I could hear birds chirping. A familiar sense of déjà-vu hit me as I breathed in deeply. I blinked my eyes open and was welcomed to the sight of clear blue skies. It was a welcome sight. I laid there for a few moments; I suddenly remembered all that happened last night. My face burned with heat. I felt embarrassed about what I did but at the same time, I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness. I had showed Sarya my feelings and she returned them.

I slowly reached around the fur blanket and found it was empty. I sat up. “Sarya?” I called. Nothing. I looked around the camp and didn’t see her. I could feel a sudden panic rise up. I threw off the fur blanket and stood up; ignoring my nudity.

“Sarya?” I called again. I moved towards the pond to see a familiar sight. Sarya. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was getting worked up over nothing.

I slowly dipped my feet into the pond and made my way slowly toward her. I moved ever so slowly as I crouched in the water. I finally was behind her and paused. ‘How should I do this…?’ I reached out and wrapped my arms around her waist. She jumped and snapped her head around to see me. She relaxed and smiled.

“Good morning, I hope you slept well.” I nodded and rested my chin on her shoulder. She sighed pleasantly as I started to rub my hands along her stomach. “Teela…” she whispered. I looked at her pointed ear and kissed the tip.

“Ah!” She jolted at the contact. “Teela… my ears are… sensitive.” Sensitive? Good to know…

I continued by licking the tip and then sucking it. She trembled and moaned at my play. I didn’t want to stop there. I grasped one of her breasts with one hand and pushed my other hand to find her moist heat between her legs. She shuttered and quivered as I continued to play with her. I slipped one finger into her moister and she cried out in pleasure. I continued my assault until her screams of pleasure echoed out from the pond.

She fell back, leaning back into me. “Tee…la.” I looked at her limp state. ‘Did I go too far?’ I hooked my arms under her legs and carried her like a princess. She looked up at me.

“Teela, you’re so mean.” She cooed. I gave a small laugh. My first laugh since I came to this world.

“I’m sorry Sarya. I’ll make it up to you.” I looked down at her and smiled. I carried her to the camp and we got clothed, packed up and headed out.

……………………

It had been a whole week since the first night. We had been making good progress according to Sarya. I was definitely glad when we came up on a fishing village. We had run out of food three days ago. While Sarya could use her manipulation magic to grow fruits and vegetables; I really wanted some meat. I hadn’t had any meat since I got it from Helena’s stew.

We stopped at the fishing village sigh. “Camro?” I read aloud. The village seemed quiet enough, kind of peaceful.

We entered and made our way to the closest tavern. I noticed that people were giving us funny looks and whispering among themselves. What the hell? Were we really that out of place? I felt somewhat uncomfortable but I did my best to ignore them.

We entered the tavern and sat at one of the open tables; a waiter came up and got our orders. A salad and water for Sarya, a large fish and water for me.

As we waited for our food a large man approached us and lend on our table.

“Oi, welcome to Camro. You lovely ladies are new here aren’t you? I can tell. If you’d like, I could show you the best Camro has to offer.” I looked at him. He had a rough beard and stood at about 6’0.

I shook my head. “No thanks. We are simply passing through.”

“Oh come now. Don’t be like that. There is much to see! If you’d allow me to-“I sighed.

“Look, I’m not interested. We’re only passing through. There are places we need to be. If you want to help, then tell us where the market and general store is so we can buy fresh equipment.”

The man rubbed his chin and replied “Very well. I’ll be outside, take your time with your meal.” With that, he left. I don’t know why but I had a bad feeling about him. Why would he leave and tell us to ‘take our time?’ I didn’t like it.

…………………

We had finished our meal without further disturbance and left the tavern to find the man waiting for us. He displayed a smile that didn’t make me happy.

“Well did you enjoy your meal? I apologize but I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Eder.” He made a mocking bow like a knight. “Teela” I replied. “Sarya” She replied with a smile. He returned the smile.

“Let’s get going, shall we?”  With that, he took lead.

I followed with Sarya, keeping my eyes on the surroundings. I didn’t trust him but I had already made the request to have him help us. I continued along the path he lead us until he stopped.

“Hey,” He said. “Let’s take a shortcut through here.” He pointed to an alleyway. “The market is on the other side of here.”

I paused for a moment to listen. The marketplace would be a pretty loud place, especially since there was much to buy and this was a fishing village with a large port so many people would be coming and going, so it would be busy a majority of the time. It would be loud enough for me to hear. No. The market wasn’t over there.

An uneasy feeling gripped me. “I don’t think so.” I eyed him.

He blinked “Why not? You wanted to go to the market didn’t you?”

I grabbed Sarya’s hand and moved away “Yeah. But I have my doubts that the marketplace is over there.” I pulled Sarya with me. We needed to get away from here. FAST.

Suddenly Eder said out loud. “Well, I guess the gigs up gentlemen. Might as well show yourselves.”

I KNEW IT! Men slowly came out from the shadows and tried to surround us. ‘SHIT!’ I started running with Sarya. Two men tried to block us, I unsheathed my sword and knocked one back. The other one swiped at me and I jumped back.

