Hunter in Shining Armor
"Why are we running?" Meredith asked.
Rieka coughed up blood, and Meredith shrieked again. She had no idea what was going on in his head, and she didn't want to be in the middle of whatever was happening.
"Put me down!" she commanded, as if that would make Rieka listen.
Meredith was tired. She had just died, and now a crazy werewolf was carrying her around while other men chased them. She still hadn't fully realized that she had died, which was a big deal. It would be nice if she could just have a moment to herself to process, but no. A higher being must have truly hated Meredith and decided to toy with her life once again.
She decided to thrash in Rieka's arms. The man glared at her for doing so and replied, "Are you out of your mind?"
"No, you're out of your mind!" Meredith snapped. "Kidnapping a woman you randomly saw in a forest?!"
"I'm taking you to safety," Rieka insisted. "You need to come with me to fulfill the prophecy."
Meredith wanted to cry, and as if on cue, tears started forming in her eyes. "I'm just a wage worker," she sobbed.
Everything was now dawning on her—she was dead, in a world where werewolves existed, and now she was being kidnapped. She had once thought that one day she'd have a happy ending, like not working overtime just to make the bills for the next month.
Rieka noticed her crying, but he didn't stop running. Meredith sobbed harder, and in a desperate attempt, she pinched the wound on Rieka's waist.
Rieka halted sharply, inhaling loudly. He almost threw Meredith down from the pain, but he gripped her harder.
However, before he could complain, Rieka had to dodge an arrow headed his way.
"Drop the girl!" a man with a bow demanded.
Meredith noticed how he was dressed for combat. A short crescent moon shaped sword was resting on his waist, and a short arm crossbow was on his left—quite the contrast to Rieka, who was dressed casually with no weapons.
Rieka slowly let Meredith stand on her own feet and backed away slowly with his arms raised in surrender.
"Come to me," the other man sweetly called to Meredith.
Meredith wiped her tears. She didn't know if she could trust the other man, but at the moment, he was saving her from being kidnapped. She sobbed and ran toward him.
Before the other man could shoot, Rieka ran away with inhuman speed—he was a werewolf, after all, Meredith thought.
"Thank you," Meredith exhaled, but she kept her distance.
She didn't know if she could trust this man as her savior yet; so far, her experiences with men today had all been horrible.
Finally, the blood-red moon was over, replaced by an iridescent white glow. The soft light shone brightly on her savior's face. His hair was light blonde, and his eyes were piercing green. He kneeled in front of Meredith, checking to see if she was hurt after noticing the blood on her.
"It wasn't mine," she replied.
The man exhaled in relief. "I heard you screaming and wanted to help."
Meredith nodded, but right now, she was exhausted and looked terrible. She had always prided herself on keeping her physical appearance tidy, but right now, she couldn't even care.
"Let's head back to my camp, and you can clean yourself up there." The man extended his hand toward Meredith.
Meredith hesitated. The other man was almost as tall as Rieka, but he was lean and boyish.
After thinking it through, Meredith decided she'd rather stay with humans than be alone, trying to survive in the forest. She took his hand, and they walked to his camp hand in hand.
They arrived outside the forest, where large camps were set up in a circle around a huge fire. The temperature had dropped drastically now that the sun was gone. Meredith could see the soldiers patching themselves up and some eating their dinner. Most of them noticed their return and happily cheered.
"Lord Huntington, you're back!" one of the men greeted.
Meredith let go of his hand, and Huntington smiled warmly at her.
"You can go into the tent in the middle and clean yourself up."
Meredith nodded and made a beeline for the tent. She noticed a map laid out on top of a circular table. The names Grimcrown and Fablemarch were etched on it, divided by a forest called Starlit. Meredith assumed it was the forest where she had woken up.
From the looks of it, Huntington was leading an army from Fablemarch against Grimcrown.
Meredith didn't care; it wasn't her place to. She just wanted to remove the grime from her skin and get rid of Rieka's blood on her blouse.
She unbuttoned her blouse to assess the damage. It was black, so the blood wasn't very visible, but her black stockings had definitely seen better days. She decided to strip them off. Sitting on the bed, she found a rag and a pail of water.
Meredith started cleaning herself, but then Huntington entered the tent.
They stared at each other for a while before Huntington slowly backed away.
"I didn't expect you to strip," he whispered from outside the tent.
Meredith felt stupid. She had a tendency to get comfortable easily, and she'd thought that Huntington wouldn't come into his own tent. She hurriedly resumed cleaning herself and grimaced as she put her bloody blouse back on.
"I'm done," she announced.
Huntington entered again and asked, "You wear such weird clothes."
"You'll never believe this," she started. Huntington would probably call her crazy.
"Try me," he replied.
Meredith then explained how she had died from being stabbed and that she had woken up in the forest with nothing but her work clothes.
"You're from another world?" Huntington asked, interest evident in his voice.