World Walkers: Taithmarin: Freya’s Arrival

[k_a_webb]

Written for livejournal user marina_bonomi’s random number prompt.

With every step Freya took she wished a little harder that her wings actually worked and weren’t just for decoration. They were still behind her, so she couldn’t stop running, even though she wanted to. Her paws were burning with pain. She knew from the moment she stepped into the alleys she was in danger, but food was becoming a neccessity. Every other time she had got lucky. This time it seemed very much like they had been waiting for her to return, so maybe she hadn’t been as careful as she believed she had.

Freya darted through a doorway. It was a surprise to find herself running into a wall, and more than a little painful, because last time she had gone through that specific doorway it had led to a courtyard with easy jumping. Getting there meant she had a chance of getting away safely. Now she was… she looked around her, trying to calm herself and failing, in what looked to be a house. She’d never seen anything like it before. The door itself had disappeared, which at least meant that they couldn’t follow her.

‘Sorry,’ a male voice panted from behind Freya, making her jump. ‘When they told me you were coming I was at a new year party which was some distance away.’

Slowly Freya turned to look at the new arrival and was more than a little surprised to see someone who looked like her. She tilted her head to one side, wondering how he had ended up in the same place she had, when she had never met anyone like her before. Part of her wanted to run but she was too curious about who he was to listen to that part.

‘I’m Jarl,’ he continued, ‘and I will be your guide for the next six months.’

‘Guide?’ Freya asked, using her voice for the first time in years.

‘The doorway you stepped through has brought you to Taithmarin. It’s a different world to the one you left behind and you will be safe here.’

Jarl sounded very sure, and Freya hoped he was, but it wasn’t easy to throw off years of knowing that she would die if anyone found her. ‘How do you know that?’

‘I left behind the same world that you did.’ Jarl swished his tail. ‘There is no way I’ll be able to convince you that this place is safe with words. You have to experience it.’

Freya shook her head without even thinking about what he had just said. ‘I…’ She trailed off. ‘I’m not ready.’

‘No one ever is.’ Jarl glanced down. ‘You need to see a healer at least.’

For the first time Freya looked down at her paws. The blood surrounding them showed that her run had badly damaged them and she wasn’t sure she wanted to see what she had actually done. Shivering, she wrapped her wings around her body.

‘I didn’t realise they were so bad,’ she muttered, even though she had guessed that running through the alleys hadn’t done them any good.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

No typos spotted.

This is a cool story. Also, I'm reminded of the "gratuitous wings" criticism sometimes leveled at anthropomorphic art, which indeed often sticks wings on characters for no discernible reason. But here, the wings are kind of a nuisance because they're conspicuous without being useful. That's an interesting twist. It makes me wonder how and why creatures have the shapes they do in this setting. That might be evolution but might be something else, or even a combination.