• Tal's heart swelled with unbound pride at Yolan's kind words. No one other than her father had spoken to her like that. And ever since her father's passing two years ago, she thought she would never hear words like that ever again.
    She shivered as the wind blew on her shoulder. Her raggedy old patchwork dress was barely enough to keep her warm, but was all she could spare. All Tal had ever had to wear for her entire life had been two dresses. One blue like the one she wore now, another an ugly burgundy color. Her feet were nearly bare as well, with all the holes her homemade shoes had. And her red belt was sometimes too wide or too tight for her midsection. She wasn't anything compared to the other girls in her village.
    They had well-made clothes, enough money to stay fed, everything Tal knew she wouldn't have unless a man chose her as a bride. But the though of marriage made the girl shiver with displeasure. Although she was sixteen and eligable for marriage, who would take her? She was half cat and half human. Nothing a man would want.
    Tal pushed these thoughts out of her mind as she and her group progressed to the village.

    What they got however, was nothing of what they expected. There was no noise, no hustle and bustle of people going on with life. Instead there was only piles of corpses and pools of blood. No one had been left alive. Tal felt as if she would become ill, but forced it down. Rork, on the other hand, couldn't and was being violently sick in some nearby bushes.
    In a daze, Tal walked through her once lively village. She advanced until she came to the village square. There, posted in plain sight, was a king's notice. It was splattered in blood, but still legible.
    By order of King Venn, this village is to be slaughtered for high treason. For harboring a Feral, public enemy number one to the crown.
    Sobbing, Tal dropped the blood-stained parchment. It floated to the ground. Where her mother lay dead, with a dagger in her heart. Tal bent down and gingerly removed the dagger. She cleaned the blade with her dress and held it in front of her face.
    "This is the dagger that killed my mother. And I intend to kill its user just they killed her. I'll slaughter the king for what he's done! And do whatever is in my power to avenge her death!" she vowed angrily, her heart aching and her mind clouded by the poisonous vapors of vengence.