Clutching my aching head, I weakly sit up and rub some dirt and mud caking around my eyes. Looking around, the fire that Vayne kindled is about to go out and looking out the passageway, the sun has already gone down as Vayne teased. Casting my eyes around me, taking in the current details about the dark hole I’m in, I spot the silhouettes of the small pile of wood that I noticed while eating. 

Looking at the fire, I discover that the rest of the stew that Vayne cooked still sits in the pot that he abandoned. The smell of the food coming from the pot teases me and my stomach growls again for more. I hadn’t really had enough food before to satisfy, despite what he said, but no matter how hungry I am, I won’t eat any more of this drugged food.

Clutching a hand at my mouth to suppress a loud scream, I realize that letting it out will only make my situation worse if my luck goes worse.

I looked into his eyes. Why didn’t everything go white again? I thought maybe before losing consciousness I might be able to spy on what he’s going to do, but nothing happened this time. Do I have no control over whatever this freaky thing happening to me is?

Just when I thought the nightmare was over and I earned some armor, a sword and horse, everything went to shit right away!

Crawling over to the wood pile, I shift some sticks into the glimmering coals. Seeing that they aren’t catching fire, I force myself to my knees and lean down and blow steadily on the embers. I cup my hands around my lips to channel my breath and every time I exhale the coals burn brighter. Shifting the stick deeper into the coals I blow and blow until a weak flame springs up to feast on the wood. Reaching over to the pile, I grab a handful of kindle and gently lay more sticks over the first, waiting with baited breath.

If I have to face another frigid night, I might get sick. C’mon! C’mon! Burn!

The weak flame hasn’t burst through yet. I worry that I might have put the flame out by being overeager. With eyes filling with tears, feeling woozy due to the lingering effects of the herbs Vayne gave me, I quietly cry it all out in self-pity. Meanwhile, with all the rubbing at my tears, my face feels all the grubbier. 

At least he left me the clothes he got for me. I guess they’re worth nothing or he’s not so cruel as to take everything from me. Just the things that I fought for.

Damn it, damn it, damn it! I’m too weak! I’m an idiot for thinking that everything would go my way after a lot of bad luck and a little good turning things a little better. This is a fantasy world, of course. Did I really think that everyone would be friendly and helpful? Of course he wouldn’t bother with teaching someone like me, right? This place is dying, he said. In a zombie apocalypse, I guess, and in one it’s everyone for themselves except for those that band together to look after each other’s backs, right? And in those situations, people tend to rob and kill each other for resources.

This isn’t exactly a zombie world, I know that. The rules are different here, even if some things remain the same. I have to get strong enough to where people can’t take things from me anymore.

As I clutch my head, I see flickering light grow and look up to see that the fire had broken through to start burning cheerilly. With a sigh, I put a few more pieces of wood on the fire for good measure and lay my head down. Feeling this weak and tired, I can’t do much else but sleep it off.

I wake with a start when someone shakes me vigorously. Rubbing my blinking eyes, I yawn, looking up, hoping that when my eyes clear, I’ll find Vayne returned, thinking better of what he did. When my eyesight sharpens, I see a rounder and softer face peering down at me. She wears a pretty dress with smudges on it. Her blonde hair, a lighter shade than mine frames her cute and earnest-looking face. A little cowlick lifts from her shaggy hair and she looks at me with pink-stained cheeks.

Staring into her eyes, I breathe evenly as I shake off my sleepiness. Who is this? What?

She looks away with a blush and seeing the cold stew hanging over the fire, she reaches for the pot, her expression changing and brightening. “Oh! You have some food! Do you mind if I have some?”

“No!” I gasp and slap her hand away, grasping beyond to pour the contents into the burnt-out remnants of the fire that went out before I woke up.

“I-I can’t? Why?” she asks, her eyes filling with tears. Looking into her eyes as she draws back, I feel that she’s too sad to bear.

That was rude, right? Damn it… But…

“I… I’m sorry… the stew wasn’t good anymore. It would have made you sick if you had any. Hahaha… I got sick last night eating it and slept too much.” Ugh… I lied right away… but not entirely untrue. Why not tell her that I was betrayed by a ‘friend’ and was abandoned? If I tell her that, I won’t look even a bit cool. Just pitiful.

