Chelsea Fine - Awry

The flapping birds above him had Tristan on alert.

He gently pulled on the reigns of his steed and searched the area around him when he heard a gasp. Small and faint, it had come from the trees to his right. He scanned the trees and watched three figures emerge in the distance, closing in on something.

Tristan maneuvered his horse into the shadows so as to spy on whatever was playing out before him. Something about the gasp he’d heard kept his eyes trained on the three men.

“Here, here lovely. Come out, come out….” The voice of one of the men rang through the trees. Tristan watched as they crept toward the area on his right.

“There is nowhere to run, lovely. Come out and we shall be nice,” a second man said.

Lovely ? Tristan’s brow furrowed in confusion. What could possibly be lovely in the eastern woods? What were these men hunting?

Tristan looked about the area, searching for their prey, and his eyes found a swath of clothing peeking out from behind a large tree trunk.

Someone was hiding. Someone wearing a long cloak. Someone “lovely”….

Tristan’s heart began to pound.

The girl thief. The one who had tried to steal his deer over six months ago. It had to be her. What other lovely creature had ever roamed these woods?

He watched in horror as the three men inched closer to her hiding spot, now only yards away.

Were the men planning to steal from her?

Possibly.

But their body language, and the venom that dripped from the mouth of the speakers, told Tristan otherwise. These were not just hungry thieves in the forest. These were true villains.

Tristan silently dismounted his horse, withdrew an arrow from his pack, and lined it up against his bow.

As he contemplated which villain to take out first, he heard a rustling from the girl’s hiding spot and watched as she came out from behind the tree with an arrow drawn. She pointed directly at the man closest to her.

“I doubt you have any intention of being nice,” she said with a steady voice, “so why don’t we skip the lies and go straight to the part where I pierce your heart with my arrow?”

The men stopped moving, but seemed unafraid.

“Lovely,” the closest man said, his jagged yellow teeth showing through an evil smile, “you cannot kill us all. You have one arrow drawn and retrieving a second would take more time than we would need to capture you.”

“Then I suggest you decide which one of you wants to die first.” She lifted her bow, drawing her arrow back farther. “I might not have time to draw another arrow, but the knife in my belt is easy to retrieve and your throat looks like it needs a good slashing.”

Tristan was stunned. The girl knew she was outnumbered and had little chance of winning, but she still planned to fight. Which was brave.

And stupid.

The jagged-toothed man took a step forward, holding up a deadly knife of his own. “I’m afraid I must call your bluff, lovely.”

“So be it.” The girl thief let her arrow fly and chaos erupted.

Her arrow flew straight, but her target jumped away. The arrow missed his heart and sliced his upper shoulder instead.

The girl gave no pause as she pulled the knife from her belt and met her second attacker head-on, slicing into his gut with the sharp blade.

Readjusting his bow, Tristan tried to get a clean shot, but the girl thief was too swift with her movements. She fought fearlessly, stabbing her opponents without hesitation and evading their attacks with swift, careful movements.

She was a skilled fighter, no doubt. But she was also in the way.

Tristan watched the fight with his arrow ready, but the girl kept jumping into his line of sight.

She fought, she jabbed, she darted out of reach, but one of her attackers twisted her elbow back and quickly disarmed her.

It was now or never.

Tristan moved from behind the cluster of trees, his bow drawn on the thug who held her arm at an unnatural angle behind her back. “Let her go.”

The girl glanced at him, eyes filling with recognition, then returned her attention to the thug who had entrapped her. Taking advantage of the distraction Tristan had provided, she elbowed her thug in the gut with her free arm and wriggled out of his grasp. Wasting no time, she drew her own arrow and pointed at the second thug.

Everyone froze.

Tristan watched as the three men took notice of the patch on his right sleeve, hesitated, then ran away.

When the villains had disappeared into the trees to the south, Tristan lowered his bow and looked over at the girl.

Her bow was now drawn on him.

He sighed.

“Do you really plan to kill me?” he asked. “Even after I just saved your life?”

“What do you want?” The girl’s eyes were hard.

He could see her arm shaking and, at first, thought it was due to the strain of her bow. But then he realized her whole body was shaking.

It was a slight shake, barely noticeable, but there nonetheless.

The girl was scared.

“I want nothing of you.” Tristan put his arrow away.

“Then why did you follow me?”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why are you here?” Her pale blue eyes were accusing.

Tristan lifted his hands. “I was hunting when I heard you gasp.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“I swear.” Tristan waited patiently, looking her over. Her dark hair fell almost to her elbows and framed her face. She was beautiful. Her dress was more tattered than before. But her face had grown even more stunning in the few months since they had first met.

Something inside him twitched at the thought that, had he not been in the forest today, she might be dead. Or worse.

Tristan waited with his palms outstretched.

She slowly lowered her bow, but kept her eyes on him.

He lowered his hands. “Why are you so suspicious of me?”

She began putting her weapon away. “Suspicion keeps me alive.”

He watched as she gathered her cloak around her body and tucked her hair into the hood she pulled from her back. The sun was beginning to set and soon the forest would be black.

“Good day, hunter.” She backed away from him.

He stepped over to where his horse stood and retrieved the reigns. “May I take you home?” he asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because my home is the only safe place I know and I’d rather not bring a thief there.”

Tristan smiled. “I am no thief.”

She shrugged. “No matter. I still do not need a chaperone.” She turned to leave and Tristan felt something akin to panic kick in his gut.

He might not ever see her again.

He grasped for an excuse to keep her near him. “Are you sure you want to venture through the dark woods at night? Alone?”

Fear was not the most gentlemanly of tactics, but Tristan was desperate for her company.

Why? He had no idea.

She paused, her cloak swinging to a halt, then slowly turned back around and met his eyes. “I am not afraid of the dark.”

Tristan smirked. “If I had to guess, I’d say you are not afraid of very much.” He stepped forward. “But I am here, with a horse, offering to take you home under my protection.” He hurriedly added, “Which I know you do not need. But I’m hoping you’ll accept.”