A Flash Fiction Fantasy Story
“Are you sure you want to face the wilds alone?” Lana twisted her apron strings around a finger, frowning.
Reva tried not to let her sister’s words frighten her as she stuffed a dress in her pack. “I’d face anything rather than marry.”
The village matchmaker found sick satisfaction in matching people who made each other miserable, and Reva refused to stick around for it. The culmination of the annual Harvest Festival was nothing more than human sacrifice in the guise of marriage. It made sense that it took place beneath the late autumn blood moon.
“Marriage is our duty,” Lana said.
“To marry a man I do not love?” Shame wound through her at the sorrow in Lana’s eyes. “I’m sorry. But I do not hold your loyalty to people who’ve ostracized me my entire life.”
“They’re just frightened by what they do not understand.”
“Which is why I’ll probably be matched with some barbaric idiot who will forbid me from using magic.” She folded a second dress and stuffed it in her pack. “I won’t have it. Besides, there’s a whole world beyond Haven’s borders.”
Lana shook her head with a reluctant smile. “You’ve lasted longer than I thought you would. Feigning sickness for two years in a row, pretending to get lost in the forest the next.”
“Humiliating experience.”
“And Leon just happened to rescue you.”
Reva’s stomach clenched. Leon was the only friend who didn’t follow the village traditions like a mindless sheep. Perhaps it was because he’d been an outcast, too. Their plan to avoid the ceremony last year was brilliant—but they’d hardly spoken this year. Had he given in?
She latched the pack and slid the straps over her shoulders, then turned to her sister.
“Oh, Lana.” She hugged her tightly. “I’ll be back in a year, with stories and news of the world.”
Lana squeezed her, then pulled away to shove a little bag of coins in her hand. “You’d better hurry.”
Reva gave her one last hug, then cracked open the door to the sounds of music and revelry from the village square. She slipped out and began walking toward the forest road, casually, as if taking a stroll. Several neighbors passed her on their way to the ceremony, but none tried to stop her, or even speak. For once, being an outcast was a blessing.
She reached the tree line and nearly exhaled with relief when a deep voice called her name. Reva froze and almost looked back, but fear ran down her spine in shockwaves. She couldn’t let them compel her to the ceremony.
She lifted her skirt and ran, throwing herself into the forest’s shadows. The voice called again, but she couldn’t tell who it belonged to. She just had to make it five miles, and she’d cross the border into Alinor.
“Reva!”
Closer now. Whoever it was, they were running, too. Reva plunged off the road and dove behind the nearest tree, then leaned back against the giant trunk, panting. She had another way out of this, and she was past the point of being polite to fearful people who wanted to control her life.
Footsteps crunched, slowing. How many others were with him?
Reva focused on the energy around her, on the trees and air and pulsing animal heartbeats that she felt as ripples in the current of life. The magic inside her sparked, then flamed.
More crunching. He was almost to her, but at least she only heard one set of steps. The flame inside her roared.
“Reva?”
She leapt from behind the birch and shot a bolt of fire at her pursuer’s feet. He screamed and fell backwards, then scrambled away as she leveled another in the same place.
“For Haven’s sakes, Reva, what is the matter with you?”
Reva blinked. The magic seeped from her body. Leon staggered to his feet and stomped out the tiny, crackling flame.
“Leon? I’m so sorry. Are you hurt? I only meant to frighten you off. Except I didn’t know it was you, or I wouldn’t have shot fire at you. Unless you’re after me to drag me back, in which case there’s a lot more where that came from!”
He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Finished?”
Heat climbed up her face. “Why are you here?” She noticed straps across his shoulders. “Oh. You’re leaving, too?”
“For Alinor. They say a man can find work easily in the shipyard. And they’re more open to people with our… talents.”
She grinned. “That’s where I’m going. But I thought you were getting matched.”
“I thought you were.”
“I guess we didn’t talk about it this year.”
He raised a brow. “You avoided me these many months. I decided you’d changed your mind about marriage.”
“You know I’m not the marrying kind.”
“Maybe just not the kind of marrying we’re used to.” He averted his gaze. “We should travel together—two refugees fleeing a backward people and a crazy matchmaker. We’d be quite the team.”
Reva glanced toward the village. “As long as they don’t catch us and force us to submit to our duty.”
“Between your skills and mine, we shouldn’t have a problem.”
He lifted his palm and blew. A gust of wind crashed into Reva, whipping leaves all around her and into her billowing hair. She put her arms over her face.
“Alright, we’re even!”
The wind stopped. Somewhere behind them, men called their names. Reva groaned. A neighbor must have told the elders they’d seen her. Gossipy old busy lips.
Leon’s mouth curled in a mischievous smile. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
She nodded. “Maybe a small demonstration?”
He stood beside her, shoulder to shoulder, as their magic united. Reva imagined their pursuers’ frightened faces and laughed. So, this was what freedom felt like—standing strong in her own skin.
But she didn’t stand alone—and she didn’t want to.
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