Page 19 of Warrior of the Wild
My thoughts jumble together as I try to remember all the supplies I will need for the wild. Hides, food, candles, flint and pyrite, soap, water flask, blanket, whetstone, oil.
I crouch down to my knees to look under the bed for a leather pack to store it all. Instead my eyes land on the jewelry box.
Mother’s earrings are inside.
Before I even know what’s happening, the box is in my hands and I’m hurling it across the room. A scream fills my ears. My scream.
The box shatters as it hits the wall, and the light from my window flashes across the gemstones as they rain to the ground. I rip the ax from my back and let it clatter to the floor. I slam a fist into my feather-stuffed pillow. My eyes and nose burn.
I come apart where no one can see and no one can hear.
SOMETIME LATER,I lie in bed, staring at the rock ceiling. I’ve already finished filling my pack with provisions. There is nothing to do now but wait.
It seems as though my memory must be faulty. Some nightmare that I’ve confused with reality. But as I listen to the sounds of the village’s celebration, I remember that I’m not invited. I am not an adult like the rest of the warriors of my age group. I’m an outcast.
I hear the door to the house slam shut. A rush of footsteps. Thenmy door bursts open, Irrenia spilling in, her arms barely containing an assortment of objects.
“Sorry it’s taken me so long to come,” she says. “I had to grab a few things.” She sets everything on the floor and starts sifting through it. “Fever reducer,” she says, holding up a few leaves in a glass jar. “Pain reliever.” She raises a bottle of rosy pink liquid. “Muscle relaxant. This one wards off infection, and—”
“Irrenia.”
“Drink this one with water. It’ll make sure you get all the nutrients you need. Plants will likely be scarce out there.”
I stand and walk over to her, trying to still her frantic hands. “Irrenia.”
“No! You need to remember this. It’s important.”
“How can I possibly fit this all in my pack?”
“Take two packs.”
“I may be strong, but I also need to be able to walk.”
Her head snaps up. “This is no time to joke! You’re going to—going to—” She bursts into tears.
I have little desire to comfort her when I am the one being sent to my death, but I remember the right motions. I wrap my arms around her dainty figure. She’s beautiful like Mother. Out of all of us, I think she looks the most like her. How did she become Mother’s opposite in everything else?
She lets me hold her only for a few seconds before pushing me away. “Don’t do that. I should be comfortingyou.I’m horrible. I—I—I just stood there.”
“What do you mean?”
“All I had to do was say I saw that boy do it. It didn’t matter that I didn’t see anything. I still should have done it. For you.”
My heart seems to grow within my chest. “I don’t expect you to lie for me. You cannot jeopardize your soul, Irrenia.”
“I should have done it anyway. I would do anything for you. I just hesitated. I thought of myself first. I’m despicable. I—”
“That’s enough. You are the furthest thing from despicable. You are one of the only people in this village who truly cares for me. You are kind and good. Nothing in this world has made me happier than having you for a sister.”
Tears start to fall from her eyes again. “But it’s not fair. They set you up.”
“I know.”
She grabs one more thing off the ground. “All right, it might have been silly for me to bring so much, but you at least have to take this with you. It was your present for after the trial. And now—” She clears her throat. “Now that your trial is over, I can give it to you.”
She forces a smile and hands me a canister. I take it, open it, and sniff at the contents.
“Ugh. It’s brown. Is it dung?”
