Dwarfslayer

41

It was completely dark when she reached the nearest town.

With no one around, she had spread her wings out during the walk, but she had recoiled them shortly before entering town limits.

The streets were completely empty. She looked around at all the dark houses, searching for a place where someone might be able to lend her assistance, and saw light a few buildings down. She rushed towards it, and pulled open the door.

The smell that radiated from inside hit her immediately, and she stopped, dazed for a second.

Sitting and standing men scattered all across the large room looked towards the door.

She took a step back and looked at the sign, but that didn’t help. She had no idea what a pub was.

Covering her nose, she turned and walked away, letting the door slam shut.

The door opened behind her, and she glanced back to see two large, grubby men following her out.

“Hey, doll! You lost?” one of them asked.

She barely understood him threw his immense slurring, and didn’t know how to answer.

“You need help?” the other one said. “Come ‘ere, I’ll help you.”

She broke into a run, and they followed.

“Hey, where ya’ goin’?” one of them asked.

She turned right onto a new road, and ducked into the shadows of an alley nearby.

The men ran past, and she sighed.

Then she heard, “Stop. I think she went in there.”

Her eyes went wide, and she contemplated running back out onto the road.

The men entered the alley, and her plan died. They rushed toward her.

She turned and ran deeper into the darkness.

Only a few seconds later, a wall formed up in front of her, and she stopped.

The men continued forward at a slower pace. Knowing they had her trapped, they had abandoned their rush

She pressed up against the wall as they inched closer and closer.

She closed her eyes, and, in the darkness, she remembered her wings, and with it came the image of the bird in the window, who had flapped its own and taken off into the sky.

Her eyes widened, and her wings exploded from her back.

The men recoiled.

She jumped, putting what power she had left in her legs into the leap, and flapped her wings.

She shot up into the air, and looked down, amazed that she was actually doing it.

Then she began to lose altitude.

She flapped her wings, frantically trying to save herself, but panic had already seized her and they had tensed.

She fell, and crashed into the hard-packed land.