I awoke slowly, hazily, my mind sharpening as I came to an awareness around me. I was pressed up against something warm and soft... and something warm and soft was pressed up behind me.

There was a rough texture laying on top and as I slowly drifted toward consciousness, it became clear that it was a bearskin blanket. I heard the crackle of a fire and felt its heat on the blanket, and me. The last thing I remember was being colder than I ever had in my whole life, even colder than that time I fell through the ice as a kid in Alaska... and that was cold.

As each of my senses came back to me, the scent of lavenders and vanilla filled my nose. My face was pressed into a mass of red hair and—

I froze, eyes shooting wide open. I was under a bearskin throw, cuddled up against Daisy who was only wearing her undergarments, I had one arm over her with my hand resting on her tight stomach. From the soft rhythm of her breathing, I guessed she was asleep.

That meant... I turned my head ever so slightly, straining my eyes to see a mop of golden blonde hair. Briana was pushed up against my back. I could feel her breasts against me and I seriously feared for my basic biological reaction.

It wasn’t like I didn’t want to wake up in the sandwich with two gorgeous women, but I didn’t really know them and on top of that, I’m pretty sure this wasn’t sexual on their part. Unfortunately, no one told my dick. I contorted to keep it from hitting Daisy, despite the desperate longing to do just that.

They’d saved my life. Whatever poison the goblin hit me practically froze me solid. This was basic first aid when a person had hypothermia. I took a slow, deep breath to steady myself. Then, slowly, I extracted my arm from under Daisy’s head, used my other to push myself up slightly, then slip out of the blanket.

The cold night air hit me like a truck, reminding me I was buck naked. I looked up to see the stars shining down on us. How long had I slept? We’d left the inn early in the morning and only spent an hour on the trail before the ambush...

A large fire crackled nearby with a deer spit-roasting slowly above it.

I looked around for my clothes. All of it was next to the fire, along with a group of wood for burning and some logs for sitting. I found the hose and crappy boots, and the shredded remains of my tunic. I slipped the hose on, but the tunic was a loss. Honestly, the hose was barely hanging on.

I sat down on the closest log, adjusting myself until I was comfortable, and then looking at the gear the bandits had left behind.

One of the girls, probably Briana, had stripped the hobgoblins and laid out all their gear. Most of it was trash, no better than what I had on. However, one of them, probably the leader, had a decent wool shirt, and a worn, brown leather cuirass with a host of buckles for adjusting the size.

I slipped the once white, but now decidedly grey shirt on, ignoring the hole that was freshly cut into the side. Then I went about figuring out how to wear the cuirass. It was simple enough to undo all the buckles. They were all on the right side. It opened like a clamshell, then I slipped it over my head but couldn’t reach the buckles to redo it.

“Let me help,” Briana said softly. The lithe elf pulled the blanket off, stood, and stretched in the firelight.

Her beauty was beyond stunning. Part of me wished I was touching the sword, to examine her stats on the spot. The other part of me wanted to do nothing that would spoil that moment.

The fire reflected off her fair skin and golden hair. She wore only a soft cloth binder over her large breasts that did little to constrain them. Her narrow waist led to wider hips that were dressed in tight shorts bound at the top with a pull string. The rest of her glorious body was completely bare. Firelight flashed off her skin like a mesmerizing dance. My dick was hard all over again. I had to adjust to hide it.

She shook her shoulder length golden blonde hair loose and walked over to me. Her footfalls made no noise as she approached.

I shook my head and stared at the fire to avoid staring at her.

That battle was harder than fighting the hobgoblins.

“Let me check your wound, El Afie,” she spoke the strange word at the end in what I could only imagine was her Elven tongue.

I nodded to her, lifting my arm so she could part the armor and lift the shirt. “Daisy did an excellent job,” she murmured, running her fingers over my ribs. I jerked away from her for a second and smiled. I smelled the mint on her breath as she breathed on me.

“It tickles,” I said.

She chuckled. “Aye, it would.” She nodded to the armor. “Here, let me show you.” A few minutes later, she had worked through all the straps and cinches, tightening the armor on to my torso to the point where I almost had trouble breathing.

“If it isn’t tight,” she explained, “then when you are hit, the armor will slide and you will not.”

I nodded. “Is that why the armor on Daisy looks similar to the armor men wear?” I asked.

Briana nodded. “She is smart. Some lesser trained women go in for vanity armor, ones that accentuate the breast and hips. Of course, as soon as they are hit, the pain that armor inflicts is indescribable.”

“How so?”

She looked at me thoughtfully for a second, then the fire and back to me.

“Imagine a piece of armor molded around your—” she looked down to my junk, then back up to me, lifting one delicate eyebrow and smirking.

“Oh god,” I said, cupping my dick with one hand just thinking of the agony that would cause.

“Now you see,” she said with a smile.

