Iron and Wood #Wattys2017

Chapter Fourteen

Shal sat against the back wall of the cottage.  It was dark outside, and no light came through the crack of the shutters.  There was one lamp, it's orange glow casting dark shadows around the small room.

Her head pounded, a constant throb throb throb, blocking out the echoes of Ella's voice.  The girl went to sleep an hour before, after Shal tried to change the bandage on her leg.  She applied the last of the green medicine, and she was sure she'd done it wrong-- Ella's face was pale with pain when she lay down. 

Shal stood up carefully, opening the door a crack and peeking in.

Ella was asleep facing her.  Her porcelain skin was illuminated by the shard of dim light that fell across the bed.  It reflected off her flaxen hair, tangled on the pillow.

Shal wanted desperately to close the distance between them.  To bite her was the first thought in her mind, but she slowly realized that was not what she wanted.  

She shut the door.

Shal knew what the logical course of action was-- to bite Ella, draining her, and then flee alone.  The girl wasn't going far with that leg and no horse, and her chances of reaching Haugr had dwindled from slim to practically zero.  Either both of them would die when the hunting party found them, or only one of them would.

She found her hand on the knob of the door again, but try as she might, Shal could not bring herself to turn it.

She let go of the knob, turning away and twisting her hands in her hair.  A silent scream rose from the depths of her chest.

I can't afford to get attached to her.  She's my ticket to Dangyong, that's all. 

She lowered her gaze to her armor, stacked in the corner.

The plan forming in her thirst-numbed mind was so risky it made the escape from the Fortress look like a cakewalk.  But in a moment, Shal found herself strapping the armor on, and stepping into her boots.

Her sword slid neatly into its sheath.

Shal looked back at the closed door.  Words tingled at the edge of her lips, although she could not put them together into something with meaning.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

She climbed down to the ground silently, the fresh air reviving her a little.  The woods were dark and silent, with no indication that Felix and his accomplices were resting somewhere nearby.

She'd sneak up to their camp.  And then... slit their throats?

Shal imagined dragging the blade of her sword across Felix's throat, his blood gushing out as if from a fountain.  

He'd been there when she'd graduated from training and received that sword.  They were thirteen, and he still had one more season before initiation. She remembered sitting and polishing it outside the blacksmith, and him coming and swiping it from behind.  

"Give it back!" 

Shal reached for it, but he held it out of reach.

"It's a fine blade," he turned it over in the light.  "It's heavier than mine."

"You don't have one yet," Shal said, a little teasingly.  She grabbed for it again, this time succeeding.  "But it's heavier than the training swords."

Turning around, she saw Felix was looking at her a little jealously.

"I'm going to take care of it," she said a little softer.  Her reflection shone in the black metal.