Chapter 2: Typical

Neureleine, thankfully still Sithael instead of Nucke, walked the marketplace with her grocery list in hand. Mally was planning to cook a feast in celebration of Neureleine's eighteenth birthday, six months after her almost wedding.

Many people in the town still gawked at her as if she were crazy for ruining her chances of ever being married because of her strange ways and habits by scaring off the only man ever to ask her. Luckily for her, most people secretly liked her unique manner; it gave them variety in an otherwise monotonous world.

Neureleine was thinking of this when she lazily walked up to the fruit merchant's stand and handed him her list. While he gathered her requested items she analyzed the young man keeping the dairy stall and decided he would be a nice sort of person to talk to if ever she got around to doing it.

Looking around, her eyes settled on a man leaning against the great tree used for celebrations in honor of the gods, watching everyone with a measuring glare. Neureleine didn't recognize him but this was not surprising. Her strangeness had scared most people away from even introducing themselves.

She paid the man and gathered her things, carefully selecting grapes to eat from the bunch that would not be noticed missing if Mally decided to follow through on her threat to find out if she ate any before she got home.

Halfway home she was walking along the riverbed that lay yards away from a steep drop-off when she noticed three boys pushing around two young women on their way to the market.

One of the boys Neureleine recognized as Jesabh Nor, one of the few that had never accepted her story of her parents being mauled by wolves when she was a child. They pretended to believe that she was a witch and had set the wolves upon her parents. They spread the rumor as much as possible, pretending to gather support to cast her out when their real aim was to gain attention from certain young ladies that were jealous of her good looks.

"Hey, Tessa! Why don't you let me help you with that-right into my arms." He laughed, cruelly humiliating the shy girl.

It was easy to see from the start that the girls had no way to defend themselves, let alone the skills to use any weapons they may have had. Neureleine, on the other hand, was not a shy female that thought fighting was just men's work. She had worked to learn to use the staff, dagger, and bow for hunting and times such as these: when someone decided to have their way with someone smaller and defenseless.

Neureleine knew there was no way she could beat the three young men on her own but her pride and honor would not let her back down when defenseless people were involved.

Neureleine stopped and, bracing herself against an oak, loosened her limbs while assessing the situation. The men were of average height and build, stocky but not muscular. Score one for me.

Now I'm glad I wore my old clothes, I wouldn't want to stain the new clothes Mally has worked so hard on with my own blood.

She had no weapon at all while the men had their fists; she had never bothered to learn hand-to-hand combat, doubting that it would do much good in a match with extremely bad odds.

Slowly, trying to avoid the immediate notice of the group, she slipped out of the clearing and into the trees trying to find a sturdy stick that could be used for a staff. She rejected her first two picks as either too short or too thick when she finally found one that would do, wedged between two thick branches of a gnarled pine. The fact that it was not shaped or smooth she would just have to overlook. Serves me right for leaving mine at home.

Making sure she wasn't seen or heard until she was only feet away, she leaned casually on her make-shift weapon and coughed.

All five people turned and stared at her.

Even from that distance she could clearly smell brandy on their breathes when they spoke.

"Oh, I'm sorry, don't let me interrupt your friendly little chat here- as long as it doesn't get too friendly," she warned, watching the trembling girls and arrogant boys with cold eyes that pierced the silence.

Jesabh reeled to face his companions and back again, making sure they were all watching him so he could finally get rid of this annoying fly of a girl.

Before he could speak, Neureleine turned to the girls reproachfully, saying, "Tessa, I'm surprised at you; you should be getting the food for your ma instead of playing with these foolish boys. Now you and Nena, run along." She taunted them, daring Jesabh to lose patience and attack, leaving his strategy open for analyzing before she struck.

Unfortunately Jesabh was a coward and decided to catch some easier prey to feed his overstuffed ego and scare the women some more. "Where do y'think ye're goin', lassy?" He sneered grabbing Tessa roughly by the arm and twisting it behind her back.

Now it was time for her to step in. She was smaller and nimbler than them; if she dodged and blocked their blows, it was possible to make them disoriented enough to knock them out without her being badly wounded.

"Tessa. Nena. I said go. I will inform Master Jesabh here of his rudeness and disrespect towards women. Will you kindly inform your mothers of what has happened here?"

The women nodded; terrified looks on their faces, and stumbled back the way they came when Jesabh finally admitted he could not shake of this pest and let the girl go.

Unbeknownst to Neureleine or the three others, a stranger to the town waited in the shadows and watched in silent approval.

"I'm gonna get ya this time, you little snake! Ye're witch of a foster-mother isn't here to save you, now!"

