Deadwood (The Chronicles of Mistar - Short Story)

···Minkin Castor

Bastendin 19, 40318 BW···

I won't say I followed them... but I did. Delfie was a beautiful girl, sweet but feisty and something happened to her. I was a sucker for a friend needing help, though I don't think she would call me her friend.

Who cares, because I definitely don't. I followed them and watched her parents leave a few hours later. Through the window, I could see Delfie still passed out on their little couch. I blushed warmly when I saw her, wanting to step through the front door and ask her gama if she was okay, but I could not. She would probably push me out and I couldn't have her touch me. It would mean death, an even bigger burden for Delfie and I to carry.

I froze when the door to the little cabin opened. It was Delfie's Gama. The cold temperatures outside didn't seem to bother her as she stepped barefoot on the snow-flaked dirt. I watched her glance in every direction until she looked to the trees and locked eyes with mine. I almost fell from my branch, surprised.

With my full attention, her form started to glow. She looked like Delfie, bright orange like the sun. She became so bright that when I brought my hands to my face I tipped forward and fell. My face caught a branch, blood instantly rushing to my head as it started to throb. Another branch made me gag as it slammed into my stomach along with the one in my back that knocked the wind out of me.

Finally, on the ground, I wanted to die. The tree above me spun, my breath ragged, bruises covering my body, blood in my mouth. I think I bit my tongue, hard.

As I lie there shaking, my body frozen from the cold, a burst of adrenaline coursed through my veins. In a fit of rage, I flew to my feet and tripped over a branch that had fallen with me. I picked it up along with myself again and charged at the old woman.

I expressed my thoughts, loudly. Something I never did.

"You almost killed me!" I screamed, my voice breaking in the process.

She only chuckled as she twirled one of her fingers, letting a gust of fire sprout from her fingertips, just like the wind, towards me. It hit my right shoulder, shooting me backward. I hit a tree and heard a crack. I couldn't tell if it was my bones or the tree. I hoped it was the tree.

More blood filled my mouth. This time it wasn't from my tongue. I was coughing it up, its red liquid the exact thing that would attract the sisters if they weren't too far away.

I looked up as the old woman came closer. Her glow made my blurry vision even more blurry. I was practically blind. I couldn't see a thing. Only her light clouded my vision, but I could hear. I heard every footstep as she advanced. Every crunch from the snow and the snap of a twig. I could hear her heavy breath, though she moved like a warrior in a battlefield, secure of her position and presence.

I wondered who she was? What her story could be? From what I could tell she was no ordinary woman.

My mouth was dry. I gulped as she got closer. "You're like her," I mumbled through a swollen lip. I could feel my vision starting fade for real. My vision wasn't just blurry, it was becoming darker. But her light wasn't fading. The old woman was still glowing. I was the one that was fading.

"More so," she said smoothly, "my gamana is like me."

She bent down and picked me up. The woman was strong, far stronger than I imagined her ever being, but I could sense she was different. That meant Delfie was different too.

I was then slung over her shoulder like a sack of maron root. It made the bruises on my stomach ache in pain. I clenched my abs to try and get the pain to stop but it was of no use. It seemed to only make it worse.

"I thought you would die if you challenged me," I muttered half-conscience. "Now I see that I was wrong. It was the other way around. I never thought this would be death. The sisters..."

The old woman chuckled again. "You are so very wrong, my boy. I am not trying to kill you. Hurt you, maybe, but not kill you."

"Ohh..." was the only sound that a wisp of breath from my mouth was able to produce before I fell completely unconscious.