1 × Bound

Everything hurt.
      I had been making my way home after a long, restless day in the woods. For hours, I had tracked paw marks or sat crouched in a tree, waiting – hoping for any sign of life. The presence of a deer, or even a squirrel, just so that I wouldn’t come home empty handed. That I would not have to face my mother’s silent disappointment, or look at the hollows in my younger sister’s cheeks as she played with the few toys that we possessed. I knew they fully relied on me since my father left us, that the burden to get food on the table every day – every night, rested on me. Their lives depended on me.
      With every step I took, the guilt increased, and my heart sank a little deeper in my chest. The bag I took with me for the catch I hoped to make bounced empty on my back, as if reminding me how much I had failed my family today. You could stay a little longer – a voice inside spoke to me, stay and catch something to feed them. Although it was very tempting, the sun had begun to set, and I knew that I had to get home within the hour, or continue the journey through the dark. The thought alone made me shiver; the stories that were told in our little village were not only terrifying, but also a serious warning. Hunters who travelled to far into the woods, led by that roaring emptiness in their stomach, who could not get out in time, or stumbled upon the beasts that dwelled the North of Ederawien. Even though I had never witnessed one of those in the dark woods myself, I could picture the stories perfectly in my mind.
      And so, I took the long way home.
      Because I knew that someone – something, had been following me for a good thirty minutes now. And I would not lead it directly to the people I risked my life for every day in these goddamned woods. I would walk through it all night if I had to, just to shake it of my trail.
      I had already slung my bow off my back minutes ago, an arrow in place. I didn’t know what kind of beast was following me. It seemed to move with the wind, leaving no tracks behind. Yet, I knew that it wasn’t a wolf or a bear that was following me – the icy silence around me was too tensed for something ordinary like that. The birds in the trees had stopped singing their songs as well – as if they knew that something was wrong. But I heard nothing, and saw no evidence that something was truly following me. And still, every vein, every muscle, all my senses told me that something was wrong. Along with the occasional shiver down my spine, and the goose bumps on my arms.
      I tried to speed up my step as quietly as possible, while I silently cursed myself for not bringing more arrows with me.
      I was a deer. A helpless ignorant deer, walking around in wolves’ territory. I could feel the trees laughing at me for being so stupid.
      A branch snapped behind me; my stalker had exposed itself.
      Fast as lightning I turned around, ready to face the threat behind me and plant an arrow in its body. But I saw no enemy, and was caught off guard for a second. Then I saw something rushing towards me from the side in the corner of my eye.
      And it ran right into the snare I set earlier this day.
      A squeal filled the woods, along with the sound of my snare pulling my stalker from the ground, leaving it to dangle at least two meters above the ground. I gasped for air as I beheld the creature before me.
      It wasn’t a bear nor a wolf that now dangled before me; but a woman.
      I tried not to shake or shiver too hard as I studied her. Her long, brown hair almost reached the ground. She was dressed in the colours of the woods: brown leather pants, and a dark green tunic on top. Just like the leather boots she wore, there was not a spot of dirt on them, unlike mine. As if she hadn’t just followed me through the mud for thirty minutes.
      As I stared into her near black eyes, I realized that her squeal had not been one of fear, but of surprise. And it was not the big blade on her back that made me take a few steps back in awe – it were the faerie’s pointy ears and the sharp fangs, with which she now grinned to me.
      “Well, look what we have here,” she purred, her dark eyes piercing my green ones. “A little human being who was clever enough to catch a faerie.”
      I didn’t know how to breathe anymore – it felt like the forest held its breath as well.
      I drew my bowstring back a little further.
      She huffed at the sight of it. “We both know that this little trick of yours won’t hold me for long, boy.” She scanned me again, debating. “Why don’t you let me go and we’ll…have a little talk. Hanging upside down in the mortal lands is not particularly how I like to spend my days.” Again, those fangs showed in a treacherous grin.
      I didn’t respond. No one in my village had ever had an encounter with a faerie before, but I had heard the stories the mercenaries told when they came to our local market. Travellers who had been attacked by creatures that looked like humans but were no such thing. They were stronger, faster, and had a thirst for blood. But the most scaring part was that they possessed an immortal gift – and so they could not be killed. It was an effort not to sink to my knees as its immense power lay heavy in the air.
      I had been a fool, I now realized, to ever set foot into these woods. But like many others, the hunger was a plague, and food was scarce. It had disappeared when the sickness had ravaged our lands, making the ground infertile. When the wages kept raising, my mother invested in a little vegetable garden herself. It kept us fed for a while, but it died out eventually. And with every piteous meal we could provide ourselves for the day, my little sister became more and more fragile. Not enough – I thought. It is never enough.
      It was for Lucia that I had risked going into these horrible woods. And it was for Lucia that I would come home safe and sound.
      I aimed my arrow at the faeries face. “What is your business in these woods,” I said to the faerie, trying my best to keep my voice steady, “Why were you following me?”
      The faerie looked at me and seemed pleased that I finally spoke to her – not at all impressed at the arrow aimed at her head. “Pleasure,” she said, “and amusement.”
      I could do it – fire my arrow and run. If I were lucky, it would hit something, if I were not… I swallowed, I didn’t want to think about that. I focussed again on her black eyes - those predators’ eyes that had been observing me for who knows how long. “Give me one reason not to kill you.” Cold, my voice was ice cold.
      She laughed. “You fool, you can’t kill an immortal.” I knew that my chances were minimal, but for Lucia…I would try.
      “Now, if were done playing, I’d like to make a bargain,” she huffed. My blood froze instantly. This was what the bedtime stories had warned me for. Faeries were cruel and traitorous, and for that, they were cursed and could not lie. Every word, every sentence they spoke would be twisted, or have a double meaning, which made bargains even more dangerous.
      “You unbind me from this hideous snare,” she said and smiled once again, “and I won’t kill you.”
      “No.”
      She growled. “I’m giving you a chance to live, you pathetic human. You are a fool not to take it.”
      I took a step back, debating as I searched for a sign that she was lying, or about to gain something. Unfortunately, her body betrayed nothing. After a while of silently twisting and turning her words, I decided that it was safe to reply. So, I said: “You won’t hurt me, nor my family. I will return to them unharmed.”
      She nodded. “Then it is done.”
      “It is done,” I repeated, still watching, “I agree with your bargain.” I might have imagined it, but it felt like the bond physically snapped into place. It made me plant my feet even firmer into the ground.
      I aimed my arrow upward now, and did not wait to see how it severed the rope as I turned around to run for my life.
      I had only run 5 meters before I felt her crashing into my back, making us both collapse into the dirt. She disarmed me within seconds and pinned my arms and legs to the ground. “Stupid human fool,” she hissed, “Thinking you can beat a faerie in its own game.”
      “You lied!” I yelled. Her weight on my back was heavier than I thought, and made it hard for me to breathe. I tried to get free, or at least give up a fight, but my muscles were tired of an exhausting day in the woods. I silently cursed her - the faerie had known. “You wouldn’t harm me, I could go home!”
      She clicked her tongue. “My means were not to hurt you, but to catch you. If you hurt yourself in your fall, it is your own fault. And for the home-coming part…” she pulled my hair so that she could see my face, now covered in mud. My eyes were once again drawn to those lethal fangs. She was pure evil as she said: “You didn’t specify when, exactly, you’d return home.”