The sky above the village was an ominous gray and a blanket of dark clouds had rolled in, covering the heavens and leaving only a dull light to replace the bright sun they had been enjoying earlier in the day. As Ninthe and her father made their way to their homestead, small drops of rain began to patter down onto their heads. What started as a light drizzle quickly moistened the hard earth as it grew heavier until steady sheets of rain were cascading down upon them.

Seeing that the barn door was open, they ran over to take shelter inside, using it as a pit stop before their final approach to the house. Lightning flashed in the distance and after a few seconds, a booming clap of thunder followed it.

“I am so sorry…’ Ninte muttered. “What do we tell mother?”

Adriyan reached over to push a mass of soaked hair out of her face, tucking it under the cloth covering her head. “Let me do the talking”.

Ninte nodded and her eyes dropped to the dirt floor.

“It’ll be alright, Ninte,” Adriyan said, using a finger to push her chin up so she was looking at him once again. “Don’t worry-”

They both heard it. Another crash of thunder, this time close and far louder, threatened to drown out the sound, but they had both heard a weak grunt coming from the far side of the barn. Peering into the darkness, their eyes gradually adjusted until they were able to make out the heaving shape of the pregnant mare, laying on one side and quivering. Veynar grunted from the opposite wall and then whinnied loudly as both Ninte and her father rushed over to the mare, all else swiftly forgotten as they moved to attend to the horse.

“Whoa, girl. It’s alright.” Adriyan said, dropping to his knees and running a hand over the mare’s neck and mane. She raised her head and grunted again, although it was more of a sigh than a grunt.

“What do we do?” Ninte asked, fighting to maintain her composure as a wave of panic washed over her, made worse by the increasingly violent thunderstorm that raged outside.

Then she remembered. A flash of light exploded through the open door followed almost immediately by a deafening crack as the lightning tore through the air. Ninte stood in shock; one hand shot to her mouth as she stumbled backwards. This couldn’t be real. It was a dream, a nightmare; it couldn’t be happening right here and now.

“Ninte!” Her father’s voice yelled out over the sound of rain pounding outside and on the shingled roof above them. Ninte realized he was trying to say something, and she stepped forward reluctantly to hear.

“We need to get her up!” He shouted when she was close enough to make out his words. “She needs more space. Let’s move her to the middle of the barn.”

The image came back to her in an instant. The sight of her beloved mare lying motionless in the middle of the barn with her stillborn foal in a heap next to her.

“We can’t!” cried Ninte. “Let me try to help her, otherwise I think she’ll die.”

“We are trying to help her! She needs space. Let’s get her away from this wall and she’ll be fine.”

Adriyan stood and stooped over the shivering horse, gently coaxing her to stand by pulling on her neck. The mare, obedient as ever even on the verge of death, obeyed her master. With another weak grunt of effort, the mare clambered to her hooves and stumbled forward to follow Adriyan as he led her to the middle of the barn.

“Ninte, bring me some straw for the foal to lay on, as much as you can.” He said, running one hand steadily down the mare’s muzzle in an attempt to soothe her.

“Father, stop!” She shouted. Adriyan looked over, confused. “Let me try to help, otherwise she’ll die. It’s just like I told you.”

Adriyan’s eyes went wide as realization washed over him. For a moment Ninte expected him to agree, then a flash of anger appeared on his face.

“This is not the time to be playing around!” he yelled. The mare’s legs wobbled but Adriyan was now too worked up to notice. “You almost killed someone today, Ninte. And now you want to try using a power you don’t understand and can barely control on a horse in labor?”

Ninte was speechless. Her mouth flapped open and closed silently as she searched for words, but her father’s comments had caught her so off guard that she was fighting a tight lump in her throat.

“If you aren’t going to help then get out of here!” He shouted as another crash of thunder rang out.

Ninte swallowed hard and sprinted over to the pile of straw heaped in the corner beside Veynar. The stallion was clearly distressed at the scene unfolding before him and he skipped restlessly around, pulling at the harness tethering him to the barn wall. As much as Ninte wanted to comfort him, there was no time. She grabbed an armful of straw and ran back to her father, dropping it next to him. She was about to turn and run to fetch another when another flash of lightning illuminated the room, and she caught a glimpse of the blood pooling out on the floor behind the mare. The mare’s legs finally gave way, and she collapsed onto the dirt, slumping to one side as her head lolled unsteadily above the ground. The mare let out a quiet whinny, and Ninte saw the veins in her neck bulge as she strained every muscle in her body.

“Help me get her back on her feet! Quick!” Adriyan shouted.

While Ninte ran back, there was another whinny, this time louder and Ninte heard it over the rain battering their barn. A moment later, before her, the tangled, bloody mess of the foal’s frail body lay crumpled behind its twitching mother. Adriyan knelt beside the dying mare, his arms covered in blood that reached his shoulders, one hand resting on her rump. The mare did not twitch for long. Soon enough her breathing slowed from labored to rasping to nothing at all, and she fell still and silent. Without saying a word or even looking in Ninte’s direction, Adriyan pushed himself to his feet, turned, and walked out of the barn. Ninte didn’t watch him leave. Her eyes were fixed on the view in front of her and her heart was pounding.

She had taken several small steps as she backed away from the carcasses when another flash sent light billowing through the open door and filling the room in a horribly familiar cold light. The scene before her was exactly as she had seen it in her vision.

