Delores came to a few seconds later as she hit a soft something. She looked around and saw what looked like a giant hand made of plants cupping her in its palm. Of those plants, none were kudzu. This wasn’t her doing. She didn’t think it was Terry’s either. The hand set her on the ground gently and spread back into the surrounding foliage.

  “Thank you.” She whispered. Had it been the Greenman? Had he actually heard her? In any other circumstance she’d be moved to tears, but right now she had other things to worry about. She looked around and saw that she’d been blasted out of the beast. Delores looked in the direction she'd come from and saw the creature falling apart. The vines that made its body dying.

  “He actually did it.” She said. Wait, she thought, where IS Terry?

  She ran through the area until she found him lying on the ground, seemingly unhurt, but completely unconscious. He hadn't landed far from her. A hand may have caught him as well. She laid a hand on his chest and used a minor spell to check his health. He felt hollow and that frightened her. Elton came running up with his phone put away and looking a bit better than the last time she’d seen him.

  “HOLY CRAP! You guys-Wait, is he ok?” he called out in a rush and coming to a stop behind her.

  “I don’t know. Let me try something.”

  He was physically fine, if exhausted. She had a terrible feeling about what he’d done. Everyone had a hint of magic about them. The only ones who didn’t were the dead. She could barely feel anything in him. He’d spent it. He’d spent nearly every bit of everything he had to kill that thing. It wouldn't be fair for him to die like this. She wasn’t going to LET him die like this. She'd said he'd get himself killed, and she'd intended to keep that from happening. Not to this big, friendly, golden retriever of a man. Delores shuffled around to place his head in her lap.

  "Don't die on me yet, Air Bud." She said as she placed her hands on his cheeks and began to concentrate. She figured direct contact would be best for this. If it worked of course. She began pulling mana into herself via her wrist components. Instead of holding onto it or attuning it to any specific element or purpose, she let it flow out of herself and into Terry. It was a similar process for testing a mage. A mage would let it pass through them into the tester.

  He soaked up her mana like a sponge. It was like pouring water on the ground in Death Valley. It drank it and when it was gone it was like it had never been. She had no idea what his capacity was, but it was ridiculous. After a time, the flow finally slacked on it’s own and Delores felt drained just from being used as a funnel. She had to pry her hands from his cheeks. It was difficult. Elton had just watched in curiosity.

  Finally, Terry’s eyes fluttered open a fraction and looked up at her.

  “Hey.” He said with a dry throat. She smiled.

  “Hey yourself. I thought we’d lost you.” He shook his head.

  “I’ve got too much to do for that.” His voice was already getting stronger.

  He sat up slowly, but under his own power and rubbed his face.

  “Thank you for whatever you just did, Delores. Was it a healing? It felt different from the last time.”

  She sat there for a moment considering what to say. He was a magic user, but she didn’t want to say it out loud in front of Elton. Terry obviously didn't tell people about this for a reason.

  “Yeah. I healed you.” She settled on, lamely.

  They both stood up and Terry looked at the mass of vines.

  “We did it, D.” He smiled. The smile dropped and his eyes grew wide.

  “MY SWORD!” he yelled as he bolted for the pile and began digging through the dead vines. Delores looked at Elton and he just shrugged as they both walked forward to help him find it. Before they reached him though, he was laughing. He pulled the sword out and held it high. Impaled on the blade was the copper sphere.

  “I was hoping I’d find this thing!” he called to the both of them. “How else were we going to get this on the tally without proof?!”

  Delores leaned over to Elton.

  “He really doesn’t know much about cell phones or the cameras or anything, does he?”

  Elton simply shook his head.

  The orb, and Elton’s recordings of the the fight, went a long way toward Terry being believed and the kill going on his tally. It also netted them a massive pay out since it involved an artifact that appeared to be from the Everywhen. All this made Terry happy. They were financially set for the foreseeable future, as well. It wasn't his goal for being out there, but it was a nice benefit. What didn’t make Terry happy was the sudden appearance of the media in Natchez looking for HIM. Elton wasn’t the only one who’d gotten footage of the fight and it was making the rounds on social media. Terry didn't have any sort of online footprint and there was no way to control the narrative.

  It seemed there were “Kaiju” all over the world that had been taken out either by military action or what they were terming “environmental defenses”. Terry was the talk of the media outlets for having fought one on his own, and the press was being persistent.

