by Candy Crum
As they approached another cabin, she could see by the moonlight that this one was much larger. A scent filtered through Arryn's nose, and she knew without a doubt that she had been there before. The lake hadn’t been well taken care of, and it had a familiar, mossy smell to it along the edges. Also, it was full of fish, but no one ever fished from it, so it emitted a very pungent scent.
"I've been here before," Arryn said. "I'm certain of it. Talia brought me here, which means we are more than likely about to meet physical magic users inside."
Sighing, Cathillian asked, "How do you want to approach this?"
Arryn climbed off Snow’s back and took a few steps forward. She placed her hands on the wooden fence. Farther into the field, she could see two black and white cows.
"I bet if we walk over there right now, those cows will be branded with Elsie’s mark," Arryn said as she pointed toward the two large, beautiful animals.
Cathillian nodded. "I'd have to say you’re probably right about that. So, I refer to my earlier question. How do you want to approach this?"
Arryn's dark eyes flashed green as she reached toward the two cows with her magic. Within an instant, both of them turned and walked toward her. They moved slowly enough not to gather attention, but certainly moved with purpose. As they closed in, she inspected them.
"There it is. The brand." She shook her head as she gave an exasperated huff.
Blackness began to bleed into the whites of her eyes, though her irises were still green. She laid her hands on the top board of the fence, and they grew hot, burning through the wood. Cathillian reached out and caught the board just before it snapped off and thumped loudly into the one just below it. He then threw it off to the side. Leaning down, Arryn repeated the process, and this time, they let the board fall into the tall grass.
"Elsie is waiting for you," she softly told the cows, using her strong affinity for communicating with animals to soothe them. "Head south and go back home." She silently gave them directions, telling them where to go in order to avoid other farms just in case.
Within moments, the cows were on their way, heading out of the pasture to go back home where they belonged.
"Now, time to have some fun," she said.
She and Cathillian quickly made their way toward the cabin, making sure to stay out of view of any windows. The moon was high, and so was the chance they would get caught.
Arryn looked at Cathillian. "I'm going to run inside and cause a scene. You wait out here."
He looked at her incredulously. "I'll do no such thing. I'm going in with you."
She sighed and rolled her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Now is not the time. I'm a big girl. I know what I'm doing. I have a plan. Just stay out here and wait for my signal, okay?"
"What's the signal?"
She gave a mischievous smile. "Oh, you'll know."
Snow came over and laid down on the ground next to Cathillian. Arryn sent her a silent message to wait outside with him.
Taking a deep breath, Arryn walked around the front of the house, staying under the windows. As she stepped up directly in front of the door, she stood at full height, lifted her right foot, and kicked the door in.
No less than ten people rounded on her with wide eyes. Arryn smiled and waved as she walked in.
Looking around, she saw dinner on the table. Her eyes widened, and she licked her lips and rubbed her belly in an exaggerated manner. "Ah, damn! Dinner? I got here at just the right time! What are you guys having? Steak? What a coincidence… I just let about two tons of steak out of your front yard there,” she said, jabbing a thumb toward the now-empty pasture.
Confusion rose on their faces, but was quickly replaced with rage, and they took a few steps forward. A particularly tall one with broad shoulders and red hair stepped out even farther. "What the hell did you just say?"
There was a chair next to the door, and she slid it across the room to the back wall. She made her way over and sat down as each of the men and women stood, looking between themselves and then back over to her.
She crossed her legs, smiling as she clasped her hands in her lap. "Oh, just those two lovely milk cows out there. I recognized the brand and figured they must've gotten lost. It was so kind of you to look after them for dear, old Elsie. So, I just went ahead and let them out for you. I figured as poor as all of the other farms in the area seem to be, you didn't need the extra mouths to feed."
The large, red-haired man fumed as he took a few quick steps forward, reaching for a knife in his belt.
Arryn laughed as she raised a finger in the air, moving it back and forth. "Ah, ah, ah!" she said. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, big boy. I promise that you won't like the outcome."
"Fuck you, bitch," he said, his eyes flashing black as he brandished his knife.
She sighed and shook her head, the smile never leaving her face. "Well, I did warn you."
All ten of them came for her, over half of them flashing black eyes in her direction. Taking a deep breath, she stood, her eyes turning green and black. She threw her hands out in front of her, and magic exploded from them. The wall completely disappeared, the men and women flying through it.
As they all landed hard on the ground, tumbling over backward several times until they flattened, while splinters of wood rained down around them, Cathillian stepped around the corner, leaning against what was left of the wall and crossing his arms.
"I'm assuming that was the signal."
Arryn nodded once as she stepped over the short barrier that remained of the lower part of the wall. She stood on the porch, which was now littered with destroyed wood. "You would assume correctly."
Stepping off the porch, she made her way over to one of the men, who was slowly climbing to his feet. "So, I hear you like stealing things from little old ladies. Is that true?"
He spat at her feet as he wobbled a bit, trying to gain his footing. "Fuck you."
She put her hand over her chest and smiled. "Such poets! Quick, recite me another one." She flung her hand forward, a block of wood flying off the ground and smashing him in the face. "Sorry, sweetheart. You weren’t fast enough."
