After leaving the Temple of Initiation, or the tutorial, as I now thought of it, it was a short journey through the darkness to the surface. I was so happy to finally breath the fresh air, and see the sky full of billowing gray clouds, it was nearly half an hour before I realized that I was far from being out of trouble. The dungeon spat me out onto a barren, rocky hillside, with a vast forest stretching out ahead of me as far as the eye could see. The air was chilly, and it was clear that rain had fallen recently, and that it would be falling again in the near future. I spent some time exploring among the hills, searching them and the surrounding area for any sign of fresh water, or any source of food, or any sign of human habitation. Clearly, I was in a wilderness, and I had no idea of what direction I should go to get out of it. I had no food, no equipment to speak of, no camping gear at all. I had a human tibia in my hand with a bit of spent torch tied to it, and a pair of jeans. I was less prepared to survive in the wilderness than I was for a job interview. I would have killed for a lousy pair of tennis shoes.

  Despite my lack of material goods, there was something truly wonderful about facing an entirely new world. Here, I would live or die by my own strength and cunning, and for the time being, there were no limits on what might be waiting for me over the next hill. It reminded me of waking up in the morning when I was a small child, when the world was new and bursting with possibility. It also reminded me a little of Scotland, despite the fact the fact that I had never actually been there. Something about the dismal overcast sky and the rolling hills. This seemed like a good place to raise sheep, primarily because you would want a sweater before too long.

  Hunger, long deferred, was back with a vengeance. My searching began to grow desperate, and I began combing the treeline. I didn't like the look of the alpine forest. The trees grew fairly close together, with shrubs and bushes piled underneath. Too many places where some predator might be waiting in ambush. I had been searching for several hours before I hit pay-dirt, in the form of a little stream running from the hills into the forest. The stream disappeared into a thick tangle of blackberry bushes. I was delighted to see a plant that I actually recognized. It was delicate work trying pick my way along the rocky ground with cold, bare feet while avoiding the thorn-covered vines that snaked along the ground, but my efforts were soon rewarded with a meal of ripe blackberries. Most of them were partially dried and coated in cobwebs, but I spent hours picking and eating them. I never really got full, but the need to eat gradually subsided. As evening began to come on, my thoughts turned from subsistence to shelter. The tangle of black berry bushes seemed like an ideal place to spend the night. I began to gathering materials for a simple shelter. After snagging a collection of low-lying branches from nearby trees, I was able to clear a small area in among the thorns where I could be sheltered from rain, protected from predators, and suffer only moderate risk of rolling my face into a pile of thorns during the night.

  Getting comfortable is a bit of ambitious goal when your blankets and mattress are mostly pine needles, but I had settled in as best I could when the sky was almost dark. I considered building a campfire, but I was no woodsman and I had little confidence that banging two rocks together was going to work in any reasonable time-frame. Better to make that a project for the future, I reasoned. Sleeping in a nest of branches among the bushes with my stomach full of berries, I felt like a bear, a bear who has lost his furry pelt and is really pissed about it.

  Something rustled nearby. I had been lying asleep shivering for hours, so I actually welcomed the distraction. I slowly rose out of my little nest and took stock. There was a full moon tonight, although I couldn't see it behind the overcast sky. The landscape was dimly lit with bluish moonlight. Not great lighting, but after that long journey through pitch blackness the day before it felt close enough to daylight. I shut my eyes, steadied my breath, and listened. I could hear a slight breeze disturbing the branches above me, the faint tumbling of the stream running through the woods, the sound of something with wings fluttering through the night air, and...the sound of something struggling in the blackberry bushes about a dozen yards away, across the stream. Awareness had definitely been a solid choice of skill talent. I was amazed at how clear the image my senses created for me was, I felt that I could very nearly see in the dark. I decided to investigate the noise, more out of boredom than curiosity.

