and supplies, not coin. When I tried to steal from the merchant, I learned why that was. Merchants hardly carried any money at all. They spent their money on goods, brought those somewhere to sell, then converted the money they made into a new set of goods that they could bring back the other way. Merchants on this road brought goods from either Geffen in the north or Bremich in the south, gathered up foodstuffs along the way, then sold that food at the next city. I could take their wares, but no one would buy from a touched, so I wouldn't be able to sell them to get coin. The only people around with the sort of wealth I needed would be a lord, and I had not seen any on the road so far. For her part, my mother seemed to have come to a similar conclusion, because she didn't argue the point, merely nodded. "Do you think you can do it?" "Hard to say, really," I admitted. "Night will offer some cover and there seems to only be a handful of guards on duty at any given time. I think I can manage to scale the wall and slip by them unnoticed. I can't imagine there will be many guards inside the manor itself, but there's no way to know for sure." Again, my mother nodded. "And what if someone spots you?" "Well, a guard or two won't be a problem. I could take them out without any trouble and get away. I can't really explain how I know that, but I do," I told her. "If they have someone more capable than the average guard, though, or somehow, a whole bunch of them can come at me at once, then, well ..." "You get caught and we starve to death," my mother stated the hard truth. This time, I was the one nodding, a glum, weary one at that. "Yeah. It's just ... if we don't do something like this, I'll be stuck here, caring for you. I don't mind, but Alterra said that winning the competition is the only way home." "And you probably won't be able to do that hiding in the woods," my mother surmised. "Yeah," I sighed, shoulders slumping. That was the horrible paradox that I found myself in. If I wanted to save my family, I had to leave them, but if I left them, they would die. I had to do something to break that stalemate, but attempting to do so put us all at risk. Falling silent, the two of us sat there, mulling over the situation. Well, my mother was mulling. I had spent days on this topic already. By that point, my thoughts had firmly fixed this decision as the one that had to be made. "Okay," my mother finally declared. "When will you be making the attempt?" "Well, I was going to go scout the place after we were done talking, so unless I see something worrisome, tomorrow night," I told her. Considering that timeline, my mother scrunched her face up uncertainly. "You sure you'll be ready that fast?" "Yeah, I already know about as much about the place as I'm likely to get," I replied. "All I'm going to be looking at is how the guard shifts work at night." With that reassurance, my mother nodded. "Alright, then I think you're right. Sitting around here isn't going to fix things. We need to take a bet on something, and this seems like as good a one as we're likely to get. Go for it." While I was already certain that I was making the right call, the show of support brought with it a profound sense of relief. It solidified the plan in my head, helping me focus on what I could do to ensure success rather than on what would happen if I failed. The only other concerns were the last few preparations that I had to finish. *********************************************** *********************************************** "The guard looks really light ..." I murmured to the night around me as I crouched low in the grass outside the lord's manor. Thanks to Tannen's trio of fairly bright moons, I actually had half- decent visibility even at night. As such, I could see the silhouette of the low stone wall that surrounded the manner. I could also make out the shapes above it, men walking their rounds. There weren't many of them, though, just four. Two stayed at the main gate where a couple of braziers provided light. The other two patrolled the wall at semi-regular intervals. To my military-trained mind, it seemed a truly lazy and slipshod sentry procedure. That laxness did not put me at ease for the following night's burglary, though. If anything, it made me more nervous. Such a weak defense was completely untenable. It was barely enough to qualify as a show, and would do almost nothing to prevent incursion, even by someone with little skill. That led me to think that it was a decoy, that some other defense had to be lying in wait beyond the wall. Needing to know what that defense was, I waited for the current patrol to finish before going on the move. I crept over to the side wall that would be patrolled again last and set about trying to climb it. Here, the night proved dark enough to cause an issue. I couldn't see the details of the wall to look for hand holds. I had to just feel around, hoping to find some. At least the wall was short, old, and made of rough stone, so they were more than plentiful enough to cover the distance. Plus, climbing was one of the long list of skills that Alterra had somehow made me excellent at. The going wasn't quick, but I got up to the lip of the wall without ever feeling like I was in danger of falling. Once I was up, I didn't pull myself over the parapet to get to the walkway beyond. Rather, I clung there, lifting my head just high enough to peek over into the grounds. In doing so, I was met by an odd sight. The interior yard seemed to be laid out as a maze with lots of high bushes planted to create narrow and winding paths. At first, I thought that maybe this maze was the reason for the lax defenses, but upon closer examination, I realized that was impossible. While there were many winding paths within its depths, there were also four straight ones. These led directly from the wall to the manor itself where a circular path looped around the building to provide access. Clearly, the maze was just for show, not something practical. "Does this guy only believe in the pretense of defense?" I questioned incredulously, starting to wonder if the medieval understanding of a proper guard was just this pathetic. I knew that thinking like that was dangerous, though. It led to underestimations, and that might be exactly the ploy that this lord was trying to perpetrate. I had to maintain caution. Arms starting to hurt from holding my position, I gave the grounds one last look over to see if there was anything that I might've missed. However, the darkness kept detail to a minimum, and none of the vague shapes seems important or out of place. If there was some other defense, it lay out of sight, waiting for some unsuspecting intruder to stumble upon it. Frustrated, I lowered myself down before pushing off the wall. A short drop later, I landed on the ground, my body naturally bending to absorb the impact without any trouble or pain. Then, with just a shake of my head to try to keep myself from worrying too much about what I was missing, I turned and started away, needing to get back to the lodge as quickly as I could so that I could get some rest before another long day. *********************************************** *********************************************** Day 09 Silence filled the air as I felt the tickle of my hair moving about with the deft manipulations of my sister's fingers. While it had once felt strange, enough so that I had sometimes even squirmed from it, I had mostly grown used to it by then. After all, the braided hairstyle was durable, but not so much that it could handle days on end without coming undone. Nearly every morning, the two of us had repeated this little ritual before I set about on my day. Of course, repetition came with a problem, the aforementioned silence. For me, life in Tannen was quite busy, but it was mostly with dull, repetitive labor. The few interesting things that did happen to me, I typically didn't want to share for fear of worrying my family with how close they really were to a very bad end. For Nicole, well, there just wasn't much to do. James, as the youngest and most easily bored, tended to monopolize our guidebook to amuse himself, and there just wasn't a lot of other things that the three of them could physically do. I'd considered trying to steal some sort of toy or book or something, but no good opportunities had presented themselves. Between the two issues, there just wasn't much to talk about, leading to a lot of long, boring silences. "You know, you could just teach me how to do this," I remarked, hoping to maybe ease the dullness of the moment for my sister and maybe even spare her future ones. "Then, I wouldn't have to keep asking you to do it." "Eh, I don't mind," Nicole replied, continuing on the task of weaving my hair into the long braid that kept it out of the way. Uncertain about that, I asked, "You sure?" "Yeah," Nicole confirmed, and I could feel her nod from the way the movement jostled her hands. "I mean ... I don't mind teaching you. It might even be fun to watch you fumble around with it. But, I'd still want to do it for you, most of the time." "Why's that?" I inquired. Again, I felt my sister's movements through her hands. This time, it was a shrug. "Well, it's something to do at the very least. There's not exactly a lot of those around here for anyone but you. Plus, I just like it. Your hair is so pretty. It feels so soft, too, even when it's all dirty and ratty. It's almost like magic, really. You would not believe how much I wish my hair was like this back on Earth. My friends would be so jealous. Besides, I was the one that said you couldn't cut it, so it seems only fair that I should be the one that has to braid it." Those trivial reasons earned a soft giggle from me that was more feminine sounding than I would've liked. I didn't let it bother me, though. "Well, I don't mind, and maybe, when we win this thing, I can get Alterra to give it to you when we get back." "Think she could give me the rest of the body with it?" Nicole asked. "If I looked like you, all the boys might literally melt when I walked into school." Laughing again, I tilted my head noncommittally. "I don't know. We can try, but I think Mom might not be too happy with you melting boys." "Ugh ... you have no idea," my sister groaned. "She's so certain I'm gonna make the same mistake she did; always harping on and on about how terrible boys are and how I should keep far away from them. Plus, she watches every little thing I do. James could fucking cut his own head off, and she wouldn't even notice, but if I wanna buy a skirt above my knee, you can be damn sure she's got an hour lecture ready to go about how careful I need to be." "Well, you should be careful. Guys are pigs," I replied, affecting the kind of condescending tone our mother might've used to say such things. Huffing in annoyance, Nicole whined, "Oof ... not you too." "Just kidding," I admitted, smirking mischievously. "I know better than to try to get in the way of a teenage girl. You're gonna do what you're gonna do. I just hope you know I'm there to help if you ever need me." "I know," my sister assured me. "Anyway, your hair's all done for now. Next time, I'll start teaching you in case you ever have to mess with it when I'm not around." "Alright, thanks," I told before scrambling to my feet. "Time to get back to work then." *********************************************** *********************************************** "There's magic in this world?" I questioned in disbelief as I hauled chopped up bits of furniture out from the house to the wood. Sitting in the yard along the path I was walking, my brother nodded, pointing at the book his lap. "Yep. It's mostly like potions and other kinda science-y stuff, but there are a few cool magical items too, like this gun thing that spits fire." "Wow ... that does sound cool," I remarked, tossing my current load of trash out into the woods and turning back to get another armful. "There a lot of them?" James shook his head. "Nope, just the one apparently." "Well, that's a relief," I sighed, not wanting to have to figure out how I was going to dodge flamethrowers during the upcoming competition. As good a fighter as I seemed to be, I was pretty sure that would be impossible. "Don't suppose that book says where it is, so we can go pick it up?" "No," my brother admitted, sounding very disappointed. "It just has a section about it. Actually, it's a section about every major magical item in the world." "Really? And it all fits in that book?" I questioned in surprise before ducking into the lodge to grab a few pieces. "Must not be very many of them." "Well ... there aren't, but I don't think the book would have a problem if there were," James continued talking, his weak, thin voice somewhat hard to hear through the walls. Finishing my retrieval, I stepped back out, threading my way through the rubble once more. "Oh? Why do you say that?" "Uhm ... it's this book. It's weird," my brother began vaguely. "I guess it's 'cause it's magic, too. Like, whatever I look for, its always turns to one of the pages in the middle to find it. Plus, it's not big enough. There are just too many topics I can search and too many pages for each one. They'd never all fit." "Hmm ..." I hummed thoughtfully at the information. "Well, it was given to us by a god, so I guess it makes sense that it would be a little weird. Does it have a section about itself?" "About itself? I, uh, I don't know," James replied before he flipped the page in the book. "Huh, apparently it does." Chuckling, I tossed my armload into the woods and turned to walk over to my brother's spot. "Really? What does it say?" "Hmm ... these guidebooks were created by Justice, goddess of judgement, balance, and duty, in order to provide the gods' chosen champions information about themselves and the world in which they would be competing," my brother began reading from the section. "Each group was provided one by the deity that selected them during their or-i-en-ta-tion meeting. They do not work for anyone who is not a champion, appearing to only be a book of blank pages." Something about that phrasing had me furrowing my brow. "Wait ... why does it work for you then?" "What do you mean?" James questioned. "I mean, Alterra talked as if I was her champion and the three of you were just hostages to ensure my participation," I explained. "If the book let's you use it, though, then it must think that you all are also champions." For a moment, my brother frowned before quickly shrugging. "I don't know. Maybe it's a team game?" "That doesn't make any sense, though," I argued. "Why would anyone make a team like this? Anyone that knows anything about tactics knows that we'd be stronger as complimentary pieces than as one very strong piece and three extremely vulnerable ones." Again, James shrugged. "Maybe that's just how Alterra likes to play?" "Maybe ..." I conceded, although, I wasn't happy with that answer. I couldn't be sure if that was because I didn't agree with it or just because I hated the situation that it had put us in. "But if that's true, there must be other teams out there, probably also with four members. Why else would Alterra bring all three of