The Girl from the Rune Yard by Eric Guindon

Author:Eric Guindon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melancholy Stegosaurus Press

Chapter Eight:

I Will Find the Bandits

Haylem had been quite persuasive about Kyria needing to rest before heading out.

“You have to be careful to get enough sleep, now that you need your vitality to defend yourself. Remember, the Skyrunners will also take their toll.”

Bending to this advice, the girl had stayed for one more night and two more meals before heading out the next morning.

Her new backpack was bulging with a variety of ration packs, her equipment was all stowed and ready, and there was no further delaying her departure.

“I don’t know why I feel so sad to leave this place,” she said to Haylem as she exited the facility’s hatch. “It’s you I care about and you’re coming with me.”

“Perhaps, but I think that you and I both know that you were safer in the facility than you will be out there, in the world. Out there you faced violence, your home was destroyed, and your life as you knew it was lost forever. I can understand a certain hesitation to go back.”

“A part of me wishes I could just hide away down here,” she admitted.

“And a part of me wishes I could find your mother for you while you wait here,” Haylem replied.

Kyria stood straight and took the first step away from the hatch and the safety of the facility, then another and another. The first was the hardest; the others grew easier as she went.

Her first stop was her family’s house beside the Yard. It stood just as she left it, only two days ago. She found signs that at least one other customer had come, leaving tracks in the dirt, but she doubted they had dared enter the Yard for themselves. They must have left unsatisfied.

Eventually, someone from the village will be dispatched to see what happened to our family, won’t they?

Kyria gave it no more thought. This was no longer her home. If there was such a place for her now, it was the facility. But even that place was more a refuge for her than a home. She would have no home until she found her mother.

The girl was not sure why she had stopped by the house. There was nothing there she needed, there was nothing there she wanted. Then she realized there was something she wanted, and made her way to the graves she had dug, what seemed an eternity ago.

Kneeling there, ignoring the nearby rotting bodies of the bandits, Kyria had a moment with her father.

I swear it, Papa. I will avenge your death. I will save mother. I will make them pay.

To her own grave Kyria said:

“Rest well, little girl. You had your time. Now I’ll do what must be done. This world is no place for a sweet thing like you.”

Haylem was strangely silent in the girl’s head, though she gave it no thought.

Next, the girl steeled herself and approached the decomposing bandits. The smell from them was horrid and she gagged for a moment before she could go on.

Do what needs to be done! She told herself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.