Mirella's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Mirella knelt beside the old man's cot and watched his chest stop moving. He had raised her in the bog, fed her, taught her the safe plants. He had never told her what she came to hear: who left her in the black water hollow, and why. His fingers loosened. A small carved figure slipped from his palm and struck the floor. It was an onyx creature, dragon-headed and duck-bodied, polished dark. She picked it up. The stone grew hot. Red light gathered in its grooves and burned against her skin. A sharp jolt shot up her arm, and the old man's memory poured into her head all at once — a woman's face above the hollow, hands shaking, a whispered word Mirella almost knew. She gasped and clutched the figure tight. The elder was gone. What he had seen was now hers to carry.