Just posting the expurgated version of "Andrea's Story". This is how (after editing for grammar and spelling) it's likely to appear in the Unexpected Diversions collection. PG-13 for violence.

6 ”ANIMAL! HALF-BREED! WHORE!”

She ran down the street, legs pounding, sandals slapping the cobblestone. A rock whizzed past her ear. Another struck her shoulder and she cried out, but kept running. The pack of boys followed. They were faster than she was, but in no hurry to catch up yet. Besides, occasionally they had to pause to grab more rocks.

One stuck her on the back of the head, and she fell face-first into the cobblestones, bloodying her nose and scraping her hands and forearms. She got her knees, starry-eyed, and felt two more rocks strike her back. Wobbling, she started to run again, making a sharp turn up an alley. If she could make it to the market square there would be more people, and maybe the boys wouldn’t try and hurt her anymore.

She was so dizzy she had to keep her eyes to the ground or lose her balance. Unfortunately all that accomplished was to give her no warning when she ran full tilt into the brick wall. She bounced off it and fell to the ground, rolling into a ball as more rocks stuck her, and the booted feet began to kick her, as the boys shouted their litany, “Animal! Half-breed! Whore!”

Her blood began to pound in her ears. Her blood began to roar. She was six years old. She was a half-breed. And she was going to die.

No, the roaring was coming from behind her, followed by screams coming from the boys. The kicking stopped, and then a large hand grabbed her by the back of her dress and lifted her off the ground. She opened her left eye, the other was swollen shut, and then began to scream herself as she found she was looking at eye-level with an enormous, green skinned, over-muscled, terrifying ogre.

Wearing a pince-nez.

She blinked. The ogre started to say something that began with “Ahhhrrr…” Or at least it changed to that as Andrea bit him on the wrist and he dropped her. She scurried between his legs, heading back up the alley, intent on running in the opposite direction the pack of boys had taken. But at the alley’s entrance she tripped over something that sent her sprawling onto the cobblestones again.

Then the something grabbed her by the ankles and held her in the air. She twisted about and saw the face of an elf looking down on her, appearing demonic with his shaven head and pointed ears.

“Let me go!” she choked, barely able to breathe with her blood-stuffed nose. Gods her head hurt where the rock had struck it, the blood rushing to her head as she dangled.

“You bit poor Arthur,” the elf said conversationally. “That was quite rude.” Then his knee met her forehead and she was knocked out.

* * *

When she woke up again, she was lying on a padded bench, a scratchy blanket covering her and a down pillow underneath her head. The bench was rocking underneath her, he heard the sounds of horse’s hooves and the rattle of wooden wheels rolling along the old Imperial road.

Andrea opened her good eye just a crack. Sitting across from her in the carriage was the bald elf. He had a large, leather bound book open and was frowning at it while he made copious notes inside with a charcoal pencil. Now that she had a chance to look at him proper, she could see he was dressed like a well-off trader, or guildsman. That and he was short, at least compared to humans, barely taller than the boys that had been chasing her.

She glanced over to the carriage’s windows. The shades were down, but she could make out enough realize it was dark outside, the elf working by the light of… a lamp? No, a glowing ball hanging from the carriage’s roof. Some sort of enchanted thing, made by wizards, and here the elf was using it to look at his book. Boggled, Andrea closed her eye. She was sore all over, but nothing felt broken, aside from her nose. She didn’t want to move, but the elf was distracted, it was dark outside and she might not get another chance.

Andrea rolled off the bench, throwing the blanket off, reaching for the door’s latch. She was stopped short as a noose tightened around her neck and she fell to the carriage’s floor with a thump. The elf looked up at her with an annoyed expression, set his book and pencil down and put her back on the bench. She coughed and ran a finger underneath the leather collar that was around her neck, attached a ring on the bench by a short length of chain.

“Please don’t try something that foolish again,” the elf said, settling back his seat.

“Kaff! What.. kaff… ‘m not a f---ing dog!” she finally burst out.

“No, you are not a dog,” the elf agreed. “You are my slave, bought and paid for.”

“’m not!” Andrea coughed one more time, then finally caught her breath. “Citizen!” she gasped.

