especially in the middle of the day. Besides, he'd just follow my tracks this far and know I had stopped. I cursed myself for not covering my tracks, or doubling back and making a false trail. No, I had gone in a straight line.
I dragged myself over to a tree that had survived the fire. The trunk was thick, and would at least provide with a few more moments of cover. I sat against it, waiting for Kollen to come.
He was like a bull moose in the brush. I could hear him coming the whole way, cursing and crashing. I cowered behind my tree, feeling more than helpless. I tried to steady myself, tried to come up with a plan of action. I still had my bow. Could I shoot him to save myself? I raised a trembling hand to my quiver - and met empty air. My arrows were gone.
The footsteps came closer. They were moving slower now, as if he sensed that his prey was near. In a detached part of myself, I wondered if he would kill me, or just take me here, on the forest floor, and kill me later. In that moment, I came to a decision. The tears stopped. I drew my knife from my belt as the steps came closer. He was no more than three paces away from the tree.
Trembling, I put the blade to my neck and closed my eyes.
Moments later, I felt the tree shake as he leaned against it. His breath hit me in the face. I hesitated,the knife poised against my skin. Do it, I said to myself. Do it, or worse things await you.
Before I could gather my courage, I heard a surprised grunt from in front of me.
"A tricky girl, aren't you, Sasha," Kollen said. His voice seemed to be lined with equal parts pleading and anger. "Where have you gone?"
I opened my eyes in surprise to see his face in mine. But instead of looking at me, he was studying the ground. I looked down to see what was confusing him and nearly jumped in surprise.
I was invisible!
Not just me, either, but my clothes and even my knife were invisible to my eye. Afraid to move in case the sound gave me away, I froze in place at the base of the tree. Problem was, he was about to touch the tracks with his hand. And the tracks were under me.
In that split second, I scampered away from the tree and through the bush. I glanced back only once, but Kollen didn't even seem to notice I had gone.
For three days I lived in the forest. I had no tent, but the weather was warm. I watched the men come and take my father's body away. They seemed to believe the story my uncle had told them, since he was the one who brought them there. I wonder if they noticed the arrows were gone. I had taken them both after escaping from Kollen. They were the only ones I had until I could buy more. The food in my pack wouldn't last more than a day, but I had a good knife, my firestarter and my bow. I could live for years on those things alone.
But I had made a promise.
On the fourth night I ventured back into town. My uncle owned a small tanning shop on the east side. He and his family - wife, daughter and son - lived above the shop. Across the street was a small butcher's shop where we sold our meat. It was there that I was headed.
The shop was closed, but I wasn't interested in getting inside. Instead, I glanced down the street and, satisfied that nobody was in sight, climbed to the roof. From here, I could see into the upper floors of my uncle's house. I waited. The daughter - her name was Ciera - went to bed first. Her light came on and she undressed and collapsed in her bed before blowing the light out. She looked no more than sixteen. I hadn't had much interaction with my uncle's family, but that sounded about right. His son was about my age, but his room was on the other side of the house.
I judged the time to be about midnight by the time the lights in his bedroom came on. Kollen and his wife appeared in the window. I took aim at his chest, but before I could shoot, his wife stepped in the way. I eased up on the tension of my bow. They got undressed, and dressed again in their nightclothes. I was too far away to hear what they said, but she laughed at something before blowing out the light. They both crawled into bed without giving me a shot.
I cursed. I waited for a few more minutes, until I was sure they were asleep, before starting to unstring my bow. It would have to wait for another night.
Before I could get the bowstring off, a small light from the house caught my eye. I crouched back down on the roof and watched as it disappeared from Kollen's bedroom window and into the halls. Was I so lucky that I would get my shot while he was up to go to the washroom?
I quickly nocked an arrow - I still only had the two that had killed my father - and waited for the light to reappear. My stomach knotted when I saw it again. It was in Ciera's bedroom. Sickness roiled in my stomach as Kollen lit the lamp in her room. She turned and smiled at him, letting the covers fall aside.
