Half Breed

Chapter One

Chapter 1 

  "Mira, come peel these potatoes," her mother ordered, her icy expression unwavering. 
    She complied without replying. The sound of her mother ruthlessly chopping various plant roots and bulbs from the garden was on the verge of giving her a headache.
    The potatoes were small and round and covered in tiny brown eyes, which Mira carefully dug out of them. Mira had many many tasks to fulfill throughout her day, everyday, assigned by her beloved mother. These tasks included hunting, fishing, tending to the garden, going into town to buy goods, and whatever else she could think of.
    This burden had fallen on Mira's shoulders after her father's death three years ago. Ever since that day her mother had grown cold to her only speaking to her when she needed her to do something. 
     "Mira," her mother snapped her fingers in her face and pointed to her cutting board. "Potatoes."
     She hastily finished the potatoes and placed them in a different pot on top of the hot furnace so she could get away from her mom's cold, robotic demeanor. 
    Mira opened her mouth as if to say something but hesitated. Her mother gave her a weird look and returned to her work of mashing the potatoes. "I'm going to go hunting tonight."
    Her mother paused, "And I assume not for animals."
    "No."
    Her mother clicked her tongue and laughed, "So you think you're just going to pick them off one by one from the trees? And that will get rid of them? You're not even scratching the surface of their numbers."
    Mira ignored her words, staring blankly. Her mother just didn't understand the grief she felt if she couldn't understand why she wanted to kill the fae. They took away her father, robbed him of his life just for his horse and game. She'd heard them speak of humans as if they were ants to be stepped on. She felt better with every fae body she saw drop, every arrow in a fae head. But it never quite felt like it was enough to avenge her father.
    "Do what you want, Mira, just be home in the morning to tend to things," her mother dismissed her.
    Mira lept to her room and shut the door hastily behind her. She didn't want to take long as the sun was already setting, so she threw on a jacket, slung her sheith over her back and grabbed her bow, it's smooth wood cool to the touch. She shiethed a knife onto her belt and was off to the woods.

    It was well past midnight when Mira finally spotted movement from her vantage point in a tall, sturdy tree. The moonlight lit a spotted pattern on the forest floor through the holes in the tops of the trees. She saw the creature briefly through the brush. It had a tan hide speckled in white. A young deer. 
    It appeared to be panicked, stumbling on roots and swinging its head to look back. Mira knocked an arrow and pulled tight on her bow, but just as she began to aim, a shadow came upon the deer from the darkness and slit it's throat in one swift movement. She watched, arrow still knocked, as it picked up the deer as if it weighed nothing, and began drinking the blood oozing from it's neck. Mira shifted on her branch to get a better view. A snap crunched through the air, and the creature snapped it's head up to look directly at her as she felt her branch begin to fall. She scrambled to stay upright by grabbing the trunk of the tree and dropped her bow. The branch broke off completely, and she tumbled down.