“No,” the elf said. “As of a fortnight ago your king declared all those of non-human or mixed blood to be slaves of the state and all their property to be confiscated in the king’s name. All those who resist or question the law are traitors to be executed. The news had just reached your town today, yesterday rather, as it’s after midnight.”

“S’not true…” Oh, gods, her head hurt. Was it true? Was that why the proctor had thrown her out of the orphanage’s gates? She hadn’t done anything wrong, she was sure that she hadn’t.

“Truth,” the elf asserted. “After you so rudely bit my man, Arthur, I felt some recompense was in order. So I spoke briefly to the town constable, a few coins exchanged hands and we are now on our merry way.”

She felt around the back of the collar, touching the buckle that was hidden underneath her black hair.

“Don’t fiddle with that, girl,” the elf warned. “It’s going to keep you alive if we’re stopped. I am a citizen of the Elven Domain. Things in this country have not yet degenerated to the point where I can be attacked with impunity.”

“’m no slave, and my name is Andrea!”

“Yes, you are. Your name is whatever I wish it to be,” the elf said flatly. “But for the moment, ‘Andrea’ will do. You may call me Master Tez.”

“Tez,” Andrea repeated mulishly.

He reached over and rapped her forehead, right where his knee had met her skull earlier. She let out a pained yelp and he repeated, “Master Tez.”

“Master Tez,” she replied softly, rubbing the bruise.

“Better,” he said. Tez reached underneath his seat, opening a compartment and taking out a small bottle. “Drink this,” he ordered, breaking open the wax stopper and handing it to her.

“What is it?” she demanded. The liquid within looked green as best she could tell.

“It will make you sleep and accelerate the healing of your bruises and cuts,” he said. “I didn’t want it to give it to you earlier until you regained consciousness on your own.”

“S’not poison, is it?”

“If I wanted you dead, I would left you with that pack of rabid, two-footed dogs,” Master Tez pointed out. “Just drink it. It won’t harm you.”

“Okay.” Her head did hurt and going back to sleep would be nice. And if she didn’t drink it, she was pretty sure Master Tez would hit her on the skull again, or worse. Andrea gulped down the medicine quickly, grimacing at the awful taste.

“Very good, Andrea,” Master Tez said. “Now lay back down.”

“’m not… not sleepy yet,” she insisted and swallowed back a yawn.

She was pretty sure that Master Tez had said something to her after that, but she’d already closed her eyes.

* * *

When she woke up again, she was lying in a bed this time. For a moment she thought she was back at the orphanage, lumpy mattress and all, but then she felt the collar around her neck and remembered what had happened.

At least she wasn’t sore all over and her head didn’t hurt. She just wished she knew where her clothes had went. The gray, patched dressed that had been the orphanage’s uniform, the only clothes she’d ever worn, was gone and she was naked except for the blankets.

Andrea opened her eyes. She was in a small room, not much bigger than a wardrobe. Sitting on the edge of her bed was the ogre, Arthur. He was hunched over, looking at a small chapbook that rested on his knees, his mouth moving slowly as he read. She hadn’t been dreaming about the pince-nez earlier. It was clipped to his enormous nose, almost disappearing among the hangdog folds of his greenish face.

Arthur looked over at her and smiled. Maybe it was a smile. There were an awful lot of teeth (and a few tusks) involved anyway. “Hullo,” he said. His voice sounded like a millstone grinding.

“’lo,” she answered, drawing up the blanket to her chin.

“I’m Arthur,” he said. He waved his hand, with a palm the size of a dinner plate, at her.

“I’m Andrea,” she answered, waving her hand back at him cautiously. “Where am I? Where are m’ clothes?”

“We is at an inn. Master Tez gonna get y’ new ones,” Arthur said ponderously.

“Where are m’ old clothes?”

“Master Tez said he wuz gonna burn ‘em.”

Andrea felt her eyes begin to water. Her dress had been her Summer Solstice gift from the proctor. Hers. She snuffled once, then burst out crying.

“Oh, uh, oh, don’t do that. Ohhh…” Arthur opened a pouch hanging from his belt and pulled out a handkerchief, handing it to Andrea. She blew her nose into it, and then felt the ogre pat her hair with his enormous paw. “S’right,” he cooed. “S’right.”

