Part 3 of my story “The Gift of the forest”:“When the first signs of w
Part 3 of my story “The Gift of the forest”:“When the first signs of winter descended from the high peaks, the Woodsman set out to the village for supplies. “Don’t go into the forest alone while I’m away. The forest hides many dangers,” he told Noara before he left.But the lure of the forest was too strong for Noara to resist, and as soon as the Woodsman was out of sight, she dove into the trees like a swimmer plunging into water. She walked the path she had walked with the Woodsman every morning when he went to check his game snares. Deep in the heart of the forest she heard a plaintive whimper. Curious, she crept to the edge of a clearing, pushed through the thickets, and found a vixen lying on her side. The wire of a snare was wound tight around her neck, cutting through her thick red fur. The vixen’s tongue was out, and her sharp white teeth had punctured the pink flesh, smearing blood on her snow-white muzzle. The vixen stared up at Noara through a green-golden eye.Noara picked up a rock.“I’m sorry,” she said to the vixen.She raised the rock, but before she could bring it down on the vixen’s head, she heard a voice.“What strange words you speak, sister. What is sorry?” the voice asked.Noara looked around. There was no one near, except… She looked down into the vixen’s green-golden eyes.“Why do you go around in that form, sister?” the vixen asked. Noara staggered backward and put out her hands as if to push aside the vixen’s words.“You could run quicker on all fours,” the vixen said.“But I cannot run on all fours,” Noara answered. “I am a girl.”“Why are you a girl, sister?” the vixen asked.“Because that is who I have always been,” Noara answered. “I am the Woodsman’s daughter.”“The Woodsman kills foxes. Will you kill me, sister?” the vixen asked, without rancor or recrimination.Noara hesitated. “No,” she said.She threw away the rock and carefully loosened the snare. The vixen sprang to her feet and bolted across the clearing, pausing only for an instant to look back at Noara.”#mistymacallister #indieauthor #mywriting #fiction #selfpublished #peopleofinstagram #mystories https://www.instagram.com/p/BtjHkpehcup/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ln634q6h2u6 -- source link
#mistymacallister#indieauthor#mywriting#fiction#selfpublished#peopleofinstagram#mystories