A young princess pays penance for the crimes of her father.
[[Start]] The castle gate quakes as something beats at them. No one is close enough to see what monstrous creature is hammering upon them. I am up in my room, staring out my window that overlooks the main courtyard. Each night some new horror comes to the gates and calls for skai. Specifically, my skai.
I am her Royal Highness, Drikani Turinn, daughter of Drikari Reun, and because of my father’s actions, the monsters want me. Among our people, the Drika, we have a saying; Skai rin skai. Blood for blood. 10 years ago, there were many more fantastical creatures out in the woods. Some were like wolves, but had glorious horns, others were like deer and had feathery wings. Then there was their leader; a beast that was all of them and more, a shapeshifter.
[[Next|1]] The shapeshifter was what my father was after, he believed that all of those creatures were unnatural and that the shapeshifter, Tusfilda, was the reason they were so. He led a small army into the woods, slaughtering every single creature he came across. The woods were scoured, but Tusfilda was not seen. My father returned with the heads of each type of creature he encountered, and had them treated so he could have them adorn the great hall’s walls.
The night after he returned, it started. The first one took us by surprise, a small doe was standing in the opening of the gate. At that point, we hadn’t closed the gate, for no one knew that Tusfilda honored skai rin skai. Soldiers approached the doe to try and turn her back to the woods, when she transformed into a terrible creature, 8 feet tall, with jagged teeth and slivery claws. She killed 17 men before carving with her claws into the flesh of the last, skai rin skai.
[[Next|2]] She returned night after night, cutting through the men positioned just outside the gate. In less than a week, the gate was closed the entire night, and if you didn’t get in before dusk, then you were stuck outside with Tusfilda. After the gates were closed, she roared and threw herself at the doors, trying her hardest to break through. She viciously tore apart any person who came near her.
The only things that got me through the days were my two best (and only) friends, Bayard and Hafslia. They were both lower nobility, so my father didn’t approve of our friendship, nevertheless, we still managed to sneak about together. Hafslia comforted me through the day and Bayard through the night. Bayard and I both knew that out of the three of us, Hafslia was the strongest when it came to the horrors of the night. She didn’t meet me in my room to stare out the window at the gate, holding on to Bayard. She stayed in her quarters, perfectly content.
[[Next|3]] This night is different from the others, this night when I stared out my window I wasn’t afraid. I knew what I had to do to make Tusfilda leave, have my father suffer what she did. Skai rin skai. Bayard enters my room as per usual and doesn’t seem to notice a change in my demeanor. She sits down on the couch by my fire as per usual, and falls asleep, trusting that I’ll be here.
I slip out the window and scale the castle wall. Everyone is inside and there are no eyes to watch my descent to the courtyard. The wall is old and has many cracks and small chips to use as grips. When I get to the ground, I run over to the gate that is being pummeled. As I approach, the relentless bombardment slows down, then stops. I hurry to open the gates before anyone can stop me from doing what must be done.
[[Next|4]] The gate creaks open and before me I see a magnificent creature, Tusfilda has the body of a wolf, the horns of a deer, the wings of a mighty falcon. I raise my head and speak the words that I have been mentally practicing ever since I realized that this was the only way. “Vun ard Turinn horc tor Drika, nir vun ard irre tu wensar rin tor creims horc tor Drika nir ne Drikari. Skai rin skai.”
Tusfilda seems to stare into my soul before growling, “Skai rin skai,” and reaching out with her teeth and tearing into the back of my clothes. She picks me up and flies away as the soldiers realize that something has changed. I dangle from her maw and watch the forest zoom past me. She slows down as we near what must be the largest tree in the woods. Tusfilda delicately lands upon one of the mighty branches and her body melts away until all that is left is a familiar human form.
[[Next|5]] I blink in surprise and whisper, “Vrek?”
Hafslia nods, “Vun ard Tusflida.”