She woke up with pain. Pain in her shoulders, her back, her thighs. Pain everywhere.

The nappy thing rubbed against her every time she took a step and now there was an angry red rash on her inner thighs.

She had a terrible nights sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the life leaving the goblins body, bloody limbs and heard cackling laughter.

Looking back on it now, the Goblins hadn't posed much of a threat to her. She probably could've just chased the ugly things off. Instead she had killed one. And the more she thought about it, the more that it seemed like murder.

It hadn't posed any real threat to her. They clearly had their own language, so they weren't mindless beasts. It wasn't cannibalism, technically, either. That leg was from a different species to them. Maybe even a different species to her.

They were just like children, they didn't have the same wrong and right that she did. She wouldn't have blamed a non-intelligent animal for killing a human. It was the way of the world. There were the hunters and the hunted. Everything had to eat.

None of these thoughts were helping her heavy conscience. She could feel herself nearing some invisible breaking point. She had gone from an innocent to a murderer in one day. She slept on a roof and walked for miles. She never wanted to shut her eyes again. She couldn't remember a damn thing about herself. She didn't even know her species, let alone her name!

She was 100% not equipped to deal with this. Right next to the murder in ranking of shittiest things that had happened was the cold that seemed to have settled into her bones during the night. Not even the early morning rays warmed her.

She felt dirty, but she'd be damned if she was going to wash in that stream and get any colder.

Her life sucked, and her death was imminent if things continued like this. She felt weaker than the day before. Her stomach growled emptily at her but she had nothing to give it.

Hugging herself she screwed her eyes shut.

You can do this. Just find people. All you need to do is find people.

Slowly she lowered herself off the roof and almost fell over when she hit the ground.

Suddenly she realised how thirsty she was. Water. Beautiful, life giving water.

She fell to her knees and scooped the water up to her face. Frustrated at the way it ran down her arms she leant over and pressed her lips to the surface.

Cool, refreshing water flowed into her body. There was an underbite of dirt but really - who cared?

It took an almost visible effort for her to pull back, but she knew if she drank too much too quickly she would throw up. She did not want to throw up.

Exhausted, she blinked her eyes hard.

When she opened them, the stream was gone.

Instead she was facing more indistinguishable trees. Hundreds of thin vines dangled down from their branches like a curtain all around her, from which hung small bundles of round, black berries.

What...?

For a moment, she just gaped. It was brighter too. The sun was high and bright in the sky, casting a red shadow through the leaves above her.

Her tail puffed up behind her, straight upright.

How had this happened? She was probably in the same area; the trees were the same. The vines were decidedly not.

Her mouth tasted foul. Breathing into her hand, she identified the smell. She had thrown up. Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, a black streak was left behind. Her heart gave an odd thud before she began rapidly spitting on the ground.

She spat until her mouth was dry, then she spat some more. When she looked closer at her arm, she saw that the shadow of normally blue veins had gone gray.

Everything in this forest was gray. The trees. The goblins. Everything except the Fonq.

The only difference between the recent past and now was that she drank out of the stream. Then she was somewhere else. She had lost time.

It must have been the water. It was everywhere, like poison.

In the trees. In the creatures.

Crack!

She spun on one foot. Crouched. Ready.

The vines parted around something black. Something that didn't make sense. Not until the rest of the creatures head pushed through. It was a bird.

A huge, man sized bird with a shiny, hooked black beak.

Brilliant red feathers on its head faded into a slate coloured body.

Terror Bird. The name popped into her head from nowhere.

It cocked its head to one side. Run! Her instincts screamed at her.

And she did. The vines whipped at her, as she pushed them to one side. The bird was gaining on her, easily.

No. This was not it. Not here.

She wasn't done yet. She turned a sharp left around a tree, the bird slid across the ground behind her, slowing to almost a halt before continuing after her. 

She ran, she dodged but everything was getting to her. Her body felt heavy. Her legs were pumping acid. All she wanted to do was sleep. Sleep and never wake up.

Was it really worth it? The bird would chase her down eventually.

Each step got heavier.

Slower.

Then she saw it.

A fence. More of a wall of a fortress than a fence but who gave two shits. Civilisation. People. Safety. Food. Water. Beds. Clothes.

Turning a sharp right she made a beeline straight for it. Bird brain skidded again before following hot on her trail.

Faster. She had to be faster. But no matter how fast she told her legs to go, they simply wouldn't go any faster.

It was closer. She so wanted to look behind her. But she knew if she did that she would slow down. For a second. Maybe even trip. Then she would be dead.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

She had to go faster.

She thought she felt something - warm hot air on her shoulder.

She wasn't going to make it. She got this far, this close and now she wasn't going to make it.

