On Death's Honor

Chapter 2: Blood and Water

The Fröth Woods were the perfect blend of cold and darkness to make one wonder if they'd just unwittingly stepped into hell.

I would know. I've been there, but that's a story for another time.

Watching Igna stumble in front of me, I scowled at how comfortable I was walking through the shadowy woodland, hating that this place made me feel more at ease than the small villages I'd sometimes pass through. The eerie hoots of an unknown bird echoing through the trees should have been enough to set the hairs on my arms on end, but all that did was shroud me in a sense of familiarity. Shadows flickered in uneven patches of moonlight, forming shapes of things better left to the imagination. Fog so thick that I could scarcely see past five trees in front of me hid the animals that scattered through the sparse undergrowth.

Igna could escape if she wanted to. Only her hands were bound in thick twine behind her back, but she could certainly make a run for it. Yet even she jumped at the sudden shrill calls of a livid animal, trembling when the occasional growl echoed through the canopy of evergreen pines. She refused to move more than an arm's length in front of me, muttering a prayer in a tongue I faintly recognized as an ancient Nymph language.

We were walking through a land that sent most men over the brink of insanity, and yet I've never felt like I was more at home as I did now.

"Are we almost there?" Igna breathed, her voice tight.

"Yes."

"You've been through here before?"

"I have. You?"

She opened her mouth when suddenly she turned her head to the side, spooked by a soft snap-snapping noise a little to her right. Noncommittally, I glanced over as a huge, black wolf-like creature darted forward, but it's attention wasn't on us. Instead, it growled and snapped at something on the other side of the clearing. Following its rushed path, I raised my head just in time to see a humanoid creature let out a sharp, ear-splitting shout at the wolf-like thing bounding over at it, its pale flesh hugging its bones as if it had been stretched too tight. Eyes as red as blood widened in dismay, and it frantically waved its long, sinewy arms, trying to catch the canine's muzzle with razor-sharp claws. When its attacker made no move to deter, the creature released another angry hiss, turned, and sprinted off into the fog with the canine hot on its heels. 

Igna froze, her breath catching in her chest.

"No," she finally managed. "Mutnya would never step foot in here."

I grunted at her reply, glancing up in an attempt to study that starry sky above, but the fog was only growing thicker and thicker.

What did that say of me, if some of the world's foulest monsters were too afraid to walk through these woods?

I set a hand against her back, urging her forward. She jumped at my touch, her obsidian eyes wide in fear. I wondered if any of her distant cousins were watching us through the trees, and if they would feel an obligation to help her. That would be an issue.

But that would also require her turning against me, and judging by how she had yet to make a move, I sincerely doubted she was even aware of the potential help she could receive.

You could tell her. Give her a chance to escape and find her family, if she even knew who to look for.

No, you're just looking for a better reason to kill her.

Gritting my teeth, I shook my head.

"Let's go," I muttered. "We'll be there soon."

'There' was a rocky, ankle-twisting place with upturned roots and bramble seeking to send unsuspecting passerby to their death over an equally ominous cliff. It was a pain in the ass to navigate in the dead of night, but at least the fog receded from the cliff, giving us an open, clear view of a deep, clear bay, its dark waters reflecting off the pale moonlight and stars.