  His crew had returned to the Short home and Delores and Elton stayed there in the spare room. Terry was content to leave them there and go out for supplies occasionally without his armor or coat. It was the only disguise he had. For the most part it worked since none of the footage had gotten a clear look at his face, but eventually someone found him. Terry felt lucky it was just the one. One man managed to corner him on a grocery trip. Runt and Larry had been planting misinformation about places he might be found. This guy had lucked out. He'd been at the store shopping himself and happened to catch sight of Terry and recognize him.

  The man followed Terry around trying to look like he wasn't filming him. Eventually, Terry turned on him.

  "Ok. Stop it. I'll make you a deal."

  The man was barely older than Terry and from the Middle East. He stopped short at Terry's bluntness.

  "Ok. What's your proposal?" he asked.

  "You answer a question for me and I'll answer a question for you. You have until I get checked out and loaded on my scooter. Deal?"

  The man watched him and seemed to come to a decision.

  "This is probably the best deal any of us is going to get, isn't it?" he asked Terry.

  Terry smiled.

  "By a country mile, sir."

  “What are environmental defenses?” Terry asked on his way out to Thunder. The man had been surprisingly respectful the entire time they'd been in the store. He allowed Terry his "no comments" and privacy claims. When asked about the jumps, Terry had simply pointed out he had a mage. There was no lie there. He felt ok about it. Terry had learned from the man that there had been at least six of the giants from trading questions so far.

  “Well,” the young man said, “The Ice Kaiju in the north melted due to the rising global temperatures. It’s dissipation seems to have actually had an effect on global warming so there’s a positive result from that. Weather is going to be very interesting for the rest of the year though.”

  Terry blinked in surprise.

  “One turned up in the Pacific Ocean," the man continued, "but a group of dolphins batted the core out and destroyed it on their own.”

  “Wow.” Was all Terry said to that.

  “Mr. Lingal,” the man said as he followed Terry. “Do you have a statement as the only individual from the Order of St. George to have destroyed one of these on their own?”

  “Wait, the only one?” he said to the reporter. “No other knights were involved?”

  “No. Organization efforts were a disaster and several militaries had to get involved. The Church is screaming bloody murder over jurisdiction despite the utter failure of the Order to organize a defense.”

  Terry paused in the act of loading his groceries in a saddle bag on Thunder and stared at the man. The reporter continued.

  “You see why everyone is so interested? You, with the help of a single mage, defeated something that most of the world had to send armies against.”

  Terry thought faster than he ever had during the fight.

  “First, we caught it early. Second, I will make no further statement at this time. You can find out all details when the Chronicles are released by my Troubadour Elton Beasley. Lastly,” he leaned in toward the man. “Can I speak to you off the record?”

  The man considered this for a moment and put his phone away.

  “Sure.”

  “Thank you. I’m not out here to be famous, sir. I’m an Errant Apprentice. I’m not even a Knight. All I want to do is help people. I figure the more famous I am, the harder that’s going to be.”

  Terry tightened the straps on the bags and straightened, thinking.

  “Actually, sir,” he said, “You can quote that first part. I don’t want to be famous. I just want to help. Stay safe out there.”

  The man looked at Terry and shook his head.

  "Thank you, Mr. Lingal. I think you said more in that one statement than most knights could say in a career." He smiled. "Pity no one found you down here, isn't it?"

  Terry smiled at the man.

  "Thank you, sir."

  Terry hopped on Thunder and took off. He left the man staring after him and Terry thought he might be the best reporter he could have run into. A kind one.

  By the following Monday, things in Natchez had gone back to normal. Terry had stayed in the area on the off chance something else rose out of the ground but nothing had. The media had left, finally, once they realized his statement about the Chronicles was literally the only thing he was going to say. The man's article, Elton said, was short, full of glowing praise, and blessedly vague on details. Elton also thanked Terry for plugging the upcoming Chronicles.

  The twenty-four hour news cycle finally moved on from the sleepy southern town, and so had the press. Besides, Rome had a lot to say on the subject of knights and their role in the attacks. In those long days of waiting, Runt and Larry had become so impatient for their building to be done that they’d taken some of the overly generous grant they’d received, rented a food trailer and parked it outside the building they’d bought as it was being renovated. They were serving a hand curated limited menu, chosen by Lenny, and were doing great business at lunch and with tourists.