you if she only really cared about me? I would've fought just as hard either way, but one person is a lot easier to protect than three." "Yeah, probably," my brother agreed, his gaze growing distant. "Wonder what they're like. Did their gods snatch them from Earth like ours did? Did they come from some other planet out there somewhere? Did some of them get screwed, too?" "Those ... are a very good questions," I acknowledged, even as I thought up a good dozen more questions in my head about these people I was competing against. "I wish I had some answers." *********************************************** *********************************************** Carefully, I pulled myself up, trying my best to avoid any grunting or scuffling. There wasn't really much need. The nearest guard was dozens of yards away, off chatting the night away with his compatriots. Still, I refused to let myself be lax, aiming toward as perfect a burglary as could be committed. So far, my efforts had gone well. I'd easily accommodated the guards movements while approaching the wall. I'd made the climb without much trouble or wasted time. Cresting over that wall proceeded smoothly, dropping me onto the walkway beyond the parapets. With that first obstacle out of the way, I was presented with the second, the interior grounds. They were dense and maze-like, but thanks to my previous scouting, I knew that was mostly an illusion. There were a few straight paths from the walls to the manor proper, and I'd scaled the wall right next to one of them. There was even a ramp there to allow for an easy descent to the garden path below. Quickly, I snuck along the path, coming up against the wall of the manor. From there, it was a simple matter to creep around to the small side door that I'd chosen to enter through. I'd expected it to be something of an obstacle, but when I tried the latch, it wasn't even locked. It just opened to allow me into the house. Inside, though, I found my first real problem. Outside, the moonlight was fairly bright. It was far from midday, but shapes were generally visible, making it easy to walk around. Once I entered the manor, however, light seemed to just disappear. Very little leaked into the room that I'd entered, a kitchen from the looks of it. Still, that was enough to navigate around and find one of the doors that led further into the house. Beyond there, though, there was only complete darkness. Scowling, I stepped into the void and closed the door behind me. I hoped, that in doing so, my eyes might adjust to gloom, but it was as pitch black as could be. There weren't even hints of shapes, and no amount of adjustment made a difference in that, leaving me effectively blind. With my progress impeded, I just stood there, trying to think of a solution. I could try to feel my way through, but that would likely prove noisy and bumbling. After all, I knew neither the layout of the house nor its contents. I could retreat, find a light source, then continue on, but bringing light into the shadow would make it impossible to hide from anyone that I might happen upon. "There's no other way," I decided softly, turning back. In the kitchen, I found the fireplace and with it tools and kindling to get a small firebrand going. It's soft, orange glow provided illumination to search the room until finally I found what I really needed, a lantern. Once it was lit, I was ready to continue. Light in hand, I left the kitchen once more, entering the hallway beyond. Now, I could see why it was such a shadowy place. The building was made of hard, dark wood and sported narrow hallways, creating a claustrophobic feel. There were no windows to alleviate that impression, just narrow, arched doorways, often without doors in them, leading off to other equally dark rooms. Every curtain was pulled closed. Every scrap of light shut out. It created a darkness so pure and creepy that it felt like it might snuff out my lantern as I crept through its shadows. At the same time, a black, icy fear seeped into me, threatening to crush the breath from lungs in much the same way. Fighting against that primitive terror, I swallowed hard and forced my way on. Some sort of vault or treasury would likely be in the basement. Barring that, there might be a safe in a study or bedroom but I had a feeling safes came into existence after the middle ages. I didn't know for sure, though, so I watched for both along the way, checking room after room. Neither presented themselves, but something else did. As I walked, the hallway came to an end in a great expanse of darkness. Leaning forward, I brought my lantern into the emptiness, so that it could cast its light upon the space. There was too much of it, though. Only some of what appeared to be a massive foyer was illuminated by the small flame that I carried, revealing a grand staircase that led upward and another hallway on the far side of the room. The rest remained lost in shadow. Full of trepidation, I stepped forward, entering that great hall. The moment I did, my skin started to crawl. It was too wide and open, leaving me far too exposed. I tried to stay near the walls, but that wasn't enough to hide me, especially not with the light in my hand serving as a beacon for my location. Knowing this was a dangerous place, I tried to hurry, darting across the foyer toward the stairs. It was possible that I'd find a way down over there, or if not that, I could go up to where the master bedroom probably was. There, I could find and steal the lord's jewels and finery to serve as an alternative to coin. Unfortunately, I didn't get far, only just barely to the foot of the steps, when a deep, male voice rumbled, "You have intruded upon the wrong domain, madam." *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 09 - Day 09 In my head, blame for my foolishness as well as plans for how to resolve it battled for space. The problem was that I knew little other than that I'd been caught. That lent a lot of weight to the former line of thought and did not provide much to help with the latter. Grinding my teeth together, I glanced around, trying to figure out my options. They were slim. I couldn't see the speaker, only hear that he was up the stairs. Hopefully, that meant that the way behind me was still open, so that I could flee. Would it be best to just make a break for it right away? If I did, I'd likely escape, but I would also fail my mission. I couldn't just accept failure. My family needed this. Could I subdue the speaker, instead? That seemed difficult without knowing where he was, and I couldn't afford to wait around while he alerted the entire guard. Fortunately, I did not have to wait. "I will have to punish you for it," the voice, so incredibly deep and formidable sounding, continued. At the same time, a figure stepped into view on the balcony above. The first thing that struck me about the speaker was that his build matched his voice. He was huge. Looking completely out of place on him, He wore some sort of servant uniform that strained to contain his bulk. At a distance, it was hard to tell for sure but he had to be at least seven feet tall and corded with thick, bulging muscle. The second thing that struck me was that the figure initially seemed to be shadowed. As I looked at him, though, I noticed that wasn't. Color and detail were both perfectly visible. The proof lay in the fact that I could see the shock of blue hair that sprang out of his head, the glint of red eyes, and the hard , almost chiseled scowl, on his stony features. Those features weren't shadowed. They were actually black, a smooth, glossy obsidian in color. Altogether, he seemed less a man and more a demon in a man's clothing - a demon that was stalking toward me like a beast ready to gobble up its prey. In the midst of this manor of gloom and fear, facing such a hellish creature, I couldn't help but take a step back. Somehow, as impossible as it seemed, I had stumbled upon a true nightmare, the devil made flesh and blood. I wanted to deny it. No, I wanted to deny everything from the moment the call had malfunctioned over a week ago. It all certainly seemed like just some terrible dream. Men didn't just turn into women. People didn't attack someone on sight for their hair color. Creepy manors didn't house demons of the night. Yet, there I stood, hands shaking, as the black beast strode forward, and I just couldn't deny any of it. The impossibilities that had befallen me ... the hardships that I'd face ... the terror that now gripped me ... they were all real, including this horrific creature that now closed in, bent on my destruction. Luckily, desperation and experience helped me claw my way free of that bewildering moment. After all, I'd faced such demonic seeming things as fanatics screaming out their abject loathing while they rained bullets at me. A real demon was terrifying, but it wasn't too far beyond my experience to cope with, assuming it could actually be hurt. I had to assume that it could. Otherwise, my mission would be impossible, my life probably forfeit, and my family needed neither of those things to be true. Cautiously, I stepped back and bent over so that I could set my lantern on the floor. This demon was far more powerful than anything that I'd fought so far. Plus, the sense within me knew that he didn't just have the power that came with his absurd size and strength, but from the skill to use it effectively. I was going to need both hands which I raised in front of me defensively. "No weapons?" the demon remarked when he saw me raise my empty fists followed quickly by a slight nod. "Very well." When he reached the bottom of the stairs, the obsidian nightmare raised his own hands, apparently willing to fight me fist to fist. His stance was different from mine, leaving his fingers open with arms spread further apart. The part of me that knew about battle guessed from that stance that he would attempt grappling maneuvers, initially. It made sense. He was far larger than me, so a hold would spell my defeat. Even if I defeated those attempts, though, there was another concern, the shimmer of the lantern light along the wicked looking claws that tipped the beast's fingers. If those caught me, I would be ripped to shreds. "You may have the first strike, madam," the demon offered in an incongruously, genteel tone of voice. The idea that the creature might be toying with me was annoying, but I wasn't going to complain about the opportunity that it was granting. I needed to end this quickly, and being granted the chance for offense was a definite boon to that mission. All I needed was a strategy for taking the brute down, and my mind supplied many. Picking one, I prepared to start the fight. Like a bullet from a gun, I snapped forward, darting in low to try to use the beast's incredible height against him. There wasn't any real way to do that, though, as his long arms would assuredly be able to reach me before I could reach him, no matter how I bobbed and weaved. However, true to his claims, the demon did not strike first, allowing me within his range, so that I could have my blow. For that blow, I went with something incredibly mundane and obvious. It was just a weak jab aimed at the demon's chin. It didn't even demand a block. The creature just leaned back, slipping out of range. That was all as desired, though. Leaning was terrible for balance, and bad balance was terrible for fighting. With the beast's attention upward and his balance ruined, my leg came up. An instant after the jab whiffed, it slashed forward. The monster's height made me tilt it up more than I would've liked, but my aim was still relatively low, going for right below his ribs. Even with the bad balance and limited reaction time, the demon managed to defend himself. His arm jerked down as his upper body curled to that side. My kick found a sturdy, muscular limb braced against ribs rather than the soft, vulnerable stomach that I'd been aiming for. Still, there was enough force behind the blow to rock my opponent's frame and rip a strained grunt from his lips. Not letting myself be satisfied with that result, I kept on the offense. My right foot came down to plant on the floor, serving as a pivot. In flash, I came around, the other leg kicking out. This time, it was a real attack, head high and with enough power to probably kill a normal man if it landed. Unfortunately, the creature was not as staggered as I would've liked. He got his hands up from his previous block to intercept this new kick. That almost didn't prove to be enough as the powerful strike bowled through his block, slamming his own hands back into his face. By the time the whole mess landed on his cheek, though, there just wasn't enough force left to drop him. Gasping, the demon staggered back a couple of steps. As he did, he shook his head fiercely, fighting away the daze that the blow had left in its wake. Clearly, he wasn't going to go down easily. As I came out of my spin, I assessed all of that, generating new strategies to try. The key was to not relent. This beast might be able to shake off my blows, but I probably wouldn't be able to shake off his. I needed to keep the offense, to keep pummeling him until even his hellish durability was too battered to continue. I needed to hurry up about it, too, lest he decide that the fight was proving too much of a challenge and call for reinforcements. With that goal in mind, I charged right after the demon's retreating form. He was just coming out of getting his head on straight again as I reached him. I feinted high with a twitch of my hand, just enough to get a reaction. The brute's defense went up, and I went low. My hands didn't go for his face, instead lashing out to grab his clothes. I snaked out a foot as I did, hooking it around my opponent's leg. Then, I shoved with all my might. Big and strong as he was, the monster couldn't hold his ground against my leverage and momentum. His balance faltered, tilting him back. He tried to step to correct it, by my foot blocked the effort. A moment later he was falling, and I went right over with him. A pair of grunts filled the air as we both hit the ground, the beast underneath me. He wasn't out of the fight, though, recovering quickly to throw his hands at me. The first I blocked, deflecting it away, but the second I caught by the wrist. A twist and a hard thrust from my other hand sent a new sound shooting through the air - a resounding crack mingled with the agonized bellow of the beast as his wrist broke. Even then, the creature was not done. The bellow turned into a roar as rage drove his one good claw at me again. Before it could get close, though, I backfisted him across the face. That brought my hand into position to block the incoming blow as well, but by then, it had been abandoned. I followed with a left then twisted back for a hard right. The final bell of the battle rang as the resounding thud of my punch slamming the brute's head against the wood floor. Suddenly, the room was still. The only sound was the panting of my breath as I straddled the limp form of my beaten foe. I could tell that he wasn't truly finished, though. His chest shifted under me as he breathed, and the vicious blow would only drive