I stretched as we surfaced back into the forest, flexing each claw and talon individually. Like my daily routine, before Sapwood village. Back when I was like a wild animal, hiding in their den.

  Now we were essentially stripping my old “den” for parts. Well, at least one part. The huge crystal that the orcs Grel and Sally were currently napping against. At first I was worried they might be injured, then I heard their trumpet like snores. The same snores that earned them the dubious distinction of a private tent in Sapwood Village.

  Cleyre followed behind, panting heavily and leaning on her staff as she clambered up the final steps. She had surprisingly bad cardio for someone in excellent shape. After catching her breath, Cleyre clapped loudly! Grel and Sally practically tripped over each other as they shot to their feet.

  “Careful Cleyre, no one here is your or anyone’s servants,” Windthrow said while leaning into his own morning stretches.

  “My mistake, that did come across a bit…Imperial,” Cleyre responded.

  “So do you have any special plan to move this thing?” I gestured to the crystal.

  It was now wrapped in thick ropes, encasing it in a shibari pattern. I’ll have to ask who tied it later, Grel and Sally’s love life might be more adventurous than we imagined.

  “So, about that. Our orcish companions already dragged it up here.” She paused for a moment, as we all looked on. ”So we’ll all help drag it back together!”

  “You can’t be serious Cleyre,” Windthrow snapped, giving the crystal a few tentative kicks. “Is this worth the effort?”

  “I assure you, this crystal is key to the future of Sapwood.”

  Grel, Sally, Windthrow and I exchanged exasperated glances.

  Windthrow broke the stalemate, “Fine, fine. I’ll help if everyone else does.”

  And that was that.

  The crystal carved a path in the Weald undergrowth as we dragged it. Cleyre’s scaled biceps flexed under the strain, as she led our bizarre procession. Each of us took rotating breaks, except Cleyre, she pushed on despite her obvious exhaustion. As the outskirts of Sapwood came into view we picked up the pace, eager to be finished. The bathhouse was looking real good right about now.

  Outside the gate (in reality just an opening for now) into Sapwood was a surprise. A brown fuzzy spider, with 8 shiny black beady eyes. Mighta been cute, if it wasn’t six feet tall! Large leather packs were strapped around its bulbous thorax, along with a thick belt which served as a halter. A rope attached to the halter looped around one of the sturdy wall logs, keeping the creature kind of restrained…?

  I immediately hopped into a combat stance with Tanglewood at the ready. I’d already experienced being hunted by giant spiders, I wasn’t taking any chances. Although, this spider had soft fur and curious eyes instead of venomous fangs like the phase spiders.

  “Vylet, hold on!” Cleyre said, she lowered my spear with her hand. “I recognize that spider.”

  “You…do?”

  “It belongs to former slaves, like us, who settled in the Weald.” She started stroking the fur above the spider’s eyes. “Come on, give it a pat. You hurt its feelings.”

  I saw myself reflected in its 8 eyes as I slowly reached up and patted beside Cleyre’s hand. The spider felt like one of those weird furry cacti. It pushed itself against my palm and rhythmically shuffled its front legs. It was making spider biscuits!

  “See, it likes you!” Cleyre said. “Isn’t he such a good and helpful lil guy?”

  Not sure about little, but he was a bit cute.

  “Come on, let’s finish getting this thing into Sapwood and greet whoever’s arrived,” Windthrow said as he leaned against the crystal, watching us and the increasingly happy spider.

  Cleyre pouted, as if the whole crystal thing wasn’t her idea in the first place, before she picked up the rope to help finish the job.

  The whole village gathered to enjoy the show as we dragged the crystal past the wall, including two new faces.

  Sitting on the longhouse steps was an elven man, with light blue skin and pupilless turquoise eyes. His shoulder length black hair was tied in a ponytail with a golden string. His companion, who’d just run over to look at the crystal, was a very short woman. She was a heavily wrinkled Halfling -I'd met several Halfling residents in Sapwood already- with thick greying hair. She gave us a friendly toothless smile.

