Scout Stories: Bruised Beginnings

Mist

Miach waited until after the midwives were gone. Then she grabbed the books from there hiding place. There was one that had a leather cover dyed blue, but the other two barely qualified as books. They didn't even have covers. Grandmother had stitched the pages together and put some kind of wax along the sides.

Grandmother hadn't been all that careful with the books while she was alive. They were her notebooks, full of medical things that were beyond Miach and the old woman's personal writings. She used to consult them while treating patients. There was blood smudged on some of the pages from her having to look something up in the middle of a procedure.

Miach examined the mark on her hand from where Grandmother had clutched at her. Her voice as she rasped out those last words. Her face. Miach had never seen her like that about anything. She had been so desperate.

Miach glanced at her Grandmother's body. What was so important about them? She wanted to read them now, to shut the door and find out. Knowing her luck Tegid would come back and rip them out of her hands. She could read them later. The most important thing now was keeping them safe.

Miach grabbed a bag from her room and shoved them inside. She sat next to the body before going.

"I'll be back soon," she said.

Then she bent to kiss the old woman's forehead and the harsh, hard cold that touched her lips made her jerk back.

She ran out of the house. She already knew where to hide the books, where they would be safe. No one would risk going there.

She ran around the corner and right into someone. Both of them fell and it was only when she was on the floor that Miach recognised her best friend.

"Where are you going?" asked Brianna.

"I saw some foxgloves in the woods a few days ago," said Miach, getting up. "They were Grandmother's favourite."

She wasn't lying. She just wasn't answering the questions. Miach tried hard to ignore the guilt that weighed her down. She would get some foxgloves anyway. She held out a hand to help Brianna stand up.

"Oh," said Brianna. She started to scratch her own head. "Do you want some help?"

"I should be fine but could you watch the house until I get back?" said Miach. Then she saw Brianna's face and added. "You don't have to go inside."

"Alright," said Brianna. "I'll do it. What do I say if someone turns up?"

"No one's going to turn up before your dad and he won't leave for it without you."

Brianna bit her lip. "Just be quick, okay?"

"I'll be real fast," said Miach.

She hugged Brianna before running off.

They called it the woods but in reality it was a small grove. There was only about fifty feet between it and the village gate. Miach had been there more times than she could count to collect things for the clinic.

Miach was almost to the gate when she spotted Tegid ahead of her. He tried to put out a hand to stop her but she ducked under it and kept running.

"Stop!" he yelled after her, but she ignored him.

The gate would be closed-but only because the large hole in the wall next to it rendered it useless. Miach was almost there when she noticed a man standing at the other side.

He was taller than most of the men in her village. His loose clothes, all brown, almost managed to hide his toned muscles. He was standing there with his arms crossed and examining the hole like it was a three-headed dear.

"Go on through!" said Miach as she jumped through the hole and ran by him.

He yelled out something in response, but Miach couldn't make it out.

She glanced back in time to see the man grab Tegid as he jumped through the hole after her. Tegid was yelling at him and pointing at her when Miach hit the tree line. Her lungs were starting to burn, but Miach willed her legs to move faster.

There was only one place where Tegid wouldn't go. No one would go there.

Miach could only hope that the stories about the fairy mounds weren't true.