I was watching father feeding Henry milk with the bottle after lunch when the faint smell of smoke drifted into the room. Mother was hovering nearby, ready to provide father with assistance in case he had trouble taking care of his own grandson after raising 7 children. Mother and I exchanged a look, both wondering where the smoke was coming from, while Father didn't notice that anything was amiss. The smell was still too faint for a human to detect.
A few minutes later we heard a commotion from outside. Men were running from house to house banging on the doors and shouting. At first they were still too far away for me to make out the specific words, but they quickly came close enough to clearly hear what they were saying, and my face felt like it turned to ice. I looked at my mother and could see that she was as white as snow.
"Fire! Fire in Trevor's house!" was what the men were shouting.
"What's happening?" father asked mother. He knew she her hearing was far better than his.
"Please allow me to take the baby first", mother said. That was enough for father to understand what was happening. He handed the baby to her and hurried out of the house. I ran out too, as fast as I could, and soon left him behind.
'Please, please, whoever might be listening, please let Liliana be safe', I pleaded in my mind. Liliana was the best human I had ever known. For something to happen to her would be epitome of unfairness, a colossal injustice.
I could see the flames from a distance and my heart sank. For the flames to be this high the entire house must already be on fire. I could only hope that Liliana got out in time. Around me there were more people running in the same direction, carrying buckets. In my panic forgot to fetch one. I think father was the same. I couldn't fault him for that. Despite everything that had happened Trevor was still his son.
When I reached the house there was a small crowd standing and watching while dozens of people, mostly men, formed a bucket brigade. It seemed pitifully inadequate. The house looked like a giant torch with fire everywhere. It was impossible for anyone to still be inside and live, and I could smell burned human flesh. I didn't want to think about it too deeply and hoped it was only Trevor.
Liliana's mother was running from person to person, asking with growing panic whether anyone had seen her daughter or grandson. Then she notice me and ran over.
"Where are Liliana and Henry? Are they with you?" she screamed into my face while grabbing my dress's shoulders. I could see terror in her eyes. I shook my head.
"Where are they!" she roared at me. Tears streamed down my face. I couldn't answer. Liliana's father and sisters came and pulled the mother away from me.
I watched the bucket brigade fight the fire. It wasn't the first time there was a big fire in the village that I could remember. The men would use the buckets to fill a big tub in front of the house from any nearby well or stream. Other men who were more skilled in magic than most would take turns pulling that water into a tight stream and using it to spray the house, trying to put out the fire and wet the wood enough to prevent it from reigniting, one section at a time. I tried not to think about why they were trying to put out the fire when the house was clearly ruined beyond any possibility of being repaired.
Eventually the fire was sufficiently brought under control to allow the men to enter, and soon I faintly heard someone cry out "They're in the kitchen!" in a voice that was too low to be heard by the humans outside. My heart fell into my stomach. Without thinking about it I ran into the house. I had to see for myself.
I entered the house through the front door and passed through the dining room and into the kitchen. There were multiple places where the ceiling had collapsed, and there were still small flames here and there. Vaguely I noticed that the kitchen was in a much worse condition than the room outside. It wasn't surprising. Fires usually started in the kitchen.
I looked around wildly, searching for the bodies. I still had some irrational hope that Liliana was still alive, or that it was even someone else who was here. I quickly found them near a small group of men who were standing around, looking at the bodies and discussing what they should say to the families. I strode over to take a close look. They didn't seem to mind.
Trevor's body was lying on top of Liliana's, his hands wrapped around her neck. There was sharp knife stuck in his back. Liliana's hands were grasping his wrists. The two of them were barely recognizable. There was little left of their skin, faces, or clothing. I only knew who was who based on their size, hair, and jewelry.
The place where the flesh seemed most burned off was their hands and arms. Intuitively I understood what must have happened: Trevor tried to strangle Liliana, and she tried to defend herself by summoning heat. Heat magic was practically second nature to women. We used it 3 times a day or more in the kitchen, but usually only with very small amounts, just enough to quickly get the fire going in the stove or oven. Liliana must have had far greater power than she knew, and in her panic she must have reached for more and more power while feeling that she wasn't using enough, thus killing them both and burning down the house.
As to why Trevor would try to strangle Liliana, perhaps the knife in his back was the answer. Still, I had a nagging feeling that there was more to it than that. Liliana wasn't a violent person. Even slaughtering a chicken distressed her. It didn't matter, though, since they were both dead now. I turned around to and left the house the way I came.
While viewing the bodies I felt strangely detached, as if I was standing outside of the hellish reality with none of it touching me. Once I stepped outside into the sun and the shrieks of Liliana's mother and the sobs of her husband and daughters Liliana's death suddenly became real.
Liliana died for me. She died because she was trying to save me. If only I would have accepted Trevor's treatment, if only I accepted his punishments, if only I didn't cry on her lap and beg her to help me then she'd be alive right now. Whatever Trevor did, no matter how terrible, was better than a world without Liliana, a world where sweet little Henry will grow up without his mother. My only human friend was dead because she couldn't let even a slave, a sub-human piece of property, suffer.
I felt like I couldn't breathe and my knees would no longer support me. I collapsed flat on the ground, heaving, and cried out my anguish and guilt. My tears wet the dirt and turned it to mud which stuck to my face, but I didn't care.
It was a long while later when the sun was beginning to set that I got up and noticed my mother standing next to me. She wiped the dirt off my face and hugged me silently, but when she tried to lead me to father I couldn't follow. My feet would not carry me back. Instead I went back into the wreckage of the house.
Going upstairs was out of the question. The building was too damaged, and the upstairs floor had collapsed in a few places. Instead I went to the kitchen. Thankfully the bodies had already been removed. I didn't want to see Liliana in that horrible condition again. I searched through the wreckage of the kitchen and gathered whatever tools I could find.
"What are you doing?" mother, who followed behind me, asked.
"Packing", I answered curtly.
"Where are you going?" mother asked. I could hear worry in her voice.
"Anywhere where humans won't control me", I answered. Mother remained silent.
After I finished gathering everything useful that I could find in the kitchen I went to search the tool shed outside. Thankfully, it remained untouched. I found a pack I could use to carry my belongings, and a few more useful items. I was only sorry that I couldn't take my clothes or my treasures, but even if I could safely reach my room, they were likely already destroyed. I did at least have the last birthday gifts from Liliana and father. I took them off, wrapped them carefully, and stored them in the pack.
When I finished filling my pack I turned back to mother.
"Goodbye, mother", I said. She started crying. There were big tears flowing out of her green cat eyes, her ears and tail drooped, and her shoulders were shaking. The sight brought tears to my eyes as well. It was likely the last time that we would ever see each other. She won't even know if I died.
I wanted very much to hug her, to feel her warmth envelope me, but if I did I was afraid that I would never be able to let go, and I had to leave. I slung the pack onto my shoulders, turned around, and started walking away, through the fields and into the forest. I could hear mother wailing behind me, but I blinked my tears away and didn't allow them to fall.
Trevor was dead. It was a wonder that he didn't set the collar to kill me upon his death, and the only person I could willingly accept as my master, Liliana, died along with him. After what he did to me I could not bare to be owned by anyone ever again.
I could sense from the collar that it had no master now. I was free and I had to stay free no matter the price I had to pay, even if it meant saying goodbye to my family and my home forever. I would not allow Liliana's gift to go to waste.
So the collar is still on her, just inactive ig?
Correct.