  Both were dressed in old leathers, and wore short swords at their hip.

  “Why why, ain’t this a surprise. Judgin by you and yours appearances you must be Cleyre, Violet, Windthrow, and the orcs, Grel and Sally.” She squinted as her wrinkled finger pointed to each of us in turn, lingering on me for an extra moment. “I’m called Lena Trak, and that moody Sea Elf there is Velt.”

  “It’s good to meet you, apologies that we missed your arrival,” Cleyre said. “You’re welcome guests in our village.”

  When was the last time I’d heard her be so polite? What exactly did these two want?

  “Let's get the seriousness done for anything else, mind if we use your very nice longhouse to host,” Lena said. “The villagers are all here, so why wait!”

  Cleyre’s eye twitched, a small crack in her fa?ade.

  “Of course, let’s gather everyone in the longhouse.”

  We had to drag in logs from outside to use as benches -just when I thought when I was done with manual labor for the day. The entire longhouse thrummed with nervous energy and hushed conversations. Up front Cleyre and the visitor, Lena, were whispering while everyone settled in. I chose a seat next to Windthrow, in the back.

  “Feels good to be back in Sapwood, eh Windthrow?” I nudged him with my elbow.

  “Yeah! After spending a night…after exploring! After exploring the bunker,” he responded.

  Despite his good natured tone, Windthrow’s eyes were fixed to the ground.

  “Okay maybe you were right, maybe we should talk about-”

  DING DING DING! Lena swung a small bell, silencing the clamor in the room before clearing her throat.

  “Villagers of Sapwood! Yous all have my thanks, for the warmful welcome!”

  A cheer erupted from the Sapwood villagers, along with a few hoots and hollers.

  Lena silenced the room with a single gesture. She stood up straight, then paced the floor. The smile faded from her face.

  “You all most likely struggle to remember much bout what it was like under the Imperials,” she said. “But I betcha remember how it felt, don’t ya? The powerlessness deep in your guts!”

  Her shout echoed across the room. It was like thunder. Several villagers jumped in their seats, like they were electrocuted. Others started murmuring to their neighbors.

  “The Imperials may be dead an gone, but there are others that would subjugate us. New powers rising to replace the old.”

  At this her companion, Velt, tossed the stool he'd been using up front. It clattered across the ground. Lena climbed atop the stool; now even the people in the back could see her.

  “As such, none other than Proudhon -the one who suggested that us former slaves settle here- has called a meeting in the Eastern Weald, in 2 months. Where he seeks to unite our peoples into a Federation, so that we may maintain our liberty!”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  A wave of relief flowed through the audience. Everyone started stomping their feet, so hard that the building shook. Some villagers were shedding tears. Beside me, Windthrow looked away and rubbed his eyes, then he joined the rest in cheers. I joined in too, adding my voice to the chorus. Lena just stood upon her stool, grinning ear to ear

  Cleyre walked forward, towering above Lena. She leaned back, before slamming her hands together in a colossal clap, instantly halting the fervor.

  “It appears a vote is unnecessary,” Cleyre said. “Sapwood village will send representatives to the meeting in 2 months time; where our Federation will be founded!”

  She slammed the butt of her gnarled staff to the floor. Multicolored fireworks flowed from her staff across the longhouse. Lena wasn’t the only one with a flair for the dramatic.

  Lena insisted that the village “celebrate our decision”. She and Velt proceeded to unload 3 dozen bottles of “redberry” wine; she offered them as a gift to Sapwood. We in turn offered her the almost undrinkable acorn liquor that some ambitious villagers brewed up.

  Early on the festivities consisted of some meat skewers, light drinking, and friendly conversation. But by the time Windthrow and I exhausted our new tales of exploration, the party was taking on a very different character.

