Page 61 of A Spark So Bright
But all she saw was the blood. The blood that was partly Magnus's, but mostly the blood of a beast that had once been beautiful. And now it had been cut down by a man who’d killed it because he wanted to impress her.
Her stomach twisted. Her heart started to thud hard in her chest. She couldn't quite get enough oxygen into her lungs, and for some reason, picking at her fingers didn't help. Even the sharp spike of pain when she tore the skin too deep didn't ground her. She was floating out of her body with nowhere to go, and no one realized there was something wrong with her.
Magnus's brow furrowed. "Rose?"
She couldn't. She couldn't do this.
At least until she heard the crowd start to... laugh.
She looked up at the forest to see Gunnar approaching with his arms full of something lime green and awkwardly moving.He swore a few times, almost dropping the oddly shaped creature before striding right over her.
"Hold out your arms," he said gruffly. "The damned thing isn't happy. That’s your only warning."
Why was it not dead? Everyone else had offered something dead.
"Is that a venimoss?" Someone chuckled, pressing their hands to their mouth as Rose reached out her arms. "Why would he bring her that?"
Even Magnus took a step back, confusion making his face wrinkle. "Why the fuck did you bring her that? We were supposed to bring them something from the hunt, Gunnar."
He didn't reply as he dumped the writhing creature into her arms. And instantly, it calmed. Rose stroked a hand over the lime green... not fur, she realized. It wasn't soft, but rather coarse. It had antennae on the top of its head that were curled in like a fern that hadn't opened yet. And then it turned a black, equally furred face toward her, and she could see it had three eyes on either side of its head. Eyes that glowed just like the glow underneath their feet, the one that gave the mountain power.
"Better?" Gunnar asked, his words a little clipped. He probably didn't like it that everyone was laughing at him.
"A venimoss?" she asked. "I haven't heard of these before."
"They are... caterpillars," he said. "But bigger."
Magnus snorted. "Not good eating at all. It's just goo in there. Don't try it. I did when I was a child and it stained my hands green for a month. Unless you want to look like Gunnar, of course. Then you should try."
Everyone was still laughing, but she wasn't scared anymore. Now she had this odd little creature that was holding on to her arms with all of its many legs, and it just felt right. Relaxing.
She looked up at Gunnar with a question in her eyes, and she saw him soften.
"Venimoss are part of the mountain," he said quietly. "They are messengers of the goddess, some say. They glow in her light and they are the only creatures here who hunt nothing. They have no natural predators. They only eat sap from very special trees. I will get you some, so it will stay alive."
"Thank you," she whispered.
All the others started talking again, and Magnus clapped a hand to Gunnar's shoulder. "Seriously? A venimoss?"
"She doesn't like dead things," Gunnar replied as the other man wheeled him away from Rose. "She's seen enough death in her life."
Her heart squeezed hard in her chest. A heart that she'd thought had died a long time ago.
Twenty-Four
Rose
Torbin showed up at Rose's door the next morning. He knocked politely, and she always knew who it was based on the sound he made. He was always a little timid, as though he knew the loud sound could startle her.
But lately, she hadn't been startling quite as badly with those kinds of sounds. Someone had broken a plate at dinner last night and she hadn't even stopped mid-sentence. She'd just kept talking and hadn't realized she'd not reacted until she noticed the soft smile on Gunnar's face. He'd almost immediately gotten up to put his own dishes away and stalked back to the barracks for rest.
She'd felt relief in that. Knowing that he could rest without worrying about what or how she was feeling. He trusted her to be well even if he left, and that was a rarity.
So now she was pleased that she didn't jump when the knock came. She just stood up and headed over to the door, opening it wide rather than just a sliver like she normally would.
Torbin stood on the other side with a parchment in his hand, looking it over before asking, "Who was the better hunter in your opinion? Gunnar or Magnus?"
She blinked at him. "What?"
