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Helmsley smiled and bobbed his head. “Yes, My Lord. With pleasure.” He hurried off to obey his lord’s instructions.
I raised my attention to my companion. “What’s this all about? Are there really harpies in this world?”
Thorn sighed but gave a nod. “Unfortunately, yes. They are part of the darker set of fantastical creatures, as different from me as one side of a coin is from its opposite.”
The stench of the village wafted past my nose again and I tried not to gag. “So how are they causing this smell?”
He turned toward the northwest where a thick grove of trees hid the mountainside. “The Falls are where the village maidens and wives wash their clothes.”
“Don’t they have a well?” I wondered as I looked about us.
Thorn shook his head. “The ground here is very rocky. The villagers forsook the arduous task of digging a well in favor of using the Falls.”
I stared ahead and pursed my lips. “So you’re going to be the local harpy exterminator?”
He cocked his head to one side. “Does that bother you?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t sound like a safe job.”
A gentle expression appeared in his eyes. “I appreciate your concern, but I have dealt with harpies before.”
I blinked at him. “Really? When?”
Thorn furrowed his brow. “I was very young and ventured into a nest of the creatures. They were both angered and pleased by my presence, as I had recently learned how to transform into my human shape.”
I stifled a snort. “So they were, um, interested in you for a lot of reasons?”
He grinned. “Very much so. They sought to make love to me before they ate me.”
My face drooped. “So how did that go?”
“I transformed into my true form and managed to fend them off until I could fly high enough that the winds prevented them from following me.”
My wide eyes gawked at him for a long moment before a few stifled words came out. “Are you. . .you’re not telling me a fake story, are you?”
“Should I be?” he teased.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. This is your world, not mine.” I studied our surroundings with its archaic structures and potent smells. “Everything’s so strange to me. I don’t know what’s real or what isn’t.”
Thorn slipped a hand into mine and I looked up to find him smiling down at me. “I would never lie to you on a matter as serious as this. The harpies must be removed and you should remain here while I go about extracting them from the Falls.”
I turned to face him and grasped his hand between both of mine. A deep sigh escaped me before I met his gaze with my firm one. “If I’m going to be sticking around here for a while then I’d better see everything this world has to offer, and that includes the bad with the good.”
He pursed his lips. “There is danger involved. Harpies may appear somewhat human, but under that facade they are wild creatures who are capable of tearing apart anyone unwary enough to walk into their clutches.”
I tried not to shrink from his warning, and instead I smiled at him. “Then I’ll be sure to saunter into their domain, now which way are these Falls?”
Thorn nodded to the northwest woods. “In that direction and a quarter of a mile. Whatever happens, stay close to me and do what I say.”
I nodded, and together we set off for the domain of the harpies. We hadn’t gone too far into the woods when I heardthe tell-tale signs of the Falls. The low rumble of a waterfall was the first warning, and that was followed by loud splashing and cackling.
The trees began to thin and Thorn stopped us fifty feet short of where I glimpsed a clearing. He nodded at a tree with a particularly large trunk. “That spot should afford you a clear view of the Falls and our foes. If there’s any trouble you need to return to the village. Do you understand?”
I nodded and scurried behind my hiding spot. Thorn ventured onward and into the clearing. I peeked around the wide girth that was the tree trunk and beheld a quaint little pond much like the one where Thorn had taken me on the previous day. A small waterfall fed the pool and an outlet ran westward away from the village.
Three figures splashed about in the pool. They were women about my height, or mostly women. Their hair streamed down their backs and morphed into feathers while they plashed one another with arms in the shape of wings. Their noses ended in sharp beaks and their eyes those of a bird. Their skin was speckled with shorter feathers and a thin down of fluff. Occasionally I glimpsed long tail feathers that stretched out of their butts.
The trio were naked and their buxom breasts bounced up and down as they hopped about. Thorn approached the edge of the pool and one of them noticed his coming.