  The old woman from the tavern had been livid. Someone had destroyed Runt's sign on the building and trailer twice already. After that, they had a third set of signs put up, this time with a security enchantment that little Sara Short had learned on her own. She'd also done the drawing for the new sign. A big, goofy, goblin head now pulsed in neon with the word "RUNTS" next to it. Once Larry was involved with the endeavor, the police were happy to start getting involved with investigating vandalism. Jurisdiction was no longer a problem.

  Delores had finally let Terry convince her the press was gone and, that Monday evening, had gotten her to Runt’s food trailer. They’d had some fantastic po-boys and had eaten at some picnic tables out front in the grass by the building. She was staring at nothing after they'd finished eating. She was tired. She hadn’t slept well since the fight. The food wasn't helping her stay awake either.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Hey, I’m more shrimp now than man. Do you want my fries?” Terry asked. She looked at him.

  “You really don’t know how this works, do you? Of course I want your fries.” She slid his plate to herself and started picking at them. With everything that had been happening over the last several days and Terry dodging reporters and trying to be useful to Runt and Larry, Delores hadn’t felt comfortable talking about the things on her mind. She decided it needed to be now. If she didn’t bring it up she was going to break down. She was nearly there already.

  “Terry, we could have died in that thing.” she said, almost pleading. She needed something from him about this. Anything.

  She looked in his eyes and there it was. The little boy who had faced death down too early. The one who had become so familiar with it, he barely thought of it. He was suddenly a thousand yard stare made flesh.

  “Yes. Yes we could have.” He said and she shivered. That look frightened her and she almost walked away from him right there.

  Suddenly, the shadow in him fled and he was back. The boy she’d met in Biloxi and, surprisingly, he held his hand out to her. She took it quickly and she realized her hand was shaking. He placed his other hand over hers and looked at her with kind eyes, smiling sadly.

  “I want you to know,” he said, “that I will take you home to Biloxi tomorrow morning if you want me to. Or anywhere else you’d like me to take you.”

  She stared at him in astonishment. Was he offering to let her go? He looked ashamed, suddenly.

  “I know you’re not sleeping well. I can hear you at night. This isn’t a safe life, Delores. It’s not a normal life. I may have been acting selfishly when I asked you to come out here.”

  He squeezed her hand.

  “One of the things that we do in the Order is we protect people from having to worry about things like that monster. It’s how people sleep at night. I forgot that when I asked you to come with me. Then I saw you inside that thing, frightened. Trying to keep the both of us safe. Everything came into focus again. I have a responsibility to you, and I need to take that responsibility seriously.”

  He squeezed her hand again, and this time she squeezed back. He continued.

  “You have been nothing but amazing, Delores. I want you to know that. I have appreciated everything you’ve done for me, but say the word and you don’t have to do this any more. You can go home and be safe. I'll have nothing but gratitude for your work.”

  She stared into his eyes for a long time. Every day I am frightened that I’m going to wake up and he’s been a dream this whole time.

  She’d been thinking what he’d said just then. She could go home to Biloxi. She could go back to work in the mall and pretend to be a real mage. This was far more dangerous than she’d ever imagined. She was frightened of the future out here, with monsters everywhere. She was terrified of dying. But he acknowledged it with her. The fact that he was willing to let her go. The fact that someone cared enough to give her the choice. . .

  “I,” she cleared her throat, “I’d like to stay. I really appreciate you making the offer though. I don’t know if you realize how much that means.”

  A relieved smile slowly spread on his face and she couldn’t help smiling back. But she had questions.

  “Terry, I have never been more scared in my entire life than I was inside that thing. Don’t you get frightened? Like, really frightened?”

  He seemed to look inside himself for a moment.

  “Fearlessness is for the foolish and the dead. Bravery is acknowledging your fear and doing what you have to anyway.”

  He came back to himself and looked at her.

  “Sorry.” He said. “That’s Uncle Ernest talking. One of the first things he ever taught me. Yes I’m afraid. I’m afraid all the time. You can’t stare down a dragon or an ogre or any of the nightmares I’ve had to see and not be afraid. That’d be inhuman. But someone has to do what I do, and I guess it’s better me than someone who’d do it for the wrong reasons. And there's always going to be another person that needs me.”

  She just kept picturing that six year old boy in the woods every time he said something like that, and it broke her heart all over again.

  “Can we talk about something else?” she said, trying to smile.

  “Sure! Of course!” he said taking his hands back. Delores looked at her hand there on the table. It felt cold and lonely all of a sudden. She looked up at him and decided now was the time for the big discussion.

  “You haven’t asked me the question yet.” She said.

  Terry blinked at her.

  “The question?”

