Earthwitch

3. Anele

Anele held her ground, but this time, it wasn't a choice. Two mandrills advanced ahead of the others, both as tall as houses. Alone in a swirling desert, she was stuck between a boar and a hard death.

They'll let you live if you run, said a voice in her head. It was older than her own, and it curled the end of its words like a smirk.

You're so tired, it went on. Leave. Live to starve another day. Just... give up.

Anele threw herself at the closest mandrill. It was the smallest in the pack, leaping back as she flashed the knife in a wild swing.  Its partner had better instincts. 

A shadow rose over her shoulder and crashed into her back. All three of them rolled into the sand, Anele squeezed between two giants with teeth snapping overhead. She grabbed a fistful of fur and jammed the glass knife under it. Ribs cracked, and a mandrill flew back screaming.

Only an iron grip kept the knife from flying off too. 

The mandrill clutched at its side but no blood came out. Paws scrambled over a wound opened just under the liver, in the cavity where living things kept their souls. And then the light in its eyes dimmed.

The knife burnt white hot in Anele's hand.

A thick leathery hand wrapped around Anele's throat. She held off a snapping mouth with her free hand and jammed the knife behind her, this time into something soft. 

This scream was worse, and not just because it was in her ear.

A soul could only exist in a body built to keep it. The soul of an oak tree would rot away inside a redwood. Earthwitches ate what they ate and lived where they did because it forged them into something that could house a fistful of molten iron. 

Most things were only built to house one soul.

Anele rolled away as the mandrill released its hold and started thrashing in the sand. It clawed at bulging eyes and arched into the air, trembling like a dam on the edge of bursting.

The knife, child!

It was still stuck in the mandrill's thigh. Anele leapt for it, and the last two mandrills leapt at her. Between the two of them, they were just strong enough to drag her off her feet.

"No!" she yelled as they tumbled down the dune together. 

Rolling with the momentum, Anele grabbed one of their limbs and flung it behind her. She threw the second mandrill after it, and pushed off the sand so hard it rippled. When a body as heavy as granite barrels down on you, anything short of moving aside is a bad idea.

She crashed into both mandrills feet first, and slipped even further down.

It took a second before everyone gathered themselves. They stared at each other. A three way standoff. Well, two on one, and she was downhill.

"You wanna walk to the top and try that again?" Anele said, huffing.

The lead mandrill bared its teeth, but a glimmer over its shoulder made all three of them turn.

"No," Anele whispered.

A man stood over the boar. Naked. He was tall, and made completely out of metal. Sunlight beamed off his broad shoulders. A long, thick scar ran across a belly that shone like polished steel. He was faceless, deep shadows pooling where his eyes should be.

Not a man, then, and worse than a monster. 

A Pettygod.

Only the weight of his stare told Anele he was focused on them. When he looked down at the boar, her chest opened up enough to breathe again. 

With precise, fluid movements, the Pettygod reached into the boar, pulled out a tiny glowing stone, and held it up to the sun. Ether dripped down its metallic forearm, hissing. The Pettygod pushed the stoneiris through the place where its mouth should be, and Anele swore she heard a distant squeal.

That uneasy pressure settled on her shoulders again.

The mandrills fled first and she bolted the opposite way. She didn't run straight down the dune because that would have meant turning her back.