  Sadly, the thorns that coated the ground made no sound, unless you count the muffled obscenities they provoked in me. The full moon provided better lighting than I would have thought possible, but the shadows of the trees made watching the ground very difficult. It was a slow, painful walk out to to the source of the noise. I had my bone club in hand, but I would be at a serious disadvantage if I had to run under these conditions. It would be safer to return to my den, but I couldn't survive in this world by hiding from every noise. I soon heard another sound, the sound of an animal in pain. Something was caught in the bushes and was thrashing about to free itself. I could hear it whining as the thorns stabbed into it over and over. I crept around the bush and got a look at its silhouette in the moonlight; it was a goat.

  I watched it struggle for a moment, considering. A find like this was more luck than I could reasonably have hoped for. I could reach it with only a little blood loss, stove its head in, slaughter it, and then I would have meat for about a week, as well as a pelt I could use to make some shoes. This was my luck turning around.

  No, I'm not that lucky. This is too convenient. Where did this goat come from? I hadn't seen any tracks or dung piles when I had searched the hillsides. Did it escape from a farm? There was nothing but forest for miles in every direction, I would have spotted a farm. Goats don't just wander around in the woods like deer. This smelled fishy.

  I address the pitiful creature. “I'm not buying it.” I stated simply. The goat took no notice, continuing to mewl in pain and struggle with the vines.

  “This is a fucking trap or something. Show yourself.”

  The goat did not respond to my incredulity.

  “Fine, I'm coming in there, but I'm not gonna be happy when I do.”

  I began moving into the bush, using my club to part the vines and avoid the thorns as much as possible, which was not that much. Once within range, I set about untangling the stupid creature from the brambles that it had wrapped itself in. It didn't seem likely that any wild creature would be dumb enough to get itself caught this way, further reinforcing my suspicions. I lifted the little thing out of the vines and tucked it under one arm, pointing its flailing hooves away from me. It stopped struggling after a moment and lay relaxed against me, further evidence that this creature had the survival instincts of a lemming on antidepressants. I made my exit from the bushes, muttering in pain as the thorns did their work.

  The goat was utterly passive when I placed it on the ground. Despite my earlier thoughts, I found that I had no interest in killing it once I had it out of the thorns. I was lucky to have found this thing, and could definitely put its hide and meat to good use, but after I had saved it from a painful, lingering death, it was just unsporting to kill it.

  “Alright, get lost.” I told the goat as it stared at me. “I said piss off. Go get eaten by wolves you stupid little prick.” It continued to stare. I looked into its eyes.

  They were wrong. Goat's eyes are yellow, and they have square pupils. This thing had solid green eyes, no pupil or white visible. I felt a wave of instinctive revulsion rise within me. As creepy as a goat's eyes can be, at least they were familiar. I was looking at a beast of an alien world, just familiar enough to be off-putting.

  “You're not even a goat, are you?” I asked aloud.

  As it sat staring at me, it illuminated. A warm, orange glow like a campfire suffused its small body. Its hair melted like wax, and it rose from the ground, stretching and shifting. Within seconds, it had transformed into a beautiful woman; so beautiful that it almost hurt me to look at her. She had jet-black hair, thin, graceful features, and skin that literally shone like red-hot iron. She was completely naked, but she stood before me with no hint of fear or shame, utterly confident. She was shaped like a human, but could never be mistaken for one. Her eyes were the one thing that had not changed; still solid green, like emeralds. I could feel the warmth that radiated off her. Everything about her filled me with the urge to throw myself at her feet and worship her. I gripped my bone club in my hand. I had to struggle with myself to hold the reality of what was happening in my mind as I looked at her. This was a powerful, dangerous being.

  She spoke. Her voice was soft and low, and literally musical. I couldn't understand the language. It sounded vaguely Germanic, although it definitely wasn't German. As I stared in wonder at her, she suddenly froze in place, and a text-box appeared in my vision.

You have encountered a language you are unfamiliar with. You have 9 Learning points unspent. Do you wish to learn the language “Oestekommen”?

Yes No

  The possibility of being able to communicate with this creature was too good to pass up. I mentally clicked “yes”.

What level of language skill do you wish to acquire?

Simple: 1 Learning point

Fluent: 2 Learning points

Familiar: 3 Learning points

Eloquent: 4 Learning points

  Hmm. The fact that the language was called, essentially, Western Common (or was it Eastern Common?) suggested that it might be the most common language in this area, or at least in some area. This being was the first person I had met in this world, and I needed to make a good impression. I decided to go for broke and chose “Eloquent”. Time resumed.