My jaw clenched as I watched my uncle leer at his daughter. I drew back on the bow. There was no hesitation, no fear or pity or remorse in my heart. He fell to the floor with an arrow sticking out of his chest. Ciera's screams echoed through the house, but I was already gone by the time my aunt found the body.
It was my first kill. It was far from my last.
I couldn't stay in town. It wasn't safe. After murdering Kollen, I turned back to the woods. For a year, I wandered, surviving on what I could hunt and forage. I was far enough south that I didn't need a permanent shelter from the elements. After a time, I started exploring my new abilities. I could turn invisible, that much I knew, but it wasn't until I snuck up beside a deer that I realized that even the sounds I made didn't travel even so far as my ears. I reached out to touch him, and at my touch he bolted. So, I reasoned that sound, sight and even smell - I was upwind from him - were blocked when I was in this state. I practiced, and soon I could call on this ability at a moment's notice.
But, as much as I thought I could stay in the forest for the rest of my life, civilization called to me. We are social creatures, humans, bound to each other. And so I found myself at the city of Ochian, in Lianti. The people there thought they were very clever, naming their city "ocean". It seemed nobody had the heart to tell them they were actually bordering a sea.
It took a while to get up the courage to go into the city. This was for a few reasons. First, I hadn't spoken to anyone in a year, and I wasn't sure I could still form the right words. Second, I looked like someone who had been in the wilderness for a year. My hair was in complete disarray, even as short as it was. I'd trimmed it with my knife; long hair was just a nuisance. My clothes were nearly nonexistent by this point as well. They were another bothersome item that I hadn't deemed necessary to keep in good condition. The third reason was the buck hung across my shoulders. Not generally a good way to meet people, especially since I had no idea where I was going. But, if I was going to be in the city, I needed money. The problem was going to be finding the butcher.
I gritted my teeth and stepped onto the road. The city wasn't the largest in the country, but it was a lot bigger than the town I had grown up in. I refused to look up at the walls as I entered the gate, and I refused to be distracted by the massive harbor. I walked with my eyes down, staring at the streets, not looking at anyone.
For more than ten minutes, I wandered the streets this way, ignoring the looks and stares of the people. Honestly, I had no idea where I was going. I kept an eye out for a butcher shop, but the city was larger than I expected. I think I had managed to wander down a residential street when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
Understandably, it made me a little nervous, and I may have reacted more harshly than the man deserved. To be specific, I spun around and shouted at him. I'm not sure what I said, but he took it surprisingly well.
"Kid," he said, "if you're looking for the butcher, you're in the wrong place."
I nodded, afraid to speak.
"Just head back the way you came, take the second street on your left, go down about three blocks, then take a right. The butcher should be on your right. Got it?"
I nodded again. "Thanks," I said. My voice came out rough, and I coughed.
"You need any help with that, boy?" the man said. I blinked, then shook my head. I knew I didn't look my best, bu
t I didn't think I looked like a boy. On the other hand, I supposed most girls wouldn't be hauling around a dead deer either. I shifted the load slightly and followed the man's directions.
It took another hour to find the butcher.
To this day I don't know if the man was deliberately deceiving me, or if he was simply mistaken. Regardless, the butcher was not only not where he had said, but was, in fact, in the opposite direction. By the time I arrived there, I was so exhausted I didn't even think about being afraid to speak with the man.
"How much can you give me for this?" I said, slamming the carcass on the counter.
The man scratched his chin. Having a dead animal on his counter didn't seem to faze him. "You shoot this yourself?" he asked.
I nodded. "How much?" I repeated.
He looked over the carcass. "The head's off," he said.
I ground my teeth. "I know."
"And he's been gutted."
"Yes."
A pause. "I'll give you five dachals for it."
I was too tired to argue, though I knew my father could have gotten five times that for it. He shoved the steel coins across the counter and I threw them in my pack. The man at the counter eyed my bow.
"I'll give you ten times that amount for that bow," he said casually.
I glared. "Not for sale," I said. He shrugged, and I left the shop.
Twenty minutes later, I had a brand
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