“I wanna go home!” she shouted, pushing his hand away.

“Can’t,” Arthur said, and shrugged.

“Why not?!”

The door opened and the bald elf entered. “Master Tez says so,” her new owner said, shutting the door behind him. With all three of them in the room it was very crowded and Andrea shrunk into the corner of the bed as Master Tez loomed over her.

“I wanna go home,” she repeated.

“Arthur, get some food for us. I’m sure Andrea is very hungry,” Master Tez told the ogre.

“Yes, sir,” Arthur said and sat up from bed. He leaned over to whisper in Andrea’s ear, “He’s nicer than he looks.” Then he opened the door and went downstairs.

“I wanna go home.”

“I don’t know if you were listening the last time we talked, but you can’t,” Master Tez said.

“Don’t care.”

Master Tez let out a short sigh. Then he reached into a small sack that he had brought into the room with him. He set on the bed a small pile of clothes her size. Atop it sat another collar, of engraved, polished steel. She shrank back as far as she could go into the corner of the room.

“What’s that?” she asked timidly.

“Your collar,” he answered. “Whether you put it on is up to you.”

“Huh?” she said. “I thought you bought me?”

“I did,” Tez said. “But I won’t hold you. Not if you will not allow it.”

Andrea shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

The bald elf’s face grew hard. “I don’t buy flesh, girl. Or at least I don’t do so lightly. If you wish to go, truly wish to go, you may walk out that door right now and I won’t come after you.”

She blinked. “But I thought you said they were killing half-breeds.”

“They are,” he said. “But if you do not wish to stay with me and you think you can survive anyway, you may go.”

“What if I don’t want to go?”

Master Tez picked up the steel collar and placed it in Andrea’s hands, then reached behind her head and unbuckled the leather one. “If you wish to stay with me, you will do so as a slave. You will live in my house, you will follow my orders and you will obey my rules. You will be a slave, for the rest of your life you will be property and you will be mine.”

Andrea gulped.

“Know this though,” he continued. “While you are mine, I will protect you. Under me, you will never be hungry, or cold, or in pain, while it is under my power to prevent. I will not hit you, I will not harm you and I will not allow anyone else to do so either. You will be safe, my word of honor.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Cross your heart and hope to die?”

A weird expression crossed Master Tez’s face. “And hope to die, yes.”

“Okay,” she said.

“Now repeat after me,” he said. “I take this collar and accept it of my own free will.”

“I take this collar and accept it of my own free will,” she repeated dutifully.

“I give my freedom and will to Master Tez.”

“I place this collar on my neck and its lock will seal the bargain.”

Tez took hold of Andrea’s trembling hands, and guided the collar upward, until it circled around her throat, still open. “The rest is up to you, child,” he said gravely.

She closed her eyes, and pushed the collar shut. It locked with a quiet click.

And she was a slave. Forever.

Andrea woke up with a start, as she heard something fall with a heavy thump in the hallway beyond their rented room. Arthur had heard it too, for he was sitting up in bed, already dressed.

“Where’s…” she started to ask, but Arthur reached over and muffled the rest of her question with his huge palm.

“Must be quiet, Little Andrea,” he whispered. She felt her heart begin to race. They’d been on the road some two weeks since Master Tez had bought her, and things had been getting worse all the time. Several times innkeepers had refused to let them stay, even with there being practically no business on the trade roads and them having rooms to let. Three days before they had passed a burned out farmhouse, the family that had lived there, half-elves all, hanging from the apple trees in the field. That evening Master Tez had refused to stop at all and they traveled the whole night and morning beyond, until the horses refused to go further.

She nodded and the ogre let his hand fall away. She slipped out of her nightshirt and into the dress Master Tez had bought for her, fumbling at the ties until Arthur helped her, his fat fingers managing this delicate task better than she could right now. Then she bit down on her lip as there was a series of rapid, soft raps at the door.

Arthur opened it, a cudgel she’d never seen before in his hand. Then Master Tez slipped through and she let out a soft breath of relief.

