The Curse of Thir
Chapter 4

Xylee was twisted in the blanket staring at the rafters, blinking rapidly in an attempt to remove the tears and images. She hated her dreams, they were happy, a fantasy life, a lie. A tiny sliver of grey light caught her overly receptive eyes; it was morning already, time to begin the same chores she’d been occupied with for the past ten or eleven years. She wasn’t sure, but at a guess she would assume she was sixteen and had been working since she was five. Getting up and quickly changing into the grey shirt and dark green tights she almost owned, she hurried to the kitchen to grab whatever there was before Rocca woke up and began cooking. She preferred not to wear her boots until the morning cold had left the ground.

It woke her up quicker and forced her to move a little faster.

The entire Dreag compound would be asleep for at least another hour, so this was her time. She sprinted across the grounds to the kitchen, slipped in quieter than a dead mouse and began looking over the throw away pile. There seemed to be a lot of left over from last night, at least half of a large pumpkin and most of the tomatoes. She also managed to replace flat bread and a half a mug of mead, a good breakfast and a snack for later. Eating quickly and downing the mead she rushed back to her small room and hid the bread and two tomatoes under the straw beds’ wooden platform.

She was lucky the vegetable garden had taken root after she had secretly taken over from Rocca, working when they had all passed out. She knew Rocca knew she was responsible for it, but as long as it produced edible goods they left it as a mutually beneficial arrangement. She got the garden growing, he took the credit and she got to sneak out food in the mornings without him batting an eyelid in her direction. She believed him to be the nicest Dreag there was, but then again she didn’t think much of the word nice. He just didn’t strike her or shout at her as much as the others. Did that count?

Ducking out of her room again she made her way to the water pump, she had smelt herself recently and believed it was time for her annual wash. Fortunately for her, she managed to steal a small bar of lavender soap from one of the villages recently on one her night time “excursions”.

Pumping the water into the large pail was quick work and the bushes near the pump were well over grown and a perfect place to wash.

She undressed and stood in the cold, pouring icy water all over herself with a smaller cup. “NNNnnggghh.....” Her voice stuttered in shock. She quickly and carefully lathered herself up with the soap, even using it in her hair. It smelt strongly and burnt her eyes but it felt good. She dunked the remainder of the water over her head to rid herself of the light foam the soap had caused, this time she didn’t make a noise. Clean, awake and thoroughly refreshed, she gazed out onto the open fields of the Dreag. It was fenced in by its’ large wooden walls and ran around the entire compound. It was both beautiful and menacing at the same time. Surrounded on all sides by large oak trees and thickets of poisons shrubs, the nearest human farm could just be seen in the distance even with her sharp eyes. She breathed deeply forgetting herself and her worries just for a moment, allowing herself to just be, and that’s when she saw them. Two figures digging up carrots in the small field to her right. Her doe like ears trembled. Ringing out her hair and then dressing herself she continued to stare at them. They hadn’t noticed her and continued to plunder the carrots.

They weren’t part of the compound, they were too small to be Dreag and the humans were only let out when Aaraos got up and even then they couldn’t leave their space because they were fenced in. Her clothes stuck to her and would probably remain wet till noon. Her eyes focused and clear in the grey of early morning, her ears twitched, she caught a few words from them. They were both boys, possibly a little older than her they whisper shouted at each other. She moved closer, silently like a hunter watching its prey.

“Hurry up!”

“Shut up!”

“It getting light, they get up soon. Kill us.” The one boys’ English faulted as panic shook his voice.

“Listen, they only start getting up when the sun has risen! The sun’s still behind the valley. So calm down, shut up and pick faster.”

The panicky boy bent down and began picking frantically alongside his friend.

“Don’t break the damn carrots you idiot, grab the stem as deep as you can and twist pull.”

The leader of the two seemed surprisingly calm. Xylee was impressed and confused at how idiotic these two were. Stealing from the Dreag was not something you would want to do, because chances were never in your favour. She continued her approach and not once did either of the two look up. By now she was next to the shed and moving closer. What did she intend to do once she got to them. Her steps faltered and she stopped. She had no intention of harming them, or turning them over to Aaraos. Maybe she could just scare them away before somebody else noticed them. “Yes I’ll just scare them away.”

She was over the fence and directly behind the panicky one before he managed to pull the carrot he was struggle with out. “Could you leave...” she whispered behind them.

“Oh Thir.”

They both spun about to replace the voice, the scared one fell. She stood a good half a meter away from them, out of arms reach, just in case. “Could you two leave now?”She paused and looked at the frightened one, he had peed himself, and she could smell it. “You took a lot of carrots, somebody will notice.”

The other boy had regained his calm and pulled his friend up. “What the Null are you doing here, you’re a girl.”

