The Yeoman's sidekick

Chapter 2: Stranger

" A Lass?" I groaned and shifted. The far off voice got louder. "Lass?"

I tried to speak out but my tongue felt stuck to the roof of my mouth. I groaned again and I searched for the source of the voice in the darkness that surrounded me. My eyes stayed glued shut and the ringing in the back of my head felt like it would split my skull in two. I flinched as something cold and wet splashed on my face smelling faintly of alcohol. I tried to move but I was paralyzed somehow.

Who? What?

I felt sluggish and fog seemed to gather behind my eyes even when my vision cleared. I finally croaked out a feeble hello. "Hello? Who-"

I yelped weakly as large hands gripped me, hauling me in an upright position, the air smelled faintly of pine wood and green apples. I blinked away the piercing rays of intrusive sunlight.

My eyes focused and unfocused the strain throbbing loudly about my head. My glasses? Where are my glasses?

Feeling about me I nearly cried out in alarm at the sudden touch of wet blades of grass; the dewy earth crisp and damp. Questions began to pile up in my head like overdue paperwork. I squinted painfully around but only globs of splotched colors danced around in my vision. I sighed "If only I wasn't as blind as my grandma."

I sprawled out in earnest and began groping around for my blasted glasses.

"Aha!" I triumphantly grabbed something shapely and thin, my slender fingers patting them down. I brought the object so close to my face I could lick it. "They are my glasses!"

I pulled the hem of my shirt and began wiping the lenses, not that it helped much as my clothes were damp and stiff with grime.

I carefully placed my glasses on my face and looked about. I bit back a scream.

Tall maple and pine wood trees thrust out of the ground and grew so thickly and large that the light was nearly cut off on the forest floor. Mossy stones and boulders jutted out like earthy statues. The canopy of greenery was so flushed and dewy it looked almost delicious. Ripe nuts and fruits bore down branches and bushes.

The chirping of insects and yowls of creatures sharpened as I processed my surroundings. The beams of golden lights danced with the shaking of the trees and finally in the middle of the clearing I somehow found myself in, stood the most manly dude I had ever seen. A scruffy beard brightened by the sun grew untamed on his chin as well as his wild hair only partially pulled back with streaks of gray. His face was dark and hard with pale lines I could only guess were scars, the face of a worker.

His clothes were weird and unusual like a D&D themed cosplay. A sheathed dagger hung from a strap at his waist. Hard leather arm bracers covered most of his forearm and a bow was slung over his mottled forest green cloak, the faint glimmer of a sword peeking out on his left hip. I gulped as he stared at me intently with his steely gaze. "Ye ok lass?" His voice was deep and rough, sending shivers up my arms. I didn't know anyone could speak that low.

"U-um yeah?" as soon as I had said this a sharp painful sting sliced across my head and I gasped sharply, instantly clutching my head and curling up. Pricks of gathering tears threatened to spill over. I clenched my jaw and willed myself to sit up again.

Blinking through the tears I looked up at him a bit sheepishly. He grumbled "yeah, sure you're ok." He scoffed and then stood.

I yelped to high heaven when he scooped me up in his sun-beaten arms and started walking to who knows where. I thrashed and then cried out in pain again, "what the- what are you doing!" I groaned through another throbbing headache.