A whoosh of air passed her. She felt the thud of the bird falling by the vibrations in her feet. Still, she didn't stop. Not until she passed through the gate. Not until she saw her first person.

She was light headed, she couldn't seem to focus clearly. Panting, she blinked to the person into focus.

The girl was staring at her, brown eyes wide and dark in her pale face, with long blonde hair down to her elbows. She was wearing a long, green dress that looked home made, and underneath shoes poked out that looked more like leather wrapped around her feet, secured with a string.

She must've been the most beautiful thing that the cat woman had ever seen.

Clutching her bag, the girl turned and ran around a corner. Out of sight.

There were other people too, further down the road. Women. A few men. Children.

People.

Her legs simply gave out from underneath her. She pressed one trembling hand to her mouth, and tears sprung into her eyes.

Outside the walls of the fortress, the bird gave a last, rattling breath. Two arrows stuck out of it, one entered its chest just to the right of where its neck met its body. The other was stuck smack bang in the middle of its throat.

The guard who had been watching the mad dash that the stranger had made to the gate hopped down from his perch atop the spiked defenses. The fence circled the entire village, excluding the farm, and was about the height of one and a half men. The guard, otherwise called Kele, could still remember the day that all the villagers had come together to make it.

In his late thirties, his hair was brown and plaited down his back, where it ended with a leather tie. He was one of the more intimidating guards, with thick eyebrows and a deep dark stare. Not many people crossed him. The few who did regretted it.

The woman was a hybrid. Some crossing of human and beast. In all his time, he'd never seen the likes before.

It was not her fault, he thought, that her mother chose to fornicate with beasts. Regardless, now her business was his business. He had saved her life, and so he was responsible for her life for a season and a day. Such was the law of guardianship.

One of her ears swiveled back towards him as he approached her, closely followed by her head. She was attractive, he noted, if not for the deformities. Her lips were a pale pink that sat in a heart shaped face. Her hair was wild but tamed there may well be a beauty sat underneath. Her eyes, though, said she had seen far too much. Despite being blue, they seemed dark and had a depth that came with the loss of innocence.

"Where do you hail from, girl?" He asked her.

She blinked up at him, tilting her head slightly to one side.

"Your name then?" He frowned.

She frowned back at him.

She could hear, he knew that much from the way her ears had swiveled at his approach. She was either playing dumb or she didn't understand a word that he was saying. For some reason, his gut leaned towards the latter. He always wanted to think the best of people. Innocent until proven guilty.

He put a hand to his chest. "Kele." Then he pressed the same hand to hers.

Nothing. She raised her hand, paused while biting her lip, then her expression hardened and she pressed it to his chest.

"Kele." She then pressed the same hand to her own chest and shook her head.

Did she mean that she had no name? How could that be? He couldn't imagine what kind of mother would send her child into the world without the protection of a birth-name. It was amazing she had survived to adulthood without being picked off by a curse or one of the fair folk. Or one of the darker creatures that liked the warmth of young flesh.

"No name..." He muttered to himself.

This did not bode well. His people were very spiritual, and clearly the coming of a nameless one was an omen. A good omen or a bad omen only the village elder could decide. Which was exactly where he was going to take her.

Taking her hand, he pulled her to her feet. Before she could see the village elder she needed to be named. She could not go into the den of spirits without the protection of a name. Not as strong as a birth-name, but better than nothing.

Taking out the short knife he used for wood whittling, he ran it quickly across the pad of his thumb. The  young woman looked horrified, and tried to back away when he bought his thumb close to her head.

"I won't hurt you. Trust me." He tried to convey his intention in his tone, keeping it soft and comforting. Not the kind of tone anybody ever heard coming out of this man. He towered over her by at least a foot, with a barrel chest and a wide stance. Gentle was not a word that was usually associated with him.

She allowed him to move closer this time, though her eyes darted from side to side as if searching for an exit.

Keeping a firm hand on one of her shoulders, her ran his bleeding thumb over her brow, then down each of her cheek bones, speaking all the while.

"By the spirits around us, the earth beneath us and the sky above us I name you...Aitast, decendent of the felines that roam the forests. You will have the strength and cunning of a predator, the heart of a truth-teller and the senses of the beast." Each of his words was echoed by a deeper voice, and though blood drained from the womans face, she did not attempt to pull away.

The moment his thumb left her face, his blood sank into her skin. With a tingle, the cut on his thumb healed. The spirits had recognised the naming, though none seemed to be eager to show what particular spirit she leant towards.

"Aitast" He pressed his palm to her chest once more. "Kele. Aitast."

When she seemed to understand he took her hand once more.

"Come."