My Darkening Ember

Chapter Twenty

The fog was thick, slithering all around me, dampening my sight. The ice carried my steps across its surface and I stopped. With the sound of the wind wheezing around me, I tried listening past the cracks of the ice and the wind.

The blood was dripping down my leg, soaking my boot. The dagger was resting steady in my hand, ready to draw blood. My own breath scared me, it was a desperate gasp. Nothing made sense. Sure another hunter was after me. Sure I was about to die but why didn't I stop? Why wasn't I on the ground shot full of arrows, taking my last breath? I had run, against every depressive wish to die, I had run. But I was blind now and I was caught. The ground beneath my feet was solid ice and complaining with every step.

I looked into the white fog when an arrow flew toward me. I stumbled to the side. Two hands wrapped around my waist, violently tackling me to the ground. I hit the ice hard as the air was knocked out of my lungs and the knife from my hand. She was on top of me in a second, her white hair stroked my cheek as she quickly thrust a knife against my throat.

I crossed my arms stopping her blow, gritting my teeth as the tip of her blade nearly cut me. I was panting trying to win the war of strength before she put her other hand on top of the blade's handle, pushing it down harder. I wasn't strong enough for her, for her rage and the wild look in her eyes. They were like an ocean, full of wild intrigue as if her excitement was almost uncontainable. Her face was half-covered by white fabric.

I wrapped my leg around hers, rolling her on her back. But she was fast, doing the same thing to me. Before I could pin her down, she had already managed to get back on top.

"Please..." I struggled as I tried to keep the blade from slashing my throat open.

"Save your prayers," she said before trusting the blade again, the tip of it slicing my skin open.

I gasped from pain, feeling drops of blood rolling down my neck.

Desperate, I reached out, my left hand tapping the ice searching for anything.

I found it. The steel that had been ripped from my hands. Its curved handle...the gods had been kind.

My one arm holding her back began to shake, letting me know I couldn't continue.

Then the dagger confidently found my palm and I jerked my head to the right as her knife shot past, and into the ice with such force, I heard it crack.

I jammed my hand into her, the dagger finding a home between her ribs. She whined and looked down at herself with wide eyes. It was the shock that took over as her rage faded. It was almost as if there was a tiny bit of relief too.

I felt her body shake before I pushed her off, crawling backwards on my hands, keeping my focus entirely on her. Her body collapsed onto the ice, curled up as if she was a small child. She gasped and rolled onto her back. She wasn't very tall as she lay there with the dagger deep in her side.

Looking at her, shock washed through me. What had I done?

Murderer.

My heart was pumping and my leg was bleeding so much that I didn't even pay attention to the cut on my throat.

Look at her.

She almost looked like part of the ice as she lay there, pale. The only thing standing out was her icy eyes and the pool of blood that began around her. She looked up at the sky, still with enough strength to mumble a silent prayer to the gods.

"Forgive me," I whispered as tears filled up my eyes. She would die and it would be because of me. I would be a killer. A killer...if there truly was divine heaven I wouldn't enter it now. I wouldn't see my family. I would pay for taking her life. They wouldn't even care to measure why. Because it was me or her, no they would just blame me for taking her life, a life, away. There would be no peace there...I guessed I would find out in a few days.