Free Soron's Quest by Robyn Wideman

but could not see a way of doing so without appearing rude. So far the men were acting nice and were friendly as they talked to her about the forest and any signs of deer she may have noticed. One of them, a shifty eyed scarecrow looking fellow, smiled and commented about the fine form of her horse.  His eyes however were not fixed on the horse. She grew nervous.  When he asked where her companions were, she recognized danger and her fear showed in her eyes.  She had read his emotions changing and they were ugly.
    While she spoke, one of the men came to look at her horse. Suddenly the man was right beside her with his hands firmly around her horse’s reins. The shifty eyed man who had smiled while talking to her was now smirking. A rather sinister tone to his voice had Velaina preparing to jerk away and flee. ”Relax princess, you are not going anywhere.” 
    Velaina was getting ready to make a run into the forest when a voice responded from behind her “Why would she be going anywhere? It is a beautiful day and there still many flowers to be picked.”
    Velaina had never seen four faces turn so white and fearful so fast before; the man behind her terrified these men. They began backing away, the one who had been holding on to the reins hastily let go to rejoin his companions as they continued to back away from her.
    The sinister sounding one now took a contrite and fearful tone as he mumbled, “You’re absolutely right. But picking flowers won’t catch us that deer, so we will be leaving now.” The men almost tripped over each other as they turned and ran off into the forest.
    Velaina watched with amazement as the men ran off, finally she turned to see who had inspired such fear. Velaina was looking at an incredibly tall and strong looking stranger with long dark hair and a clean-shaven face.
    Besides his great size, Velaina could only wonder what terrified the men so much, the big man did not appear to have a weapon on him. “They sure ran off fast, you must be one dangerous man to scare them so.”
    The giant man smiled, “Maybe to scoundrels like them, a lady such as yourself has nothing to fear from me. Those spineless little cretins are sons of noblemen who flaunt the law as if they are above it. There used to be ten of them in their little group of rapist bastards."
    Velaina was shocked to hear that she had so narrowly avoided a dreadful outcome, but she kept her calm. This tall dark stranger made her feel safe. She smiled “used to be ten?” she replied.
    The big man shrugged his shoulders “things happen.”
    She could imagine what things he had done but it explained the fear the men had shown at his arrival. She suspected his arrival was no more a coincidence than the deer hunter accidently finding her in the meadow. This big man had been stalking her stalkers. Before she could even thank him, he gave her a brief farewell telling her she would have no more problems on her journey today and disappeared back into the forest. She regretted that he had not given her his name.  He was foreign. He was intriguing.  And she suspected he was the sort she had been warned to stay away from.
    …
    Soron was torn. He had planned to stand back and watch the men, then attack while they assaulted the woman. But one look at her and the idea of any of the disgusting pigs laying a finger on her made him cringe. So he had stepped out into the meadow and interrupted them. From the way the men scattered he knew that they had been told about him, that he was the one who had killed their friends. Now the men would be looking for him. Not that it mattered; the young thieves were still at the edge of the city waiting. It would take longer to catch the men again but at least the girl was safe.
    The girl…she was like nothing Soron had ever seen before. She had blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes that had an intelligent look. The young woman had poise and spoke well. During the brief moments they had spoken, Soron had fallen