I walked all morning, and at what felt like noon, I sat down to take a break. The boots Martha had given me were killing my feet, so I sat down to give them a rest.

I was sitting in the shade of a tree on the road's edge. Martha had told me it was at least a two-day walk to Citadel City. I looked down the road and saw nothing but more road. At least no one else was around.

I dug through the satchel Martha had also loaned me and tore into a bit of the bread she’d packed, then chased it with a gulp of water from a wineskin she’d also stored there for me.

Then I laid back and closed my eyes. With the anticipation of the day – and other things - I hadn’t slept much the night before, so I’d just get a few minutes of rest and be back at it—no big deal.

I must have dozed because I woke to someone kicking me hard in the ribs.

I had no idea what was happening. I rolled over, trying to get away from the pain of the kicking and trying to get my brain to function.

“Get ‘em,” someone yelled. “Kick ‘em.”

I saw boots coming at me, and the fog my brain had been in dried up instantly. I grabbed the leg that was coming toward me in both hands and drove myself to my feet, sending the body on the other end to the ground.

In another move my martial arts instructor would have never condoned, I stomped on the crotch of whoever had been kicking me.

It was a dirty little bald man wearing dirty clothes, and he groaned and clutched at his balls. I put my fists up and looked around.

There were four more men, all a lot older than me, all dirty and grimy with broken tooth grins and bloodshot eyes.

They were also all holding swords, and unlike the knives of the fellows I had beat up at Martha’s, these weren’t rusty and old looking but polished and sharpened. I looked for my mace, but they found it while I was sleeping and tossed it aside. It was about twenty yards away, lying in the road.

My satchel was still by the tree. It seemed like an understatement, but falling asleep had been a really bad idea. I sort of had an impressive skill. I could always count on myself to do the one thing only a moron would do.

One of the men saw me looking and said, “Your purse can’t help you now. So come easy, boy, and we’ll only cut off your ears for kicking Fallon in the balls like that.”

“Fuck you, and it’s a satchel.”

I’m not one hundred percent sure they knew exactly what the words meant, but they got the sentiment.

Two of them faced me while the other two circled around to get behind me. There was no way I could keep them all in front of me.

“He looks strong,” one of them said. “He’ll fetch a good price. So don’t kill ‘em.”

That didn’t sound good.

The two kept circling until I was surrounded on all sides. I kept turning, trying to see them all, but I couldn’t, and they were moving in quickly.

One of them yelled and lunged at me with his sword, and I had to dodge, but it was only a diversion to get me off balance and distract me. Another grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms behind me. I pulled, trying to get free, and managed to get one arm loose. I swung it hard and caught the guy behind me in the nose with an elbow. The tough little bastard held on, though. I stomped his foot, but his friends moved in with punches and kick. Before I knew it, I was on the ground, covering my face with my arms, boots raining down on me, and shocks of pain shooting everywhere through me like needles.

I don’t think I blacked out, but I was close. I couldn’t move but tried to swing at one of them. He kicked my arm away and said, “Big, tough bastard. The traders are gonna love him.” The last thing I saw was his boot coming toward my face.

#

I don’t know how long I was out, but when I woke, my face hurt like hell, and I was lying across a horse, my feet and hands tied together, the rope running underneath the horse’s thick body. It was a real horse and not a centaur, unfortunately. The way the rope was tied, if I fell off the horse, its legs would get tangled, and it would probably step on me.

The four men who had captured me were also on horses. The fifth one, Fallon, the one I had stomped in the balls, was riding close, obviously waiting for me to wake up.

“Stomp on my balls, will ya!” He punched me hard in the face.

It didn’t knock me out, but my eyes welled up, and my nose started to drip, the blood running down into my mouth, tasting salty and coppery.

“Fuck you,” I said.

He laughed.

We rode like that for several hours, with my face aching and the motion of the horse extremely uncomfortable, jostling me back and forth until I was nauseous. I don’t know how else to describe it other than to tell you to lay over the back of your couch for three hours, and you might have some idea.

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We weren’t on the road anymore but on a small path that cut through woods. Around late afternoon they stopped at a small creek in the woods and let their horses drink. Then the men drank and filled their canteens. Then they pissed in the stream. They didn’t get me down off of my horse to have a drink. I was really thirsty. They looked at me like they wanted me to ask, and I knew that look meant they’d make me drink their piss. So I kept my mouth shut, and they laughed.

They were finishing up their piss when a voice called out. “Hey, boys! Where are you taking the human?”

The five of them looked around, suddenly taken off guard, then drew their swords.

“He’s ours,” one of them called.

A woman stepped out from behind a boulder. She was shaped like a woman anyway.

The thing that threw me for a loop was that she had green skin. Usually, women don’t have green skin. It wasn’t slightly green either, like maybe it was white, and the way the light was reflecting off of it was just making it look green at that moment.

Nope. She was green—dark green.

She had on a leather corset that hugged her figure. And what a figure it was. The corset hugged her breasts, which were round and firm, then clung to her tightly all the way down to her thin waist. She had on a leather skirt as well that was short, extremely short, and it showed off her smooth, green thighs. She had on black boots that were tied up to the middle of her very firm-looking green calves.

