Chapter 4

About 10 seconds too late I wondered where I was going to go and how the hell I was going to find my way back home.

Oh well. Time enough for the second question after I had dealt with Coyote/Loki,

As for the first question...

There was a path leading away from the clearing that I was standing in. Somehow I distrusted it. It was just too convenient and inviting.

I slipped into the trees a few yards from the path where I wouldn't likely be seen and started off in the direction the path was leading.

It didn't take long before the reflexes and training of my military career took over and I ghosted along through the trees just close enough to the path to keep it in sight.

So far I hadn't seen any other travelers using the path and that made me a bit more suspicious of it.

A couple of miles further I heard cries of distress coming from somewhere up ahead in the vicinity of the path. I paused for a moment to listen, and then I moved cautiously nearer.

When I got close enough I saw a clearing where the path had widened to about 30 paces across, hemmed in on both sides by dense thorny bushes that looked as if a rabbit couldn't slip through them.

There were a half dozen horsemen sitting side by side in a line with their backs to me. Just across the small clearing was a huge creature about the size of the Wendigo I had fought not that long ago. The creature was at least 50 feet long and as big around as a Volkswagen bug. The body was snakelike but it was covered with fur and there were two short legs ending in taloned paws about 8 feet back from the head which looked a lot like a badger's. And it was definitely not happy.

In between the creature and the riders was a plainly terrified youth of about 14 or so. His clothes were tattered and I could see welts across his back that could only have come from a whip. He had a small dagger in his hand, but plainly it was totally inadequate against either the monster or the waiting horsemen.

The horsemen were holding long spears that they used to keep the boy from escaping past them. The boy kept turning, trying to keep an eye on both the line of horsemen and the snake thing. Every time he edged within range of the horsemen one of them would use his spear to prod him back toward the waiting monster.

It occurred to me that the snake thing wasn't moving forward to pursue the boy. Either it was content to allow the boy to be driven into its jaws or else it was being prevented from moving forward to claim its prey.

Either way the kid was in serious trouble.

Shit.

I couldn't just leave the kid there. It just isn't in my nature to leave someone in danger and walk away. Oh sure, I could have used the opportunity to slip away unseen, but I would never be able to live with myself afterward.

I looked at the riders a little closer. Sure enough they had the pointed ears and butterscotch skin that Wife and her sisters had, and they wore the same type of black leathers that Loki and his crew wore. Their laughter at the boy's predicament told me that I didn't want them for friends, so I made up my mind to raise a little Hell. With any luck the boy would be able to escape in all the confusion.

I slipped a little further back into the woods and searched around until I found what I was looking for, a stout stick about 6 feet long that had a nasty point where it had been broken off from the parent tree.

I eased to within a few feet of the horseman in the center of the line and gathered myself for the attack. I chose the one in the center because his leathers and gear seemed to be the most ornate. I figured him for the leader. The plan was simple, take the leader of a group out of the fight and the rest of the group will usually lose cohesion for a moment. Hopefully they would be confused long enough for the boy and me to disappear in the chaos.

When I saw the boy sidle just far enough to the side I made my move.

"HooYah, Motherfuckers!" I bellowed as I jabbed the fancy dressed dude's horse in the ass with the point of the stick.

Now I don't car how well a horse is trained, if something screams behind it and pokes it in the ass hard with something sharp, that horse is gonna go apeshit. This horse was no different, and it bounded straight ahead with a loud scram of pain. Unfortunately for the horse and the rider this took it straight into the monster across the clearing.

I wasn't waiting to see what was happening to them, I used the stick to bash the rider on my right clean off his horse, then I got the one on my left with the back-swing.

I dropped the stick and grabbed for the reins of the closest horse and caught them just in time to be dragged off my feet and carried along when the horse bolted.

The boy had enough sense to have grabbed the other free horse and I saw him heading away down the path at a gallop. He slowed just long enough to lean way over and heave me up just enough to where I could scramble aboard my stolen horse.

Now I hadn't ridden a horse since I was a kid and I found it a little difficult to stay in the saddle at first. The boy on the other hand rode like he was part of his mount. He was well in the lead and I was content to follow wherever he led me to. Hell, I was as lost as I had ever been, so one direction was as good as any other.

Eventually the boy slowed to a canter and my horse followed suit, moving up beside the boy.

"Well," I said when I caught my breath. "That was fun. Wanna do it again?"

The boy looked at me like I was crazy, then he saw the grin on my face. "I think not," he replied with an answering grin.

He swiveled in his saddle to check behind us. "I think that they are too busy with Fenris to bother chasing us for now."

"I thought that Fenris was a wolf." I said

"Why would you think that?" the boy asked. "He has always been thus."

"Something else the storytellers got wrong I guess," I said.

The boy leaned toward me and I saw his eyes go to my ears. "You are from the other world!" he said shakily and he started to edge his horse away from mine.

"Hold on there kid," I snapped. "If you recall I was the one who just saved your narrow ass back there. So think about that before you get all paranoid."

The boy sat back in his saddle and lowered his eyes. "You are right," he said at last. "I apologize for my behavior and I thank you for the rescue."

"That's better," I told him.

"What does "paranoid" mean?" he asked a moment later.

I couldn't help it. I just started laughing.

We rode on side by side for a while in silence. Then the boy sat up straight suddenly and reined his horse to a stop. I did the same and started looking around for any new threat. Instead the boy dismounted and led his horse over to me. I swung stiffly out of the saddle and promptly discovered a whole new set of aches and pains that I had never imagined before.

The boy held out his hand palm up. "I am remiss in my manners. I am called Hogun."

I remembered some legends about how it was a bad idea to let anyone know your true name.

I covered his palm with mine. "You can call me Slick."

I looked around carefully. It had been hours since I had arrived here, wherever that was, and the light hadn't changed at all. It was about like a cloudy afternoon back home. "Ok Hogun, where to now?"

Hogun shuffled his feet and looked down for a minute. He must have finally come to a decision and he raised his face and looked me in the eye. "I am sorry Slick. But I cannot take you to my home. Only our Chiefs can make the decision to permit an unknown outsider to enter."

I shrugged. "Not a problem kid, "I said. "Just tell em where Coyote hangs out and I'll be on my way."

Hogun's eyes got big when I mentioned Coyote's name. "What would you do with that abomination?" he demanded as he stepped back a few paces.