“Oh… that’s sad…” she says with the same stricken expression. “You were worried about me?”

I nod. “Yes… I mean… I don’t want you getting hurt on my account.”

The girl’s face lights up as she nods. “I thought so. You have such a gentle face.” She touches my face impulsively and then pulls her hand away. “I like what I see in your face! So many people have harsh expressions… I don’t like cruel people… but you…” she fidgets with her fingers and with an expression like she got a good idea, she pulls her hand away and reaches into her pocket to hold out a fruit. “Since you can’t share your breakfast with me, I’ll share some of mine with you, if you don’t mind.”

Staring at the fruit for a long moment, observing her squirming, she looks up at my face under her thick lashes. “Please take it. I’ve had plenty to eat, really. I was just interested in what you had before.”

Taking into account her earnest and shy expression, when my stomach growls loudly, I blush and reach out, thankfully accepting. The girl giggles softly, hearing my stomach carrying on. Her ears practically perk up at the sound and her cowlick quivers. “Sounds like I--- f-found you in time, hehehe.”

Taking a bit of fruit into my mouth in a bite, the juice runs down my lips to drip onto the ground. “Thank you. Um… did someone in the town send you to get me? Did Vayne actually..?”

“Ehhhh!” The girl gapes at me, blinking as her cowlick flails. “No! I don’t know anyone. I--- err… I saw smoke rising from a hole in the ground… and I thought, hey! I bet there’s a person down there! Ahahaha…”

She looks away with a too-obvious blush staining her face. It’s a very plausible, if poorly delivered excuse. Anyone stumbling across this site… wherever I am, that is… should notice the smoke from a campfire while going, but… I look at the soggy mess of what’s left of the campfire, unable to comment on her story. The fire has been out for however long now and she says she saw some smoke? I stealthily sniff at the air as I eat the rest of the fruit, detecting no lingering smoke odor in the air. It must have been hours ago since the last coals died… so how long has she been watching outside, then?

“Hmmmm.” I eat until the whole fruit is consumed.

She looks at me expectantly and I finally mumble, “My name… um… is Hana. What’s yours?”

Her lips twitch and she looks a bit away, thinking furiously. “Um… I… oh… My name... I’m… Ela…”

Smiling at her, I settle down to digest her name along with the sweet fruit. “That’s a very cute name.”

Ela’s face turns a deeper red and she squirms away, looking suddenly flighty as though she wants a way out.

“Hey, Ela…” I say. “Why were you wandering around here? Are you from the nearby town?”

“Ahahaha…” She looks away again and huffs a breath of air that lifts the lock of hair between her eyes. “Ah… yes… you have it right! Where else would I be from?”

“Oh…” I grin. “In that case, you can show me around there and help me find the adventurer’s guild. Vayne told me there was one there and even though I don’t have any gear anymore, I need to get things figured out.”

“A-adventurer’s guild…? Oh… um… I don’t remember ever seeing it… It’s such a big place…” Her nose wrinkles and her nostrils slightly enlarge. “Such a huge place… and lots of um… people… I always look down… so I can’t help you that way… but… I’m happy to help you, um… H-Hana…?” She waits bashfully with a slightly downcast expression as though she expects that I’ll reject her offering of help when she says that she can’t really do all that much for me.

“Thank you.” I smile at Ela. “We’ll find this place together, and figure things out together. I don’t have any money. I wonder if I’ll have to live here for a while… until I get things figured out.”

Ela, pursing her lips, shakes her head. “I don’t think you should stay here. I mean… I found you so quickly, I think monsters will find you sooner or later, especially with a fire. They’ll probably come even this close to a human village sometimes… and if they come in big numbers, it could be very scary!” she exclaims.

“Okay. That makes sense.” I say. She does know some useful things… maybe enough to help keep me alive. “Where did you get the fruit?” I ask gently.

“Ah… oh… foraging!” Ela grins. “I know a lot about where to get food here in the mountains. It took a long time to get things right, but I can get you more if you’re still hungry.”

“I’m okay.” I laugh, smiling softly at Ela in gratitude. “Thank you. You’re such a sweet girl. I think I’d like to go into the town and see some things there, if you aren’t feeling too shy.”