“I know I’m a girl. I live here. Now leave or I’ll wake ’em up.”

Panic pee boy started panicking again. “Come let us go! She wake them. She get us killed. Leave carrots and vegetable my life worth more.”

He started tugging on the braver boys sleeve, but he didn’t budge. “Why would you wake them? Are you one of their breeders?”

She ignored his first question and folded her arms.

“No.”

“Are you a slave then?”

“No.”

“Can you leave?”

“I can. But they would replace me. Now stop asking things. Leave. Now.” His questions were irritating her and the sun would begin its climb soon.

“You can seek sanctuary. Come with us.” The boy with accent fidgeted and pulled. “We must go. Your mother, she will looking for us now.”

Why was he asking her? Didn’t he see what she was? Then she realised he couldn’t see as clearly as she could. Human eyes were weak, especially during the change from night to day or day to night. She sighed loudly in frustration. “No wonder these two haven’t run off yet they can’t see me clearly.”

“Come with us. We’ll keep you safe.”

“Just grab girl. Easier than discussing. Quicker too.”

Xylee looked at the two, they seemed nice enough for humans and although this conversation was spoken in hushed and anxious tones it was almost a pleasant.

“Thank you for the concern, but no I’m not leaving. I don’t belong with you humans.”

The calm boy seemed confused with her statement. “Of course you belong with your own kind now come wit-”

“Leave her.” The scared one seemed to have stronger eyes and began to notice the subtle differences between her and a human girl.

“No. I won’t leave an innocent girl with these monsters.”

“I do not think she will fit with us.”

“What are you talking about Damien? She has to come with us, or else they might end up using her as a breeder.”

She blushed in anger at that statement.

“Do not use my name with it here.” Damien, the frightened one, had begun circling around Xylee heading for the fence.

“What the Null is your problem! Don’t call her it. That’s rude, I swear your English has gotten worse.”

Damien had slipped through the bars and began backing away quickly. The sack of carrots bounced as he picked up speed.

“Get out there. She is one of them, she is Monster.”

“Get back here Damien,” He faced Xylee, “I’m sorry, I have.... no... oh.” He’d finally noticed. At first he found a strikingly beautiful girl with harsh eyes glaring at him with expectance, waiting for him to scream or run. But he didn’t. His body was frozen, rooted to the ground like one of the carrots. Her eyes glowed slightly, how he couldn’t have seen that before was a mystery. He continued to stare.

“Are you... are you a Dreag?”

“No I’m not.”

“... what are you?”

“I don’t know.”

He licked his lips and looked around Xylee. His voice was gone his mouth was dry.

Inside Xylee was hurt, hurt by how valuable appearance was, how she was normal to him till he saw what she was. Not human, a creature. Outside she allowed the anger and frustration of his reaction to show. Her arms unfolded and hung at her sides, her fingers curled tightly in fists.

“Leave. Human.” She exposed her teeth hoping his pathetic eyes would be able to view the threat. He didn’t move. Her anger was swelling.

“Why isn’t this idiot leaving?”

She stepped closer to him, still he did not run, he began shaking violently.

“I SAID LEAVE!” Her voice was as loud as she dared raise it. Why wasn’t he running? Was he that afraid of her?

In answer to her internal questions, his shaking brought him to his knees and his eyes leaked tears.

“D..dd...d... don’t k..kkk..kill me.. please. Don’t t..t..take my ssoul.” His voice broke. Xylee was shocked, was she truly that horrible to view. She knew the humans in the villages nearby told stories of how the Dreag had found a demon child to raise. She knew she was that child. But this, this was a deep dark fear. Of her.

**********************************************

Her lithe body crept quickly through the shadows the moon cast between the buildings, the grey hood she wore was barely covered her chest but it protected her from any prying eyes that might have been wondering about night. Her clothes pressed tightly against her body, she could no longer put it off. She had to replace clothes made for a young adolescent not a small child.

She hated being in the human towns, even though she slunk through in the dead of night. Humans hated her and she held no love for them either, so she found it best to shop at night. But over the years they had begun to notice when clothes and food went missing, making it increasingly difficult for her to replace things.

As she continued her search she found herself nearing the outskirts of the town opposite her point of entry, farm land with small holdings, with plenty to take and a lot less shadows to hide in. She gazed out from beneath the darkness. Her vision crystal clear, she spotted clothes hanging out in the open. Perhaps they had forgotten to take it in. She’d have to risk it; otherwise she’d be naked amongst the Dreag. The idea caused her to shiver, she knew what females they caught or were given were used for, she’d seen it once and it disgusted her, hearing their screams. She also knew she was only protected from it because of Aaraos. She shivered again and made a dash for a small shadow near the house that held the potential bounty of clothes.

