AllFreeNovel
Share Us
You couldn’t just leave a ratty little token and hope it was good enough. They knew when you were trying to find a loophole, so the butchers left good cuts of meat, and the weavers left fine embroidery.
I had no skills beyond what I was trained to, so I had to leave something else precious to me. I treasured each shiny thing my feathered companions left me, so I’d picked through my little box of rocks and found a gray stone with glimmering bits of pink in it, tucking it in my palm and already mourning the loss.
It would upset me to lose it, but then, that was the point. A sacrifice wasn’t a sacrifice unless it hurt you to let it go.
All of Vostok slept as I made my way through the churchyard to the east end of the village. I felt sick, and not just from the exhilaration of sneaking out; the Father had indeed forced me to eat their sins. I’d worked my way through three loaves of salted bread during his prayers that evening, bite after bite as he recited the sins they represented, until it felt like my stomach would split.
I paused at the runestone, where the blue ropes swayed in the breeze, and looked out into the dark forest. I’d shut the doors to my lantern, hoping the escaping light wouldn’t give me away, but I wouldn’t be able to risk opening them again until I was out of sight of the village.
I’d never been in the woods by night. Only during the day, when I could see beyond the shadows, when it was safe under the sun.
With a deep breath, I ducked under the blue rope, my stomach already flipping with nerves.
Nothing lunged out of the darkness to snap at me with sharp teeth, and I took that as a good sign.
Ten feet beyond the boundary, there was an old, rotted stump with a flat top. I squeezed my pink-threaded rock one last time, and placed it in the middle of the stump.
The crow let out a soft caw in the tree above me and I flinched, every muscle going tight. “It’s necessary, old friend,” I whispered, and felt a little better. At least the dark, inquisitive bird was with me.
Then I left my treasure behind and crept out into the woods, daring to open the lantern’s shutters once the mist had obscured the boundaries of Vostok.
By night, the woods were far more ferocious. I hated the prickling feeling in my spine, the sensation that an eye was hidden in every shadow, watching my movements without blinking.
I knew the way by heart. All Vostokians did. If you left the village by the north or south, you would find yourself on the wayroad leading to other towns. Nobody went north, as there was nothing there but more wilderness, but merchants occasionally dared the Wood to trade with us from the south.
Several miles to the west, the Wood gave way to a thick, stinking bog, and far to the east was a wide river. But long before you found the river, there were thick, plentiful clearings where the herbwives harvested their medicines, along with clear springs that were safe to drink from.
I chose to follow the path to the spring first, only because ifanything were to happen, I’d be able to find my way back in the dark.
I tried very hard not to think aboutifs as a wolf howled in the distance.
It sounded like it was calling me.
“Vervain. Lemon balm,” I muttered under my breath, hoping the sound of my own voice would settle my nerves. The soft flutter of wings overhead told me that my crow friend was following, which was a comfort.
It took me nearly fifteen minutes, but I found the spring, chucking quietly in the shadows. Thick bushes grew around it, and I held up my lantern, searching for what I needed.
I found the lemon balm beneath a leaning oak tree, grabbing and shoving handfuls in my pockets. The herbwives would be horrified at my callous treatment of the plants they tended, but I wanted to spend no more time out here alone than I absolutely had to.
The vervain was a trickier task. I had to go beyond the spring, my footsteps crunching so loudly I was sure I was calling every creature in the Wood to my location.
“Kraaah,” the crow said, rustling somewhere overhead. I followed its voice, going deeper into the mist, until my light landed on stalks with tiny purple flowers.
“Thank you,” I whispered to the crow, and knelt to begin harvesting the vervain.
I’d filled the other pocket when I realized the night was unnaturally quiet. The crow didn’t rustle, and there were no mice jumping through the leaves. Even the breeze had hushed, though one low sound remained.
My own lungs froze as I listened, and realized that the only sound I heard was breathing.
And it wasn’t mine.
I stood up slowly, my hands already shaking. When I’d arrived in the clearing, I’d seen a mound of dark boulders.
Now there was one more shape among them, as dark as pitch and dwarfing the village’s tallest man. My lantern light just barely shimmered off black fur and eyes that gleamed amber.
The Beast shifted when he knew he had my attention. One enormous arm came into the light, holding the rock I’d left on the stump, delicately pinched between claws like iron.
Did he want me to come and take it? It was his now. I’d sacrificed it for safe passage.
