Chapter 2: Emily on the Road

The weather outside Castle Elid was sunny and warm, the sky marked by a scattering of fluffy clouds. The heat felt somehow soft, unlike what Emily was accustomed to in her own world—the prickling scorch of Earth’s sun was strangely absent. Whether this was down to the nature of this world or the protection of the Stoneshell, Emily had a feeling that she would not need to worry about sunburn. Some consolation for a naked girl on a long journey.

Once the initial shock of stepping out into the open wore off, Emily walked calmly, arms swinging at her sides, boots crunching on the dirt path. The feeling of sun against almost every inch of her skin was a new but not wholly unwelcome sensation. It was a very surreal, dreamlike experience, overall, though a knot of tension remained in Emily’s throat and would spike every time there was a bend in the road, lest another traveler appear behind it.

After some miles, Emily realized she hadn’t eaten anything since arriving in this world. Her stomach growled fiercely, and she placed a hand on it, feeling weak and light-headed. “I’m starved.”

“Ah yes,” said Aria. “Flesh requires food. Let me see ... over there, a Starvine bush!”

Emily’s eyes followed Aria’s gesture to a small bush by the side of the road, its branches heavy with clusters of big, gleaming purple berries. She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Are you sure they’re not poisonous?”

“Certainly not!” Aria scoffed. “Don’t you have Starvine berries in your world?”

Emily shook her head.

“Then you’re in for a treat, my dear Emily! They were one of my favorite things to eat, back when I had need of food.”

“I don’t know,” replied Emily, “I’ve never eaten anything that glowed like that before...”

“The glow is what gives them their divine sweetness!”

Emily’s stomach growled again, and that decided the matter. She plucked a berry from the bush and rolled it between her fingers. It was smooth to the touch, and once plucked, its steady glow became a pulse.

“Oh how I envy you!” cried Aria, staring intently at the berry between Emily’s fingers. “What I would give to taste a Starvine berry again...”

Emily took a cautious bite. Sweetness burst onto her tongue, followed by a tart, spicy quality with an earthy undertone. “This is delicious!” she said, before finishing off the berry in a second bite. She could feel energy spreading to every part of her body.

Purple berry juices dripped down Emily’s chin and stained her fingers as she wolfed down another three berries. As she was reaching for a fourth, Aria stopped her. “Too many Starvine berries can make you sick.”

“I’ll take some for the road, then,” Emily replied, plucking another berry. “Just ... oh, I guess I don’t have anywhere to put them.”

“I’ll carry them for you,” Aria said, taking the berry from Emily and dropping it down the front of her gown.

“I miss being able to do that,” Emily replied, glancing down at her bare breasts.

With Emily’s hunger sated, the two travelers continued their journey. In the late afternoon, the wind started to pick up. At first, the sudden coolness of the light breeze was refreshing, but as the wind continued to strengthen, it whipped Emily’s hair into a wild inferno. She found herself constantly blinking and spitting, swiping away the long strands every few steps.

After one such futile swipe, she caught sight of the hairband still encircling her wrist. Swiftly, she gathered up her chestnut-brown locks and twisted them into a hasty bun, snapped into place with the tie. Finally, her vision was clear and her face free of constant tickling. But with all her hair piled up on top of her skull, the sensations of the wind against the skin of her shoulders and neck were a fresh reminder of her nudity.

“What a marvellous device!” Aria said, and it took Emily a moment to realize that she was referring to the hair tie. “How it grows and shrinks in your fingers!”

Emily chuckled. “It’s great for windy days like this, but it does make me feel a tad more ... exposed.”

Aria’s soft laughter blended with the howl of the wind.

Some time later, when the wind had relented and the pair’s shadows were growing longer in the approaching dusk, Aria pointed out a dark shape on the horizon. “Someone approaches!”

Emily squinted at the distant shape, which was slowly growing larger. It appeared to be a horse-drawn caravan. If she looked really closely, she could just about make out the shadow of a man sitting at its front.

“That looks like the traveling merchant we’ve been awaiting,” said Aria. “What luck! Emily?”

In a flash of pale skin, Emily had darted backwards and was now crouching behind Aria’s marble form. “I can’t let him see me like this!” she squealed.

