Resilience Run

A long time ago, when I was expelled from high school for beating the crap out of the jerk that was harassing my sister, my dad took me aside after I started pursuing my GED.

“You did the right thing, Riley,” he had said, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you different. Sometimes, people aren’t going to like it when you do the right thing, but you should always do it anyway.”

My dad was always a smart man. My mother told me that he hadn’t even finished high school, shortly after my father dropped dead in the garage he worked in from a brain aneurysm, and that was incredibly shocking to me. I would have never expected him to be a high school dropout.

His words were coming back to me now, as things in my life had taken a shocking turn, so far just for the worse. Everyone around me always said college was going to be a whole new adventure, but my college adventure had resulted in me getting abducted from my whole universe, ending up in some medieval magical universe, and forced to be the offering in a twisted fight for my life against several magical creatures called the Runners, who were being forced to participate, and I had to free them.

It had been a long, tough, and harrowing adventure, and none of us had made it out in one piece. I myself had lost the index finger on my left hand, I’d been knocked around, and even had other pieces of my body ripped off.

My companion, a tall and beautiful-looking transgender orc named Rhys, was breathing heavily, a lasting effect from her crying over us having to leave behind the woman who had been protecting her for so long. She still had some scars on her arms and cheeks from our fights with the Runners, and she was constantly looking around as we moved along the footpath, keeping her only visible eye out for any kind of trouble that could accost us.

“I feel like if the emperor’s goons knew where we were, they probably would have attacked us by now.” I said, trying to placate Rhys even though it was probably a fruitless endeavor.

“I don’t want to take any chances,” said Rhys, “The absolute last thing we need right now is to get jumped when we just got away from the castle.”

“Alright, you do you.” I said.

“Hey, moor-acu?” asked Felice, my soul-bonded companion and former empress of Xeastea before she was killed by her own husband, using the nickname she’d been using since we first met, “I have another question about that cell phone of yours.”

“Oh god.” I groaned, still fully regretting my decision to show off my cell phone - technology that didn’t exist in this magical world - since Felice could not stop asking every single question that had come to her mind ever since.

“Is the communication feature usable across the whole country?” Felice asked, “I mean, could one person from one side of the country call a person on the other side of the country, and hold a completely casual conversation with them?”

“You asked me that already Felice,” I said, “And I told you, the answer is yes.”

Felice squealed. It took me by surprise that she would be so interested in the stuff that my world had to provide, especially thanks to the magic that prevailed in Xeastea, but I wasn’t one to judge. It wasn’t like there was much else for us to do until we made it to the village.

Speaking of which, I pointed at the smoke in the distance - the only sign of civilization we had seen since the sight of the castle behind us had finally left our vision.

“This must be that village from the map,” said Rhys, “Craven Mill, right?”

“That’s the place.” I said, “Wait, hold on.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“What if someone in that town recognizes me? Isn’t that going to be a problem?”

“Oh, I doubt it,” said Rhys, “This little village wouldn’t have any projection screens, so they wouldn’t know what you look like right off the bat.”

“Projection screens… those are those devices that act like livestreams, right?” I asked.

“You’re lucky you told us what that was,” said Rhys, “Otherwise, I’d have no idea what you’re talking about. Yeah, so they only have images. Pull your hood up.”

I did so, pulling up the hood on my cloak to completely conceal my hair as we started to make our way into the town.

“Wait, about those ‘livestream’ things,” Felice said, “Why would you watch people play these games when you could just play them yourself?”

I sighed.

Craven Mill was a small village on the side of a river. Some children were running around, probably playing tag or something, and the sound of their laughter made me feel a little better about my current situation as an on-the-run fugitive. Rhys and I stayed close together, almost holding hands, not that I would complain. I noticed out of the corner of my eyes that some people stopped, just for a moment, but then carry on with what they were doing. Hopefully, they were just people eyeballing the people who were just passing through, unsuspiciously.

“Look, there’s the inn.” Rhys whispered to me, pointing to one of the buildings on the left. A sign hanging off the rafter confirmed it - Craven Mill Inn and Pub. Rhys stepped forward and opened the door for me.

“Thank you, ma’am.” I said as I passed by her into the pub, earning me a rare goofy grin from Rhys as she followed me in.

The inside of the Inn was about as much as I expected, with a counter on the other side of the room from me, and doors presumably leading to rooms lining the hall. Some people were sitting around, some on their own, some speaking to each other. All in all, a warm atmosphere.

“We should get a drink,” I said, “Celebrate our arrival.”

“I could go for some mead,” said Rhys, “Mama always let me drink it when she managed to sneak a bottle from the emperor’s parties.”

“You two should try to keep your voices down!” said Felice, “The last thing we need is someone to overhear you two talking about being in the castle, when you’re wanted fugitives!”

“Alright, you don’t need to have a cow,” I said, “Let’s go get a drink, get some food, and a place to sleep overnight.”

I stepped up to the counter. A woman on the other side of the counter approached me, and placed her arm down, leaning in to me.

“What can I get you, darling?” the woman asked.

“Uh… a pint of mead,” I said, turning to Rhys, who winked, “And a cup of… tea.”

