15

  Brad

  After another quest, retrieving a goose that laid golden eggs from a greedy village, we were celebrating another job well done, and another stack of coins in our pouches and, even more important to Christian, the admiration and praise the fairy tale inspired inhabitants of somewhere else.

  Even though we had more than enough gold to afford whatever spirit or sustenance we could wish for in this humble pub, food was brought to us in earnest and drinks flowed without reservations. That’s the life of a hero I guess, no wonder Christian had found himself so enamored in it.

  We were interrupted by the sound of the pub door slamming open. In walked a woodsman, his green overalls, heavy axe on his belt, dressed like so many woodsmen dressed.

  “The beast has taken another girl,” he said. His face filled with terror.

  That piqued Christian’s interest, “Beast?” he asked, getting up.

  “The little, such a little girl, she went to the woods to her grandmothers, she lives far off, hadn’t heard about that dread beast yet. I was in fact on my way to warn her mother of it, but the little red girl is out in the woods,” he said, eyes filled with dread and shaking his head back and forth.

  “Little red girl?” Christian asked.

  “Yes, the little girl in red, so young, so innocent, and now she’s in the maw of danger and hell itself,” he said. Two of the bar maidens took him to a seat to try and calm him and give him a drink.

  Christian came to his table, “Little red, what way was she going, how do we get to these woods, what is this monster,” he asked, determined to solve another problem the people of Somewhere Else could only rely on the great heroes of Nebraska to solve.

  “Tell me about the beast,” Christian said, pulling up a chair and leaning on the table.

  Susie came up to him, “Christian, we just had a big win, I know you’re feeling confident, but maybe we should wait a bit before we throw ourselves back into nonsense,” she rested a hand on Christian’s shoulder.

  Christian ripped away from her, “A little girl is in danger,” he said to Susie before turning back to the woodsman, “Tell me everything,” he said.

  “The girl, the poor little girl in red,” the woodsman shook his head, “The beast has her, that old wolf. Thought he was just legend, another story mothers tell their daughters at night to discourage them from venturing too far from home,” he sighed, “Then the pig farmers found their stock attacked, one calls out that he’s lost three already last week, chased and rustled by the beast trying to take his product through those blasted woods to get some money for them. They were his three fattest hogs, and the great wolf is still hungry, even after three fat hogs his hunger can’t be satisfied,” he shook his head again, took another long drink of mead.

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  “Three little pigs, really?” Susie huffed, looked to Cody and I.

  “They were his fattest,” the man said with anger towards that maiden with foreign blood red hair, “Boars more than pigs, even had great tusks to defend themselves, but were nothing against this beast,” he said.

  Christian turned to us, “It’s a wolf, a big wolf it sounds, but just a wolf,” Christian nodded, “We’ve fought worse, we’ve fought greater evil,” he said, turning away from us back to the man.

  “Heed my warning, brave man of that far off land of Nebraska,” he looked Christian over, “I know of the service you and your compatriots have done for our lands and we thank you for that, but this is an evil, and a powerful evil at that,” he took another long, deep drink, shaking his head as the alcohol hit him.

  “This is no ordinary wolf, this wolf is large in size, larger than any wolf, or any man for that matter,” he said, taking a deep breath, “This be a creature of pure malice, a creature of nothing but hunger, no feeling, no emotion. Granted it’s smart enough to know how to fight, how to defend itself, but hunger is its primary goal, and he’ll devour anything, even whole, to satisfy his demented lusts,” he said.

  Susie turned to Cody and I, “So it’s big, and from what he says it’s bad, it’s the big bad wolf,” she shook her head, “I knew this world was too good to be true,” she said.

  “Susie, we may be able to stop it,” Cody put a hand on her shoulder, “I know that as amazing this world is it still has evil, just like our world does, but we stopped the Piper, and he was a man, at least I think he was a man, if we can stop the piper, we can stop whatever this Big Bad Wolf is,” Cody said.

  “This sounds dangerous, we could at least talk to the Piper, how are we going to talk to a wolf,” she said.

  “We’re heroes, heroes here at least, and Christian is a hero, if anyone is going to be able to face this thing and stop it, it would be him, just have a little faith,” Cody said, squeezing Susie’s shoulder trying to reassure her, “Heroes don’t get hurt, not here, remember? I think Christian’s made a pretty good argument for that,” he said, forcing a smile.

  “Let’s hope for all our sakes he really is a hero,” Susie said. Knowing what she probably thinks of Christian these days, the fact that she ever called him a hero probably eats away at her.

  “Nine feet tall, if he’s not twelve, not an everyday wolf I can assure you of that. He walks on two big powerful legs like a demon, can jump lengths away in an instant, grab a tree, jump off that and pounce on any unsuspecting prey,” the Woodsman said, “And a jaw, a mighty wide, powerful jaw, can almost unhinge itself and swallow one whole if it pleases his appetite to do so”

  “I’ll stop this wolf, I’ll save the little girl in red,” Christian rose off his chair and to his feet, “I swear, that I, a great hero from Nebraska, will end the threat of this wolf once and for all,” he raised his glass of mead in the air, “You need merely point me in the direction of it, I’ll find my way to the beast, and I will end him,” he said through gritted teeth.

  I was a bit stunned, and a bit impressed at Christian’s bravery. I could tell early on that he didn’t care about the trappings that the gold we earned in this world provided for us. He loved to the play the hero, he coveted rewards of honor and love more than he ever lusted for the gold that was slowly making us all rich back home.

  “Kill this monster, Hero of Nebraska,” the Woodsman stood and put his hands on Christian’s shoulders, “I’ll see to it that the Lord of these lands knows of your victory, that your name will be celebrated from hear all the way to the forgotten castle of the north, that lost castle covered in thorns and vines, where even the people who sleep will hear of your accomplishments, kill this monster, and I’ll see that you will be a legend,” he said.

  “Your sure heroes don’t get hurt here?” Susie asked Cody and me.

  “Not if they’re heroes, so we better be heroes,” Cody said.