Girl in the Forest

"Daddy, why don't I have fur like you?"  Kay reached a soft hand and stroked his gnarled arm.  His rumbling chuckle was not reflected in his eyes.


"That's because you're special," he said.  "That's why we protect you.  Now, get ready for bed, squirt."  He pointed an ebon claw to the sky.  "It's almost dawn."


"Daddy, when will my claws start to grow?" she asked as they swung down from the dim treeways to the weedy ground and her sleepbox.


"I think they might be growing already," he answered, tousling her auburn ringlets with a leathery palm.  


Kay looked closely at her fingernails while he locked the manacle to her leg, then to the metal post pounded securely into the forest floor.  She crawled into the rusty, red sleepbox, curled up in the bedding of ferns and milkweed seeds.  He patted her head.


"Get some sleep, now, we have a special night coming."


"Daddy, when will it be safe for me to sleep in the bowers like everyone else?"  Tears trembled in her blue eyes.


"Soon, maybe even tonight."  He looked around then winked at her.  "Don't tell anyone I told you."  She nodded happily and he turned to leave.


"Wait!  Watch, Daddy, I'm going to make my eyes glow red like yours."  She grimaced fiercely and squinted hard.


"Yes, I see, good job.  Now, sleepy time.  I'll see you at sunset."  He shambled across the vale to the arching treeways, scaly tail twitching.


As usual, Kay had trouble going to sleep, even though she'd been up all night.  At first she tossed and squirmed, rattling her chain loudly against the sleepbox.  As the Sun rose higher she lay half-out of her sleepbox and watched the Day Guard slip from shadow to shadow, keeping the Homeground safe from what skulked in the deep of the light.


Eventually, the warmth of the morning and rustle of the forest soothed her restless thoughts and she fell deeply asleep.  She awoke to taunts from other younglings.


"Nyah, nyah, daywalker, daywalker, Kay is a daywalker, nyah, nyah. . ."  They started dropping leaves and twigs from the trees above her, but scattered when she grabbed up a stone; they'd come to fear the uncanny throwing accuracy of her five-fingered hands.


Before long her Daddy got her loose and led her to the main gate leading out of the Homeground and into the meadows beyond.  Kay was surprised and worried that almost everyone was gathered around, apparently waiting for her.


"Daddy," she whispered, "what's going on?"


"Time to be brave, dear," he answered.  "Tonight is your chance to show everyone what a good daemon you are."  He squatted down beside her, tail twitching in the weeds.  "I want you to go down to the river, by that big rock I showed you before.  Remember?"  Eyes big, she nodded.  


"Good," he continued.  "Go there and yell this word loud as you can: hkehlp."


"That doesn't sound like a real word, Daddy."


He agreed, but made her practice the word over and over until she could say it perfectly.  Now," he said, "go to the river where I told you and yell that loud.  If something strange comes around, you just scream and run home fast as you can.  Got it?"


"Strange like what, Daddy?"  She was becoming more scared by the minute.


"You'll know.  Go on, hurry now."


Filled with reluctance, but absolutely sure she wanted to prove herself, Kay ran to the river beyond the meadows.  She wasn't sure she wanted to see something strange.  For a short while, as sunset became dusk, she sat quietly on the rock, but finally got up her courage and started yelling the word she'd been taught.


Soon she heard a voice in reply from upriver and someone blundering toward her along the bank.  It was all she could do to keep yelling, but screaming wasn't difficult when the creature came into sight.


It was taller than  her, even taller than a daemon, and had ugly, patchy hair on its face and head.  The rest of the pale skin was bare where bits of furred leather and woven cloth didn't cover.  Gibberish spouted from its mouth as it crept closer.  While it had five fingers like her own hands, it didn't have claws or real teeth.  To Kay it still looked dangerous. 


She ran, and when she looked back it was chasing her.  Fear made her feet fly across the meadow and through the gate of Homeground, the creature in hot pursuit.  If her Daddy hadn't grabbed her, she might have run straight through Homeground and out the other side of the forest.


The creature blindly pursued her right through the gate, where a dozen daemons pounced and dragged the screaming thing down.  It fought like a mad daywalker, kicking, biting, even producing a knife, but it wasn't enough to save it.


"Don't worry, squirt," he said, lifting her to his shoulder for a better view of the kill.  "You did a good job."  


"Now do I get to sleep in the bowers with everyone else?" she asked.


"Yes, dear, you do."  He put her back on the ground and gave her a little shove toward the swarm of feeding daemons.  "Now, go eat.  Don't worry," he said when she hesitated.  "They'll let you in; you're a real daemon now."


The End