Arabesque

Marin

Marin stared down at her enemy, grieving for her fallen comrades, sickened by the memory of the slaughtered prince. She kicked the creature onto its back, pushing the arrows deeper into its throat and chest. Its mouth gaped wide, and a stench of rot blew up at her.

An ominous gurgle from the kayal only fueled her anger.

"Your kind belongs on the other side of the veil!" she shouted. "Plague your precious Jnoun and leave us alone!" She almost picked it up and shook it, but the pallid, ashy skin looked diseased.

The kayal made a rough, purl sound as blood pumped from its wounds. It was laughing at her! Beyond rage, Marin lifted her sword. The red gleam flared in its black eyes, first at her, then at Hiril. Thick silence fell as a shadow lashed out in the darkness, stretching from the kayal-witch to coil around Hiril. A hollow, dead voice rang from the tendril of shadow.

"Little time will you live in peace. Then you will be cut down to rot, forever a lost spirit without release. Dark are the words I place on you."

The shadow faded. The kayal-witch's eyes went dull; its body collapsed on itself with a faint sucking sound.

"You have committed your last murder," Marin said, slashing at the carcass with her sword. Ashes whirled up from the kayal and settled again.

"Come, lady." Hiril took her hand, pulling her away. "Do not dwell on the hollow curses of a dying thing."

Marin let him lead, the day's exhaustion weighting her body like wet sand. The rain returned, rattling in the trees above them. All she understood was Hiril at her side. Marin promised herself that a curse would never rule her fate, but the thought of Hiril's death twisted a knife in her heart. She wished that the kayal had chosen her instead.

Hiril pulled her close, sensing her thoughts. Time stopped as they held one another under the woods' dark canopy, rain dripping around them but not on them. Marin wondered at that. She wanted the rain to wash away the foulness of killing and the uncertainty of what lay ahead.

Gently, tenderly, Hiril put his hands around Marin's neck and tilted her head back.

Then he kissed her.