Page 7 of Warrior of the Wild
“It’s an imagined monster meant to scare children away from the dangerous wild.”
“Don’t shrug it off until you see one.”
“You do realize the flaw in that logic?”
He grins, and I look away so as not to be caught staring at his mouth.
“Come, now,” Torrin says. “You’d love to stride back into the village carrying the gunda’s head. Imagine the look on Havard’s face!”
I know he’s trying to make me feel better, and I let him, because Iwantto feel better.
“Imagine how spent we’d be then before tomorrow’s trial,” I say.
“Worried you’ll fail?” he teases.
Though we’re both eighteen, we will not be considered adults by the village until we pass our trial. It is a dangerous challenge filled with ziken, the same creatures that roam these very woods. And the consequence for failing is no small thing. Tradition dictates that those who fail face banishment and the mattugr. It is the absolute worst disgrace to be bestowed by my people. If any individual isn’t excelling in their profession, they’re smart enough to switch to something more befitting their abilities before the year of their trial.
“If I were to fail,” I say, “who would trounce you so thoroughly during training drills?”
“An excellent point. We’d best stick together tomorrow, then.”
I don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing the wordweleave his lips.
After tomorrow, things are going to change. When I beat my trial, I can finally move out of my father’s house. I can see Torrin whenever I like. No more sneaking around because Torrin is afraid of my father.
And I’ll finally be free of my mother.
A sharp yank snaps my head backward. I think I’ve caught my hair on something, until I’m suddenly spun around, and a powerful pain shoots clear to the back of my skull, starting at my right eye.
I barely manage to catch my balance as my hands fly over my eye. Then I hear quiet laughter.
It would seem that Torrin and I were not, in fact, the only ones to sneak out tonight.
“Something in your eye?” Havard taunts as he shakes out the fist that struck me. That sends his accomplices, Kol and Siegert, into a fit of laughter.
I wipe at my watering eyes so I can properly see the threat, but my right eye appears to already be swelling shut. I can’t believe I didn’t hear Havard coming. I was too distracted thinking about Torrin.
“Go back to the village, Havard,” I say. “I beat you at every fight you instigate. How could you think this would be any different? Are you so fond of pain that you now seek me out for it?”
An unkind thing to say, for sure, but sneaking up behind me to strike was low of him.
Havard rips his ax from off his back and advances toward me. “Let’s have it out here, then! See how you do against a real weapon.”
The shout sends bats sailing upward from the trees, their chirping and clicking following them into the night, and I hope no ziken were near enough to hear Havard’s outburst.
I pull my ax from my back, preparing to defend myself against Havard and his friends. Torrin does the same beside me. We spread our legs apart, one foot forward, in a readying stance. Kol and Siegert mirror their leader, advancing in a straight line.
“Rasmira.”
Everyone freezes at the new voice.
Havard’s shout didn’t alert the ziken.
It brought my father.
CHAPTER
2