consciousness away briefly. I couldn't linger; couldn't waste time catching my breath. I needed to act. Rolling off of the demon, I scrambled back to my feet. I wasn't quite sure what to do after that, though. Did I put the beast down for good, so that I could get back my mission? Did I concede to failure, turn around, and flee back to my family? Both options felt awful. Even just thinking about killing someone helpless and unharmed made my gut twist. At the same time, that seemed to be the only way to succeed, and beyond all else, I had to succeed. Luckily, in the end, I was spared the decision. A sound carried over my heavy breathing, the sound of boots stamping about on wood. They were growing louder, too - closer. Maybe the demon had sent for help before engaging me. Maybe I had just made too much noise taking him down. It didn't matter. Enemies were coming, and I couldn't just sit there and hope I could beat them all. There was only one option left to me. I had to run. Not even grabbing my lantern, I turned and bolted back to the dark hallway. Barreling down the way to the door to the kitchen, I burst through that final room and then out into the moonlit gardens. By then, sounds of alarm could be heard around the estate. To my relief, however, it seemed none had attempted to block my escape route. I was free to dash down the garden path and up the ramp to the wall. There, I vaulted the parapet, lowered myself a bit down the wall, then jumped off. A quick roll on the grass and I was away, running back to the forest with thoughts of how I'd failed nipping at my heels. *********************************************** *********************************************** Day 10 "A demon? You fought an actual demon?" my mother questioned in surprise, leaning forward in her incredulity. "Well, it didn't come out of a hellish portal wreathed in flame and shouting out its support for Satan, but yeah, that's what it looked like," I confirmed. "It was huge, clawed, and horned with black skin, blue hair, and red eyes." "And you beat it in a fist fight?" my mother inquired, this time sounding quite dubious. I shrugged modestly. "I guess, but it might be fairer to say it beat itself; let me just come up and take a swing at it. Shaking her head, my mother slouched back against the tree trunk behind her. "Unbelievable ..." "Yeah ... " I sighed in agreement, looking out into the forest. When scouting the mansion, I'd predicted some further defense that I couldn't see from outside, but a demon was beyond my expectations. Because of that, I'd failed my mission; failed my family. "I'm sorry, Mom." "Sorry?" my mother repeated the word with obvious disbelief. Turning toward her, I slumped in defeat. "For failing. I don't know what we're gonna do now." "You didn't fail. You came back in one piece. That was the most important thing you had to do," my mother reassured me. "Now, we just have to figure out a new plan for getting what we need." While not comforted, I nodded in agreement. "You're right." "Well, naturally. I'm your mother, after all," the woman joked. "I'm not much for strategy, though. You're the soldier in the family. Think you can figure out some way to get past the demon and the rest of the guards?" I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know ... maybe?" "Well, what about other options?" my mother tried. "We could steal a wagon and go somewhere else, somewhere that hopefully won't have any demon guards." "Maybe," I acknowledged the possibility. "This is already a small town, though. If the lord here has a demon for a guard, who knows what the rest of them have. We try to go to a big city and their might be dragons or something equally ridiculous to contend with." "There's a chance that the demon here is just a fluke, though," my mother pointed out. "Might be that most places aren't so well guarded." "True," I conceded. Thinking about it, that idea almost seemed likely to me. It fit the kind of shit that the four of us had been forced to deal with since coming to Tannen. After everything that Alterra had done to us, it seemed only naturally that she would also stick us in the worst possible geographic location, too. "It's like she's trying to lose," I muttered under my breath. "Hmm?" my mother hummed. I shook my head. "Nothing, just frustrated." Chuckling, my mother nodded in understanding. "Yeah ... me too. Would be nice to catch a break for once, but that just doesn't seem to be this family's karma. Every time we think we do, it's just a setup for a bigger fall." "Yep," I grumbled, shaking my head again. "Anyway, I'll start looking for a wagon when I go on my food raid. See if there's any that look easy to swipe." My mother gave me a skeptical look. "You sure that's a good idea? Aren't you tired from being up all night?" "I'm fine," I lied. Not only had I not gotten any sleep last night, I hadn't gotten much the night before either, and my days had been packed with labor. In truth, I was exhausted, but I wasn't going to let that hinder me. "You sure?" my mother interrogated, seemingly able to tell that I wasn't being honest. "We have enough food left over for at least another couple of days." "That's in case something happens where I can't get food one day or can't get back here in time or something," I told her. "Neither of those is true today, so I'm going." Relenting, my mother nodded. "Okay, but be careful. That local lord you tried to steal from is likely to be riled up after what happened last night." "I will be," I promised, taking that warning very seriously. I never wanted to have to face that demon ever again. *********************************************** *********************************************** Folding my arms thoughtfully, I looked over the wagon that I'd found. It rested in the farmer's barn, worn but serviceable. It looked a bit dusty as well, probably from a lack of use. None of that was a problem, though. I didn't need anything fancy, just something that could carry my family. "I'll have to figure out how to hook up his horse," I noted, moving a little closer to the stiff pieces of wood that extended outward to harness the strength of an animal. While I didn't have any experience with such things, it looked fairly straightforward, but I supposed it would depend on the harness and the temperament of the beast. I was pretty sure that I'd get it eventually, but I was worried about noise. If something alerted the family of my presence mid theft, I might end up with a fight on my hand. I liked my odds against a farmer, even one with several sons to back him up, but I would still rather avoid such a conflict. Shaking my head, I turned my attention away to go look for the harness. Maybe it would be simple as well and I could take a few minutes now familiarizing myself with it. I'd made sure that the farmer's family was quite busy before I'd even entered the barn, so I probably had the time to spare. I didn't end up getting the chance to find the item, though. An out of place sound pulled my focus from my task. At first, I didn't know what it was, too soft and distant, but it quickly grew louder and closer. Once it did, it was easy to identify - hooves clomping along the ground. Confused, I glanced around the barn, checking the stalls. Nearly all were occupied. The sound definitely wasn't from the farmer's horses, then. Visitors of some sort maybe, but why would anyone visiting here have so many mounts? Driven by those questions, I crept toward the barn door, so that I could peek out at the farm grounds. What I saw there froze the blood in my veins. It was the demon, astride a big, black steed, with a half dozen men riding along behind him. "Shit! What is he doing here?!" I hissed under my breath, as panic flooded me. It just didn't make any sense. On my various raids, I'd never seen such riders before. Could he have been there for me? How would he have even known I was there? Lost in those thoughts, I didn't even consider moving. It would've been so easy to sneak out the other way and vanish into the fields, but no, I just stood there watching. Had the demon been there for me, he would've found me, set upon me with his men, and killed me. Fortunately, he wasn't there for me. Instead of riding to the barn, the demon and his men stopped in front of the house. The beast dismounted smoothly, striding up to the door with gentlemanly precision. A moment later, the sound of a trio of knocks filled the air, then waiting. Curious about what was going on, I clung to my hiding spot, straining to hear. Eventually, a woman answered the door, bowing deeply to the demon. She was too soft spoken for me to make out her words, but the monster's deep voice resonated all the way to me. "Good morning, I am here in search of information about someone, a young woman," the demon began only to pause for a moment while the farmer's wife said something. "No, no one in your family or a nearby one. This woman appears to be a touched, tall with hair the color of a thornberry. She's also a thief who has been terrorizing those that live in this area. Have you seen someone of that description or suffered any recent thefts?" Again a pause. "No? Understood. If that changes, send someone into town to inform the guard. My thanks." With a dip of his chin, the demon turned around and marched right back to his horse. Mounting, he got moving again, men following behind him. From the looks of it, he was off to the next farm over. "Fuck," I muttered, ducking fully back into the barn. The last thing I wanted was that demon hunting me. It wasn't just because I didn't want to have to fight him again, either. He was an agent of the local lord. That meant the guards that had largely seemed unconcerned with my minor pillaging of local farmers would now be very interested in capturing me. It would be a lot harder to steal a wagon and flee with that kind of attention. Clearly, my failure the night before was not going to be easy to put behind me. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 10 - Day 11 "Damn it," I cursed as I hid behind the trunk of a tree, peering out from the forest that hid me. Out in the fields, I could see men on horseback, patrolling back and forth. It was obvious why they were there - me. With the information they'd gathered from the victims of my criminal activities, they'd apparently figured out that I must be taking refuge in the forest. Now, two patrols watched the boundaries of the woods, one in the east and one in the west. I was being blockaded. Fighting back my frustration, I tried to focus on analyzing the situation. Mounted patrols were daunting, but they weren't infallible. The men would still have to spot me, and there was a lot of space for them to cover, much of it with high brush, to get in the way of that. If I was careful, I could sneak by them. Even as I proposed stealth as an option, I shot it down. There were two major problems with it. One, was time. To assure my family's safety, we'd settled in a place that was far from other inhabitants. Likely, this was why the riders hadn't just come down on the lodge. They didn't know where it was or, possibly, that it even existed at all. It did, however, mean that I spent a lot of time hiking everyday just to go get food. If I had to creep along, dodging patrols, there would be no time for me to do anything else, which would be disastrous. Why that limitation was so problematic came from the second issue with the patrol. I needed to get more than just food. Basic necessities would keep my family alive, but they wouldn't improve our situation, and we needed it to improve. Otherwise, I would be stuck in the forest taking care of them while the other competitors worked on winning the contest that we'd been brought to Tannen for. That was tantamount to death. The problem was that, while I could sneak myself and food past the riders, I could not sneak a wagon by them. It was not a small or quiet vehicle. Stealth just wouldn't work. Shifting my attention to the riders themselves, I watched them closely. As I did, I focused on the idea of a battle with them. Doing so triggered the weird talent that I possessed. A string of possible attack patterns, likely responses, and anticipated outcomes flowed into my head. I didn't like what I saw. Whatever skills Alterra had given me, they weren't infallible. While my sense of tactics had proven quite prescient when foes came at me, that seemed to be derived from their movements, posture, and temperament in a combat situation. Looking at someone from afar gave me far vaguer predictions. I had some idea of their skill as riders and as soldiers, but no real certainty about how they'd react to an attack. That uncertainty was exacerbated by the fact that they had horses. The beasts gave them access to dangerous tactics while limiting my own options for attack. Worse, they essentially negated any hope of retreat. If I picked a fight and it turned south, there would be no way for me to extricate myself. I would just get run down. "Maybe sixty-forty ..." I mumbled, trying to put a number on the feeling that my talent gave me about the odds. They weren't bad odds, especially considering I was the sixty. However, they weren't the kind of odds that I wanted to gamble not just my own life on, but those of my family as well. For a while, I continued to stare at the adversity before me, trying to convince myself of one course of action after another. Round and round I went, but nothing that I considered seemed safe enough to try remained, at least, not at the moment. There was just too much at stake. Finally, I shook my head in frustration and turned away. Disappearing back into the forest, I started back toward the lodge. There was spare food for the day, so I didn't need to risk action quite yet. There was also my family. Maybe one of them would have some argument to make that would solve the dilemma. *********************************************** *********************************************** "Another quiet talk in the woods," my mother remarked as she settled down on the ground, lying against a tree. "I take it something bad happened on today's food run." "You could say that," I admitted as I plopped down on the ground as well, mirroring my mother's tree-backed recline. "It have anything to do with why you seemed so out of it after coming back yesterday?" my mother inquired, proving as observant as ever. I nodded. "Yep." After that confirmation, there was a moment of silence before my mother spoke up again. "Are you going to make me drag this story out of you or will you just start telling it, already?" "Sorry," I apologized with a helpless chuckle. "It's just ... well, anyway. There was some backlash from my attempted burglary of the lord's estate." "Makes sense," my mother replied, nodding in understanding. "Yeah, it does," I agreed. "It's a big problem, though. There are men on horseback patrolling the borders of the forest." That news had my mother scowling immediately. "How bad is it? Can we still get food?" Twisting my lips, I tilted my head about uncertainly. "Uhm ... yeah, I think I can slip through them if I have to. It'll be slow, though; probably take most of the day. I'll only be able to get food or other smalls things, too - nothing we could use to leave this place." Folding her arms, my mother spent a couple of moments considering that information before saying more. "I assume overpowering them isn't an option or you wouldn't be bringing this to me." "Well ... not exactly, but it's risky," I told her. "How risky," came the follow up question. "A coin flip? Maybe a little better." I estimated pessimistically. "It's hard to say, since I don't really know the exact limits of what Alterra did to me." Again, there was silence for a few seconds while my mother mulled things over. "Hmm, well ... we should probably treat that as a desperate measure at best." "That was my thought on it," I concurred. "The problem is, what other measures do we have besides desperate ones?" "Go at night?" my mother proposed. A doubtful expression crinkled my features. "I don't know. It might save us from the patrol, but I'm not sure I can manage to hitch up a horse to a wagon in the dark then drive it back here, or anywhere else for that matter, without damaging anything." "Still, something we could try, though," my mother countered. "After all, if anything goes wrong, it's just a wasted night." "True," I conceded, having been so focused on chance of success that I hadn't considered the minimal consequences of a failure that came with that plan. With a potential plan in mind, I set about deciding the details it would take to accomplish. I needed to spend some time familiarizing myself with the equipment, check to find out what if any presence the patrols had at night, and then plan a route. It would probably take a couple of days of prep, the maybe- "Actually, I think I have a better idea," my mother interjected. "Hmm?" I hummed, looking up from my thoughts. "What idea is that?" "We could take a wagon from one of the merchants on the road," my mother proposed. "That way, we completely avoid the threat of the patrols, and if we take one on its way out of town, it'll be fully stocked with supplies, so we can get to the next city." All of that was valid, but I still met this plan with some skepticism. "I don't know about that." "Why not?" my mother asked. "Well ... most merchants travel in large, well-defended groups to keep bandits away from them," I reasoned. "Obviously, I wouldn't be able to overpower such a group either." "There are lone merchants, though, too, right?" my mother noted. "I seem to recall you stealing from one a few days back to see if we could get some money." Nodding in confirmation, I gestured uneasily. "Yes, but, it'll be really bad for a solitary merchant if we steal their wagon and all their supplies." "And it won't be bad for a farmer when we do that?" my mother argued. "No, but a farmer still has their farm and crops. A merchant without wagon or wares is utterly destitute," I countered. "We'd basically be killing him." In that moment, my mother's features hardened. "And how is that different from what everyone who's seen you has been trying to do, hmm? This world hates you so much, you've been attacked on sight multiple times." "That's no excuse," I stated firmly. "Then what is an excuse, Adam?" my mother demanded. "Are the three of us an excuse, because if we don't leave, you know we'll die here eventually. If not soon, when winter comes and we can't keep ourselves warm and fed. If you go the riskier route, and you have to take that coin flip, and you lose it, we die. If you win the coin flip, chances are you'll have to kill someone in the fight. There's death everywhere and often unavoidable. You'd think after spending years in a war zone, you'd realize that." The callousness of the argument hit me hard, but I couldn't contest it. While I had never intentionally stolen everything someone owned from them, I had followed orders that had resulted in that. I had killed people to defend myself, my comrades, and the people we fought for. I was no saint. Did I really want to risk myself and my family for the sake of someone that would undoubtedly be glad to kill me if the positions were reversed? "I'll start watching the road in the mornings," I declared resolutely. "That's the most likely time a merchant would leave town. Plus, I can move from that to doing a food raid easily enough." "Think you can hunt?" my mother questioned. Surprised by the topic change, I crinkle my brow in confusion. "Uhm ... probably, why?" "I was just thinking that we should avoid those patrols altogether," my mother suggested. "No raids, just hunting and gathering from the forest until we can hit a merchant and disappear. That way, there's no chance of them catching you or following you back here." "Okay, I'll give it a try," I agreed without complaint. Honestly, I was glad to receive an order that would mean having to be less despicable, especially after what I'd just accepted a moment ago. "Don't be too stubborn about it, though," my mother warned. "If you're having trouble finding enough, just take the risk on slipping by them." I nodded curtly. "Yes, ma'am." "Good," my mother sighed in relief. "Then, I guess we're done here for now." *********************************************** *********************************************** Day 12 Chck ... chck ... chck ... my knife went, whittling away at the length of wood in my hand. It had already put a sharp point on the stick, and was now setting to work on smoothing out and balancing the rest of the length. At only four feet, it wouldn't be much of a spear, but that was the longest semi-straight section of branch that I'd been able to find. It would just have to do. As I worked, I listened for other sounds besides that of my own knife. After all, those other sounds were why I was sitting where I was, far from my family and behind some camouflaging brush. Just a few feet away, hidden from me by foliage, was the road from Vernera to the north. Even with the sound of whittling and the obnoxious chirp of early morning birds, I would easily be able to hear the loud clattering of a wagon as it trundled along. So far, several wagons had rolled by my hiding spot, but my mission remained unfulfilled. I was there in search of a solitary vehicle, a lone peddler that I could easily overpower and rob. I felt more than a bit horrible about that, but there was nothing else to be done. The mission was necessary, so I stuck to it, but no victims had presented themselves. So far, only one large group of wagons had passed by together. I'd scouted them just in case, but their guard detail and numerous workers quickly made it clear that it was a quarry that was beyond my ability. Pausing in my work, I glanced up, trying to gauge the sun through the trees. While not quite midday yet, it had been a few hours since dawn, so the chance of any more merchants coming through was pretty much non-existent. My hunting spear wasn't completed yet, though, making me wonder if I should keep up the vigil or just try to use the unfinished tool. Deciding that I should probably go ahead and get hunting, for berries or what-not if nothing else, I tucked my knife into my belt and started to push myself up from my seat. Halfway up, a new sound entered my ears, sending me ducking low. Fear gripped me as I realized what it was, hooves without the clatter of a wagon. Crawling forward, I peeked out of the brush to the road. There, I saw the source of the sound, a trio of mounted guards galloping along the way. The sight was actually relaxing. There was no demon with them and too few to really be a threat to me. In the woods where their horses would be far less useful, I could easily take them. Their speed seemed to indicate that I wasn't the reason for their presence, anyway. They were off to somewhere else. As that thought entered my mind, the moment of relief faded into worry. Why would a trio of guards be riding away from the town with all possible haste? Obviously, they had to be messengers. What if their message was about me? Were they summoning some sort of law man to hunt me down like some cheesy western? In reality, I knew that there were lots of messages that they could be carrying. At least, that was what I told myself to try to drive the worry away. There was nothing I could do about it, anyway. I could hardly stop all three of them while they were at full gallop. Even if I could, such an effort would require a level of brutality that I wasn't prepared to undertake. As such, they rode by me without my taking any action, leaving me with no option but to convince myself that it just wasn't going to be a problem. Still, it would probably be best to hurry up and escape from Vernera. "I need a target, though," I muttered once the riders were gone, shaking my head in frustration. No amount of urgency could make the task finish any quicker without that simple requirement being met. Sighing, I settled back into my seat. No matter how low the chances, I was going to spend the whole morning waiting for a potential victim. Besides, if nothing else, it gave me a chance to finish my spear. *********************************************** *********************************************** Day 13 "What the hell is that? A rabbit-squirrel?" Nicole questioned as I set down my catch for the day. Smirking, I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, but they sure look like it. Don't they?" "They do, but ... why do they have two tails?" my mother questioned, eyeing the small rodents uneasily. "More is better?" I guessed uselessly, having no idea how evolution might have resulted in such a thing. In fact, it just got me wondering if evolution was even a thing on Tannen. Had the gods just made all the animals the way they were? Were the so-called gods just a more evolved version of humans? Thinking about it, having gods and magic around really started to call a lot of things into question. At the very least, I should probably be careful about assuming things worked the same on Tannen as they did on Earth. Meanwhile, James was proving more useful than my idle musings, flipping open the book that he almost always had with him. "Apparently, it's called a chirrup." "Wait ... did you say 'cheer up'?" my sister questioned incredulously. My brother nodded. "That's what it says, but it's spelled c-h-i-r-r- u-p." Screwing her face up, Nicole shook her head disapprovingly. "This world is so weird." "Well, regardless of how weird it is, the real question is can we eat it," my mother steered the conversation to a more productive direction. "It's not gonna like give us rabies or dysentery or something, is it?" "Hmm ..." James hummed, dipping his gaze back to his book. A few seconds later, he pointed at a line and nodded. "Ah, here we go, says they are commonly caught by trappers for both food and fur." "I don't suppose there's also instructions in there for how to best butcher and prepare one, is there?" I inquired. While the question wasn't serious, my brother quickly scanned the page before shaking his head. "Nope, sorry, nothing like that." "Guess I'm going to have to experiment," I muttered in disappointment, not looking forward to the bloody mess that I was probably going to make. It would've been nice if I'd been able to find another berry bush like the day before, but things weren't that easy. In fact, over the last couple of days, I'd earned a real appreciation for the difficulty of living off the land. It was amazing to me that humans hadn't just all starved to death long before civilizations could ever start to form. "Well, don't do it here," my mother commanded. "I don't want this place reeking of blood and guts." "And I don't want to see it, either," Nicole added. "Just thinking about it is so gross." Chuckling, I bent down to pick up my catch again. "Good thinking. I'll take 'em out into the woods." *********************************************** *********************************************** Day 14 My jaw ached as I ground my teeth together. There was nothing else that I could do. It was just that and watch while the frustration boiled up within me, demanding an action that was at best foolish, and at worst, suicidal. The source of that emotion rolled along only a short distance away. There, half a dozen wagons with at least three times that many men aboard them passed by on the road from town and off into the forest. They were the first merchants that I had seen in a couple of days, the only hope that I'd had for completing my mission, and there was just nothing that I could do. Of course, I could've tried to assail the group. Twenty to one were impossible odds, though, and it wasn't like I could just dash in, grab a wagon, and vanish back into the woods. It would be impossible to even get a few feet into the brush before it was broken or bogged down for good. Even knowing all of that, I was still tempted to burst out of the brush and start pummeling people. I was just getting that desperate. Getting enough food for my family through hunting was proving to be quite a challenge. I was worried about those messengers that had slipped by. I was struggling with having enough patience to watch day after day slip by without any progress. Something needed to happen, to change this situation, but it wasn't, and nothing could be more aggravating. Stewing in that negativity, I watched the caravan slowly pass by until finally they vanished around a bend in the road. Once they were gone, I fell back, returning to my usual seat to flop there in defeat. Letting out a heavy sigh, I looked up at the canopy above me. "I don't know if you're up there watching me or what, but fuck you, Alterra," I spat, venting what little rage I could at the distant god that had dumped my family and me into this thoroughly deplorable situation. That was the extent of my abilities at the moment, ranting at the sky. What else could I do? I was just one man ... well, one woman, actually. No matter how skilled I was, I couldn't do everything on my own, but that was the requirement that had been placed upon me. If only my family could handle themselves, if only we could work as a team, as a squad like I was used to leading, then ... Pounding a fist against the ground, I shattered that line of thinking. It was pointless. I could do nothing with it but wallow. As much as I wanted to do exactly that, I knew that I couldn't. My family depended on me. The very situation that I so despised demanded that I be better, that I rise above it as a pillar of strength to those who had been robbed of any strength of their own. It was so hard, though. The days kept passing by without a single step forward, and I could feel the cracks spider-webbing through my resolve. I wondered how much longer I could handle the strain. While I wanted to say forever, I knew better. I'd seen men crack before, after having dealt with just one too many hidden bomb in the road or random ambush in the hills. Then, the stalwart soldier that they'd been molded into by the army shattered, and they were left a broken mess. "I just need a win," I told myself. If I could get that, if I could just bolster my spirits a little bit, I could hold on. No, I could do better than that. I could rebound from the strain as good or better than I'd ever been. All I needed was one big thing to go right. *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 