“Oh, yes, of course,” said Aria. “I will stay rooted to this spot and you may hide yourself behind me.” Aria spread her arms out at her sides, causing her marble gown to drape. “We’ll explain the situation and have you in a dress and cloak in no time!”

“Thanks Aria,” said Emily, blushing as the caravan came ever closer, its wheels and the clip-clop of horse’s hooves now audible.

Before long, it was possible to make out the details of the traveling merchant’s face. He was an older man, though still quite handsome, with a head of gray hair and a neat gray beard which framed strong brown eyes set into a lined face. A curious air came over his complexion as he approached what to him must have appeared to be a marble statue curiously placed in the middle of the road.

A shiver ran down Emily’s spine. She’d been embarrassed once she’d learned that the statues in the castle were alive, but that had been tempered somewhat by the strangeness of the situation and their relative inhumanity. Now that a flesh-and-blood human being was almost in spitting distance, this embarrassment was renewed and magnified tenfold. Here she was, completely naked in the middle of a country road, about to ask a strange older man for a dress she could wear. But first, she would need to get his attention.

“Hi there!” Emily squeaked, standing on tip-toes to poke her head over the much taller Aria’s arm. She waved her arms over her head, and this seemed to catch the man’s attention. “Please! Don’t come any closer!”

The man made eye contact with Emily, and it was all she could do to keep herself from ducking back behind Aria and curling into a fetal position. Even though only her head was visible to the merchant, she could feel every inch of her exposed skin as he held her gaze.

“G’d afternoon, ma’am,” the man said, speaking in a slow drawl. “How may I be of service?”

“Hail and well met!” said Aria. “Might you be a traveling merchant?”

At this, the merchant almost leaped off his seat. “A talking statue! What in the world?!”

Emily smiled at his shock. Clearly talking statues weren’t all that much more common in this world than in her own.

“My name is Lady Aria of Castle Elid,” said Aria. “Many years ago, I was cursed by a mage to inhabit this body of stone for all eternity. I wish you no harm.”

The man scratched the back of his head and sat in contemplation for a while. Then his face broke out in a grin. “Those mages, right bastards the lot of ‘em. I met one in the last town who wasn’t happy with the price I gave him for his home-grown cabbages. Enchanted my coin purse over it! I had pieces of silver jumping around like grasshoppers! Lucky it only lasted a day...”

Aria contemplated the dirt. “Yes, it is a profession often undertaken by those of a capricious nature.”

“You can say that again!”

A moment of silence passed as the man silently observed the sad, contemplative talking statue and the human girl hiding behind her. It could hardly have escaped his notice that both were quite beautiful. “It’s a pleasure to make the acquaintance of two lovely ladies,” he said. “The name’s Brevin. I’m a traveling merchant.”

“Excellent!” cried Aria, the melancholy disappearing instantly from her marble features. “Might you have some ladies’ garments among your fine wares? My companion Emily is in need of a new wardrobe.”

Brevin stroked his bearded chin. “I have a fine selection of outfits to dazzle the eye and delight the skin. If Miss Emily would be so good as to step this way, we can pick something out.”

Emily blushed. “Well, uh, actually ... the thing is...”

Brevin dismounted the front of his cart and stood a few feet from Aria, cocking a curious eyebrow.

“My companion is in desperate need of clothing because she does not currently have any,” said Aria.

Emily smiled weakly, blushing again. She rose up slightly more on her toes, just enough to expose a single bare shoulder.

“Oh!” exclaimed Brevin, eyes widening. “Begging your pardon then. I’ll go fetch some things from the back and hand them over.”

“Thank you!” Emily squealed.

“It’s a pleasure doing business,” said Brevin. “Heh, you ladies sure are lucky I came along. Just bought this stock too.”

“An act of Providence,” said Aria.

Brevin disappeared around the side of the caravan, his footsteps muffled on the soft ground. Aria turned her gaze towards Emily, a sweet smile carved into her marble face. “What wondrous luck!”

Emily sighed, the tension in her body releasing slightly as she leaned against Aria’s cool stone form. “Keep yourself between us. He seems kind, but I don’t want to flash him.”

“Of course.” Aria puffed out her chest and spread her arms wider than before. “You won’t have to worry about your modesty for too much longer.”

