Mortance: A Miscarriage of Hope

Lily Ⅳ

The days had begun to blur together since I'd left.

It had been at least a fortnight, I was sure of that, long enough for features to fade. I could remember what Dani looked like normally, but even more vivid was her maimed body. Small, naked, vulnerable, dying... because of me. It was my arrow that had caused her fall. It was my fault. Rose deserved justice, but not at the expense of those seeking it.

And so, by my own doing, I was chasing the vir alone. I won't let her take anyone else, I thought. I will be the only one sacrificed for justice. Dani and Herry both were on their way back to Espar, and they would be healed. Nobody else would be hurt because of me. Nobody else besides that monster.

Six times, I'd caught up to the vir, and six times, it had escaped my arrows. By some dark sorcery, the monster could disappear. I could only guess how. The snow was white and the wolf was black. My arrow should've found its mark easily, but I couldn't hit the monster. I will, I told myself. I'll shoot an arrow straight through its neck, just like it did to Rose. But my shots never found their mark.

The first time was only days after I left them. The vir had been struggling through a snowbank when I came upon it. I loosed an arrow, but it only hit snow. The vir was gone before I could shoot again. I must be quicker on the second shot, I told myself.

But I still wasn't quick enough by the second time. My target had stopped in a clearing, and I lined up the shot. As soon as I drew back the bowstring, the vir perked its ears up. My arrow flew, but the creature saw it coming. I missed, and when I'd drawn my second arrow, the vir was gone.

The third time, I caught up to it on a frozen pond. The ice was dangerously thin in some parts, but the vir was there, and so I was too. My first shot should've landed, but ice cracked beneath me as I stepped to shoot. The vir was alerted to my presence. Beneath my feet, the thin frozen surface of the pond began breaking apart, and my shot went wide. I very nearly fell into the freezing cold water. When I finally returned to stable ground, the vir was gone.

But by the fourth time, I was quick enough on my second shot. The murderous, monstrous, wolf vir with fur as black as its soul didn't see me coming, but it still somehow evaded my first arrow. It was running. It had nearly reached a tree to hide behind. That was when I loosed my second shot. I smiled as the arrow sank into the monster's hindquarters and the beast whimpered in pain. Still, the vir survived, and so the hunt went on.

When I caught up to it again, the forest seemed to hold its breath. Fresh snow blanketed the ground, but the weather had since become so still, it seemed to have frozen itself. The vir inevitably heard me then, and it was behind a tree when I loosed my first arrow. By the time I reached the monster's hiding spot, it had disappeared.

The sixth time, I spotted the villainous vir long before it saw me. I climbed the trees, taking the high ground. I shot... but a sudden gust of wind brushed my arrow aside like it was nothing. It landed next to my target, so close, yet so infuriatingly far. My second shot lined up with the wind, but the vir outran it. The monster was gone before I could get off a third shot.

But now, that third arrow would sink into the monster's flesh and deliver justice to Rose. I will kill it, I vowed yet again. The monster was stumbling through the forest, burnt, wounded, helpless, but it would not stumble much longer. No, a voice in my head said, she will run. But I knew the vir would not run again after today. Dead things couldn't run. An arrow through the neck, just like it did to my sister.

The vir was drinking from a half frozen river. A hawk flew above us as I approached quietly from downwind. The monster will die. I nocked an arrow and moved quietly towards my target. It would not see, hear, or smell my coming, but I'd have to be closer to shoot against the wind. A fair trade, I thought as my heart beat loudly in my chest. And now, I will kill it.