Goddess-Touched Snippet - (16/?)
It's not a usual snippet-day but it's been a while since I posted one anyway <3
Word count: 500
Content warnings: References to gore, child death.
POV: Ember
In which Ember is reminded of their past while hunting.
I fall still, waiting, and the world around me comes into sharp focus.
The air has chilled since sunset, a breeze now tickling through my locs and shivering down my spine. The sounds of the nearby Spiritseekers almost seem to amplify with my attention, until I can hear what seems to be every scratch of a hoof on dirt and snort of breath. The scent of them--musk and sweat and feather and livestock--wafts to me and mingles with the greenery about my nose. And, somewhere between the wood grain of the bow in my hand and the scratch of a twig along my arm, an insect flutters past, wings beating just near enough for me to feel its presence without ever touching me.
Cicadas sing. One of the Spiritseekers snorts, scratches at the ground. Another shakes itself like a dog, the motion moving from the tip of its nose and down to its long pheasant-tail, which it unfurls in a display of vibrant, almost-glowing blue that becomes a ghostly light in the darkness.
My gaze darts back to Typha’s hideaway. I find him crouching in the bushes by the glint of the moonslight in his eyes.
No signal, yet.
I cast my gaze outward again, to the pronged horns and bare heads.
Start counting them, counting the ten arrows in my quiver in sync on repeat.
Ten. Twenty. Twenty-five.
A faint tug on my soul as a fire ignites in the distance, back in the direction of our camp.
Thirty. Thirty five.
Slow my breath, easing the air in through my nose and out through my mouth, steadying myself.
Forty five. Fifty.
It’s then that I find Typha again, the motion of his hand catching my eye.
There.
It’s a small thing. One that’s wandered off from the rest of the flock, just a few yards closer to us than the others. Its horns are hardly any longer than my hand, and it’s not tufted with down like those of the smallest, weakest Spiritseekers kept close to the center.
And I can’t help comparing it’s gangly legs and tousled feathers to Dusk.
Stop.
Slowly, quietly, I raise my bow. Breathe in deep, close my eyes.
Think of something else.
Even slower, I slip the arrow under my fingers out of the quiver.
Forget it’s alive. Make it easier.
My thumb hooks on the string, and I force myself to look at my target.
But oh, Goddesses, what else am I supposed to think of that doesn’t shake my hands even worse?
Small footprints stumbling towards flowing water, never coming back out. Sada’s frail hand reaching out from beneath the rubble of Delya, bloodied with their mother’s viscera. Dusk, flickering between material and shadow, slipping ever-deeper into the tar of his Flex.
Star, still small enough for me to carry even after she bloated with water and rot.
Tears blur my vision. Another lick of flame, this time curling around my thumb under my skin.
She didn’t feed anything.
We still need to eat.
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