11 - Day 15 "Alright ..." I begun as I helped James back into the pile of blankets that served as a bed. "Anyone need anything else before I head out today?" "Nope," Nicole answered promptly. "Just stay safe out there," my mother added. "Sure thing, Mom," I agreed, offering a quick wave as I turned to go. "See ya guys later." "See ya!" James chirped for the trio. With that farewell following after me, I ducked out of the room to get started with my day. The dull gray of early morning surrounded me as I threaded my way through the lodge's ruins to trek out into the forest. There, in solitude, I began the long walk to the road. Over the last few days, I'd grown quite used to this daily hike. Every day, though, there was a little more urgency in my step. No, it was more like desperation. I wanted to get there as quickly as I could, to find what my family needed, and to bring that deliverance back to them. At the same time, with every day that passed, I grew less and less hopeful that I would actually succeed in that mission. No real opportunities had even presented themselves, and the days kept grinding away, leading to that inevitable deadline when the competition would begin. I was started to feel almost certain that it would reach the four of us while we were still trapped in the forest. None of that doubt showed in my determined stride. My mission was clear, and I would not abandon it. No, I just marched right down the way, reaching the road shortly after gray had burned away into the gold of true dawn. In that light, I settled down in my usual hiding spot to wait. While I sat listening for any sounds of someone approaching, I tried to think of other plans that I could try. Maybe it was time to risk a night raid. The patrols apparently camped in the fields to guard the farmers, but I felt I could slip by them and find a wagon. The problem was getting it back through them undetected, but there was a chance I could manage that, too. Even if I couldn't, I knew that in the dark, where their horses would be less useful, I could easily elude them if they tried to catch me. In order to do that, I'd have to ditch the wagon, making me return home empty handed. Still, it had a chance of working out, even if it was a rather low one. By that point, however, I was beginning to think that it couldn't be any lower than the chance of anyone ever riding down that road alone. Sighing in frustration, I looked up at the canopy to silently curse the situation and the goddess that had put me in it. It was silly. She probably wasn't even watching, and if she was, I doubted that she could hear my thoughts, but it served as a brief break from the endless cycle of worry in my head. It was at that moment of depression that I finally heard it, the clack and clomp of someone approaching. Instantly, I reacted, jerking upright to listen intently. That eagerness was tempered by the pessimistic expectation that the sound amplify as more and more wagons came into earshot. That had happened to me so many times before. This time, however, it did not. I could only hear one vehicle. Excitement rushing through me, I scrambled up, creeping closer so that I could peek through the brush. Sure enough, there was just a lonely, covered wagon riding along. It was fairly large, pulled by two horses, and had two men riding on the bench. I knew that wasn't uncommon. Merchants often brought their eldest sons along on the road. Two men would be nothing that I couldn't handle. Even as my eagerness soared, I forced myself to hold to the tactics that I had planned for this moment. I would let the wagon get close, burst through the brush, and set upon the men quickly. If I could get a hand on the wagon before they realized what was happening, then they would not be able to do anything to escape. I could use that grip to hold on, climb up to the bench, and then defeat the two men. It was a simple strategy, but with no allies or weapons to allow for anything more complex, it would have to serve. Impatiently, I waited for my moment, watching as the vehicle slowly rolled forward. I used the time to assess the two men. For some reason, my senses told me that they were more competent in a fight than most merchants. Solitary merchants probably had to be tougher, though, since they lacked the guards and numbers to drive away threats through intimidation. It wouldn't matter, anyway. They weren't competent enough to be a threat. It took what seemed to be a very long time, but finally, my moment came. As the wagon came up to my hiding spot, I lunged, forcing myself past the bush that had hid me. The very slight rustle that I made was enough to draw the men's attention, but it wasn't alarming enough to get them to immediately crack the reins to drive the horses away. That was all the hesitation that I needed. "Hey!" one of the men shouted while his fellow popped up from his seat. Given that he was on the near side and unhindered by having to drive, the latter would be my first problem, so I prepared to face him as I reached the wagon. One hand lashed out to grab the wagon, making sure that I didn't risk losing the vehicle. It also helped pull me up just enough for the other hand to snake around the man's leg. I grabbed the back of his knee and yanked as hard as I could, even going so far as to push off from the sideboard to add force. Under such strain, the joint proved unable to resist. The man's knee bent, buckling the leg. Had he been on stable footing, he probably would've just dropped down to one knee, but he wasn't. He was precariously balanced atop a moving vehicle. As such, when he fell, he lacked the space and stability to drop straight down. Instead, he toppled a bit to the side, clipped the front and side boards of the wagon, then tipped right on over them. A moment later, he was yelling as he tumbled past me to hit the ground with a heavy thump. With the first obstacle out of the way, I prepared to pull myself up onto the wagon to deal with the second one, but I stopped. All at once, several little details struck me, and each was very, very wrong. For one, the driver did not try to speed off. Instead, he yanked the reins to stop the wagon. Secondly, I heard some odd sounds from the back. It could've just been his wares bouncing about, but some part of me knew that wasn't the case. Instead, the noise sent a warning chill down my spine. Sudden fear gripped me. Lifting a foot, I kicked off the wagon, tossing myself back a couple of feet before I hit the ground. When I did, I spun, preparing to run off into the woods. That was when I heard the sound of tearing cloth and boots on wood and dirt. I didn't even look back at the noise. It just confirmed that this was a trap, and I needed to run. "Loose!" a deep voice that I really didn't want to hear yelled. I had to be grateful to him, though. If not for the warning, it all would've ended right then. Abandoning my retreat, I planted a foot and spun. Then, I had just a moment to take in the situation. Men were pouring out of the back of the wagon, but they weren't the threat. No, the threat was two holes that had been slashed in the cloth. Through those holes, I could see three figures, two men with crossbows and the hulking ebon-skinned form of the demon. Then, the two men fired and my period of assessment was over. In my life, I'd been shot at several times, but guns were different than crossbows. With a gun, by the time you realized someone had fired their gun, you were already hit. That wasn't true with a crossbow. That didn't make the situation any less panic inducing, though. Luckily, while my mind froze, my body was ready. Twisting with seemingly impossible reflexes, I tossed one shoulder and foot back, flattening my profile. The move put me out of line of one of the shots, letting it zip by right in front of me, so that it just barely missed my hip. The second shot, however, was now dead on, coming in right above my waist. That trajectory didn't last when my hand came across in perfect time, chopping down upon it. The hit drove it out of line and into the dirt a couple of feet behind me. In the wake of that deflection, I just stood there for a moment, stunned by what had just happened. Not only had I just been fired upon, but I'd somehow survived it. The whole situation was just so overwhelming that I couldn't feel anything but shock. Unfortunately, that was a fatal error. "Surround her!" the demon yelled as he burst through the already torn cloth covering the wagon. Vaulting the side panel, he hit the ground and rushed at me. At the same time, the men with him were already swarming, attempting to block my escape. Back in the wagon, the men with the crossbows were also on the move, getting free of the vehicle while they started to reload. All of those threats hit my brain at once, snapping it out of its momentary stupor. At the same time, ideas flooded in about my opponent's skills, likely opening attacks, and general group tactics. That information all boiled down to one clear assessment - I was completely and utterly fucked. Having to stop to avoid the two shots had ruined my headstart. Without that, fleeing was no longer an option. If nothing else, the demon would be able to catch me, especially with the two crossbow men and his allies to slow me down. Once I was caught, he'd contain me long enough for his allies join the fight, leading to a numerical advantage that would be completely overwhelming. The problem was, that it was no less overwhelming if I tried to stand and fight. The only advantage to such a tactic was that it would be unexpected. I knew surprise wouldn't be enough to turn the tide, but it was the only edge that I had, and giving up wasn't an option. I had to at least try it. Gritting my teeth in determination, I darted forward and right. In that direction was a man that was a little too eager in his efforts to surround me. He clearly had no expectation that I would try to fight back, and that was all I needed. The gap between us vanished in a flash. He tried to get his sword around with a strike, but it was too slow. Before he could get it all the way around, my hand lashed up to catch him by the wrist. The swing lurched to a halt and a quick twist put the joint in a painful lock. The man's sword clattered to the ground just as my other hand lashed out. A loud crunch filled the air as my target's nose shattered. While that injury alone was enough to take him out of the fight, I didn't release the man. Outnumbered as badly as I was, he still had a purpose. Stepping forward, I twisted around and shoved, sending the reeling man staggering right into one of his allies that was coming to his aid. The two hit first each other then the ground as they tangled up in a mess of flailing limbs. By that point, my focus was already onto other things. Spinning away from the human projectile, I came around facing my next enemy. The advantage of surprise was already lost, so he swung immediately, forcing me to hop back to avoid having my gut slashed open. At the end of that hop, however, I planted my feet and burst forward. The man tried to bring his weapon back around, but my shoulder found him first, slamming into his chest. A short flight later, he, too, was on the ground, and the perimeter the guards had been trying to erect around me was shattered. "Stay back and keep her contained! Do not try to engage on your own!" I heard the demon shouting orders. Spinning around, I found he directing his remaining men with hand gestures, keeping them focused on surrounding me. If they succeeded, I was almost assuredly dead. I needed to- A sense of danger ran down my spine, and somehow, my body knew how to react, jerking into a desperate twist. I realized why a moment later when the clack of crossbow firing preceded the whistle of a bolt whizzing by somewhere nearby. I'd almost forgotten about my opponents' fire support. While I'd managed to save myself, the evasion had cost me precious time. Men were coming into position again, and the demon was stalking forward. Unlike his men, he carried no weapons, but with the wicked claws on his hands, I doubted that he needed any. Certain that engaging the demon at that time was a death wish, I spun and charged at another guard. He was the only man between me and the two crossbow men. If I could either incapacitate him or slip by, I could end the greatest threat that the guards could bring to bear on me. With that plan in mind, I bore down on the poor fellow. To his credit, he tried his best to defend himself. Having seen his friend downed for taking a big defensive swing, he tried a more controlled thrust. That proved to be an even worse tactic. It didn't even slow me down. I just spun around it, closing the remaining distance and using the momentum to deliver a powerful backhand to the man's face. He dropped like a log, knocked right out. I wanted to keep going right after that takedown, but again, a sense of danger struck me. Lurching to a stop, I hopped back, just in time to avoid being skewered by a second guard that had come to help his friend. The miss sent the man stumbling by in front of me, allowing me to just stick a foot out and send him tumbling to the ground. He wouldn't be out of the fight for long after that, however, and worse, he had cost me a precious couple of seconds. Without even looking back, I knew that my foes were closing in from all around. They'd finished encircling me, and were moments from striking. There was some chance of me trying to bolt forward and slip out of range, but I saw one of the crossbowman raise his weapon. I'd have to dodge, and when I did, that tactic would be decisively thwarted. Cutting left, I evaded both a stab from my right and the shot that the crossbowman tried to loose. A scream rang out behind me, indicating that the shot had probably hit one of the guards by accident. I didn't have time to worry about that, I had to- Desperately, I hopped to the side, just barely avoiding a swipe from one of the demon's claws. The miss didn't both him any, however. He just kept coming right behind it with another slash, forcing me to backpedal away from him. I knew that reaction was a very bad one, but I had to buy time and distance, even if it cost me in the long run. A moment later, the cost of my retreat manifested as my back bumped against the side of the wagon. There was no more room to run. I was pinned, and my enemies were circled around me at a safe distance. Worst of all the demon was continuing his assault Cursing silently, I moved to parry the next swipe, stepping forward. As I did, I raised both arms, letting the monster's forearm smack harmlessly against my own. Well, it was supposed to be harmless. Big and strong as he was, I was still staggered through my efforts to brace myself. Even with my balance slightly compromised, though, I flowed into a counter, coming in with a lunging elbow. Apparently having some respect for me after our last fight, the demon stepped back to get out of range rather than let the blow land or try to intercept. I wanted to pursue, to try to press my momentum, but it wasn't possible. The clack of a crossbow forced me to stop and hop back, avoiding the bolt but sacrificing any edge that I might have had in the