Chapter Playlist- Assassin- Au/Ra, My Name Isn't- LOVA, Bubblegum Bitch- MARINA, Run the World (Girls)- Beyonce
******The Names We Shed*******
No one remembers my name.
They know of me, but they do not know me. They refuse to speak my name, as though saying it will summon me to them.
But they must call me something.
So some call me Khalid. A mythological monster, said to have protected their cities in the beginning.
Others call me Deicide. Otherwise known as the god-slayer.
Both of those names gloss over what I really am.
They hide me behind names of protectors of cities and of a girl killing the gods for the humans.
The humans don't need to hide behind those names. They don't even remember why they hate me, they only inherit the hate from their parents. They spit at me with no regard for what I might do.
The words whore and murderer echo through my head, the shouting from earlier still not forgotten.
The forest seems to echo my thoughts, the silence deafening. But still preferable to the noise that seems to accompany people.
The quiet sound of footsteps breaks through my thoughts, pulling my attention to the deer eight hundred feet away.
I move slowly to avoid detection, and slip my longbow from behind my back to its position in front of me. A hundred years of training to be able to hunt this deer.
Of course there was nothing special about this particular animal, more about what he, judging by the antlers, represented.
Of just how fucked my life had become in the past few years.
I focus on the deer and exhale as I release my arrow. It hits true to its target and the deer staggers for a few feet before falling.
I return my bow to its sling on my back. Shifting my weight to the back of my foot, to be more stealthy, I creep to my deer.
In one smooth motion, my knife is out and the deer is gutted. I pause holding the deers heart.
After a moment, I take a bite before adding it to the pile of things I won't be taking back with me.
Once upon a time, the entire deer was used. And one deer would not be enough. Blood runs from my mouth and I have to pause to wipe it off.
If any of the assassins sent to kill me found me, I highly doubt that my current bloodsoaked state would encourage them to proceed.
Not that I would mind particularly, in fact it would be an enjoyable spot in the lonely vastness that has become my life. In the off chance that the assassin might succeed, death would be rather nice, after so long.
I sling the dead deer around my shoulders, careful of the longbow. I walk to a small clearing, where I drop the bow and the deer.
The sling is reversible, so it fits perfectly on my front, as well as my back. I switch it to my front and reach back to untie the complicated device that I use to keep wings under wraps. They unfurl behind and I let out a low groan at the relief.
I pick up the deer and leap into the sky, not bothering to hide myself anymore.
The air rushes past me and I take a moment to breathe the scent of old forest and magic before plummeting down, directly into the courtyard of my home.
Helen rushes out to meet me, taking in my deer and general disarray with a shake of her head and a cluck of her tongue.
She takes the deer from me.
YOU ARE READING
The Names We Shed
FantasíaThe Valkyrie are destined to fall in love with the Naga and then kill them. Gwyn is the last of the Valkyrie and she certainly does not love Duka, the last Naga. But who else is left to kill him? "What about me was so hideous that you couldn't go ou...
