Isa stopped at the rise of the hill and looked back at Fedru’s cottage. She’d be happy if she never saw him again. Sure, he’d given her some food and Joth’s big bag, but the way he’d looked into her eyes. The things he said…. She could do without the doom and gloom pronouncements.

There’d been a guy in her freshman class at PSU, everything was dark and hopeless according to him. Everything that happened, no matter how good it seemed, it was bad news to Russell. If he got an A on an exam, it was just setting him up for failure later.

Isa had the bad luck to be paired with him for chem lab two semesters in a row. Alphabetic fate: Broward and Chamberlin. After their first year he’d dropped out or changed majors. Either way, Isa had been glad to be rid of him. She felt the same about this Fedru guy. Prophecy? What sort of herb was he smoking in that little hut of his?

Big hut, she corrected herself. Bigger on the inside, like in a fairy tale. She kicked at the leaves at her feet. Not a fairy tale. Not a dream, or hallucination, no this place was real, and she had to figure out how to get home. Best to get back to the one person who seems to have a plan about that. For better or worse, Isa was stuck with Joth Wind-- Wind what? She wasn’t usually so bad with names, but he had a weird last name. Well, he probably had a normal last name if he really was from home, but he’d given himself some special wizard-y name here to blend in.

Isa continued down the path toward the fork where the teddy bear rock sat. Maybe I should come up with a different last name, too. Something with a Lord of the Rings vibe. Isa Woodberry. Isa Greenstone. Isa--

A sharp crack in the distance caught her attention. She’d let her mind wander as if she were strolling down a trail on Tabor instead of trekking through woods that held spiders the size of show dogs. She tightened her grip on the stick. When she got back to Lund’s, after she’d explained about losing the dagger, she’d have to ask Lund about getting a proper walking stick, something sturdy that she knew wouldn’t crack the first time she swung it at someone’s head.

“You’re thinking you are gonna get in a fight, then.” She laughed at herself and picked up the pace. The tea and cake had fortified her a bit’ she could jog to the fork and then probably jog most of the way back to the tavern without flagging much. She would need a container for water, though. Maybe Lund really would let her wash dishes or cook or something for a few coins.

Up ahead Isa saw the fork where this path met the wider one that would lead her back to safety. Of course, she’d have to pass the spider tree. But at least she was prepared this time. Unconsciously she bobbed her head. More or less prepared.

Another crack, this time closer. Isa whirled to face the noise, and a deer bounded toward her from the undergrowth. It was headed straight for her, antlers pointed right at her midsection, so without thinking Isa stepped to one side and swung the stick up as hard as she could at the deer’s head. The animal took another step before crumpling to the ground and sliding another few feet in the leaves.

She dropped the stick and moved toward the deer, spying an arrow sticking out of its haunch as she did so. Its hooves lashed out, and Isa jumped back before a kick landed. She circled toward its head and saw that the neck bent at an odd angle, too. It wasn’t kicking out in malice. It was dying, and these motions were just death throes.

Isa dropped to her knees. Death throes. She knew those words; she’d used them before, but they’d never really meant anything to her. Now, in her 28th year of life, she understood what they really meant. Sure the deer had been shot, but it was running away before Isa hit it.

The deer still kicked, weaker now, and Isa reached out a hand to stroke its nose. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean—”

“You a druid, then? I’ll let you to it.”

Isa glanced up to see the woman from the tavern, the one Lund called Mery, standing near the deer with an arrow knocked in a bow. A look of confusion must have crossed her face because the woman said, “Do your rites and then we can split the meat. I won’t cross a druid, not in the woods, anyway.”

“I don’t understand. The deer - it was headed right--” Isa thumped her chest. “The horns were…. And I just--”

“Right then.” Mery stepped closer and dropped her bow to the ground. She knelt behind the deer. “Hold tight, lad.” She drew a long knife from her boot. “There’s a good fellow.” She patted his heaving side, pulled his head back and paused. “You’ll want to move a bit, girl. Unless you want a blood bath.”

Isa blinked uncomprehendingly. Was this woman threatening her? But as the knife moved toward the deer’s throat Isa suddenly understood and scrambled to the side as warm blood sprayed the spot she’d just been.

“If I have to do the butchering, I’m taking the best cuts; you can be sure of that. I don’t care if you are a druid.”

