Rick noticed Gia had left but he wasn't worried. Gwen felt so good in his arms he didn't want to let her go but knew they needed to talk. He also knew that as long as he was holding her, he wouldn't be able to form an intelligent conversation.
"Gwen, I need a plan. Gia fixed me so that I can't get hurt but you could, so we need to allow for that. Also, I'm not really an aggressive sort of guy. I don't really want to go to war with the humans, but I've got to figure out how to fix their new mindset. Someone or something has influenced them and is making them dislike all the other races. My plan is to fix or change it, but I have no idea where or how to start."
Gwen wasn't used to thinking about humans at all other than to avoid them. Trying to fix their thoughts was far beyond her abilities.
"When I'm tracking game, I try to get in their head and figure out what they will do. I normally avoid the humans so I don't have a clue what they will do. If you were to walk up to that group of hunters we saw yesterday, maybe we could see how they react. Since they can't hurt you then maybe you could talk to them and we could see what's in their head."
"I'm good with that, but I have no idea where they are. Without Gia I don't think I can fly anymore or go invisible. I've got an extra horse if you want to ride with me. I have no idea if you even ride. Then again you do have a better sense than I do, so maybe we can roam around until either we find them, or they find us."
"I'd rather stay on my feet. I can hide better that way. And I'll smell them long before they find us, at least in the woods. Out in the open they may see us, but I don't want them to see me. I'd rather you talk to them and I'll just stay out of sight."
So, they roamed around a bit until Gwen caught their trail. She pointed it out to him and then she jumped up onto his lap and gave him a kiss and said be careful. Then she did her own vanishing act.
Now that she had pointed out their track it was easy to follow it. A group of horses leave an easy trail to follow. After a bit he heard voices, so he knew he was close. If they had stopped, he could just ride up to them, but if they were still moving that would be harder. He didn't want to spook them; he just wanted a random meeting. While he was running over what he might say or not he missed their rear guard. He was a bit surprised when an attractive girl stepped out from a tree and pointed an arrow at him. Now he knew he couldn't be hurt but starting off the meeting with his magic wasn't ideal.
"Howdy there young lady, didn't mean to startle you. I wasn't trying to sneak up on you, I was just following the tracks to see who was who."
She whistled what he assumed was a signal and he stopped and waited for what came next. She told him to get off his horse and put his weapons on the ground. He just grinned, "Getting off my horse seems fair but I'm not sure about the weapons part. No idea why you would need me to do that. I'm not attacking you or anything. I'm just waiting on your friends to show up so we can all have a friendly conversation."
"I'm not asking, I'm telling."
"Geez, not very sociable, are you? Am I a threat to you somehow?" He could see the rest of her group circling around him. You have me surrounded so it would seem I'm no danger to you so lets all relax and have a chat." He turned his defense too passive in case she did shoot. Killing her wouldn't start the meeting off on the right foot. "Before we all start killing each other I'd appreciate knowing what all this is all about. Do you normally kill anyone you see without a reason? I mean if I was attacking then by all means but I wasn't. Had no intention to, I just wanted to have a little visit. I haven't talked to anyone in a while and figured a conversation would be nice."
In a very snarky tone, she said, "There ain't no killing each other, you are the only one dying here."
"Ok, whatever you say, I'm just curious as to why? Is this the normal here in these parts, to just kill random strangers? Just seems odd. I'll admit you're the first group I've seen in a while but you're also the first to want to kill me."
"I told you to drop your weapons, and you said no, so to me that means I need to kill you."
"Interesting. How about if I tell you to drop your pants? Then when you say no, does that mean it's ok for me to kill you?"
The rest of her group thought that was downright funny, "Yea Beebe, either drop your pants or shoot the guy."
He didn't have to get in their heads to know that they had every intention of killing him either way. "One last thing before the killing part starts. Who wants to be the last one standing, or sitting? I intend to have a conversation after this, and it'll be hard if you're all dead."
The only answer they gave was arrows flying. He let them all drop on the ground and offered one more time to do this peacefully. "Next time the arrows will go flying back at whoever shot them. So, if you want to be the one left to talk then don't shoot."
They didn't believe him it seemed. Miss attitude either didn't see the need to add another arrow to the mix or she decided to play it safe.
After a brief moment of silence, she decided to run, or at least that's what he thought. "Sweetheart, if you run you will die. I'd really prefer to talk. And I have no intention of making you take your pants off. I was just being funny." But she wasn't running, she was getting a sword from her saddle. "Seriously? That won't work either. Look I'll make this easy for you. If you sit down and talk to me, I'll let you run after we're done. I have no reason to kill you, I just want to talk. But if you swing that sword then I'm gonna strip your ass down to nothing and put you over my knee and spank your ass till you beg me to stop." He was not going to be bullied by one little girl with a bad attitude.
But nope, she was either too scared or too stupid. In his mind, deep down and buried was the small fantasy of spanking her bare ass. Never really planned it, would feel like a creep if he did but here, in this world. Here they kill you for no reason, so a little spank was tame in comparison. When she swung the sword, he just stepped right into her and caught her arm. Then he spun her around and put her in a choke hold.
Once she passed out the took his time and stripped her and then he tied her hands together behind her back and put her over his knee. When she came to, well let's just say that she was a bit hysterical. Screaming and cussing, she was kicking her legs ever which a way trying to get up.
"You know you have a mighty fine little ass. I'd rather give it a few kisses, but I somehow don't think you'll get the point that way." Then he gave her a big ole swat. That seemed to do the trick. Weird, he had her pegged as a hard ass. Expected to have to turn her blood red before she calmed down.
"Ok, please. Listen, I'm the newest member of this group. I had to prove I could do what had to be done. It was nothing personal. They were gonna kill you no matter what."
"Why?"
