Lilith Blackwood's Arc

Chapter 4 of 21

The crowd was gone, but the cold stayed. Lilith walked through the old apothecary and counted her problems. The rooms were bare. The floor was hard wood. She had wounded animals and nowhere warm to put them. A rabbit with a torn ear shivered in the corner. The fox lay near the wall, too weak to move. Night would come, and night here killed the weak. She had no straw, no blankets, no proper pens. The town would sell her nothing. Her crow watched from the counter. He was a big bird, black feathers washed with purple, one wing clipped so he could not fly far. He had been with her longer than any creature here. She rescued him years ago and never let him go. Now he tipped his head toward the door and gave a rough croak. "You want me to go to them again," Lilith said. She knew who he meant. The lions at the field's edge. They had helped her before. She wrapped the shivering kitten in her cloak and carried it with her. The demon kitten, small and dark, with two horns and eyes that glowed faint purple. It had won the town's heart yesterday. Maybe it would soften the beasts too. The crow rode on her shoulder as she walked. At the field's edge she stopped and stared. The land itself had woken. The ground rose into sheep, packed close and bleating. Bushes had become tigers, their stripes bright in the gray light. The trees stood as lions, huge and still, watching her with human eyes. The largest lion lowered his great head. "Your house is empty," he said. His voice rumbled like stone. "We felt the cold from here." "The town gives me nothing," Lilith said. "I have animals dying on a bare floor. I need wool. I need straw. I need something warm before dark." The lion turned to the flock behind him. The sheep pressed forward. One by one they shook loose great clumps of wool, thick and clean, until a soft white heap grew at Lilith's feet. The tigers dragged bundled straw from the brush. The lions pushed it all toward her in a pile taller than the kitten. "Carry what you can," the lion said. "We will bring the rest by morning." Lilith worked until her arms shook. She hauled load after load back to the shop. She spread straw across the hard floor. She lined the corners with wool and built low walls between them, one warm pen for each animal. She laid the fox in the softest bed. She tucked the rabbit in beside it. By dark the rooms were full and warm. The kitten curled into the wool and slept. The crow settled on a beam above them. Lilith stood in the doorway and felt the heat behind her. She had made the sanctuary real. But she had gone to the field again in full daylight, and the town had promised to watch. Someone had surely seen where she went.