The Ballad Of Forest & Snakes

Chapter 2

The next morning, Elvenia and Grandma Elodie went to the townsquare. Elvenia was dressed in a black dress with her ginger hair pinned up. They linked arms as Grandma gasped. "Oh, dearest, look at that butterfly. Back in my day, they weren't nearly as friendly..."

"Anything you say." Elvenia looked ahead, spotting Soleil. He must be making an announcement about the blackened buckshot, she realized. In the gathering crowd of folks, she also saw Linden and Sparrow. "Come on, Grandma Elodie!" She tugged on her wrist, pulling her forward.

"Last night, there was a buckshot spotted," Soleil declared, his eyes sunken. "As you know, hunting season has been dry because of the lack of deer. However, the deer that was found seemed to be infected by a blackened plague. A beautiful creature became a monster, crooked and awful. We have determined the cause of this."

Elvenia moved closer towards Linden and Sparrow. "It was the Lamia Folks who cursed the creations of Rowan, our God." Soleil's statement made Elvenia stop in her tracks as she froze. The Lamia Folks, the monsters created by Nyoka, the Snake Goddess...

"Rowan, why? Rowan, why now?" Grandma's hand shook as she clutched Elvenia. "Oh, Elya, my daughter, this is not good. Not good at all." Elvenia looked at her leader, dismayed.

Linden's hand shot up. Of course, she was always curious. "Buckshots aren't the only animals that are harder to hunt these days. What about jackalopes? Do they also get infected?" The folks murmured in agreement.

Soleil put up his hands. "Please, we do not have all the answers."

Sparrow also put up his hand. "Our people are starving, there's been less to eat. Also, if these animals are getting blackened, what if it hurts our river? The Naim River is our main source of water."

"I promise, we will ensure that the Lamia Folks will pay. They can not decide to just hurt our lands and pretend they are not spreading their monstrosity." Soleil raised his chin. Elvenia wanted to agree, but she had been the first to spot the blackened deer. Lamia Folks have snake-like traits and powers and their gaze can turn others to stone, but not into plagued, crooked creatures.

Elvenia raised her hand. "W-What if it wasn't the Lamia Folks?"

Heads were turned and it felt as if eyes were crawling all over her skin. Shit. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. Soleil, even one of the kindest people in all of the Elowen Forest, looked displeased. "Then what caused that buckshot such pain, Miss Foster?"

Elvenia's hands went slick with sweat. "Erm, I don't know-"

"We will continue to investigate, but until then, we advise that no one should go near the Peregrine Border, it's too dangerous to even go near Naga." Soleil walked away, many others following after him, peppering him with questions.

"This is unfortunate," Grandma Elodie commented gravely. Elvenia tried to speak, but her eyes were fixated on her ex-friends, Linden and Sparrow. They whispered to each other before walking away.

She clenched her fists as someone caught her eye. Ramarisk Doğa stood with his mother, Mrs. Doğa, speaking about Soleil's announcement. He was brown-skinned with dark brown eyes that Elvenia remembered staring into lovingly. He spotted her and frowned, focusing back on his mother.

Elvenia's heart faltered as she tugged on Grandma's hand. "Let's go home, it's pointless to do anything when there are dangers outside." Ramarisk was Elvenia's ex-lover, they had a secret relationship three years ago when Elvenia was fifteen. But Elvenia was always known as the Cursed Mistake of Rowan, she couldn't sprout plants properly or other gifts blessed by their God.

Elvenia Foster must be a mistake forged by Rowan, they would whisper. Such a shame, she would have boys chasing after her with that beauty, but no powers meant no suitors. Eventually, after Mother went missing and Father hung himself in the Fosters' cottage, Ramarisk broke under social pressure.