  “Pardon me, could you repeat that?” I asked in Oestekommen.

  “I asked you what language you were speaking just now.” she replied. It was strange to speak and understand perfectly a language I had never heard before. The words were simultaneously strange and entirely familiar. I don't think I could have explained how the language worked on a grammatical level, I simply knew what sounded right.

  “It's called English. Its quite prevalent where I come from.”

  “Really? I thought I knew every tongue used by mortals on this continent. There are only a few dozen, after all. What are you doing out here, alone, without even a shirt on your back?”

  “I could easily ask you the same question.”

  “But I asked first.”

  “I am not entirely sure how to answer. I am not from anywhere you would have heard of. I am from another world entirely.”

  “I thought as much. Which one?”

  “How many are there?”

  “I know of at least a dozen, but there are many more. Everyone who knows anything knows that. So, you have fallen out of the sky, so to speak.”

  “I suppose. So...what is your name, if I may ask?”

  “You may not. We do not exchange names on first acquaintance.”

  “We?”

  “You do not recognize my kind? We are known in many places, and by many names.”

  “I would guess that you are a fairy of some kind.”

  “We are called “The Fair Folk” for formal purposes, or the Seelie Fae.”

  “Ah. So what were you doing in that blackberry bush?”

  “I saw you wandering in the hills yesterday, and you excited my curiosity. I wanted to know what sort of mortal you are. This is one of the ancient methods for discerning the pure of heart.”

  “A test, then. Did I pass?”

  “No. If you had been pure of heart , you would have been moved with pity at the sight of a suffering creature, and gone into the thorns to rescue it without hesitation. You would not have considered the danger involved. You certainly would not have considered using my skin to make shoes.”

  Had she guessed that, or could she actually see into my thoughts?

  “Neither. Human minds are so predictable. It's what makes you so much fun. Now I must decide what I will do with you. If you had rescued me without hesitation, I would have given you any wish that your heart desired. If you had knocked me on the head with your little club, I would have turned into you into a mouse and let you scamper about the forest until an owl found you. I don't think you have earned either of those fates.”

  I considered arguing that I had, in fact, saved her in spite of my apprehension, but I knew that that line of reasoning would get me nowhere. “The Fair Folk” are called that because they appear fair, not because they care about fairness. I had read enough actual fairy tales to know that I would be lucky to escape from this encounter alive and without some horrible curse. Even a fairy's gratitude could be dangerous, let alone her displeasure. I stood in silence, and waited.

  “You have intrigued me, though. Your mind is a bit more complex than most mortals. When I appear in this form, most men either flee in terror or try to have sex with me. You were hardly even surprised.”

  “I found the scenario unconvincing. I mean, how often does a goat get stuck like that?”

  She laughed, a sound so pleasant that I almost forgot how much danger I was in.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “It's true. I hardly bother being subtle where mortals are involved. It's a waste of effort when they fall for even the simplest of ruses. You, though, you saw right through me, such a clever, judicious man.”

  I struggled to show no emotion, but I knew I had put a foot wrong in criticizing her, even lightly. Her casual arrogance spoke of a lady who was accustomed to being feared and adored, not questioned. She was flattering me now, hoping that I would swallow the bait and say something she could use as a pretext for punishment. I waited for her to continue.

  “I suppose you deserve some sort of reward for your forbearance. I will help you find your way to more of your kind.”

  She was building up to something, I just knew it. But I didn't dare show ingratitude.

  “Thank you, that's very kind.”

  She smiled, showing me all of her glistening white teeth. “It is, isn't it? Listen carefully. A day's journey to the south there is a path running through the forest. Take that road westward and you will reach a human settlement on the coast of the great sea. With my blessing, you shall avoid the dangers of the forest, and remain warm in the bitter cold. Farewell.”

  With that, she transformed into an owl and sped away into the night.

  My entire body suddenly exploded in pain. Every bone and fiber I had was being crushed, as though in huge fist. I fell to the ground in agony and my club fell from my hand.