As Isa watched, the woman sawed down the length of the deer and worked open the belly. As steaming intestines tumbled to the forest floor Isa leaned over, threw up the tea and cake, and fell back in the leaves.

She woke with a start and sat up. What a strange dream! Had the alarm gone off? Why was her hand sticky? Then Isa realized that she wasn’t in her bed. She was sitting on the damp ground in a pile of leaves beside the naked carcass of a deer. The stickiness on her hand was dried blood. She must have touched some in her sleep.

“You were at Lund’s last night, yeah? I almost bought you a pint, but you’d already gotten your fill. I’m Mery Braydon. I hope your back is stronger than your stomach.”

“I’m Isa Chamberlin. I just - I’m not from here.” She pushed herself to feet and found her stick in the leaves. It hadn’t split when she’d hit the deer. It was stronger than it looked then. She gripped it tightly. What had Fedru said about killing the deer? That she’s have to do it? Maybe he did have second sight. Was that a thing here?

“Not many city folk take to druidic life. You might want to give it a second thought.” Mery gestured with her knife. “Got room for the hide in one of your bags?”

“Can I-- I mean, if you keep the meat, can I have the hide?” She closed her eyes tight, trying to remember what Fedru had said. “There’s a man named Morgan? A tanner, maybe? I heard that he trades hide for clothes.”

Mery paused at her work and laid her knife to the side. “What are you doing out here alone? Did you step through a rip in the planes?”

“Oh God. Maybe. I walked into Lund’s last night in Portland and woke up here.”

“In the woods?”

“No, here. In, um, Varana. That here.”

“And you thought you’d just take a stroll in the woods? Good thing I came along.” Mery flashed a smile at her, and Isa noticed that she had dark brown eyes and a little dimple. Her brown hair was pulled back and tied with a cord but some strands had fallen free during her work.

“Here,” Mery said, “help me with this.” She gestured at one of the deer’s hind legs. “I can take the bulk of the meat, but I’ll need you to haul the haunches for us. We’ll split it 50-50, and seeing as you landed the killin’ blow, you can have the hide.” She gave Isa another smile.

Over the next half an hour, under Mery’s direction, Isa helped her dismember the deer. She’d dissected a cat junior year for an anatomy class, but this was altogether different, and as she sat back to take a breath, Isa felt a burning on her side. Her small bag, which hung over one shoulder, felt like it contained a hot coal. The heat grew intense, and Isa scrambled to get the bag over her shoulder and away. “What the hell?”

Mery paused in her work, hands on her knees, and laughed. “Oh lordy, say it isn’t so. Gala preserve me, she’s a noobie.”

Isa glared at her. “My bag almost caught fire. Is that some sort of spell you did or something? It’s not funny.”

“You really are, then? You’ve not leveled? You’re an honest to Holdren level 1?” She used her bloody knife to gesture at Isa’s bag. “Your notebook heats up to let you know you’ve leveled. Once you’re safe and sound, you can crack it open and see what it says. What are you? You’re not a druid, that’s for sure. You’re tenderhearted enough to be cleric. Course, you whacked the hell out of this deer, so there’s something going on there, even if it doesn’t show. You some sort of stealthy fighter?”

All of this was overwhelming to Isa. She felt her face get hot with embarrassment as she bent to pick up her bag. “What are you then?” she said to Mery. “You’re so interested in me, what’s your job in this world?”

Mery put her finger beside her nose. “A girl never kisses and tells on a first date. My Ma taught me better than that!”

“You are definitely not my type,” said Isa.

Mery finished pulling a knot tight on a piece of rope, stood and draped the deer’s two hind legs around Isa’s shoulders. “Never say never, my dear,” she said with a wink. “That I learned from my Da, the old rogue.” She hoisted a stuffed pack on her shoulders and picked up a tied cloth bundle. “It’s not far to town. Cut across this field and down the glen, and we’re there in an hour.”

“It took me almost three hours to get here from Lund’s.”

“Sure, on the roads. Don’t like roads.” Mery kissed a green stone that hung around her neck. “Let’s go.”

Isa followed behind her. “Is it safe though? There are animals - spiders. I know there are spiders in these woods.”

