Through the dappled pine trees, sparrows startled up. Flushed from the forest floor, their alarmed chirps were drowned out by the mare’s hoof beats. A young elven woman clung to the sweaty flanks. Her horse frothed from exertion. Her face tightened as she urged the horse onwards, even if she harmed her mount through over exertion, she could fix that later. What other choice did she have? Not far behind her, the sound of many hoofbeats thudded.

  A group of five various species of men, wearing dark leathers followed on poor horses. The huge stallions chopped through the woodlands with thick plunging hooves. This group had been messaged ahead. Her original route should have been safe, but she must have been betrayed. How could they do this to her? Knowing all they did about the situation and everything else going on. It was more than wrong. It was downright evil of them.

  She’d already outrun the first set of riders with her lighter mount and weight, exploiting her superior handling. Now the second set with a particularly tenacious orc stuck to her like an old burr. If she didn’t have such a good mount, the chase would have been over a long time ago. The men behind appeared not to care about their own horses being lashed and cut as the chests of each animal was wider than the ad-hoc path. She’d hoped they would draw up and pull reins when riding an impossible trail. It had been a false hope.

  The Ponderosa pine and Douglas firs all towered above her. Their needles dropped to create a pine woven carpet. She’d been forced off trail when they’d spotted her and knew nothing of this place. Her heart jumped into her throat as tree branches flashed over her head only inches away. Her mount kept giving her its best, but she’d lost her way along the main path when the first group encountered her. She’d just about given up hope when the trees ahead started to thin. They were coming up on … something. She did not know what.

  The young elfin woman clung tighter to the plunging horse, dropping lower. Their dogged determination to follow her sent a panic through her that she’d never accounted for. She urged more speed from the mare. They fairly flew over the tree roots. Behind her the sullen purple orc chased her at a slower pace, not meeting her crazed speed. His shrunken piebald steed spewed sweat and blood in every direction. The four guards behind him were shouting at her to stop. Underneath her the racehorse exploded forward with opening of the forest thickets. The horse under her gave her more than she’d expected. Still, the fresher guard horses with their prior conserved energy would eventually overtake her. She hoped for a river ahead.

  She checked behind her. Her long blonde curled hair tangled blocking her vision of the back trail. Checking proved a mistake. The horse with his head and bit fully in his mouth startled as three black birds burst up from the trees. The horse weaved away from the offending movement and plunged his forward left hoof directly into a minor depression between roots. The sound of the coffin bone breaking in the hoof rang out like a King’s herald with whooping cough.

  The elfin rider both not looking or directing the horses safely had no chance of keeping her seat. The horse tumbled head over hoof. The elf tumbled pointed ear over pointed toes twice before coming to rest face first in the decaying needles. The blow didn’t knock her out, which might have been a mercy, but instead stunned her in the prone position.

  The orc with his laboring too small horse immediately slowed the exhausted horse. Behind him, the guards were swearing about the whole thing.

  “If she’s dead, we’ll be on chase duty for life! Plus, no live bait bonus.”

  “Does this mean we’ll fail the training?”

  “My ass hurts. Nobody said we’d be riding all bloody day. My horse’s stats are too low.”

  This from a man who fell more than dismounted. The horse laid his ears back to glower at the human rider with equal distaste. Riding like a sack of flying monkeys half in a saddle hurt the horse as much as the rider.

  The orc threw the training commenter, a reptilian appearing man, his reins contemptuously.

  “Her horse is better than all of ours. Was better.” The orc amended.

  “You elf? You bloody dead?” He poked her with a wood reinforced boot tip.

  “No. I’m vvvnnn.”

  He scowled and lifted the diminutive elf up to her feet to glare at her more easily. “You’re what?”

  “I’m vegan.” She declared firmly. “Sorry. I mean vegetarian.”

  “Maybe you’re a CrossFitter too?” asked the sullen slow riding man.

  “And that’s important because?” demanded the orc into the smaller woman’s face.

  “The horse,” who was admittedly squealing in the background, “he needs euthanized! I’m vegetarian. I can’t just kill him like that. But it needs doing.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  A tall dwarf mixed with a short giant who stood at a comparable human height of a dwarf-giant complained, “A horse thief asking us to kill their horse? Oh no, missy. You ran your horse off trail in the woods and broke its leg. Vegan or not you’re the one who gets the honor of youth-ing, you thighs … putting down the rather fine horse.”

  She glowered up at the other men. “Do you expect me to beat it to death? I’m not armed.”

  The dwarf-giant waved a hand at the orc. “Right. You check her to confirm it.”

  “I have a name,” complained the orc.

  “My mistake. New Guy, search the horse thief!”

  Despite the moniker, the orc gave her a proper check for weapons and true to her word, the elf had none on her person. By accident, she’d picked a white shirt, that now had Pollock-like sap stains on it and wore tan extra padded riding pants, along with rather thin, black leather riding boots up to her knees. The treads worn down from age.

