Chapter 3 - A heroic rescue

Barney relaxed as he walked through the fields. Little did he know, he was about to face even greater peril. For at that very moment, just over the rise of the hill, stood Farmer Brown and his trusty shotgun.

Barney tripped as he began his descent, rolling and sliding down the steep, rough slope. He gathered speed as he rolled, stopping only when his body met a solid pair of legs. They were an exceptionally solid pair of legs. They barely staggered when the weight of an eighteen year-old boy and a great many rocks crashed into them. They were clothed in worn tweed, and each leg was as wide as Barney’s body. Barney looked up into the barrel of a gun.

“Don’t take kindly to trespassers in these here parts,” The man with the gun grunted, reaching down and dragging him to his feet. “Walk.” Barney did as he was told. He didn’t like guns.

As Barney walked, quavering, to certain death, a loud, rhythmic thumping filled the air. Faster and faster, louder and louder. The farmer stopped and held the gun on Barney, listening. From the distance, a tiny figure emerged, growing rapidly.

The man on horseback galloped in a tight circle around Barney and the farmer, before clattering to a sudden halt. He vaulted lightly from the saddle, leapt forward like a cat, and punched Farmer Brown in the face. He prised the shotgun from the farmer’s shaking hands, and stood over him, one foot on his chest, gun aimed at his head. Barney thought he looked rather magnificent. The horseman stood a foot taller than him, golden locks tossed by the wind, strong hands steady on the gun.

“I am Sameus Rufus Pegasus!” The magnificent man bellowed. “God Omnipotent over these lands! The boy goes free!”

The farmer, now very pale, nodded weakly and fainted dead away.

Sameus Rufus Pegasus sprung easily back into the saddle. He held out a hand swing Barney up behind him. Barney took it. He tried to swing up, he really did. It wasn’t that he wasn’t making the effort, it was just that he had very little experience with swinging up on horses, and it was nowhere near as easy as it looked. In the end, the God dismounted to give him a boost.
“Good lord, what do you have in your pack? Rocks?” The God panted, lifting him into the saddle. This struck Barney as odd, because surely an omnipotent God would have no trouble lifting a small human onto a horse, even if his bag was full of rocks. He asked the God about it, because the whole affair was rather tiring, and if there was any other way to do it, Barney wanted to take that option.

“Well, I’m not completely a God,” Sameus Rufus Pegasus admitted. “My father is a God, but my mother was just a villager. So I must complete this mission. If I succeed, I get to be a proper God, with my own palace in the sky and serving girls to feed me grapes and everything. They didn’t say you were going to be this heavy, though. Or this dirty. Now, where’s the shoe?” With that he swung up behind Barney and took up the reins. Dazedly, Barney pointed toward the forest where he had thrown the shoe. They set out at an uncomfortable, bouncing trot.

And that is how Barney gained a demigod as a companion on his journey.

[Word Count: 2658]