Wander

I. Unexpected

She whirled through the goblins swarming her, slicing the gnarled figures with precise ease. The long sword she started this fight with now lay under one's body, stuck in his form; she had tugged but abandoned it with the threat of an attacking creature. Now she fought with two knives and threw throwing knives to kill distant goblins trying to shoot her with bows when she could. Rowan much preferred fighting with these smaller weapons—easier to maneuver.

Her two comrades fought somewhere behind her, hacking into their enemies with war cries. One was a man and the other a male dwarf—Elau and Korgeth.

Rowan swiped at a goblin's leg as she dropped to a knee, making her enemy's swing behind her miss. The one in front of her howled in pain as it fell; she stabbed the thing in his chest, then with the other knife, spun around to drive it into that goblin's thigh. But instead of a green thigh with rusted metal plates for armor, the thigh was clad in dark blue fabric and chain mail.

A man yelled. "Argh! Damn it, Rowan; that hurt!"

She looked up at him in disbelief. "It wouldn't have if you had stuck to the choreography!"

"Cut!"

The previously 'dead' goblins woke and got up to their feet, some mumbling about having to do the scene yet again. Standing, Rowan looked over at the director walking out to them. "Davis, what the hell was that? You were supposed to be four feet from Rowan, over there!" He pointed in the direction.

Ryder rubbed the spot where her fake knife had been slammed into his leg. "Sorry, Tyler. I guess I got dizzy from that last spin and missed my mark."

"That's the fourth time you've moved from your spot. Do I need to replace you with John?" John was Ryder Davis' body double.

"No; no, I got it. I'm sure of it. I'll go over the choreography with you to prove it. But maybe we could change up that spin move so I'm not so drunk next time..."

Tyler sighed. "Fine; go over it with me. Bihjan, come over here so we can work out your choreography!" he yelled over to where he had been seated in the director's chair behind the cameras. Their stunt coordinator, a man from the Middle East, jogged over and watched the actor rehearse the fight scene with the director.

Rowan left the three men and headed over to the makeup tent so they could redo her hair as she waited for them to shoot again. One man that worked with the Craft Service, Milo, handed her a bottle of water as she passed.

As the stunt double for the actress Alessandra Gibson, Rowan did all the physical work since they only needed her for up-close camera shots. Alessandra was the movie star—the one fans loved and thought performed in the action scenes when it was Rowan Reed. But no one knew her; she wasn't famous, and she definitely wasn't paid as well as Alessandra. The actress only got paid for a few lines, be the pretty face, and have the sex scene with Davis' character; Rowan did the hard work.

Alas, the life of a stunt double.

For this movie they were filming—Dance of the Guardians: The Crimson Grail—she played the stuntwoman-part of Sorcha: a lowly peasant trying to defend her homeland when she was the lost heir to the throne. Today's shoot took place outside in the lovely northern England countryside, in a copse of tall fir trees. Miss prissy Alessandra was stuck inside a controlled-set back in London. She wasn't enjoying the fresh outdoor air, breathing in the musty earth and pine, or feeling the warmth of the sun's rays.

But she wouldn't be complaining—she preferred being inside with air conditioning.

Rowan sat down in the makeup chair with a sigh and sipped her water as Claire, her hair stylist, got to work checking out her braids and untangling the knots in her long reddish-brown hair. Drea—the makeup artist—also appeared to clean off the excess 'fake' blood on her face and to add touch-ups. When she finished, the African American woman went off to tend to Tobias Lear, the actor for the dwarf, Korgeth. The 4'3" man needed no stunt or body double. His costume had rich designs, gold embroidery, and dyed dark blue; her costume was mostly brown fabric mixed with leather pieces cut into long strips, dark leggings, and a dark red cloak. Her clothes weren't as stiff as his and were breathable.

"Just think, Rowan," he began, "only one more year to go before this six-part movie is over. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

"You sure that's not a train?" she asked.

He chuckled, irritating Drea because she was busy cleaning the blood out of his braided black beard. "Knowing our line of work, it very well could be."

Rowan knew she was a good stuntwoman—one of the best in Hollywood—but going through five movies already, doing everything physical for Alessandra Gibson, had drained her. The requirements of her job weren't so bad, but with Alessandra, her career had dulled. She never thanked Rowan for risking her life as she, herself, sat cushy in her private trailer; never showed appreciation to Rowan for pretending to be her; gave no one—makeup artists, costume designers, the one stuntwoman who had broken fingers for her role—credit for helping her get the award she won. She was rude and ungrateful to everyone on the set. Everything had to be done the way she wanted it or she'd throw a fit, halting production. Alessandra was a bitch—she knew it and didn't care.

Rowan had put so much into this role. Tired of donning the reddish-brown wigs to hide her naturally blonde hair, Rowan had dyed it and her eyebrows to match the character and refrained from cutting it. Sorcha—the character they played—called for deep green eyes, so she didn't have to wear colored-contacts; Alessandra did to match her own. She had sacrificed her social life for this job—even lost a fiancé since she was always gone for filming.

Absentmindedly, she rubbed the ring finger on her left hand; she could still feel the engagement ring he gave her. Wyatt had broken off their relationship seven months ago, but it felt like he called yesterday to say that he had given up.

After filming for the sixth movie had wrapped up, Rowan figured she deserved a much-needed break. Being twenty-eight was almost the prime age for this business, but retirement wasn't out of the question yet. She just wanted a chance to live and enjoy life: make friends and go out to parties with them; attend weddings and baby showers; maybe find love, get married, buy a house, and start a family. Something simple.

She wanted to feel important.

"Alright, everyone, we're fixing to start again!" Tyler yelled.

Tobias hopped off his chair and headed for the set; she took another drink of water as she stood to follow him. Claire suddenly got in her way and hugged her.

"We're almost done, Rowan; just like Tobi said. I'm going to miss you."

Rowan hugged her back. Claire was the only one who knew about her engagement and Wyatt ending it. The hair stylist had listened to her vent countless times—topics ranging from Wyatt to Alessandra, to how poorly body doubles were treated, to politics—and had even given her a shoulder to cry on. She was a genuine friend and would miss her greatly.

After a warning call from Tyler—directed at her—she ended the hug and hurried onto the set. Rowan got in between Ryder and Tobias with her long sword back in her hand, facing a group of goblin actors. The goblin dummies they had previously 'killed' lay between them and this next wave. She hurried over the choreography in her head.

Everyone called out their designated roles: 'Quiet on the set!', 'Roll camera', 'Camera rolling', and so on until the assistant camera director slated the take, and Tyler yelled, "Action!"

The goblins came at them like before, yipping, hollering, and scrambling to reach the three heroes. She, Ryder, and Tobias cut into them and separated like before, too. Rowan slashed at one goblin's stomach, making the actor clutch the 'wound', and crumple. She fought the goblins, staggering under 'hits', dodging sword slashes, and returned to her feet as the cameras kept rolling around them.

She drove her sword down into a goblin's back and struggled to pull it out, as scripted. Her eyes widened for the camera zooming in on her as she saw the horde advancing, drawing too close; her tugs grew more frantic. She ducked under a goblin's sword, pulled out her long knives, and set to fighting with them.

"Watch out!" Tobias yelled.

Rowan turned to see what he warned about, to see the top half of his warhammer flying toward her. She saw Tobi's shocked face before it hit her, and everything went black.