The Arrival of the Red-Haired Girl

The Arrival of the Red-Haired Girl

Seth swung his axe downward with a mighty thrust, cleaving the log in two. It was early morning. A fresh snowfall laid silent on the forest floor and in the frosted pines around him. He stopped to catch his visible breath and take in the view of the great valley below. All the world seemed still. Peaceful.

"That wood ain't gonna cut itself now, boy," old Mungo muttered, waddling up the footpath behind Seth. Seth noticed the new set of furs Mungo was wearing. From afar they made Mungo look like a giant bear. Seth smiled.

"They fit you well, now don't they?"

"Now don't make fun, boy," said Mungo in his old, raspy voice, "You best finish up and get back inside before you catch a cold."

"Is the stew done yet?"

"You'll find out when you're finished chopping, laddie!" Laughed Mungo, heading back down the hill.

"Save some for me!" Seth yelled, carefully positioning another log.

Another hour of work passed before Seth stopped again for another rest and looked up at the grey sky, when he noticed something strange. A glowing streak of blue light emerged from the misty grey, slowly moving downward. A star falls during the day? Seth thought. How can this be possible? He then noticed that this object was no falling star, and almost seemed to be coming towards him. It grew ever closer and burned ever more brightly in a blue light bluer than blue flame of a brilliance Seth had never seen. Soothing. He dropped his axe, getting ready to start running to avoid it, but too awe-struck to move. It came closer and closer. Seth panicked and jumped to the ground, covering his head with his arms. The streak of light came careening down with an explosion just a few hundred yards away.

Seth grabbed his axe and pushed off the path towards it, through the willow trees and into the glen by the Cobblenotch River (now frozen over) where the old mill was, navigating through frosted tree branches and bramble patches, tripping over icy shrubs and rocks. He slipped in the snow more than once before he got there. It was there by the ruins of the old mill he beheld the most wondrous of sights!

He saw a plume of smoke rising up in the near distance. Keeping cautious, he held his axe up in front of him and inched past the almost ancient remains of Rolby's mill where the frozen waterfall met the tattered planks of the old mill-wheel. Seth's breath came out in rapid clouds as he continued past the mill ruins to where this strange crater was, clutching his axe ever tighter. At the edge of the crater he waved his arm to get the smoke out of his face and slowly peeked over, squinting through the clearing grey smoke clouds. There he saw what appeared to be a young woman in the center of the crater. She was sitting on the ground in a fetal position, hugging her knees. Her hair was a bold and striking red color, and appeared to have what looked like horns, or points of long ears jutting out from it. She was nude, and shivering against the cold. Such an odd sight to behold! Seth stepped closer, getting ready to speak, but accidentally knocked a few charred pebbles down the edge of the blackened crater. Startled, she quickly turned, standing up, looking straight into Seth's eyes. He had never seen eyes that seemed to glow a radiant blue like that before. Her ears were indeed, long and pointed, from Seth's estimate at least six inches each. Her face was serious. Afraid. Seth couldn't help but gape at the tuft of perfectly red pubic hair in her nether region and her supple breasts with pale nipples sharpened from the extreme cold. Of all the girls he had seen in the Seven Valleys, this one had trumped them all! Before he could finish staring and manage to utter a word this woman noticed the axe in Seth's hand and started to run, clambering up the far edge of the crater and into the mill ruins.

Seth realized this and dropped the axe. "No..wait!" he yelled after her, "You..you will freeze to death!" She emerged from behind the remains of a stone wall and was running away into the snowy forest with amazing speed. He ran after her. He could hear Mungo yelling in the distance behind him. Mungo must have certainly seen the falling blue light and the explosion, he thought to himself.

"Mungo!" Seth screamed between heavy breaths as he sprinted, "Come quick!"

It didn't take long for Seth to catch up to her. Blindingly fleet-footed as she was, she was also naked and freezing and did not seem to know the terrain so well, while Seth, having spent his life among these valleys and trees, knew them blindfolded. He came up from behind her and grabbed her from behind with both arms around her. She struggled fiercely while he tried to wrap his cloak around her to warm her up. This struggle continued until she broke free from Seth's grasp and made another barefooted run for it in the snow when Mungo suddenly emerged from the bushes like a crazed giant , seizing the young woman with ease. He immediately cast off his fur outer-garments and wrapped this poor frightened girl in them. She stopped her futile struggling, realizing Mungo was a man eight times her size and feeling the warmth of Mungo's furs.