Sounds of clattering and ruffling echoed from the other side of the caravan, interspersed with Brevin’s low muttering. These were followed by footfalls, and Brevin re-emerged with a large pile of fabrics. It was all Emily could do to stop herself from salivating at the sight. He placed the bundle on the ground and took a few steps back before turning around. “I’ve brought a few options for you to choose from. At least one should be both your size and to your liking. I’ll not look while you fetch the garments, ma’am.”

Emily peeked out from behind Aria, her eyes darting between the pile of clothing and Brevin’s back. “Thank you, she whispered, before scampering out from behind her statue friend, snatching up the bundle, which was almost too big for her to get her arms around, and backtracking in a half-crouch. Brevin did not budge.

“Let me know when you’re decent,” Brevin said. “Take all the time you need.”

The feeling of soft fabric against her skin was immensely comforting after Emily’s hours of nudity. It was with some reluctance that she released the bundle of clothing and laid it out before her.

Brevin had brought her a selection of shifts, corsets, petticoats, dresses and cloaks of different colors. After contemplating her options for a moment, Emily decided to keep things simple and picked out a white shift and a dress of deep burgundy.

Slipping the shift over her head, Emily felt an immediate sense of relaxation. Though she was still in a strange land, far away from home, the sensation of fabric against her skin brought some sense of normality.

The shift was fitted, but not overly tight. The hemline came just past her knees and its long sleeves almost covered her hands. Back in her own world, she had regularly worn full outfits that showed more skin than this, and it was a mere undergarment.

Apart from its rich color, the burgundy dress was simple and plain, with a hemline that almost trailed on the ground, coming to rest against the tops of Emily’s boots. Feeling slightly overdressed, but giddy at the prospect of further covering her poor, overexposed flesh, she picked out a matching cloak to complete the outfit. She would leave the hood down for now.

Step one, get some clothing. Check. Now she could focus on step two, finding her way home. Thoughts of the adventure ahead of her, with her mysterious and elegant friend Aria by her side, stirred something in her blood. Now that she was properly attired, she would face the world of Thessolan head-on.

Emily stepped out from behind Aria and did a small twirl to show off her outfit. “What do you think?” she asked.

“Beautiful,” said Aria. “Your outfit makes me long for the days when I too wore colorful clothing.”

“You can look now, Mr Brevin!” called Emily, a beaming grin overtaking her face.

Brevin slowly turned and smiled as he saw Emily properly for the first time. “A perfect fit. You’re a vision, Miss Emily.”

“All thanks to you!”

“Just doing business.” Brevin walked past Emily, still enraptured with her new outfit, and gathered up the clothing she hadn’t chosen, his careful merchant’s eye noting what was missing. “Now, that will be two silver for the dress, one for the shift and one silver eight copper for the cloak. Four-eight is your total.”

Emily’s face fell. A small voice in the back of her mind had been nagging her about the problem of money, but she’d done her best to ignore it in her desperation to get clothes. She darted over to Aria and looked her pleadingly in the eyes, but was met with an embarrassed and apologetic grin.

“I ... have not had much occasion to deal with money,” Aria said softly. “My sister always handled those matters for both of us.”

“But you have some, right?” Emily whispered sharply.

Aria shook her head sadly.

“You said we would buy a dress and cloak from a traveling merchant!”

“Ah, yes, I did say that, didn’t I?” Aria adopted a thoughtful posture, with a hand on her chin.

“How did you expect to get money?! Surely you could see that I didn’t have any! I’m not even from this world!” Emily was red in the face, gesticulating wildly, and the tall statue seemed to shrink at her anger.

“Well ... uh ... I suppose I didn’t think it all the way through. I’m sorry, Emily.”

Emily took a deep breath and gripped the bridge of her nose between her fingers, which usually helped to calm her down. “It’s fine. We’ll figure something out. Brevin seems kind. I’m sure ... I’m sure he wouldn’t just take the clothes back.”

Emily turned around and approached Brevin, who had been waiting by his caravan, staring into the distance. He was clearly trying to give the impression of not having heard the ladies’ discussion.

“Mr Brevin,” Emily began, her heart pounding in her chest. “First off, I would like to make it clear how much I love these clothes. They are a perfect fit, well-made and clearly of high-quality material. I am certain they will last me a long time. And they must, for they are the only clothes that I have.”