“Ummmm… uuuu…” Ela fidgets. “I mean… as long as you’re with me… I’ll feel okay about… you know… hehe…”

“I’m glad to know that. Let’s be friends… I mean, if I’m not putting you out, that is.” I bow to her from a seated position and she blushes again, not knowing what to do with my gesture.

She smiles after a long pause and nods her head excitedly. “Yes! Let’s be good friends!” I extend my hand and she hesitantly takes mine and squeezes it and after a moment leaps forward, way way too close for comfort kind of a way and presses her face close to mine with a cute smile. “I like you. I’ll stay by your side as long as you want me with you.”

It’s my turn to blush. I turn scarlet, falling backwards, my heart racing. I’m so bad with girls! Oh shit! What should I DO?!

She crawls over me, looking down at me with doe-like eyes and leans down. My heart races as she draws so very very close again. Too close… too close! Ehhhh!!!

She lays down next to me and cuddles to me. Um? What? Wasn’t she? She nuzzles a little and looks up at me with a little smile. “You looked a little cold…” How could she think that when I was blushing way more than her, pretty much overheating?! She’s totally messing with me!

She closes her eyes with a little content smile.

She IS warm. Very warm. 

Some time later, we climb out from the dugout and with Ela’s help, I find myself walking in the direction of where the village hides over a ridge after Ela points the way. We climb up and over it to see the whole of the place in the valley down below, not far.

At the sight of the village, Ela looks away chewing her lip with anxiety.

It’s a smallish community compared with the cities of Earth with a brick wall around it and I recognize some of it from my vision in Vayne’s body when he took the job here to come up into the mountains to take some goblin’s heads. The cabins and cottages inside the walls are rustic, made of wood and bricks here and there. The roofs are made of shingles or tiles of stone or clay for the most part. A large road winds through the mountains and through the village, out the other side where another gate interrupts the wall. In the distance, I see a couple of men standing in fur-lined armor, guarding the gate. The tallest structure is a tower with a bell in it and high steepled eaves.

“Are you okay, Ela-chan?” I ask gently.

She shakes her head affirmatively. “Um, I’m okay… this place just makes me feel nervous. But… it’s supposed to be safe, though.”

I nod, taking her hand and firmly lead her to the gate, feeling grubbier than I actually am.

After laying in the dirt in the dugout with me, Ela looks almost as disheveled as me. Her lovely dress is smudged up, although it already sports a few green stains from grass here and there.

With amusement, I smile. At least I won’t be the only refugee waif coming through the gate today. If I was alone, I would be too embarrassed. As we near the gates, the two soldiers posted there turn their eyes on us, the oldest of the two first. He looks at us with a concerned expression, pointing. The other, a younger man exclaims, staring at us, and for some reason blushing.

When we come to a stop before the guards, I take a moment to thoughtfully examine the thick gate.

So medieval, but kinda rustic too.

“Refugees?” The older soldier with a thick mane of black hair and piercing eyes set in an almost effeminate face says as he closes the distance between us with a sauntering gait, a hand on his sword’s hilt as his eyes scan the area around us, wary of an ambush. He wears fur-trimmed armor like the younger guard by his side, but his is of burnished steel plates. “You don’t look like monsters, but I’ll have you speak for yourselves.” His eyes harden. 

His junior eyes us uncertainly, but his eyes express kindness, a soft brown. Beneath his fur-trimmed helmet his shaggy, short-cut mousy brown hair pokes out with long bangs draping between his eyes.

Ela flinches and hides behind me. “Eeeeeee…” she squeals softly.

“It’s okay, Ela.” Looking over my shoulder at the shy girl, I smile reassuringly. “He’s just being careful.” I swallow and bow my head to the senior guard. “My name is Hana and this shy girl here is Ela, my friend. But I shouldn’t have to introduce you, right? Haven’t you seen her before? The town looks really long… maybe a bit too far to walk from the far gate just to re-enter. Maybe she came out this morning when you weren’t here?”

Ela squirms and makes another eeeeeping noise behind me.

“I don’t recognize either of your faces.” The guard’s face darkens. “Are you trying to scam me, trying to claim that you’re citizens here? I’d know you both, this town’s small enough.”

I blink, looking at Ela, noticing that she’s on the point of flight.

“Ela…” I take the girl’s arms in my grip. “Don’t run. Tell me, are you really from this community?” She looks away with a tight downturned mouth, making more little eeeeeeping noises. “I’m so sorry… I’m a bad friend already! I lied about being from here! I… I…” Her eyes fill with tears.

