The boar pelt was still worth something even though a few hairs on it were singed, so Marian had loaded it into the wheelbarrow to bring it back with them. The trip back was much faster than it had been when Erika came out.

The whole time, she felt a bit uneasy. When they arrived at the village entrance, she paused and turned back to the forest, taking a long, hard stare. She tilted her head.

“What’s wrong, Erika?”

“Eh? Uhm… I feel like I’m forgetting something,” Erika admitted. 

“Well, if you forgot it, it probably wasn’t anything important,” Marian said. She turned. “Come on, let’s go before those monsters come back.”

“Right. Okay. Yeah, you’re right.” Though Erika still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, she nodded and followed Marian over the fairy rings. 

When they returned to the inn, Ronja was waiting for her, hands on her hips.

After explaining everything, Marian didn’t hesitate to fish the money out of her pocket before bidding Erika farewell to go and take a hot bath.

 

That night in bed, after helping Ronja with dinner at the mess hall, Erika could hardly sleep because of her excitement. She wasn’t useless! She actually helped Marian, and Marian thanked her for it!

She remembered the power that she had felt. It was like she was on the cusp of awakening. Perhaps Marian would be willing to take her along when Marian left the village tomorrow. 

Suddenly, Erika stiffened. When she felt that power, she had been with Ian, and she punched him out in one blow. The important part was that she knocked him unconscious in the middle of the dangerous forest…

That was what she had been thinking about on her way back, the thing she forgot. She hadn’t seen him for the rest of the day either. The only thing she could do was hope that Ian went home to rest after taking such a hit.

The unsettling feeling grew stronger…

 

The sound of hands violently thumping on her bedroom door woke Erika up. She sprang to her feet and looked around with bleary eyes. “Who is it?” she shouted. It was late in the morning, later than she usually woke up. She fell asleep late last night.

Her father’s angry voice reached her from outside. “Erika, get out, now!”

“What do you want? I don’t want anything to do with you!”

“Shut up, you worthless girl! It seems that I’ve allowed you too long a leash all these years! Come out of there this second!”

Erika gritted her teeth. So to her father, she was a dog to be kept on a leash. Some father he was. If it was a leash that he wanted to put on her, he should’ve at least made it shorter so that she’d have a family growing up.

Still, she was his daughter, if only in name, so she quickly got dressed under the thunderous noise of fists slamming into the door. It was like her father was going to smash the door right off its hinges.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! What do you want?”

She opened the door and stiffened. It wasn’t just her father, but Ian’s parents too, on top of many others in the village. They were all crowded around the entrance of her room. In the back, she saw Tabitha on tiptoes, peeking over the shoulders of the men, shooting her a worried look.

“Wh-what is it?” she asked, even though she had a feeling she knew. They were here for Ian. She took a scared step back.

When her father stepped aside to make room for Ian’s parents, her guess was all but confirmed. Ian’s father, Brumund, was a large man with the same build as his son, arms bulging with muscles from working with metal. His wife, Mitra, was already in her middle years, putting on a bit of weight after having Ian help out around the place. But the last time Erika saw her, the woman had not looked so old.

“Mister Antonas… what do you want?”

“Quit playing stupid, girlie. Where’s our son?! Where did you hide him?” the large man shouted, and Erika took another step back.

“I don’t know!”

“Liar! Everyone saw him follow you out of the village, so why were you and that traveler the only ones to return?” Mitra said, and many of the other villages began to nod in agreement. “Where is he? Where is our son?!”

“I don’t know. He followed me out himself even though I told him not to—”

“No, you killed him! Don’t lie. I know you killed him!” Brumund interrupted her. “I know that you didn’t like him, but that’s no excuse to kill him just because he was pursuing you! The boy loved you!”

“What do you mean ‘loved me?’” Anger flared up in Erika, even higher than when she was being accused of killing Ian. “You mean all this time, you knew that I wasn’t interested in Ian, and yet you did nothing to stop him?”

“He’s just a boy. It’s only natural for him to pursue the girl he likes.”

Erika bared her lips, about to snap something back, but the man’s loud voice drowned out hers easily. 

“Don’t change the topic now. Tell us what happened after you left the village with him. Don’t you dare lie!”

The anger in Erika suddenly went out, replaced by guilt as she thought back to the events. In a way, she had caused Ian’s death, but at the same time… No, it wasn’t her fault. It was his own fault. “Fine. I’ll tell you what happened.” She took a big step forward, standing right up in front of Ian’s father, staring at him eye to eye, even if she had to look up in doing so.

“I knew that Marian was in danger, so I came up with a way for me to help her. I was heading out when he saw me and followed me of his own volition! You can ask anyone!” She looked past Ian’s father at the other villagers, who nodded.

Mitra just huffed.

“I even told him to stay away, but he didn’t listen. He followed me all the way to the edge of the village and beyond. It’s not like I wanted him to follow me.” Erika gritted her teeth in frustration at the memories. “Afterward, he snatched the wheelbarrow from me and tried to stop me from going any further. He even threw everything out!”

Brumund’s face grew red. “He was trying to keep you safe! Everyone knows it’s dangerous in the forest! My son did nothing wrong!”

