Merida
(TW: Animal Cruelty)
I lift my face to the sky and breathe, attempting to catch on to whatever scent I can find.
Nothing.
Once again.
After Kristen woke up, Father told me she couldn't remember much about what happened. Only bits and pieces. Which is why, using what she gave me, I've spent the last few hours hunting for a possible trail.
A few wolves tried pushing her to remember but to no avail. They found out the hard way that Kristen has a new bodyguard.
I smile inwardly at the thought of Mia, strong enough to order those wolves around. She's cute when she's bossy and utterly perfect.
Moving from one area to the next on four feet, I think back to that night. The way she looked so at ease brought something out in me. I guess since everything was so hectic that day I couldn't fight Melody's instinct to be close to her.
Well, more or less speaking, I didn't want to.
Hell, what was I thinking? I completely lost control.
I kept travelling, lost in thought about that situation. I'm going to have to tell her eventually. Either that or ignore her completely, which Melody and I both know isn't an option. But if I don't tell her, this thing between us is only going to get worse.
Anxiety claws its way through my spine as I dig my own into the earth. We're at the border line of the pack now. And I'm at the border line of my patience.
The dead leaves shatter under my footsteps, the sound mixing with the birds in the trees they fell from. I catch onto a strange scent. Something foreign yet usual.
Death.
Melody goes on alert, creeping slowly through the forest as the scent grows stronger. It invades every pore causing me to retch.
There's something different about this. The scent of death is supposed to be a natural thing. A calm and subtle feeling followed by a wave of grief from the earth. But this. This is darker.
The scent we're following feels more dangerous and painful. Like the host of this scent was tortured mercilessly.
Melody shoots me a thought to when we burst into the hospital, our focus entirely on Mia. The scent that clang to Kristen and Mia at the time was the same as the one now, though faded. But the same none the less.
As I approach a clearing, the scent strengthens, surrounding the opened corpse of a deer. The poor creature was split open at the center, it's rib cage spread open towards the sky like two hands lifted in prayer.
But the husk was empty. None of it's organs were there. Strange triangle like markings littered it's body and similar markings covered the ground around it. The scent of death was accompanied by the retched stench of magic.
This deer was an offering. A living thing tortured for the sole purpose of being used for power.
From what Mia told me, Mother and her found Kristen the same way though with a few aspects missing. Like the markings on the ground for example. I suspect, with relief, that they might've interrupted who’s ever doing this.
It seems we found what we were looking for. I tell Melody.
I turn back and was ready to take off in a full sprint when the sound of a child's laughter rang out through the wind.
Melody turned his head but couldn't find a source to it. There was something about the sound that was both alluring and alarming.
Our body tensed as a shadowed figure appeared behind the trees but we couldn't make out its form.
"Sweet Merida." It called.
* * *
I inhaled the earth gasping for air as my body shot up from the ground. With a pounding headache, I realized that I was back in my own skin.
I looked around but all that accompanied me were the massive trees and the dead leaves. I held my aching head calling for a memory, for something. But there was nothing there.
Melody, I called to him. He was silent but there. Sleeping. Something was wrong, it had to be. What the hell could've happened that can put a wolf like Melody to sleep?
I scramble my mind to try to search for the missing pieces. Think Merida, I thought to myself. Start at the beginning. Kristen woke up, but couldn't remember anything.
So, Father sent you in the forest. When you got here, you shifted and then began searching. Okay, now that's solidified, think back to what you were searching for. First I was looking for-
I was looking for something. But I can't remember what.
I can't remember anything past the point where I entered the forest. What was I looking for? What did I find?
My head pounds harder but nothing comes back to me. Shit. Looking up at the dimming sky, I realize how late it's become.
It was close to noon when I set out here but now it's nearly dusk. I run my fingers through my hair in frustration, deciding to abandon whatever I was searching for.
Gaining the strength to stand on two legs, I begin my trek for the pack house. Suddenly, a sharp, sheering pain shoots up my leg causing me to wince in agony. I stumble for a moment, catching myself on a nearby tree.
I look down at my right leg and notice something strange. A marking.
Someone or something burned the marking of a triangle on my leg.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