Steadying her breath she shifted uncomfortably, looking over what hung on the line. A few dresses, one or two pants a lot of shirts and a blanket. She’d leave the dresses they weren’t practical, the pants might be too big but she had a belt and a needle and thread so it wouldn’t matter. It would be a good haul and the blanket would make a perfect temporary satchel. The out of the corner of her eye she spotted what looked like a pair of boots, although she didn’t need them as much as clothes it did help to keep horse muck out from between her toes.

“I’ll do it.” She whispered excitedly to herself as the wind whipped gently about. Her doe ears listened for any danger, when she felt it safe she dashed forward to the doorstep, nipped the boots and compressed herself against the shadowed wall. Smiling at the boots, she looked over to the line; it was only a few meters away from her.

“Please...” a child’s voice flitted into her ears. She shot a nervous look around, but the sound had come from inside the house.

“Jus one more Papa... please.”Xylee looked at the clothing line.

“Just one? How many times have you said just one more?”

“Lots...” The answer caused hysterical giggles from two of the three voices. The bigger one grunted in disproval.

“Fine, just one more. Then you sleep.” Xylee found herself creeping towards the sound instead of the clothes.

“Yay!”

“Which one do you want to hear?” Xylee was directly below the window that held the sounds of life.

“I want to hear the story that Daryl heard!”

“Me too!”

“Ok, well what story would that be?”

“The one about the Demon Child.” The one voice said these words in a hushed tone as if deathly afraid of hearing it. Xylee frowned.

“The Demon Child? Really? Daryl heard that story? Isn’t he thirteen?”

“Yes.”

“Well the story isn’t for little children like you two.” Both children awed in unison.

“Pleeeaaaaasssseeeeee.....”

“What if you get nightmares?”

“We won’t! We’re big and brave!”

“Fine, Fine but don’t tell your mother when she comes back, and don’t tell her about how late you went to bed.”

“We promise.”

“Good. Ok, here goes.” Xylee lifted her head slowly to try to catch a glimpse of the story teller.

“One day not so long ago, a child wondered into town with a donkey and did not speak a word whilst looking for things to buy its face was covered with a deep black hood even though it was one of the hottest days of summer. Then when it stopped at a stall a friendly woman felt pity towards it, for she thought it was a normal child perhaps a slave. Little did she know that it was casting a spell on her as she gazed upon it.” Xylees frown deepened in her forehead. The story was entirely incorrect.

“She came before it and offered it help, she even led it to her home and offered it food and drink thinking it a harmless gesture of good will. Without knowing it she gave it honey bread which is the only thing that can cancel an evil spell, so when it took a bite, before the woman’s eyes the hood melted into horns, revealing a hideous face with yellow eyes, bat like ears and strangely enough beautiful golden hair of a girl. Its teeth were sharp and pointy; the kind that ate flesh and it spoke with a sweet lilting voice trying to convince the woman to come with it to the Dreag, its bothers. But because of the honey it could no longer bewitch her.”

Xylee thought this was odd how wrong they could get it. She thought all humans knew that the Dreag had no opposite sex, which was the reason why they took females as peace tributes. She wasn’t related to them, at least she hoped she wasn’t.

“It was furious and tried to take the woman by force, but the people in the market heard her screams and came to help. It knew it could not win with so many good people fighting it, so it ran with devilish speed through the crowds, even stabbing an innocent woman with its horns.”

The one child gasped while the other snored gently.

“What happened to it?”

“Well unfortunately it wasn’t caught and it still wonders around at night trying to lure its prey with its sweet voice.”

“Do we have honey?” The man chuckled.

“Yes we do, so don’t worry. Now go to sleep.”

“What was that!?” The child sat up right in bed and pointed at the window, Xylee ducked before the man turned about.

“Just the wind. Now go to sleep.” Xylee didn’t stay to hear the argument between them, she grabbed the blanket and thrust most of what hung on the line into the blanket and disappeared into the night.

**********************************************

She had never stolen a human. She had never harmed another living creature. She’d never even eaten meat. Yet, there in front of her, shivering embarrassingly, a boy not much older than she was, viewed her as this terrifying creature that fed on souls. Lies that fearful adults told to manipulate children into behaving; her image had become a scary story. This boy was proof of it.

Xylee had always hoped that maybe, just maybe, one day these stupid humans would wake up and see beyond her surface. Just because she lived with the Dreagnance did not make her one of them. Having horns did not make her a demon of the Null, the humans did. The humans made her evil with their unforgiving stories and lies. Her eyes blurred over in rage and tears.

The boys eyes almost popped out of his head. Xylee rage and pain became visible and it was a scary site to behold. Her eyes burnt with a fire so fierce it would shame a blacksmith. Agony pinched every nerve in her body. Every thought that had held hurtful words and physical actions that left her suffering, buzzed within her. Her long history of pain was swelling up in every part of her body. So much pain, so much hate.