Brevin nodded but remained silent, a curious squint appearing on his face.

“Unfortunately, neither I nor my companion have any money. We have just emerged from Castle Elid, perhaps you’ve heard of it. My companion, Lady Aria, was cursed to roam its halls for centuries, and it is only through the recovery of—hey!”

A forceful stone elbow nudged Emily, almost knocking her over. Emily looked angrily at Aria, who had suddenly appeared by her side but was struck into silence by the severe look on the statue’s face. Where moments before there had been a sheepish grin, there was now only a stony scowl of resolution.

Cold marble brushed against Emily’s ear. “Say nothing of the Stoneshell,” Aria rasped, in a tone that sent shivers down Emily’s spine.

Dumbfounded and quivering, Emily shut her mouth tight. Brevin raised a curious eyebrow.

“Mr Brevin,” Aria began. “As my companion has related, we have no money. Indeed, before we made your fortunate acquaintance, the only possession we had between us was an old pair of boots, found abandoned. We are two ladies in distress, in dire need of charity. Without your gift of clothing, poor Emily would be force to wander the land of Thessolan entirely naked, at the mercy of nature.”

“She has boots,” retorted Brevin, eyes pointed down. “And not a bad pair.”

“Please, good Brevin, see it in your heart to do an act of kindness to a lady in great need. Only your charity can defend her honor. The gods will surely smile upon such a selfless act.”

There was a long pause, during which Brevin attempted to hide the beginnings of a knowing grin. Emily felt she might be sick.

“Listen,” said Brevin. “I’ve got a wife back home and twelve hungry children to feed. Maybe you don’t understand that so well, statue, but we of flesh and blood need to eat. I can’t part with nearly five silver of goods out of charity!”

Emily blushed and looked down at her burgundy dress, cursing herself for choosing such a beautiful and probably expensive color. “I can take something cheaper!”

Brevin eyed her. “That lot’s near the bottom of the barrel already. And you’ve messed on it!”

Emily followed Brevin’s accusatory stare to a purple mark on her dress and blushed furiously. The Starvine berries!

“I’m sorry!” she cried.

“It’s fine, just return them,” Brevin replied. “Out of the goodness of my heart, I won’t change you for cleaning.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Emily said, trying her best to sound sincere. “Listen, what if I give back the cloak and dress and just take the shift?” She had grown quite enamoured with the dress and cloak and would be sad to lose them, but the shift alone would be a more than adequate covering.

“You’re still asking for me to give you one silver! Half my children will go without their supper!”

“You can’t just send me away naked!” At this, Emily fell to her knees, begging and pleading, her eyes wide and desperate. “Please, I need something to wear! There must be some way...”

“I won’t be taken in by your wiles, if that’s what you mean,” Brevin snorted. “My Dolores is the only one for me. Stand up, woman, you’re dirtying my wares!”

Emily gasped at the implication, which took a moment to sink in. “What? No! I wasn’t suggesting that! I’m not that kind of girl!”

“Running around the countryside with no clothes on, people might think otherwise.”

“Does it look like I want to be naked?!” Emily was on the verge of tears.

“Well ... I s’pose not.” There was a softening in Brevin’s tone.

Emily continued to haggle with him, racking her brains for some way she and Aria could pay for the dress. She offered to travel with Brevin and work for him, feeding the horses and running errands, but he was quite uninterested. “That statue’ll weigh down the cart.”

Eventually, Emily ran out of ideas and could only plead again for Brevin’s charity, for him to part with at least the shift.

“I can’t do it,” he said with an air of finality. “But I won’t make you go naked. I have something in the back, I’ve just remembered. A piece of clothing left in my caravan by a stowaway I chased out just yesterday. That item didn’t cost me anything, and I won’t be able to sell it. I can give you that, and we both walk away happy.”

Emily wiped a tear from her eye. “That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Mr Brevin.”

Twenty minutes later, as the caravan was disappearing into the distance, Emily cringed at the memory of those words. In his vagueness, Brevin had neglected to mention that the stowaway had been a gnome and the item of clothing a pair of threadbare gnome britches. “Quite a fat gnome,” Brevin had said, but that wasn’t much of a consolation. Changing into the new “outfit” had been a slow and mournful process.

