Blue Blood

Shop Til You Drop Dead

We walk farther into town silently. I try to think of something to say. I should have just told him, I'm such a coward. The only thing I can think of to talk about is that dream I had but I don't really want to think about it too long. It hurts my head.

Rody groans quietly and puts a hand to his stomach. Anxiety starts to eat at me.

"Are you okay?"

" . . . I'm-im perfectly fine."

"You're lying."

"Wha?"

I pull him and I away from the streets and look him in the eyes. Not In anger, but genuine concern.

"Rody, please . . . Tell me what's wrong."

He looks in to my eyes debating for a second then looks down.

"I'm hungry. Like, really hungry and . . ."

I wait patiently for him to finish as he scuffs his feet around nervously.

"I may have . . . I lost the rations we had."

My face goes blank.

"What."

"I didn't mean to! I swear! I must have left it at James's house and-and-"

I groan into my hands. Well this is just great. I run my fingers through my hair aggressively and wince.

"I'm really sorry. I'm really, really, sorry." He mumbles looking down with regret and sadness. I take a deep breath.

"It's . . . It's okay, we'll figure this out together. There's shops up ahead, maybe we'll be able to get something from them and then . . . I guess we'll have to start hunting."

He nods, squeezing his eyes closed and taking a deep breath. I can tell he's trying not to cry. I pull him into a gentle hug and mess up his hair.

"It's okay, really. We'll get through this, no problem." We let go and he stiffens his posture, taking another deep breath.

We start walking again and arrive at the market place. It's nothing special, just a few shops here and there. I reach into my pocket and see how much we have. It's not much but we should get by.

One of the stands sells dried meats and I decide that's our best option. I know Rody isn't a big fan of it but it's what we have. I go up to the four armed seller and cant help but stare at his one eye. He asks us what we want and we hand over the money. Two dried slabs of pork. Smelling the meats brings me to the realization of how hungry I really am. We didn't really eat besides breakfast yesterday, did we?

I hand Rody his food and he tries to hold back a grimace. He gulps and takes a tiny bit. Then a bigger one. Then the next thing I know it's gone and he's licking his fingers. I smile and shake my head starting to eat. I try to eat it slow but I just can't and end up eating it in three bites. Hopefully this will satisfy us for now.

"Ooo~ you boys look hungry." A voice purrs from a rotting apple tree.

My arm instinctively goes to hold Roman behind me and protect him but he's far too curious at the moment to care much for instincts.

"Uh, who are you?" Roman asks trying to see if he's met her before. She steps out of the shade and gives a wicked smile.

"You boys may call me Tina."

I don't like where this is going. Before us saunters a very busty fairy complete with a pixie cut and a very short dress with no sleeves. I gulp. She looked to be in her 20's but who knows how old she really is. Fairies are tricky like that.

She saunters up and starts gliding her hand down my arm and it's very concerning.

"Ooo~ so big and strong, I'm sure you have a lovely little thing back home." She eyes me up and down like how a lion would look at a zebra before it pounces.

I start to back away but she snakes her arms around my neck and starts playing with my hair first.

"Don't worry, we don't have to tell her; it would be our little secret." She giggles. My heart starts pounding and what I just ate wants to make a reappearance. She starts to lean in and I start panicking. I can't move, why can't I move. This isn't right, this isn't right, this isn't-

"Uh excuse me, no-no-no back up lady." Rody fumes giving the girl a light shove away from me. I look at him wide eyed and so, SO grateful, I was so uncomfortable.

She scowls for a second but then it twists back into her evil smile.

"Oh~ I understand, it's okay you don't have to wait your turn, we can all have a little fun~"

She goes to touch Rody and I kick her in the stomach. I don't really know what I'm doing, I acted without thinking and I'm shaking like a damn dog!

She gets up from the ground with pure rage. "You shouldn't have done that."

Rody starts to get into a defensive pose but I quickly grab his hand and run for it. The good news is: there's no one around to get hurt. The bad news: there's really no place to hide and now she's throwing knives. Great.

I keep Roman in front of me and push him to run faster. He keeps yelling about how 'we can take her' but I don't listen I just run. Adrenaline pumps though my veins pushing my legs to work harder, my heart to beat faster, my brain to go on auto pilot.

A knife slices through the air by my face which causes my body to dig into its reserves and run even faster. I've never in my life been able to run as fast as Rody, he's like some god of speed, but right now I was practically in his shoes.

We're out of the town but I still keep running. Rody yells something to me but I can't hear it over my breathing and my heartbeat. I pass him and keep going. My lungs are on fire but I don't stop until I trip over a log and fall into the forest floor on my chest. I'm wheezing and coughing but still my body urges me up but it can't and I collapse.

I dig my nails into the dirt and try desperately to get more air into my lungs. I start coughing and I throw up. I'm covered in sweat and saliva and tears. My legs ache so bad I can barely move.

I hear footsteps approaching fast and I flinch bracing myself for the fairies presence. The person coughs and breaths heavy.

"Ma-Magnus you . . . Oh gods." It's Rody, he sounds like he's going to throw up or like he's hurt.

I try to get up but instead I yell in pain and collapse back to the woods floor. Splitting pain shoots throughout my entire body and my vision is fuzzy.

"Magnus don't move . . . Dammit."

I turn my head. Three or four odd blobs of grey stick from my back.

"That fairy . . . She really has good aim."

My entire back is coated in red. It pierced through my armor. I feel lightheaded, I don't want to die.