The stranger walks up to Emily with a wary step of his feet, his eyes taking in the details of her: her hair, her eyes, the lack of a weapon on her person besides one tiny dagger.
And most importantly of all:
The Wrenfall crest on her clothes.
The man visibly relaxes as he sees them, his shoulders losing their tension and his face losing a slight bit of the edge in the eyes that had Emily considering preparing her mana. He lets out a relieved breath and sheathes his sword with an easy flick of his wrist. He gives Emily a joyful smile, his teeth a brilliant white and his eyes shining with relief.
“Boy, am I glad to see you.” he says, his accent thick and barely comprehensible to Emily, with an unusual emphasis on the O and a rushed pace that she’s struggling to keep up with, “I’ve been wandering this way for what must be days now. Glad to see another footie on the path.”
He gets closer to Emily and she takes a step back from him automatically, still on high alert. He spots her nervousness and takes a step back from her, holding his hands up in a placating manner.
“Woah. Just relax. I’m not going to harm you.”
He double-checks Emily’s person, and still finding nothing resembling a weapon, he tenses just slightly. He checks the foliage behind Emily, before looking back at her again.
“I heard your whistle and I thought that I’d check it out. I lost my party a few days ago… The thought of having some company before reaching the FOB was just too tempting to pass up.”
He looks down at the ground, the vulnerability and hope in his expression causing a sympathetic ache in Emily’s heart. He takes a deep breath, then looks back up at Emily.
“Is it… Alright if I come with you? Just until we reach the FOB?”
Emily bites her lip and thinks for a moment, contemplating her next move very carefully. She really doesn’t want to go to the… FOB? Or anywhere with this man, so it’s very important that she doesn’t –
“S-sure! You can… You can come with!” she says, as she awkwardly holds up a thumbs up to him.
She sees the relief and happiness on his face and gets the sense that he’s been alone for a long time now, so she does her best to smile at him even while internally, she’s screaming in panic.
She turns to the side, silently letting out a scream through her teeth as she wonders what the hell is wrong with her mouth, running off ahead of her like that.
“So… Where’s the rest of your group?” the stranger asks, and Emily turns back to look at him, a fake smile once again plastered on her face.
Now, don’t mess this up again, Emily. No matter what, you can’t tell the stranger that you’re –
“I uh… I got separated from them.”
Emily turns to the side and lets out another hissing scream through her teeth, just barely holding back the urge to pull her hair out in frustration.
“Are… You okay?”
Emily quickly turns back to look at the stranger, a wide smile on her face as she tries to act as nonchalantly as possible.
“Yep! I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be fine? Couldn’t be better! So uh… Should we get going?”
“Sure…” He replies, his eyebrow raised up. “But first, I just have to ask, since it’s probably going to be relevant later on. Possibly soon, considering this forest… Are you a mage?”
Emily lets out a relieved sigh, knowing how to answer this one.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I am.” She replies proudly.
If she’s going to be moving through the forest alone with a strange man, at least she can ensure that he knows that she’s armed and deadly.
“Right, right. I thought so.” The stranger says, nodding his head. “Prove it.”
“Huh?”
“Prove it.” He replies, as he stares intently at Emily, crossing his arms behind his back. “Cast a spell.”
Emily lets out a loud sigh, not really wanting to show him too much of what she’s capable of. But at the same time, this would at least warn him off of trying anything stupid.
“Fine… Stand back.” she replies, as she flicks her hair and chooses which spell she’s going to do.
The stranger holds his hands up in surrender, taking a step back away from Emily before re-crossing his arms behind his back.
“Very well. Do your best.”
Emily lets out a snort of amusement at that. She can’t even cast her best spells yet. They require way too much mana right now.
But this will do well enough.
She prepares her mana, her hand starting to glow brighter and brighter, and the stranger’s eyebrows raise up slightly in surprise. He takes a step towards her, his hand held out to grab her shoulder.
“Alright, that’s proof enough, no need to waste –”
A blast of wind rockets out of Emily’s hand and into the foliage in front of her, snapping off branches and rustling ferns as it smacks into them violently. The recoil whips Emily’s hair and scatters the leaves underneath her feet, before they settle with a rustle that leaves the forest silent in its wake.
“So, is that proof enough? Or do you want another demonstration?” Emily asks, as she turns to look at the stranger, a cocky grin on her face.
Which falls to confusion, as she finds the stranger bowing at the waist almost vertically towards her, his head facing the floor and his hands at his side.
“Apologies, Archmage… I didn’t mean any disrespect.” he says, his voice oddly formal and strained, almost a bit worried. “If I recognized who you were, I would have never deigned to have given you an order.”
“Archmage? Uh…” Emily mutters, flustered at the sudden subservience of the stranger. “What is a…”
The stranger tilts his head slightly up to look at Emily, his eyebrow slightly cocked in a questioning way.
“N-no problem! Just, uh… Don’t do it again?” Emily says instead. “And don’t do the whole… Bowing thing for me, please. It’s kind of weird, especially when we’re in a forest…”
The stranger straightens up once again, adjusting his cloak and checking his sword. “Of course, Archmage. Whatever you wish.”
Sword checked, he crosses his arms behind his back again, completely at ease. “I will say, I feel much more secure now that I’m in the presence of an Archmage. We’ll be able to take care of the forest’s dangers a lot easier, as long as we coordinate with each other.”
“Haha, sure, yeah.” Emily replies nervously. “I just hope no monsters or dangerous animals come near us… Especially right now…”
The stranger looks around at the forest around them. “Speaking of, it does seem awfully quiet at the moment… It’s been a never-ending gauntlet since I lost my party. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without getting attacked.”
“Y-yep! Me too! It must be a sign that we’re really, really lucky and not just, y’know… Getting approached by something that should stay away from us right now!”
Emily shouts the last bit into the forest as loud as she can, hoping that it’ll drive Blue away.
“Right…” The stranger replies, staring at Emily with a concerned and suspicious look. “Well, have no fear either way. If it pleases the Archmage, I am Sir Barrion, a third echelon blademaster and sworn knight for Baron Harrisonforth.”
The stranger takes a precise half-step, before sweeping his right hand across his stomach and taking an elegant half-bow.
“While my might couldn’t hope to compare to an Archmages, I can certainly handle most of the threats found in this forest.”
Emily feels a cold sweat drip down her back as she hears his fancy swordsman title, realizing that he might just be a lot more dangerous than she originally thought. But at the same time, she can’t help but feel just a tiny sense of childhood wonder at meeting an actual Knight! She’s always dreamed of meeting one, one day. Many hours were spent in bed as a child, after her dad read her a bedtime story and tucked her in, picturing in her mind attending an elegant ball with a handsome knight by her side…
She watches with glee as Sir Barrion looks up at her, holding out a strong and elegant hand for her to take.
“Please, allow me to keep our backs safe from any –”
Before Blue suddenly pounces out of the foliage with a gleeful cry, his wickedly sharp talons outstretched towards Sir Barrion, ready to gut the swordsman like a fish.