"We need to get you inside, you poor thing!" Mungo said. It was then that the woman began to speak, but neither Seth nor Mungo could understand the language or dialect she was speaking in.

"Well, look at those ears you have!" Mungo marveled at this girl's strange ears, "and this strange tongue you speak in, why I don't think I've ever heard.." She continued to speak, growing delirious and looking around frantically-- her emerald eyes illuminated by the white of the snow and the cold winter sky.

"Now, now, shh! shh!" Mungo said to her, holding the thick furs around her and rubbing them, "We are going to get you in where it's nice and warm and get some hot food in ya'." Mungo hoisted her on his back with zero effort and turned to Seth and whispered, "Must be a girl from the outer lands.. judging by the foreign tongue and all.."

"Foreign lands?" Seth barked incredulously, "What person have you ever seen from the foreign lands with ears such as those?"

"I don't know, boy," said Mungo, adjusting the girl's legs onto his waist, " but I've seen stranger things in my time."

"You don't understand!" answered Seth, "She fell from the sky! I saw it with me own eyes I did! I found her in a crater that was burnt and smoking!.. as if struck with fiery brimstone from the sky itself!" The girl solemnly looked down at Seth from Mungo's back, seemingly understanding what Seth was trying to explain. Her fox-like ears poked through her brilliant red hair.

Mungo didn't seem to believe Seth. "Have you bleedin' gone mad, boy?"

"You didn't see the blue light? The explosion?" pleaded Seth.

"Thought I heard somethin' strange," reckoned Mungo, "A bump of some sort. Figured you was unloading the timber 'till I heard ya' screamin'. No matter. I am not gonna stand here listnin' to your foolish tales while this poor girl freezes to death, now will I? Besides, I got me a pot o' stew that needs stirrin'." Mungo started back to the cottage with a huff. The red headed girl clung to his warm back. She seemed comfortable with Mungo.

"Well how do you suppose she made it all the way out here from the outer lands with no clothes on?" yelled Seth after him.

"You saw that smokin' burnt hole in the ground she was a'shiverin' in!" grunted Mungo, "She must' a burnt 'em!"

Seth grumbled to himself as he followed them home.

~

When Seth's sister, Aia, returned from a hunt later that day, her mouth fell open wide as she stood in the doorway of their wooden cottage, a pair of plump rabbits hanging from her left hand. A strange red-haired girl was in her home with Mungo and Seth, wearing Seth's clothing and thoroughly enjoying a hot bowl of their venison stew. This odd girl looked up from the bowl through her disheveled ruby bangs as the heavy wooden door creaked open, a bit of meat hanging from her lips. Her eyes suddenly widened when she looked at Aia's face, and she immediately dropped the bowl of stew and jumped from the chair. She went right up to Aia and put her arms around her, as if she was just reunited with somebody close to her whom she hadn't seen in a long while. She was babbling in her strange language uncontrollably again, but this time in a state of utter jubilance and ecstasy rather than fear and confusion. It was surreal to Aia. A total stranger with odd-looking wolf ears fawning over her, giving her kisses on the cheek, babbling utter nonsense. The hug went on until Aia became uncomfortable and Mungo had to pry the girl off of her. As they tore her off of Aia, the excitement began to fade from the red-headed girl’s face as she began to realize Aia did not seem to know her. As her smile faded away, she began to cry. For Mungo, Aia, and Seth, The next few days would prove to be the strangest of days they had ever experienced.

This red haired girl seemed to be a foreigner. From where, none of them knew. The language she spoke was one that none of them recognized. Not even old Mungo, who had traveled the world far and wide for many long years and learned the different tongues of many different races of men.. but only Seth knew and believed the truth that she was not of their world, and he slowly began to give up trying to convince Mungo or Aia of it. It seemed neither Aia nor Mungo saw the blue light in the sky that day. Nevertheless, the three of them decided that it was best to let this strange girl live with them until they could figure out where she came from and get her home.

They had decided to call her 'Rua'.