New Life in a New World Ch. 03

"Relax," Sasha said next to him as she placed her hand behind his shoulder. "I come here all the time, we're safe."

"Looking just as you are now?" John challenged.

Now Sasha was the one who did not want to give a direct answer. She had frequently visited this village over the years. However, every time she would be wearing a black cloak and would wrap a black cloth around her face to hide it. But in an attempt to travel light, she left it back in her cave. She glanced back at her wings and tail before turning back to John.

"Everything will be fine," she replied confidently, "These people are peaceful."

"That does not mean I like sticking out like sore thumb," John said, studying the villagers to see if any were going to make threatening moves toward them.

"John, trust me. You have nothing to worry about."

"Umm...Last time I checked, I'm supposed to go up against some demon who obviously knows I'm here because he sent a fucking dragon after me!" he replied frustratingly, "So please don't mind if I do worry."

Sasha gently placed her hand lightly on his chest, "That's why I'm here to protect you."

John realized what she was doing. For the past couple days he had been dwelling nonstop about the prophecy, his possible upcoming battle with a demon, and questioning if he could even succeed. However, the more he thought about his mission, the more he started to second guess himself. He had no intel, no leads on Solomon's whereabouts, and no information on his strengths and weaknesses. But Sasha did not want him to lose confidence, so she would try to get him to relax a little to help take his mind off the prophecy.

Sasha walked over to Lydia. The two girls quietly conversed before Lydia walked over to John and handed him a coin pouch and a folded piece of paper. He unfolded the paper, on it was a list of supplies. On the list included sleeping pads and food that was easily preservable and portable. The tree of them had split the travel funds equally, but Lydia was giving him a bit more to work with.

"Go ahead and purchase our supplies," Lydia instructed him, "Sasha and I will try to get some rooms at the Inn." Lydia motioned over to a nearby building, The Young Horse's Inn.

Lucky for John, he was standing nearby the local market. He studied the list as he slowly passed by the various merchant booths and stands. Not quite Pike Place Market, but close to some of the farmers markets he used to visit. The market was bustling with activity. Deals being made, people asking about the goods being offered, the sounds of real commerce at its best. John still stood out from the rest of the crowd, but he did not have a dragoness or half-lycan drawing attention. However, many of the merchants were hesitant to speak with him until he held a few gold coins in front of them.

He started with what would be the easiest to find, food. Knowing that this would have to last them at least a few days, he looked for the food that would keep well. He got some carrots, onions, potatoes, and a few apples. He moved to another vendor and picked up a few small loafs of bread. It was a bit harder finding some meat, very few of the butchers at the market had meat that was cured. Luckily, he found one that did. The hardest item to acquire were the bedrolls. However, he managed to commission a craftsman to make three bedrolls. John even agreed to buy a travel bag from the merchant if he could have the bedrolls finished by tomorrow morning. The travel bag came in handy as he was able to place his recently bought items in it.

As he walked back toward the inn, he passed by a merchant selling jewelry when something caught his eye. Hanging from the display stand was a beautiful necklace. The cord was tightly braded and ruby red in color. Hanging from the cord was a pink, wide hook shaped crystal with two translucent beads flanking it. The crystal looked like half of a yin-yang symbol. John immediately thought of Lydia as he looked at the necklace. Even though she did not say much to him most of the day, he figured she was still upset at him. He recalled the look of disbelief on her face when he admitted that he slept with Sasha the a couple nights ago. He realized that he had hurt her by what he had done, but he could not understand why. She had made it very clear that she was no longer romantically interested in him. So why was she so upset? Perhaps it was how quickly he had moved from her to Sasha.

He did like Sasha, she was an incredibly beautiful woman. She was smart, witty, easygoing, and he certainly enjoyed the affection she gave him. That was also part of the problem. As much as she tried to show that she loved him, it didn't feel real. John had a feeling that she only loved him because of his role in the prophecy. As much as he did like her, he just didn't have the same feelings toward her as he did for Lydia.

