Page 38 of The Scattered Bones

My face burns where he marked me, and I feel the hunter’s power wrap my bones in warmth. The reptile behind me barrels for his meal, but I roll down the second hill without falling victim to his fangs. One more swell, and I’m at the sword.

Lovec, do not abandon me.

My lungs burn. My muscles cramp. Sweat coats my skin, and the monster’s foul breath is hot on my neck. Its snapping jaws rattle the air, and on slipping legs, I vault over the coins to the weapon. My fingers grip its hilt, and I rip it free from the horde. My hips crash hard against the gold as I land, but I ignore the bruising as I roll onto my back, swinging the sword just as the monster leaps for me. Its jaw unhinges, readying to swallow me whole, and I barely have time to position the blade before me.

I scream as the beast’s fangs slice into my arm, but with a surge of energy and a burning face, I thrust the sword into the creature’s mouth. Metal meets flesh, and as its fangs carve into my biceps, my blade carves into its brain. I roar as my blood runs thick and hot, but I keep pushing, forcing the weapon further into its skull. For a moment, I fear my fight is too little, too late, and the reptile will devour me, sword and all, but with a shudder that shakes the entire cave, the creature dies.

I stare in disbelief as its eyes fade into death, and then its body collapses. His protruding jaw lands on my stomach, and I jerk underneath its bloody weight until I’m free. I scramble backward, pulling the weapon with me, but as I extract my arm, the monster inflicts one final wound, slicing through my forearm. My entire right arm is a gory, mangled mess, but I’m alive. I am the hunter, not the prey.

I stand on unsteady feet and hold my bleeding fist over the beast’s skull. His death is offering enough, but I add my blood to the worship.

Lovec, accept my sacrifice.

I lift my bloody fingers to my face and trace the mark the god of the hunt made on my skin. My flesh burns excruciatingly, but I savor the pain. It’s Lovec’s mark, his acceptance of my offering, for I am his. We are much the same. The gods have not forsaken me.

* * *

It takesthree excruciating tries to force my shoulder back into its socket, and then I slide down the gold to the lake’s edge. I clean my arm as best as I can, but the blood won’t stop flowing. The deep punctures worry me, but I’ve no way of treating them here. Removing my shirt, I bind the many wounds as tight as the fabric allows. At least in the nothingness of the Mitte Midagi, there’s no one to judge my nakedness. I would remove my pants and shred them into bandages as well, but the thought of trekking through that grass without protection on my legs keeps them firmly in place. The Stranger stitched my thigh with skill. Perhaps he’ll grace me once more with his presence to prevent me from bleeding out.

Wounds bandaged, I dip my hand into the lake to drink when I see them. The bones. Hundreds of them line the bottom, and I let the water drip through my fingers, suddenly not thirsty. Remains of all the monster’s prey lay in white heaps below the surface to pile in the silt, but there’s one limb with flesh still perfectly preserved. An arm. His arm, the black magic preventing him from decaying.

I dive, exhausted lungs aching as I hold my breath, and the second his skin touches mine, the poison burns my fingers. Two punctures mar his biceps from where the crocodile must have tasted him. If the monster wasn’t dead, I would kill him for desecrating his body, but if the sting of the black magic against my skin is any indication, the creature’s mouth probably burned with an unholy vengeance.

When I surface, I set his handless arm down on the stone and search for something amidst the treasure to carry it. This dark poison hurts worse than his other limbs, and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s one of his final pieces or if it’s because my body is so weak. Thankfully, I find a sack filled with gold and priceless jewels, and I start to dump them out before I freeze. If the sheer number of bones is any sign, hundreds before me tried and failed to steal this horde. I’ve no interest in greed, but if The Stranger can do what he promised, Kaid and I will need coin. So, I shove his arm atop the wealth and then slip back into the lake to return to the grasslands above.

It takes the rest of the day and some of the night to escape the Mitte Midagi, but when I finally locate my horse, I can barely stand. With weak triumph, I throw the bag of treasure onto the cart, and I hear The Stranger laugh in my mind.

“Well done, my child. Well done.”

The End

SEASON OF THE HARVEST, CYCLE 78920

Kaid slipped his shirt over my head since my dress was in tatters, and after he pulled on his pants, we climbed down from the roof. An ugly sorrow filled my chest on the descent. I dreaded saying goodbye to my husband on our wedding night. I longed to curl beneath the sheets with his body gloriously bare against my overheated skin and sleep in his arms to greet the sun together, but he’d already stayed too long. And what were three days compared to a lifetime? I could survive three days, and then my true life would begin. I would be Kaid’s wife, our children’s mother, a woman who decided her own fate, who pledged fealty to a god of her own volition.

We reached my window, and as Kaid helped me into my room, I read the same sorrow in his eyes. My new, beautiful husband lifted his hand and cupped my cheek, and I leaned into his caress. “In three days, I’ll come for you no matter the obstacles,” he said reassuringly. “Then I’ll never leave your side. I swear it.”

“I love you,” I whispered through my tears.

“I’ll never tire of those words.” He smiled, stepping closer until we stood chest to chest, and I had to crane my neck to meet his gaze. No matter how many times I looked at the thief, his beauty stole my breath.

Kaid slid his other palm against my jaw and leaned in for a kiss, but before our lips could join in farewell, our world exploded.

The door flew open with such force it shattered into splinters. The hinges ripped off the wall, and before I realized he was moving, Kaid shoved me behind him, throwing out his arms as a shield. Fear pulsed through me, and I watched in disbelieving horror as guards poured into my room.

Only they weren’t guards. They were soldiers, their uniforms unmistakable. Valka’s acolytes, and if his followers were here, death would follow. Kaid backed me against the wall, trying to shove me out of the window, but the soldiers were too fast. Ten men swarmed my suddenly too-small bedroom before we could take more than two backward steps.

They wordlessly seized Kaid as he tried to shield my body. He fought and kicked and raged, splitting one soldier’s lip open and breaking another’s nose before they subdued him. It took four men to contain the powerful man I called mine, but his rage over his own capture was nothing compared to the feral monster he became when two soldiers gripped my arms.

“Get your gods damned hands off her!” Kaid screamed, bucking forward. He was so strong two soldiers lost their grips, the others dragging across the floor as he lunged for me, but the four remaining acolytes burst into action, all eight of them struggling to keep my husband in check.

“Let go of her, or with Varas as my witness, I will kill you.” He head-butted the man before him, and the shorter soldier fell. I never realized how tall and powerful Kaid was, how dangerous the thief I trusted with my life was until that moment. It took eight men trained by War himself to contain him, their violence no match for a husband’s rage.

“Shut him up,” the soldier holding me growled, and one of Valka’s men punched Kaid so violently in the mouth blood sprayed through the air.

“Stop!” I shouted, flailing against my captors. “Don’t hurt him, please.” No man beside Kaid had touched me, and now strangers groped my body, restraining me as I fought. My brain told me I should panic at their hands soiling me, but all I could see was my husband’s abuse. He bit a soldier, drawing so much blood he had to spit it onto the floor. He kicked a man in the shins and kneed another in the gut, but the larger soldier punched him in the mouth again, snapping his head back so hard that I screamed.

“Get him out of here,” the acolyte holding me continued, ignoring my pleas.

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