“The way is clear,” Master Tez said. He looked angry and in the dim moonlight coming through the window, Andrea could see dark stains on his usually immaculate jacket. “Arthur, you carry Andrea and I’ll lead the way. Leave the luggage, it’s not important right now.”

Arthur looked upset. “My books,” he protested softly.

“I will buy you new ones, I promise you, Arthur,” Master Tez said. “But for now we must be away, quickly and we cannot afford the weight. Come!” He led them outside into the hallway. There were two men she’d never seen before lying asleep on the floor near their door. She only caught a glimpse of them before Arthur pushed her face into his shoulder and they moved on down the stairs.

They reached the inn’s stables without meeting anyone else, though Andrea thought she could hear raised voices coming from the Chapel of Life near the center of the village. Arthur set her down gently, and headed towards the tack room.

“Leave their harnesses, we’re not taking the carriage,” Master Tez ordered. “Grab a pair of saddles and bits that look like they might fit.”

Arthur nodded and headed off. Andrea sat down on a keg of grain and tried to catch her breath, while Master Tez released the horses from their stalls, whickering to them softly.

“Is everything going to be all right?” she asked, as quietly as she could.

Master Tez turned towards her and smiled. “Everything will be fine, Andrea. The border with the Elven Domain is less than seventy-five miles away. We can be there in less than a day if we hurry.”

Arthur emerged from the tack room, a saddle over his shoulder and tack & bit in his meaty hand.

“Is that all there was? We need two sets, Arthur,” Master Tez noted, his brief smile disappearing.

“Only needs the one,” Arthur said. “Y’ can switch it when y’ change mounts.”

“Two sets, Arthur. Or do you intend on riding bareback?”” Master Tez asked.

“I’m too heavy, Master,” Arthur said. He smiled sadly. “Big fella like me, only slow you and the little miss down.”

Andrea thought Master Tez was going to say something else, but the elf just shook his head. He began to help the ogre set the tack on one of the horses.

“But you’ve got to with us!” Andrea protested, standing up. Both Arthur and Master Tez shushed her. Then the ogre kneeled down beside her as Master Tez began cinching the saddle straps.

“I’ll be okay, Andrea,” he told her. “I’m gonna make sure all those folk can’t follow you an’ the Master. Then I’ll be along. I can run real fast when I hafta.”

“But- but-,” Andrea tried to say, but Arthur snatched her up and settled her down on the saddle, in front of Master Tez. The elf wrapped one arm around her waist, then snapped the horse’s reins and kicked it forward, out of the stable into the night.

Andrea grabbed onto the saddle horn and held it for dear life as they galloped off. She heard an inhuman scream behind them and answering shouts that came from the direction of the chapel. “What’s happening?” she demanded.

“Arthur is killing the other horses,” Master Tez said, not slowing down.

Arthur, killing a horse? Hurting anything? “Why?!”

“So the villagers cannot follow us,” Master Tez said. “They’ll have to run to their lord’s manor and beg to borrow his. That will take at least an hour and even longer still to organize pursuit.”

“But what about Arthur?!”

“He’ll follow. He knows the way.” Tez kicked their horse again, and they ran off into the night.

* * *

They galloped through the night and on through the morning, alternating mounts at least three times. Around noontime their first horse went lame. Tez released it into a farmer’s field and they continued on. By two in the afternoon their remaining horse was starting to froth again and grow stiff-legged, so Master Tez finally stopped and let it out of its tack near a stream to feed and water itself.

“Are we safe? Please, are we safe?” Andrea begged. She was sore all over, but especially her bottom, which had bounced unmercifully the whole way. She fell over onto the grass and lay there, wishing she was back in bed at the inn.

“Safe enough, for now,” Master Tez said, sitting down beside her, “We’re just five miles from the border.” He looked tired as well. His jacket he had shed sometime during their flight, and she could see where his white silken shirt had been cut open, leaving a long, bloody scratch along his ribs.

“Does that mean we can stop?”

“Yes.”

She nodded and rolled over onto her side, wishing she could sleep. After a moment she said, “I’m hungry.”

“Drink some water from the pond, it’ll fill your stomach,” Master Tez said.

“I want to eat,” she said mulishly.