Emily now stood on the road with her arms folded across her bare chest and the britches stretched over her hips. The gnome had been squat, so the legs barely made it down to her mid-thigh and the waist was very low-rise. Though the britches were quite large for a gnome, Emily could not force their top button closed, and curls of hair poked out indecently.

Aria gave her a sympathetic look. “At least we shan’t be the cause of his children’s hunger.”

Emily pouted, dearly missing her long burgundy dress. Wearing that, she had felt like a plucky medieval maiden out on an epic adventure. In her current outfit, she just felt like a slut. Too-tight shorts were better than complete nudity, but not by a lot.

As Aria and Emily trudged down the dirt road, the trees that dotted the plains became more and more frequent, until they found themselves in a dense wood. The waning sun painted the horizon in shades of lavender and gold. Birds cawed and rustled in the distance, preparing for evening, and an icy gust raised goosebumps on Emily’s exposed skin. The faint sound of running water indicated that they were approaching a river.

The britches offered little protection from the cold, and Emily wrapped her arms tightly around herself, shivering at every gust of wind.

“We should find a place to camp for the night,” Aria said. “Though I cannot feel this cold, I see it is having a strong effect on you.”

“Really missing that cloak right now,” Emily replied, her teeth chattering.

“Let us walk a little farther,” said Aria, pointing ahead at a dark silhouette. “Look, we’re coming to a bridge. On the other side, we’ll find a clearing and make a fire.”

Emily was about to ask how, exactly, Aria intended them to make a fire, and to remind her marble companion that, where she was from, the ability to make a fire in the woods had not been considered an essential life skill. But before she could figure out exactly how to articulate it, she was stopped in her tracks by an extraordinary sight.

Towering ahead of Aria and Emily stood an enormous, hulking humanoid figure, taller even than Aria and made even more menacing by the fading light. The creature had lumpy blue skin and wore a brown loincloth. Its right hand rested on what looked like an uprooted tree trunk. Its massive yellow incisors glistened, and it focused a pair of beady black eyes on the two travelers.

A scream died in Emily’s throat, and she could feel her heart thundering against her chest. Her eyes darted to Aria, desperate for an explanation.

But Aria’s expression was more annoyed than frightened. “It’s a troll,” she whispered. Then, projecting her voice forward, she shouted, “Greetings, Forest Troll! We are humble travelers, who desire only to pass through these lands. We wish you no ill will.”

The troll’s voice was deep and sonorous, booming as though it came from the depths of the earth. “I am the guardian of this bridge. Those who would cross must pay the toll.”

The annoyance in Aria’s countenance intensified. “Typical troll,” she whispered to Emily. “They all do this—find a bridge, or a gate, or a chokepoint, and harass travelers for tolls. Terribly bothersome.”

“It’s more than bothersome, Aria!” Emily hissed back. “In case you’ve forgotten, we don’t have any money!” She wiggled her scantily clad hips as a reminder.

“Oh, they’re not usually after money,” Aria said dryly. Then, addressing the troll, “What is your toll, Forest Troll?”

“Your most treasured belonging.”

Emily’s pulse quickened. What did she have that this troll could possibly want? All she had was her scanty outfit.

Aria leaned in close and whispered, “Remember, Emily, do not part with the Stoneshell.”

Emily felt, or imagined she felt, a warm spot on her chest, where the pendant rested, as though it were agreeing with Aria. She nodded solemnly.

“I have no possessions,” Aria said to the troll.

The troll regarded her for a moment, before saying, “Then you are free to go.”

“Oh,” Aria replied, clearly taken aback. “Th—thank you.”

The troll stepped to one side, and Aria passed him and stepped onto the bridge. But when Emily attempted to follow, the troll stepped back, blocking her path. “The toll, please.” He was so close now that she could smell his foul breath.

“I don’t have any possessions either!” said Emily. “No, money, nothing, not even a shirt!”

The troll’s beady eyes leered down at Emily and she pulled her arms tighter across her chest. “You lie. Pay the toll.”

Aria turned around, a panicked look on her face, and peered around the troll’s bulk to look Emily in the eyes.

