Feather

They patrolled the south gate, taking shifts. Two stood and paced whilst the other slept or tried to.
When it was Kian’s turn to get some rest, he stared with glazed eyes at the fire they had made to keep the more tenacious forest creatures at bay. He kept repeating what Lavi had told him in his head, how fond she was of him. Of course he knew it was more than that and he squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of the pain he would put her through should she learn that he merely viewed her as the closest friend he had. But should she come out of the forest alive, no matter if he lied to himself, he’d try to make her happy for as long as he could. Maybe if they married he’d come to love her in time and it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe awkward for a while to actually eat at the same table as his best friend but he was sure he’d get used to it and they got along extremely well and always would except...of late. This wild idea she’d got in her head to protect him and show her worth was totally absurd. He knew how precious she was and how much she cared for him already, so why did she have to be so pigheaded and try and get herself kil...Argh! I wiped a hand over his drooping eyes. He daren’t even think of it.

He couldn’t, he absolutely couldn’t lose another to that hateful place. And with eyes filled with loathing Kian looked passed the gap in the hedge into the boundaries. This better end quickly, he thought, or I’ll end it myself. Although the thought of him facing that entire malicious stretch of dark forest alone made his skin crawl.

It was twilight and Kian’s shift had just started when there were shouts from the gate. All three men whipped around to face the owners of these voices only to quickly lower their staffs and quivers. Three of the guards bore two women between them, their faces haggard and bleeding from multiple cuts. Their patients were much worse off however. One was groaning from a deep cut in her stomach and the other lay perfectly still, deathly pale. The men dropped whatever they were holding and rushed to the guard’s side. Numbly Kian began cleaning the wound of the groaning woman. He averted his eyes from her face knowing that if she wasn’t Lavi but the seemingly lifeless one then he’d abandon whoever he was tending and that wouldn’t be fair. After he had cleaned the wound and stopped the bleeding with moss he had to turn her slightly on her side so that he could wound the bandage all the way round. And that’s when he saw the unmistakable tattoo that the guards got when they graduated on the woman's back. The inked sparrow seemed to mock him and he tried to keep his mind blank as he finished up and asked Yosk to quickly fetch the healer and some strong able bodied young men to help carry the wounded back to the village.

But Yosk shook his head as he tended to a gash on one woman’s forehead.
“No, Kian. You go. This is not the place for you now. It’d be better if you’d leave.” The dismissal was blunt but Kian saw how Yosk was trying to block his view of what lay behind him.

“Fine, just let me...let me see her,” Kian choked scared of how much pain he felt building up in his throat.

“No, Kian. You promised to follow orders. This is an order, and I’m telling you to go now!” Yosk turned on him angrily and half shoved him towards the path that led to the south west road. Kian stumbled but managed to duck under his friend’s arm and half ran half sprinted towards where Braam was bending over a familiar figure. But Braam wasn’t chanting healing spells he had learnt from childhood but saying a prayer. A prayer kept for the dead...

‘Please let her soul find peace
Let her loved ones not mourn her passing but rejoice
Because she will soon be with those she had lost as well
In a place we can only dream of and wish for....’

The rest of the prayer blurred in his ears and so did everything around Kian. He couldn’t remember much except that he started weeping and shaking, unashamedly and uncontrollably. I should’ve stopped her, I should’ve stopped her...he remembered saying as someone shook him and dragged him away. And there was just Lavi’s face in his head. Her lips and cheeks a poisonous shade of purple, sure signs that she’d been shot by the arrows made by centaurs, arrows made specially to kill prey without the loss of a heartbeat. She had died almost instantly, he was sure of that. But that just served to remind him how final her death was.

Half crazed he slipped from the grasp of whoever was restraining him, ducked and swerved out of the way as people tried to stop him. Obviously the healer had arrived along with helpers...But too late to save Laviette. And with one mighty leap he crossed the border straight into that place he loathed with every fibre of his being. He rolled and came to a stop. There was shouting from behind him but no one was going to enter that place of death not even for their kinsman.

“Give her back!” he howled and sank to his knees. His shoulders shook and he watched as dark spots appeared on his trouser legs. After a few silent minutes he got up shakily and stumbled back to the gate knowing that the only way to get revenge would be if he stayed alive long enough to carry it out. He wasn’t going to give IT the satisfaction of taking one more life today. Yes...IT. For no man could do what he had just witnessed. This sorcerer was a creature from the pits of the underworld.