VIOLENT DELIGHTS¹ ━━ John Murphy

𝖔.

𝖍𝖔𝖜 𝖆 𝖌𝖎𝖗𝖑 𝖇𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖘 𝖆 𝖌𝖔𝖉. . .

HE WANDERED THE FJORD THAT STRETCHED OVER THE EARTH, his boots muddy from the melting snow. His twin sister, Holly, napped near the stables by their small home dug into the ground, curled around animal furs, thumb in her berry-stained lips.

Holly was different from him. Sometimes their parents talk about her in low, worried whispers, when they thought they couldn't hear them. He always did, though, even when Holly didn't. Not that he ever thought it was anything important. Grown ups were always whispering, always worried.

Holly stretched, pressing her cheek against one of the foals.

He trudged through the fjord some more. Winter was over, the once frosty fjord speckled green, the sun scorching the ice. Father was in the outbuilding, where he had a forge. Mother was tending the house. Everything was normal. Everything was fine.

He was looking for some holly berries. Surely the cold had spared some. They'd make a nice gift for his sister, he thought.

When the woman came on her horse, she glared down upon him. Her shoes were shod with silver and they rang thunderously against the ground as she dismounted, a sword with a twisted blade hanging at her hip. He looked right up into her torturous face and shuddered.

"Take me to your parents, boy," she said to him.

Not having any reason to say no, he nodded.

"Mother!" He called. "Mother - someone's here!"

His mother came from the house, brushing a strand of onyx hair from her face. When she saw the woman, she stopped breathing.

"Holden," she said to him in a scary voice. "Holden, inside. Now!"

"Where is the other child?" The woman asked fiercely. "Where is she?"

"We have no other child."

That wasn't right. Holly was right there, sleeping beside the foal. She looked just like their mother. Everyone said so. Holden took a few steps towards the house, but he didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to leave Holly by herself, either.

Not that Holden could make himself move any further.

"I've seen many impossible things," said the woman. "I have seen the spark before the flame. I have seen warriors die by their own sword. But never have I seen this: A dead child living."

Mother opened and closed her mouth several times. Her body was shaking. Holden wanted to take her hand and squeeze it, but he didn't dare.

"I doubted Roan when he told me of his suspicions," said the woman, softening. "Do you know what it is like to return from battle to find the only heir to the Flame in Azgeda dead? To realise your people are doomed?"

Mother shook her head, not as if she were answering her, but as though she was trying to shake off the words.

"I don't want that life for her," Mother said. "She deserves a childhood."

Holden got the idea that they were talking about Holly. Anxiously, he looked at his little sister.

His father was coming from the back garden now. He held an axe in his hand. It wasn't weird to see him with an axe, he'd always loved forging weapons for their village. Brushing his hand against Holly, he wakes her up, pointing in Holden's direction. Holden took it as that he has to do something to help Holly, so he ran towards her.