Chapter 1 | Lad in Distress

I didn’t notice that I had a follower for an embarrassing amount of time.

I was heading back to my home, pushing my rusty wheelbarrow. I had just been able to get some quality pieces of wood for carving. It was a side business that I ran to kept my family afloat. It was now just myself, my mom, and my dad after my one sister died of a terrible lung condition and the other… well, we found pieces of her for weeks.

I tried not to think about it, but an awful sense of dread came over me. I skillfully maneuvered my wheelbarrow around a well-known dip that I have had the misfortune of forgetting about one too many times. I still remembered the searing pain from hitting my crotch directly into the edge of the metal bucket, hands still gripping the wooden handles, and the only thing stopping me from slamming my face down into the stack of wood had been a piece of wood flying up and slamming into my face. I felt the scar tingle on my left cheekbone just thinking about it.

I looked around uncomfortably, the sense of dread only increasing. I knew the fables of things found in the woods. I was a nineteen-year-old man, I had lived just outside of the local town for my whole life, going on the well-trodden path back and forth at least once a week. Nothing of great importance ever happened (not including the wheelbarrow-to-crotch incident which, yes, had been witnessed by multiple women who happened to be strolling past).

I didn’t count my sister’s incident, as that could have been just about anything. My first suspicion wasn’t going to be murder by mystical creature.

But I knew better than to ignore my gut.

It was a shame my hands were both preoccupied with the handles of my wheelbarrow, for I had no time to grab my dagger by the time the creature was on me.

I couldn’t immediately make out what it was. The shock of the back of my head slamming against the path had made my vision fuzzy, and the pain seemed like a faraway feeling. It was only when the creature collapsed directly onto me, its weight too much for my body to handle without evacuating my lungs, that I became aware of its greasy, slick, grey fur. I would have gagged if I had it in me to do anything but stare up bleakly at the star-covered sky. Even that view was taken from me, but this time by a much fairer sight:

A woman’s heart-shaped pale face above mine, a furrow to her brow, eyes narrowed. Her dark hair tumbled over her shoulders and when the cool night air blew, it nearly obscured her face. Her grey eyes were nearly lost in the sea of black.

Her boot suddenly kicked my thigh.

I cringed and then remembered that I couldn’t breathe. The panicked look on my face must have been what she had been looking for. She turned away from me, and then I was blessed by yet another sight:

A woman whose yellow-blonde hair was braided away from her face. She was a large, muscular woman to be sure, broad shoulders narrowing down to a thin waist. She had at least a few inches on me, and I was six feet tall. She had a kind, freckled face, but the way she heaved the creature over her shoulder like it was nothing was inexplicably attractive.Subscribed

As I gasped for breath, I desperately attempted to hide my delight. I pulled my knees up to my chest as I tried to collect myself. My head hurt, my chest hurt, and now my thigh hurt from what I now saw were pointed leather boots with a kitten heel, laced up pragmatically tight.

As fierce as the two looked, I couldn’t imagine how their high-necked layered dresses with petticoats were the most practical of fighting outfits. Then again, there they stood: one a shadowed enigma, travel cloak over her shoulders with the hood now pulled over her head; the other, a kind blonde who looked like she’d kick my ass.

I would gladly let her do so, jealous as I was of the beast that rode astride her shoulder. At least he had such a privilege in death, whereas I was still on the ground, curled like I pissed my pants and hardly able to make eye contact.

Absolutely I would trade places with it, if given the option in that moment.

The women looked at each other, then turned to leave me where I lay. I was a bit surprised they didn’t offer to help me up. The way the blonde had thrown the creature over her shoulder like it was nothing made me feel as if she could have easily done the same with me.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I called as I stumbled my way back up to standing position while a different part of me opted to thankfully lay back down. “Who are you?”

They looked over their shoulders in unison.

“I don’t recall this being a social situation,” the brunette said curtly.

She was much shorter than her companion, likely only five foot six on a good day.

“Any interaction between humans is a social situation,” I argued. Wow, what a great way to make a second impression after my first was completely emasculating.

“Well, we are not human, so then this isn’t relevant, is it?” she replied coldly. She turned back to the blonde. “Come on, we must go, they’ll notice if we’re gone for long.”

The blonde chuckled. “You’ve been following this dweeb for days. I’m sure no one would notice if we were gone ten more minutes.”

Regardless of the content of her sentence, she still followed suit and turned to leave.

My mind was hurtling and I rushed towards them. A great look for a man when it is dark, in the woods, and towards two women. I didn’t think of the outside view of it as I was too invested in the statement.

I reached for the brunette’s shoulder. “Wait, why have you been follow—”

“Do not touch her,” the blonde suddenly warned as she reached out and graced my wrist with her firm, crushing grip.

“Okay, okay, okay,” I whined as she twisted my arm ever-so-slightly.

I assumed that the way I had to bend my knees and rotate my body to prevent an even worse injury at her hands only looked somewhat stellar at best. However, the world moved faster than I was — likely the result of the concussion that no doubt occurred when my head made fast friends with the path — and I proceeded to fall yet again.

Apparently the burly blonde hadn’t meant to actually hurt me, as she dropped the creature as I fell, unable to gracefully let go of my wrist in time. She managed to recover, while I did not. Sharp pain erupted in different areas of my head at once and I held my head in my hands as lights exploded in front of my eyes.

“I think the kid is pretty hurt,” the blonde said, concerned, her cargo now sprawled on the path.

I guess neither of us had it very good, but at least I was wearing pants. The same could not be said for the poor guy, where even through my blurry vision I could see that he had fallen in a very unflattering position.

Then again, it wasn’t human. It was more of a large, elongated dog than anything.

A win was a win, however, and I needed one desperately.

The brunette scowled and briskly stepped over the animal and proceeded to crouch down in front of me. She snapped her fingers a few times in front of my face. “Oi!”

I grimaced away from her loud voice. “What?!”

She stood up and smacked the blonde’s upper arm.

“He’ll be fine.”

It was enough for the blonde. She picked up the animal and the two began to walk off without so much as a goodbye.

“I’m not a kid, by the way!” I hollered after them. “I’m nineteen!”

“A child,” I heard the brunette mutter, which elicited a giggle from the blonde.

“And my name is Benedict!”

“We know!” the blonde yelled back, much to my astonishment.

What the fuck.

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