  The sensation that followed was like fast-forwarding through some type of flu. The feeling of crushing pressure, intense nausia, and painful muscle spasms resolved into a feeling of being melted, like wax. When it passed, I found that I, too, had been transformed. My hands had been replaced with paws covered in reddish-brown and white fur. I had an elongated snout and a bushy tail flapping in the air behind me. I had been so reduced in size that my jeans now lay in a pile nearby. There was no question that the fairy had turned me into a fox.

  I sat on the ground for a time in the moonlight, considering my options. Whether that had been a blessing or a curse in the fae woman's eyes was a mystery, but the reality of it was that I had to deal with it now. If this was permanent, it meant I had to find some way to turn myself back. That would mean finding someone else with magical powers, and somehow persuading them to help me.

  On the plus side, I was now covered in fur, which meant I might actually get a decent night's sleep. Thanks to my limited wealth, this transformation would not cost me too much in terms of possessions. The only thing I had of any real value was the coin in the pocket of my jeans. I had no desire to leave that behind, so I stuck my snout into the pocket and fished it out. Putting my mouth into my own pocket easily matched meeting a fairy and changing species for sheer surreality. If I managed to return to human form, I might be able to trade the piece of silver for clothing and food. Unfortunately, with my reduced size and lack of hands, the only means I had to carry the little treasure was to grip it in my jaws. It was too large even to fit in my mouth now. The bone and the jeans I would have to leave behind, although I would likely miss them as well. Taking my coin, I crept back to the nest I had built and settled in for the night. I curled into a ball let sleep take, hoping that I would discover that the whole ordeal had been a dream.

  It was not. When I awoke, I was still a fox. That was the situation, and I just had to make the best of it. I began the day by eating as many blackberries as I could find. I couldn't recall whether a fox's digestive system could process berries, but I had to eat something. The berries were, if anything, more delicious to my fox taste-buds than they had been when I was human, so that was encouraging.

  Making a reasonable guess as to which way was south, I set out through woods, carrying the coin in my little jaws. The forest had transformed entirely now that I was seeing it through the eyes of an animal. The colors were strangely muted. Even the canopy of pine above me appeared pale gray rather than green. Everything was gigantic. Looking at the great pine trees now, it was hard to believe that I had climbed a few of them the day before.

  I soon found that one benefit of being a fox was that I now possessed a vastly improved sense of smell. I had always liked the smell of a pine forest, but as a human that smell had been a single sensation. Now I was assaulted by a nuanced palette of scents. The forest was home to over six different species of pine, and I could tell each of them by their scents. Not scent, scents. The scent of their needles, the scent of their bark, the scent of their sap, each one had a unique profile. Nor was I alone in the forest. My fox-ears could detect any movement around me, and there seemed to be no limit to my perception. I could hear the insects buzzing about, the little rodents scuffling around in the underbrush, great hulking things lumbering in the distance. It was child's play to avoid anything I did not wish to meet. If I heard something approaching, I could easily dart through a tangle of bushes to escape. I had never really appreciated how large and ungainly I had been as a human. In my new form I was sleek and stealthy, able to move through the forest like ghost.

  The fae woman had said that the road was a day's journey to the south. Nice of her to be so specific. I had set out a bit late, so as evening began to descend again I began to wonder how long it would be before I found the path. She also hadn't said how far along the path I would have to travel before I reached the town.

  As night descended, I began to grow hungry again. Although I knew that the results would be disgusting, I began reluctantly to hunt. The forest was a true primeval wood, bursting with life at every seam. Following any scent that seemed tasty, I had soon consumed several burrowing worms, a dozen crickets, several beetles, and something that I think was a large beetle larvae. I was hoping to snag a squirrel or a woodchuck, but they would always escape from me long before I reached them. Evidently, my mediocre Stealth skills extended to my vulpine form. It gave me cause to wonder how much of my other abilities carried over to my transformed state.

  Although tired and now half-full of assorted arthropods, I elected to continue my journey as night fell. Having spent the day learning to navigate and avoid predators by hearing and scent, I was confident that I could manage traveling by night. The moonlight was much fainter now, and my reduced color vision quickly rendered my vision all but useless. I was beginning to wonder if I might have to wait until morning after all. Suppose that in the darkness I should cross the path without realizing it? Then I would be like I had been before I met the fairy, completely lost, with no sense of where to go, and with my luck another damn fairy would show up and turn me into a grasshopper.

