CURSED WITH MERCY

Prologue

The night was dark and bitter cold.

The monster appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit woods. The smell of him was blood, the sound of him was terror.

For a second there she stood quite still, staring at its shadowed faces. Yes, the monster had many faces.

Then they broke into a race, a race to live.

"Jenny!", there was a slickness to its voice that disgusted her to the core.

Green shadows engulfed her as she runs. She had no choice but to run, she runs through the woods screaming for help.

Then she came across a cliff, the beast glared right into her eyes, sending panic down her spine and into her belly.

She had two options, stay and face the beast or jump off the cliff, the monster was drawing near, its red eyes glowing under the tree cast shadow. It called once more, "Jenny", this time, it sounded choky and out of breath.

She chose to fight, she rushed toward the beast and held it by the neck. It fought her off but she overpowered the monster, she strangled harder, trying to suck the life out of him. Just as the beast was about to die, she heard it once more, her name.

"Jenny!"

"Jenny wake up!" her eyes shot wide open and she noticed her hands engulfed just over her mother's throat. She'd been strangling her own mother. She panicked and let go.

"Mom", she broke out and burst into soft sobs.

"It's okay. Here now child. Go back to sleep", her mother pulled her closer to her bossom and hugged her, still out of breath and gasping for breath.

Her eyes slowly shut and through the darkness of her mind, she saw the monster as she remembered in her nightmares, except this time it was smiling.

The second dream woke her up at hours before dawn, and that was a pisser. From experience, Jenny knew it would be useless to try to find sleep again. The closer it got to daylight, the closer it got to the morning, the more vivid and vicious the dreams. She'd rather be awake and doing than struggling with her nightmares. Everything was quiet except for her mother's deep breathing.

Lazily she sneaked out of bed and headed outside her shaggy little cottage, took in a deep breath, rubbed her eyes and headed towards the river. The helms of her frayed robe swinging with every step she took, the robes themselves had long since faded to white at the stress points just about the edges.

When she'd arrived at the stream, she stared at her reflection for what seemed to be a lifetime, Jenny had droopy eyes and hair the color of rust. Her lips gave her a pouty look and her green and brown eyes made her feel like an outcast.

A shadow appeared across her back.

"Knew I'd find you here. How are you dear?" her mother's voice was so soothing.

"I'm fine"

"Well, then why don't you help me?"

They spent the rest of the dawn, picking up dry woods and packing them up into bundles. When they'd had enough for the week, they carried them on their heads and headed back into the town.

Chaol, the soldier standing guard smiled at them as they approached, he knew them all too well, "A bit early for a picking up firewood, right marge?"

"The early bird Chaol, the early bird", Marge chuckled, a smile still vividly imprinted on her face, "what?" Jenny interrupted, they stared at her quizically then burst into laughter.