He asked the merchant for the price of the necklace, and it was not cheap. The cost would take a third out of his travel funds. He was about to pass it up, but he thought about how good it would look on Lydia. It was certainly more beautiful than anything else on display and such a gift might just help patch things up between them. After haggling a bit with the merchant, John got the price reduced slightly as he handed over a few gold coins. He looked at the necklace one more time before placing it in his pocket, hoping Lydia would like it.

John started to make his way back to the inn when he heard a commotion in front of the neighboring tavern. As he neared the disturbance, a crowd had formed. He spotted both Sasha and Lydia in the semi-circle of villagers who had also come to investigate the disturbance. Both had concerned looks on their faces as they had their hands on their weapons, indecisive on whether or not to intervene. He moved between the two girls and peered through the crowd as he finally saw what was going on.

On the ground was a short, heavyset man. He wore brown pants, a white shirt, and an apron. He was down on his knees, a dusting of dirt covering his clothing and a few bruises on his face. Surrounding him were five or six thugs wearing leather armor and proudly brandishing their weapons on their belts. They surrounded the helpless man, clearly roughing him up.

"This is the fifth time you've been late on your payment," said the apparent lead thug as he crouched over the man. "I'm getting real tired of having to come out here to remind you."

"I'm sorry," said the man, his head lowered in shame, "The money is tight right now, people are not traveling like they used to."

"You know the rules," replied one of the thugs standing behind the man. "You pay us our fee and we don't torch your business and kill you. It does not get any more simple than that."

"Please, just give me one more week. I'll have your money by then."

"That's what you said last week, and the week before that," the lead thug replied, pushing the man back on the ground with his boot.

John clenched his fists angrily as he watched the man get roughed up by the thugs. He could not stand bullies, or anyone who got pleasure tormenting the weak. It's one thing to take on someone in a fair fight. But to threaten the defenseless, it just made him sick to his stomach. He grabbed onto his rifle when he felt a hand lightly grab his arm, he looked over to Lydia who was shaking her head.

"Don't do it," she whispered to John, "This is none of our business."

"I won't simply stand here and watch this take place," John replied.

"I have to agree with her," Sasha chimed in, "They're known as the Beasts of the West. A notorious gang in these parts, very ruthless."

John managed to catch a glimpse of an emblem on the left shoulder pad on one of the thugs. It simply consisted of three, black claw marks running diagonally. At first, he mistook it for battle damage until he saw the same emblem on the left shoulder pad of the other thugs. Some of the thugs were slim and others had arms like tree trunks. Either way, all of them seemed to keep themselves in shape. But if they thought they were ruthless, just wait until they met him.

"If you get involved, you will certainly get that unwanted attention you wanted to avoid," Lydia warned.

She did have a point. Solomon was already after him, the last thing John needed was to have a gang of thugs after him as well. He looked at the bruised and humiliated man on the ground as he weighed his options. He had to put a stop to this.

"Look, I have part of the payment," the man pleaded, "Can't you at least accept that for now?"

"How pathetic," the lead thug sneered before spitting on him. "The only payment I'll accept now...is your life."

The thug unsheathed his sword as he moved toward the helpless man. His cohorts laughing like jackals, eager to see blood spilt. The thug brought his sword up, about to deal the killing blow.

"Hey asshole!" yelled a voice behind him. The thug turned to see John step out of the crowd. "Why don't you swing that sword at someone ready for a fight."

"Do you have any idea who you are dealing with?" The thug leader growled, turning toward John. He tightened the grip on his sword and flexed the muscles in his arm, getting ready to attack.

John casually raised his rifle, aiming it directly at the thug. "Does it look like I give a shit who you are?"

Sasha and Lydia stepped out of the crowd, both with their swords drawn as they moved on either side of John. The lead thug quickly signaled to his comrades. They drew their weapons and started to charge toward John and the girls. John quickly lowered his rifle and aimed it at the ground, just in front of the thugs.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The shots rang through the village. Onlookers in the crowed covered their ears and shrieked at the incredible noise. Even Sasha and Lydia jumped back a little. The thugs immediately stopped in their tracks as several large puffs of dirt flew up in front of them. They now had the look of sheer terror on their faces as they witnessed the power of his weapon. John quickly aimed the weapon back up at the thugs.

