Chapter 3

Splat.

I froze, grimacing as the mud dripped down my face, in my hair and freezing my skin in the early morning light, and the laughter bubbled through the training court yard.

I was sick of these stupid, immature-

I snapped, something in me growling ferally, and I whipped around, identifying Talia Leafrunner by the mud on her hand. She looked at e, annoyingly beautiful with tawny hair and warm eyes, "problem, Halfling?"

I nocked an arrow and pointed. The yard froze, no one sure what to do. Even Talia froze-as far as they all knew, I never missed.

Then I aimed up and shot through the rope, dumping the emergency reserve oil all over her.

It coated her skin, hair, and clothes-turning her into a black, oily mass, and her shrieks were music to my ears.

"What is going on here?"

I stood down, turning to see Sylvanas Windrunner standing there, deep blue armor glimmering in the early morning light, and a look of utter confusion plastered on her face.

"Tortheldrin. What happened." She spoke in curt sentences.

"Leafrunner picked a bad day to call me a Halfling and throw mud at me. So I showed her what it truly is to be dirty." I threw a smirk her way, and she was boiling with so much rage I imagine the oily was getting pretty toasty.

"She oiled me!" Talia squealed, and I snorted at the innuendo, amused as all hell by this.

Sylvanas' mouth quirked up, just the tiniest bit-and I knew it'd be fine, "Leafrunner, go wash off. I hear about you harassing another ranger again and you'll be dismissed."

Talia fumed as she stormed off, and then eyes were turned to me, "Tortheldrin, go home for the day. No more antics, understood?" I nodded, strapping my bow to me and sheathing my daggers, and jogging out of the Golden Mist courtyard.

I wandered along through the trees, when it came.

I froze, muscles stiff and guard up as The Mist drifted around me, caressing my sides as it moved around, and I felt the whispers like a dull ache, the presence painful for the living.

"Why do you walk to the clearing?"

I jumped out of my skin, bow off and arrows nocked in a second at the…

By the Sunwell, what is that?

The thing-woman? -looked emaciated, with sunken cheek bones and hollow, silvery eyes that held just the faintest traces of blue. Her hair was so blonde it was basically white, and it hung like a net over her back and shoulders, to the ground. She wore black robes that hung off of her, and her papery white skin was covered with black and purple paints.

"I suggest you put that down, little thing." The thing spoke, her voice sounding like sandpaper and gravel being ground by a pestle, and I shivered as The Mist intensified.

I set down my bow, trembling, and I took in a heaving breath as The Mist receded, the whispers quieting. I watched the woman as she paced, and noted that she was barefoot.

"Are you dead?" I blurted, so curious it hurt, and the thing laughed.

That's not a pretty noise.

"Not yet, child. 4,500 years is a long life, and it's not over yet." The thing spoke, and I realised with a jolt-

I dropped into a bow so low the tips of my ears touched the ground, "Apologies, Mist Speaker, I didn't realise-."

"Rise child, it's fine. You're a young youth wandering home and lost your way, I presume?" I nodded, straightening, and she smiled, revealing only a few teeth.

"I'm aware I look somewhat ghoulish. Due to my connection with the dead, I am ironically gifted extraordinarily long life. Now run along, little one. I sense that you care for someone dying."

I flinched hard when she said that, hurrying away without so much as a nod.

Death creeped me the hell out. Laevia was going to have a heart attack when I told her.

I knew something was wrong when I saw that the door was open.

I pushed my way inside, and I felt like something had punched me in the gut.

Mom was curled into a ball in her bed, crying and trembling, and the house was destroyed. All the food, all the money, everything we had, was either destroyed or gone entirely.

"Mom! Are you alright?" I ran to the bed, not caring, and looked her over carefully-no injury.

I shouldn't have left her alone.

She raised her head to meet my gaze, and raw rage ate at me when I saw a bruise forming over her eye. Someone had hit her.

"I'm s-sorry. I-I-." she fell into hacks, her bony, malnourished body shaking, and I found the water jug quickly-the monster had left that, at least-and brought her water.

"It's alright Mom. Breathe, relax. I'll figure this out. Is there anything…?" My face fell when she shook her head.

Nothing was left.

I kissed her hair and continued to soothe her until she fell into a tense sleep.

Then I pulled every lock, threw on the duster and stomped into the village.

People avoided me, but I looked around thoroughly.

If anyone sold something of ours, I would find it.

There. A fur.

"Strider!" I raged, storming over, and he jumped, startled at the rage in my voice.

"Tortheldrin-?" I ripped the fur off of the table, examining it, and it was definitely one of mine.

"Who sold you this." I growled, shaking with rage.

"Turn around, across the way. Tiny, black hair. Told me his name was Coin."

I turned and saw the man, and oh he was dead.

"Coin!" I roared, and he started, looking up, and the blood drained from his face.

"Can I help you, Miss?" he affected an air of calm, which I shattered by slugging him.

His head snapped to the side and he got knocked off balance, and I grabbed him by the throat, hitting him again and again on the chest, the ribs, the face, and when he got away from me and tripped, I kicked him over and over. I was screaming.

"You monster! You hit a sick woman! You robbed her! You robbed us!" I was so fucking angry, and no one intervened.

I saw Cayna ushering the children away, Strider looking around anxiously, and Laevia seemed lost. No one messed with my Mother.

No one.

"Pl-please-!"

I pinned him to the dusty ground, red hair getting In the way, and my lips were peeled back completely from my teeth, eyes bright with fury, and I closed his airway with pressure, "You hurt and robbed and scared my Mother!"

"Stop this at once!"

I heard Sylvanas, but I ignored her.

"You left a bruise, you kim'jael! You left us with nothing!" His face was turning purple, and his eyes were rolling.

"Tortheldrin!"