“I do alright. Move fast and light and you’re gone before most things know you’ve been there.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Try to follow my steps. If Mery Braydon takes a path, it’s worth taking.” She arched one eyebrow. “All the same, keep that stick of yours handy.”

With that pronouncement Mery began to walk in earnest, and Isa tried to keep up. The smell of blood, the weight of the deer legs, the rough rope rubbed across her shoulders, she was soon struggling to follow the jagged path Mery made. The field sloped down into a small valley as the land on both sides rose up. The left side reeling out as far as Isa could see toward a string of white capped mountains. She could have been in the Cascades. This could be the foothills of Hood or Rainier. Perhaps that’s where she truly was but in a different time or dimension. Maybe Joth had theories about that. She’d ask him when they got back to Lund’s She’d also ask what he knew about her current traveling companion.

“I’m out here because of the wizard Joth. Do you know him?”

“Hard not to know the name,” Mery replied without turning around or slowing down. “Hadn’t heard he was so desperate as to use a noob for a quest.”

Isa felt her face burn. “Stop calling me that! I’m not some stupid kid, alright. I’m almost 30, highly educated. I have an apartment, a job - probably - waiting for me. I’m not supposed to be here, and I think I’m doing alright considering.” She looked down at the bloody deer legs dangling off her shoulders. “Anyone else would be curled up in a booth at Lund’s sobbing their eyes out, not carting dead animals through the fields with some Irish ninja.”

Mery stopped and turned around. “I don’t know what that means, but I think you’re trying to hurt my feelings. How is it possible that you’re that old and level 1? Are you noble?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked Isa up and down. “Sickly? You don’t look sickly.”

“Now who’s being mean?” Isa dropped to her knees. “Can we rest? I’m really tired. I’m carrying like 25 extra pounds here.”

“A rest sounds nice. Just a few minutes though. The smell of blood travels, and I smell rain on the wind.” She brought out a waterskin and handed it to Isa.

“I have got to get one of these,” Isa said and drank deeply.

“What’d you do to piss off the wizard?”

Isa dropped the waterskin. “What do you mean? I didn’t - I mean--”

“He sent a noob out here with no supplies, no training, nothing. He wasn’t expecting you to come back.”

Isa didn’t answer her. She looked down at her hands. There was blood and dirt under her nails. What had happened to her in a few short hours? Yesterday she’d been a normal person, with normal responsibilities, and now here she was alone in the wilderness with a strange woman, wondering if someone was trying to kill her. And in that moment Isa Chamberlin made a decision. She would be honest with everyone she met. She’d tell the truth as best she could and hope that other people responded in kind. That was the only way she might be able to figure out how to get back to the real world.

“He said - he said this would help me figure out what I’m doing here.”

“And has it?”

Isa laughed. “Maybe. We’ll see what that notebook says when we get back to Lund’s right? Isn’t that what you said?” She paused. “This will sound crazy - and maybe I am - but this,” she waved one hand in the air; “this whole thing, it is like a game. Joth mentioned D&D, but I thought he was being metaphorical. Now I wish I’d paid better attention last night.”

Mery was looking at her intently. “What happened last night?”

“I was at my friend Marissa’s house. She plays this game -- this game, I think -- and, I should have learned it better. I mostly sipped wine, built up stacks of dice, and sneaked peeks at her friend Alice, who is really, really beautiful.”

“Dicing and drinking and beautiful women. Sounds downright miserable. So you went to Lund’s to escape such a fate.” Mery smiled. “Let’s get you back there. Princess Alice awaits your return to your homelands.”

“She’s not a princess. We don’t have those in Port-- Well, actually we do, but I think Alice is from Vermont.” She looked at Mery and smiled. “I feel better. Thank you.” She grunted at the effort to stand, but once she was up, Isa felt stronger. “I’ll buy you a drink when we get back. I owe you that much.”

Mery’s eyes twinkled. “Two drinks. I did the dirty work. Got offal all in one boot, I did.” She started down the trail toward the valley. “We’ll likely get 5 gold for this.” She patted her stuffed bag. “We’ll split it even, even though it was my deer.”

The wind stirred Isa’s hair, and she took a deep breath. What a strange and wonderful place this was. She should enjoy it, even as she figured out how to get back home.

“Don’t dawdle,” Mery called. “There’re cougars in this valley. They can smell a kill half a mile.”