The man crashed to the ground; unconscious or dead, she wasn't certain. One of the women stirred, throwing back some of the debris as she tried to sit up.
"What about you, sweet cheeks?" Arryn asked.
The woman nodded. "We took them. Please, don't kill us."
Cathillian laughed. "You honestly think you have the right to ask that when you took the life of that woman's son? And for what? Livestock?"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! He wouldn't stop coming at us, and I warned him to stop. The others told me to kill him, but I didn't want to!" she said, pleading.
"You lying bitch," another woman said, rolling over onto her stomach as she forced herself up on all fours. "You're the one that said that we should kill them all."
"What the hell is going on around here?" Arryn asked. "Are you part of the same group that’s been terrorizing the rearick down south? And I would speak right now if I were you, because I don't have much patience."
"Oooh," Cathillian said, feigning a chill. "I love it when she gets all sassy like this. I wouldn't test her; I watched her literally rip a woman into six different pieces in the middle of the Arcadian town square, while the whole city watched."
The group seemed visibly shaken. One of them spoke. "Yes. We typically stay up north, but we are part of that group."
"What are you after?" Arryn asked.
The woman who tried to fake her innocence sighed. "The crystals. South of the Heights, there is a group of mercenaries that are collecting all they can. They build their own weapons. They have their own engineers—a few of them, from what I've heard. They take whatever they can, and hire other people to do the rest."
Arryn growled. "How many people has your group killed?"
The woman who had lied before began to tremble when she saw the look on Arryn's face and heard the tone in her vo
ice. She began to shake her head as she tried to back away. "Her son was the only one! I swear it!"
Arryn's eyes flashed black as she lifted her hands up to shoulder-height, and pulled down slightly as she separated ice out from the humidity around her. The crystals formed into long, jagged pieces, which slowly rotated until they were pointing directly at all the people on the ground before her.
A few more of them began to come around then, their eyes widening as they took in the sight before them.
"I'll ask one last time. How many people other than that woman’s son have you killed?" she asked again, her voice just as cold as the ice under her control.
"We don't know!" one of the other men said. "Please. Please don't hurt us. It won't happen again, I swear it."
"Was it more or less than ten?" Cathillian asked stepping forward.
When no one answered, Arryn's face turned angry. "More or less?" she barked.
"More!" one of the women shouted, tears streaming down her face. "Way more. We don't know how many because we lost track. But we were hired. It wasn't all of us; the men you want are down south, below the Heights."
Arryn laughed. "You were the ones that ended their lives. You were the ones that terrorized the hard-working people in this Valley. You were the ones that did the dirty work. Therefore, you’re exactly the ones I'm looking for."
Without saying another word, she jerked her hand forward, sending every jagged piece of ice whistling through the air to impale the bandits, ending them at the same time.
"My, that was dramatic," Cathillian said.
Arryn shook her head. "I'm sick of people taking advantage of those they think are weaker than them. The truth is that those farm families are far stronger than these guys ever could’ve been. People deserve to live in peace, to raise their families without worrying someone is going to take them away in the blink of an eye."
Cathillian nodded. "I couldn't agree more. That's why I was so happy when you said you would help Elsie. We don't really have the time for it, but the fact that you made time for it truly shows who you are."
Arryn smiled briefly and reached out to give his hand a squeeze. "Now, let's go inside and see if we can't find Elsie's money. I want to give back as much of it as I possibly can, but I know better than to return all of it to her."
Cathillian snorted. "No shit. I'm a little more terrified of her than I am of you, so let's not anger the beast, shall we?"
CHAPTER SEVEN
A blade whistled through the air, stabbing hard into what would be the heart of the target. The loud thump echoed under the canopy, and Celine smiled as she lowered her arm. Leaning back to stand straight again, she looked down at Corrine, who had a large smile on her face.
"It takes some practice, but you can do it. It's easy. Whenever you throw that knife, just imagine the target is the person you hate most in this world. When you do that, the difficulty of it seems to melt away," Celine said.
Elysia pulled a knife from the belt on her hip. Smiling, she stepped forward.
Celine smiled as well. "And after a while, when you really, really get into it, then you get to be as good as this woman right here. Watch this."
Celine and Corrine both stepped out of the way, and Elysia turned her back to the target. She had a sly smile on her face as she tossed the knife into the air, letting it flip over before catching it by the point of the blade.
Like lightning, she spun on her heel and threw; the blade cartwheeled through the air and landed with a hard thump directly between what would have been the eyes of her target.
Corrine screamed with joy, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. "I want to be that good!" she said, pointing. "Teach me, teach me, teach me."
Celine and Elysia laughed at the girl’s excitement. Celine loved watching her. She was getting stronger and stronger all the time. Watching Corrine, she imagined that being around her was similar to what being around Arryn would have been like at that age. She had only been a year older when she arrived in the Dark Forest.
"Arryn is a master with a bow,” she informed Corrine. “Other than Elysia, there is no one better in this entire village. I was told that after coming here, but I didn't believe it until I saw it. Arryn’s good with a sword, but she’s best with projectiles. Today, we're gonna see if you have the same affinity that she does. Are you ready?" Celine asked.