The insult to her only friend was almost enough to make her lose control. Being the forest faerie of the Vale, she made it possible for Jesabh and his cronies to make such clean and quick kills when hunting; one of Jesabh's glory makers. The ungrateful slight was almost more than she could take, when made against the woman she cared for so deeply.

Neureleine managed to laugh, unnerving the drunk man in front of her. She raised her staff and circled all three using complicated foot patterns to increase their nervousness and make them edgy; and effect that could lead them to make rash decisions; and force them to make mistakes, leaving themselves open to attack.

Jesabh made the first move; the other boys backing away to give him space to pound her into the ground.

He lunged at her stumbling over a rock and falling on his face at Neureleine's feet. Neureleine graciously let him get to his feet before moving in to strike, knowing full well he would not have allowed her the chance.

He lunged again; this time the grass was free of any debris and his one hundred eighty pounds came straight at her.

She raised the staff to block his attack, assuming he would grab it, attempting to wrench it from her grip. As if on cue, Jesabh grabbed the staff, allowing Neureleine to twist and flip him over her knee to the ground in a move learned from Mally.

The rolling man grabbed her ankle as he stood, his face a red mask of fury, yanking her off her feet. She landed, sprawled on the ground with Jesabh towering over her, his fist pulled back for a punch.

Ignoring the pounding in her temples and the ache in her back from landing, she tucked and rolled out of his range. Finding the staff where she dropped it, she grasped the middle of the stick in her right hand, the bottom end in her left. Swinging it at the last moment, when Jesabh was right behind her, she jammed it into his ribs. Though she had not hit him hard enough to break them, Jesabh still rolled on the ground clutching his side, where soon a mottled bruise would be.

She reeled and tumbled to the ground, rolling to her left, finding the other two boys gone.

Neureleine stood, slowly looking around for any sign of the missing boys and, finding none, sat on a great rock by the river. Just then, the parents of the two girls, the boys and various other people from the town arrived, breathless with shock that was easily detectable upon their faces at the scene before them.

Neureleine Sithael sat on the bank with her feet in the river and the town's pride an joy lying curled on his side in the dirt, weeping.

Master Nor, the town blacksmith and the father of Jesabh chose the moment of stunned silence to scream, enraged at the girl.

"You-you-you little witch! What did you do to my son?!" The man, over six feet in height stepped forward, no doubt intending to rip her apart when the fruit vendor, Master Donner grabbed his arm and said, "Now, wait a minute, Jacob. Calm yourself. There's no point in goin' after the girl 'less we know for sure she was the problem."

"Are you sayin' my son was doin' wha' they said he was doin'?!"

"No sir, I'm jus' sayin' we ha't'be sure."

"What's there t'know? She's a witch! She shoul' have been killed jus' like the rest of them! She bewitched Jesabh!" Again he started to lunge and two men held him back.

"Neureleine, what went on here?" Someone in the crowd shouted.

Neureleine stood and scanned the group looking for a kindly face; finding none, she chose the fruit vendor to center on, he at least stood up for her though it may have been just a formality.

"Well I spent the day at the market gathering supplies for my ma-"

"What ma?! She's a witch too, she is!"

Neureleine looked around for the speaker but none would meet her gaze.

"I was getting supplies and was halfway back when I noticed that Tessa and Mallory seemed to be having a spot of trouble with the fellows and I stepped in."

"Enough! What did you do to them?"

The girl finished the story with her eyes continuously scanning the group before her, daring anyone to debate her honesty.

By that time, Jesabh had managed to stand. He saw an opportunity to accomplish his task and took it.

"She lies! Do ya think she could overtake three grown men all by 'erself? She's a witch; she cast a spell on us! She said all these strange words and witched us!" Throughout this speech, Jesabh moved his arms about, trying to show his emphasis in the lie.

At the new accusations, Neureleine flushed with anger, clenching her fists, digging her nails into her sweaty palms until they bled, to prevent her from saying something that would just get herself into more trouble. That hateful little beast! More lies and accusations because he's too proud to admit that he was beaten by a girl!

Murmurs swept through the crowd, most expressing grunts of agreement with the theory.

Master Nor broke free from the men who had loosened their group to discuss the matter.

He lunged at her, surprising her into stumbling back and falling, staggering over the drop-off.

She tried to scream, but all she managed was a strangled croak. She curled into a ball and silently called for help. Please Goddess! Help me!

Suddenly she was gripped around her midsection; searing pain flowing from her stomach all through her body. Just when she thought she'd die from the pain, she fainted and all was dark.