† The Wounding

‘Murderer.’ The word rang in her ears as she pushed her way towards the dark forest through the knee-high brush that surrounded it.

‘Witch. Murderous witch!’ And again! The words her father whispered at her with horrified, accusing eyes, her mother standing behind him, tears already starting in the woman’s eyes as she looked at what lay on the floor beyond her daughter.

‘Find the murderer! Find the witch!’ The words now came from outside her mind. She looked back quickly, the flickering torches carried by the villagers bobbing in the distance, clearly visible in the dark night. Before her, the tall trees of Ellinia Forest loomed, their dense branches reaching skywards to twine with each other, forming a canopy that blotted out all moonlight.

Who knew what waited in the shadows that held their breath between those ancient trees? The tales of her village of Henesys knew. They spoke of uncanny magical creatures and heathen pagans that could kill with a mere twist of their fingers, bloodthirsty things of the night that kept the villagers from venturing out beyond the safety of the green fields of Henesys.

But she also knew what was behind: death at the hands of the mob that pursued her now, her father at the head of them. The burns on her wrists started to smart now, reminder of the ropes that she had struggled out of only minutes ago.

The shouts of the villagers were louder now; she could almost feel the heat of the flaming torches at her back. Taking a deep breath, she forced her shaking feet to take one step, then another and another, before breaking into a dead run that plunged her into the darkness of Ellinia Forest. A chance to live was better than certain death; the villagers would not follow her into the forest that they feared so much.

As for monsters… well, perhaps they would welcome her into their ranks, the murderous monster she was.

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A little stinger, if you wish.

To further clarify, the premise for this story is that the world of Maple did not just pop up all inter-connected and the people of Victoria all harmonious and at peace with each other. Henesys is the typical small village full of suspicious, non-magical people totally isolated from the rest of the world, trapped by the forests and by their fears.

Acknowledgements: I cannot claim to be entirely original. This story is inspired by a short story of the same title by Gary Jones, as published in Sword and Sorceress VII. This author has merely taken a good yarn and rewoven it into a richer, Maple-esque tapestry. Of course, Wizet, you can’t sue me either.