Page 16 of The Anointed's Paladin

Not quite right.

I redid the image, removing his shirt. Much better.

Mmm.

Who was I kidding? He was a beast who likely tore people apart as a hobby. In my experience, brutes didn’t beg on their knees—they got rather offended when you suggested it. Based on my not insignificant sample size, I had observed that it seemed to hurt their pride to submit to someone smaller. Ugh, I wanted to feel what it was like to have someone so powerful under my—preferably spiked—heel.

The issue was, he’d be able to tell I was maoferni. Shockingly, it was a lot harder to get someone to agree to our deals when they knew all the terms.

I sighed.

I’d have to miss out on seeing if I’d accurately guessed how much chest hair he had.

I glanced back at him. He had picked a route, and it was definitelynotthe right direction. Bless him.

Standing, I stretched, then started climbing down the tree. I needed to find a solution to my shelter problem. Finding a safe place to hunker down in the daylight had already slowed me down severely.

I spun my knife in my hand as I continued to think on the problem, but readied it as I heard a rustling sound ahead.

I smiled again as I saw what it was. My problems justmightbe solved.

10

I do!

Nidori

These trees wereamazing. Huge. Sure, everything had been huge since I had left the glade. Being under a foot tall in the big folk’s world was quite overwhelming.

I had hidden a lot, watching, as I made my way to the forest. People milking cows. Riding horses! Real horses! I slowed down to listen to the sound their hooves made on the road. No balls or galas yet, though. But so many families. People, living their lives together, coming home, supporting one another.

It was amazing. And terrifying.

I had landed on the forest floor, trying to get my bearings. My hand sank into the ground, connecting with the root system that ran deep underneath the trees. It was mesmerising, how massive these roots went down. I sent a friendly greeting to the trees and then explored, planning a path to the mountains.

I paused as something moved nearby, drawing me back to my immediate surroundings. Something was definitely coming closer.

I jumped into the air, nervous as two people rounded the trees.

“Hello?” I said, my voice squeaking. This was the first time I’d actuallymetpeople. I should get off the ground. They were so big, even the tops of their boots were taller than me, and they didn’t appear to notice me. I jumped into the air, partly because I wanted to see their faces and partly because they were getting dangerously close to stepping on me.

“Look, it’s a sprite, Ned,” said one of them. They were dirty, and one of them had broken teeth.

“Reckon we can make it dance?” asked the second.

I blinked. “I like dancing,” I said, brightening. Sure, it wasn’t perfect with these two…smelly big people. But still.

One of them laughed, and I cocked my head. Where was the music?

I opened my mouth to ask, but one of them raised their hand and summoned a fireball.

Wow. It was beautiful, the flames constantly moving and changing. I stared at it, my fascination broken as the person threw it. Right at me.

I shot up, mind reeling. The fireball exploded on the tree behind me, blackening the strong bark with a large scorch mark.

“Hey!” I said crossly. “That tree didn’t deserve that!”

One of them laughed again as the other readied another fireball. They…didn’t care. As another fireball launched at me, I realised they were trying to hurt me.

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