Eira

  The deer slipped through the brush so quietly that if Eira hadn’t been waiting, she would have missed her completely. She closed her eyes and took a breath before nocking her bow.

  The hunt gave her a thrill. Tracking, waiting, the jolt when the prey finally came into sight. But she hated the killing.

  It was a necessary evil. Though it had been fifteen years since the village burned, it still hadn’t recovered. Raids hadn’t helped their small herds any either. It had taken two years just for her father to save up for a bull and cow. The two animals had turned into three the next spring, but the calf was a bull as well, so it had no use but meat.

  They were up to seven cows and a bull now, but all of the cows were almost ready to calve. So venison it was.

  And she was the best one in the village to provide it.

  “Thank you for this gift of sustenance, Provider.” She loosed the arrow. It flew true, striking the deer in the chest.

  But deer never died when they should. In a panic, it took off. She jogged over to where it had crashed into the shrubs and found the blood trail. A lot of blood. A fatal wound, for sure.

  Following the crushed leaves and smears of blood, Eira slipped through the trees as quietly as a wild animal. This was the only time she was quiet, actually. Growing up on a farm on the outskirts of town, she’d only really had her parents and the animals to talk to, and neither were good conversationalists.

  Her sister, either, on her few and far between visits. It had been seventeen months since she’d seen her last. She knew she was alive out there, somewhere. She heard the whispers of the people when she went into town for supplies.

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  The things they said her sister did… if even half of them were true… No. She knew Solysa. She wouldn’t. Couldn’t.

  There. The deer had gone down. She moved up cautiously. Deer were actually quite dangerous when scared. They were not to be underestimated. Like her.

  The doe blinked at her, eyes sad. Eira’s heart caught. “I’m sorry. Truly. But we need you. Thank you.”

  She leaned down, and slit its throat, a tear welling up as the animal died. She knelt beside it for a moment, then pulled her arrow. A good hit. She wanted to be proud, but couldn’t. It had taken a lot for her to go from shooting at targets to live creatures, but her father was getting older and it had become difficult for him to provide.

  Thankfully it wasn’t too far to the farm. She pulled the doe over her shoulders, grunting at the weight.

  She trudged through the forest, lost in her thoughts. Would this be her life forever? Trapped, but in a good place? Everyone her age in the village was already married, starting their own families. Yes, she would inherit the farm, but to what end? No one wanted her. Not with who her sister was.

  The light filtering through the trees burst into full view as she stepped out of the treeline, making her squint.

  Spring was here. She just needed a few more days in the light, and these thoughts would fade. Though they got more and more difficult to push down every year.

  The farm was too much for one person. It hardly got by with three, though her parents together should only count as one now.

  It didn’t matter. She had her duty. Maybe once they were gone, she would sell and move on. But she couldn’t let everything they’d built die before they did.

  As she got closer to the house, four extra horses came into view in the side pasture, next to her mare, Woodwind. These horses were large, filled out, and definitely well bred. Who would be here, visiting them?

  She silently dropped the doe into the grass, pulling her bow back over her shoulder for easy access. This couldn’t be a good thing, could it? She crept forward, toward the only window in their small house.

  If someone intended ill-will toward her family, surely they wouldn’t have unbridled their horses and left them to graze.

  But visitors had never turned out very well in the past, and she had no reason to believe otherwise this time. She could turn back, head for the safety of the trees, watch the farm and get a better idea of what the visitors wanted.

  No. Her parents were inside, with whoever owned the horses. She would go in, and face whatever the world had thrown at her this time.