“Shut up, you slag! Just put the dress on,” said Redd, throwing a floral dress Francisco’s way.

  Francisco looked at the dress the beastkin fox threw at him with contempt. A pretty red number, the thing flapped in the wind. “How do you expect me to get my big ass in this thing?”

  Felicity shrugged. “Maybe instead of having ten meals a day, you have…I don’t know, six?”

  “Hey! Do you see the amount of muscle I’m carrying? A man—sorry, a muscular man my size needs to have a meal between breakfast and lunch.”

  “Yeah,” snorted Isaac. “It’s called brunch. But people normally forgo breakfast and lunch when they have it. That’s why it’s called brunch. The name is in the title.”

  “Still though…” said Francisco, holding up the dress in the fading light.

  “Still nothing!” said Redd. “We need a distraction, and you picked the short end of the stick, mate. We need to get through this checkpoint without all hell breaking loose, and it just so happens that you can be that distraction.”

  Francisco threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t see why I have to be the honey pot? Flic is the woman here. She has curves in the right places--”

  “Oi! Watch it,” said the female rogue.

  “I’m just saying, why don’t we use what we have and send her in there instead of me? She’ll look much better in this dress than me.”

  Flic twirled a throwing knife around her fingers while leaning nonchalantly against a tree. “I’m much more the sneak in and sneak out type, you know this. I’m not one for the limelight. But you on the other hand…” She gestured to him up and down with one hand. “You, my friend, shine under the bright light.”

  Francisco gritted his teeth while shaking the dress in one hand. “How many six—foot—four to six—foot—five women, weighing close to three hundred pounds / one hundred and thirty-six kilos do you think there are?”

  “On The Other Side,” said Isaac. “A dime a dozen. There is an Amazonian race in a jungle somewhere down south that would put your ass to shame.”

  “Plus I think mate,” said Redd, “You’ve slightly grown since the first time we met.”

  “I know!”

  Francisco ran his hand through his hair. The thought had occurred to him on multiple occasions. Since coming to The Other Side, the clothes he came with no longer fitted him. Not only had he put on more muscle, but the clothes he once wore looked like they belonged to his little brother if he had one. He did not discuss it too much with the others because each of them had their own problems, but it did concern him. How much was he going to continue to grow? Continue to add on muscle and height?

  He didn’t want to become a freak. Not if he could help it.

  It was a discussion for another time. He knew he was stalling—knew what he had to do…just—he tried to fight his case once more. “How do we know that I’m what they are looking for?”

  Redd smirked the only way a fox could. “Because the main bandit asshole likes them BIG.”

  “I’ve not even got long hair!”

  “That’s what the wig is for mate. They have been hounding us for weeks.”

  “What if they recognise me?” Francisco moaned.

  “They won’t,” said Isaac and Felicity as one.

  “You are worrying over nothing. Now, shut your gob, stop being a moany bitch and put your wig and dress on. We need to move just after the sun sets. The shadows are your friend. You don’t make a fetching woman.”

  “Thanks,” said Francisco, grabbing the dress and walking behind the brushes.

  ********************

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Francisco looked to either side of him and took in the stunning scenery.

  The setting sun cast the valleys on either side of him in a warm orange glow, making the endless treetops golden. Sweeping mountain paths winding up to more mountain ranges than he could count littered the distance. Each peak trying its best to pierce the sky.

  The journey to this point had been one of constant travel. After leaving the Cloudwalker Islands, the group had travelled north doing their best to keep their heads down. But after the whole Cloudwalker Islands incident, where they blew up over ninety percent of the properties owned by the DynastyHealers Collective, their names were now known planet-wide.

  Not to mention that Isaac Levity, son of David and Lily Levity, King and Queen of the Elements had staked his claim on wanting the top spot. At wanting to defeat HIM, the one who stood on top of the mountain.

  The God who ruled them all.

  By doing so, Isaac had not only spat in the eye of the DHC, but every known domain—ruler—family—alliance—God, fuck, group whose interests he would be affecting.

  The bounties on all their heads reflected how much shit they were in. Even though Francisco did not want to admit it, accompanying Isaac on the ride so far was…like nothing else.

