Village of Traffyn Fenwd - Forest Path
@ZAVAZggg
The mud, which had started to snake up Vitius’s crossed legs, leak and pool in the natural folds of his trousers, stilled. The trees creaked, a nearby spruce squeaking with effort of halting the attack it had been about to launch. Bark rippled with tension, but for now, swayed only with the wind.
A moment passed. Somewhere distant, a small animal, possibly a fox or rabbit, shrieked, before being cut off suddenly. Something rustled in the dark, tousled undergrowth that lined the path to the village.
From above, a creaking sound. Familiar, in a way that almost could have been mistaken for another attack. It wasn’t though. Instead, a single branch from near the top of a nearby tree seemed be growing, stretching out and down toward where Vitius sat. As it grew closer, it became clear that, from the end, a small lump was suspended. Closer still, and the lump became human shaped - short and squat, hanging from the branch like a bat, gnarled toes curled deftly over the structure.
Mere metres away, but still it didn’t stop getting closer, the shape of an elderly woman clearly visible. A body wrapped in swathes of stained grey rags, long tattered hair that dripped down, swept through the mud and trapped the sticky black substance in it’s knots. What was visible of her grey-ish skin was loose about her bones, and crevasces of wrinkles slid across her form in such a way that it would have been unsurprising had the whole lot just slaked free like lime in the rain.
She stared at Vitius, eyes wide, white and glowing in the dark. The slit of her mouth parted, slowly, crookedly, forming the words.
An ear shattering screech.
Kate’s lip curled as she watched Nyssa walk away. Who the
fuck did she think she was? The rapidly developing migraine pinched at her left temple, but she resisted the urge to rub it. She’d be damned if she was going to show weakness in front the icy woman currently walking away, yellow hood stained brown by the rapidly falling rain.
Instead, she let her attention slide to Colin. Her brother. Who she hadn’t seen in five
fucking years, but was now standing next to the other member of their group, brow furrowed and face ghostly as he eyed Kate, mere metres away.
Metres. Her heart stuttered, but she force her face straight. How long had he been right there, under her nose with the hoods? She talked to Caira what? Every week? She couldn’t be sure, but she
must’ve mentioned him, right? After… after
everything, it was hard to picture him just...living, having a life, without her, without Angus, without-
The pain in her head spiked, and she rapidly switched her focus back to the task at hand. Jaw set, she stalked over to the shaken (not to mention sullen and moody) looking figure of her brother, and grabbed a-hold of his arm, before hissing in his ear,
“You and me are gonna have a talk-” She was interrupted by him viciously tugging his arm free of her grip,
“Gerrof!” he spat, scowling. Kate paid the expression no notice however, her eyes had fallon upon his sleeve, which had hitched up at the movement, or more specifically, the tendril of knotted scar tissue that now crept out from beneath it.
Of
course. Fuck. She must’ve hurt him.
The memory came unbidden, loosed free in a way it hadn’t been in years. The house, bright and hot and not really a house anymore. Colin’s skin, ashen as he lay, shivvering on the rain-slick grass. Angus’s arms tight around her body as she struggled, fought, screamed for him to just ‘let me fucking go Angus, or I swear I’ll-’ she pushed the memory away. Turned her back to Colin so he wouldn’t see the tears pricking hot behind her eyes.
She was the strong one. That didn’t change just because of a few years of separation. She savoured the feeling of the woman’s soft flesh giving beneath her hand, the sight of the red from her bust lip. Kate smiled. Didn’t matter what the woman said, she’d shown her what was what. She doubted she’d be messing with Colin again, at least not whilst Kate had any say in the matter.
She headed into the warmth of the tavern, ready to get down to the business of figuring out how they were gonna help Meg’s sister out of whatever mess she’d managed to get herself into
this time.
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