26 of Llarvion, 2059

I fucked up

by Valkyrie Witch Bella Hildegard

I'm going to have his hide, Omen, for breaking my trust. I guess I'll have one more hex for the road, then, eh? What was I thinking?
 
Drogolia swung by...scared Asmund more than anything. I've never seen the boy scared before today, as in truly afraid. Lad damn right froze. He said he saw something evil in her eyes: there was only hunger in emotionless slits for pupils; the room heated beyond comfort and her body was off-tilt. By the time he became aware of himself, he said, she was in the back room.
 
That's when I awoke, I guess. Searing heat, my leg was burning. Been treating it since; I guess I'll be wearing skirts and dresses for a while. She damn melted the skin on my thigh off, I screamed so loud it put the seagulls to shame. Before I could reach for my hammer she grabbed my wrist and let go of my thigh. I saw the look Asmund spoke off. I remember screaming at her mad crazy, my words a disjointed slur of sailor's tongue. Then my head felt as if daggers poured into it all at once and my vision went white and all I could hear was pounding voices in my head like a storm compressed in my damn skull. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, I couldn't feel anything but fucking pain. When I finally looked up, there she was, grimacing at me.
 
"Is it true? That you left me to die, Bella?"
 
I remember screaming at her about making no sense and she mentioned the temple. Her standing atop the temple. I remembered. I felt only one thing in that moment: I felt like ripping the damn shifter's claws right out of his fingers and making him eat them. But then the guilt kicked in. The hurt in her eyes settled. Shame. That was everything that took over. Guilt and shame.
 
Asmund burst in like the daft brawn he is and tried put an axe in her back. It bounced right off her damn skin and faded to ash. I told him to wait outside. Mama's fine. Mama's ok. He screamed at her, tried to move her and shove her, hit her, anything, but she lit aflame and he fell back with red hands. When her wings unfurled from her back, they tossed him across the room. That's when I snapped. I called my hammer to my hand and smashed her jaw in, scorching myself in the process and my bed lit aflame. I fell off the mattress to avoid the fire and called the winds of winter to guard me, but they didn't come. Drogolia then put out all the fires and told Asmund to stand down, and...he did. Just like that. He sat right down with a "yes' ma'am". I don't know how or what she did to my son at that moment but my head was screaming again. All I could hear was "I'm done trying to save you." When she left, my migraine left with her, and the pain in my leg was unspeakable.
 
Asmund tells me I should inform the guard. But that would only add more salt to injury. After the day of the red sun, I did everything in my power to make up for the lack of trust I put in Drogolia. I fought alongside her, vouched for her, befriended her, kept her close, and dined with her. I realized my folly and treated her like a sister. She saved my life and the world, and I had turned my back on her when she needed me the most. But the truth always comes out in the end. May this serve to show that it's best to let the truth out on your own terms. Instead, I left it up to the Druid to make that decision for me. And now, my heart lies in two. I failed her.

Continue reading...

  1. Yuan-Ti: The Cunning Serpent-Folk of the Wukan Jungle
    Valkyrie Witch, 22nd Nymm, 2059
  2. The Wolf Stirs
    Bella Hildegard, 23rd Nymm, 2059
  3. I fucked up
    26 of Llarvion, 2059