process. In the wake of that shot, there was a brief lull in the fight while my ebony adversary reset himself. I spent the time on heavy, panted breaths and a quick glance about the area. That look painted a dire picture, surrounded as I was with a massive brute moments away from coming at me once more. I needed a way out, something that could drop the demon. A good punch, even a kick probably wouldn't be enough for that, though. I needed a weapon, but none of the guards stood close enough for me to effectively attack them without the beast getting me from behind first. In that instant, it seemed hopeless, but then a slight movement in the corner of my eye gave me an option, a very risky and desperate one. Still, my strange sense for combat said it was possible. That would have to be enough. As I made my plans, the demon came forward again, trying once more to get his claws on me. The bony protrusions glinted as he lunged, and I cursed his choice of timing. There was nothing I could do but adapt to it, though. Spinning, I slipped out of the way of the strike. Midway through, my hand shot up, and I executed the riskiest maneuver that I had ever tried I attempted to catch the next crossbow bolt to come at me in midair. There was the sensation of wood as my grip closed, followed by the burning friction of trying to stop all that speed. I thought for sure that I'd messed up, that it would just tear free and slam into my face, but somehow, it didn't. Instead, the bolt was stopped, held firm in my hand. There was no time for me to marvel at the feat. I just kept going right around, finishing my spin to come face to face with the monster again. Bolt held like a knife, I thrust out. The beast didn't try to dodge, in fact he leaned into the strike, attempting a follow up attack to his previous swipe. Mine landed first, the sharp metal point of my stolen and improvised weapon lancing through clothes, skin, and muscle. It wasn't enough. There was only a faint flicker of pain across the demon's face as his own attack continued. Franticly, I tried to get my empty hand up to block, but that wasn't enough either. The strike plowed through my defenses and the next thing I knew the air was being crushed from my lungs while pain flared in my chest. The hit knocked me back, sending me crashing into the side of the wagon. Rather than crumble, I used that collision to help me bounce back, going immediately on offense. My opponent was distracted by the bolt that I'd stabbed him with, giving me the moment that I needed to make the switch. My opening was a jab to his face. He blocked. I followed with a lightning straight from the other side. He partially deflected, letting my fist graze across his cheek. I was already in there again, this time an uppercut. Here, he failed. The strike slipped up from beneath his guard to crunch his chin. That staggered him, allowing my next punch to blow through a weakened guard and smash him straight in the face. Now, reeling, I went for more, spinning about to launch a kick at his chest. Incredibly, it landed, but I knew even before it did that it just wasn't going to be enough. I hadn't been able to get enough force behind it. As predicted, the demon stumbled back, but he did not fall. He gritted his teeth, rubbed at his chest, and recovered. Then suddenly, I sensed something coming, something that made me hesitate. The demon apparently noticed the same thing, trying to turn in what appeared to be an attempted dodge. I realized why a moment later when a streak of brown and gray struck from the side, driving deep into his shoulder right next to the bolt that I'd planted there. Unlike my kick, this weapon, a spear, provided enough force and damage to overwhelm the demon's steel like resilience. He went down, back crashing into the dirt. The hit was followed by a gasped hiss of true pain. Vaguely, my mind registered a couple of riders approaching, one of which had thrown the spear. Far more important to me, though, was that this was my opportunity. The only true threat was down. If I could just finish him off, I could conclude the fight. With that single purpose, I started forward. At the same time, so too did the circle of guards. However, distracted by the new arrivals and down their greatest asset, they weren't much of a threat to me. I easily slipped around the strike of the first one to reach me. I caught his wrist, then with a twist and a jerk, his sword was now mine, just in time for me to drive the pommel of it into his sternum and plant him on the ground. The next one to come at me was parried with my stolen sword before receiving a fist to his throat. The third, I didn't even have to block. Spinning to orient on him, I lashed out with a foot, caught him in the gut, folded him over, and dropped him on his ass. With him down, no one stood between me and my target. While I'd been focused on his lackeys, the demon had manage to recover. He was on his feet again and had even ripped the spear from his shoulder. That left his uniform a bloody mess, but he was not defenseless. Still, any defense would be hindered, and I needed him down for good, so I prepared to charge. Unfortunately, I never got the chance. I had barely taken a single step forward when, yet again, interference kept me away from the demon. As before, it was a crossbow bolt, but this one was different. Neither of the two guards had fired it, and it wasn't actually aimed at me. It was aimed at, and hit, the dirt right in front of me feet, clearly intended to halt my advance. It succeeded at that, too, forcing me to lurch to a stop rather than risk one of my feet getting pierced. "Retreat!" the demon yelled, taking advantage of my forced pause. The men around him immediately moved to follow the command, picking up and carrying those allies that were either unconscious or too injured to flee on their own. I made no effort to prevent the escape of the demon or his men. If they were willing to leave, that was fine by me. All I cared about was that the battle was over. Besides, I had a different worry, now. With that in mind, my attention focused on the two newcomers. As I did, two questions ran through my head. Why had they saved me from the ambush, and what were they planning to do next? *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 12 - Day 15 It was with considerable uncertainty that I held my stolen sword up before me. The situation that I found myself in was just too much of an unknown to do anything else. Maybe, I wouldn't need it further. Maybe, my battle had only just begun. The cause for such worries were the two people that had arrived on the scene, helping bring about the end of my fight with the demon and his guards. Like that towering, ebony opponent, these two were quite odd. Specifically, they seemed to be part animal. The woman, who was closest and the first to involve herself in the previous altercation, looked like she had been crossed with a cat. Every part of her that wasn't covered by her leather attire was covered instead by tawny fur. On her head, that fur grew longer, creating a thick, wild hairstyle that appeared to have twin triangular cat ears thrusting out from it. At least, the rest of her was human shaped, with a tall, lean build and attractive features. The yellow cat eyes that looked back at me were somewhat disconcerting, however, especially when combined with the handaxes on her belt and a sense that she was quite skilled at using them. Trotting up next to the catwoman was the second interloper, a man. He was shorter than the woman with a stocky build and no fur. However, he still had odd traits to his appearance. His long black hair had twin, white streaks running through it, starting at his temples. Furthermore, he had fairly prominent ears that looked to have hair growing on the outside of them. The most important trait to me had nothing to do with his appearance, though, but with the crossbow that he held in his hands. "Why am I letting bandits go, Elric?" the woman questioned acerbically as the man rode up next to her. "Because they're not bandits," the man, Elric apparently, explained. "Judging by their equipment, I'd say they're the local guards." The woman furrowed her brow in confusion. "Guards? Why would guards be attacking a lone woman?" That question had Elric turning my way to ask, "What's your crime, miss?" There were a lot of possible answers to that. I had committed many crimes, but all with extenuating circumstances. This wasn't the time to get into all of that, though. I needed to determine if these two were friends or foes, deal with them, and get back to my family. "Theft," I answered honestly. "You going to attack me for it, too?" "What did you steal?" Elric asked, adopting a tone of voice that seemed deliberately non hostile. "Only what we needed to survive," I answered. "Food mostly. Sometimes money to buy it with." Elric raised an eyebrow at that answer. "We?" "My family and I," I clarified. Rather than continue his questioning, the sound of more approaching horses had the man glancing back over his shoulder. He was just in time to see two more riders round the bend and come into view. Both seemed on edge initially, but quickly relaxed once they spotted their companions. Compared to the first two, these newcomers were not nearly so strange. One was a tall, powerfully built man. He had a presence about him that exuded a regal strength. That appearance sat at odds to my assessment of him which was that he was a capable but not exceptional warrior. Perhaps the group's leader? The last member of the group, a blonde woman, while not strange- looking, was perhaps the most out of place of the bunch. The first three were all armed warriors of various capabilities. This woman was unarmed, and I could clearly tell that she had none of the combat training of her cohorts. It would undoubtedly have been pointless for her to even attempt to learn anything like that. She was very short and delicately built. I might even have described her as petite if not for hefty expanse of cleavage that was revealed by her dress's neckline, a garment that looked more suited to dancing on a stage than riding about a forest. Of course, with breasts like that, that probably would've seemed true of any attire she chose. Small as she was everywhere else,her bust was far bigger than the mine, and I considered my own a considerable nuisance. "Nice of you to finally show up!" the catwoman shouted at the new arrivals. "Sorry!" the tall, regal man yelled back while he and the blonde woman rode closer. "You two bolting like that spooked the pack horses! I had to help Terra wrangle them!" While the apparent friends exchanged greetings, worry started to creep into me, putting a frown on my face. "So, you were stalling for reinforcements." "What? No," Elric reassured me. "We're not going to fight you." "You're not?" I questioned, offered the odd-looking man a suspicious look. So far everyone that I'd met in this world had wanted to see me dead from the moment they saw me. Only the ones too afraid to get into a fight didn't attack me, and these four clearly weren't afraid of combat. However, they were clearly quite strange. Elric shook his head. "Don't plan to, anyway." "So, who's the girl?" the short, blonde woman asked as she and the lordly fellow finally reached their allies and came to a stop. At that proximity, I couldn't help but notice that she was quite stunning to look at, and not just because of her assets. Every one of her features were gracefully flawless, almost to the point of seeming impossible. She also had long, pointed ears, making me wonder if elves existed in this world, because that was what she looked like to me. "And where are the bandits we heard?" the commanding man added as he looked around suspiciously. Like with the blonde, getting a closer look at this guy also revealed his rather considerable attractiveness. Given how different they were, it was hard to compare the two, but the guy looked like he should be on the cover of something, a romance novel or magazine, anything really. He was just one of those guys that prompted a flash of jealous hatred from any man that saw them. That feeling was especially strong for me after having a goddess forcibly strip my own manhood away. I would've much rather she'd made me look like this guy. "They weren't bandits, and they ran off," Elric explained, working to catch his friends up on what had happened so far. "As for who she is, I haven't gotten a chance to ask her for her name yet." "It's ..." I began only to have my caution put a hitch in my response. I'd wanted to identify myself as Adam, but that name was from another world and belonged to a man. That didn't seem like the kind of information that I should just reveal. The guidebook had even mentioned that I had a different name here, so I was probably supposed to use it with people. "Rania. Rania Fahren." The stout man bowed politely at the name before pointing to each of the friends in turn. "I'm Elric. The lovely feelan next to me is my wife, Adria. The handsome fellow with the chiseled jaw is Altanus Calidorn, Lord of Lyr. Oh, and the pointy-eared bimbo is Terra." "I'm not a bimbo, asshole!" Terra exclaimed defensively before turning her attention back to me. "It's a pleasure to meet you." "Likewise," I replied stiffly, somewhat bemused by the quartet before me. They seemed sincere, but they were also ... somewhat off. Maybe it was just because I was so used to negative reactions that anyone being friendly felt strange. "Rania is a thief who we apparently rescued from local law enforcement," Elric informed the two who had missed that part of the conversation. "Quite the warrior, too," Adria added. "Was holding her own against a half dozen men and what looked like an actual a demon." The stocky guy nodded. "That too. It seems some family issue drove her to crime. I was thinking we might be able to help her out." Frowning, the lord turned to peer at me critically, but the words that followed were clearly directed at his friend. "We don't have infinite time or money, you know." "We were going to waste half a day in Vernera anyway, and it doesn't cost us anything to figure out her situation," the other man countered. "Alright. We can help her as long as Adria and Terra are fine with it," Altanus conceded, although, he didn't sound too happy about it. "Well, I'm definitely for it," the blonde beauty answered enthusiastically. Seeming less interested in the situation than her fellows, the catwoman shrugged. "I don't mind helping either." "Great!" Elric declared before turning back to me. "Why don't you tell us a little more about your family and situation." As strange as these four had been so far, this offer was truly surprising to me. Not only were they not afraid of me or planning to attack me, but they actually wanted to help, even after finding out I was a criminal. Such altruism seemed impossible, like they were heroes from a story book that had somehow been ripped off the pages and brought into the world. "Wait ... you guys are serious?" I questioned in disbelief. "You really want to help me?" Smiling, the shorter guy nodded. "That's the plan. Why? Did you not want help?" "No, I do. It's just ... " I