Page 1 of Bound By Blood
STRANGE VISITORS IN THE NIGHT
It wasn't wise to go out alone at night, but that didn't keep Erryn from sleeping with her windows open in late summer. Being a soup maker had many perks. Especially in winter. But in the summer? She leaned against the windowsill and took in a deep breath. Lots of good food was a fantastic perk. The heat that came with it was not so pleasant this time of year.
Polph, she hated the humidity. It made her hair go wild in the worst way possible, and she felt constantly sticky. That awkward temperature between soothing warmth and annoying heat with far too much damp to be pleasant for anyone. Except maybe frogs and salamanders.
Thank goodness it was almost autumn. This unusual hot spell was supposed to end tomorrow or a couple days after in a series of chilling storms.
Huffing, she rested her chin onto her palm and stared out into the moon-drenched landscape. It wouldn't come soon enough.
The heavy clouds hadn't obscured the moon yet. Barely even a breath of wind stirred the leaves of the hickory tree just outside her window, let alone in the dark forest beyond the boundary marker and in the Barrens Wild. It had to be stifling in there tonight. At least she had her open windows and the cross breeze. If the wind ever started to blow again.
Polph. Was the night going to last forever? Not that she should be complaining.
She blew a raspberry against her wrist and then shook her head. No point in even trying to sleep. She had half a mind to strip off her thin white cotton shift and sleep in the nude.
But then she'd have to close the windows.
No. She just needed to occupy her mind until the sleepiness returned.
Her lute leaned against the wall beneath the window where she'd left it the last time she'd played. One of the only things left from her old life. It fit perfectly against her, though, and her fingers swiftly found their place as she leaned back against the window frame.
No song in particular rose to her mind. She just let her fingers wander over the strings, a melody of some sort forming through the meandering. Once she'd believed that her ability to play and dance and sing all at once would be the key to her great fortune and the answer to her destiny. Now, though…well, it was comfort on a hot night and solace against the silence when what she really wanted was someone to talk to.
People like her didn't get family again. They didn't deserve it. Some mistakes could never be undone.
She stared.
It was wrong. No question about it. What she had done was selfish and horrid. And there was nothing she could do to fix it. Nothing to do to turn back what had happened.
She sighed, closing her eyes as she tried to push those intrusive thoughts away.
Something splashed in the creek.
Scowling, she stopped playing and turned toward the sound. What could that be?
Rapid footsteps followed, the splashing increasing. It sounded like a smaller creature running.
A strong impulse to open the door and go out to see struck her.
It wasn't safe. Of course it wasn't.
Except not everything in the night was evil. And lately, the nights had been stiller.
Small whimpering cries followed.
She peered around the corner as best she could, squinting. Everyone had warned her against talking to strange things in the dark, but what was the point of wards and charms if you had to be suspicious all the time? In all her travels, she'd never known it to go that badly.
"Hello?" she called out. Her voice sounded weak and small in the night. Almost tinny.
The whimpering cry intensified along with the splashes. Then a soft patter of footsteps raced up to the house.
She blinked.
Beneath the window scratched a small winged dog, dark-brown and black scaled with irregular tufts of fur and bright red eyes. It looked like some sort of pug and bulldog mixture with a tiny stub of a tail. Its soft little cry cut straight through her heart. It might be the ugliest thing she'd ever seen, but clearly the poor darling was terrified.
"Oh, baby," she whispered. "What's wrong?"
What even was it? Was it a dog or a dragon or something else?
