Serena's Curse

Chapter 3

I stayed frozen long after the beast had vanished into the night. I couldn’t bring myself to move. My heart hammered so hard that it drowned out the silence left in the beast’s wake. My eyes were fixed in awe as the townsfolk made their way out, one after the other; their calm made my skin crawl.

I forced myself up and strolled back to the counter. “Why does no one seem to care?” I asked the innkeeper, but just like earlier, she didn’t say a word.

I turned around to the last few people who were taking their leave, then I turned back to the innkeeper, who still stood behind the counter with her arms folded; her eyes were sharp as flint.

“You saw it,” I said, “That man, he changed. His bones, his skin, what was that?”

“Nothing, finish your drink, go to bed and leave at dawn.” She said before I could even blink.

“Please, I just need to understand”, I pressed, words. “Whatever happened aside, I don’t know how I got here. I was on the coast with my brothers. Then there was a storm, then darkness, and then I woke up in the woods, alone.”

She went mute again; her silence was harder to bear than the beast itself. “Please, I’m begging you”

She paused moving around and stared me straight in the eye, “You’re from Elderrest. The Eldric clan,”

Her words took me by surprise, “How did you know that?” I asked softly.

“Your arm, I know that mark too well,” She replied sharply, her eyes flicked to the mark etched into my skin, half-hidden beneath my sleeves.

“My name’s Ayden. Father sent me and my brothers to Ravenport.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Darian sent you. I assume he warned you not to cross into Windrest. You should’ve listened to your father” she muttered.

“He did, but the storm forced our hands, we had no choice,” I shot back.

She shook her head, “There’s always a choice,” she said.

I was suddenly short of words.

“Windrest is not a place you want to be” She spoke after a beat of silence. She leaned forward, her voice dropping to a near whisper. “Leave immediately at dawn, before it is too late.”

Her words simmered, but I wasn’t intimidated, “That man… what happened to him?” I asked.

Suddenly, she looked away. “That man was my son.”

The words sank deep, “Your son?”

She nodded slowly, “His name was Callen. He was kind, ambitious. He thought he could carve a life for himself here, and be happy despite the rot this place has become. And now,” she drew a shaky breath, “He’s nothing but another creature in the Weeping Woods.”

My mouth went dry, and the words struck me harder than the storm had. “But, there has to be a way to change him back. Some cure or something.”

Her expression hardened. “There is no cure,” Her hand trembled where it gripped the counter. “There is no escaping the curse.”

I wanted to argue, to demand more, but her stare pinned me in place. For a moment, I thought she might tell me more, but instead, she turned away. Then she turned back again, “Go upstairs. First door on the left. Leave Windrest at dawn.”

She walked away after her last words into the room behind the counter. I stood there with my heart hammering, the air was heavy with the stink of smoke and ale. My eyes drifted to the jagged hole in the wall, the night beyond yawning wide like a waiting mouth. My mind is still picturing a woman who had just said too many things than I could process. Then I realised the storm had not left me stranded; it had delivered me into something far worse.