“Anything else?” the woman asked, “Food?”

“Got any rabbit?” Rhys asked.

“Just got in an order from the local hunters,” said the innkeeper, “So yeah. Roasted?”

“Two orders,” said Rhys, “Wait, if you want some?”

“Yeah, sure.” I said.

“Got it.” the innkeeper said as she wrote stuff down on a pad of paper and stepped through a door behind the counter. A couple of minutes later, she returned with two mugs and placed them in front of us.

“Mead and tea,” said the innkeeper, “Rabbit’s gonna take a hot minute.”

“Thanks.” I said. I took a sip of my tea while Rhys started guzzling down the mead. My tea tasted sweet, just how I liked it.

“Is this sweetened with honey?” Rhys asked when she came down for air.

“Berries,” the innkeeper said, “We have some sun berries growing in the woods. It’s our specialty.”

“Delicious.” said Rhys, then as she motioned the cup to me, “Wanna sip?”

“Uh, sure.” I said, “I’ve never drunk alcohol before.”

“You’ll like it, I’m sure,” said Rhys, “And if not, you can sleep it off in the room.”

“Oh, you renting?” the innkeeper asked, “Only got single beds here.”

“Just for the night.” I said, “One room.”

I expected the innkeeper to say something about two girls sharing a bed, or at least a raised eyebrow, but nothing, she just handed me the key and said nothing more but “Enjoy your stay.”

“Thank you.” I said as I handed the key to Rhys and finally gained the courage to take a sip of her mead. It was shockingly sweet, just as Rhys described it, with the sharp taste of alcohol barely noticeable.

“Huh, this is good.” I said.

“Told you.” said Rhys, “If you haven’t had much of it before, I wouldn’t recommend drinking much more of it, though.”

“You just don’t want me to drink all of it, don’t you?” I said.

“… Yes.” said Rhys, completely deadpan, which I couldn’t help but laugh at. I took a moment to look around the Inn. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, in their own way at least, no one seemed sad, or angry, or upset at anything. Well, besides two men who were eyeing me in the corner of the room, sitting at a small table.

As soon as we locked eyes, I looked away and leaned in to Rhys.

“Big dudes eyeing us in the corner.” I whispered. Rhys glanced back for a moment, pretended to survey the room, then turned back to me.

“Looks like just wanderers,” said Rhys, “They won’t give us trouble if we don’t give them any trouble.”

“I’m a walking ball of trouble just by existing,” I said, “Calling it now, bounty hunters, and they just got notified of an escapee from the castle.”

“I don’t like the look of them either,” said Felice, “They look like bad guys, probably the kind of people Easton would hire or notify.”

“You’re both just being paranoid,” said Rhys, “Even if they do try anything, we could easily take them in a fight.”

“Yeah, but that’s not the main problem,” I said, “Even if we could take them in a fight, the goal right now is to not be seen. If people see me, they might recognize me, right?”

“Damn, I didn’t even think of that,” said Rhys, “Why don’t we head to our room and lay low overnight? Tomorrow, we’ll get some supplies from the market, and then we’ll head out to the next stop.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said, then after a yawn, “After everything we did to escape the castle, I’m beat.”

“Same.” said Rhys, “Let’s have some time to enjoy ourselves before we get back on the road again.”

Rhys gulped down the rest of her mead, while I finished my tea just as the roasted rabbit arrived. I never had rabbit before, but it looked good, and was covered in a dark brown sauce of some kind.

“Roast sauce?” Rhys asked.

“Roast sauce, sweetened with honey.” said the innkeeper.

“Oh by Oktu, yes!” said Rhys, and she dug in, while I took a small bite. The taste was amazing, and I was soon diving in just like Rhys, until the whole thing was gone, as the innkeeper came back with another mug of mead, presumably on tap or something. Rhys was generous enough to share it so I could wash the rabbit down.

“Oh, hey,” said Rhys as she came at me with a clean napkin, “You got a lot of sauce on your face.”

“So do you.” I said. Sauce was dripping from Rhys’ chin, but she still wiped at my face with the napkin, until she finally pulled it back and said, “Done.”

“My turn.” I said as I took my own clean napkin and went in on her cheeks, which were now deepening to a hard blush. When her face was clean, she kept staring at me even as I put the napkin down.

“… Are we having a moment?” I asked. That seemed to bring Rhys back down to reality as she blinked and looked away, still bushing hard.

“I’ll show you to your rooms.” said the innkeeper, thankfully breaking the awkward moment. We both nodded to her, and she led us to one of the doors, opening it for us as well.

“Enjoy your stay.” said the innkeeper, then she went back to the bar as we went in. The room was small, but not cramped for us, and the bed looked big enough for the two of us.

“Are you sure about sharing a bed?” Rhys asked, “I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, “We’ve been close enough during this whole thing, sharing a bed with you will be fine.”

I swear I could see Rhys blush again, but I was so tired from all the walking, and the meal, that I flopped into the bed immediately after dropping my dad’s brown leather jacket to the floor, and almost immediately fell asleep, just as Rhys was getting into the bed.