I could have kicked my own ass. I’d been so on edge that I couldn’t tell the difference between two women just because they had similar hair. I charged after the new arrival, Stella close on my heels. I rounded the corner of a building and skidded to a halt, the sharp edge of the woman’s battle-axe almost pressing against my throat.

“Stop following me,” the strange woman snarled.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.”

The woman frowned and lowered her weapon. “You’ve seen other people?”

“Just one. She was a bit… ahh, evil witch.”

The woman snorted. “You can say bitch, you know. I won’t be offended.”

“Okay, she was a complete bitch.”

The woman laughed in a way that reminded me of bells. I know a lot about bells remember? I’m practically a tower puller already.

“What’s your name, funny man?” she asked.

“Joe, and yours?”

“Nora Nightingale.”

I frowned. “Seriously?”

She shrugged. “We’re in a new world. Why shouldn’t I pick a new name?”

“Huh, I never thought of that. Call me… Spartacus.”

“No, I think I’ll call you Outback Joe.” She waved a sheet of paper in my face. “That’s what this calls you.”

My cheeks heated as I remembered she’d heard me on stage. “Just Joe is fine.”

“Well, Joe. It was nice meeting another human and all, but I think I better go.”

She turned to leave. Before I could even think my hand shot out and wrapped around her armor-clad arm, pulling her back. She glared at me and I hurriedly let go.

“Don’t go, not right away.”

A loud roar sounded a few streets over making us both flinch. Nora glanced over her shoulder, gripping her impressive axe tighter. She huffed and grabbed my arm, dragging me back the way we’d come.

“We have to get out of here or they’ll find us. They’re more aggressive at night.”

I frowned. “They’re aggressive all the time.

“Will your horse be able to carry both of us? I know a safe place we can talk.”

I snorted. “He won’t even carry me, let alone the both of us.”

She looked at me oddly and dropped my arm, slowly approaching the horse. “Hi you beautiful thing,” she said. “May I pet you?”

Sob whinnied and clopped forward. “Look out,” I cried but I needn’t have.

Sob snuffled at Nora’s hair and nudged her cheek. Nora giggled and stroked his nose.

“You’re just a big sweetheart, aren’t you?”

“Sweetheart?” I repeated. He was an asshole, not some adorable pony. What the hell was happening?

Nora didn’t seem to notice my disbelief. She ran a hand along Sob’s neck as she approached his side and swung up into the saddle with a grace that shouldn’t have been possible in the heavy steel armor she was wearing.

She held a hand out to me. “Come on, we’re running out of time.”

I took her hand and swung up behind her, adjusting myself uncomfortably just off the saddle. Sob didn’t seem to mind and that made me very uncomfortable. He was planning something, I just knew it.

“Where are we going?” I asked absently, trying to decide if I should hold on to her or not.

“Shush, the crocs are close. We’re going to an inn I know. It’s a safe place.”

“Safe,” I muttered. “Right.”

She kicked her heels and Sob started moving at a fast pace. I gripped him hard with my knees still feeling like a marionette with its string cut. What do I do with my hands? Stella let out a little woof and followed behind. Frank gripped my shoulder harder with his talons but remained silent. That was also odd. This whole experience was making me uneasy. Maybe she was Sarah’s sister and she was taking me to another ambush. The two of them certainly looked enough alike to be sisters.

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If she was evil-hearted it would certainly explain why Sob liked her so much. I didn’t like this at all. Moonlight glinted off the sharp blade of the axe she held across her lap. I swallowed. One hit of that thing and it would be all over for me.

She navigated us expertly down a few streets then up a tight alleyway to another part of town. She slowed Sob as we entered a strange-looking court. The road here was riddled with potholes and the buildings looked ancient. Yep. If I’d been watching a movie, this is definitely where some characters would die.

“We’re almost there,” Nora whispered over her shoulder.

Stella stopped and growled, her hackles raising. Sob snorted and stomped his feet stopping his forward rush. A strange hissing noise sounded somewhere in front of us in the dark.

“Oh no, not now,” Nora murmured.

“What is it?”

“Shush, it knows we’re here.”

Nora dropped off the horse, grasping her axe and holding it at the ready. I followed, grabbing my bow and notching an arrow, looking around for the source of the sound. It didn’t seem like a croc or scorpion which meant it was a new kind of monster.