  I was not overly angry at the fairy, I should point out. She was, after all, just a sub-routine of the program I was being subjected to. I had probably thrown its program for a loop by being both cautious and kind instead of just one or the other. It just ate at me that she had decided to punish me in this way just for not leaping into the blackberries without thinking. If that's what it means to be “pure of heart”, it's no wonder that the good die young. Maybe I was just hurt at being judged so harshly by such an obviously privileged and uncaring brat. To her, human beings were little more than toys or pets, creatures whose fates she could alter on her whim.

  I was so consumed with these thoughts that I stopped paying attention to my surroundings, which is how the path sneaked up on me. One moment I was slipping through the underbrush, the next I was standing in the middle of a dirt road. The smell of horse droppings rose up from it like fine mist. I began exploring hoofprints and cart-tracks that covered the road with my sensitive fox nose. I got the impression that road was seldom used. Most of the scents smelled faded. Either this road was little used this time of year, or it had been abandoned relatively recently. I was pleased to see a sign of human habitation in this world, even if I wasn't quite a human at the moment. Even I begin to miss having someone to talk to eventually.

  I began following the road, heading westward as the fairy had suggested. I had briefly considered heading east just to spite her, but who knew far it would be to the next town. I had no way of knowing what to expect in either direction, but I did like the idea of reaching the coast. A coastal town usually meant overseas trade, which meant I could get an idea of what kind of world I was in and where I could go next. Travel was much quicker and easier on the beaten-down earth than in the thick woods, but I also felt oddly naked with no trees in front of me or behind me. I would be visible at a great distance like this. Most of the larger creatures I had heard earlier seemed to have turned in for the evening. They were probably bears or moose, but considering I had already met a skeleton and a fairy, they could have been just about anything. I hadn't seen any wolves, which probably wouldn't be too interested in a fox anyway. Really, I ought to be relatively safe from attack, provided I could avoid the British aristocracy.

  I heard the rumble of an approaching cart behind me. My fox ears gave me plenty of advance warning. It was a large and heavily-laden affair, with two large horses pulling it forward at a strenuous pace. I wondered why they were traveling in such a hurry, and so late. It was proper nightfall now, although the sky was a bit clearer than it had been the previous evening. The moon was still nearly full, and now that I could see it properly, I saw that it was larger and brighter than the familiar moon of home, but it was otherwise identical, even the lunar seas were the same. It was familiar, but exaggerated. The practical upshot being that I had plenty of light to see by in the open, although the forest was still nearly pitch black.

I made a detour to let the cart go by. It wouldn't do to encounter humans in my current shape. I still wanted to see them, however, so I scurried behind a tree a little distance from the road and waited.

  As the cart approached, it slowed down. The moonlight gave me an excellent view of the craft as it pulled to a stop. I wondered briefly why they were stopping, but the voices of the two occupants soon clued me in.

  “I saw it just now! It ran into woods, but it can't have gone far! Come on, we can catch it” said a somewhat rotund man of about twenty. He spoke Oestekommen, which was a bit of luck. He had sideburns, ears that stuck out at a right angle to his head, and an unpleasant reedy voice. He also had a crossbow in his hands, which prompted me to hide my head behind the tree. Stupid. I had forgotten how my low-to-the-ground body exaggerated distance. Of course they had been able to see me from their high vantage point. I decided that my best odds of avoiding detection would be to keep still, and trust the darkness to hide me.

  “I saw it too, but we can't stop here. Your father was very clear about that.” A woman's voice, a little older than the man. She must be the one driving.

  “Shut up! I'm in charge, not you. It was carrying something shiny, and it's pelt is worth a small fortune! I'd never forgive myself if I let it get away.”

  As he said this, he approached my position. He was carrying light with him, probably one of the lanterns that had been hanging from the cart. I cursed my double-stupidity at not dropping the coin from my mouth. How did it keep catching the light at just the wrong moment? I considered dropping it now, but I might not be able to find it again if I did, and it was literally all the money I had in the world.

