I used the uninterrupted view of Alara's voluptuous poorly-covered ass to distract me from the discomfort of my feet. A good tactic, except on more than one occasion it worked so well at taking my mind off everything else that I failed to respond when she asked me a question. I played it off each time by pretending I'd heard something unusual in the woods and was focusing on that until I made sure none of us were in any danger.
She didn't turn around whenever I offered my excuse, but she might've chuckled. I'm not sure. I knew my feet would adapt—or maybe I'd buy some shoes when we reached the town.
People do wear shoes in this world, right?
The sun was high in the sky, but we were still walking under thick tree canopy, so it wasn't too hot. If this world had seasons, I thought, it must've been spring. The temperature was reasonable. The trees still had all their leaves, and for the most part all the plants looked vibrant.
"Tell me about the Dark One," I said. I knew if I wanted any chance of not dying I needed some info on the big bad of fantasy land.
"He's one of the reasons we're going into town," Alara said, without looking back or stopping.
He's not in town, I hope.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, even as strong as you are—and you will get stronger still," she gave me a quick glance and a wink, "—you'll need a proper weapon to face him."
"To even get to him," Nithia chimed in from behind me.
"And," Alara continued, "we need general supplies… and I need to speak with someone while we're there."
She'd told me before we left that we'd be staying overnight in town, but not why. She'd said the walk would take three hours, each way. Frankly, I thought as long as we had enough food, I'd rather come back to the stone cottage and let Alara help me thicken up some more. Maybe Nithia would get tired of missing out on the fun and do more than just steal a few peaks now and then.
"And you're sure you don't want to return tonight?" I had to let my preference be known. Couldn't hurt.
Alara froze in her tracks.
"I just figured-"
She quickly turned to me with her hand flung out, bringing it directly in front of me. I saw the expression on her face and knew I needed to shut up. It wasn't what I had said.
She looked left and right, deep into the forest overgrowth. The greenery was so thick I couldn't see anything beyond twenty or so feet from our path, and nothing in particular caught my eye. But something had grabbed her attention, and she looked alarmed.
"I heard it too," Nithia whispered behind me.
"I didn't hear anything," I said, not whispering.
Alara glared at me and shoved her hand against my chest. I felt it but it didn't budge me in the slightest. Muscles.
She held her silver staff high in the air with her other hand and something freaky happened. The white stone on top of the staff began to glow. I wasn't sure at first if I was really seeing it glow. I thought, maybe the sunlight filtering in through the trees was reflecting on the stone. But then I distinctly saw tiny arcs of electricity jump around the stone and I heard the crackle they made.
"There!" Nithia called out, pointing into the trees.
"Den," Alara said, "get ready."
"Ready?" I looked to where Nithia was pointing, but I saw nothing but plants. Lots of plants. "Get ready for what?"
Alara didn't need to answer. As soon as I had spoken, five men leapt through the bushy sea of greenery under the towering trees and rushed toward us. The men were only twenty feet away and closing fast. They wore rags—worn out brownish pants. Three had shirts. Two didn't. They looked like a cross between some of the bums I'd seen panhandling on Guadalupe Street across from campus and some of the MMA fighters I'd seen on the wall-sized flat screen last month over a dinner of wings and onion rings at one of Austin's finer dining establishments.
I experienced a fleeting moment of joy when I saw two of them had on shoes.
I heard the crackling from Alara's staff grow louder.
The fastest of the five men jumped over a log and raised a short sword as he quickly made his way to us.
A boom sounded beside me as a white bolt of energy shot into the sword the man carried, shattering it. I watched his body spasm as he collapsed, dropping what was left of his weapon. Wisps of smoke rose from his clothes, or maybe they were from his skin.
I stole a quick glance toward Alara and saw her holding her staff horizontally, pointed to where the charging man had fallen.
The remaining four men passed their cohort without pause, two of them brandishing daggers, the other two without a weapon, but they looked like they could do some damage nonetheless.
Nithia got behind me. "Den! Do something!"
I wanted to turn around and ask her what exactly she expected me to do when I was outnumbered four to one and two of them had weapons. But I didn't turn around. I was facing a bum rush of 'gonna die in the forest of Hot Babe Land' and the only fighting I'd done was flexing my thumbs on the A and B buttons of my friend's console game controller.
Maybe watching fights does actually help. Man, I hope so.
I also hoped Alara was about to zap the rest of the guys, but that didn't happen. I glanced down at my hands and once again noticed how freaking strong I looked.
Do something, Dennis.
I did.
Two of the men came at me together, one thrusting his blade toward my stomach and the other throwing a ham-fisted arm down at my face.
My instincts—or the adrenaline-pumping fear running through my veins—told my body to jump into action. I kicked out with my left leg. The thug jabbing at me with his dagger took my foot in his groin. It happened so fast, I can't be sure, but I think I heard a crunch-squash-pop sound from under my heel as I plowed my foot into him. Luckily, my legs were considerably longer than his arm, and so, his blade never made it to my stomach.