  Every day was different—every week offered a new challenge—a new insight into himself and life that he would no doubt not have seen if it had not been for his friend. But as the journey continued, one thing constantly nagged at his thoughts.

  He was not keeping up.

  The thought, like an irritating tick, would disappear for days, sometimes weeks, until it reared its ugly head again. He tried to put it out of his mind, but certain actions reminded him of the fact that the other two were pulling ahead of him again and again.

  It was in the way they slowed their pace down while they had been travelling. He was never a distance runner, but as he grew stronger his body adapted giving him more and more stamina. But compared to those three, he may have well been a three-legged donkey trying to keep up with Grand National stallions. Add to the fact Issac and Flic kept on playing with their powers like kids playing with Christmas presents, and the whole thing was enough to put him in a royally fucked off mood.

  He tried to hide it, but he never had the best poker face.

  Ruckus voices up ahead brought him out of his sour thoughts. A wooden dwelling in the distance, that was bigger than a house but smaller than a barn, greeted him. Made of wooden logs aged dark with time, a thatched roof barely kept the outside elements out, rested precariously on top. Horses, donkeys and lizard-like creatures that looked like reptile versions of horses, but with spiral horns were tied out front.

  They moved uneasily.

  Francisco came to a stop some six hundred feet away from it and really took the place in.

  The Ploughed Maiden.

  He rolled his eyes. Two human guards out front. But that was normal for this area. The guards he could not see were the ones that worried him.

  A large collection of riding animals meant the bar was busy tonight. The bandits must have had a successful couple of days. The level of destruction that they followed here attested to that.

  He looked for any exits behind the place, but the only thing he could see in the dying light was a steep mountain path which a creature that looked like a billy goat but with three eyes in the middle of its head, turned at him and screamed, before leaping off the mountain trail. No one, but maybe Flic could traverse that.

  No.

  All the action would come out front.

  Front and centre. And he was the man who was in charge of keeping the frontal force at bay until the others got into place. Unwrapping a flap of skin, that had a tattoo of a large woman wearing a tiny bikini, he nodded his head once more to reassure himself before he made for the building’s entrance.

  *************

  Francisco walked as daintily as he could, eyes down, massive hands behind his back.

  He approached the front, where both guards lounged against wooden posts, blades of grass in the corners of their mouths. One black—one ginger, they passed a glare between themselves before the ginger one held up a hand.

  “Hold up there, sweetheart, where do you think you’re going?” asked Ginger.

  “I’m--” Francisco slapped his chest as they looked up startled at his deep voice. “Errr, sorry,” he said again, more softly. “Something caught in my throat. I heard that there was a party in town and girls like me were invited.”

  Ginger and his partner exchanged looks once again before a smile broke out on both their faces. “Oh, our boss likes them big. He likes them real big. You’ll fit in just fine. There are a bunch of other girls already inside,” said the black guard, gesturing with a jerk of his thumb behind him.

  “That they are,” said Ginger. “Why don’t you take yourself inside and get comfortable. Real comfortable,”

  They shared a laugh again.

  “Aren’t you boys going to be joining us?”

  They shook their heads. “Nah,” said Ginger. “Not really our scene. Plus, this close to the Bleeding Peaks, we've got to keep watch in case any scary men show up. But judging by your size, you’ll more likely chase them away than anything else.”

  “Fuck me,” said his partner. “Look at the size of those hands. I bet you could rip someone’s dick off with mitts like that.”

  Francisco let out what he hoped was a girly giggle, before walking past them and into the building.

  Smoke. Sweat. Booze. Musk.

  All his senses were assaulted, forcing him to take a step back. A cough lodged in his throat, causing him to slap his chest once again, which turned into a coughing fit causing him to spit at his feet.

  Smoke clearing, Francisco took in a scene full of faces turned to him.

  Silence dominated all.

  A being more bear than man sat on a shitty made throne and gestured his way with a tankard that could drown a child and said, “Ha! Now, that’s the kind of woman I want to fuck! Get over here, girlie and welcome to the party!”