[Complete] Eroh has reached his seventeenth spring and has finally become a man. With manhood comes a gift: marriage to the woman he loves. But when a strange new woman from another world enters his life, he is stuck with the decision to honor his...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Nothing prepares you for an unseen attack ... not your father ... not your trainers ... not even the Gods. Reaction is all instinct. And to survive is slight skill, but mostly luck ... This day I had luck on my side.
I caught the blur out of the corner of my left eye. My veins still course with beast blood. Maybe that's why I was on alert? Or maybe it was that I could smell my foe's blood and aquatic fragrance. That, or it was the sound of her feet beating like my heart.
The blade sliced the air. I took a step back, feeling my cheek split open. Blood squirt. I groaned, but had no time to worry about the pain. Three more swipes and I moved right then left, shuffling between legs. I could sense my foe had no business wielding a blade. Their strikes wild, cutting at the air to find any part of my flesh they could.
I rose my hands up, timing their fourth strike. I caught their wrist. A pair of sapphire-blue eyes found mine. A pair so beautiful I was drowning in them. Distracted, my foe lifted their knee, and my groin caught the impact. I gasped. My foe slipped from my grip, hopping a foot back. Before I could get my footing, my foe sprang forward, the blade aimed at my ribs. My movement was sloppy, twisting to my right, but I dodged the blade. Suddenly, our legs tangled, and we rolled. My size and weight helped me gain the upper position, pining my foe's wrist to the ground.
"You?" I heard myself say, but I didn't believe what I was seeing.
She was a young girl, my age, with short, golden hair and skin as white as the crest of waves. I knew this girl. I had killed her a few weeks ago. Drove my club into her head three times ... I shook the thought from my head. This must be a side effect of the spice I smoked? I had to be imagining her-
From beneath me, her body wiggled, arms twisting, trying to break free to take another swing at my throat. This was no delusion ... she was as real as the air in my lungs. And she was angry. Aggressive. Fighting like she wanted revenge.
But of course, I thought, squeezing her wrist tighter. She seeks vengeance ...
Each jerk and pull only made me more weary. My body was still recovering from shaping, but I knew her strength was waning with my own. Her tugs and twists lessening with each attempt to free herself. She gave to my weight, and to my strength.
"My sister ..." Her tongue rolled like waves. A foreign tongue that tickled my ears. "You killed her, you heartless beast!"
My neck hairs stood while my body tingled and grew cold. "You understand me?"
Her body fell limp beneath me. Eyes closed. Lying still as a dead fish. I brought my ear to her lips. She was still breathing. Her hand around the knife, now open. I pushed it away from her hand. If she'd walked from the loch, then she must've expelled all her energy.
I went through her sack. There was hardly any food. Only lake berries and a dried, fishy meat. My nostrils flared at the sink. There was a canister of water, and a second knife that looked much different than the stoned knife she carried. I slipped it from the leather sheath, marveling at the silver-shine and golden handle. I tossed it aside.
