Free Lovers of Legend by Mac Flynn Page B

it," he commented.
    I bristled at the insult. "You dare to insult me?" I spat at him.
    "I dare, but that wasn't an insult, it was an observation," he countered. "Now if you'd like me to lead you back that's fine, but I'm willing to follow you back if that's what it takes to make sure you do get back," he told me. As though to end the conversation he tucked his ax handle in his belt and took a step toward me, but I wasn't finished.
    "I do not need a chaperon. I have enough of that at the estate," I argued.
    "Ah, so you're one of the family of the estate, or a close friend," he guessed. I frowned and turned away. This was a cunning human, though I admit I'd had little experience with them. I turned back when I heard him move closer to me. He stopped when he noticed me stiffen. "I'm not going to harm you, I just don't want you to harm yourself," he insisted.
    I raised an eyebrow. "What would my being injured matter to you?" I wondered.
    His beard moved to indicate a smile beneath it. "I don't allow beautiful women, even high-minded elven women, to be hurt, and it's a terrible end to be eaten by wolves," he pointed out.
    His gallantry was marred by his recurrent rudeness, but the sound of the wolves had shaken my independent spirit. "If you wish to come with me then do so, but follow behind," I ordered him. I wanted to make sure I was downwind from his stench for the man reeked of sweat, though he did have the pleasant scent of the woods on him.

Chapter 2
     
    I hurried on my way down the path with my new protector only a few steps behind me. He said nothing, and after a time I grew tired of the silence between us other than the sounds of our feet on the path. "What is your name?" I asked him without pausing on our walk.
    "Ethan. What's yours?" he wondered.
    I straightened in pride and sang out the song I'd sung so many times. "Alexandra Lothana of the house of-"
    "-Stethana. You are the manor lord's daughter," he surmised.
    I was a little ruffled at being interrupted and at his offhand manner in addressing me, but I was more worried I would make a tempting target to kidnap. There were always tales about human men stealing off elven women for evil purposes. "Yes, I am she," I replied.
    "What brought you so far into the woods?" he asked me.
    "I often go into the woods for a ride," I told him.
    "But not that far, or I would have seen you before," he countered.
    I stopped and spun around. "I was in my father's woods, good sir, and wonder what you were doing there. Were you taking away wood when you should not have been?" I accused him.
    Ethan chuckled. "I was taking away wood, but I should have been for you wandered into my lot," he argued.
    I frowned. "Your lot? My father owns all these woods-"
    "-a minute," he requested. He dug into his shirt and in a moment he pulled out an old envelope. The white sheet was now stained with countless years of sweat, water, and other foulness. "I have here the proof that the land where I chop my wood, and where my home resides, is my own and not your father's."
    "What proof could you have in an envelope?" I asked him.
    "A land grant to my great-great-great-great grandfather for services rendered in dispatching a band of thieves who had terrorized the woods," he revealed.
    I raised an eyebrow and held out my hand. "Let me see it," I demanded.
    He grinned and made as though to return it to his shirt. "That is no way to ask for a view," he replied.
    "Let me see it please ," I requested.
    "That's more like it." Ethan handed me the envelope and I opened the contents. There was indeed a land grant of extreme age, and I recognized my father's signature on the bottom with his seal attesting to the document.
    "Everything seems to be in order," I admitted, and handed him back the letter.
    "I am very glad to hear that, otherwise I'm afraid you would have ordered your father's men to extract me from the land," he returned.
    "Perhaps I would, and perhaps I would not," I countered. I turned and continued the