Bioluminescence lights hung in layers, forming a beautiful human face. The eyes like a bush baby are oversized and a rich green. The mystical head holds my gaze, then explodes like a star, dispersing the fairy lights.

Did I just see Mother?

My feet are planted in the dirt, unable to move, my mind still seeing the face and trying to decipher who or what they were. Cane bumps my leg, bringing me back to reality.

“Sorry… I think I just met a Goddess.” I proclaim through shock then I say a silent thanks to Mother for watching over us.

We trudge on, Cane’s marching pace surprisingly strong considering his wounds must be sapping his energy. We pass the Ferrum tree and approach the mushroom farms, the sunlight is dwindling as the day comes to an end, I expected everyone to have retired by now.

A wall of Thorns still standing sentry at the village perimeter, one breaks away at our approach and runs off towards the teepees, no doubt to report our sighting to the Voice. Halting before the wall of scrawny boy soldiers, I wipe the sheen of matted flesh and blood from my face, flicking it casually into the dirt. My exhaustion and patience are its limits.

“I have dealt with the beast, can I sleep in my bed or is that against the rules.” I sneer at them, still resentful of my treatment.

Even if I wasn’t their messiah or prophesied leader, which I am very confident about now since completing the trial under Mother’s gaze, it is a Satyr dung way to treat people. I feel the cost of the skirmish, regardless of how recently I drank from the empowering elixir, it was taking a toll on me.

Using Mirrored Image twice in quick succession to form the blood Rubus left me far worse than Toomas’s training sessions or the battle with Verox. Fatigue of my core will, the ache behind my eyes, a pulsing headache and constant waves of nausea. I have no time for tribe politics or petty quarrels.

A Thorn pulls off his mask and looks past me with a shocked expression. I turn and follow his eyes, realising he’s staring at Cane’s wounds, all of them were.

“Shepherd, your hippo.” He splutters.

“His name is Cane and he needs healing salve or at the least a lot of bark wrap. So we will be on our way.” I push through the line and beckon Cane to follow. They quickly part, still alarmed by his terrible wounds.

“I will arrange it for you!” The maskless Thorn shouts after me.

I turn to face them. “I appreciate that, thank you. Will you meet us by the river?”

“Yes, Shepherd.”

A little grin escapes my dark thoughts and lightens my mood, is that the winds of change I feel?

I strip and flop into the cool waters of Silva. My nervous system yells a cry of protest from the wickedly stimulating change in temperature. I surface to a stream of pink flowing away from me as the blood washes off. A splash, closely followed by a short shower, announces Cane’s entrance to the hygiene session.

The skin on my hands stayed like a grape picker and a terrible friend. I scrub them hard with the blue jelly substance, they slowly return to normal but it does nothing for my conscience.

I had to use my Chaotic Will during the trial and I did try to use my own blood, but the mushroom potion was too effective. In hindsight I should have cut my hand just before consuming it to quickly reignite the Searing Blade, however those brambles on the Rubus’s back were surely going to shred me apart, the rush of battle stumbles even a sharp mind.

Cane emerges, the entire river dyes pink and crimson as if he was the largest bath bomb ever created, essence of brutality and anguish.

“I’m really sorry Cane, I know you are tough but using you like that makes me an equal to your former masters. I won’t do it again.” My face is wet from the water and my own tears, the guilt catching up with me in my weakened state.

A party of Satyrs arrive at the bank, all holding strips of bark wrap.

“We heard you needed…” They cut themselves off when they see the colour of the water.

“Cane let them apply the bark wrap.” I command. He clambers out sluggishly, his mass has created a muddy ramp he uses each time. The tribesman gather around in a circle and sit down, chattering and gossiping about day to day life.

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The hippo simply lays down and rolls onto his good side, exposing the deep grooves and lacerations left by the serrated vines and beak. I try to relax, bobbing in the peaceful waters when a thought hits me.

“Has anyone seen Piia or Yadon?” I question the group.

The chatter dies with the question, most looking away sheepishly.

“They are being held in the pit.” A small boy yells out with excitement.

“What! Why? Where’s the pit?” I swim to the river edge and climb up, immediately dressing in my blood and pus soaked clothes.

“They got into a fight with the Thorns, Shepherd. I can show you where they are, Shepherd.” He spits his half-chewed bark out onto the grass, much to the group's disapproval, and giddily jumps to his feet.

“Okay let’s go, Cane, stay here.” He was half standing when the command hit him, instantly collapsing back into the furry mob of helpers.

“Wow, was that a power from your class?” The boy’s wide eyes stare intensely with a giant grin that freaks me out. I think I have a fan.