began only to trail off. There were a lot of ways I could've finished that sentence, but I didn't know which to say or if I should say any of them at all. There were just so many variables, and I was still too bewildered by the offer to give them proper consideration. "I know it's hard to believe, a bunch of people just randomly showing up to help you, but that's just the kind of people we are," Elric told me, apparently aware of how peculiar he and his friends were. "Call it a personality quirk." Even with that explanation, I didn't know how to respond. On the one hand, these were strangers in a strange world. I knew almost nothing about them or their motivations. The timing of their arrival was both serendipitous and a bit suspicious. On the other hand, without their aid, I was certain that I would've lost and my family would've died. Furthermore, I clearly needed help. The first chance that I'd had in days to improve things had turned out to be a trap. Time was running out, and the noose would only close as the demon and his cohorts continued to hunt me. These four were such a risk, but were they the best chance that I had? "Alright, follow me. The middle of the road isn't a good place to talk, and I need to get home," I finally agreed, dropping my stolen sword as I prayed that I was making the right decision. *********************************************** *********************************************** Crunch, crunch, crunch, I heard the hooves of the four riders that followed me. With every sound, I grew more uncertain. Was I making the wrong decision? Should I just bolt into the trees? Mounted as they were, they would struggle to pursue me, and I knew the forest in the area very well. I could probably lose them. If they searched for long enough, though, they might find the lodge. Was it better to fight? Honestly, I doubted I could beat them if it came down to it. It wasn't like they were poorly trained guards. Besides, I needed their help. I was just overthinking things. That's all. "Wait, you really caught a crossbow bolt in midair?" Terra asked from where she rode beside me. Focused more on my worries than the conversation that the elven beauty was trying to have with me, I mumbled absently, "Yeah ... I guess." I had done that during the fight. Hadn't I? It was hard to believe that I'd actually tried something so dangerous, but it was pretty impressive. "She fought a demon with nothing but her bare hands, too," Adria remarked from behind Terra. "While surrounded by his henchmen." Terra's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? That's amazing! I bet Adria couldn't even do that." "Pfft, the demon didn't look that tough. I coulda taken him," Adria boasted before a hint of uncertainty tempered her arrogance. "Probably not the henchmen too, though. That was really something." "Uhm ... thank you," I responded stiffly, not really sure what to do with the praise. It wasn't as if I had used some skill that I'd worked to develop. My combat prowess was just a random boon from a goddess, a boon that was poor compensation for the curses that she had lathered upon both my family and myself. "Why were you fighting with them anyway?" Terra inquired. That question pulled a heavy sigh out of me as I shook my head. "I didn't want to fight them. I thought I was going after a solitary merchant, but it turned out it was an ambush." "Ah ... makes sense," the blonde acknowledged. "Lucky we happened along to help you with it, then." "Yep," I answered distantly as I tilted my head slightly away from the woman that was speaking. I could hear other voices, the two men that rode in the back. They were talking about something, but even straining, they proved too quiet for me to overhear. That was worrisome. If they were deliberately talking that softly, it could only mean that they wanted to hide their conversation from me. Some sort of plan to capture me once I led them to my family? It would make sense. I was a criminal after all, and the tall one was supposedly a lord of the realm. He was likely an ally to that demon, or maybe just thought that I could be used as some sort of political leverage. There was only one thing that I was pretty certain of, that nothing good was likely to come of whatever they were discussing. "So, you said you have a family that you're taking care of," Terra segued after a momentary pause. "Is that like a sick husband or ...?" "Husband?!" I blurted in surprise, scrunching my face up in distaste. "Definitely not." "Children then?" the blonde pressed for information. I shook her head. "No, no children either. Three sisters." "Sisters? If they're anything like you, they must be pretty young to need help," Terra commented. Just thinking about my family's condition filled me with worry and gloom. "No, they're only a little younger than I am and not nearly as lucky. They're ... fragile. Without me ... they wouldn't make it." "Oh ... I see ... " the woman mumbled before drifting off into an apologetic silence. *********************************************** *********************************************** "Well, it's not much, but here it is," I declared, gesturing toward the hunting lodge that served as shelter for my family and me. As I'd said, it wasn't much of one, but in this case that was actually a good thing. Pity would make the four strangers more likely to offer significant help and less likely to throw me under the bus. "My home." "You're right. It's not much," Adria commented bluntly. "Four of you really live here?" I nodded. "Yes, well my family shares the room. I sleep outside, as often as not." "Can we meet them?" Elric asked. "Of course," I answered more readily than I really felt. After all, I had no idea how they would react to seeing my family, nor how my family would react to seeing them. Still, it was the kind of thing that had to happen, so I started off toward the house. "Come with me." "I'll stay with the horses," Altanus offered, leaving the other three to dismount and follow. Stepping into the ruined part of the house, I wove around debris to get to the door. There, I knocked softly before pulling open the rickety old slab of wood and stepping inside. The three friends followed in right behind me. Inside, the room was as dark and bare as usual, with my family lying in bed as they often did while I was away. One seemed to have been napping, rubbing at her eyes as I came in. The other two were ready to offer greetings, but whatever words they'd planned died when they saw that I had company with me. Instead, they just stared at the people that I'd brought, one with eyes wide in surprise the other with them narrowed in suspicion. "These are my ... sisters, Lynn, Amenia, and Krea." I introduced, gesturing at the three girls before turning to do the same to the newcomers. "And these, are some friends of mine, Elric, Adria, and Terra." "It's nice to meet you," the narrowed eyed one greeted in thin, raspy voice that barely managed a whisper. The other two parroted the words, in even softer voices, which was enough to tell me that the speaker was my mother. "I hope you'll forgive us for not getting up." "That's quite alright," Elric assured her. "It's ... uhm ... nice to meet you three as well," Terra offered, clearly forcing herself to sound pleasant in the face of the obvious plight of my family. Abandoning her suspicious look, my mother adopted a warm and probably fake smile as she asked, "So, how did you all meet?" "We saved your sister from some trouble on the road," Elric answered. "Well, mostly Adria did." Adria gave my family a curt wave when her name came up. "After that, we came here, hoping to help further." "Trouble on the road?" my mother questioned, turning to me. "What kind of trouble?" "It wasn't anything serious, just some idiots trying to harass me," I lied, not wanting to get into how close the end had been in front of my brother and sister. "Adria chased them off." Nodding in understanding, my mother turned back to the newcomers. "I appreciate you helping my sister, but we really can't impose on you any further." "But-" I started to argue, only for my mother to shoot a warning glance my way that forced me into silence. "It's really not an imposition," Elric spoke up where i could not. "We want to help." The stout man's insistence made my mother's false smile waver a bit with obvious worry, but she quickly recovered. "I don't mean to be rude, but could you excuse us? I need to speak with Rania, privately." Taken aback, it took Elric a moment to nod. "Of course. We'll be outside." Without saying more, the three friends quickly left the room, leaving me alone with my family. All four of us remained silent. My mother clearly wanted to give the newcomers time to move away from the room while my siblings, and I knew that she was going to take charge of the situation when the time came. "Make sure that they're not eavesdropping on us," my mother directed after a few moments. "Yes, ma'am," I acknowledged, turning to crack open the door. Peeking out, I checked not just the area right outside, but the clearing as well to confirm that the newcomers had regrouped with their lord and were chatting about something. With that resolved, I closed the door and turned back to my mother. "No one's listening." "Good, then you can start by explaining what happened on the road," my mother commanded. I glanced uneasily at my brother and sister. "Right now?" "Yes, now," my mother reiterated. "Everyone needs to know why you brought strangers here, so that we can all work together to figure out what to do about it." Nodding in compliance, I began my tale. "Well, it all started when I heard a solo wagon coming down the road ..." *********************************************** *********************************************** Chapter 13 - Day 15 "And they just offered to help us?" my mother questioned incredulously. Yes," I confirmed, although, I could certainly understand her disbelief. I was having a little trouble believing it myself. "Even after they found out that I was a thief being hunted by the law." "They must want something, then," my mother muttered suspiciously. "I considered that, but what could they want?" I questioned pointedly. "I have no money, possessions, or clout. All I can do is fight, and they only saw me do that for a few seconds of a fight I was losing." Frowning, my mother folded her arms and shook her head. "I don't know, but there's something fishy about this. Always is when strangers say they wanna help." "Maybe they just like feeling superior?" Nicole spoke up. "There are a couple of girls at school that won't shut up about how they help out some charity while the rest of us just hang out and look at our phones. Only reason they do it is so they can brag about it." "Maybe, but who would they brag to around here?" I countered, glancing about the room. "It's not like there's social media in this world. It's just the four of us, who they're helping, and the four of them." My sister shrugged. "Maybe that's the best these assholes can get in the dark ages?" Considering that, I shook my head. "No, they could just go into town and drop some money in the square if they wanted recognition." "Then, I don't know. Maybe they're just actually nice people," Nicole surmised before sarcastically adding, "Not that any of those exist." "I'm not sure anyone is this nice," I remarked critically. "I mean ... I could understand helping some random family down on their luck, but we're not just some random family. These guys are the first people to even look at me without their eyes being full of disdain. Plus, I'm a dangerous criminal. It's weird that they would offer me, of all people, help." My sister smirked. "Why'd you bring 'em here if you think they're so suspicious?" "Because, whatever their motives, we need help," I sighed in frustration. "All of my efforts to get us out of here have been thwarted, and there've been some pretty close calls along the way, including the one that just happened. Plus, next time, there probably won't be a group of strangers riding to my rescue." The smirk faded from my sister's face, replaced by worry and a defeated nod. That reaction also prompted a wince from me. I'd been trying so hard to keep their spirits up, to not let them know just how dire our situation was. Now, both Nicole and James knew just how close we were to disaster, a disaster that they could do nothing to avert. All they could do was watch it come while hoping that I could protect them. How much hope would they have left after this conversation? "Well, anyway ... Mom's right that those people are definitely weird in some way," Nicole spoke up again to fill the silence that had threatened to fall over the room. "I mean, did you see that blonde? I couldn't believe that she didn't fall right over." That remarked earned a snicker from me. "Not the kind of weird I think Mom's talking about." "Is it, though?" my sister questioned. "If I had to lug those things around, I don't think I'd be riding around the countryside. I'd seduce some rich guy and lounge by a pool or something." "Well, the fourth guy, the one that didn't come in, seemed to be some kind of lord," I noted. "Maybe he's her husband?" "No way," James interjected. Smirking, Nicole tossed our brother a sidelong glance. "Sounds like someone's got a crush." "I do not!" the former boy denied fervently. "There's just no way she's married to some human lord." "Why not?" I inquired, perplexed by the certainty in my brother's voice. "'Cause she's an elf," James stated matter-of-factly. "So?" I asked, unsurprised to have the former boy confirm that the pointed ears indicated that the girl was some sort of elf. "What's that got to do with?" James rolled his eyes in exasperation. "'Cause elves are slaves." "They are?" I double-checked. Tapping the tome beside him, my brother nodded confidently. "Yep, book said so. Actually, their whole group is real weird. The short guy, he's a kredger, I think. They're usually slaves, too. And the cat girl, she's a feelan. They're not slaves, but they're like native americans or something; run around huntin' stuff and attacking settlers." "So the lord's dragging his sex toy around with him?" Nicole questioned rhetorically. "Must be one hell of a fuck." "Nikki!" my mother snapped, looking up from her thoughts. Rolling her eyes, my sister sighed out a disingenuous, "Sorry, Mom." "Language aside, they do seem to be awfully odd," I remarked. "Too odd," my mother muttered, shaking her head. "Nothing about them makes any sense. They're completely out of place." "Or maybe the town we got stuck in is," I postulated. "They do have a demon in charge of them." Scrunching her face up, my mother gave that a moment's thought before shaking her head. "No, the demon is weird, but other than that the town makes sense. They hate you for being a touched, just like the book said they would. From what you've said, the town and people seem pretty authentically medieval, lots of farmers and peasants just trying to scrape by under some greedy lord. These four, though ... " At a loss, I just shrugged and said, "I don't know what to tell you, except we should be glad that they're weird. We need help, and they're the only ones peculiar