  It started when Lena took out her ancient looking fiddle and played some jaunty music. Then she was joined by our local drummers, Milo and Dean. When the sun descended below the horizon, the longhouse was alive with dancing, spilling out into the warm evening air. Everyone held either a glass of wine, or worse, a glass of acorn liquor.

  I was reluctant to drink…but Cleyre handed me a glass of wine.

  “Live a little,” she winked at me, then went back to gyrating to the music with Gorefang.

  I looked over at the villagers, even the most serious workers were letting loose. Lena hopped from foot to foot while playing, seemingly never running out of energy. Cleyre was right!

  I downed the cup in one gulp and waded into the fray. I swayed back and forth, my tail rhythmically swept behind me. Lena started a quicker number, and I joined everyone as we laughed, shuffled, jumped, and let the music take us. At some point I was handed a shot, then another, and another. Cleyre conjured rainbow lights, then flame dragons above us. People were kissing, dancing with their bodies against one another.

  The world was a blur around me. All the faces, colors and light ran into a boozy puddle. I felt someone touch the small of my back, and whisper in my ear.

  “Hey Vylet, you doing alright?” Windthrow asked.

  “Windthrow!” I threw my arms around his shoulders.”I’m greaaat. Neverr better!”

  He was steady. Everything else was a whirl, how’d he do that? I rubbed my cheek on his chest, he had to turn his face up to avoid a horn poke.

  “Winndthrow, you’ree so fuccking cool and soo smart. You make me act soo silly.”

  He gently pushed me away, and started guiding me by the shoulders, out of the longhouse, away from the dancing. The night air felt like a splash of cold water.

  “Ahh, bringg mee to the loversss tent. Takee me!”

  He laughed and patted my shoulders.

  “You know I’m not a scumbag, right?” He walked me to a bench near one of the walls; I could see several villagers dancing around a fire nearby. “Now let me find you a pitcher of water.”

  Windthrow went in search of a (hopefully) hangover-preventing amount of water for me. I sat and listened to the distant sound of Lena’s fiddle and the night breeze as it rustled through the trees. My eyelids started getting heavy.

  As I fought to keep myself awake I saw Velt, walking past the fire dancing villagers. He held a bottle in one hand, but looked pretty sober. He was a similar height to Windthrow. Maybe a tiny bit shorter. He walked towards me and sat next to me on the bench.

  “I noticed you during the meeting,” Velt said. “Lena and I have been all over, never seen a thing like you before.” His voice was scratchy and deep.

  “Yeh, not thee first time. I’mm weeeeird.” I kicked the dirt with my talon.

  “Do you have a name?” he asked.

  “Vylet, Vylet with nooooo last name.”

  “Well Vylet no-name, I like your horns.” He showed me the dusty green bottle. “Wanna share this wine with me. I found it awhile ago, think it’s Imperial.”

  Imperial wine, interesting. My buzz was fading… another drink wouldn’t hurt.

  “Suree, I’ll try a little.”

  He stood up, gripped my wrist and pulled me to my feet.

  “If we drink it here, then everyone will want some, follow me.”

  He led me -still by my wrist- around to the other side of the wall, I stumbled a few times as we walked. It was dark back there, but private like he wanted.

  We leaned against the wall, looking into the inky black forest beyond the Sapwood perimeter. He uncorked the bottle with a small knife, then took a long swig. Dark liquid dripped from his lips. He passed the bottle to me.

  I took a big gulp. It was sickly sweet, like a cheap drink for college students. Maybe that was the height of luxury in this world? At least it was strong. Too strong.

  A sense of lightness clouded my senses.

  “Shooot, thinnk I drank a bit muchh, gotta get back to Windthrow…”

  I turned back towards the village. Velt gripped my wrist again, hard.

  “Ouch! Lemme go!” I twisted my body and tried to scratch him with my claws.

  But my arms felt heavy, and he easily dodged.

