Chapter 8: A Dance With Danger

The hot afternoon sun beat down on Adam’s shoulders as he cleaved a thick log with his axe, and the sharp crack echoed through the air. It wasn’t a clean split by any means, but it would do, It was only going into the fire anyway. He glanced at the heap of logs close by and sighed. With this many, he’d probably be out here all afternoon, maybe even into the night. He’d promised to do some work around the inn in exchange for his stay and had already moved into the stable, wanting to get used to sleeping on hay before his room expired. What he hadn’t expected was how much work there actually was in the inn. It was like it never ended.

Adam was a city boy through and through. He knew nothing about chopping wood, or handling an axe, or fetching water, or mucking out stables. But, Yara, the old woman, didn’t seem to care about any of that. The moment he’d offered to help, she hadn’t hesitated to put him to work, as if she wanted to make she got every bit of value out of their deal. Still, he couldn’t complain too much. He just had to figure it out, like he did with everything, and adapt accordingly.

It also helped him because he needed some time to think.

The conversation he’d had with Lorelei yesterday never left his mind, and he still wasn’t sure what to do, or where to even begin. If this were on Earth, he’d have gone to the police. But on this world, the knights were both the police and the military, and Lorelei had already gone to them, or rather, one of them, a man named Captain Arryn. The man was an actual knight captain, but looking into the issue had probably gotten him killed.

How rotten were the Knights? Was Elsa a part of this? Were Lorelei’s kids the only ones taken? He knew the answer to that last question. No fucking chance. If this place was anything remotely close to his Earth, then there were certainly more missing children, a lot more. And the people involved were willing to kill to protect their secret. The whole thing reeked of a deep conspiracy with a lot of important people involved, just like on Earth.

Humans were humans anywhere it seemed, with magic or without.

Adam swung the heavy axe again and the blade bit deep into the wood, causing splinters to scatter actions the ground. He exhaled sharply and leaned on the axe handle, the. wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. He couldn’t have guessed he’d be dragged into something like this when he first arrived in this kingdom. He was in over his head with this.

Adam let out another breath and swung at the next log, but the the axe stuck in halfway through, refusing to budge. He had to forcefully pry it loose and that took more effort than he wanted to waste. Maybe he should just forget about the whole thing, mind his business, keep his head down until he figured out a way to get home. He had no power here, he didn’t still understand the kind of magic he might have, and there was no one he could turn to for help. He should just drop it. That was the smart move, the safe move. Who cared what he’d promised?

But even as he thought about it, he knew he wouldn’t...

He’d seen the look in Lorelei’s eyes, the desperation, the hope, even a trust that he’d done nothing to deserve. She’d really believed him. She believed he would help, or at least try. He was a newly registered adventurer, with no accomplishments or fame to his name, but none of that had mattered to her. She had no one else. He was her last hope.

Adam raised the heavy axe once more, but his mind had drifted far from the simple task of chopping firewood. He was thinking about where to begin, and talking to Elsa seemed like a good first step. Before anything else, he needed to know if he could trust her.

“Well, aren’t you a sight,” a voice teased behind him.

His grip on the axe handle eased and he lowered it quickly before turning to face the person he already knew it would be, Katryn. She was leaning against the wall, a large mug in her hands, watching him with that playful smile he’d come to recognize as part of her nature.

“I suspected it might be interesting when you decided to stay,” she began, her voice laced with amusement. Her gaze shamelessly drifted down to his bare chest, then slid even lower. “But I didn’t expect this kind of performance. I’ve heard of kingdoms out west where women pay pretty boys for that sort of show. You’d fit right in among them.”

Adam ignored the remark and the way her gaze lingered on his body. He’d stopped trying to determine whether she was flirting with him and decided to just put it down to her brand of personality. He could be wrong, of course, sometimes he even felt he was, but she remained far too much of an unknown for him to think anything otherwise.

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

“A while,” she said, and got off the wall, then started walking toward him. “I was waiting to see when you’d notice, but you seemed completely lost in thought. Something bothering you?”

“Just thinking about how long it’d take to finish,” he said.

Katryn’s lips curved into a knowing smile, clearly not believing him. Still, she came to stand beside the chopping block. “Hmm, at the pace you’re going, it might get dark before you’re done.” She crouched slightly, poking at one of the logs with the toe of her boot.

“Yeah, had a feeling it’d be about that long,” Adam replied with a sigh.

She straightened up and glanced at him. “You’re not half bad, though. Mother used to pay a feller from the next district over to come do this,” she said casually. “He was a big man, large arms and beards, also smelled like goats. I swear he could split a tree in one swing.”

Adam gave a dry huff. “Guess I can’t compete with that.”

Katryn tilted her head and studied him for a moment, the teasing grin she had softening her expression. “Maybe not,” she responded. “But I prefer watching you do it.”

That was a clear flirt. No subtlety there. Adam gave a weak smile and a small shake of his head. “Well, at least one of us is enjoying this,” he said. He pretended not to notice how much her gaze lingered, whatever she wanted, she’d have to tell him plainly.

A moment passed, then she held out the mug she’d been carrying. “Here, you look like you’re ready to melt. You’re not used to this kind of work, are you?”

He accepted it and drank greedily. “I’ll be fine. Thanks.” he returned the mug.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said with a small smile and turned away toward the back entrance of the inn. “Mother will have more work for you when you’re done out here.”

Adam sighed and lifted the axe again. “Of course,” he muttered.

Katryn glanced back at him over her shoulder and her brown eyes glinted with something he couldn’t name. “Don’t complain too much, it was part of the deal you agreed to, and some of us don’t want to see it end too soon,” she said and disappeared through the doorway.

He watched the door for a while after she left, puzzled. Even if it was just her nature to be flirty, couldn’t she see how it came off? And there was no excuse that this was simply how things worked in this world, after all, Elsa never behaved anything like this.

But if she was genuinely interested in him, and this was her way of hinting at it, he had no idea what he’d do. She was like incredibly attractive, with long dark hair, warm brown eyes, and soft features that gave her a kind of classical beauty, like the star of an old movie you always meant to watch but never got around to; and her slender figure was also hard not to notice. He hated to admit it, but he’d caught himself checking her out more than once.