The Wildwood's Daughter

Though the river ran swiftly through the wildwood, ice still formed around the edges in a pattern of intricate lace. Snow had not yet come, so the ground stood barren and solid. Its plain brown face gaped open at the dark gray sky, and the damp trees stood like perfect, naked sentinels. The small animals that usually roamed the woods hid in burrows and outcroppings, escaping the biting air that came before a winter storm. Only the deer moved, eating the bark from trees whose green leaves were but distant memories. Dainty hooves dug for roots, and warm noses sniffed through the thin layer of dead leaves.

The dark surface of the water rippled as a girl rose from the depths. The inky water cascaded from her spun dress, making it cling to her body. Long, pale fingers trailed against the surface as she waded toward the sturdy form of a man on the shore. His red hands wrapped her into his warmth, his chin resting on the sopping black hair that could not be tamed even by the yarn she wound around it. The deer scattered at their em-brace, disappearing into the shadows with flashes of white tails.

Ignoring the retreating animals, the girl reached for her lover's lips. Before she could taste them, something clamped loudly against her arm.

The pain of a thousand knives shredded the nerves in her wrists until she screamed. She tried to pull away from the stabbing shoots of fire, but as she hopped backward the clink of metal against metal stopped her. Stretching between herself and the man was a length of chain, and around her wrists sat two thick rings of pure steel. Underneath the man-made manacles, her skin burned and itched, giving out the smell of rotting leaves and dying animals. She hissed and began to pry at the metal with her fingernails until blood ran down each of her knuckles.

His thick eyebrows shot up and he reached for her, his voice gentle and kind. "I'm sorry, Miranda," he said, caressing her cheek with one hand while grabbing the chain with the other. "I can't live with never knowing if you're mine or not."

"Get them off," she spit out, all her focus on the icy cold steel that seeped its blinding pain into her very bones.

"No. I want you to come back to the village with me. I want you to stop running away whenever I talk to you of something more than silly trysts in the woods."

"It hurts," she said, tears pressing at the corners of her eyes. "Metal is not of my kind. We cannot touch it."

"I'll take them off when we get home," he said, all business now. He had decided. He wound up the chain so that she was forced to walk toward him. She could see the other end, far away, hidden behind a tree, and staked into the ground by a heavy nail. She would have slipped under his arms and pulled it up, only she could tell even from where she stood that it was the same dull gray as her manacles.

She yanked on the chain, whipping it up so that it struck him on the cheek. He pulled back, his eyes hardening for a moment as a thin stripe of crimson bloomed on his olive skin. "Don't you see I'm doing this for your own good? You love me, and I love you, yet you let your connection to this dark place rule your actions. Settle down and raise a family with me! Don't you want that?" His voice was filled with hurt and anger. The kind she knew to fear.

Instead of answering in words, she began to snarl and bark in the language of the wolves. She whipped up the chain, forcing him to drop it and step back. His eyes locked onto hers and slowly filled with fear as she snapped the air with bright white teeth.

"What are you doing?" he asked, dancing away from the chain as it snapped tight.

"Release me now, human," she growled.

"Miranda..."

He started toward her, his perfect lips parting as her name crossed them again. She felt that loving twinge in her chest and the hollow feeling in her lungs. His fingers brushed against the side of her arm. The anger fell from her like scales from a butterfly's wing. Her shoulders slumped and she brought her knees to her chest. The manacles jangled as she held her arms out toward him.