Erlan's chest was tighter than bounded rope. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was a jefna tearing its horrible, monstrous claws through the agonized woman. She could still hear the screams if she focused enough.
Her fault. It was all her fault. If she hadn't hesitated, hadn't allowed herself to be struck down by fear, that woman would still be alive. Up until this point, handling the occasional wild beast or two had been simple. Draw the runes. Lure then in. Let Frenza take care of the rest.
But those beasts weren't monsters. If this last excursion was anything to go by, up until that point, she didn't even know what a true monster looked like.
The girl of nineteen pulled her knees up to her chest, trembling, a muted cry stuck in the back of her throat. If it hadn't been for Frenza, that monster would have gotten her, too.
The twisted, crooked body. The pale, ashy skin with long, sharpened bones for claws. It shouldn't have been able to move very fast, with its legs bented at odd angles. Yet that thing ran faster than the most able bodied man she knew. All too well, Erlan remembered the bewitched woman trailing behind it, trapped beneath a spell that would flood her body with ectsasy while being torn apart by the thing she followed.
And then Erlan botched the ambush, only resulting in pissing the jefna off and pulling Frenza from her position to save Erlan from becoming the demon's next victim. It was how she found out the creature was at least a thinking creature, because instead of easily eating the woman with her mind under its command, it had chosen to release her, giving her time to regain her bearings before launching a brutal, horrific attack in time for Erlan to witness it. To spite her.
All because Erlan couldn't keep herself together.
"This woman's death - it's on your hands just as much as it is mine. Let this be a lesson."
But Frenza had lied. That woman's death was not the runkist's fault. It was Erlan's. She had been responsible for the ambush. That was her job. And she messed it up.
A cracked, broken sob tore through her scrambled thoughts. Hot, fresh tears streamed down her face, blotching her eyes and cheeks. Snot ran down her nose, and she sputtered when it got into her mouth.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, the woman's eyes boring into hers. Help me.
There had been so much blood, and the woman was still screaming.
This is your life, Erlan tried telling herself. Teaching about monsters. That was what Erlan was to do. Educate the common folk so that no one should die of ignorance. All this fighting - all this cursed blood - was surely only temporary . . . Right?
The girl wanted to squeeze her eyes shut to block out the nightmares, but that was all she saw when she closed her eyes. She couldn't go to her mother. The older woman was weak, sick, and Erlan concerning her would only make it worse.
Then there was Hida, expecting her firstborn any moment, now. Who never agreed with Erlan's decision to join the Circle, to begin with, and who was barely on speaking terms when she wasn't busy lecturing Erlan on how stupid she was to give her lie up for something so abstract.
No. Erlan had to go through this alone, one way or another. So she hugged herself tighter, buried her face in her knees, and cried.
Unbeknown to her, another woman watched from the doorway, a taller, more graceful version of Erlan, herself. The woman watched, motionless, her hands at the sides of her swollen belly, torn between wanting to hug her sister and kill the wretched curse that had convinced the girl into this line of work. This wedge between them - it was all because of her.
The runkist was placing the girl in situations Hida couldn't save her from.
Finally, Hida looked down at her belly, at the life that was due to come any day, now. She may not understand as much about the supernatural world as her sister, but one thing she understood was that
Savos and his brothers contained a quality Circle Bounded members sought for. If her child inherited it, then she had no doubt in her mind that the runkist would go after the kid, too.
One final look at Erlan told her that she would rather burn in the deepest layer of the underworld than to ever see a child of hers meet the same fate as her sister.
Jaw set, Hida turned on heel and marched outside of the house, only pausing to give her husband, who had been talking to her concerned, sicky mother, a glance. Their eyes met. It was time she did what she should have done all those years ago.
The Circle needed to go.
"Is she okay?" Her mother's weak voice reached her just as she braces herself to open the door.
"Stay with my mother, Savos," was all Hida bothered to reply . . . Only to be met with an anxious Beamol waiting just outside.
Stupid, hopeful Beamol, who's body was filling out into the form of a man.
Who still held out the idea that Erlan would one day leave the Circle, even if the idiot girl was as stubborn as stubborn could be. Hida scoffed. The two would be perfect for each other if only the runkist could get her claws off her sister's throat.
"She's in the back," Hida growled, then stepped into the night.
~937 Words ~
A bit shorter than the others! But I felt like this was a good indicator on how Erlan was originally dealing with life after vowing to train for the Reftin Circle - as well as Hida's final decision to do something about the group's influence in her village.
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On Death's Honor
Fantasy"When you're in a place that darkness thrives, you learn to fear the light." "Why?" "Because the light will kill you faster." ------ For as long as she could remember, Wren has lived a rather unconventional life. She's hunted down trolls, bled out w...