Master Tez snorted. “Well, you can’t. We don’t have any food with us, unless you want to eat grass like the horse.”

“It’s my birthday,” she said. “The Proctor always gave me an apple on my birthday.”

“It is not your birthday,” Master Tez said.

“It’s the fifth, isn’t it?” Andrea said angrily. When her elf master nodded she continued. “Then it’s my birthday today. It’s when they found me on the steps of the orphanage and it’s my birthday and I always get an apple on my birthday…” Hot tears began to stream down her face and Master Tez gathered her up in his arms as she began to shake and sob into his shoulder.

“There now,” he said gently, petting her hair. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it really was your birthday. Shh… now. It’s all right.”

“’s not,” she said, looking up, her eyes blurry from the tears. “I’m hungry and I hurt and I’m a slave and… huh… and… huh… and…”

“Shhhhh,” Master Tez said, holding her close. “Shhhhh.”

When she’d caught her breath, she said into his wet shoulder, “Arthur is dead isn’t he?”

Master Tez nodded gravely. “Most likely, yes.”

“Why… why did you let him… let him stay behind?”

“Because he was right,” Master Tez said. “If he had gone with us, we would have been slowed down immensely and you and he would most likely all been killed by now. But he knew if he stayed behind, he could give us a decent chance.”

“He was nice,” Andrea said, raising her head up. “I thought he was scary at first, but he was nice. He read his books to me.”

“Yes, he was very uncommon for an ogre,” Master Tez said. “He was a pit fighter when I found him. Some mad missionary had actually taught him to read, when he was just a pup in his tribe. This didn’t help him when he was captured in a slaver raid. Somehow he’d managed to hold onto one of his precious chapbooks and I caught him reading it while he waited for the next round of combat to start in the pit.”

“What did you do?” she asked.

“Bought him,” Master Tez told her. “I never regretted the purchase.”

“You mean he was a slave too?”

“It was the only way I could bring him into my household. No one who is not of elven blood, full elven blood rather, may enter the Elven Domain, unless he is owned property.”

“That’s not fair,” Andrea sniffled.

“No, but it’s the way things are currently.”

Andrea thought this one over for a moment. “Does that mean, you bought me, so you could bring me over to your country?”

“Not my country, it’s just where I live,” Master Tez corrected. “But otherwise, yes, that was basically my reasoning.”

“Oh.” Andrea wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He patted her hair again, and she felt better.

“So what do we do now?”

“Wait,” Master Tez said. “The horse isn’t going anywhere until she’s rested and we’ve got a fair view of the road. If anyone approaches we can mount up and run quick enough that we’d reach the border before they reached us.”

Andrea nodded. “Could you hug me more ‘til then? It feels nice.”

“Of course.”

They stayed the night by the pond. Andrea drank lots of water, which filled up her stomach, even if she still felt hungry. Then they stayed the next day through as well. Master Tez said to let the horse rest properly, except that Andrea thought the horse looked fine. Then he said they would stay through the night and move on in the morning.

“Wouldn’t it be safer to cross the border at night?” she asked. “Won’t the King’s Guards be there?”

“Not if they still have any sense. A non-elf coming too near risks crossing the border accidentally. It’s not marked and it is guarded by the Domain, which knows exactly where it begins and ends.” Master Tez said. “Further, one doesn’t cross the Domain’s border at night, not even if one is an elf.”

“What happens, if you’re not an elf, or you cross at night?”

Master Tez looked very serious. “Bad things.”

“What things?”
Now Master Tez looked very annoyed. “Bad things,” he repeated and put his fingers over her lips before she could ask another question. “Now be quiet, else I’ll gag you before you ask about anything else that’s not your affair.”

“Yes, sir,” she said very politely, even though she was sure that Master Tez didn’t mean that. Or at least she was pretty sure.

* * *

Andrea was startled awake by the sound of something large crashing through the underbrush near the pond. Master Tez was already standing up, motioning for her to get between himself and the horse, which was already saddled.

“Anything happens, I’ll boost you onto the horse and you run as far as you can,” he whispered and then he squeezed her hand.

There was a figure pushing through the brush, larger than a human and moving very slowly. Andrea shaded her eyes against the rising sun and saw a now familiar green figure stumbling towards them.

