Eylderfell || ONC 2024

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Hastan extended a hand to him. As always, his voice was stern, but there was a gentle, almost tender note in it.

The boy swallowed. How he longed to take it, for them to take him back home and forgive his sins, continue on as if nothing had ever happened.

But he knew what they meant to do to him, now they knew of his curse. He'd been tainted, bearing dark magic.

Evil must be purged.

The librarian pointed a spindly finger at the crow. "Look! He's been colluding with the witch!"

The boy shook his head. "I'm not—"

The crow glanced at the cat and nodded. The shadows shifted and Nestani's shrouded figure stepped forwards, causing the crowd to shrink back with a collective noise of alarm.

Sensing his opportunity, Tavor dashed forward, squeezing past Hastan and out into the night. The dogs stationed outside the cottage barked and snarled at him as he emerged, forcing Tavor away from the path back down to the village.

"This way!" The crow soared overhead, leading him round the back of the cottage. There were no steps this side of the hill, just long wild grass sloping sharply down towards the black forest beyond.

"What about the cat?" the boy panted. But he needn't have worried. A moment later she darted down the hill, back in her cat form.

"How did they get so close?" she ran alongside them, glancing over her shoulder at the villagers giving chase.

"The stupid boy let down the wards."

Something whizzed through the air. Tavor stumbled as pain dug into his shoulder. He reached back and found a crossbow bolt, embedded in his flesh.

A moment later, the crow let out a cry and dropped from the air. Tavor just managed to catch him as he fell.

"Careful!" the crow grumbled. Blood matted his wing from where the bolt had grazed it. Tavor stumbled onwards, until the ground levelled off as they neared the bottom of the hill. The dark stretch of forest loomed before him, and Tavor skidded to a halt.

He'd never been this close to the Eylderfell before, close enough to feel the wind whistle through the trees, cold like a dead man's touch against his skin. In the sudden silence of the night, the breeze seemed like a faint scream, a desperate cry from whatever lay within.

A shudder of dread rippled over his body, and his stomach twisted as if trying to escape.

Tavor took an involuntary step backward, glancing over his shoulder. The townspeople had stopped a safe distance from the edge of the forest, a line barring him from returning up the hill. He knew the villagers wouldn't venture any closer to the Eylderfell. Everyone knew the stories of cursed spirits and hollow creatures that sucked the soul from the bodies of those who wandered within its depths, of great beasts that stalked the nights and left no trace of their quarry behind.

The cat paced the ground, tail flicking. "What do we do? What do we do?"

Tavor said nothing. His eyes fixed on the forest, mind racing.

There's nothing for you here.

Again, the crow's words echoed. The village was no home for him now, not while Nestani's curse still ran through his veins.

If the witch was in the forest, that was where he must go.

Tavor stepped forward. His feet crunched in the dead grass, a dry and hollow noise, like the rattle of bones.

"Boy," the crow muttered. "You've gone far enough."

"We can't go in there," the cat chimed in. "We'll figure out a way to get past them."

The boy shook his head. "I'm going. I'll find the witch, and kill her. That's a promise."

The crow laughed. "You don't have the nerve for it."

Tavor gritted his teeth. He remembered the sick feeling of shame burning through his chest. Turning back now would just be another humiliation to endure.

Courage.

Another step. The crow seemed to notice his determination, and thrashed in his arms.

"Wait! At least put me down before you—"

He wasn't listening. Before he could change his mind, the boy took the last step forward, plunging into the dead cold of the Eylderfell.

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