This time there was no sudden return to a sunny, quiet afternoon. Now the scene remained before her, the smell of fresh blood filling the barn. Veynar grunted and fought against his bonds, but Ninte could not muster the energy to comfort him. She stepped carefully backwards, unable to look away from the gory view until she reached the open door and spatters of chilling rain struck the back of her neck, pulling her free of the morbid scene holding her attention.

She stumbled out of the barn, and if she had been wet before she was drenched now. The rain poured incessantly, soaking everything it touched and leaving the ground a slippery mess. Plodding slowly toward the house, her arms still hanging at her sides, the wind and rain whipped at her face. Finally reaching the door to her house, she noted the smear of red where her father had pushed it open, slowly being washed away by the rain. Lifting still heavy and sluggish arms, she opened the door taking care to avoid the red streak and stepped inside.

The house was quiet, or at least it was in comparison to the booming thunder and thrashing rain outside. Kicking off her soaking boots she left them strewn haphazardly next to the door just past the threshold before walking slowly forward. Her feet made squelching sounds with every step and a constant dripping remained with her as her sodden clothes leaked onto the floorboards.

After walking through the kitchen, she entered the family’s small common room. A small fire burned in the center of a wide stone hearth, sputtering systematically as rain dripped down through the chimney. In front of the fire, in two wooden armchairs covered in the fur of many small animals stitched together, were Ninte’s parents.

Adriyan did not stir as she entered. He had not washed the blood from his arms and sat sullenly staring into the flickering flames before him. Irlana, on the other hand, stood as Ninte entered. Her face was contorted with rage and her lips quivered as she stood to confront her daughter.

“You!” hissed Irlana. “This was your doing, you vile witch!”

Ninte blinked. She had expected Irlana to be angry, but how could she possibly blame the mare’s death on her.

“First you almost kill the neighbor’s boy in the fields, and now you suck the life from our mare and her newborn.”

Ninte shook her head. She had been through too much that day to sit back and listen to her own mother accuse her of killing the foal.

“How can you even think this was my fault?” Ninte said, feeling anger bubbling inside her.

“You planned it! You told us about this only the other day. We should have known then. We should have gotten rid of you before you had the chance to follow through with your evil plans!”

“Evil plans?” Ninte’s voice grew louder with every word. “How dare you! I didn’t have anything to do with this!”

“Lies!” Irlana screeched. “You’re a cruel, evil, accursed child! And you’ve brought us nothing but misery and strife!”

“I didn’t ask to be born! If you didn’t want a child, you shouldn’t have had one!” Ninte was screaming now too. Adriyan, who usually stepped in before things got this heated, did not move or even look away from the fire.

Irlana scoffed and spat a sharp, hateful cackle at her daughter.

“You truly believe that we created a monster like you?” she said, her voice a shuddering growl. “We found you in that blighted forest. I tried to tell Adriyan to leave you, but you had already ensnared him with your dark magic.”

Ninte was about to yell back an insult when Irlana’s words sank in.

“You… found me?” she said.

“Of course we found you, and ever since our lives have been shadowed by evil. I always felt it, but Adriyan insisted on keeping you,” Irlana said, before turning to Adriyan. “Look where it’s gotten us now you damned fool! Our marriage is ruined, the villagers hate us, and now our mare and foal are dead.”

For a moment there was silence. Irlana stood, glaring back and forth between her husband and Ninte, while Ninte just stared at the man she thought to be her father.

“F-father?” she stuttered. “Is it true? Am I really not your daughter?”

She watched as Adriyan’s eyes glazed over and shimmered in the firelight. Then he did the one thing she had hoped he wouldn’t do. He nodded.

“Ninte. I’m sorry. I meant to tell you one day,” he said, turning to look at her.

She stumbled back into the wall behind her. She felt as though someone had just punched her hard in the stomach and driven the air from her lungs. The room spun, or perhaps it pulsed, Ninte couldn’t tell. She was too busy trying to take in the truth that had just been revealed to her.

“Ninte?” she heard her father say, and from the corner of her eyes she saw his blurred shape stand and take a step towards her.

“Stop!” Ninte screamed, her voice like daggers that drove her parents back three paces each. No, not her parents - just the people who had tolerated her presence.

The world took on a bright hue, and silver dust floated into view before her. Suddenly she could see the lines of silver light shining from Adriyan and Irlana’s bodies. She saw the flashes of silver that ran up their arms and legs, meeting at their torso and growing brighter as they neared their heads.

Ninte was shaking, whether out of shock or out of anger she didn’t know, but she felt the sudden urge to lash out. She did not try to fight the urge. Instead, she stepped forward and stared at the glowing figures before her. Clenching her fists and gritting her teeth, she focused on the bright silver lights pulsing from their necks, willing them to fade. She heard gasps as the couple before her felt the life draining from their bodies. She heard them rasp and saw them sink to their knees, reaching out toward her with quivering hands. She watched as they slumped down, unable to remain upright, and rested flat on the damp wooden floor.

Then, Ninte stopped. Shaking her head, she released her grip and watched as light rushed through their bodies, slowly illuminating their necks once more.

“Do not follow me.” She said, staring down at the gasping couple sprawled out on the floor below.

Adriyan was clambering onto unsteady feet as Ninte pulled back on her still soaking boots while Irlana had curled up in a ball and was cradling her head with her arms. Ninte looked over to the man she had known as a father, and as a single tear rolled down her cheek, she threw open the door and disappeared into the storm. She took Veynar from the barn and rode away in the direction of the river. She would follow the river upstream, as she knew there was only one place she could go: the town of Velniya.