Sweat beaded on my forehead. A warm breeze filtered between the buildings lifting the strands of hair on my head. The hissing grew nearer. I half drew my bow, aiming my arrow in the direction of the noise.

Nora stalked forward seemingly unafraid. From the shadows, a creature came slithering and reared up, its hood spread wide as its forked tongue flickered from between its scaled lips. I blanched. It was a snake but it was almost as tall as the buildings.

Nora bellowed and charged. The snake lashed out, its pearly white fangs flashing in the moonlight. Nora dodged to the side and swung her axe, hitting the beast squarely behind its head.

Critical hit!

Its health bar appeared and dropped by half. A name floated above the bar.

Common striped cobra.

Common! Seriously? No thank you.

I took aim and shot near the beast's coiled tail, not wanting to flatten Nora with the blast. The arrow struck true and filled the court with blinded light. The cobra reared and hissed, the noise oddly similar to Stella’s growl. Its health dropped by another good chunk.

Sparks danced around Sob’s muzzle and Stella charged, sinking her teeth into the beast's writhing body. If I’d had half a brain I would have fastened her collar back around her neck. How could I be so stupid?

Nora shouted and swung her axe again, slicing deep into the snake’s side. It screamed and tried to slither away, its health bar flashing. I aimed another arrow but I couldn’t fire it, Stella and Nora were too close. Sob screamed and unleashed an enormous bolt of lightning, it shooting across the space, lighting up the creature’s black stripes in brilliant blue light. The sparks danced over its entire length as the snake crashed into the road. Its health bar flashed and vanished as it began to glow gold.

Nora smiled and lifted her axe, using it a lot like a walking stick as she approached the inert body of the beast. She knelt beside it and the body ceased to glow. She’d looted its goods.

Just like that, she came running back to me, a broad smile on her face like the attack had been just another day. Nothing special. I just stared at her, envious of her unnatural tranquillity. I bet she never lost control of her bladder, even when facing the really big crocs. It was unfair. She was who I wanted to be.

“That was fun,” she said gently stroking Sob’s muzzle. “You’re amazing, boy. I’ve never seen a horse mage before. How talented you are.”

Sob whipped his tail and stood up straighter, clearly pleased by her compliments.

“Fun?” I cried. “You call that fun?”

Nora smiled up at me. “Of course. Don’t you think so?”

“No.”

She laughed and hit my arm with a closed fist. “Come on, you’ve got to see the fun in all this or it’ll drive you mad. It really is just like a game, embrace it.”

I eyed her giant axe. “That’s easy for you to say.”

She frowned at my bitter words then shrugged. “Come on, the inn isn’t far. You seem like you could use some sleep.”

“Are you calling me grumpy?”

She laughed as she swung up onto Sob’s back. “Well, aren’t you?”

I muttered some choice curses under my breath and took her hand to swing up behind her. “Let’s just go.”

Stella woofed and wagged her tail, looking up at us with her soft brown eyes.

Nora smiled down at the happy dog. “You did very well too, beautiful girl. You’re an absolute bruiser.”

“Frank shut the hell up!”

Nora laughed and turned in her seat, reaching out to stroke Frank’s feathered chest. “And you too. Very good supervisory work.”

Frank ruffled his feathers and hopped from foot to foot digging his talons painfully into my shoulder.

“Frank stop it,” I snarled. “It hurts.”

“Shut the hell up!”

Nora clamped a hand over her mouth but it didn’t stop the giggles. I glared at her but that only made her laugh harder.

“Don’t we have an inn to find?”

“Yes, yes of course. Come on.”

She kicked her heels and Sob started moving further down the court, heading toward a building at the end that was lit by one of those old-timey lanterns. I rubbed my aching eyes and tried to focus on the sign hanging above the door. It’s hard to read when you’re bouncing around on the back of a horse.

Red Fox Inn.

The fox on the sign was curled into a ball around an old-fashioned candlestick. The building was a little different than the ones around it. It was whitewashed and had two stories instead of one. There was a fenced-in yard around the door. It looked incredibly out of place like it had been grabbed from an ancient village and just shoved in between a couple of regular houses in this outback town. It’s kind of how I pictured an inn in the old fantasy novels I used to read.

Nora pulled Sob to a stop in the yard and smiled, swinging an arm at the place. “Welcome to the safe place. No crocs can get us here.”