‘This man,’ she pointed at the body. ‘What is his name?’
‘His name is Finn,’ I said. ‘He’s a boun-’ I stopped. I’d almost said bounty-hunter. I didn’t want this strange female to know there was a prize over my head. Then again, she’d said she had no use for coin. ‘He’s a hunter,’ I finished.
‘This animal?’ She nodded to Shadow. ‘He wanted this … what is it?’
‘He’s a-’ I stopped talking because I could hear footsteps winding through the forest, and knew Hawthorne and Emilija were coming to investigate. At once, the woman grabbed her bow, strung an arrow and aimed into the trees.
‘No!’ I said quickly. ‘It’s all right! It’s his family.’
As the Vulmessians approached, the rogue woman lowered her weapon, but her stance was defensive.
‘What are they?’ she asked. ‘I’ve never seen them before.’
‘They’re my friends,’ I said quickly, getting to my feet.
Hawthorne saw that Shadow and I were unharmed, and hurried to my side. He pressed his nose to my cheek affectionately, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. ‘I’m okay,’ I said to him. ‘So is Shadow.’
Shadow bounded over to his mother and siblings, who immediately lathered him with attention.
I looked to Hawthorne. ‘She saved us,’ I told him. ‘She … she killed Finn.’
Willow and Rue proceeded to inspect Finn’s dead body, the hair on their backs standing on end as though they expected him to spring to life at any moment. Shadow, however, seemed to have taken a great liking to the red-haired woman, and was bounding up and down in front of her, barking for attention.
‘What does he want?’ she asked, pulling a face. ‘Go on, shoo.’
‘He likes you,’ I said, picking up Willow and Rue and tucking them under my arms. Blood was now pooling from Finn’s head, and I didn’t want them to tread in it.
‘Tell him to stop,’ she nudged Shadow with the toe of her boot. Shadow ignored the dismissal and grabbed her shoelace, tugging on it and growling playfully.
I couldn’t help but laugh as the pup aggravated such a stern looking woman. She bent down and picked Shadow up, holding him in front of her face. ‘Do not test me, fur ball,’ she glared. I held my breath, expecting Emilija to become defensive over her young. However, Shadow licked the woman on her nose.
‘I guess he is kind of nice,’ she said, begrudgingly, putting Shadow back on the ground. ‘What is he called?’
‘His name is Shadow, and this is Willow, Rue, Hawthorne and Emilija. And I’m Ava.’ I pointed to myself.
She did not look pleased to meet me.
‘I have to go,’ she said, turning on her heel and marching in the opposite direction.
‘Wait!’ I said, quickly placing the two pups on the ground. ‘Won’t you at least tell me your name?’
She ignored me and continued to walk away.
‘Won’t you let me repay you for saving me?’ I called, running to catch up.
‘You have nothing I want,’ she said, twigs crunching under her boots as she marched away.
‘But I’m in your debt,’ I said. ‘Anything. I have supplies back at the windmill … another dagger. Oh, and I have water… and food-’
This caught her attention. She stopped walking and turned to face me. ‘Food?’ she repeated.
I nodded fervently. ‘Let me cook you something.’
‘Cook?’ she repeated skeptically.
‘I’m a Fire-Mage,’ I said. I had no issue revealing my Power to the woman who had saved me. ‘Hawthorne can catch us something to eat, and I’ll cook it for you.’
The woman looked at me for several seconds before grabbing an arrow from her quiver, fitting it into her bow, and taking aim. At first, I thought she was going to shoot me, but a second later, she released the arrow, shooting a pheasant through its head.
‘Wow!’ I exclaimed, slightly shaken. ‘That was amazing!’
She marched over to the dead bird and picked up the arrow, the pheasant hanging limply from the end. ‘We can eat this,’ she said.
I nodded. ‘Absolutely.’
I took my savior back to the windmill, the Vulmessian family remaining in the woods to catch their own food.
Once inside the windmill, the woman looked around, rather unimpressed. ‘You live here?’ she asked.
I shook my head. ‘No, of course not. It’s just … temporary until the pups are old enough to travel.’
‘Where are you travelling to?’ she asked.
I had no answer for this. ‘Uh … I’m not sure.’
‘Your accent,’ she said. ‘It is British.’
I nodded. ‘Yes. And yours is … German?’
She nodded too.
I took the dead bird from her and proceeded to pluck and gut the animal; I’d gotten quite good at it over the last few days.
Next, I set up the wood I had begun to store in the windmill. Crouching beside the pile, I prepared to set it alight, but nothing happened.
‘What the-?’
I tried again. No flames appeared. I could feel the fire, yet it would not expel.