The excitement still had yet to fall from the girl’s face as she nodded. A few loose black curls hung around her face; the rest of it was tied back in a thick ponytail. They all bounced when she confirmed her interest.
After retrieving the blade, Celine held it in her hand carefully, the tip of the knife pinched between her thumb and forefinger. She thought back to Samuel, the night he taught her how to throw properly, and how much it had helped her. She called on that wise advice now as she prepared to teach Corrine.
Like Elysia had done, Celine tossed the knife lightly into the air, the blade tumbling over once before she caught it between her thumb and forefinger.
"When you hold the knife, do it with these two fingers." Celine lifted her hand to show her the proper position between her thumb and index finger. She then moved her hand, so the dagger was vertical. "If you hold too tight, it won't spin in the air, which means the blade won't hit the target. If you hold it too loosely, your throw won't have enough force to actually drive it in."
Corrine nodded her head with a deadly serious look on her face as she stared intently on the knife. She focused on it as if it were a coiled snake, ready to strike.
Celine let the hilt of her knife move forward and back toward her wrist. "You should hold tight enough that the blade only barely moves, like this." She tilted her hand back, and the hilt of the knife fell against her wrist. She lifted her arm up over her shoulder. "Don't put your arm too far out, or you'll throw crooked; lift almost directly over your shoulder and throw."
Celine did just that, sending the blade spinning through the air to stick directly into the target, once again hitting it in the chest. Corrine seemed overly excited about Celine hitting her mark.
Elysia handed Corrine a sheath holding six throwing knives. They were small and lightweight—perfect for an eight-year-old girl. "Let's see what you got."
Corrine took the first one out and looked at it, studying it. She put the blade between her two fingers as Celine had showed her, twisting her hand back and forth, getting a feel for the weight and testing it in her hand. She did this repeatedly until she got the pressure right: not too tight, but not too loose.
"Like this?" she asked.
Giving her a reassuring smile, Celine nodded. "Perfect."
Corrine put her left foot forward, raising her right hand above her shoulders. Her elbow was tucked in almost directly in front of her, and Elysia was there to correct, gently moving the girl’s elbow out just a bit.
"While your hand should be over your shoulder, your elbow shouldn't be directly in line with it. Otherwise your throw will be uncomfortable, and less powerful. At the same time, you don't want your elbow all the way out to your side, either; doing that will cause your throw to be crooked. Try this position; this should help."
Corrine nodded as Elysia stepped out of the way. The girl took aim at her target and threw… the knife spun through the air several times, until the hilt hit the post just under the target.
Corrine’s smile faded as she looked from the post, up to Celine, and then over to Elysia. "I didn't make it."
Elysia smiled. "You just didn't throw hard enough. You also might have held it too loosely. If you hold it just right, it'll flip over once or twice, but it won't have time to do any more. Yours had enough time to turn over again, which allowed the hilt to strike. Try again. This time tighten your grip and throw harder."
Celine’s hand was between the girl’s shoulder blades, giving her a gentle rub. "And aim just little higher. You’re a little shorter because of your age."
Taking a deep breath, Corrine grabbed another throwing knife and took
her position, repeating the movements Elysia had just taught her with her elbow. She exhaled before taking another deep breath.
Corrine threw the blade as hard as she could, and it stuck in the lower left corner of the target; not high enough, but it hit hard, even splintering away a piece of the wood.
"Nice!" Celine shouted before grabbing Corrine and pulling her into a hug.
Corrine smiled as she pulled away, looking up with big, emerald green eyes and a smile that could melt ice. "I did it! It wasn't perfect, but I did it!"
Elysia placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, getting her attention. "Now, I want you to practice for the next two hours. You just hit your target, so I know you can do it. I have to go teach another class, but I want this to be your focus for the day."
"Why won’t I be training with the other kids?" she asked, a little confused.
Elysia knelt before her. "You said you want to be able to protect yourself, and you want a good start on being the best warrior this forest has ever seen, right?"
Corrine nodded passionately. "Yes! I want to be the best."
Elysia nodded. "Here's the honest situation. You want to be able to protect yourself. You want to be able to defend yourself, and anyone else, if danger comes. Unfortunately, you are still too small to be able to adequately defend yourself in hand-to-hand combat. You can put up one hell of a fight, but against a full-grown man, it's not likely to do any good."
Corrine's eyes turned toward the ground as she nodded. "Oh."
"However, you are more than old enough, and more than big enough, to throw a blade with expert precision. You are woman enough to take a man down to the ground if he comes for you, as long as we properly teach you how to handle a knife. Do you understand?" Elysia asked.
Corrine seemed confused. "I… I think?"
Celine knelt next to Elysia, reached out, and took one of Corinne's hands. "What she's saying is that she's giving you what you want. If she puts you in that class exclusively, you'll learn how to protect yourself in the future, but it won't do you any good until you're older, because you're not big enough to fight an adult right now. Learning how to use a knife is something that you can do, and the one way that you can protect yourself and others."
