The TwiceBorn

A Promise In Blood

"If one cannot handle the darkness, then one should not deserve the light."-C. Joybell

Whistler birds had begun to sing hesitantly in the brush. She thought they sounded as unsure of the approaching morning as she felt. It had been a very long night. She listened attentively to their plaintive call. It was almost as if they were raising the sun. Calling it into existence.

She remembered days when the fog hugged the ground as she readied Casper for a trip to the market. How the clasps of the harness were stubborn beneath her impatient fingers. How she'd pray that he would go all the way into town and back without some mishap.

The things she used to pray for seemed foolish now. Childish.

At some point, Aubery had rolled from her. She turned to look at him. He slept, his face slack, and his expression was one of someone who was well-pleased with themselves.

She didn't recall him moving off of her or know how long she had lain there. At one point, the ground beneath her had been warm and wet. Small, slippery little tickles had inched their way from between her legs into that damp grass. She'd vaguely felt them earlier. That had stopped at some point. She didn't know when.

There was a loud rush of water somewhere off in the trees. Slowly, she sat up and felt a sharp pain lance its way through her lower regions. With one hesitant hand, her fingers crept down to assess the damage. The bleeding had stopped which, she supposed,was a good thing but her fingers drifted over swollen skin and tears where they shouldn't be, which alternately frightened and repulsed her.

What had he done to her?

Some parts she, thankfully, didn't remember. Others, she did. Tears rose in her eyes but it hurt to cry. Both of her cheeks throbbed with a hot,slow pulse.

Slowly she got to her feet and gazed dumbly around. Gre still snored placidly away on his pallet and seeing him gave her the queerest feeling that nothing had changed. Yet...everything had.

Gre was some strange bridge that connected who she had been before with who she was now and she felt trapped in the middle with the pain in her body nothing but an echo reverberating from both sides.

Had there ever been a time when she didn't hurt?

Yes. But it felt like it was a very long, long time ago.

She couldn't straighten up completely. But she was used to that. It would take a bit. She arranged her tunic as best as she could and re-tied it tightly about her waist. As though it mattered.

This thought brought a humorless smile to her lips. Slowly,carefully,she straightened and stood quietly as she took in the morning. The water called to her, its sweet and liquid sound like music to her ears.

It would be cold. So very cold.

Good. Slowly she limped her way towards the sound. She had no idea exactly where it was coming from but she figured she'd run into it sooner or later. The thought of wild animals briefly occurred to her but she shrugged it off.