Night Witch

Chapter 7

"Can you set Lilith up for first watch?" Hans asked. They had cleared away the brambles on the ground, and despite their scratched and bloodied hands the work had left them with an immense satisfaction. "I'm going to try to find food."

"You're in the Forest of the Dead. No animals are here, just monsters. Have sense if you are going to have anything."

Hans flexed his arm, trying and failing to show off his muscles beneath the long-sleeved shirt. "Who says monsters aren't meat?"

"You want to kill and eat wraiths and DeadBirds and Bies and Sorceresses. You are a fool."

"An attractive fool." He flexed his arm again before letting it drop to his side. 

Karina's face twisted, torn between the prospects of slapping him or laughing at his childishness. She chose neither option, instead opting to speak. "A fool nonetheless. We are going to die out here."

"Wow, that couldn't possibly relate to the name of the place, could it! Oh...wait." He cast Karina a meaningful look. "Tear off the edge of your skirt."

"Why?"

"Why couldn't you be like one of the village girls, all pretty and eager to kiss me and obey? Gee, I don't know. Guess I didn't get the pick of the litter."

Karina dug her fingers into her palms, the sharp nails pressing against her calloused digits. I am stone. I am silence. I am powerful.

Hans does not, can not, and will not hurt me. No Moracian ever will again.

She looked away. Silence enveloped them.

"Karina. I need it to make a sling to kill supper."

She turned back to him, her eyes cool and vacant. "We are going to die."

"Hey, everyone dies. But you and me? Yeah, we're not dying today. I saw a feather in the prickly stuff on the ground."

She said nothing.

"It was all pretty and glossy."

Silence. Her fingers were like rabbits, twitching jerkily.

"Must have belonged to a healthy bird, that's for sure."

The rabbits bounded over the field of her leg, then stilled as though they had been struck down by an arrow. She was trying her best not to hurt him, not to scratch his eyes and twist her hands around her throat. She was doing her best not to kill him, him and his weapons of words. Whyever couldn't they have silence?

"Don't you want to eat?"

She turned back to him, her eyes thick with emotion. "I think it's pretty clear we don't get to choose who lives or dies, Hans."

Hans's blue eyes widened and his jaw hung loose for a moment. "Karina--I--I didn't mean--"

"I never know what you do and don't mean anymore. And you know what? I never did. If we weren't in this Ancestors-forsaken place right now, I swear I'd wring your neck."

"And I swear that we don't need any more bad feelings here. In fact--"

"Why?" Karina spread her arms apart. "Why don't you want any more bad feelings, Hans? You're the one that keeps instigating this. What are you trying to do, make me want to kill you? I'm travelling with you, I should at least know that you're not trying to make me hurt myself or leave or--or something! I should know you."

"You do know me! We were friends when we were eight!"

"What about after that, Hans? What about when I was Olga's  footstool and you were the village king? What about everything you could have done to help me but didn't?"

"You could have helped yourself, 'Rina, you know you could have. But no! You kept to yourself and shut your mouth and allowed yourself to be treated like a slave. You are stronger than that! Why did you let them make you a slave?"

Karina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Catch me knight, I'm falling," she whispered before turning away.

****

The sky was dark with a bare shine of starlight, inkier than the trees that blotted parts of it out. Karina lay on the cleared ground, its cold leaching into her skin, and admired the sky. There was something beautiful about the darkness that made her feel safe and comfortable.

She sat up and stretched. They hadn't had anything to eat and Karina had to admit that the effects of hunger were wearing on her. She was achy, had less energy, and her stomach seemed to be compressed into a tight ball that groaned whenever she moved. She slipped her hand into her pocket, where she had kept the feather that Hans had found and the few crusts of bread she had kept for Lilith. She wouldn't eat much, she promised herself. Just a nibble off of one stale end. 

A minute later she had devoured the entire crust.

It had been hard and slightly musty, but it was nourishment all the same. Karina placed her long fingers back into her pocket, toying with the few crusts left. Her fingertips brushed the silky end of the feather, and she pulled it out and held it to the sky.

It was an odd thing. Darker than the night sky, glossy and smoother than any silk she'd seen a trader bring to Moracia. She stroked her fingers up and down the sides of the long feather. No wonder Hans had thought it would appeal to her; it was naturally beautiful.

"Where are you from?" she whispered to the feather. "A DeadBird? A monster? A common crow?"

She heard a snap from in front of her, and she stood up, ready to run. "I am the night," said a voice that echoed all around her, and for a moment Karina wondered if it had only been the wind. But no--it was too beautiful for that. Too real. Like the silken feather she held between her calloused fingers, like the sap that leaked from trees in the Good Forest. Slow, sweet, and nearly ethereal. Was this the voice of the creature that once held the feather?

That meant it couldn't be Hans. That meant it had to be some other odd creature. A wraith, perhaps? 

"Who are you?" she whispered. "What do you want?"

"I am the night," the voice said, and Karina felt time slow down. The world was still except for this strange moment of uncertain bliss. Something soft caressed her cheek, but Karina made no move to stop it. "Be careful of your cohort."

And the feeling left. Her cheek was ice-cold, and her heart was beating so fast that she wasn't sure what could possibly have happened. Suddenly, Karina felt alone despite the fact that Lilith was in her other pocket and Hans was with her. "He is the night," she whispered. "And I will be careful."

Then she heard multiple snaps from behind her. They were lumbering and large and quick, not like the quiet snap that the feather-creature had made. And they were getting farther and farther away with every step.

Hans. 

Hello! Hi! Sorry for the late update; I couldn't get on my computer last night to finish the chapter in time. Anyways, what did you think the creature was? What do you think their intentions could be? And what do you think of Hans after this chapter? Please tell me your thoughts in the comments! If you enjoyed this, be sure to click that little star button in the corner and tell me what you liked. If you didn't, please tell me what I could do to make this better. Thank you for reading! See you next week!