Enter the Frey

Chapter 4

After circling the forest a dozen times, Ziel finally gave in to Aims pestering and went back to the starting point to find a guide. A small village stood at the foot of the mountain, with places to buy food, drink and an assortment of other goods Adam assumed were commonplace in this world. Weapons of every description were available to all, as well as what Adam could only assume were magical items.

Ziel led them into the drinking house, believing this the best place to find a guide. What he was basing this assumption in was unclear to Adam. The only other patrons were elderly males, dressed in muddy clothing with straw poking from their hats.

‘They have to be farmers,’ Adam thought. ‘Or scarecrows.’

“We need a guide,” Ziel said, dumping his bag on the bar. A woman turned to him, looked him up and down and sighed.

“You’re a bit late. The others left a while ago.”

As they piled out of the bar a young man ran after them. A head of golden curls bounced as he jumped up, shouting, “Oi, oi, oi,” to get Ziel’s attention.

“I heard you need a guide. Will you take me? Please? I know the way,” the young man offered. He jumped in front of Ziel, waving his arms. “Come on, please take me with you.”

Ziel stopped and looked down at the kid. He was almost as tall as Aim, which wasn’t saying a lot considering Aim head didn’t reach Adams chest in his new body. She might have been tall in comparison to Adam in the real world. It was so hard to judge, with no point of reference.

“Aren’t you a bit young for this?” Ziel asked the boy. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Jack and I’m not young. Just short,” he replied.

“You really want to come?” Ziel asked, a wicked look in his eyes. They appeared to glow red whenever he got excited.

Jack nodded, smiling widely.

“Okay, then I am just going to stick a binding spell on you,” Ziel announced, wrapping a white ribbon twice around Jack’s neck. “You are now bound to my will.”

“Erm,” Jack raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you need consent for a binding spell.”

“The consent was implied, Jack,” Ziel told him, waving his arm dismissively.

“I’m pretty sure that isn’t how consent works,” Adam commented. During s*x education week a lot had been said on the importance of consent. His classmates had debated the issue, coming to the conclusion that anything other than verbal consent was invalid. One of the other kids had to point out that the girl might be mute, and another had argued that it wasn’t just the female partner that needed to give consent. After that, the topic had turned to same-s*x couples and then group s*x, and the teacher had to intervene, shutting down the talk altogether.

Adam had listened, with lofty interest while holding on to the assumption no girl would ever consent to doing anything with him.

He looked down and noticed the odd look Selena was giving him.

‘Did I say something odd?’ he worried. He smiled at her which only deepened the crease in her brow.

Ziel piled his bags onto Jack, weighing down the smallest member of the group. Adam wanted to protest but was afraid of saying something stupid.

“So? You said you know the way,” Ziel questioned Jack.

Jack took the lead, struggling to walk with the large backpack Ziel had lumbered him with. Ziel appeared not to care, walking with his hands on the back of his head, looking up at the sky. The assassin was not as relaxed, eyes darting to every rustling tree or snapped twig.

The forest ahead was thick and dense, with no visible path through to the encampment rumoured on be the other side. The group had walked what they believed to be a straight path, only to end up right back at the beginning. Adam hoped they would have more luck with their guide, but was sceptical. Jack looked about with wonder, as though he was as new to the world as Adam, pointing at plants and birds as they made their way through the underbrush

“Here,” Jack shouted, scaring birds from the treetops above. He pointed at a tree with a large trunk and cavernous knots. “Jump inside that hole there. That’s the way.”

Ziel frowned as he bent over to inspect the tree. “You’re sure?”

Jack nodded, and to demonstrate, jumped into the tree. Shrugging Ziel followed, as did the women. Adam went last, holding his breath in anticipation, half expecting to end up back in the lake on Earth.

He stumbled out into an open field, surrounded by trees. To the left, other adventurers had set up camp. Their campfires gave off an inviting smell of roasted meat, and for the first time since his arrival, Adam felt the rumblings of hunger.

“Let’s join them,” Jack said, and led the way, lugging the bag from shoulder to shoulder. He was clearly struggling.

“I can help—” Adam went to offer, but Ziel stopped him.

“You are royalty,” he pointed out. “Royalty doesn’t carry bags.”

“Actually, I am a school kid. I carry a bag every day. It’s not that hard,” Adam said, standing up for both himself and Jack. The look on Ziel’s face indicated he may have made a mistake.

“If you want to make it back to your world in one piece, I suggest you heed my words, human,” Ziel said, looking him dead in the eye. “Are you going to make me regret choosing you?”

Adam shook his head, muttering an apology. He let himself fall behind Ziel, thinking it best to get a bit of distance. The assassin joined him.

“What’s a human?” she asked.

“Me,” Adam said. “The real me. “Apparently the owner of this body no longer needed it, so Ziel did some sort of… transference of my soul.”

He’s explained it as best he could, yet the woman looked confused.

“Oh, so you are here under sufferance also?” she asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t say sufferance, but I didn’t really have any better options,” Adam explained.

“Oh,” she said. She made very little noise as she moved, never misplacing a foot on a twig or loose ground. “Ziel bought me for forty gold coins and put a binding spell on me. I can’t seem to break it.”

“Have you tried to Selena?” Ziel asked, appearing behind them and poking his head between the couple. How he had moved from the front of the group to the back in a blink of eye seemed to be as much of a mystery to Selena as it was to Adam. She jumped, clutching her hand to her heart as though in cardiac arrest. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I… I’m… Yes, I have been trying the entire time. I have magic resistance. It should be easy for me,” Selena explained.

“Oh,” Ziel tutted. “You don’t want to be here? If you would prefer it, I could end your life now. It’s the only way that spell is coming off.”

“No,” Selena shook her head. “I won’t resist any more. I promise.”

Ziel took a knife from the holster on his thigh and pointed it at her neck. She winced as he reached a hand round and grabbed the pale purple braid that reached just past her bum. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the braid hit the floor, fall apart and blow away with the gentle breeze.

She reached up, feeling what was left of her hair and began to cry. Adam watched, feeling helpless as she dropped to the floor, shaking and sobbing. He wanted to comfort her, tell her it was just hair, and she was still beautiful with her new bob, but he got the feeling there was something more to it. Some symbolism or ritual. Though not an expert on the topic, he was aware that hair was important in some cultures on Earth. Maybe this world wasn’t so different.

Ziel pulled him away, leading him to the others at the encampment. Jack had started putting up a tent, thought he appeared to be having trouble, and as much as she was trying, Aim was no help.

“Let’s go and check out the competition,” Ziel grinned, taking Adam by the arm. His demeanour had changed entirely, going from anger to excitement within a matter of minutes.

‘This guy has a screw loose,’ Adam though. ‘And my life literally depends on him.’

Adam wanted to question him about the cutting of the hair but was fearful of ruining Ziel’s newly buoyant mood. He obeyed, walking with Ziel through the camp, looking over the fellow adventurers as they ate around their fires, drank, and sang. One woman was playing what looked like a guitar as her group danced in a circle. They tried to entice Ziel and Adam but Ziel refused.

‘It looks like fun,’ Adam thought, looking back longingly at the women.

The pair got a few stares and whispers on their walk, especially from the women. Adam tried not to let his eyes linger too long, scared he might end up in a situation he couldn’t handle.

“These guys are all dead,” Ziel declared as they headed back towards their tent.

“Really? What makes us different from them?” Adam asked.

“Me,” Ziel shrugged. “I’ll keep us all alive. You don’t need to worry. Okay?”

Adam nodded. His only choice was to trust Ziel.

“Come on. Let’s rest. We have a busy day tomorrow.”