“I’ll explain on the way.”

The boy sprints into the village with childish energy, he begins chewing my ear off with questions about the prophecy, my Shepherd powers, my flock and a few inappropriate ones about mine and Piia’s relationship.

“We are just friends. Besides, I am human and she’s a Satyr.”

“Mother will not mind, Satyr and Man have been lovers for generations. Until they started to hunt us for our horns.” He says through that Cheshire cat smile.

“How old are you?” Are all the children this odd or just him, and have the tribe been talking about me and Piia? Surely it’s not this kid's idea.

“I am not sure, my Mother knows. Not our Goddess but my birthing Mother.”

“And she hasn’t told you?”

“Oh, she is dead now. The pit is over here.” He says nonchalantly, I feel bad for thinking he's weird now. The young Satyr leads me around the back of the Voice’s sanctuary, where an area has been cleared of ferns and a large hole dug into the ground. Four masked Thorns stand around its perimeter, acting as prison guards.

“Hey thanks kid, what was your name?” I ask.

“I do not know, my Mother does but…

“She’s gone. Well what do people call you?”

“Problem child or Boi, mostly Boi.”

“Okay thanks Boi, I am Seth.

“Hey Shepherd. Are you going to rescue your friends with your powers?” I cringe internally at the title.

“I am just checking in on them, that’s all. Now can you do me a huge favour?”

He nods a little with his creepy smiling face.

“It’s related to prophecy and super important.”

He starts nodding vigorously. Rutting hell he’s going to snap his neck, I put my hand on his forehead.

“Stop that. Okay, I need you to go back to Cane and double check the bark wrap has been done properly and he also needs some food, preferably carrion. He is second in command of my flock and needs to be at full strength. Can you do that?” It’s ridiculously simple to manipulate simple children.

“Of course Shepherd. Can I be in your flock? Can I be third in charge?”

“Sure, go on then. With great haste, Mother is always watching, remember.” And with that, he sprints off like a chased fawn.

Now to get my friends out of this hole without making a scene. As I stride closer to the pit, I see they have tied wooden poles together to create bars that have been laid over the hole. The Thorns watch me approach and form up to block my way.

“Piia! Yadon!” I yell before they say anything.

“Seth! These muking excuses for warriors threw us in here!” Piia shouts out from the ground.

“And why is that?” I question the lead Thorn.

“She hit us.” A smaller guard blurts out from behind.

The lead Thorn turns and wacks his subordinate over the head.

‘Sorry Captain.” He mumbles.

“They assaulted the Thorns.” He says with malice in his tone.

“I know Piia, she would only act out with violence if the person deserved it.”

“The imprisoned Satyr almost killed two of us.”

“She’s also a great warrior and probably checking to see if our great protectors were up to the test.” They shared glancing looks, unsure of where I was going.

“Well she also went against the wishes of the Voice. She is tainted.” Their Captain bellows out at me, pushing his chest out.

“Enough of that bear dung, the Voice has already stated she isn’t tainted. And as Mother’s Shepherd, I demand they are released at once.”

He kisses his teeth beneath his mask. “The Voice, our appointed tribal leader, has dismissed your claims already.”

“Well he was appointed by your people, while I was chosen by your Goddess. Your glorious Voice spoke with that very Goddess and sent me off on a trial to prove my position. I completed the trial before Mother herself, it is done.”

“Do you have proof?”

I reach into my storage space and remove the evidence.

“It was only a Rubus in great pain due to this bear trap. Its wounds were deep and rotting, the poor creature was suffering.”

The Captain removes his mask and picks through the evidence with suspicious eyes.

His three guards lean forward for a better view, also removing their masks then share another look of astonishment. They immediately drop to their knees.

“Shepherd, you have finally arrived.”

“We apologise for not believing in you.”

“Mother forgive us.” They blurt out.

“That’s fine, just release my friends and all is forgiven.” I pluck the evidence from the Captain's hands and store it away.

“Hold on just a leaf fall.” The Captain says however his fellow Thorns are already rushing to the pit's edge, lifting the enclosing wooden bars to create a gap, they chuck a long ladder over the edge.

How deep is that hole?

“I said hold on!” The Captain screams out like a raging bull causing them to halt in place.

“Overruled, carry on. I’m the Shepherd.” They immediately begin again.

A rustling noise from the sanctuary draws my attention, I see a hobbling figure clamber from underneath the fern sides in a mass of furs and feathers, he stands with the aid of his crooked walking stick.

“Shepherd!” The Voice screams.