“I don’t care that it’s dangerous in the forest! My safety is none of his business!” Erika screamed back. “I shoved him away and put everything back after telling him again to not follow me, and do you know what he did? He tried to stop me again! What else could I have done but knock him out?!”

Someone gasped.

Erika’s throat hurt from screaming, and she needed water, but there were too many people blocking her way. She settled for rubbing her neck, only for Brumund’s large hand to completely engulf her wrist and pull her up. “Ow!”

“In other words,” he said quietly, eyes dangerous, “you killed our son. You left him for dead in the middle of the forest with all the beasts around when all he wanted to do was to keep you safe? How dare you speak as if you are right!” 

“Let go of me!” 

“You killed our son! Give him back to me!”

“I can’t! It’s his own fault!” Erika twisted in Brumund’s grip, but she couldn’t break free. “Let go! It hurts!” Desperate, she made a fist with her free hand, about to lash out at Brumund’s chest. Her eyes flashed.

At that moment, Darton stepped forward. “Wait.”

Everyone turned, looking at him. Even Erika stopped struggling, her fist still posed to strike. She was still on tiptoes, and her legs trembled from the strain. “What do you want, Darton?” She sneered. “Or do you want me to call you father and let you put a leash on me again?”

Darton shook his head. “Erika… do you know the rules our village has about murder? It’s been decades since the last time it was used, thank the Lords, but….”

“…what is it?”

“The cost of a man’s life is another life. In our village, when a man murders another, his life belongs to the family of the dead man.”

Erika paled as she thought about the implications. “You don’t mean… that….”

“Yes. From now on, according to the village’s rules, since you killed Ian, your life belongs to Brumund and Mitra. I now cut our ties.”

“I said I didn’t kill him! Let go of me!”

Erika kicked at Brumund, but like he had been expecting it, Brumund swung his arm and threw Erika back, sending her crashing to the floor, and she hit her head on her bedpost.

He turned, looking at the gathered villagers. “Everyone here is witness to this judgment. Does anyone object to this?”

Tabitha seemed to raise her hand in the very back, but the man next to her, her husband, grabbed her arm and pulled it down.

Brumund nodded, satisfied. “Then from now on, according to the village’s rules, Erika’s life belongs to me and Mitra in Ian’s place. May his soul rest in peace.”

The same utterances rose up from the gathered villages as they sent prayers toward Ian, all while Erika laid there on the ground, unable to process what had just happened. Her head throbbed. Everything had changed so fast.

One moment, she was planning on turning her life around. She wanted to try and leave with Marian to see the outside world free of any strings that might try to control her. But now… more and more of those strings are latching onto her. She could practically see them, thin and sharp, glowing blue, attached to her fingers and arms and legs— and everywhere. Her vision spun.

No… she would not accept them. There was no way that she would accept this.

Erika staggered to her feet, swaying before she planted her feet and steadied herself. “I object to it! I’m not going with you! I’m not bound to this stupid village’s stupid rules because I’m leaving! I’d rather die than stay here!”

Even if Marian did not take her in, she was already on the verge of awakening. As long as she could make it out, as long as she tried hard enough, then she could finally take control of her own life.

She made a fist. “Get out of my way!”

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” Brumund thundered, and even Darton gave her a poisonous gaze. It wasn’t the gaze that a father should be looking at a daughter with. Even after all these years, Darton still despised her for being the only one of her siblings to survive that plague. 

As if she had been the one to deprive him of a successor.

As if she wasn’t enough of one. Because a girl could not inherit a trade. Erika was fed up with this. She didn’t want to stay in this village for a second longer.

“Get out of my way!”

Drawing back her fist, feeling the power that had welled up in her last night when she shoved Ian away from the wheelbarrow, Erika charged toward Brumund, intent on forcing through him and all the other villagers. No other thought remained in her mind until she stopped in her tracks all of a sudden.

Although her upper body stopped, her feet continued forward, and as a result, she fell back. Her vision shifted up to the ceiling, to Marian’s face, and then someone caught her, halting her fall.

“Marian…?”

“Yeah.” Marian smiled down at her. “Sorry I broke your window.”

Only then did Erika realize that her window had a gaping hole in it. Marian clearly found an alternative way in, coincidentally a way out that Erika missed in her anger. It would’ve been much easier than breaking through a dozen villagers too. “That’s okay. I was leaving anyway. What are you doing here?”

“I’m—”

“Hey, don’t ignore us. Traveler, what are you doing here? This is our village’s business. Don’t butt in!” Brumund shouted, even as Mitra tried to hold him back.

Marian narrowed her eyes. “Not anymore. Haven’t you heard? She’s not part of your village anymore.”

“You—”

Crash. The bed behind Marian split in two down the center, silencing Brumund. “She’s a traveler now, so this traveler business now. Don’t butt in. Or else.” She emphasized the last two words and sent a glare at the blacksmith.

Brumund’s eyes shifted over the destroyed bed and nodded once. Slowly, the hallway cleared out, with Darton giving Erika one last glare before leaving. There was no sign of Tabitha, and Erika couldn’t help but feel saddened.

She wanted to cry.

At last, she had severed her connection with the village like she had always wanted, but instead of being happy, why did it hurt so much? Erika held her chest as she lowered her head, and tears began to fall.