Portrait of a Reluctant Hero

100-word story

Saddle leather creaked as Gwynn fidgeted atop his fearsome warhorse, Clyde. The alien world visible through the shimmering portal appeared to be equal parts forest, rain, and mud.

“Like Seattle,” Gwynn thought, “before Starbucks.”

Tradition dictated that heroes charge through portals as they appeared, slay whatever monsters presented themselves, and so f…