“..hate..”

It scalded her head with heat and poured its’ pain upwards towards the ever lightening sky. The horns shifted and grew up, in sync with the pumping blood coursing angrily in her veins. Her simple desire too merely to chase the thieves away, ruined by everything this boy represented, his ignorance and fear was infuriating. She wanted to keep them from being caught and beaten to death or eaten or kept for nastier reasons. It was an act of kindness, a thing nobody had ever felt necessary to give her. Every day she fought to stay unseen, to be without pain, physical or mental. To be of worth to these horrible things that saw her as nothing. Her thoughts slipped further into an all consuming darkness.

“Why should I show this idiot any sort of compassion.”Something sinister began to leak out of her pores, it covered the white of her eyes, “ If he had the chance or the nerves, he’d kill me.”

Her smile revealed her loss of sense and sanity. She had lost herself in all the evil she had ever felt. A tiny beam of sunlight hit the tip of the trees, the Dreag would wake soon and Xylee couldn’t care less if they found her here.

Damien had run away, she could hear his jagged breath and weighty boots slapping the ground in the distance.

She moved forward toward the boy. His face was red, the tears were gushing out his eyes, he was gulping air and making stupid noises. She heard blood pumping and it wasn’t her own. If they wanted to make up stories about her, why not truly give them a reason. A true story. Lunging forward the boy screamed in the most un-boyish manner imaginable. Xylee joined in with her own violent screech. She was blissful in her loss of sanity as she submerged her teeth into his arm which he flung in front of his face. As he ripped his arm out of her mouth she grabbed a chunk of his hair, her nails scraping into his scalp, she forced his head into her knee. The blood surged out of his nose, mingling with tears and snot.

The sight was truly terrifying. His blood clung to her jaw, she felt small pieces of his flesh stuck between her teeth. The taste wasn’t terrible. She found whole thing amusing and began cackling madly at him. He twisted his body up and began tumbling towards the fence. She swiped at the satchel, grabbed it and pulled him back down to the ground. He screamed wildly and wormed himself out of the satchels loop, but his damaged arm got stuck as Xylee pulled back. She grunted and slammed her bare feet onto his wound and then again, forcing his arm deeper into the soil. She heard a satisfying snap as his arm broke. Screaming madly he managed to throw her off balance just long enough to slither through the fence and make a mad dash for where ever he and his friend had come through.

Standing there, as the sun hit her, consumed with maddening rage, she screamed.

The screams of the fight had woken Aaraos, the Dreag and humans. Every living thing felt it. Forcing themselves into clumsy sleep ridden battle formations, they headed for the vegetable fields. They saw a small part of the scuffle and glimpsed the human runaway. Then they saw the magic, the kind that hadn’t been seen since the war. Her body was warped in golden black vines of smouldering fire. It reached out and grasped at everything around it, searing it. The soil burnt and all the vegetables exploded into ash, her scream hit a fever pitch and made the Dreag stuff their thick fingers into their ears.

Aaraos was standing closest to the humans crying in fear, he felt he should join them, but pushing himself forward he slapped the nearest Dreag on the back of the head. “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? STOP HER!”

The Dreag looked shocked that Aaraos dare hit him but he grabbed a nearby gapping comrade and rushed at the girl.

“She had magic.”

The men had reached Xylee and attempted to grab her. One exploded and the other was grabbed by a vine and thrown high into the air only to be impaled by the wooden fence he dropped onto.

“She was his.”

Her screaming had stopped and the vines where receding back to whatever plane they had come from.

“If she could use magic now didn’t that... didn’t that mean that she was ready to bare children?”

His smile was positively disgusting.

“His children”

Xylee was crying now. Sobbing as she allowed herself to clamber back into her shell, replaceing whatever safety she could in her mind. Things that would make her sane, something to make her normal again. Less pain. Forgetting is what she wanted, if she wanted to survive.

’Why? I don’t want to.’

Her body slumped down, looking down at her hands she realised she was still holding his satchel. His blood was chilling her neck and trailing further down her body. Whiffs of lavender and iron wafted up her nose. Pumpkin, bread and mead choked out of her mouth.

A few of the braver Dreag who saw the show of magic rushed over and picked her up like a rag doll.

“Take her to my room!” Aaraos shouted over the din of confusion. “I’ll speak to Bonifacio personally when he gets back and get that dead idiot off the fence. See if you can replace out where the humans came from.”

Nobody moved.

“Come on. Move!”

Everybody stared at Aaraos. He’d gotten cocky all of a sudden and they were confused by this change. That’s probably why they did what they were told.

Xylee was dragged like a dead weight to Aaraos room.

“Tie her up on the post.”

She was definitely ready and she seemed defeated, broken.

Perfect.