She reached past me and picked up a scabbard one of the goblins had worn. It looked freshly modified. “Up,” she said. I stood, and she reached around me, pressing herself up against the armor as she secured the scabbard to my waist. The firelight danced on her back and I could just make out a network of crisscrossed scars. I had to stop myself from reaching out to touch them.

“What happened?” I asked as she finished the belt. She looked around for my sword, found it and retrieved it before sliding it home.

“You were knocked out by the poison. These goblins favor frost-leaf coated weapons. It isn’t hard to make, but requires a shaman, so we know there are more of them about. I found the antidote in the forest, but by the time I applied it, you were already in shock and freezing to death. We took turns warming you with our bodies, but as night fell, we thought you wouldn’t make it and your little friend urged us to do everything we could to save you... she’s quite persuasive. How did you manage to come by a faerie-dragon?” she asked, looking at me with those big, amethyst colored eyes.

“It’s a long story... thank you for saving me. It’s been an interesting couple of days,” I said with a weak smile.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She nodded. Taking a step back, she admired her handy work. She leaned in, adjusted a few things, then brushed a strand of hair that had fallen in her face back behind a pointed ear.

“You’re very brave, stupid, but brave,” she said with a smile.

“So everyone keeps telling me,” I said in response. She turned back to the furry bedroll, stifling a yawn. The girls had done a lot in my unconsciousness. Besides keeping me alive, they had started a fire, made a makeshift shelter, stripped and disposed of the bodies, and gone hunting.

“Briana, I’m awake, well rested, and I doubt I could go back to sleep even if I tried. Why don’t I take the watch and I’ll wake you if I grow tired,” I offered.

She nodded. “That’s sweet of you. Brave and sweet.” She rose and walked back toward the bearskin bed.

“Briana,” I said, watching her hips sway and the curve of her ass shift as she walked away.

“Yes?” she turned just her torso and seeing her in the firelight was breathtaking. However, something was nagging at me.

“Why didn’t you join us when we left Griffondale?” I asked.

“Oh... I wanted to make sure you were actually going to the Haunted Halls and not — I just wanted to make sure,” she said with a shrug. She turned back and slipped under the covers, pulling the skin up to her chin.

Despite the summer weather, we were far enough north that the night was too chilly to sleep without a blanket. The fire just made sense to keep the wolves away.

I tossed another log on the fire and watched it burn for a few minutes, losing myself in the flames.

“Oh,” I muttered. I’d almost forgot. I gripped the sword and focused on Briana.

Nicholas J. Spencer—Lexi Leviathan

-Daisy Valiant

-Briana Bosque

-

-

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I frowned, noting that Alissa was no longer in the party. Which was a shame I owed her for saving my life. Daisy’s little flower next to her name was greyed out, indicating she wasn’t getting the bonus at the moment.

Next to Briana’s name was the image of a tree. I selected it and examined the bonus it covered.

Briana is a ranger of the lost woods, a once noble order of rangers trained by Dalaran Oakarm himself. When within, or near, a forest, Briana receives a 10% bonus to all numbers with a benefit.

That was cool. She was a famous ranger. I wracked my brain for lore I had learned playing the game. Prince Oakarm was the leader of the elves of the Oakwood, if I recalled right. What was she doing here? The Oakwood was far to the east. In one of the new expansions that had come out a year before. Not for the first time since I arrived. I’d wished I’d paid more attention to the game lore.

I focused on her name, bringing up her character sheet.

Briana Bosque

Level 4 Ranger

Body: 12

Strength: 16

Agility: 25

Endurance: 12

Intuition: 30

Willpower: 20

Charisma: 25

Movement Speed: 45 (Feet per second)

Skills:

Woodland Craft (this covers everything one might do in the woods from hunting to building shelters. She's an expert).

Weapons:

Bow

Short Swords (2)

Dagger

Throwing Knives

Hatchet

Hunting Knife

Spells: Charm Animal

Level: 1

CD: 30 seconds

This spell allows the caster to convince a level one animal to join her cause. The animal will not act against its own self interest but will aid the caster in anyway possible that doesn’t threaten its own life.

Abilities:

Learn more about Briana to discover her true abilities

Flags:

Hunted.

Two things stood out. She had a ridiculous number of weapons... and she was hunted. Why would a ranger from a famous order be wanted by authorities? And why would she come here?

Of course, it came with the standard disclaimer. Learn more about her. It would be too easy to open their character sheets and know all their secrets, I guess. Still, she was a higher level than Daisy, but had a way to go on her xp before her next level.

Which reminded me to check on Daisy. I did, switching to her sheet. She was still level two and so close to three I couldn’t see the space between the lines. Lexi leveled on her own, and I was beginning to suspect everyone did, but that was different than me granting them levels.

I was looking at their stats intently enough that I didn’t hear anyone coming into camp until a hand touched my shoulder.