"The next round goes into the head of whoever takes another step forward," John warned.

The thugs remained frozen. They looked to the lead thug who was also remained petrified. Eventually, after the initial shock wore off, the lead thug glared at John. He wanted to kill this man but knew that he and his crew would be no match for his weapon Angrily, the thug sheathed his sword. Turning around he signaled the remainder of the gang and they ran out of the village.

The onlooking crowed dispersed as John lowered his rifle. He walked over to the man on the ground and extended his hand. The man happily grabbed a hold of it as John helped him up. He smiled under his black eye and bloody nose as he dusted himself off.

"Young man, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done," he said, "Name's Max."

"Nice to meet you, I'm John," he replied as he shook the man's hand, "This is Lydia and Sasha."

The two girls bowed their heads respectively as John introduced them. Max seemed to be taken aback by their appearances at first, but then he smiled and bowed toward the girls. He then looked back at John and studied his strange clothing, vest and weapons.

"Where exactly are you from?" Max asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Not from around here," John replied with a nervous laugh.

Max shook his head, "No matter, let me treat you to a drink on the house."

Max motioned to the tavern next to them, The Divine Barrel. The sign over the front door depicted a barrel with rays of yellow light coming out from it. The tavern itself was an older, but well kept wooden building that was shared with the inn.

"Let me patch you up first" John said as he reached for his first aid pouch.

"No need for that," Max replied, shaking his head. "A warrior like you will probably have more of a need for that than this lowly old barkeep. Now please, come inside."

Max held open the door and motioned them inside. Even banged up, he still wore a smile on his face as he played the role of host. An orange hue filled the tavern from the light passing through the windows and the lanterns on the wall. A couple rectangular tables with benches sat in the center of the room. Smaller, rounded tables lined the walls at the outer edges of the tavern. Deer antlers dotted the walls along with other odds and ends. The whole vibe from the tavern was old, yet cozy.

When they first entered, the tavern was filled with the loud murmur of patrons conversing. But after John and the girls entered, people immediately took notice. All the conversations in the room suddenly came down to a hushed silence as everyone turned and stared at the three of them. John tried to make out the few quiet whispers he could hear as he scanned the room. He heard snippets of words identifying his strange clothing and Lydia being a half-lycan, but the whispered conversations about the dragoness were unmistakable. However, Sasha seemed to be the only one out of the three of them who was not bothered by the extra attention. Max then emerged from behind them as he entered the tavern.

"Next round is on the house!" he yelled.

A roar of cheers and applause erupted from the tavern, breaking the uncomfortable silence. As the patrons in the bar continued to cheer and raised their glasses for a toast, Max led the three adventurers to the bar. The three of them took their seats at the long table, Lydia and Sasha on either side of John. Max walked over to a bucket of water in the corner. He splashed some water on his face as he cleaned himself up. After drying himself off, he walked back over to John and the girls.

"What can I get for you?" Max asked, still keeping his smile even with a black eye.

"Are you sure you're ok?" John asked with a concerned look.

"I'm fine, no worse than last week," Max replied. He then reached up on the shelf behind him and pulled down an unmarked bottle with a clear liquid inside. "This is something I brewed recently," Max said as he poured them their glasses.

John swirled the clear liquid in his glass, hesitant on drinking it. He glanced over to Lydia who also seemed to stare at her glass suspiciously. However, Sasha had already taken a large swig from her glass and let out a refreshing exhale. John almost found it quite sensual in the way that she reacted.

"We have no idea what's in this stuff," John whispered to Sasha as he leaned in close to her. "I really don't think we should be drinking this."

"How many times do I have to tell you to relax," Sasha replied, "I drank first because I would be able to tell if there was anything harmful in it. It's rather difficult to poison a dragon."

"Fine," John said, finally cracking a smile for the first time all day. "But if I get killed because of you, I will fucking haunt you," he playfully warned her.

"I would hope so," she whispered in his ear, giving his inner thigh a squeeze.

