"Move out of the way if you do not want to be crushed to dust," one of my captors yelled.
"Drop that girl and I will spare your lives," came a voice from the opposite direction, even though I had no idea who he was or what he was capable of, I felt relief in my chest just hearing someone speak on my behalf like I was not as forgotten as I had started to believe.
But it sounded like only one person, and my heart sank a little because I could hear at least six heavy footsteps around me and I knew these men were not the kind to show mercy or back down just because someone asked politely.
"How about I teach you some lessons," the man carrying me growled before tossing me roughly to the ground, and the pain drove through my body as spikes from the broken forest floor pierced into my arms and the side of my stomach, and I cursed under my breath because it hurt so bad that I could barely breathe.
Even though my eyes could not catch a single detail of what was going on, I had no doubt that the man who dared to speak on my behalf was moments away from being destroyed, because facing those people alone was nothing short of insanity or a death wish, and as much as I admired his bravery, I could not help but think of him as a tragic dreamer, someone too good for a world this cruel, and deep in my heart I silently wished that when his spirit left his body it would find it way in heaven.
I heard awful crunch of bones cracking and the wet smack of their body hitting the ground and a scream that scraped against the trees.
It made me squeeze my fingers from the sound alone because it meant that someone was dying, and I wanted to block it out but I could not.
I felt the blindfold loosen and fall from my face and I squinted, blinking fast to adjust to the brightness of the sky above which had cleared out with soft pale light and the rain had finally stopped, leaving the air cool.
And that was when I saw the man who I must have mistaken has my hero.
The green-eyed man stood a few steps away, watching me with calm soothing eyes.
I looked around and my mouth went dry because the men who attempted to kidnap me were now scattered across the forest floor in states I could barely comprehend, some unconscious, some broken, some definitely never getting up again, and it made me realize that whoever this man was, he had done all of it alone.
"Please spare my life," I begged with a shaking voice.
I should have felt grateful or safe, but there was still a heavy knot of fear sitting in my chest because part of me could not stop thinking that he might be the forest cannibal I had read about in those awful newspaper stories, the one who hunted young women for their flesh, and I knew that if he wanted to hurt me, he could do things far worse than I could even imagine.
He did not speak, not a single word, only stared at me with an expression I could not read, and then he began to walk slowly in my direction, and I found myself frozen in place wondering what in the world he was going to do next, because nothing about this felt normal, and when he bent low to reach for the chain around my wrists I could hardly breathe as I watched claws slide out from his fingers, and in one smooth swipe the metal snapped open and fell away. That was when I knew.
My suspicion had been right from the beginning, that he was not ordinary, but what startled me even more was that his face looked too familiar, not in the way a stranger's face sometimes reminds you of a celebrity or a forgotten neighbor, but in the way that made something appear in the back of my mind like a locked drawer had rattled open, and I felt like there were memories of him hidden in my head, memories that were not supposed to be missing. Even though every part of me was sore and shaking from the fall, I had no doubt that I had seen him somewhere before. It could be from a memory that had been taken from me without permission, the kind of memory that leaves fingerprints behind even when everything else is gone.
The good news, at least for now, was that I was free from those kidnappers.
I slowly stood on my feet and rubbed my sore wrists where the cuff had left red marks. I tried to ignore the ache that pulsed in my side and the way my knees trembled beneath, but it was hard to ignore. I was calculating the safest direction to take that would not land me back in cuffs or in a situation far worse than what I had just escaped from.
"Thanks for saving me," I said with a low voice as I gave a small thank you bow without making any eye contact.
Now fake a smile! Fake a smile and turn without looking back.
My gut screamed at me to get my legs moving.
I did not know what he really was or why he had helped me, but I figured the safest move was to disappear before he even move an inch.
I turned away without saying anything else, hoping he would not call me back or ask for explanations or names or anything that might tie me to him, because right now I just wanted to leave and forget the entire incident, especially the way his claws had cut through steel like it was paper.
I could feel his eyes still on me in a way that made the back of my neck prickle and my heart beat faster, and I hated that my body was reacting, and increased the pace of my footsteps.
I had no idea what went on in his head, because how could someone rip through chains and bodies and still look like they were just waiting for the rain to start.
Thank goodness he was not some wild cannabis-smoking forest human like the crazy stories people told in town, though it was much more likely that he was a good werewolf or some cursed protector who only showed up when the moon said so. Can't even tell his identity.
I paused mid-step and slowly turned around again because something about this moment did not sit right with me, I had just walked out of a situation involving people who might have been connected to the death of my parents, and here stood a man who might have had answers and I was about to let him slip away without asking a single question.
I stared at the men lying scattered across the forest floor, I had survived, I turned back and looked at him again, and I knew if I walked away now I might not get another chance, but at the same time I did not want to become one of those naïve girls who ends up trusting the wrong man and ends up a body rotting in some forgotten forest where the soil would blend with their remains.
I turned back to leave and brush off whatever idea my brain was trying to cook.
His feet against the cluttered ground made me pause, then he was in front of me in a blink of an eye. He was damn fast.
"Where do you seek to go?" he asked with a chill voice that sent a ripple down my spine. Does he always sound like that? Even that question sounded absurd, like asking a drowning girl why she wanted air.
"I seek to go to my house!" I snapped, more defensive than I meant to be.
"Why did you seek to go there?"
"Because it is my home," I replied through clenched teeth forcing a smile I did not feel.
"Home you say, I forbid you to go back," he said as he took a step forward and his eyeballs darted from green to red.