enough to offer it." "True ..." my mother conceded, nodding slowly. "I just wish I knew what their deal was. I hate relying on people I don't understand." "Maybe they're so out of place 'cause they're from Earth, too," Nicole remarked, her voice casual and even a bit joking. Neither my mother nor myself took it that way, however. Instead, we shared a look that said we were both thinking the same thing - that Nicole's flippant explanation made sense. In fact, it made a lot of sense. "That would explain why they don't hate me," I mused aloud. "They wouldn't have the incorrect superstitions of the people in this world." "They might not even know what a touched is, yet," my mother added. "Given how people react to them, I imagine that there are very few that make it to adulthood much less wander about where they might be noticed." I nodded in agreement. "Very true. Plus, it would explain their weird hodgepodge of races and why they're running around helping random people. It's like they're playing a game." "There's even four of them and four of us," my mother continued on the roll. "But we're completely different," Nicole argued. "I mean, Adam's the only one who gets to actually do anything. The three of us are just hostages. Unless you wanna say that elf is being held hostage by her giant rack, those four are clearly not dealing with the same kind of shit we are." "There's no guarantee that the other champions are like us," I countered. "Maybe every group had to have four, and Alterra just decided to use three as hostages while all of the available resources got allocated to the fourth." "So you're saying I've been stuck in this bed bored out of my damn mind for days 'cause we just got the shitty, asshole god?!" Nicole blasted furiously. "Fuck that!" "Nikki-" I started to say, hoping to calm her, but I never got the chance. "Oh no!" my sister yelled. "I don't wanna hear anything from you! You got to run around all practically perfect! The only thing you had to deal with was losing your fucking dick!" "That's enough Nikki!" our mother cut in sharply, glaring at the enraged girl. "I get that you're mad, but we've got more important things to worry about right now, not the least of which is making sure that those guys outside don't realize that we're their competition, so keep your voice down." Glaring right back at our mother, Nicole let out a growl and folded her arms in a huff. At least, that was a much quieter activity, so there was no worry about someone overhearing. I was still a little worried about it, though, so I snuck back to the door to double check on the people outside. To my relief, they were still a good ways away, involved in their own activities. "Doesn't seem like they heard us," I noted after closing the door and turning back to my family. "It's also possible that we're just jumping to conclusions about them. There can't be that many contestants. It's probably just as likely to meet some random weirdos or even people dragged here for completely different reasons." "True," my mother agreed. "We need to find out for sure." "Yeah, but how?" I asked I inquired. The smack of a hand on leather pulled everyone's attention to James, who was holding up the guidebook that Alterra had given us. "How about this thing? Supposedly all the teams got one, so if they're like us, they're probably carrying it." "Good idea, James," our mother complimented before turning back to me. "You just need to search through their things and see if you can find it." "Alright, but how?" I repeated myself. "I doubt they're gonna let me just rummage through their stuff if I ask 'em really nice. Even if they were that open, they'd probably wonder why I was doing it." Nodding, my mother took a moment to mull the problem over before she spoke again. "They want to help us, right?" "That's what they say," I confirmed. "So, what you need to do is insist on paying them back," my mother told me. "Since, like you said, you have nothing but combat skills, you can use that as an excuse to get yourself invited along on whatever they're up to. That way, we get out of this crappy situation and get close to our opposition. Plus, if it turns out they're not, maybe they'll be willing to keep on helping us through the contest." That plan earned an uneasy look from me. I'd joined the army not the CIA. Strength and straightforwardness were my things, not deception and subterfuge. There wasn't anyone else who could do it, though, and the plan was clearly the best option available. I would just have to do my best. "Okay," I agreed reluctantly. "If we're gonna do this, though, we need to get our stories straight, and stop using our real names." My mother nodded. "Definitely, but we can work that out later. We've already made them wait around long enough. You need to go convince them to take us along." "Right. On it," I replied, turning back to the door. I didn't open it right away, though, taking a moment to gather myself and get my mind in the right place for what I had to do. Only then did I leave the room behind. Outside, I found the four friends still waiting patiently. They'd fallen quiet, each doing their own thing to pass the time. The catwoman, feelan according to James, was idly twirling her spear. The elf was seated against a tree, looking like she was about to fall asleep. The lord and kredger were both reading. The first seemed to have some sort of scroll or map in his lap. The second had a ... was that the guidebook that I was supposed to be looking for? I would've liked to have had the chance to sneak forward and see what exactly that leather bound tome was, but I didn't get the chance. The feelan noticed my presence as soon as I cleared the ruins. Jerking her spear to a stop, she sighed in relief. "Finally, I thought you guys were never gonna stop talking," Adria complained. The other three all looked up at those words, and both Altanus and Elric moved to put away the items that they'd been reading. The former did so while rising to his feet and saying, "I can't imagine it's easy to trust random strangers offering help. They probably thought we were trying to trick them somehow." "Trick 'em out of what? Their squallor?" the kredger joked as he too scrambled to his feet. "Their freedom," the lord corrected seriously. Shrugging, Elric turned his attention to me. "Well, anyway, what did your family have to say, Rania?" "A lot," I mumbled evasively before adding a suspicious, "How are you going to help?" "Well, we have a few ideas, but they're mostly centered around cleaning up your legal issues then setting up you and your family with something a little better than an abandoned lodge in the woods," the kredger answered helpfully. Nodding, I looked down thoughtfully, considering the offer. It seemed fine on its own, but there were two contextual problems. One, it seemed unaware of how difficult it would be for a touched to live safely even if they gave me a proper home. That seemed to be yet more proof that they were from Earth just like me. That wasn't as important as the second issue, though. I needed to get myself included in their journey, and the proposed solution didn't involve that. How could I get them to consider such a thing, though, especially without it looking like I was inviting myself along? "We don't have much to offer in return," I noted, trying to guide the conversation to recompense. If I could convince them that I wouldn't help without paying them back, they'd pretty much have to take me along. After all, fighting was all I could do. "That's alright. We're not looking for a reward or anything," Elric assured me. While that wasn't a good start, I stayed the course and shook my head. "We won't take charity." "What about joining us on our quest in return, then?" the elf spoke up, apparently having risen from her nap while I was focused on the others. There it was, the request that I was looking for, and it was far quicker than I'd expected to get it. I had to fight to keep my eagerness off my face and out of my response, though. It couldn't look like this was what I wanted. I had to seem reluctant and unexpecting. "What?" I questioned, but the tone was a little off. To compensate, I tried to give the elf a confused look, hoping that would sell my feigned doubt better. Sighing, Elric tossed a glare at Terra. "What she means is that we are in the middle of a mission that we could use some help on. That way it would be an exchange of favors, not charity. It's a very dangerous mission, though." "I'm not worried about dangerous," I answered quickly, not wanting to give them reason to retract the invitation. When I said it, though, I nearly winced. It sounded a little too eager, so I quickly added, "If you're willing to help my family and me, I'd be willing to help you with your ... mission." "You don't even want to know the details first?" Altanus questioned suspiciously. Worry flared in me at the lord's reaction. Apparently, I'd still sounded too eager. How could I explain that away? Bravado? No, that would be hard for me to sell. Maybe, uhm ... "No ..." I began, elongating the word and shaking my head as I rushed to think of a solution. Finally, something popped into my head. "It wouldn't change anything; just give me the chance to second guess myself." The lord didn't seem to approve of that answer, but he nodded anyway. "I guess that's fine as long as you don't second guess yourself in the middle of the job." Resisting the urge to sigh in relief, I offered a resolved, "I won't," to reassure him. "Anyway, the first thing we'll need to do here is secure a pardon from the local lord for your thievery," Elric moved on. "It shouldn't be that hard, but my friends and I will need to head into town to talk to her. In case we can't work something out, it's probably best if you wait here." "That's fine," I agreed readily, even as I worried a little about them leaving. It was possible that they were lying to make it easier to slip away from someone that they'd decided was suspicious to involved themselves with. It was also possible that I was being paranoid. There was little that I could do about the first one, but the second one meant sucking it up and getting ready for the actually job of accompanying them when they returned. I focused on the latter. "Is there anything I should be doing while you are gone?" "Well, if you have anything to pack, you probably should pack it," Elric told me. "We'll want to get moving again as quickly as we can." "Alright. I'll get started on that," I answered, offering a quick nod before turning to do exactly that. The very first thing to do was to report on how things had gone, so I hurried back to the lodge, snaked through the ruins, and slipped through the door. Inside, my family still sat in the bed of blankets, obviously waiting eagerly. They were already perked up and staring at the door by the time I stepped inside. It was my mother that spoke up, though, with a direct, "Well, how'd it go?" "I got invited along on their mission," I announced. "They're going to go clear things up with the local lord, then we'll probably leave tomorrow morning." "Excellent," my mother sighed, slouching in relief. "Now then, I could really use a bathroom break. Could you help me?" "Sure thing, Mom," I agreed, coming forward to scoop her up. Once I had her, I carried her outside again and started toward the woods, watching the newcomers getting ready to leave the whole way. We were only a few steps into the tree line when my mom patted my arm. "This should be far enough. Just set me down here." The proximity had my brow furrowing in confusion. Normally, I took my family members further into the woods to relieve themselves. That way the clearing didn't end up reeking like a latrine. I supposed that wasn't much of a concern, though, now that we were leaving, so I moved to get her on her feet. "No, all the way down. By that tree," my mother instructed, gesturing over to the side. "I don't really need to go. I just needed to talk to you about something away from the kids." "Oh," I mumbled, wondering what else there was to discuss especially away from my siblings. From what I could tell, they'd already heard everything that I'd been trying to keep from them. Still, I helped my mother to the ground, leaning her up against the tree. "Mmm ... that's better," my mother remarked as she settled in. Still confused about what we had to discuss, I impatiently asked, "So what did you need to tell me?" "Ah, right, that ..." my mother mumbled before finally looking up at me with a serious expression on her face. "I need to make sure that you understand what has to be done, and that you're ready to do it." "What?" I questioned, now even more confused. I even glanced back at the clearing as if something obvious would present itself to me. Of course, it didn't, so I had to guess. "Do you mean helping them with whatever they're doing? I don't even know what that is yet." "Well, sorta ..." my mother confirmed, taking a moment to collect herself for something more definitive. When she was finally ready, there was a darkness on her face that I couldn't remember ever having seen there before in my entire life. "Look, Adam, these people are our enemies. If their mission is good for us, help it along. If something comes of it that you can take, take it. None of that is what really matters, though. The most important thing is that you need to get them to trust you, and then you need to kill them." "Kill them?!" I gasped in disbelief. "Why?! They're helping us!" Pressing a finger to her lips, my mother shushed. "Shhh, keep your voice down." Wincing at the reprimand, I repeated my question in a much softer and calmer voice. "Why would I need to kill them?" "Think about it, Adam," my mother directed. "This is a competition, and the only way we get home safe and sound is if you win." "Right," I acknowledged, wondering where she was going with this. "But we don't even know what the competition is going to be about." "Well, what kind of competition would require a champion that is despised by everyone, has no money or status, and basically no skills besides fighting?" my mother lead on. With those words, I understood. It made perfect sense, really. As miserable as it had made my family and me, this was just a game to the gods, and they presumably wanted to win it. The only game I could win with what I'd been given was a fight. Maybe it wouldn't be to the death, but given the callousness Alterra seemed to possess, I would hardly be surprised if it was. "When the competition starts, there's a good chance that all the champions will be revealed, so they know who to fight," my mother continued. "You need to kill these four before that happens." My jaw clenched at the order that I didn't want to hear. It made sense. The easiest way to beat these four would be to eliminate them before the game begin. There had been no mention of rules to prevent that, either. The idea of accepting their help, earning their trust, and then betraying both to murder them, though .... "Adam, you have to do this," my mother directed, clearly noticing my hesitation. "It's the only way to protect us." I wanted to argue, but I found myself nodding obediently instead. "Yes, ma'am." The End