arabwel | *scribbles*

incidenally, I hatehtaethate my uterus. I want a biug bad mnonster to tear it out for me! And feed me chocolate and give m e a backrub, too! *sulks*

ahem. Morew ÄMM, sorry it is late!

The wind was cold and the trees bare when things changed.

She was waiting for Pastor Mullander, eager to start her lessons. But he was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that she had seen him come to the yard… and his horse was unmistakable, a bony brown gelding as bad-tempered as his master.

Anna knew she should just stay and wait, but she had already checked over her lines twice now, and she really did wonder why the priest was stalling. Feeling a little guilty, she got out of her chair and made her way to the door, opening it quietly.

The corridor was empty, but she could hear noise; it seemed to be coming from one of the unused rooms along the corridor. The door to the room was ajar and Anna peeked in…

Her eyes grew wide and she gasped at the sight of the priest and one of the servant girls – Saara, she realized. Even to her there was no mistaking what was going on.

Anna felt her cheeks flush and backed away quickly, running back to her room and slamming the door shut behind her. She was not meant to see that! Not that she had seen much; if she had not been told by Kita what mating was, she wouldn’t have known what they were doing but still... she should have just stayed in her room!

The door banged open, startling Anna.

The priest barged in, his reddened face twisted in an expression of fury. “You fool of a girl!” he snarled, raising his hand.

Before Anna could react, the priest backhanded her.

”Don’t you dare to ever tell a soul what you saw, you little whore,” the priest continued, “Or else…”

Anna could only nod in shock, her ears ringing, tasting blood on her lips.

“Good,” the priest sneered, raising his hand again; Anna shied away. “If you will, I’ll beat you black and blue and have you in the stocks for a month!”

Anna watched mutely as the man spun on his heel and left, slamming the door after him. She felt numb, not even feeling the blood that has started to steadily drip from her nose or the bruise that had began to form on her cheek.

How could he have done that?

Anna couldn’t think; she was still in shock at the priest’s fury, the pain starting to slowly sweep through. She didn’t think as she stumbled out of the room, down the stairs, out of the door to the yard and to the path that led into the woods.

**

As she slowly glided over the leaf-covered ground, Awa could tell something was wrong. She could feel it, a taste of something terrible to come in the air; it was in the way the wind cut into her and the trees groaned; something horrible would happen.

Awa smiled.

When her cat-eyes spied the small form upon the path, her smile vanished and she felt dread:

In what would have been a heartbeat, had her heart not been a blackened husk, she made her way to the girl who was stumbling along the path, her face smeared with blood and tears.

“Oh, precious,” Awa breathed, kneeling to wrap her arms around Anna’s body as the child gratefully collapsed into the embrace, sobbing quietly, “What happened? Who did this to you?”

The trees groaned with fury, and Awa knew why, the fury of her liege Lordi had been awakened; there would be hell to pay now that which was his had been harmed.
‘
”Come, child, “ she whispered gently, lifting Anna into her arms with preternatural grace, “I will take you to him.”

The wind rushed past, cold and unforgiving as Awa sped through the swiftly darkening woods; Anna did not even try to speak, just clung to the sorceress, her arms wrapped tightly around Awa’s neck.

Awa knew she had to bring the girl to her liege; Lordi would wish to deal with whatever had hurt Anna himself- Even though the desire for retribution had began to boil beneath Awa’s skin, she knew that there was no question of what was the right thing to do.

She reached the edge of the clearing just in time to see Lordi emerge from the caverns, a feral scowl on his face and his wings outstretched, her liege was out for blood.

Anna shifted in the sorceress’ arms, her eyes fluttering open; the bleariness receded as she saw Lordi and when the strong arms relieved Awa of her burden, her little hands reached out to her friend.

**

When Anna finally fell into exhausted sleep upon the furs of his bed, Lordi let his anger rise to the fore. He stood up, his eyes flaring crimson in the darkness.

The priest would pay.

He would pay for daring to lay a hand on Anna, for daring to hurt her, for marking what was his – the memory of the bruise brought forth a snarl from him.

Oh yes, the priest would pay.

He stalked out of the caverns, spreading his wings as he reached outside. He saw Awa hovering at the edge of the clearing, her anxiousness clear.

”Go to her,” he snarled.

The dark glee of the hunt flowed over him as he stalked forth, stoking his wrath further.

Somewhere in the darkness, a wolf howled in fright.

**

Swearing under his breath, Jan Mullander spurred his horse on. He could hear the howls in the darkness and cursed his foolishness for deciding to head back home rather than to spend the night. But if that little whore had not riled him up and then disappeared, alarming half of the household…

When his horse reared, he swore again; his heels dug into the animal’s sides to no avail, he was thrown off, impacting with the ground heavily.

He swore again as he looked up: the horse had taken off, and he could not even see it any longer, there was something on the road…

The clouds parted, revealing the full moon and the creature that had frightened his horse.

Mullander froze; his heart sped up like that of a racing hare and his mouth went dry with sheer fright at the sight before him; a beast, taller than any man, with leathery wings spread out to block the stars and eyes that glistened red like heart blood.

”Stay back, devil!” he cried out as he scrambled up. “God is on my side.”

The beast laughed, the sound chilled him to the bone as did the sight of sharp, gleaming teeth.

”I am no devil, fool!” the demon growled, “And your god won’t save you now.”

The priest took a step back, brandishing his cross with sweaty hands. “God will protect me, foul fiend!”

But even as he spoke, terror and doubt quickly took hold of him.

“You struck against me and mine,” the beast snarled, as if not having heard his words, “And for that you will die.”

Mullander faltered, his hold of his cross slipping, as doubt rose in his mind. What could have he done to raise the ire of this creature?

Then it hit him. “The little whore!” she spat out, the anger overwhelming his fear for a moment. “The witch!”

The beast growled, and terror struck through the priest a moment before the beast’s hand did, the sharp claws tearing into his cheek as he was struck down.

”What you did spawned your fate,” the beast growled. “Now... you will burn.”