Max walked alongside Anita through the tall grass of the meadowlands. It was getting much colder now that night had fallen, and he could feel the cold air through his light shirt. Anita seemed quite comfortable, though, even with her leather outfit exposing so much of her skin. The thief stayed a step behind, mesmerized by the leather strips of her fighting skirt swishing back and forth as she strode purposefully through the tall, soft grass.

Now that they’d left the forest valley, Max could see the edge of town, a dark shape in the distance. The town was surrounded by a wooden palisade that separated the cluster of buildings from the vast meadows. The palisade, made from tree trunks driven into the ground, was around ten feet tall, the tops of each log sharpened into a point.

Although the land was flat, the grass was long, and it was getting harder to make progress. The going was tough for Max, and he wondered why there were no roads. Looking down, he checked his stats by summoning a window in the swaying blades of grass. His Health, unsurprisingly, was still low.

Not far to go now, he thought, gazing longingly at the distant town wall. Soon he could rest and recover. He had the gold coins from the deceased warrior in his sack, and he was sure he’d find somewhere in town where he could buy a bite to eat and a bed for the night. Surely a meal and some rest would bring his Health back up. He would even treat Anita to a meal and a bed. It was the least he could do given that she had saved his life.

“Is your hometown far from here, Max?” Anita said.

Max was lost in his own world, images of the Druid in bed filling his mind. He exhaled, a small smile on his lips.

Anita nudged him. “Max? Did you hear me? I asked if your hometown was far from here.”

Max felt his face flush and looked around at the countryside to cover his embarrassment. Lush meadows stretched into the deep dark of night, and the night sky that was filled with stars. He had never seen so many stars. It must be because he was out in the countryside, not in a brightly lit city. Although he had never studied the constellations, he couldn’t see anything in the sky that he recognized, none of the obvious patterns that every kid learns. He thought of the Death Crows that had attacked him. He thought about how his stats would appear to him when he chose to view them, how Anita had cast a magic spell on him to restore his Health. This was not a world he knew at all. He sensed that he was very far from home.

“Dunno.” Max replied, shaking his head. He really didn’t know where he was, and he was beginning to feel cold and lost. He shivered, not sure if he was shivering from cold or fear.

“Dun Arrow?” Anita asked, her face screwed up in consternation. “Dun Arrow? I have not heard of that town. It must be far from here because I know the Kingdom of Breamor very well, and all the neighboring kingdoms, too. I have traveled back and forth across the continent of Awen, and I even crossed the Kraken Sea to the continent of Scarfel once. I have seen more of the world of Eveirea than most people twice my age, but I’ve never come across a town called Dun Arrow. You must really be lost.”

Max nodded “I am, and I have no idea how I got here. I’m not even sure where here is.”

They walked on toward Burke, silent in the darkness except for the swishing of their feet through the blades of lush grass. Anita produced a small bundle of moss from her pouch and blew on it, whispering softly. It lit up in her hand and showed the way ahead with a deep-green glow. Max could now see a cobbled surface of a road cutting through the tall grass, appearing slightly green in the glow from the Druid’s moss. The road stretched off toward the town of Burke, so Max and Anita headed for the road.

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Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled, drawing their attention.

“It’s okay,” Anita assured him as she laid a comforting hand on Max’s shoulder. “That wolf is far from here, calling to its clan. If they were hunting us, we wouldn’t hear them howling. They would be silent.”

“Lucky for us,” Max said, glancing nervously around, now more worried about the wolves that weren’t howling. He gripped his staff more tightly, but he knew he couldn’t take any damage from another wolf attack. The slightest bit of damage and he would certainly be done for.

“You’re lucky,” Anita said. “As lucky as you are handsome. Tell me, how did you get to be so far from home, out on your own in the wilderness—in the forest valley, no less? You haven’t even made your first level yet, but somehow you came to be so far from home all alone. I really don’t know how you survived. I think you must be the luckiest person I’ve ever met.”

Max gazed at Anita, at her bare shoulders and her bosom rising and falling in her tight leather tunic as she breathed. Her boots laced up tight against her legs, her leather fighting skirt swishing back and forth, showing off her thighs. Max thought he was never going to be lucky enough to get lucky with her.

“I sense your nervousness,” Anita said.

Max was nervous. Nervous that she had caught him ogling her because she could very clearly kick his ass.

“Don’t fear, Max.” Anita put an arm around his shoulder. “I am one with nature and can sense no danger for miles around. We escaped those wolves, and they have stayed back in the forest valley. Even if they come up into the meadows to hunt in the dark, we will reach Burke soon.”

Max stepped out of the long grass and felt the firm ground of the road underneath his feet. Stepping onto a road made from stone made him feel as if he was getting a little closer to home. He tapped the hard surface with his staff, and it knocked pleasingly. It was the first real sign of civilization since he woke in this strange world.

In the dim light, he could see that the road led to a wooden palisade that surrounded the city of Burke. A gatehouse with two tall towers, one on either side of the road, was the only visible entrance to the town. The towers were taller than the rest of the wall by several feet, and he could just make out the flickering lights of flaming torches burning inside. As he looked more closely, the shadowed silhouettes of guards appeared high in the towers. Further along the palisade, he saw a guard marching up and down behind the sharpened points of the timbers, a spear over his shoulder, his form silhouetted by the flickering flames of the torches.

Walking along the road was much easier than trudging through the long grass, and the pair completed the last leg of their journey in a few minutes. At last, Max and Anita stepped up to the gates. The thief leaned heavily on his staff, exhausted. Anita hammered on the small door set into the large main gate with her staff then waited, glancing at Max with a smile.

A small view hatch in the door opened up. It was just big enough for Max to see a gnarled old face lit by a flickering, flaming torch.

“No strangers after dark.”

“Hello there, good gatekeeper,” Anita said with a charming smile. “I am Anita Charmroot, Warrior Druid, and this is my traveling companion, Max Freeman. Our Health is low, and we require a safe place to rest.”

“No strangers after dark,” the gatekeeper repeated. “There is a darkness creeping over the land. There is danger in every shadow. The mayor has decreed that the gates remain closed at night.” The gatekeeper slammed the little hatch shut.

“I’m an old friend of Tibult,” Anita shouted.

Max heard bolts sliding into place on the other side of the gate. He stared up at the tower above him to where two guards in the tower looked down, their spears resting against their shoulders. The flickering torchlight reflecting off their leather armor.

“What now?” the thief asked.

A spot of rain landed on Max’s cheek. Clouds were gathering overhead, dark clouds filled with rain, blocking out the stars.

“Great,” Max said, pulling his light cotton shirt closer to him. A cold wet wind came blowing over the meadowlands in huge gusts. “This is the last thing we need.”