Free Alone: A collection of Short Stories by Tracy C Sallis Page B

that
happened if she wanted a chance of surviving, and a chance of
finding whatever animal had committed this vile act.
    She hoped that her
skills as a hunter would help her to gain a place within another
village for a while. Maybe they would take pity on her if she could
get there safely. Travel was a risk that Aeva knew that she would
have to take if she wanted to get to somewhere safe where she could
make her plans.
    She pulled a weathered
bag from the cupboard beside her bed. She had found it on a hunt
once, she assumed lost by a travelling trader. It had been filled
with tools and other shiny objects that she hadn’t recognised.
There were shiny intricate objects that shone in the sunlight. Aeva
had wished to keep them, but the village laws forced her to hand the
objects to the elders to be traded for food and other items.
Anything that would benefit the village as a whole.
    The bag, however, she
had been allowed to keep. She had treasured it since that day. She
had only taken it from its storage to feel the hard, worn leather
and hard metal loops and clips. Smyth, the oldest man in the
village, had told her that it was from before the wars. It was
called a satchel. Aeva didn’t care for its name, only for the
strange roughness of its edges and for the interesting patterns of
its stitching.
    Now, she filled it with
her scarce belongings. Her spare blade and some nuts and berries,
along with her sleeping clothes and some old rags that she hoped
would be useful. She then slipped out of her hut and ran, ignoring
the bodies, into the elders hut where she began tearing open the box
of trade-able objects and loading a few items into the front pocket
of the bag.
    Some of the sparkling
objects caught her eye and she held one up. It had chain, similar to
the ones that held the pans aloft above the fire, and yet so much
smaller and shinier. The chain led to a small yellowed metal piece
that held a hard rock the colour of blood. It was both beautiful and
ugly at the same time. Aeva turned it over in her hand, unsure of
what it could have been, before pushing it deep into her pocket.
Maybe it would make a good trade for a place within another village
and safety. She could only hope.
    She added some kindling
and flint to her bag, remembering that she might need to make fire
in the outside. The nights were cold, and the fire doubled as a
warning to stray creatures. She had learned survival as a child, but
this was the first time that she had really needed the skills.
    She stepped out of the
hut, closing the door behind her out of habit and respect. The sky
was almost at its darkest, so she said a silent prayer for her
fallen family and moved quickly to the gate, collecting her hunting
bag as she passed.

    ----------

    “ Going somewhere
child?” The voice startled Aeva as she approached. She turned
quickly to the sound, readying her blade to strike if needed.
    Before her stood a man,
much like the men from the village and yet very different in the way
that he wore himself. His hair was long and as dark as night itself,
flowing freely around his shoulders and down over his dark, almost
black jacket that appeared to be made of new leather. His eyes bore
into her as he awaited an answer, but Aeva could do nothing but
stare, opened mouthed in shock.
    “ Do not be
afraid.” The man’s voice came across the few metres
between them in a whisper of sound. It was soft and soothing, easing
into her mind. “Come to me child, I shall not harm you.”
    Aeva tried to pull
herself back from his spell. She could feel her body betraying her
and moving towards him, uncontrolled by her own mind.
    “ Who are you?”
She mustered, battling herself with every word. “What do you
want with me?”
    The man laughed with a
musical sound that reminded her of the bells at mealtime. “I
simply want to speak with you child, I can see that you have had a
scare.”
    Instinct pulled at her
brain, which was thick with betrayal, she was no longer in