Instead, I stealthily re-positioned myself to avoid the lantern light.

  The bastard with the crossbow made a series of loud crunching sounds as he attempted to sneak forward. He was dangerously close, but as long as I kept still, he should be unable to spot me. Judging by the way he was moving, I wasn't dealing with a seasoned hunter. Only a kid, really. He crunched his way forward, and I shifted position to stay out of his line of sight. My heart was pounding away, as I heard his female companion approach. She had a lantern as well, and she moved a great deal more quietly. This was starting to become dangerous. A well-placed crossbow bolt would finish me off with no warning.

  The woman became silhouetted in the moonlight. She was taller than her companion, sturdily built, and she was carrying a short spear in one hand. I couldn't see her eyes for a moment, before I realized that she was missing an eye on her right side, there was only a flap of skin in its place. This was fortunate for me, as all I had to do to stay hidden was to stay behind and to her right. The man was getting deeper into the woods now.

  I heard something stir out there in the darkness. It was hard to distinguish from the crunching of the kid's boots, but it was there. Neither of the two humans gave any sign that they had heard anything.

  “Come back! We can't leave the cart like this.” she called to him in a whisper.

  “I said shut up! Go back to the cart, I won't be too long.” he replied, making no attempt to keep his voice down. Something was moving near him. He might have heard it if he'd been silent.

  “No one goes into the forest alone! Didn't anyone ever teach you that?” she hissed back.

Whatever his reply would have been, it was replaced by a shriek of pain. I heard his body fall to the forest floor with a thud. Something that sounded like sizzling bacon crawled over him as he continued to wail in pain. I poked my head out survey the situation. In the light of the two lanterns, I saw something long and insectoid crawl over the kid's body. To her credit, the woman raised her spear and readied herself for combat, although she would have been better off making for the cart at a dead run. She was outnumbered though. The little skittering things were all around us now, and the kid with the crossbow was now silent. She approached the spot where he had fallen, and was menacing the little creature with her spear, trying drive it off. I could now see the creature draped over the body on the ground, it was a centipede the size of a golden retriever. She didn't dare take a stab at it for fear of killing her companion. She could see it, but she couldn't see the other centipedes circling around her. I could see now that unless I intervened, she was done for. I lay the coin on the ground and slipped in behind her.

  One of centipedes was closing in on her right flank, where her missing eye might have spotted it. With a single motion, I leapt on it and crushed it throat in my jaws. I was encouraged to find that my enhanced strength did indeed follow me into my new body. The carapace broke in my teeth like pottery, and I ripped a chunk of stringy flesh free of the body. I immediately turned and spotted another one crawling out of the tall grass just behind the woman. I killed it as well, giving it no chance to retaliate. I reasoned that these monsters must have a poisonous bite, or else how could they have taken a grown man down so quickly? One bite and I was done for, but I was quicker than them, and I had the element of surprise. I turned to check on the woman, and found that she had managed to impale the little monster as it advanced toward her. Well and good, but there were still two more advancing from the bushes. She spun around and spotted me, her eye widening in shock.

  Rather than risk becoming the next target of that spear of hers, I engaged one the remaining opponents. This one managed to strike like a cobra before I could jump on it, which forced me backward. I had lost the element of surprise, so I needed to rethink my approach. Instead of leaping on it, I began circling it instead, hoping for an opening. These centipedes could manage a decent turn of speed moving forward, but like a crocodile they were quite a bit slower at turning. I began to make quick, opportunistic bites at its rear body segments, tearing off dozens of its legs. After dragging its wounded body around in circle a few times, it apparently decided that its opportunity for a quick and easy meal had been lost, and skittered off into the forest. I turned my attention back to the humans. With only one enemy remaining to focus on, the woman was managing much better. The two were slowly circling one another, the centipede trying to slip past her spear to strike at her feet. I decided to attempt a flanking action, and slipped in behind the creature to menace its hindquarters. As soon as I did so, however, I felt my body become suddenly overwhelmed with a hideous pain. I fell to the ground and it felt as though every bone in my body was exploding. I wondered if I had missed some kind of poisonous stinger on the centipede's tail as my vision flooded with reddish light.