"You could see the signs. You're even wearing gloves. You filthy scum on my boots, you planned this!" I was going to murder. And I didn't care.

"Teir!"

I stood, carrying the weakly struggling Coin with me, and held him away from me, hand still closed on his throat. I felt a shuddering aftershock reverberating through my head, making my vision tilt as my fury intensified, and I thought I saw The Mist creeping in.

"He hurt her!"

"You cannot assault people in village squares!" Sylvanas looked shocked and angry, and I knew I looked shocking. I looked like a feral fucking lynx and if it scared people then that's that.

"He robbed us! He hit her and scared her and robbed us!" I roared, eyes on the somewhat limp elf whose pulse hammered under my hand.

"Drop. Him."

"Fine!" I pulled him close, and-

Snap.

He dropped to the ground, eyes seeing nothing.

A hush went through the village, silent as death, and I looked at Sylvanas, lip curled in a sneer, "I dropped him."

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" She accused, her body humming with anger and shock.

I looked down at the dead man on my boots, and I kicked it.

My veins were filled with adrenaline and fury, and I knelt down, digging through his pockets until I found a pouch that clinked heavily.

I pocketed it, and then resumed my stance, knowing eyes were on me.

"I sent you home to calm down, not murder!"

"He assaulted her!" I snarled, something vaguely not human humming beneath my tone that I didn't recognize, and she flinched, staring at me hard.

It was silent for a very long time, until Strider spoke up, "Tortheldrin is speaking the truth."

Sylvanas turned slowly towards the fur trader, eyebrow raised, "Witness?"

"The dead guy sold me a big bundle of furs that was clean cut in a way I've only ever seen from her, and he had her palate. He stole from her."

"And the sentence of theft and assault is at the liberty of the victim to decide." I spat, and Sylvanas whirled on me again, "I decided on immediate execution."

I spouted law at her. I wasn't going to be arrested.

"When this weighs on your soul at judgment day. You will remember this conversation."

With that, she left.

I looked down at the body again, and then I left the village.

I walked in the door to the house, and Mom looked up from where she was kneeling on the floor, her hands sliced open.

"I'm s-sorry. Tr-trying to clean-."

"Shush, Mom. It's alright." I helped her back to bed and bound her hands, and she didn't ask.

I felt different, filthy.

My rage had leaked away, and it felt like a filthy film of filth covered my skin and my mouth, suffocating me in my thoughts.

She fell asleep again, and I kept the pouch on me-we will never again be caught unawares.

I slept against the front door that night, the moonlight illuminating the surrounding area as I stared at my hands, the sound of Coin's neck snapping on a constant repeat in my head.

I didn't sleep, but I didn't feel tired either. I felt kind of numb.

When the sun rose and I silently left for training after tending to Mom, I dreaded it instead of yearned for it.

Did killers need to be trained to kill?

I walked into the court yard, and eyes landed on me. Word had spread quickly, then.

I silently took up my blades and hacked at dummies, studiously not talking to anyone and hoping no one would talk to me.

I felt Sylvanas' eyes on me, burning a whole through my back as I worked, but I wouldn't look at her.

I couldn't.

I could hear them whispering, and it irked me and irked me until I finally snapped.

I turned around silently, and the others dropped their conversations like they were hot coals, watching and the blades in my hands warily.

I dropped the blades and flexed my fingers, stretching them carefully, looking each of them in the eye before turning and sparring hand to hand with the dummies instead.

Sweat poured down my back and coated my upper lip as I worked, and I knew the teasing and bullying wouldn't happen again.

Now they knew I could kill-a question few of them had thought about and fewer still had answered.

At the end of the day, I silently trekked home, stopping to pick up porridge for Mom, and no one spoke to me, Laevia even avoiding me.

I think me murdering someone in front of her had turned her off of death.

I walked into the house just as numb as I had been when I left, and silently made Mom's porridge and coaxed her into eating it, her lucid eyes watching me carefully.

She knew. She had to know.

But she said nothing, and I fed her and gave her water and bathed her, before dressing her and practicing her medicines and grinding fresh herbs, and by the time she was asleep the house stunk and I was filthier than before, and the moon was shining.

I flopped down in front of the front door again, laying on my back this time and looking at the sky.

I don't know if I would sleep, though I doubted it.

I heard something in the woods, and was on my feet, daggers out in an instant, eyes burning from lack of sleep and swaying slightly.

I glared into the deep, inky black woods, daring the cause of the noise to show itself.

It did, in the form of a bunny.

I killed it and put it on the palate.

I sat down again, back ramrod straight, and wondered. When did I turn so cold, so ruthless? When would I murder someone without a thought? How did I get here?

My head shook with that aftershock, and it all made sense.

I felt shaken, filthy and misshapen, and I curled into a ball against the door, glaring out at the night as I mulled over my thoughts.

As long as I keep Mom alive, then this is all worth it.

The sun began to rise, the little hints of pink first hitting the sky when I saw the silhouette.

I nocked an arrow at it, tilting a little violently to the side, and stared at it until it grew lighter and the shape became-

"Sylvanas." I croaked, my voice as ugly as the rest of me.

She moved from her perch, and I suddenly knew that she had been there all night.

"Sleep, Teir. I'll watch over your Mother today."

I tried to get up, but I lurched over to the side as shivers racked through my body.

Sylvanas sighed, and I was lifted, curled into her as she opened the door quietly, slipping through my house to the back room at my mumbled directions, and I was set down carefully against the pillows.

I started to drift, and felt her fingers smoothing down my hair and the mattress sink as she sat. She was there for a while, simply petting me and watching over me, humming occasionally.

I was nearly over the edge of the sleepy abyss when I heard, "Please don't be afflicted with the madness I'm starting to see, little lynx."