Tessa could have melted with relief, but instead she turned and headed back the way she came, swift and light-footed just in case the man changed his mind!
It was a little ways back to her own modest camp, and it wouldn't be her camp for long. After that, she would be packing up and moving as soon as possible! Just in case those people came back, and decided they wanted more sheep--or something more than sheep.
But as she came out of the cover of the trees that she saw with a sick, sinking sensation that someone else had found her camp first.
Someones.
There were three men, and each of them was stocky and well built, a couple with the scars to show they'd done horrible things before and come out on top. There they were, rifling through her meager belongings and herding her sheep together, and Tessa saw with a gasp that caught in her throat that they even had Fable, muzzled and leashed.
Fable saw her first. She whined, tugging at the leash and wagging her tail, and the men looked--and smiled.
Their grins only broadened when they noticed the mage's mark embroidered onto the breast of her tunic.
"Well hello, little witch," one of the men sneered, hand playing with the dagger at his belt as he approached. "Don'tcha know it's dangerous for a little girl to be out here on her lonesome?"
Panic gripped Tessa, and she backed up slowly. She wasn't defenseless and she'd had to defend herself against trouble before. The problem was that she'd always had Fable to help her, and she'd been armed with at least a crook.
The only defense she had now was one she dared not touch. Ever. Not even if the alternative was death.
Better death than damnation.
"S-stay back! I'm warning you!" she said, praying she could at least intimidate them with the threat of magic. She was terrified of them--but terrified of what could happen if she did act. A mage's word wasn't worth much; if she hurt them, she could easily take the fall for it, even beyond what they could inflict on her. It was all too easy to convince others that a mage had used magic in self-defense even if they hadn't--and it was that thought that kept her from expanding upon the threat.
As much as death was better than damnation, she still didn't want to die.
"Or what? You'll bewitch us? Zap us with lightnin'?" The man's grin broadened. "Go ahead. I dare ya."
And then they were on her. It wasn't a fair fight, or a long one, and she didn't stand a chance, not against three of them much less one. She struggled and kicked, tried to punch them even, but she didn't land a blow before one of them easily got her in his grip. "Let go!" she cried, throat tightening with panicked sobs. "Please, stop!"
"I call first dibs!" the laughed to the others, ignoring her pleas, and Tessa screamed as he tossed her to the ground like she was weightless. Soon he was on her, pinning her and grabbing at her belt, but Tessa kicked wildly and clawed at his face.
And all the while Fable whined and lunged against her leash.