  “Relax, relax! You want this,” Velt said. “Look at what you’re wearing.”

  He leered at me with a shit eating grin.

  Oh fuck this. I activated Action Surge. As time slowed, in my current state, it felt like being on a demented tilt-a-whirl. I ripped out of his grip and became a tipsy, stumbling, tornado of claws and talons! I slashed Velt’s torso, his arms and his legs. Streaks of blood splattered over both of us. His shit eating grin became a furious scowl. He was torn up, but I felt like vomiting. When Action Surge wore off, then I really did vomit. It was like the tilt-a-whirl from hell stopped instantly.

  Velt took the opportunity to lung forward, gripping my neck from behind. Using all his weight he forced my small frame face first into the dirt. He climbed on top of me, pinning me on the ground.

  “Bitch! Fucking Bitch! You’re lucky I even looked at you freak,” he growled into my ear. I felt the blade of a knife pushing against my neck.

  No…I didn’t want this.

  “Windthrow…” I wheezed.

  I heard the twang from a bow! Velt made a pathetic whelping noise, warm blood spilled over me. There were frenzied steps and shouts. Everything faded to black.

  There was a horrific dull thump in my skull. The sun was high in the sky above me; it looked like a blazing ball of hate. My stomach churned, and a wave of nausea rose…

  I turned to the wooden bucket beside me and let loose. I was on a bedroll outside the longhouse, covered in a linen blanket.

  “Glad to see you’re up, I was worried,” Windthrow said.

  He sat on a chair beside the bedroll. Dark bags were under his eyes, and his bow was on his lap.

  I finished with the bucket and looked up at Windthrow. Squinting to see him in the blaring light.

  “Huh, what happened?”

  “Velt tried to- he tried to hurt you. Nothing happened though, and you’re okay,” Windthrow said. “Besides the hangover.”

  “Damn, I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry.”

  Windthrow held up his hand and shook his head.

  “Don’t be. You drank too much, that’s it. I was supposed to look out for you.”

  I sat up. Around Sapwood the rest of the villagers were out doing their chores, like nothing happened. And it was already the afternoon!

  “Where is he, Velt, I mean?”

  “Bleeding out in the Weald, hopefully. But Cleyre’s looking, just to make sure.”

  I laid back down. It still felt like a hammer was battering against my eyes.

  “You need to drink some water, it’ll help.” Windthrow leaned me up and slowly tipped a cup of cold water past my fangs. I drank greedily. After he laid me back down, I quickly fell asleep.

  When I next woke the moons were out, and I felt the warmth of a campfire. This time Cleyre sat beside me, reading a thick book.

  “Hey Cleyre…” I said.

  She snapped the book shut and crouched down next to me. Then Cleyre wrapped her arms around me, holding me in a comforting embrace.

  “Sorry…” I said.

  “Don’t apologize you idiot,” Cleyre said.

  She finished our extended hug and leaned in close.

  “Velt’s dead. But keep it between us. Let’s just say- I don’t know, that he’s exiled,” she whispered. “It’s easier that way. I’ve already run it past Lena.”

  I nodded. She focused on me with her intense glare, then she nodded back.

  “I hate to ask you this now. But because of…what happened, we have limited time. So here it is: Would you go with Windthrow, as the delegates from Sapwood village, to the founding meeting in the Eastern Weald?”

  I figured Cleyre would be the one to go, she was way more capable than Windthrow or I. She was basically our leader.

  “Cleyre, I-”

  She stood up.

  “Think on it. You have until tomorrow morning.”

  She walked away, towards the crystal that was still right in the middle of Sapwood.

  I owed her so much. And Windthrow. The entire village actually. I’d been alone for so long, but now I didn’t want to remember life before Sapwood. So much happened, but in reality I’d only explored a tiny bit of the Weald.

  So I had to go. I would go. And someone had to protect Windthrow, it sure as hell wouldn’t be with a woman that wasn’t me!