“Arthur!” she shouted, as she ran around Tez and hugged the ogre’s leg.

“Miss Andrea!” She looked up to see his face. Poor Arthur looked terrible. His right arm was in a crude sling made from his belt and was wrapped in a bandage caked with dried blood. There was a cut across his forehead and somewhere along the way his delicate pince-nez had been bent out of shape and one lens cracked. “Miss Andrea,” he repeated and then said apologetically, “Could y’ step back? I gots to sit real bad.” She let go of his leg and dodged back as he fell on his bottom with a thump that shook the ground.

“Arthur!” Master Tez looked immensely pleased. No, Master Tez was grinning, the first time Andrea had ever seen him do such a thing. “Arthur, you made it.”

“Told y’, I can run real fast,” Arthur panted. He lay down on his back, breathing heavily. Master Tez kneeled beside him and sniffed at Arthur’s wounded arm. From the way he wrinkled his nose, it must have smelled really bad.

“Don’t go to sleep on me, Arthur,” he warned. “I need to know, were you pursued?
The ogre shook his head. “Nossir. I cracked the necks of all the horses, then led them across the fields into the woods. They weren’t willin’ to follow m’ into there, not w’out knights at their backs.”

“How were you hurt?”

“Ran into some of t’ local lord’s bravos, following m’ tracks. Took care of them too. Nobody else… nobody else comin’.” The ogre began to close his eyes, but snapped awake again when Master Tez slapped him hard against the cheek.

“I didn’t give you permission to fall asleep! Now get up!” Master Tez said angrily.

“’m tired, Master, so tired…” Arthur mumbled.

Master Tez reached over and twisted Arthur’s ear. The wounded ogre let out a pained yelp and sat up abruptly. “You can rest all you want, very soon, but for now you must get up. That is an order!”

“That hurt,” Arthur complained, but he pushed himself up onto one knee and managed to lever himself the rest of the way to a standing position.

“Good, good,” Master Tez said, then grabbed the ogre by his sleeve and dragged him over to where their remaining horse complacently chewed on the grass. “Get on.”

“’m too heavy, Master,” Arthur protested.

“It’s five miles to the border, Arthur. Just five more miles. The horse can handle your weight for that long. Do you want to try and walk into the Domain in your condition?”

Arthur swallowed. “No, Master.” He pulled himself onto the horse’s back with his good arm and the poor beast let out a surprised whinny. The ogre was so large his feet were nearly dragging the ground

“Good, very good, Arthur,” Master Tez said. “Come along, Andrea.”

She followed as Tez led them back onto the road, heading towards the west. The rising sun was at their backs and pleasantly warm. They were heading towards a thickly wooded forest, the redwood trees towering some hundred feet into the air. Andrea squinted her eyes as they came closer. The trees almost looked like they were shimmering in the sunlight.

“Those trees look funny,” she said.

“You’ve got good eyes,” Master Tez said. “But if you can see that, it means we should go no further until we’ve properly prepared.” He reached into one of the saddlebags and brought out sashes of dark cloth. The first he wrapped around the eyes of the horse and the second he used to blindfold Arthur (with some difficulty, given he was obliged to climb onto the protesting horse’s back to even reach the ogre.) The last he brought over to Andrea.

“I don’t like this,” she said softly.

Master Tez kneeled down, speaking to her face to face. “It’s necessary. Only an elf may pass through the Barrier without difficulty. Anyone else is subject to all manner of illusion, to drive them off the safe path and into traps or waiting predators.”

Andrea swallowed. “Couldn’t I just close my eyes?”

“I’m sorry,” he said and brought up the sash to her face. In a moment he’d knotted it and she was blinded. She heard a chain rattle and felt Master Tez clip a leash to her collar.

“What’s that for?”

“I’ll be leading both you and the horse,” she heard Master Tez say. “I don’t intend on losing my grip on either of you.”

He tugged on her leash and she moved forward, stumbling from time to time over imperfections on the road. The warmth of the sun on her back gradually faded and she could hear birds songs somewhere over her head.

