Come Away With Me

[Fabien Kaan]

The dust was potent but short-lived. Fabien was back in the realm of reality in a flash, but it took another few heartbeats to catch his breath as he stared ahead at John.

He was a barbarian, the boy initially thought. Taught with muscles bigger than he'd ever seen, a squared and stubbled jaw, broad shoulders and huge, armored arms and shoulders. Fabien doubted he could even stand, if using the same equipment. The fact that John, so easily, not only did this but also crushed the empty bottle so dramatically brought a shiver to his spine.

Finally gaining his bearings, Fabien took inventory of his situation. He was only a few feet from John's position, both of them on the same side of the road outside of the tavern. Across the road was a shallow treeline he knew led to another part of town. On either side of them were rows of dark, wooden homes, the majority of them showing no light coming from their windows. Understandable, given the hour.

He heard John's question and tried to quell his panic. If this beast disliked his answer, the nearby trees were his only bet - but Fab didn't think he could stand up straight, let alone sprint.

Appeasement was his best course of action. But how?

"N-no, not really," he eventually stammered out, his voice coughing out of a dry throat. "You look greater than normal, like... like a gladiator from one of the old tales."

He wanted to gauge John's reaction to this, but he lost composure and continued before a response could come. "But not like a... like a killer or something. You look like a big guy who, uh... takes care of himself, maybe a farmer's bo-er... a soldier. Definitely not one to... to pick on the weaker and that sort of thing."