Good Boy
by Daphne Garrido
It had all been too much.
This Winter was a fucking mess. Life just turned upside down.
Umi was going to make her way out of town. Get to the bridge, and just go.
It had been many years since she’d hit the road, just her and Oscar.
They needed this time.
He’d been by her side for so long, and he was getting older now.
This might be their last journey into the wilderness together.
Oscar had come to her.
One rainy night, long ago, Umi had sought shelter in an abandon farmhouse on the trail to Mooreheim. It was there she’d found a mother with her litter.
Her boy was the runt.
She’d raised the whole group of them, for a time. Adopting the mother, until the pups were growing fast.
Within just a handful of months, momma had passed.
Umi was able to find really great homes for each and every one.
All twelve of them.
Especially Oscar. She’d known he was hers from the moment she saw him.
He was a special guy.
Touched her heart in unknown ways, he had.
Through the years he’d gotten her through the toughest times. Always such a trooper. Never out of love to give.
She was going to enjoy this trip.
The way things worked in the wild, was this; you kept yourself alive.
Creatures lurked beyond the bounds of The Vale.
It was not a place for those unprepared to wield an axe. Those unskilled with a bow. The unequipped.
Umi had the best weapon of all.
Her sorcery.
She’d wielded such powers, always, even as a child.
They’d been too much for those around her. It had caused her family to box her up. To keep her a secret.
They’d not known what to do with such a girl.
She was beyond them.
The ways they’d held her down. Turned her against herself. Repressed her gifts. They’d made her less than she was.
Under the stress of this pain from such time unseen by the world, so misunderstood by those meant to be closest to her; her body had revolted.
Her powers turned inward.
She’d been taught to use them against herself.
It was only as an adult. Free from their net of lies. Having lived years without understanding who she really was. Where it cracked.
The floodgates opened.
She started to see what she was capable of. Quite a lot.
And so she’d made her mark on this world. Taking fast to her craft. Holding tight to her honor. Tearing down all of those who stood in her way.
Yet there was an imbalance.
Having been stowed away so long. The ways it all came out, were not in line with who she really was. She’d overcompensated.
An easy mistake to make.
It felt good. For a time.
In this time she’d found Oscar. It had changed her.
He just loved her so much.
She’d never felt anything like it.
Like some missing piece she’d been searching for all along; his sweetest love.
Gratitude was not something she was accustomed to feeling.
It hurt her heart.
But with time, in his presence, she’d found her edges soften in ways that somehow felt just right. That brought her back to who she really was in her heart.
This old guy, with her now, after all these years.
She’d never felt love like this. She’d never been more herself.
“That fucking cunt.” Umi whispered under her breath.
Bjorn was her least favorite living being.
Drunk. Abusive. Liar.
“This goblin-fuck.” She’d reiterated.
He and his cronies had been terrorizing Elkshur Woods for the better part of a decade.
She was going to put an end to that.
He’d been on a tear.
She didn’t know if it had been Edelegrad or Port Novo, but she knew what the screams meant.
He’d raided.
They’d taken people; women.
Her wrath would speak through fire.
The charred remains of a half-dozen goblins were sprawled about her.
She paced forward. Closing on the cunt himself.
Bjorn was fucked.
All his people were toast. Literally. And he was begging.
Nothing could’ve made Umi’s heart feel more at ease, than to see she’d made it in time.
They were bruised and beaten. Traumatized, no doubt. But crueler fates had been prevented for these women of Port Novo.
For Bjorn to think he’d a chance to breathe after this, was a joke to Umi.
She enjoyed walking him down. Seeing him crawl. Hearing him beg.
She’d take her time with this one.
Oscar was running ahead on the trail, bounding into little leaps.
He loved the road. He just loved being with her.
They’d escorted the three women to their homes.
Their families had all given Umi gifts she now carried.
The last had seen how much was already in her pack, and gave her a horse.
She’d walk it back home with Oscar.
They’d take their time.
There was a waterfall Umi could not resist.
All her adventures about were punctuated here at some point along the way.
She was a little sad it wasn’t just her and Oscar on this trip home. So she’d tied up the horse to a tree a ways back.
This had always been their special place.
Oscar was splashing in the water. Looking back at her with his biggest smile.
She was enjoying watching him being a spaz.
His light was bright today.
It always was, but she thought he knew. His time was running low.
He’d always been a snuggler. But he’d been leaning in extra-hard these days. Wanting to be on top of her as much as he could.
She’d let him.
They’d slowed things down to spend this time together, as he was getting older.
Umi would have a lot more adventures. She’d get back on the road.
She’d take all the time she could get with her boy though.
She wanted all of it.
The fire was crackling.
Her neighbor had been cooking the sweetest smelling stew.
Oscar had just run over.
Umi was able to finagle a tasty meal out of it.
Pretty good deal, she reckoned.
He was snuggling up tight.
She was writing a journal about their travels. She’d started doing that once she’d found more time in her life.
It had proved really important to her.
A part of her knew these works she wrote would reach people one day.
That they’d make great change in the world.
People would hear the voice of this sorceress who’d walked such a path.
It would ring loud in their ears.
Umi’s legacy would live on.
And her good boy would always be with her, every day, no matter what. Even when he’d gone to be with Spirit.
He’d be there when it was her time. She’d known that.
It would be Oscar that laid in her lap on the other side.
No matter where she’d go in her travels. What places she’d see. The people she’d meet.
He was her home, and she knew it.
