Prologue: The Woman

A strange woman bursts into Dave Lazar's life.

                David Lazar watched himself in the mirror as he shaved. The electric razor sang its buzzy little song in his ear, and the bathroom walls responded with their quiet, reverberation. He brushed the twitching blades across the sides of his high cheekbones and watched the dark brown sideburns melt away. All that remained was his goatee, and that he would keep. David turned off the razor.

He didn’t always consider himself to be very attractive, in fact he usually only thought so when a girl seemed interested in him. These days that was almost never. He kept mostly to himself, even when his parents or younger siblings had company over.

Parents and siblings. They were all at church, which left the 25 year-old young man to do whatever he pleased with the house. Sometimes that was loud music, but mostly it was peaceful browsing on the internet.

David walked out of the bathroom and down the hall toward his kitchen. He wanted to refill his coffee before settling down in bed with his laptop. When he got there, he noticed that the pot was empty, so he proceeded to brew more. That was the beginning of his morning; the morning that the woman came.

There was an urgent knock on the door. Curiously, David walked over to answer it, and to his surprise the most beautiful woman in the world was standing on his front step. He’d never seen her before, but the look on her face was worried and intent. “They have our baby,” she informed him in a clear, English accent.

“Who has your baby?” David asked. He may not have known her, but he certainly wouldn’t turn away someone who needed help. The woman looked over her shoulder, as if someone might be following her, then looked back at David.

               “Inside,” she urged. He obliged, allowing her into the house, and closed the door to make hiding her easier if necessary. He hoped it wouldn’t be.

               “Not my baby,” she said, “ours.” David caught the hint quickly and tried to let her down as politely as he could.

               “I’m sorry, but that’s just not possible.”

               “If circumstances were different,” she replied as she peeked through his curtains, “then I’d accuse you of being just another irresponsible father.”

               He had to let the poor woman know; she was distressed and it would be much easier for her to hear it now rather than later.  “I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m a virgin.”

               “You may think that, but I personally know that’s not true.”

               David was taken aback by this. Had something happened that he wasn’t aware of? Had it been one of those drunken nights he’d had with his friends so many years ago? Maybe a name would jog his memory. “Who are you?”

               She looked at him intently with her chocolate brown eyes. “I’m Lana Lazar. I’m your wife.”

               The coffee pot gurgled in the moment of shocked silence.

               "My what?" he asked.

               "Do you still have your bow?" she inquired.

               "Yes, but how do-"

               "Get it," she interrupted, "and bring your field arrows." She turned back to the curtains to peek out at the street again.

               Baffled by this eccentric woman, David turned around and walked back through his living room and down the hallway to his bedroom. His head was buzzing with questions. Who the hell was she? How did she know that his name was Lazar? How did she know about the bow? Was she some crazy stalker or was she legitimate?

               As he entered his bedroom, David immediately reached for the compound bow and quiver that hung from a nail in the side of his bookshelf. After slinging the quiver around his shoulder, he kept a firm grip on the bow and nocked an arrow. He couldn’t be too safe, after all.  Lana seemed paranoid, which meant someone might be after her, and he might need to put an arrow in someone. On the other hand, she could be crazy, in which case he might need to put an arrow in her. Either way, he’d need it to be ready.

When David returned to the living room, he noticed that Lana had moved. She was now in the kitchen, and again, peeking through his windows.

               “I’m all set,” he told her. He was hoping to get answers by playing along. “What do we do now?” Lana’s reply was just a whisper. “Out through the back, quickly and quietly.”

Author's Note

Subject to change. I wanted to start with boring, everyday life and begin the ascent into adventure.