Beyond Fate and the Stars [Self-Published]

Loyalty: A Tikbalang Story

By Layamaria

"Argh. You again? I already told you, you're free!"

"It doesn't matter. I'm here. And I'm sticking to you for the day." I grinned down at her.

"I don't need a bodyguard!"

"Well, you've still got one."

She drew herself up to her full height -an unimpressive five feet-- and glared at me. I debated stretching to my own full height-- easily more than double hers-- but then shoved that impulse back down. She wouldn't be afraid, and I would just end up looking foolish.

Plus, it wasn't safe for one like me to anger one like her.

Speaking of angry women, this particular one had already stomped off out the gates, muttering to herself. I followed.

"Hard-headed-- flutter-brained-- knock-kneed--" She paused and thought for a moment "Grass-breath-- overgrown horse!"

"I don't eat grass," I said.

As a matter of fact, when I first encountered her that Friday evening, I was savoring the delicious irony of a cold Red Horse punctuated with crunchy peanuts (the unsalted kind, of course) at the Balete, a beerhouse out at the edge of the city which was a favorite watering place for me and my kind for obvious reasons.

The Balete was small, dim and noisy, with twinkling lights, giggling women and posturing men, a perfect place to seek some amusement. I looked around and nodded at various acquaintances, noting a trio from a rival herd who occupied a table across the room. The guy at the table next to them was laughing a little too loudly, too boastfully, as if to draw the attention of the likes of me; I marked him idly and moved on to the bar counter, where a friend I hadn't seen in some time nodded back at me and started to walk over. Then suddenly this chick in a nurse's uniform ran in and scanned the room wildly.

She headed across the room straight to my quarry; the kid in question shoved back his chair and stood up so fast the girl on his lap got dumped into the table and knocked over the bottles on the next table as well.

"Miggy!" the nurse cried.

"A-anna? What are you doing here?" Miggy-boy looked around in panic.

"I've been looking for you everywhere! What is this now? Why are you here?" She lowered her voice to a whisper, but I could easily hear every word.

"Really, Anna, it's nothing," Miggy-boy protested, but Anna took him by the arm.

"Come on, we have to get out of here." She turned and found herself nose to chest with the leader of the trio from the next table.

"Not so fast, Miss. Your... friend there owes us a new round of Red Horse." He waved at Miggy-boy, who scowled.

The trio grinned with large horsey teeth, feral eyes glinting from under their shaggy forelocks. I realized they'd noticed the kid the way I did as well. Grass turds.

"Oy," a voice beside me said.

"Oy yourself," I answered. "Don't just stand there, Dorian, grab a seat or something." Well, technically he wasn't my boss, so I could be justified in not using his title. That, and the fact that we've known each other since we were little, even though he's often so busy with "official business" these days that we rarely saw each other.

"Looks like those three are having some fun again," Dorian observed as he sat.

"Looks like I need to find another toy as well," I said. "But should I just give up without a fight?"

"Give it up, old friend," he advised with a grin. "The wise stallion knows how to choose his battles."

"I'm not feeling particularly wise at present." I turned and grinned back at him.