Taking a deep breath, I throw my arms around Ela. “It’s okay. I trust you. Don’t worry. I’m sure that I misunderstood.” Reaching, I pat her head in a hopefully soothing way. She looks up at me with eyes full of moisture, but her cheeks soon become rosy and her head tilts slightly. Under my hand something springs up and pushes my hand away from her hair. Two longish perky ears stand up, expressing her sudden happiness more loudly than her cute face ever could.

“Oh shit! It’s beastkin in disguise!” The senior guard draws his sword. Hearing the hissing noise of steel scraping on wood, I quickly turn, standing between our aggressor and Ela, fixing him with a glare. “No! Ela’s a good girl! She wouldn’t hurt anyone. And I’m NOT a beastkin!”

Beastkin killed my mother, Jeraldyne said… They killed her and… and… A wailing voice echoes in my head as the younger guard looks regretful at us and he draws his sword as well, pointing it at us.

“You from Yijan or Sungwan parts? Name like that could only be from the far east.” Mordet says with narrowed eyes. “I didn’t hear that they were beastkin sympathizers, but since the wars, there’s been little trust for anyone bearing one of their kind of names.”

Damn it! Are they racist towards easterners and beastkin here? If they have names like the one I took, maybe I’m better off traveling there, but how?

I wrack my brain as they circle the two of us, drawing their arms back to cut us down where we stand. Ela neighs, hiding behind me and I stand firmly.

With a hammering heart and an exasperated sigh, I give them the truth as I know it, “My real name is Halima and I’m from what’s left of a pilgrim’s village called Pinesdale. The goblins sacked my village and burned it down and now there’s no one left. I’m the only survivor. If it satisfies you, just kill me as you seem to want to do, but please let my gentle friend Ela go!” I throw my arms wide, extending arms towards the two, closing my eyes. “The whole village’s people will be dead once you finish it at your gates. Just please make sure to burn my body so I can’t rise and hurt you.” Ela screams behind me and jostles past me. I peek at her as she paws her arms at the guards in terror. Well… more like flailing them uselessly. If she was a horse, it might look a bit fearsome, but… the scared expression on her face and the way she’s flailing her arms is nothing but adorable.

The soldiers stare at her and the senior guard draws his sword back further for an extra savage swing to bring his blade down onto Ela’s head, the younger soldier crosses the distance between them and presses his sword against his senior’s just as it comes down, his face blushed, but determined.

“Don’t kill them, sir. They’re helpless girls. Doesn’t matter if this one’s a beastkin. She’s no demon.” Ela continues to flail her arms and her nostrils flare as she looks at the guards with open fear and a bit of curiosity, her ears flattening even more as she angles her eyes towards me.

I shake my head negatively. “It’s okay, Ela. Come stand behind me.” She chews her lip and whickers, making a little eeeeee noise as she steps behind me.

“Bret…” The senior glowers at his junior with a serious expression and facepalms. “You idiot.”

“Please, Sir Mordet.” The younger pleads.

Mordet scowls, sheathing his sword with a grumble. “If it probes that you’re wrong and they cause problems, I’ll have your skin for a rug, Bret.”

“I’ll take full responsibility!” Bret says with conviction. “I’ll look after them and see that they don’t do anything bad.”

The senior snorts and shakes his head. “See to it that you keep your sword out and your eyes on them at all times. The moment one of them looks like they’re getting dangerous, it’s your duty to slay them and burn the both!”

Bret nods with a fierce expression. “Yes, Sir Mordet! Thank you.” The younger bows with his hand on his heart and strides over to us with his sword drawn with a serious expression. “Come along with me, girls. I suppose you’ll be looking for the inn for a bath.” He steps behind us and Mordet turns and pounds on the gate in a complex rhythm. After a while, the doors start swinging open with a loud creaking noise.

My eyes go dreamy at the word ‘bath.’ They have them here?!

“Welcome to Haldor’s Stand. Take care and behave yourselves.” Mordet says with flinty eyes. With a salute for his senior, Bret ushers us inside and I bow politely a few times to Mordet for being so generous and kind to us. He blinks and scowls. “Damned Easterners,” he mutters.