“We’re in the woods now,” Master Tez told her. She felt his hand grip her shoulder briefly. “Now listen carefully. Don’t pay any attention to anything you might hear, or even feel, except for the sound of my voice and the pull of your lead. This is very important, do you understand?”

“Yes, Master Tez,” she said.

“Good girl.” He tugged on her leash again, and they moved on.

She didn’t know exactly when it happened, but the birdsongs faded from her ears. For a time she could only hear her own breathing and the labored pants of both the horse and poor Arthur. Then, gradually, she heard whispers coming from behind them, from many voices. They were indistinct, but Andrea would have sworn she could understand them, if she could just get a bit closer.

A sharp tug on her leash brought Andrea up short, just as she was about to turn about. “None of that now,” Master Tez said sharply.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. Andrea tried sticking her fingers in her ears, but the voices didn’t grow any quieter. She hummed and tried to count her paces to distract herself.

After perhaps fifty more paces she let out a sharp “Eep!” as she felt something drop onto her face and start crawling. It was large, and she thought she felt eight furry legs, and it was trying to get into her hair! She grabbed at it, trying to tear it away with one hand as she pulled at her blindfold with the other. Then something grabbed at her wrists and she screamed as her arms were wrenched behind her back. “Get it off, get it off!” she screamed.

“There’s nothing there,” Master Tez said, holding on to her arms. “It isn’t real, Andrea.”

“I can f-f-f-feel it! Oh, gods…” She felt another start to crawl up her leg, and another and another…

“It’s not real, Andrea,” She heard Master Tez say. “This is the Barrier. It knows you are here and it hates you for it. It will do anything in its power to drive you mad and make you stray from the path and if you remove your blindfold now, you will go mad. Now can you keep your hands down?”

“I don’t know,” she sniffled, then clamped her mouth shut as something tried to crawl into her mouth. She felt Master Tez wrap a stout cord around her wrists, knotting it painfully tight.

“I’m sorry, Andrea,” he whispered. “Can you count the paces with me? I promise it isn’t too far.”

“O-okay,” she agreed, and began to walk forward again as he tugged on her lead. “One, two, three…” At ten paces the crawling spiders disappeared.

At fifty she felt something slimy and awful begin to drip onto her neck.

At one hundred her feet were walking on fiery coals and she could feel her sandals burning away and her soles turned to ashes.

At one hundred and fifty, she felt a hand reach under her skirt.

At two hundred and fifty it all went away and she head Master Tez say “It’s done.” Andrea fell to her knees as Master Tez took her blindfold off. They were in a bright clearing, and there were robins singing in the air and elves like Master Tez, but dressed in long flowing robes and with cold, cold expressions on their faces. She turned to see Arthur’s horse slowly kneel down to the ground and with a loud hruruh breathe its last as Arthur rolled off it. The ogre was still alive and he removed his own blindfold with his good arm and hugged her close.

“You there!” Master Tez said to one of the elves. “I need a healer for my servitor! His arm is broken and the rot has set in. It needs to be dealt with quickly.”

“I would not sully a healer’s chosen art by treating a beast like that,” the elf said, looking angry.

Master Tez was looking more angry. “Would you prefer he died here and his spirit sully this grove? I value him, and I will see him survive. Now get me a healer, NOW!” The other elf backed off, then turned and walked with a stiff gait into the woods.

“Is he going to get help for Arthur?” Andrea asked, as Master Tez came over and released her wrists.

“If he does not, he will answer for it,” he said, still looking cross. “But I think he will, if only to be rid of us.”

“Are we safe?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “No one will harm you here, Andrea. Look down upon you, insult you, yes, but not harm you.”

“Okay.”

Tez kneeled down beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “And I thought you were very brave, all things considered, going through the Barrier.”

“I didn’t feel brave,” she said. “I wanted to run away and cry.”

Master Tez nodded. “But you didn’t. You should have seen poor Arthur the first time I dragged him though it.”

Arthur nodded. “It was awful,” he said.

“But everything is all right now, right?” she asked.

“Yes, Andrea,’ Master Tez said. “Everything is fine, for now.’

TBC

Fic: Andrea's Story (revised), Part One

6

”ANIMAL! HALF-BREED! WHORE!”