34. Benny
Benny
T he goddess before me flushed crimson and I felt my heart rate increase. I hadn’t done much for her, yet.
“If it would please my goddess, I would be honored if you also took me into your service.” I knew I was taking a risk by asking to stay with this lovely maiden if the glares coming from her males meant anything. But what if she was the reason I was left here?
I saw she was struggling to come up with a way to turn me down, but I rushed to stop her before she could string together a sentence that would damn me.
“Before you answer, maybe take the night to think about it? The bed in the cabin is very comfortable.” Both of her males growled at me for that suggestion and I merely shrugged. “Unless you both would rather she sleep out here with all of us?” That shut them right up.
“One more question then, before I get some sleep. What’s your name?”
“Call me Benny, my goddess, and welcome to my triangle.”
Okay, so not my best line, I thought as I woke up, my head pounding. I think the bear clocked me in the head, but I really wasn’t sure.
One moment I was talking with Fare, offering her my literal bed. Next, I’m staring up at a sky full of stars. Off to my side, I heard male voices talking, and from the few words I could pick up, I would guess about me. Doubtful it was anything good.
I sighed internally as I tried to shift my arms just enough to regain some degree of feeling in my hands. As I did so, I noticed that the feel of the bindings seemed different. Slowly, I lifted my head to peer down my body and saw I was right.
My bindings had indeed changed material. What had started as magic now looked to be simple rope. I smirked and made tiny movements that tested the strength of my knots.
It took me some time, but eventually, I loosened the ropes enough so I could wriggle out. Freed, I tried to smoothly rise to my feet but stumbled as pins shot up my legs.
I ended up falling flat on my face as the men stopped talking. As I lifted my head, I saw them watching me darkly.
“Good evening, gentlemen. No hard feelings, yeah?” I greeted them while I pulled myself up to my feet. “I mean, I attacked your sleeping camp. You guys struck me down when I couldn’t defend myself. We’re even now, right?”
The bear growled as I brushed off the dirt from my front and frowned at the pile of ropes that had bound me. I waved my hand over it as I pushed a small pulse of magic into the nylon. The feeling of their eyes shifted oh so slightly as my magic went to work winding the rope into a small stool. After my spell finished, I sat down facing the males who followed my sweet goddess.
“Since the mistress is abed, perhaps it's time we discuss the more, shall I say, harder topics?” I inquired as I lifted a leg to cross it over my knee. Shifter-thing one frowned while ghost-thing two scowled at me. “Unless either of you wanted to wait until she awakened to talk about what brought you into my neck of the woods?”
They turned to look at each other and, I’d guess, silently discussed how much they wanted to tell me. I was rather amused as I watched them try to argue without saying a single word.
“Here, I’ll start with an easy question. Is there a reason you’re here? Or is this just a social call?” I shot off as I reached into the fire and pulled out a small ball of flames to dance across my fingers.
“There’s a reason. It’s just not our place to say what that is,” the ghost answered as he followed the dancing flames intently. “Would you stop that?”
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. “I would, but you know what they say. ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.’”
“Very funny. Hilarious. But I’m serious. If you keep that up you could start a forest fire,” Ghost Boy scolded me.
“Really, that’s what you want to focus on?” Bear asked.
Maybe I should take the time to learn their names. If my goddess accepts me then we’ll be around each other for a long while. I mused as I watched them turn on each other.
Somewhere out in the woods, a lone wolf howled, and that stopped the fighting right away.
“Relax, he’s harmless to any of you,” I smirked as the wolf called again, closer than the first time. “Besides, I like him enough not to risk his life being around either of you.”
In truth, the wolf was just a wild animal who I would frequently share my hunts with. The poor thing was without a pack when I first came across him and after a few peaceful run-ins between us, we’d formed a tentative friendship that had bloomed. Now he rarely wandered far from me and wouldn’t hesitate to jump to my defense, so I wasn’t lying when I said I wouldn’t put his life on the line against the brute of a bear.
“Now, what were you boys saying about a magic map?” I looked up from the flames in the pit to see them still staring in the direction of the wolf’s call.
They both jumped and turned back to glare at me. Like it was my fault for listening to their, rather loud, debate held right in front of me.
I wasn’t entirely sure what they were talking about, but I think I got the gist.
“Let me see if I got all the details. You both are related to events around towns that had some supernatural help getting wiped off the map. If not for a magical map that appeared in Lady Fare’s dreams, neither of you would have ever left your homes, because this same dream map led her to both of you. Now it told you to seek out a similar town in this rough area.” I leaned back on my stool as I let the flames in my hands return to the main fire.
The ghost dropped his jaw and nodded slowly while the bear just growled.
“I’ll save you the trouble. There’s no special town here.” That I’ll admit too, I added silently.
“That’s what I was thinking,” muttered Ghosty. “But there have been disappearances in these woods.” I nodded my acknowledgment.
“Fair enough, but they weren’t caused by anything paranormal in nature,” I answered.
“Interesting phrasing, demon,” the bear mused, “It sounds like you’re implying you were still involved. Just as the solution in place of the cause.”
“Clever beast. You’re not wrong.”
The spirit looked confused as he bounced his focus between his friend and me. When it looked like his companion was more than willing to leave him in the dark, I decided it would earn me some brownie points with Fare if I took pity on him.
“I may be wrong as this is just a guess. But from what I understand about our situations, the bear here was his source of death, while you were a victim of yours. I on the other hand was summoned after the deaths had started. Once freed from my contract, I ended the needless slaughter.” My voice dropped the temperature around the fire with my final words. I decided it would be a good idea to try to lift the mood again before I was seen as a threat again. “Don’t worry, I’ll warn you before you cross my very fine line and I find myself having to end you out of obligation.”
I stood as I dusted off my ass before I sauntered over to the nearest edge of the barrier that protected my home.
“By the way, what are your names anyway? I figure I should ask if we are going to be together for a while.” When only silence met my question, I shrugged and stepped across the line to keep watch.