  “Yeah. The question.”

  For some reason he turned red.

  “D," he said slowly, "when you agreed to come out here you said this was a business venture and-“

  Her eyes went wide and she turned bright red.

  “OH MY GOD, TERRY I MEANT MY HAIR!! JESUS!”

  Terry covered his face with his hands and he was suddenly redder than her somehow.

  “I AM SO SORRY!” he yelled into his hands. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Crimeny! I am so so sorry! YES! Let’s talk about that instead.”

  She turned her head and blocked him from view as if he were a paparazzi. She couldn’t believe he’d. . . Oh no, she thought. No, not that. Not now. He finally started talking normally and was avoiding eye contact. She relished the distraction from what was dawning on her. Like, REALLY dawning on her.

  “I know you didn’t bring it up last week when we talked about our past." Terry said. "I assumed it was a touchy subject and you’d bring it up when and if you were ready. It wasn’t my place to pry.”

  “Thank you for that.” She said and finally started getting her heart rate under control. “I think I might be ready now.”

  When she looked at him again, he was sitting calmly, hands folded on the table in front of him and watching her quietly. Again, she was reminded of a Golden Retriever.

  “So,” she began, “when I was a kid, I had the biggest mass of unruly hair you’ve ever seen. It was my mom’s pride and joy.” A thought struck her. “Hang on.” She dug her phone out of her coat pocket and scrolled through her photo stream. She found what she was looking for. She turned the phone so Terry could see the insane mass of straights and curls. She looked mostly made of hair.

  He grinned.

  “Wow. You were adorable.”

  “Shut up. Stop thinking of goblins.” She said, but not unkindly. She started the story again.

  “My mom was always fighting with it, trying to keep it styled and cutting it when it got too long. It was a huge pain to have to sit there multiple times a week for it all. Well, Gideon was my, uh, trainer. And more. Let’s be completely honest. It was a completely inappropriate relationship for my age.”

  Terry looked thoughtful and nodded. She continued.

  “Well, one afternoon, after school, I came flying into his house when he was busy. He had an unorganized mess of a library, and I scoured it looking for something that would stop the growth of hair at it’s current length.”

  She tilted her head at him.

  “Mom had cut my hair that morning.” She was curious to see if he saw where this was going. He just nodded.

  “I took the spell home and performed it and was super excited that I wouldn’t need another hair cut. I was right. I wouldn't.” She remembered the next day. She remembered her life falling apart.

  “The next morning, I lifted my head from the pillow and my hair stayed right where it was. On the pillow. I freaked out. My mom cried, she was so upset. Mom felt like it was a betrayal to our bond. My dad was livid. He stopped making me go to church. He practically stopped speaking to me.”

  She watched him for a reaction. He watched HER for a reaction. She kept going.

  “He was embarrassed. Especially when he realized I’d done it to myself. I realized right then I would never be "daddy's girl" again. I kinda lost my parents that morning. I ran to Gideon’s with a hoodie to cover my head and tear stained cheeks. I told him what happened. Of course I hadn’t paid attention. I’d used a curse. I cursed myself, Terry.”

  Sympathy flooded his face and she sighed.

  “Gideon laughed at me. He laughed right in my fourteen year old face. Worse,” she remembered the utter pain and failure she’d felt that day, “he left me. He dumped me right there in his living room and ushered me out the front door and onto his porch. “No bald chicks." He said it with a grin and slammed the door in my face. He started ignoring me in public and immediately hooked up with another girl the next day.”

  Terry looked, well, it was the look he had on his face before he threw Lawless.

  “Stop it!” she whisper-shouted, “It’s the past. There’s nothing for you to fight and nothing to be done. He left me, the curse is permanent, this is life now. This is who I am.”

  His relaxed after a moment and nodded.

  “You're right. I’m sorry that happened to you, Delores.” She shrugged.

  “Thanks. A few of my friends stuck with me, but school became hell. I managed to stick it out till graduation, and got the hell out of Dodge. Anyway, that’s why I look like an egg.”

  “I don’t think you look like an egg.”

  She froze. Terry wouldn’t lie if he could help it and a question popped into her head. She had to ask it. She needed to know the answer. She desperately needed an answer to a question she didn’t know she needed to ask. She had butterflies in her stomach. She hadn’t had that since, well, the cemetery. She knew that she needed to know exactly what he would say to this and it made her so nervous that she wasn't sure she could sit still for it.