She had jet black hair that even pulled up into a ponytail that hung past her waist, and she had pointy ears. Her eyes were also green, but her lips were red. She was, in a word, amazing.

She was also carrying a sword. She had it resting comfortably on her shoulder.

"He’s only yours if you can keep him,” she said in a melodic voice.

“Go away, half-bitch,” one of the men said.

“Ohhhh,” she said, acting dramatically pouty. “Now name calling is not very nice. You wouldn’t like it if I called you a name, would you? Maybe something like… Stumpy… But not because of your height.” She held her index finger and thumb about an inch apart and smirked at the guy.

The guy turned red. “I’ll show you stumpy if you don’t get out of here, you green bitch.”

She gave the man a deadpan look. “No, thanks. I don’t have thirty seconds to spare. Anyway, you guys just give me the boy, and I’ll be on my way. Oh, and I’ll take that horse he’s riding, too.” She paused and smiled around at them. “And you know what you guys get in return…”

“What?” the most nervous-looking one said.

“You get to live.” She smirked. “Or not. I can just kill you all and take him anyway. Your choice.”

She seemed so nonchalant about it. The nervous-looking guy looked around, saw more uncertainty on the faces of his friends than he liked, dropped his sword, ran to his horse, and rode off.

The other men looked at each other, each a little more nervous than they had been a minute before now that one of their crew had checked out.

“Come on, fellas,” she said. “I don’t have all day. What’s it gonna be?”

Another one ran away, which left just three. Fallon - the one I had kicked in the balls - Stumpy, and one more. “We can’t let this bitch take what’s ours,” Stumpy said. “The boy is ours.” The others nodded, but they looked pretty unsure about it all.

Stumpy moved first, swinging his sword high above his head.

She moved fast - so fast I wasn’t even sure she’d moved - and before I think any of us had time to process what we were seeing, Stumpy had her sword sticking through his stomach and out his back.

“Awwww,” she said as blood poured out of Stumpy’s mouth, a shocked expression on his face. “Guess I’ll have to take a rain check on that good time you promised me.” She pulled the blade from his gullet and wiped it on his shirt as his knees buckled.

“What about you two?” she said.

They looked at each other and ran. I was a little sad she didn’t kill Fallon, but oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.

She started digging through Stumpy’s pockets.

I said, “Oh, thank you. Thank you. I had no idea where those guys were going to take me.”

She looked up at me, smirking with a weird little smile. “The same place I’m taking you, handsome.”

I shook the cobwebs out of my brain. I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly. “Wait… What?”

She laughed. “Ohhhh. You thought I was rescuing you. Yeah… common mistake, happens all the time.”

What was she talking about?

“So what are you going to do with me?”

She finished searching Stumpy’s pockets. She’d found a few coins, and she put those down into one of her boots.

“I’m taking you to the Traders…” she raised an eyebrow at me like I should have known who that was and that that was where we were heading already.

I shook my head. “I’m not from around here. So I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She walked over to me and crouched down so she would be at eye level with me. Her leather skirt, as mentioned, was pretty short, and it rode up her smooth, dark green thighs. I can tell you two things with certainty; one - that she was not wearing underwear, and two - that other than her green skin and pointy ears, all of her other parts appeared to be one hundred percent human. And a bonus number three – she was smooth and hairless.

I was pretty sure she was just toying with me by crouching down in front of me.

“You must be a long way from home if you don’t know who the Traders are.”

I must have still looked confused.

“The Slave Traders?” she said. “You’ve never heard of the Traders? I’m going to sell you to them… as a slave.”

I think my face gave away my emotions because she laughed. “Awww, don’t be sad. A big boy like you, they’ll probably sell you to a captain of a ship who’ll make you a rower out on the Endless Ocean. Your ship will probably get attacked by an Iron squid or a sharkray, and you’ll be eaten alive. You won’t live long, at least. Take solace in that, handsome.”

I did not take any solace in that. “You can’t do that,” I said.

She laughed. “Yes, I can. And I’m going to. As big and strapping as you are, I’m going to make a lot of coin.”

She talked like everything was a joke, including and especially my life.

“Look,” I said. “Please don’t do that. I’m here… in the area…” I didn’t want to tell her how I got here because she’d probably kill me on the spot if she knew I came through a rift. “Because I need to save my brother. He’s in Citadel City. I need to get there and save him.”

She shook her head. “Now that sounds sad.” She made a pouty face with her bottom lip stuck out. “And it also sounds like it’s not my problem.”

She gathered up the reins to one of the horses the bandits who’d captured me had abandoned and stepped up and into the saddle. I hoped that she wasn’t wearing underwear would be a problem, and she’d get chapped so bad down there that her ass would fall off.

“Can we talk about this, please?” I begged.

“Awww,” she said, “don’t cry, handsome.” I wasn’t crying, by the way. “Look on the bright side,” she continued. “You also have the chance, albeit very slim, that some nobles’ hideous but rich wife will purchase you as her sex slave.” She grinned stupidly at me. “Because, as horrible as that would be, it would be way better than getting eaten by an Iron squid or a sharkray.”

She grabbed the reins of the horse I was tied to and pulled it behind her.