Page 2 of A World Enough

Brogan ran, unsteadily at first, to behind a large rocky outcropping. The first thing she noticed was this was not the place where they’d fought Balor. That had been a large grassy area, yes, but it was enclosed.

Here there were no hills, or trees, or a mountain in the distance. A woman with dark brown hair came running into the clearing, and Brogan gasped. She was wearing brown leggings and a cream top, had a weathered brown leather satchel with the strap across her body, and—most unusual—wore no shoes.

Every part of Brogan’s body tingled, from her toes to her fingertips. Who was this woman?

The woman continued through the clearing until she was out of Brogan’s sight, but then Brogan understood why her hackles had been up. Two people were following the woman, shooting energy weapons.

“She seems a bit overmatched,” Brogan muttered to herself.

Where had she landed? Wherever Brogan was, she felt a huge compulsion to help the woman who was being chased.

Once the pair with the weapons had passed her, she jumped out from the outcropping. When she turned the corner, she saw the woman at a dead end, her back pressed against a rock face.

They were threatening her in some foreign tongue that Brogan couldn’t understand. But the woman wasn’t begging for her life—she was shouting back at them, in a similar language.

She’s got some courage, Brogan thought.

But she had to intervene quickly. She bounded over there and partially shifted to her fangs and flesh-ripping claws. Brogan grabbed one in her fangs and shook him like a chicken, while she hit the other in the head so hard that he was knocked unconscious.

Both were on the ground unmoving, and she looked up at the woman, expecting thanks. Instead, the woman shouted, “Tu da, GallowGlas,” with an angry look on her face.

“Excuse me?”

“Tu da, GallowGlas.”

Whatever this language meant, it wasn’t thank you this woman was saying.

“I don’t understand you,” Brogan said, using large hand gestures.

“Da gath, GallowGlas.”

Whatever she was saying, the woman was angry.

“Da back…you won’t…”

Finally, a few words Brogan could understand. The woman’s language was becoming more understandable the more she spoke. “You won’t what?”

The woman pointed at her with anger in her eyes. “Get back, GallowGlas Wolf.”

“Yes, I’m a wolf, but what is this Gallow Glass?” Brogan asked.

“Who sent you, Wolf?”

Brogan was getting severely pissed off. “No one sent me.”

The woman slipped one hand into her leather bag. “Wolf shit.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I just saved your life,” Brogan said angrily.

“I have been looking after myself and protecting myself from these people all of my life, and you don’t fool me, GallowGlas.”

That was the only word she didn’t understand now. “Look, I fell through this portal and found myself here.”

The woman held her hand up to the stone beside her, and a glowing portal opened up. She gave Brogan a look like it could cut through rock, followed by the most sarcastic looking smile, then jumped through the portal.

That infuriated Brogan. “You’re not getting away that easily.”

Without thinking about the pros or cons, Brogan ran and leapt through the portal milliseconds before it closed behind her.