I didn't get my arm up in time to block the other man's blow, but I did manage to lean my head out of the way. He slammed his fist into my shoulder, which didn't feel great, but wasn't as bad as I expected. My old shoulder would've buckled under the impact. Thanks to Alara's sex magic, my new frame took the force pretty easily.
I planted my leg again right as my shoulder was hit, then I twisted and gave the guy a hook with my left. My fist clocked him square in the jaw, sending him flying behind Alara, who was stepping toward another assailant.
With the two nearest me down for the count—if not for good—I watched as Alara swung the bottom end of her staff up at the dagger-wielding man in front of her, whacking him in the face. The metal of her staff easily cracked the man's nose and solidly thumped his forehead. Blood squirted and the man cried out from the pain. He dropped his dagger and raised his hands to his face. Blood from his forehead ran down into his eyes and he fell to his knees, continuing to scream.
I felt Nithia behind me. She was huddled against my back now. I heard her shallow rapid breaths.
One man left.
The fifth attacker evidently had second thoughts. He had stopped rushing the three of us. I stared him down. I thought about going for him, but Nithia had wrapped her arms around my waist from behind. I felt her face against my back.
"Please don't let them hurt me," she said.
"It's okay," Alara said.
I started to make a move for the last man, but Nithia held onto me tighter.
"Go!" Alara stepped a few feet past me and planted the end of her staff on the ground, yelling at the last man again. "Go! And take your friend with you." She gestured to the only other man not unconscious—or dead? The uninjured man rushed to the side of his now quieter companion and grabbed him by his arm, leading him away, since the man evidently couldn't see.
I watched the two men scurry back into the forest. Of course, they would be the ones wearing shoes.
I looked at the three we'd taken out. One of them was moving slightly, rocking a little on his side. It took me a few seconds of watching them, but I noticed the other tw
o were still breathing. Their clothes were filthy, and had blood on them too. They looked too small for me anyway. I'd have to carry on with only my boxers for the time being.
I felt relieved. I didn't want to kill anyone. Well, I didn't even think about the possibility when the men were attacking. I just reacted. But now that the fight was over, I was glad I hadn't killed them. This was different than video games, I thought. But they were going to kill us.
I noticed Alara was standing beside me now, looking at me. Nithia still hadn't let go of me, but I could feel her breathing had slowed.
"What's the matter, Den?" Alara asked. "Are you hurt?"
I took a split second to do a mental check of my body. Had I been hurt? No. I was fine. My shoulder was hit, but it didn't feel like more than a minor bruise. I'd taken on five men—okay, I actually only fought two—and it was pretty easy.
"I'm okay," I said. I reached down to Nithia's hands at my waist and gently unclasped them, turning so that I could see her. "You alright?"
She looked up at me as if I'd just rescued her from certain death.
I guess I had.
I saw the glistening of a tear in one of her eyes.
"Thank you," she said.
"You fought well," Alara said, wiping the bottom of her staff in the dirt to clean the blood from it.
"So did you," I said. I looked at the stone atop her staff. "That thing packs quite a punch."
"It's not meant for that," she said, looking a little disappointed in herself. "But I wasn't sure if you…" She stared at me.
"If I was going to handle the situation?"
"Yes," she admitted. "I didn't know if you had time to fully reclaim your skills."
My skills. Right.
She was so hot, standing there with her amazing body, which apparently wasn't her only talent. For some reason, the fact that she just kicked the shit out of that guy made me want her even more.
"They're coming back to me," I said. "But I think I'll still need your help to get everything sorted out."
Then I felt Nithia's arms around my waist again, and she leaned her head against my arm.
Alara glanced at her, and then at me. She smiled, but only briefly. "We should be on our way. They may be back, and maybe with more men."
She didn't wait for me to respond before she turned and started walking.
I grabbed the dagger one of the fallen men had dropped—one of the fleeing men had the other one— and I began walking. Nithia walked beside me now.
"Who were those men?" I asked. "Were they working for the Dark One?
"No," Alara said, still walking ahead of me. She didn't turn around to answer. "Just bandits. They never stray far from the cover of the woods."
"Don't you think we should hurry it up a bit?" I said. "I mean, if there's a chance more of them will come, we probably want to put some distance between them and us."
Alara stopped and looked at me, and she glanced to Nithia. "You're right. I usually travel alone. Easy to go unnoticed. But we should do as you suggest."
We decided to speed up to a reasonably fast jog for the next twenty or thirty minutes. I really wished I had my tennis shoes. Eventually we slowed, guessing we'd gotten a safe distance away.
I'd been wanting to ask Alara about the Dark One for a while, but talking while running through the forest would've been challenging, I had thought. And I didn't want to give any other bandits an easy clue about our location. Satisfied we'd gotten far enough from the ambush site, I asked her. "How were you sure they weren't working for the Dark One?"
"I've seen bandits more than once," she said. "They were too poorly equipped for one thing. And they didn't have that look."
"What look?" I asked.
"Well, it isn't always the case," she said. "But often servants of the Dark One look more…"
I waited for her to finish.
"Monstrous," Nithia said.
"Yes," Alara said. "They do. Just not natural looking. Not always, but more often than not."