Emily mouthed the words “I know”, annoyed that Aria seemed to believe she would give away the Stoneshell so freely. Its power and importance had been deeply impressed on her. If she gave it up, the Castle Elid curse would return, and then what would happen to her friend Aria? Emily couldn’t face this world alone.

Maybe the Stoneshell was her most treasured belonging. She couldn’t let the troll know that. He wanted something from her, but it didn’t have to be the necklace. There were far less important things she could part with instead.

“Will my socks pay the toll?” Emily asked, pushing onto her toes with one foot to display the gray fabric. “They, uh, belonged to my late grandmother.”

The troll shook his head.

“What about my boots?” she asked, already crouching down, her hands on the laces of her left boot.

Again, the troll shook his head.

“Really?” Emily asked. “These boots are very precious to me, they were a gift from my father. And they’re essential for this journey, that’s for sure. My feet are going to be really sore without my trusty boots!”

“That is not the toll.”

Emily’s adjusted her arms to better hide the Stoneshell pendant from view. “Are you sure?” she asked the troll, shooting a worried glance at Aria. If the troll wanted the necklace, they may be in for a fight.

“Your most treasured belonging,” began the troll, speaking slowly, “is that.”

An outstretched troll finger brushed against the fabric on Emily’s hip. Aria sighed with relief, but it was all Emily could do to repress a scream. He was completely right, of course. Though far from an ideal covering, the britches had upgraded her from naked girl to half-naked girl. “I—what? Really? That?!” Emily stammered. “But—but—I need it! It’s ... it’s all I’ve got to wear...”

The troll’s blue tongue flicked across his incisors. “That is why it is the toll.”

Tears pricked at Emily’s eyes, and she bit her lip to keep them in. It had been a bad enough letdown, going from her dress and cloak to these wholly inadequate shorts, and now she was going to lose even that? She couldn’t bare her nethers to the world again, not so soon after finally giving them some privacy.

The world seemed to stand still as Emily contemplated her fate. The troll appeared to have endless patience, and Aria had had plenty of practice standing motionless for a long time. But Emily was getting cold, especially standing still like this.

Slowly, she brought one arm away from her chest and reached down to her hip. Her hand was shaking as she brought a thumb between the britches and her skin. But before she completed the movement, before she stripped, a crazy idea occurred to her.

The troll blocked her path, but he was standing with his legs wide apart. He was larger than Aria, but not double her size. Emily recalled something Aria had said to Brom in the castle, about falling on anyone who tried to attack the two of them on the road. A desperate plan to preserve her modesty was coming together in her mind. She would need to act quickly and decisively, keeping the element of surprise on her side.

Slowly, carefully, Emily pulled her other arm away from her chest and placed her other thumb beneath the waistband of her britches. She stood in a slight crouch, unsupported breasts hanging forward, drawing the troll’s eyes. Blushing, she slowly began wiggling her hips, pushing the britches down very, very slowly. This would buy her time.

“Aria,” she said, still wiggling, and keeping her voice very calm. “Be careful when crossing the bridge. I wouldn’t want you to FALL.” This last word was punctuated with a knowing stare, and after a moment of confusion, Aria appeared to understand.

“It wouldn’t do to FALL in. Not right NOW!”

As she spat the final word, Emily yanked her britches back up and sprung forward, arms pumping at her side. She dove between the troll’s legs, headed straight for the bridge. A crash and a roar sounded behind her, followed by a surprisingly fierce battle-cry from Aria and the sound of stone slamming against skin.

Emily kept running. Her boots pounded against the wooden bridge, one after the other, and the sound of rushing water filled her ears.

Then there was a sickening crack, and the floor gave way beneath her. Emily screamed as she fell.

The water was cold, shockingly cold, and it was dark under the bridge. Emily thrashed in the water, fighting her way up to the surface. As her head breached the water, she inhaled a sharp, cold breath. The current had carried her out from underneath the bridge, but the river bank was not far.

In the last light of the setting sun, Emily hauled herself to shore, grabbing fistfuls of grass and pulling herself out of the cold water. She lay on the shore for a moment, breathing heavily, before the light was blotted out by an enormous shadow behind her.

Too tired, cold and shocked to run anymore, Emily twisted her body to look up at the troll. His massive hand held something aloft—the gnome’s britches, flapping the breeze.