The Crystal Trials

2

The pelt was dry by the time I went to retrieve it the next morning. I stuffed the antlers into my bag and the pelt was draped through the strap. I also grabbed my hunting knife for safety on the road and some bread Mom baked that morning.

Munching on the bread, I made my way towards the center of town. The houses became denser as I walked, and the sound of people made its way to my ears. The house was close enough to the center of town to be considered part of the outskirts of Asuraville, but far enough away that no one could hear the shouting.

I lifted my hand in greet to Taury, my cousin, as I passed her house. Her home sat at the edge of town. The cute little cottage that she shared with her mom and dad had a front porch that she commonly sat on making fishing lures for her dad. She was there, as usual, and she smiled and waved in return.

I kept walking on, ready to see how much the hide would bring. Hearing quick footsteps behind me, I turned. It was Taury jogging towards me to catch up, her straight black hair blowing in the breeze.

"Did you get anything good?" she asked coming up alongside me and matching my pace. I always loved her slightly upward slanted brown eyes she inherited from her dad. I matched her gaze when I answered.

"Yeah, a buck last night."

"Wow! You haven't gotten that lucky in a while. Do you think Martin will give you a hard time today? I think he purposefully gives you a low cut. Did you know that the other day, Garren sold a pelt and got five gold for it? He brought him a doe skin and the back of it wasn't even clean the way you get them." Taury talks. A lot. I don't mind. She's wonderfully sweet but her opinions are always strong and she's never afraid to speak up.

"Garren gets what he wants because he's a noble"

"Yeah, well he can shove-" she cut of mid-sentence causing me to pause and look at her. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" I gave her a confused look.

"Gods above Niktda! You have a deep cut on the back of your neck! Turn your ass around and get in my house so mom can tend to it."

Sighing I turned around and followed her the few steps back to her house and sat on the couch inside. She flitted around the house between the kitchen and the bathroom gathering supplies. The ruckus caused her mother to come down the stairs. Without missing beat, Taury handed the supplies to my aunt, pointed to me, then took off back to the bathroom.

"Did Nerin do this?" Aunt Kayanna asked in her mild tone. She sat down next to me, back straight and placed the supplies on the table in front of her. Taury had gathered the herbs and mortar and pestle to make a poultice. I spotted turmeric, honey, and purple dead nettle. The others I did not recognize. She had begun grounding the mixture when I finally dare to answer.

I looked up at her and nodded, refusing to acknowledge any emotion behind the admittance. She sighed and turned to clean my wound with salt water, and I screamed in pain. Ignoring my outburst, Aunt Kay rubbed some of the paste onto my neck and I flinched. Taury returned with cotton and cloth to bind everything cleanly then sat on the arm of the couch across from us.

"He is getting worse then. How is Syrena holding up against him?" my aunt asked.

"She stopped fighting back a long time ago." I stated flatly. Taury got down from her perch silently and walked behind me to hold my hair out of the way so the bandage could be wrapped.

My aunt continued, "You know that you are welcome here any time, love. No questions asked. You can share a room with Taury." She looked at my bandaged neck solemnly before reaching my eyes. Taury tugged on my ash brown hair as she began braiding it.