Lydia and John quickly glanced at each other before they both took a swig from their glasses. Both of their eyes shot wide open as the liquid slipped passed their lips and into their mouths. Holy shit, it was strong. John imagined that this is what gasoline tasted like. It burned as it went down his throat and ignited a fire in his belly like napalm. John managed to keep his composure, it was not the first time he had drank strong alcohol. Lydia on the other hand was coughing as she swallowed her drink, her eyes started to water up.

"Delicious, isn't it?" Sasha commented with a satisfied look on her face.

"Gods! It's...*cough*...disgusting," Lydia choked, "What the hell is in this!?"

"Corn meal, sugar, yeast, and malt," Max replied with a shrug, "I make it in a still I built out back. Not sure what to call it yet."

John let out a loud laugh. "This my friend...is moonshine," he said while adding a fake southern drawl.

"Moonshine...I like it," Max said as he dwelled on the name. "Now, do you have a place to stay for the night?"

"At the inn next door," Sasha replied, "However, they only had two rooms available."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Max replied. "I own the inn along with this tavern. Normally I like hearing about my rooms being full, but not if it inconveniences you."

"I'm sure we can manage," Sasha said suggestively as she ran her hand further up John's thigh. He nearly choked on his drink when she gave his cock a slight squeeze through his pants. He quickly glanced over to Lydia, she seemed to not take notice.

"I have an idea," Max said excitingly, snapping his fingers. "I also run the horse show here, nothing like you've ever seen before. I've managed to grab some of the best horse trainers, riders, acrobats, and musicians in the region. How about tickets to tonight's showing?"

John shook his head, "That's kind of you but...."

"We would be honored to go," Sasha interrupted, "Right Lydia?"

"Um...well?" Lydia replied, unsure how to answer. She knew what John was thinking, he would have wanted to stay on their current task to find Solomon without any distractions. However, she also understood Sasha's point of view. Life is short and needs to be enjoyed at every opportunity, especially when on a dangerous mission. She had also heard rumors about this show from a few people in Wolfdell, however no one really went because it required visiting a human village. She glanced over at John who was looking back at her, hoping that she side with him. But might as well see the show since they were not going to leave the village until tomorrow. Lydia looked over at Sasha, "It sounds like fun."

John sighed quietly, "Fine, we'll go."

"Great!" Max said excitedly. He reached under the bar and pulled out three slips of paper and handed them to Sasha. "Great seats too," he added.

Once they had, or attempted to, finish their drinks they went back next door to the inn. The show would start in the evening so they had a couple of hours to settle. Since they only had two rooms for the three of them, John offered to stay on watch. But Sasha insisted that he stayed in her room, somehow he was not surprised that she did. John removed his tactical vest and placed it along with his rifle in a locked chest in the room. There was no real need to unpack, but they wanted to hide their equipment in case anyone decided to snoop around while they were gone. Lydia stood in the doorway of Sasha's room as she and John continued to put away some of their gear. John called her in to their room because he wanted to try and figure out their next move in their hunt for Solomon. However, she seemed to walk in on an argument.

"John, as much as I love you, you've been nothing but a tight-ass all day," Sasha admonished, her hands on her hips.

"Look, the moment we get the slightest lead on Solomon I promise I'll lighten up," John replied, "But until then, I want to concentrate on our mission."

"And that's the problem," the dragoness said as she walked over to him, gently wrapping her arms around his neck. "What you are doing is not concentrating, it's worrying. Not only are you stressing yourself out, but us as well."

John glanced over at Lydia, she gave a slight nod in agreement.

"You are simply trying to see this quest as nothing but a series of objectives," Sasha continued, "but it's so much more than that. You have to wait for these clues to present themselves to you, and no amount of worrying will change that."

"The last few days have been extremely stressful for you," Lydia added. "You have been taken from your world. Then nearly killed by a pack of wolves. You barely escaped an attack from a dragon. Now you have found out that you're the only one who can save this world. But it's only going to get harder from here. If you don't at least give yourself a chance to relax you'll go mad, assuming you haven't driven us mad first."