Silver Lining

1: Emilo & Kelly

I stayed out in the stables tending to Bane; my black demon horse. His name means shadow. Which means the obvious.

Hell horses are rare and hard to acquire.

I had to be away from home for four weeks when I caught whispers of where and who was selling him.

He came at a huge price at the auction house. Two hundred gold pieces and one hundred fifty silver.

But I took him. Literally stole him on accident. When I entered the auction stables I had my cape up to cover my identity as a female from the males in the room.

The moment we locked eyes we had a connection. And he ran through the crowds as I jumped onto his back.

I had known almost nothing about him, but being with him this past year since of that accident. I've learned as much and more than what a simple book could ever tell me.

His fur was peeling to a pale color to match the light snow that had recently fallen.

The ice blanket covered the town in a small and quiet type that I loved. It made the town; dare I say it, bliss and happiness.

That was until I heard my drunk father calling me into the house.

I patted Bane's nose softly as he licked me, careful to not cut me with his razor teeth.

I walked to the house with the same footsteps that I had created going to the stable.

I shut the door behind after stomping off the snow on the rear mat.

Before I could turn around I felt a sharp sting on my left cheek.

I looked for who was responsible.

I stared into my mother's dead alcoholic eyes. She staggered. "Where have you been, whore?"

"I was at the stables feeding Bane." I half lied.

She slapped me again, harder. My anger rising as it did every day since I had to drop out of public school to support my alcoholic parents on their hobby. Beating me, insulting me, and working.

"I don't have time to discuss with you Mother but I am a virgin waiting upon marriage." I huffed past her to get ready for work.

Honestly, my father was too drunk one day when I was five. And he took me to the tavern and his friends almost had their way with me.

I have all of their deaths lined up. It's only a matter of when.

It's almost noon so I began getting ready to go to Emilo, my second father, a blacksmith. He's taught me how to fight. How to survive. But not how to hunt and skin a deer.

The hunters that I followed when I was eight thought of me as nothing more than a mere child. But Emilo had been training me in hand to hand combat so I was able to beat their best fighter in a fight. After being bloodied and bruised for a good while. And in return, they taught me how to hunt with weapons and without. How to survive the seasons. They came by every once in a while. I learned that if someone wants to join in a group they must fight their strongest member to show their worth. I showed my worth with a busted lip and gashed cheek with many bruises.

When they came I went to them. Listening to their travels that I desperately wish I could do.

Soon.

Walking with the crunches of the snow to the blacksmith was fun.

I was leaving my own path. A path no one could follow.

Once the door of the store closed behind me I felt at home.

"Emilo! The chicken is in the coop!" I shouted as I took off my clothing and placed them on the coat rack closest to the selling table.