A Court of Death and Shadows

Chapter 1: The Woods

Chapter 1: The Woods

Nyah

The woods were glittering in it's coating of ice from the mist of the morning.  It had warmed slightly from the night before, but not enough to keep the chill from settling in your bones.  I looked over to where my youngest sister, Feyre was sitting.  She was curled on a tree branch of an old oak tree, it had probably been there since before the wall had gone up many years before.  We had chosen trees that sat opposite each other to get the best view of the small clearing that our tracking had led us to.  The sharp wind that chilled our bones was also sweeping away any tracks, and thus, erasing all our hard work from the past couple of days.  This was farther than either of us had dared venture, alone or together, but it's been a hard winter and food of some sort was desperately needed.  From the sight of the clouds rolling in it was safe to assume that the deer had wandered farther into the forest and closer to the fae lands.

She raised her eyebrows at me and I gave an answering shrug as I shifted my position to climb down the tree.  Between the snow swirling around and my stiff limbs, it was obvious that it was time to make our way home, there was no point in risking frostbite over deer that weren't likely to come anyway.  A twig snapped and I jumped, the stories of unnaturally large wolves and mysterious tall folk had left me jumpy.  I shot a glare over to Feyre when I realized it was just her stepping over deadfall.  I strung my bow over my back once again and met Feyre down the deer trail we had followed in.  My eyes glanced over her body, thinner than it had been last month, and I sighed quietly.  We had run out of meat yesterday and I hated the thought of going home empty yet again.  If my other sisters ever helped by doing anything besides complaining then maybe we wouldn't be as poorly off as we were.  I can't fully blame them, Elain was too gentle for killing and our parents had always encouraged that, "Gentleness will outlast beauty" was our mother's famous saying when it came to her.  Nesta, my twin, on the other hand, there was no such gentleness in her body, every fibre of her being was coiled with spite.  So much so that it showed in her features.  It was a running joke in our family that it all started when I beat her in the race of who would be born first, but I personally think it started far before that.  We were odd, Nesta and I.  Contrasts of each other in so many ways, I liked to think that we would have been closer if life hadn't thrown us into poverty.  I tugged on Feyre's golden brown braid and she stopped, shooting me a glance.  I gave her a small smile, blue-grey eyes meeting each other and whispered,

"Keep a sharp eye out, we need something to bring home."  She winked.

"Always do, Nyah" I rolled my eyes and lightly shoved her as I walked past onto the path ahead, her footsteps soon echoed mine as we crunched on the hard snow towards home.  Feyre and I were the closest out of all of us sisters, sharing a similar spirit and desire to survive above all else.  She had promised our mother to "watch over us" as well as she could, but I tried to make it easier on her.  I was the eldest and that was my job so I'd be damned if I didn't do the best possible job that I could.  My stomach growled quietly, scoffing, I rolled my eyes and scanned the snow for more tracks.  With every step I took my body felt heavier and heavier, food had been scarce and tempers had been rising at home.  My mind started to wander into past memories of tables laden with food and I could almost smell the aroma of fresh bread and fruit.  I shoved the memory down, no sense reminiscing about the past when it was the present that mattered.

Loose strands of hair that had escaped its braid whipped into my eyes and I shoved it out of the way.  The curl snagged on my ash arrow, the white tip contrasting against the dark brown of my hair.  The brush rustled, my head whipped in unison with Feyre's towards the sound, the potential dinner made my mouth start to water.  I heard an arrow leave the quiver and drew mine as I turned, Feyre's bow was pointed towards a small clearing where a meek-eyed doe chewed placidly on some tree bark.  My own bow was drawn before my next breath and I stared down the shaft of my arrow, the doe in my sights.  With this doe, we could put up enough food to help us through the next cold snap.  Maybe, if the right people were buying, we could even sell the hide and get some coin for much-needed necessities.  Feyre and I needed new boots, ours were worn from constant use.  Elain needed a new cloak, her small form was chilled easier than the rest of us, Nesta would likely spend it on nothing that we needed but whatever her selfish soul desired.  Feyre wouldn't dare admit it but I knew her heart ached for some paints, a kindred spirit to my own desire for some pencils.  I knew without looking that her bow was pointed at the does head, mine at the heart.  We had done this often enough that there was no need for words.  I heard her suck in a quick breath and squinted, something had spooked her, I dared looking away from the potential meal to see what she was looking at.  Her eyes were wide and staring directly ahead.  My own followed her gaze and my heart dropped, skipped a beat, then resumed pounding fiercer than it ever had before.  For directly in front of us was a gleaning pair of cold, yellow eyes.