Frostbite (Original Work)

Two : The Woman and The Deer

Neve watched as the deer drank from the pond 20-feet away from her. The woman licked her dry lips. Her face was caked with a mixture of blood and mud. Her lips were blue from the cold winter months. Goosebumps littered her skin, but Neve didn't shiver.

Her brown eyes peered at the animal. She was crouched in a bush, squatting down to remain as hidden as possible. Neve didn't dare breath. Every exhale she made would let out a sign she was here. A signal in the form of breathy fog that she couldn't afford to make. She needed this deer for tonight.

Her left hand went to the hilt instinctively. The cluster of moss tied around her dagger made a soft squish between her fingers. The air was chilly and wet. Every piece of wood and stone she came across has been dry upon appearance, but cold to the touch.

The air smelled of dew and ice.

Tonight was the night. This was the night Neve would finally see the lights. The floating lights that her people needed to give to the gods above.

She really needed this deer.

She made a small grunt in the back of her throat. Her eyes stayed on her prey. Neve watched as the deer blinked. Water ran down it's due as it drank. The pond was technically all frozen over, if it had not been for a tragic accident on the ice from her people. Her heart hurt thinking about the bright mind that was plunged into darkness.

Let's hope this deer and the lights will bring them back. Neve decided with a firm nod to herself. Slowly, her hand crept to unleash her dagger. She ignored the burning numbness that came with the trapped moisture in the moss.

Her nose had gone numb and the deer was still drinking. Neve took one step forward and stood up. She reached her arm back, the tops of her fingers landing on the side of her blade. Neve squinted and the deer looked at her.

The deer stared her dead in the eyes, then saw her dagger. Neve felt anxiety claw through her veins. She swallowed thickly before her finger twitched. The deer's head adjusted a centimeter, and with that, Neve threw her knife.

The knife zipped through the air and Neve ducked down. She had not originally planned on bringing a deer, but a smaller animal. Any animal would do, she supposed, but the animals that roamed the forests were usually small. Finding a deer was not only a lucky find but an extremely dangerous one.

The blade hit the deer before it had time to react. The body dropped like a doll. It's limbs giving out from under them before their head hit the ice. Blood gathered around the head and eyes. Neve looked back, she had been right in target.

The deer, who was hit between the eyes, looked rather pitiful. A leg twitched and Neve watched as their eyes glossed over. The blood puddled around the head and made a crimson glaze on the ice. The hole in the ice got several drops of blood in it. The water turned red for a moment, before the blood faded into the currents of the pond.

Neve had her back to a tree before walking to the corpse. Her red fingers hesitantly touched the fur. The animal's coat was smooth and silky. With the knife still in between the eyes of the animal, Neve touched the handle. She pulled the weapon out with a soft grunt and moved on to the legs.

She held the calf firmly and pressed the thigh down to the ground. She broke the leg with a sickening crack.

What she didn't expect was for her leg to be snapped. Neve screamed and saw that, on the deer's chest, there was a symbol. It was a dull indigo and blended in with the blood. She cried out as she read the symbol.

It was the symbol of fairness.

What happens to me happens to you a voice hissed to her. Her head was hurting and the eyes of the creature moved to her. The dagger flew from her hand and embedded itself in between her eyes. The dagger rammed through her skin and stopped just at the surface of her skull.

The last thing she saw as she fell was a young man wearing a blue shirt.