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My hands and back began to ache from carrying so much weight after a few short minutes. I managed to make it most of the way back to Exile before taking a break. I set down my supplies and leaned against a tree for a moment.
My eyes wandered to the full treetops and stars. Fae locked in Exile have forgotten the small details of the realm. Stars and moonlight, birds singing, creeks flowing. It was the small things that I appreciated the most when I came back to this side. My eyes drifted to the dark brooding castle in the distance. Something tugged deep in my chest every time I glanced at it. Something I couldn't explain.
A snapping twig close by broke me out of my admiration. There was a faint breath somewhere close to me, but the noise floated through the silent woods making it difficult to know where it came from. My mind flashed to the slender figure stalking me earlier. Maybe the monster was back. Peeking around the tree, I sighed in relief when it was just a fae. He wasn’t trying to be quiet, so I assumed he didn’t know I was here. More deep voices whispered out in the distant darkness. Someone was getting closer to me.
Gripping my bow, I loaded one of my hand-carved arrows onto the string. I glanced around the tree and noticed the red uniform of the Crimson King’s guardsman moving close by. He was staring at the ground, following something. I realized it was likely my footprints or drag marks from my heavy bag of supplies. The guard knew I was somewhere out there, and my tracks would lead him to Exile.
He held his light up and stared directly at me. His mouth opened to yell for help, but I was quicker than he was. My arrow flicked off the string and landed in the guard’s chest. His eyes stared off into the distance as he fell to the forest floor. Dead. My feet moved towards the guard to retrieve my arrow.
When I reached him, there was blood dripping down the arrow. I pulled it from his chest. His thick red wool uniform held the Crimson King’s family crest in gold stitching directly over his heart. It had made for the perfect target. I wiped the blood-soaked arrow across his thick red uniform. The darkness that lived deep in my chest tried surging forward, but I wouldn’t allow it. I could handle a few guards without the help of my darkness taking over.
My breath stilled as I listened for the other guards that would be coming once they realized one of them was missing. Darting my eyes to the dead man at my feet, I waited for the guilt to wash over me, but it never came. It never had when I took a life, but I always thought that one day it might come.
Perhaps I was a monster for killing him, but I had to be to save Sybil and others in Exile. I racked my arrow and pointed it in the direction of the twigs snapping in the forest and steadied my hands as best as I could.
I inhaled one long breath of frosted air into my lungs to steady my aim as I released my bowstring. My eyes closed, and I strained to listen for the deep thump of my arrow burying itself into the chest of another guard. Once that undeniable sound echoed in the silence, I grabbed another one. When chaos broke out among the last few men walking through the forbidden wood, I smiled to myself.
“Retreat!” One of the men yelled.
Moonlight illuminated the woods just enough that the silhouette of my next target was easy to spot, so I racked another hand-carved wooden arrow into the rest of my bow. His back was towards me as he tried to run back to the king.
Coward.
One of them would survive. I wanted them to tell the story of the villain in the woods who killed any King’s Guardsman without mercy. I had overheard stories when I snuck into a town before darkness a long time ago. A mercenary who lived in the woods and couldn’t be seen. A defender without mercy.
The king’s fae were appalled and disgusted by acts of rebellion, but it only made my work more satisfying. I would be a voice to those the Crimson King tried to silence, even if he had no idea who I represented.
My hands worked quickly as I darted through the thicket of trees towards the Guardsmen. I let an arrow fly and one of the men crumpled to the forest floor. I ripped it from his back as I passed. I calmed my puffy breaths as I lined the arrow with the last man I would kill tonight. The thrum from my bowstring releasing it made the man turn at the last moment. It was enough time for my arrow to hit his heart.
Dark blood soaked his red uniform around the shot as he fell to his knees before falling over. The only man left turned and stared into the dark where he thought I was. The light of the moon illuminated the stiffness in his body as he stood paralyzed with fear. The guard was waiting for the shot he thought would be coming for him, but I only watched in the darkness, waiting for him to leave so I could gather my handmade arrows. Each one took so much time to craft, I couldn’t afford to leave them behind.
After a long silent moment, the man turned and fled back towards the Crimson Kingdom. Once his footsteps faded into the distance, I hurried to pick up my arrows.
A hand wrapped around my ankle as I started to pull the arrow from the chest of the last man I shot. His eyes peered up at me in a quiet pleading to end his suffering.
Blood flew from his mouth as a cough racked his body. He whispered something unintelligible, and I knelt closer to hear him. He took a deep, labored breath and tried to speak again.
“A man who hides in the shadows is a coward.” He grunted up towards me.
I pulled my hood back and I smiled at the pure shock contorting the guard's face as he realized I was a woman. I flicked my fire magic into the palm of my hand so he would die knowing who I represented.
“Your king banished us to the shadows, and for that, he and all of his men will die for it.” I sneered as I twisted the arrow in his chest, and I yanked it out completely.
“Thea…”
"What did you say?"
My mind was playing tricks on me. There was no way that’s what he said. All the adrenaline pumping through me was making me hear things. The guard’s eyes watched me as he struggled to breathe. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to say something. I leaned my ear down to his mouth. Damn it, say something.
The last gargled breath he took let me know I would never know if I heard him correctly.
But even as I tried to convince myself, the tingling on the base of my neck told me I heard him correctly. My eyes darted around me as paranoia settled in my chest. I needed to get out of here.
I turned back to where I had rested and found my bags of supplies. My lungs burned with the coldness of the air on this side of the shadow boundary, but my back was dampened in sweat from chasing the guards.
I paused to admire the moon cresting over the treetops for one more second before I stepped back into the starless night of Exile. None of the children of Exile had ever seen the stars or moon, a thought that sent anger and sadness flowing through me. Children were robbed of a life because the king was a power-hungry coward. They only experienced starless nights.
Taking in one last lung full of cold crisp air before gathering my supplies, I crossed through the boundary. Pain raced through my body as I fell to my hands and knees. A painful sob escaped me as I braced myself on the hot dirt ground. My body fought to catch its breath, but the hot stale air did little to comfort my lungs.
