By the time the boy stopped pulling on her hand, Chris was in the middle of a seemingly deserted field. There were plow marks that ran through the dirt. She figured this boy's parents were farmers as he released her hand and continued to run. Even though he couldn't see her, she waved at him as he left.
Smiling to herself, Chris turned around and began to walk back to the festival. Wondering if Zeven had figured out that she left yet.
But she didn't get far.
Three men came out from behind a large tree, their faces covered in shadows. They were all roughly the same size as Zeven when he stood at full height, however these men were bulkier than Zeven was. Their shoulders were almost twice the size of Chris's.
"I can already imagine what you'll feel like crying beneath me."
Even Zeven had never talked to her like that. And it didn't take even a fraction of a second for her to know exactly how that made her feel. Enraged.
One of the men walked closer to her, "Aw, she's scared!" He put his hand on her shoulder.
Immediately, she kicked him in his crotch, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. The hood of her cloak fell back and she felt Zeven's glasses slipping further down her nose. She took them off her face and folded them before hanging them on her shirt.
"I'll give you a warning, I am not someone to be messed with."
The men started to laugh, a broken, hissing sound. The man on the ground began to stand back up.
***
Zeven followed the path that Chris had walked. It led him further and further away from the town. It had grown too dark for him to easily process what he was seeing. There was little light this far away that reflected back at him.
He moved swiftly, there was no telling what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into, and with her injured shoulder and unsociable personality it was unlikely that she could get herself out.
Up further in the distance he heard the sound of something heavy falling, accompanied by a cry into the night. Zeven began sprinting towards the source of the sound.
He couldn't distinguish figures but he could hear words being exchanged. His blood ran cold as he recognized one of the voices to be Chris's, colder still by its breathy tone. He dashed over to the sound of her voice.
Seeing the outline of the men closing in on Chris, he called out to them as he moved closer. He could see that she was on the ground, but he did not immediately tend to her even though he wanted to.
"My good gentlemen," Zeven looked the men up and down, sizing them up in case he had to fight, "I see my wife has caused you some issues. I apologize on her behalf." Zeven strategically placed himself in between Chris and the men. She tried to get back on her feet using the tree behind her. Pushing her back against it for support as she kept her left shoulder pulled into her chest.
"Don't get in my way. I can handle this." She took a step closer to the men, but Zeven stopped her before she could attempt anything.
"Not now." his words were firm, but under his breath. She was the only one who could hear them.
"aww, the little woman needs her big strong man to save her."
Chris lurched forward in Zeven's arms, breaking out of his grip. As she swung at the man closest to her, Zeven yanked her back by her bad shoulder resulting in a hiss of pain.
Pinning her to his chest, he immobilized her upper torso with one arm, and used the other to thread his fingers through her hair. The pressure held on her head was a warning, and she could feel his fingers beginning to curl around locks of her hair.
"Let go of me now." she growled at him.
"Shut up and let me handle this." the arm around her tightened, further hurting her injured shoulder.
"Let's be civil about this gentlemen," Zeven's voice was steady and despite the effort needed to keep Chris still, he looked relaxed. "I'll take the unruly woman off your hands for the low price 30 copper pieces… you know what she's pretty cute I'll go 35."
"Earlier you said she was your wife."
"Does it really matter? besides , between you and I, she's kinda into this." Zeven winked at the men.
"She looks like she's worth a lot more than just 35 copper pieces, who knows how much we could get from her a few towns over."
"I agree that she is rather pretty, but let's be sensible. With her horrible personality, I doubt she'd be very agreeable."
"That's not our problem, looking like she does I'm sure everyone will still have a good time." He took a step forward and tried to punch Zeven.
At the last second Zeven managed to dodge, in the process practically throwing Chris behind him.
"Are you certain that we can't solve this without violence?"
His question was answered with another attempted blow to his face.
"Too bad, really."
Zeven proceeded to deliver a roundhouse kick into the leader's chest knocking him backwards. The other two dived at him, ducking at the right time, he rolled one of them over his back and into the other.
The leader was getting back up and gearing up to attack Zeven again. But Zeven moved quicker, wrapping his arms around his neck, Zeven repetitively drove his knee up and into the man's gut. With the last move, Zeven released his neck and kicked in his kneecap. With a sickening snap, the knee itself appeared to invert as the man collapsed to the ground.
Dropping the small pouch onto the man's chest, Zeven turned around and began walking to Chris.
Over his shoulder he called out. "A pleasure doing business with you."
He extended a hand to Chris, who was still on the ground. She pushed his hand away using more force than necessary. Struggling to get up on her own, it took her a few seconds to find her footing.
For a second a glazed look clouded her grey eyes, and she swayed unnaturally, threatening to fall again. Zeven tried to take her arm, but as soon as he touched her, her gaze came back into focus and she pulled away from him.
She began walking away, ignoring the groaning men. Zeven noticed the way she favored her left side, slightly limping as she tread on.