  She let out what she hoped was an exasperated sigh. She put an elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm. She looked to the side and rolled her eyes. She side-eyed him. She tried to keep her voice uninterested. She would never win an Oscar, but she hoped she didn't sound as nervous as she suddenly was.

  “Fine. I’m not an egg. How do I look then, Mr. Lingal?” her skin was tingling and she thought she was going to scream. She wasn't sure why she wasn't shaking.

  Terry looked at her. His face seemed to say the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “I think you’re beautiful.” He said. Her heart may have skipped a beat. He continued. "If someone can't see that, then they're a fool."

  She barely stopped herself from whimpering. She put her hands in her lap and refused to face him. Six business days. She couldn’t even go six business days without catching the feels. She might actually have to upgrade that to “smitten”. Damn it. She thought.

  “Thank you.” She said. It was barely above a whisper.

  Elton slamming down on the bench on Terry’s side of the table made them both jump.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Where in the hell did you come from?!” Delores yelled. She tried not to sound embarrassed and upset, but that didn’t really work. Elton picked up on it and gave them both looks.

  “Madison, originally.” He said. “But that’s not important. Terry, I got you some social media accounts set up so I can get more attention to the Chronicles and what you’re doing.”

  Terry brightened slightly.

  “You want me to post on social media?”

  “Nononononono. You are too god damned precious for social media. I’m running your accounts. I’ll quote you, make posts when you ask, and handle the comments. That’s MY job.”

  Terry shrugged.

  “Probably for the best.” He said.

  “Oh!” Elton said excitedly. “I DO need to get a photo of the two of you!

  “Like hell.” Delores said. “You work for Terry. You’re HIS Troubadour.”

  The smile on Elton’s face was vicious.

  “And YOU are his partner, meaning you get just as much attention as he does, Miss Thang.”

  She glared at him.

  “I have a great spot right at the top of the bluff here.” He pointed behind him at a railing lining the cliff edge above them. “Sun’s about to set and it will be amazing.”

  The two of them threw their trash away and allowed Elton to herd them like geese up the steep stairs and finally to the railing. Delores looked out, and he was right. It was going to be a beautiful sunset over the river. She turned around and faced his phone's camera. He looked like he was fiddling with settings.

  “Ok, you two. Why don’t you discuss poses for a minute.”

  Terry looked at her and she felt butterflies again. This was going to be rough.

  “What does he mean by poses? Are we supposed to do kung-fu?” he asked.

  She laughed.

  “I don’t know. Surely he doesn’t want us to hug and make kissy faces.”

  WHY IN GOD’S NAME DID YOU SAY THAT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!? She screamed at herself. Terry looked away with an embarrassed grin and scratched the back of his head. Delores couldn’t help but smile and roll her eyes.

  “PERFECT!” Elton shouted.

  “Do what now?” Delores said in shock.

  “Now hold on,” Terry said swiftly walking toward him, “you let me see that before you post it.”

  Elton turned the camera and they both saw. They looked awkward and, admittedly, adorable.

  “Don’t you want to retake it?” Terry asked. “Shouldn’t I be doing something dramatic?”

  Elton shook his head as he began typing a post.

  “No. Every Knight and Errant Apprentice out there with social media looks like the logo off of a Captain Morgan’s bottle. They look dramatic, staged, and completely unrelatable.”

  He poked Terry in the chest with a finger, then shook it. He’d forgotten Terry’s armor.

  “You are not those guys. Even the Errant Apprentices out there list themselves as “Knight In Training” or “Cavalier” or something else bigger than they are. You’re going to be the approachable one. You’re going to be something special.”

  Terry suddenly looked interested.

  “You are going to be THE Errant Apprentice. The kind one. Great deeds and monsters slain? Sure. But you’re the guy that’ll stop and help when no one else will. You’re the REAL hero. You are going to be the one people want to see coming. The guy that will help goblins.” He looked at Terry. "There isn't enough kindness out there. That's what you're going to represent."

  And just like that, he was sold. Delores sighed. It did sound like a good angle. And it was true to character. A thought struck her.

  “Elton, just don’t make him sound like a snarky jack-ass.” She said.

  “I won’t.” He said, smiling. “They’ll know I’m in charge of the accounts. I’ll be sure to quote Terry more than enough to get the point across.”

  Terry watched the sunset. Delores watched him. After a while he spoke again.

  “Thanks, Elton. Maybe we can actually fix things out here.”

  “Maybe,” he agreed, “Maybe.”

  End of Part One