  When my senses returned, the woman was standing over me, spear raised and ready to impale me at a moment's notice. I raised my hands in a placating gesture, then noticed that I now had hands. The fairy's blessing had apparently worn off just as the battle was wrapping up, and she was now seeing my human form...all of it.

  “Ummm...hello there.” I began. She responded to my polite greeting by resting the point of her spear against my collarbone.

  “Tell me who you are, what you are, and what business you have here.” she demanded cooly. I got the impression that this was not her first time threatening someone's life with a spear. I decided to answer her questions as honestly as I could.

  “My name is Raymond, I am a human being, and I have been lost in the woods for some time. Please do not stab me.”

  “You were a fox a moment ago. Now what are you really?” the spear remained where it was.

  “I was under a spell. This is what I normally look like. I mean, I usually wear clothing, but this is basically what I look like.”

  “You are lying. You are a shapeshifter of some kind.”

  “Yes, and I cunningly decided to turn into a naked man lying helpless on the ground. My, my deviousness knows no bounds.”

  “Shut up.” she cut me off. Maybe sarcasm wasn't the right approach here. “Help me get Reuben on the cart.”

  She withdraw a few feet and let me stand up. She was still eyeing me suspiciously, but in her current circumstances she seemed willing to allow me to help. She set aside her spear and took possession of the crossbow, which was still loaded and ready to go. I pressed two fingers against his throat.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Checking his pulse. He's alive.”

  “Of course he is. Deathcrawler venom just paralyzes. Then they eat you slowly, while you are still conscious.”

  I slung Reuben's paralyzed body over my shoulder and carried him back to the cart, under his companion's watchful eye. I made one last trip into the woods to retrieve the spear, the lantern, and my coin, which alerted me to its presence with its usual reflective flicker. I'm really beginning to wonder if there is something more to that little thing. She was still threatening me with the crossbow as I returned the spear and lantern.

  “I don't suppose I could trouble you for ride?”

  “Why should I trust you?” she asked. It didn't sound like a rebuke, just a request for information.

  “Not to put too fine a point on it, but you would be dead right now if it weren't for me.”

  “We wouldn't have been in the forest at all if we hadn't been looking for you.”

  “And I appreciate that. But the fact remains that I'll probably die if you leave me here like this.”

  “Turn back into fox and go away.”

  “I can't turn into anything, any more than you can. A fairy turned me into a fox last night. I think its one of those gifts that expires at midnight, like Cinderella's dress.”

  “I don't know what that is.”

  “Never mind. Could I please get a ride into town?”

  “I can take you near the town, but I'll drop you off an hour away. I'm not going to try to explain why I brought a naked stranger to town. My reputation is bad enough as it is.”

  “Thank you. That is acceptable.”

  “There is a horse blanket in the back. Wrap yourself in that.”

  “You are very kind.”

  The back of the cart was loaded with several dozen casks, as well a few crates. There was nowhere to sit except on top of them. Reuben was lying where I had set him, positioned so that he was unlikely to fall off while he recovered from the centipede's venom. I found the horse blanket, which was made from several layers of burlap sewn together, and draped myself in like an itchy bathrobe. I hoped the weather didn't get any colder on the journey, or my as-yet unnamed hostess might decide that the horse needed it more than I did.

  I don't suppose I can blame her for being suspicious of me. I have no idea how I would react if I saw an animal suddenly metamorphose into a person. Well, I do now I suppose, but it wasn't actually a surprise for me. Besides, when I had mentioned that a fairy had turned me into a fox, her incredulity had not included any denouncement of the existence of fairies. That implied that she lived in a community near a forest where monstrous invertebrates and supernatural beings were known dangers, just like thin ice or poisonous mushrooms. In those circumstances, suspicion of strangers was not a character flaw, but an essential survival skill. In that case, the fact that she was willing to tolerate my presence at all was a sign of a generous nature, tempered by harsh experience.

  I fell asleep to the rhythmic clapping of hooves and the gentle knocking of casks. Tomorrow, I promised myself, I would find some pants.