The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 3

             Elizabeth had one thing running through her head after sitting against a tree in the woods for several hours; I'm so fucking cold. Her peasant top was thin cotton material with short sleeves and the cloak she was wearing was some kind of lightweight polyester blend. Basically, even though she had it wrapped around her like a blanket, she was still shivering. Her head and ears were alright because of her wig and ear prosthetics, she was grateful for something staying comfortable. It was fall, but it was early in September and in Kansas that usually meant it was around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The way she was literally shaking in her boots, it felt as though the air had become 20 degrees colder.

               She was sure that her makeup was messed up as she had cried a bit earlier. Just when Elizabeth had decided to leave her post and try to find civilization she heard a terrifying sound. A wolf howled and she heard soft growling. Not only was she hopelessly lost, possibly contracting hypothermia and kind of hungry, she was now going to be eaten by wolves. Best year of Ren Fair yet... she thought. 

              It sounded as if the attack was coming from all directions, the only part of her that was not vulnerable was her back still pushed against the tree. One after another three wolves stalked forward out of the shadows, teeth bared. One of them even had residual blood smeared across it's muzzle. The wolves were larger than any dog Elizabeth had ever seen before, the closest thing she had ever encountered to a wolf before this was her aunt and uncle's husky Shiloh. And while Shiloh would bound towards her, tongue out, eyes wide with excitement and tail wagging, these canines were taking one step in front of the other at an agonizingly slow pace, eyes slanted in anything but a friendly expression.

                  Elizabeth looked to the ground, frantically searching in the dull moonlight for something she could use to defend herself. Her heart was beating out of her chest as her once again teary eyes landed on a large jagged branch. Slowly so she wouldn't trigger anything from her attackers she bent her knees and stretched her arm out until her fingers grasped the limb. Holding it as she assumed one would hold a sword she readied herself in a defensive stance. if only the bow and arrows she carried were real.

          The largest wolf bent its front legs and launched in her direction with a frightening sound. Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut and swung the branch with as much strength as she could muster. The branch made contact and her eyes flew open to see the brittle wood shatter against the side of the beast. All it did was anger it and in return she received a clawed paw to her chest between her neck and breasts. The scream that ripped from her lungs was unlike any sound she had ever made before as the stinging pain erupted from the deep slashes. Blood flowed freely from the wound and quickly started to soak the neckline of her top. Elizabeth Montgomery was sure she was going to die.

            Her vision was blurred and her breath was coming out so fast she had started to hyperventilate. She wasn't sure if the lightheaded feeling and nausea that she had begun to feel was due to her breathing or her injury. As she was not thought she was not going to be breathing at all in a matter of minutes she decided it didn't matter. Elizabeth crossed her forearms over her face in an attempt to shield her face. Teeth bared down on her arm but before they could do more damage than just the initial punctures the beast was no longer in front of her.

           Using the back of her hand to wipe away the tears impeding her vision she looked for her rescuer. His back was turned to her as his sword seemed to dance around the beasts, slashing, stabbing, cutting until all three of the wolves were dead on the ground. She didn't want to look at the sheer amount of gore in front of her so she shifted her attention to the man holding the weapon.

         His shoulders were broad and even under the thick leather and silver studded armor she could tell he was very strong. He had another sword on his back that he had not used and his hair was stark white, an intense contrast between the black of his clothing and the dark of the night. It caught rays of moonlight within the shoulder length strands as he wiped the bloodied blade on his pants and returned it to it's sheath. His muscles strained against the sleeves of his shirt as he did so. Definitely strong. Shelia would have even described him as "jacked". Sheila had once spent an entire hour long car ride explaining to Elizabeth the difference between a guy that was ripped and one that was jacked. Thinking of Sheila sent a pang of hurt into Elizabeth's chest, a different kind of hurt than what she was feeling from the three deep cuts that were also there.

         After what seemed like far too long the man finally turned around to face Elizabeth and her breath caught in her throat when her green eyes met his golden gaze. Hearing her gasp the man frowned deeply, almost as if he was upset by her actions. But she hadn't done it because she was scared, it was because the man standing before her simply took her breath away. Before this moment Elizabeth would have thought something like that was extremely cheesy and unrealistic, something that only happens in movies and the romance novels her mom liked to read. But as the air caught in her lungs for those few seconds she understood. None of the boys at her college looked like him, his jaw was so strong and masculine, his full lips still turned downward and his golden eyes with strange cat-like pupils stared at her with...concern? Was he actually worried about her? Or was this just her blood starved brain fantasizing. Just as the man opened his mouth to speak to her Elizabeth's vision became fuzzy around the edges and tunneled into black. She didn't even feel her body hit the ground, finally succumbing to the shock and blood loss.

        The man was frustrated as he looked down at Elizabeth's unconscious body, this just got much more difficult than it already was.

His deep voice spoke just a couple notches above a whisper, "Fuck."