  “Now that you’ve confirmed I’m unarmed will you give me a knife to kill the horse or shall one of you indeed help the poor creature along?”

  “New Guy!”

  “You can just call me Orc.”

  “I’m not into speciesism.” The dwarf-giant, having recovered from the ride, readied himself to micromanage his command again. “New Guy! If you want to be a real guard, what should you do in a situation like this?”

  “Quiz an underling?” The orc gave a studiously empty facial expression.

  The human guard and reptilian laughed. Their commander looked around to identify which of them failed the levity test, but they all hid any signs of mirth.

  “After that. Do you give the elf the knife or do you keep the prisoner secure? Will you kill the horse yourself, making it so she escapes responsibility?”

  As the commander tried to speak down to him, even though few could since the six-and-a-half-foot tall orc towered above everyone who was not a giant-dwarf. The orc sullenly went to his horse leaving the elf surrounded but not tied up. He got rope from his still beleaguered horse and ambled back over. Instead of tying up the woman, he put the rope in her hands.

  “Hey, Vegan? You can do the necessities with this I suppose?”

  She looked down at the rope, her face paling even further than her current pallor of alabaster-elfin white into too chalky deadish white. The whitest of white chocolate. Have I mentioned she is white?

  “You’re not serious?”

  The dark puce-toned orc shrugged his shoulders.

  The commander’s trap had failed. He glowered at the orc. “This job is turning into a real pain!”

  Because she cared for the animal despite everything, the elf did indeed manage the situation. She’d already been panting and sweaty, but now she had sore shoulders. Plus, she felt quite angry too. It had been her fault. Running a horse on random forest terrain proved fatal. It should have been her instead, breaking her neck.

  The elf put both hands on her hips. “What’s your plan now or should I ask the New Guy too? He’s the only useful one of your lot.”

  Three guards exclaimed while one shrugged his shoulders.

  “Thinks she’s smart after failing to steal fifteen horses in as many days. What would possess an otherwise noncriminal elf to do such a stupid thing?”

  She raised her eyes at the commander. He’d read her file then. Tipped off. Those rotten good for nothing fences turned her in. Her! She’s never done anything to them or for them. A deal should be a deal!

  “What possesses a dwarf-giant to become a lackluster guard? Or any of the rest of you half-wits?”

  She didn’t mention the orc. Guard jobs were very common orc duties. Not usually town guards though, she could tell the group’s status by the crests on the horse’s blankets. Their clothing otherwise not remarkable from the city folk in blues and off reds.

  The orc with his slight purply, the color not perp-y, clashed with his red over shirt and black pants. He’s also not worn boots for riding, but the heavy kind you’d expect on a construction site. He was completely bald, common for orcs, and had a slightly flattened out nose. The exposed under tusks of his jaw a prominent feature of most orcs. Yellowish eyes with slitted pupils and both ears had rows of multiple silver hoops on their rounded ends wider than her own pointy ears. Plus, being taller than the average species and much stronger. All orcs had the muscles of a winning bodybuilder, or a respectable WWE cast member.

  The one human guard contented with his lot admitted, “I’m actually from a different world, my stats just started off shitty. Then I realized my build is way stupid and I don’t get infinity lives. Now I’m living on side quests and world exploration. Honestly, it’s way better than being a main character. Less stress, you know? My old job gave me enough of that. Now I’m riding around in the woods with an orc. What could be better than that, am I right?”

  “Talk about main character syndrome,” muttered the reptilian guard. “Nobody asked you.”

  The dwarf-giant sighed. “Great you’re one of those Isekai idiots. Half of you are self-centered pricks, you know?”

  “We don’t do that here,” agreed even the elf prisoner. She rubbed her forehead in frustration. Pursuit by any off worlder inevitably led to capture.

  “Just really not people you want to be involved with.” The Reptilian stepped away.

  The natural born worlders as one shunned him.

  “Damn, I should have checked the manual for social standing of transference between planet regulations or is it because my Charisma is negative twelve?”

  The other guards clustered together. “Do you think there is any possibility he’s just a World Bleeder? They’re weird but safer to manage.”

  The commander shook his head. “That’s a faint hope. You know those cultists can’t stop spouting about Earth, video games, and human superiority. Besides, he mentioned the It.”

  It meaning character skill sheets.

  “Nobody in this world will be spouting out their stats. At least not the whole sheet. They also stare off into space more than normal people like us.”

  The orc coughed, then looked away. “What’s the elf’s name?”

  Which is how they all realized they’d neither tied up nor kept adequate guard upon the prisoner, despite guards literally being their career title.

  “She’s on foot now! Got to be easier to catch as those padded pants will slow her down. Off worlder, watch the horses, and don’t let her get one of them. She rides too well! Pick a direction and hunt for her.”

  The other four went off in a cardinal direction to cover any path she might have taken. They needed to recover their prisoner immediately.