I flipped around, falling on the ground and scrambling for my sword, when Alissa stepped into the firelight. She shrugged, giving me an apologetic smile and reaching down to help me up.

“I called your name several times,” the half-orc said by way of apology.

“Sorry,” I muttered as she helped me back on to the makeshift stool. She sat down next to the fire, pulling off a chunk of the deer that was roasting.

Her green skin looked even darker in the light, along with the way she had her hair free instead of in a braid made her look even more like a barbarian.

“I’m glad you’re back,” I said after a moment of silence.

She tore into the dear, pulling the meat of the bone until nothing edible was left. She tossed it aside, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I’m sorry I ran out on you earlier. It was just... what you were saying. It couldn’t have been a coincidence,” she said, more to the fire than to me.

“Have you heard something like that before?” I asked.

She nodded. Reaching behind her, she unhooked her massive sword and planted it into the ground, then she slid off the makeshift stool onto the ground and leaned against the massive sword like it was a wall.

“I have. My tribe, my father’s tribe,” she clarified. “We had a shaman, now he’s the chief. He said that a war was coming and if we wanted to survive the war, we needed to side with the man bringing it.”

“That makes sense. Kojiman is obviously powerful. I don’t know if Adora sent me to him in a dream so I could learn about him, or if he pulled me to him, but the dude has an army bigger than an ocean,” I told her.

“I believe as you believe, Nicholas, as my father believed. Alliance is the only hope. However, my people are allying on the wrong side. They do not know Kojiman, only Bartuce, the shaman who is leading them astray.

They don’t see the evil he is bringing into the tribe, just the temporary rewards. I... I want to help them, but they don’t see me as an orc, not really. When my father spoke for me, they would—”

“What happened to your father?” I asked quietly.

“Bartuce betrayed and murdered him,” she said almost in a whisper. Pain filled her vibrant blue eyes, and a single tear ran down the side of her cheek. I stood up, walked over and sat down next to her, and put an arm around her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “He sounded like a great orc.”

She leaned into me, resting her head against my chest, and let the tears come.

“He was. He really was. Now Bartuce is marching the orcs, raiding every village and town. That’s why the people of Griffondale were angry at me. All the orcs see, when they look at me is a human, and all the humans see is an orc. I’ll never fit in, never belong, not really,” she said between tears.

I knew a little something about not fitting in. My whole life I had felt like I didn’t belong, like there was something more to what I was doing, or should be doing. Now I was. I was supposed to be here, helping these people. I was going to save Mystaria. I just had to get powerful enough to challenge Kojiman.

I rubbed her muscular shoulders, letting her know it was okay, that she was going to be okay. I comforted and listened as she spoke about her father. Telling me stories of how he kept his orcs focused on building their own community, as opposed to tearing everyone else down.

We stayed that way, her laying against me, until the sky turned grey. I yawned, letting out a big stretch and as I did so, she sat up. Our eyes were level, and I noticed how blue they really were. No streaks of green, just this vibrant color like a luminescent ocean at night.

“Thank you, Nicholas, for listening. I’ve never met a man like you before,” she said with a smile.

I opened my mouth to respond and found myself hovering closer to her. I was transfixed on her eyes, but dimly aware of her luscious lips not five inches from mine. The tears on her face were gone, and her cheeks were slightly darker than the rest of her.

She breathed in slowly, her body heaving as she inhaled.

I wanted to kiss her. I leaned in, moving slowly, so she had the option to stop me if she didn’t feel the same way. In the last few crazy days, she’d saved my life, and maybe it was just that, or maybe it was fate I’d met her that day?

“Any of that deer left?” Daisy said with a yawn as she woke up and stretched.

Alissa jerked back, glancing at Daisy, then down to the ground, not looking at me.

I sighed. I was going to dream about our missed kiss. Her cheeks turned an even darker green as she pulled away, suddenly finding a piece of leather on her armor incredibly important as she focused on it.

“Yes, yes there is,” I said. Now I was yawning. “Thanks Daisy,” I said with a grin. She laughed as she stood, pulling her cloak around her to hide the fact that she wore very little clothes. “And thank you for saving me. I know that couldn’t have been very comfortable,” I said to her with my sincerest smile.

“Of course!” she turned around, cloak in place and danced over to the food, taking out a small, curved knife to cut off a piece of the deer and pop it in her mouth.

Alissa pulled her sword out of the ground and swung it back in place just as Briana sat up from the makeshift bedroll.

“Gang’s all here,” Lexi said, flying lazily around the fire before landing on the deer and pulling a faerie-dragon sized chunk out of the meat.

“Right, Daisy, Briana, this is Alissa,” I said. “Alissa, would you like to join my party?”

Alissa looked at the two other women.

“You’re having a party?” Alissa asked.

It was going to be a long day.