Free Flecks of Gold by Alicia Buck

while kneeing him in the groin, always a good place to start. The green-shirted man grabbed my arms, but I wrenched my wrists from his grip and struck up with both fists into his face. He staggered away, and I was distantly aware that hitting him had really hurt my knuckles.
    The man I dubbed Gray came up more cautiously this time, and I circled with him, trying to keep an eye on the other man at the same time. Gray rushed in suddenly, swinging frantically at my face. I blocked him easily, but lost track of the man in green, who came up from behind to bear-hug me. Green caught one of my arms, and Gray took advantage of this by grabbing my other arm and hitting me in the face. The world exploded and spun for what seemed an eternity before I recovered enough to fight back.
    Green’s smell was nauseating. My foot swept back to kick him in the groin, and then slammed down on his feet. But as he loosened his grip, his partner struck me again on the other side of my face. I saw light, then blackness, then a hand descending toward my nose. I wrenched to the side in time for the blow to strike my shoulder, but I was having trouble focusing.
    I kicked at Gray and ripped my arm free from his grasp. I was going to loosen Green’s grip again when he suddenly dropped away from me to the ground. Surprised, I tripped over him. Gray was about to use my imbalance to kick me over when another man came between us and caught Gray’s foot mid-kick and threw him to the ground.
    Seeing his partner unmoving on the ground, Gray scrambled to his feet and scuttled quickly away. I wasn’t sure yet if I should be grateful or try to fight this new man, but he spun away to check Green’s pulse, and then straightened and turned back to look at me. I was stunned to note that he was about as tall as me, if not taller. Everyone I’d passed on the road had been shorter.
    I couldn’t see his face clearly, but the weak light accented his high cheek bones and defined jaw line. He wore the strange desert garb in a color too deep to discern in this poor light. My shoulders tensed when I noticed a sword hanging at his side.
    “Are you hurt?” he asked.
    I felt like a truck had run over me, but I wasn’t going to admit it in case he was trying to put me off my guard. “I’m fine. I just need to get to an inn, sleep it off. Thanks for your help.” I gathered up my bags but put them loosely on my shoulders so I could quickly shrug them to the ground if I needed to. Then I walked away, keeping a wary eye on him. I tried hard not to limp. Nothing was twisted, but my exhaustion from the fight and hiking all day made my gait hard to control.
    “Wait, let me at least show you where an inn is. This is a dangerous part of the city. Many thieves dwell here,” he said.
    “And why are you here?” I asked before thinking better of it.
    “I heard your call for help,” he said simply.
    “Oh. Well, thanks for coming. Look, I’m really grateful, but I don’t know who you are, so I think I’ll just find my own way.”
    “Do I look like the kind of person who would associate with the likes of that?” He straightened his shoulders indignantly, waving at Green.
    I looked closely at him again. His desert garb fit him perfectly. His dark hair was pulled severely back into a ponytail, and he held himself with practiced grace. Okay, so he didn’t look like common riffraff, but it was hard to see his face in the dimness of the alley.
    “All right. Please show me where to go.” I gestured for him to go first. Despite his rescue, I wasn’t about to have my back to a stranger.
    He led the way, scanning the street as he went. My gut twisted in worry. My eyes kept twitching to the shadows and then back to the man leading the way. Soon, however, we turned onto a street that was much wider and cleaner. More lamp lights lined this road, and I felt immeasurably better.
    My rescuer seemed to relax as well. He turned and asked, almost suspiciously, “Why were you in that part