Summer, the rainy season of my home. The storm rolls across the skies like it does every night, but tonight it’s heavier than usual. The thunder booms constantly, a bass drum in an orchestra that parades itself in the evening sky. It’s beautiful in its own way. Something so fierce and distant but still so powerful. The windowsill I am sitting next to rattles in the wind as rain lightly strikes the panes. I can feel the wind leaking through the poorly insulated windows of the farmhouse. Its warm and moist, meaning the next few days my father will probably ask me to help him keep the house from molding. I always hated that chore during the summer.
‘Ah but such an auspicious day it was’
My train of thought was ended as the soft smell of fresh rye bread filled my room. It looks like we’re having cheese and bread tonight like most nights, but that’s ok I suppose. Despite my father’s lack of many skills he was a great farmer. I stood up and slowly walked down the hall towards the kitchen, dragging the tail end of the blanket that I had wrapped around me across the floor. I shuffle in to the fireplace lit kitchen and draw my chair out. I climb onto the chair. It bugs me how short I am, but I know I’ll grow into it. I am only 4 anyway. My father looks up at me and his mouth moved to tell me something, but I can’t hear it. I know he is berating me on bringing my blanket to the table. Then a knock at the door… loud, sharp, demanding an audience that I as a child could not comprehend. My father gets up to answer it and I hear a conversation. He invites two people from the rain. A man, easily as old and my grandfather was the last time I had seen him, and a young woman with beautiful blonde hair and copper tinged eyes.
‘Funny you’d think the eyes would have been a give away, even for a foolish child such as yourself.’
The new faces sit down at the table and are given our meager meal. A few slices of rye bread and some cheese that smelled horrible. The man was obviously well refined as he ate delicately with a fork and knife that he had unraveled from his bag. The girl sat and prodded the food with one of our forks. She looked bored or tired. I speak up and tell a joke to cheer the girl up.
‘It was a terrible joke it seems’
True, she was annoyed afterwards wasn’t she. She stared at me for the rest of the dinner, her eyes vacant of any thought or reasoning. It wasn’t until after my father had given the man some wine that he had spoken to the girl. Those words were clear and unmistakable. “If you are hungry you may eat.” A simple sentence that meant nothing to me, that is until her she smiled deviously. Her eyes were no longer empty, but they were primal now, seeking something to hunt and kill. My father noticed this but couldn’t react quick enough to the oncoming onslaught. In an instant the blonde woman’s arm tore apart and revealed rippling muscles and dense golden fur. Her fingers each ended with a blade like talon. In an instant her arm slid itself into my father’s gut and then through the other side of him.
Blood is now running down the walls and my face. I can’t move as I stare at my mother, unmoving as she lies on the floor. Her face is pale, but I don’t know why. The eyes move themselves towards me, coming out of nowhere like the storms that happen every night. They sit motionless inches from my face now, shining like brass instruments as thunder played the drums from high above us. Those eyes had found more prey and now felt more alive than they were earlier. A sharp pain rises in my side and a howl of anger erupts from the blackness behind those eyes. I can feel the room getting hotter and hotter. A man is now standing outside my home and beast stands next to him. The man’s eyes are black as his body emits dark purple flames that lick my house like it is a treat. They smile and turn away as the purple fire begins to find its way to me. If only my tears were enough to drown it, but even the rain could not stop this hellish fire as it whipped at my skin, caressing my eyes will violent jabs of light. I bolt upright in my bed, drenched in cold sweat.
’11 years and you still fear that beast? I thought you were going to hunt and kill it.’
“I am. It’s just an old childhood fear. It won’t get in-“
‘Are you sure it won’t?’
“I’m not a scared girl like I was then.”
‘Yet you still fear becoming a lycanthrope. Becoming bitten by one.’
“It won’t be a problem as long as we have this pact though. You keep my blood silvered.”
‘You really are a pathetic creature. Even while knowing this you still fear the pain’
“You’re one to talk, trapped in a little girl. How desperate you must have been after waiting in the mud for so long.”
‘The age and gender of a pact bearer holds no sway in your capabilities to fulfill our contract.’
“Gods I hate you sometimes.”
‘You and I both know you have forsaken gods from the moment you found me during that mudslide.’
“Let’s change the subject. Is it morning yet?”
‘Yes and I suggest we get moving, there is a caravan heading to our destination and I am quite parched.’
“Very well, were have I set you again?”
‘The left corner of the room, opposite the bed.’
I walk stumble in the darkness and place my hand along the walls. I begin to make my way to the door of the room I have rented and I find myself close to the source of my irritation this morning. I grasp the cold bone handle of my sword and rejoice for a moment as the world around me fills with colors and shapes. Once again I can see the world around me. The poorly sewn carpet and dirty sheets of this run down in. Most of the wood on the walls looks like it is splintering from age and the unmistakable smell of mold comes from the ceiling. “I wish I had more money.”
‘You could always kill a few more travelers like you used to do’
“No. I’m done killing innocent people and taking what belongs to them. You know that –"
‘Yes I know you have that foolish notion to help others but you can’t do that without helping yourself first.’
“Can we go now?”
‘You are the one with the legs.’
I pull my bag over my shoulder and stop. It feels lighter than usual. I set my bag back down and search through it. An extra pair of clothes, some woodworking tools, some forging tools, a bedroll, 2 water skins, a few rations and…
“MY GOLD IS MISSING!” I stand up and growl under my breath.
‘That bar keep was in hear last night, riffling through your things.’
“AND YOU DIDN’T WAKE ME?”
‘You would have been a blind woman with an unknown assailant in your room, what would you have done without me? Regardless we can go settle the matter down stairs.’
“I’m not killing him.”
‘You don’t have to, you just have to go and get your money back.’
“No, he can just have-“
‘How will you pay for the Caravan?’ I become silent. He knows he has me where he wants me. I sling my bag over my shoulder in defeat and trudge downstairs. I walk over to the barkeep and cleave my sword into his bar top between two customers.
“Hand over my stolen gold now you old shit before things get dicey.”
“I-I don’t-“
“5”
“I’m going to call the guards!”
“4”
“Uh- uh”
“3”
‘Release me girl!’
“2”
‘NOW BEFORE THE COWARD CAN DO ANYTHING’
“Here! Have your gold back! JUST LEAVE MY ESTABLISHMENT!”
I smile as I feel the disappointment in my blade. I rip my blade from the counter top and take the small bag of gold from the man. I then walk toward the caravansary and put my name on the charter for the town that was pointed out by my blade. I sigh as I realize it costs my last 5 gold, but it’s worth it if it will bring me one step closer.