Page 23 of The Cursed and the Broken
My breath caught as a figure swept out from behind the tree before me, their blade swiping through the air. Sucking in a breath, I bent backwards, the sword sweeping through the space my head had been just seconds before.
Instinct kicked in, my body firing with adrenaline. Grunting, I swept my leg out, hoping to catch the perpetrator off guard. But they were too quick, vaulting backwards before charging again. My daggers nestled into my flesh, my fingers wrapping lightly around the hilts.
I had a split second to make a quick decision. Try to deflect and allow them within my guard, or throw the blades and risk losing any protection? I chose the latter. Breathing deep, I steadied myself before firing both blades in quick succession.
My opponent’s sword swatted them like flies without losing momentum, the blades clanging uselessly to the ground. Shrinking back, I altered course, heading for the tree behind me. My attacker seemed to know my path before even I did, stretching out their boot to clamp my own to the ground. I faltered, stumbling as they repeated the action on my other foot.
When their blade met the naked flesh beneath my collar, I froze, hands rising in supplication. My attacker tutted as they lowered their sword and pushed me from their chest.
“Sloppy,” Erika grinned as I turned. “Don’t let your thoughts consume you, Kitarni. Your body betrays every emotion, and a quick study is soon a dead one.”
I glared daggers at my tutor, but even they missed their mark. Sighing, I raked a hand through my braid, straightening my spine as I looked at the canopies surrounding us. “Hardly a fair fight,” I scoffed. “I’m armed with toothpicks while your blade is sharp as a teenage princeling’s prick.”
Erika inclined her head, the sun splintering through the trees to form a halo effect on her dark skin. “Charming.”
I curtsied with a dramatic flourish. “Thank you.”
Erika unsheathed the spare sword at her waist, throwing the blunt blade without a care. The sword could barely scratch an itch, let alone skewer someone, but oh, how it still bruised. My ribs were black and blue from her endless prodding.
“Ready your blade, girl. Show me what you’ve learnt.” Bracing myself, I altered my stance, holding my sword against my chest and charging. “No,” she said, batting my blade down. “By the Blessed Lady’s tits, do you want to impale yourself before the fight even begins?”
Erika thwacked me in my gut for good measure and I doubled over, wheezing as the breath left me. She flicked her long braids over her back, her brown eyes glittering with amusement in the waning sun.
And so began the dance. We moved to that rhythm for a long, painful hour, Erika barking at me for every misstep, her blade punishing my flesh for every unguarded movement or slow manoeuvre. When we finished, I collapsed on the mossy ground, legs unfolding beneath me, sweat pouring down my face and back in rivulets.
She tossed a waterskin to me and I drank greedily, flopping on my back when I’d had my fill. Erika joined me after a moment, stretching her long legs out beside me. The evening air was brisk on my heated body and I welcomed its cooling kiss. Swivelling onto my side, I glanced at Erika’s gleaming dark skin, the secrets hidden beneath her lips and eyes.
She was a stunning woman. Impossibly beautiful bone structure, full lips and cunning eyes—eyes that had seen the best and worst of the world. She came from lands far south of the Kingdom of Hungary, sold off to a lord like chattel and, like a humble daughter, she had accepted her fate. But she had not stayed silent for long. I knew only that her husband had been an abusive, terrible man. A dead one, now. And whatever Erika had endured at his hands, her skin was thicker for it, her steel will unyielding.
I admired her strength.
Her family were nomads, so I suspected she would never see them again, feel the comfort of a hug or a softly spoken word. I hadn’t asked if that was good or bad in her books. Erika didn’t dwell on her past, only looked to the future. Pragmatic as ever and wise to the ways of the world. The witches respected her, even if she was a little hard to befriend. I think she preferred the quiet and, honestly, her no nonsense manner and strong opinions kept most people in line and on their toes.
And though she was a hard woman, Erika was never unjust. She treated me as an equal, listened to my views. That’s all I’d ever wanted, really. Mutual understanding. I’d never been one to pry, but after her generosity in training me, after the silent questions never asked, I felt compelled to know her better, to hear her story, so I started with something easy.
“Why did you first come to our village, Erika?”
Her eyes widened slightly, and I thought she wouldn’t answer at first, but after a time her lips curled in sadness, her face morphing into the look of someone lost in painful memories.
“I could tell you the story of my life, but I’m afraid we’d be up until morn, speaking of things best left forgotten. I suppose I simply sought a new beginning. My heart yearned to belong, but after the many messy, bloody years, I had yet to find a home. A sanctuary.” She sighed, eyes glazing as she shook her head. “No place is ever truly safe, it would seem.”
I didn’t need to ask to know she meant the cultists. We weren’t safe, not by a long shot. “After you left his lordship’s manor, how did you come to be in our village?”
A soft smile curved her cheek, a genuine fondness tugging the corner of her lips. “It was Anna’s kin who showed me redemption. Elena was my lady’s maid, my confidante. She stayed by my side through it all, even after—”
She faltered then, brown eyes hardening to stone, jaw clenching. Erika’s chest heaved with the strain of that memory. Of the moment she killed her late husband, I presumed. I could only imagine why she’d snapped. And the dark part of me thrilled at knowing the world was free of one less tyrant. Another abusive man in power. The kind where crimes lay concealed in shadows and money could seal even the most wagging of tongues.
“When his lordship departed this world,” Erika continued, “Elena helped me cover my tracks and, at the end of it all, she urged me to come here. To a sanctuary where I would never have a hand laid on me again, never have to hide who I truly am. A place I could call home.”
Her eyes were wet with unshed tears, and I smiled, clasping her hand in support. “Our home is all the brighter to have you in it. I hope those ghosts have long since left.”
“They haunt me still on sleepless nights, but the weight is easier to bear with Elena by my side. Her warmth staves off the chill of dead men walking.”
My brows shot up my temple. Erika and Elena were a couple? My heart softened like a fluffy blanket. It seemed so obvious I could only chuckle. “I must be blind to have not realised sooner. I’m happy for you both, and I’m glad you found each other.”
She smiled again and this time it was full of genuine warmth. “You are a special one, Kitarni. Your veins sing with power, your heart beats to its own drum.”
Erika always had a way with words. Pride swelled in my chest, but the disapproval of my peers washed over me, snapping that momentary comfort. Caitlin’s upturned nose, the jeers and jaunts of my fellow witches, my mother’s pitying eyes every time I returned home after yet another humiliation. A stain that spread to my family name.