"Why is that?" I asked, though I had an idea. I'd seen the Lord of the Rings movies—read the books too. Evil overlords usually have ugly-ass creatures doing their bidding.
"I'm not sure," she said. "Maybe they're the sort of creatures who are inclined to serve evil."
"Maybe," I said, but I quickly realized evil could just as easily come with a smile and a nice suit, or whatever. Maybe this world is simpler. That'd be nice.
Alara continued, "But many say his power corrupts those who serve him, making them more…unnatural."
"Can we not talk about this right now?" Nithia said.
She looked upset, and frustrated, like we'd made her think about things she hadn't wanted to recall or something. I couldn't be sure if that was it, but she seemed more disturbed by the conversation than I would've guessed she'd be.
"Yes," Alara said. "Of course."
The way Alara quickly acquiesced made me think she understood in more detail what was bothering Nithia. I decided not to push the subject for the time being, though I suspected it was about what happened to her sister.
Chapter 5
We came over a mostly treeless ridge and I saw the town. It was nestled in the valley below, surrounded on all sides by hills like the one we were descending.
"Darguna," Alara said.
"About damn time," I said.
Nithia giggled. I glanced at her and saw she had the same expression she'd had every other time I caught her looking at me over the last hour or so—ever since she'd taken cover behind me when the bandits attacked us. She was doe-eyed. I turned my attention back to the town in the distance, maybe another twenty minutes of walking.
I couldn't see the entire town, some of it seemed to disappear into the trees which filled half the valley. What I could see was about fifteen or so larger buildings, maybe they were connected. It was hard to tell from where we stood. The tallest of them was maybe three or four stories high. They formed the central part of the town. Spreading out from there the other structures were less substantial—houses, I figured, though they were definitely on the small side. Some no doubt only the size of Alara's stone cottage.
Beyond the perimeter of hills were proper mountains, and one of them was beginning to hide the sun—more reddish than Earth's, but close to the same size, or so it seemed. The bottom sliver of it had already dipped below the mountainous horizon. I didn't see any snow on the peaks, but the ones in the distance were hazy from cloud cover. So, I couldn't be sure.
I guess we're heading west. Oh, wait…
I realized the cardinal directions didn't necessarily hold true on another world.
"Darguna is the western most town this side of the Sea of Ronak," Alara said, taking a place next to me, opposite Nithia.
Nailed it. West.
"We'll see the blacksmith first," she said. "He's an old friend. He'll have a sword for you. He owes me. He'll put us up for the night and have the supplies we need. You can rest there while I go to speak with someone."
Blacksmith? Sword? Oh, right. Dark One. Shit.
"Do you think she'll still be here?" Nithia asked Alara. I figured she was talking about the person Alara was going to talk with, since most blacksmiths I'd heard of were men. But who knows.
"I hope so." Alara was looking down into the valley at the town.
A wind blew up over the ridge, causing her hair to lift from her shoulders and dance behind her head. The field of tall grass before us bent and swayed like a sea wave. The sun had lowered halfway behind the distant mountain now. Rays of light beamed across the valley toward us, showering the three of us in a reddish glow.
I glanced to both my companions and then to the magnificent vista, and finally to the village below. Taking a deep breath, I soaked up the moment.
"Let us go forth," I said, probably making my voice sound a little deeper than it normally was. "Adventure awaits!" I might've pushed my chest out a bit and I definitely clenched my hand into a fist in front of me.
I d
idn't hear a response from either woman. I snapped out of my dramatic pose and checked them out to see what the problem was.
Both of them were staring at me with a look which I'm sure was meant to say something along the lines of, "Where the hell did that come from?"
I decided to rein the theatrics in a notch, shrugging as I glanced to each of them.
They both shook their heads.
"Right, then," I said. "Why don't we head down?"
Without further words, the three of us started down the long sloping hill toward the town.
By the time we reached the valley, the sun had almost entirely set behind the mountain beyond the hill at the far side of town. The three of us strolled past several small homes, most of them wood, a few half stone. It was much cooler in the valley and I looked enviously at the smoke rising from the chimneys of the homes. My boxers were doing very little to keep me warm, and from the looks of Alara's and Nithia's thinly veiled nipples they were feeling the chill just as badly.
I thought I might be a bit of a spectacle in my blue and white undershorts, but then I factored in what Alara and Nithia were wearing—or not wearing. I tucked the dagger into the elastic waistband on the back side of my boxers, realizing walking into town with an unsheathed dagger in my hand wasn't the most friendly-looking thing.
"The blacksmith is just ahead," Alara said, nodding to the left path where the road forked ahead.
I once again noticed how sore the bottoms of my feet felt as we crossed a low-lying rock-filled patch in the otherwise dirt road. Maybe it was my fatigue—or the combination of being chilly, feeling the rocks dig into my feet, and the increasingly sharp pangs I was getting in my stomach from not having eaten for most of the day—but going sword shopping was the last thing I wanted to do.
"How am I supposed to pay for a sword?" I asked, really hoping she didn't have a good answer. Maybe the longer I put off getting a weapon—I figured the dagger didn't count—the less likely she'll push me to go take on the Dark One.
Dennis the Conqueror: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 1) Page 4