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“GO SARYA! I’LL HOLD THEM!” She hesitated for a moment before doing what I told her. I jumped to the side of the man’s thrust and struck the back of his head with the hilt. I could finish him but my first priority was to get Sarya to safety.

I turned to see Sarya get grabbed by another man “Oi! Don’t bother playing hero. We got the Elf.”

“Sarya! Your magic!” I could already see her lips moving and a piece of dirt shot from the ground and hit the man in the face. She didn’t seem to stop there as the ground suddenly moved which caused the man to trip.

“Damnit! The Elf’s got Manipulation magic!?” Sarya was running, I was coming up on the rear. I could hear shouting and cursing from behind us as we tried to get to a more public place. If it came to that point, I’d have to leave the village.

…………….

We managed to get close to the tavern where we ate. I noticed that there wasn’t anyone on the streets as we moved. It was like a ghost town. ‘Where the hell is everyone?’

I saw the tavern and the main gate, however, the gate was closed. “What?” I said aloud. I could feel a chill run down my spine.

A man came out from behind the tavern. He clapped sarcastically. “Well, congratulations on making it this far. For a wench, you made it quite far. Not bad.” A few men showed themselves, standing on the rooftops. I could see them holding crossbows.

“Now how about you drop them weapons, and don’t bother Elf. We’ll start shooting the moment we see so much as a rift of dirt.” I looked around but I couldn’t see a way out of this. ‘Shit…’ If Sarya tried, we would be shot down before the magic could form. It took time to bring it out. I couldn’t use my sword and I lacked range options. There was only one option.

I reached for my mace and slowly unsheathed it, I dropped it. I looked at the men and they started lowering their crossbows. CHANCE! I grabbed Sarya’s hand and immediately ran to the nearest house.

I kicked in the door and pushed her inside. A bolt made an audible *Thunk* as it hit the door frame. A bolt head emerged from my shoulder as pain flared.

“FUCK!” I threw myself inside and kicked the door close.

“Teela!?” Sarya was next to me looking at the bolt lodged in my shoulder.

“Take it out,” I told her. She looked worried but slowly tried wedge it out which hurt more. “JUST TAKE IT OUT!” I shouted. She jumped at my hostility and with shaky hands she pulled the bolt out in one action. I breathed out in relief. Before I could get comfortable I heard shouting and banging on the door. I tried my best to hold it with my legs but I knew I couldn’t hold out forever.

“SARYA! GET SOMETHING TO HOLD THE DOOR!”  She got up and knocked over a shelf in front of the door. I moved back before the shelf hit the floor. I panted as my mind raced. So many questions emerged. Why were they doing this? For what? Where was everyone? Just what the fuck is going on!?

“NO! Go away!” I heard a voice behind me. I quickly shifted around to see two people. A woman and a child. They were hiding behind a table with their heads poking out from behind it.

“Just what the hell is going on in this village!?” I demanded.

“J-just go away! Or they’ll…”  Suddenly a window broke open and a man forced his way inside. I jumped up and had my sword ready. He got too full of himself as he jumped in with a thrust from his dagger. I knocked it aside and jammed my cross guard into his eye. He screamed as I grabbed him and threw him outside. Another volley of bolts made me fall back inside.

“Damnit… they’re not going to let us out.” I peeked outside and seen there was about ten of them. ‘Shit, shit.’ I looked back at Sarya.

“Sarya, can you make a small dust storm. When it’s up, we’re going to rush to the port.” She nodded and slowly came up on me. “Go on Sarya.” I encouraged her. She muttered her chant. I seen the ground start to move and the dirt swirled and flowed around the men. They shouted and cursed as the flailed their arms desperately, trying to keep the dirt away from them.

“OK! LET’S GO!” I grabbed Sarya’s hand and lead her out. We quickly made our way past them and headed toward the sight of ships. Even if I had to get a damn row boat to get us out of here I would. I didn’t know what was going on here but- I suddenly felt a jerk from Sarya’s hand which made me turn around.

“Sarya? Come on-“I paused as I looked at her eyes, they were wide with alarm. She looked at me. “Te…ela…?” I lowered my gaze… and the blood drained from my face. There were two bolts emerging from her stomach. W-when did-… A trickle of blood came from her mouth and she fell to her knees.

“SARYA?! NO! COME ON! WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING! WE…” I tried to pull her up to no avail. I sunk to my knees as she slowly closed her eyes. This… can’t be happening!

I shook her. “NO! NO! NO! SARYA! NO! STAY WITH ME!” Tears were streaming down my face. She fell limp as the men of the village surrounded us.

“Damnit! I told you to watch out for the elf! They’re worth a lot.”

I wasn’t listening. The only thing I could think of was the fact that Sarya… was dead. Because of me. Because I wasn’t careful enough. I knew that it wasn’t a good idea to follow a stranger but I was an idiot. I’m so fucking useless… I felt a hard thing strike me across my face and my world went black. The last thing I seen was Sarya’s hair turn black and the sounds of surprise from the group of men.