The footsteps were closing in. The woman could almost feel their hot breath on her neck. She looked down at the young one in her arms with a mix of love and sadness. The young one looked up at her mother with innocent curiosity. The forest was dark and rugged, thick brush coating the entire ground. The woman looked around, seeming calm despite the circumstances.
"Listen close little one," The woman whispered, "Do you hear the sounds of the trees muttering? They are calling to you, child. They are waiting for you to join them." The woman paused for a moment to listen, a small smile gracing her lips. "But it is not your time yet." She broke into a sprint again, her golden ears flicking back to check how close their enemies were.
"They are closing in young one." The woman panted as she spoke, making quick turns in a futile attempt to loose her pursuers. "I am not able to out run them. There is just too many." She turned her head and ducked under a branch, entering a large clearing. She dug a small hole and placed the young one inside. She grabbed mud and smeared it along the child's face and blanket. "This should mask your sent."
The woman looked down at her child as she began to fuss. "Hush now little one, don't make a sound." She could hear the crunching of leaves getting louder. "This is where we must part." She stroked the young girls cheek. "This is not goodbye young one. When you need me most I will come back to you." She kissed the baby on the cheek. "Be free my little one. For it is my turn to join the trees."
The child began to whine, almost like she was begging her mother not to leave. The woman's gaze softened. "Young one, you are meant for great things. When you get scared, just turn to the trees. They will listen to you. And when you hear the trees, you will hear me." The woman gave her child one last kiss before covering her with leaves and rushing towards the pursuers.
"Turn your face to the sun!" One of the men shouted to her. "Let it be the last thing you see, for you have dishonored your family! Your friends! And your people!"
"You are wrong Artemis." The woman replied calmly. "I have shown my people the wrongs of our kind. I am helping."
"You are not helping!" Artemis's eyes narrowed to thin slits. "Ever since you were young all you did was make the people around you suffer."
"I used to think you loved me brother." The woman sad with a sad shake of her head. "But you treat me as if I am nothing but a burden to you."
"You are not a burden." Artemis said softly. "You are a disgraceful stone shitter." He finishes after a long pause. The other men snicker, but the woman doesn't even flinch at his harsh words.
"That may be true brother, but at least I am making an effort to bring good to our people. You focus on hunting and killing, which is—"
"Without me killing our kind would be dead!" Artemis interrupt the woman, "Father left me with the task of dealing with our threats and he left you with the task of obeying me."
"You are not in charge of me Artemis." The woman tilts her head to the side, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You are not in charge of anybody. Nor is father. Both of you are cowards and fools. Is that what a leader should be? Because if so, then you fit that position perfectly."
Artemis's tail trashed with rage behind him at the woman's words. The other men tightened their grip on their spears, ears flat on their heads. "You dare to mock me sister? Then you shall come back with me and face the wrath of the people. They trust me, unlike you."
The woman sighed, looking exasperated with her brother. "I do not need the trust of others to complete what I have set out to do. You may not understand now, brother, but one day you will."
"That day will never come." Artemis spat back. "Even in the afterlife I will always know that you were wrong."
"Do you truly believe that Artemis?" The woman asked in a disingenuous tone. "Because if that were the case then wouldn't the afterlife be filled with hate and not joy?"
"I know better than you. You act like you are so smart when all you really are is an arrogant bitch." Artemis said in a quiet but harsh voice.
The woman didn't say anything to this. She glanced briefly back to the clearing where she had left her young one. She knew that if she didn't get Artemis and his men away soon, the child was bound to fuss and give away her position. "Then take me to the people," The woman said suddenly. "Let them decide my fate."
Artemis narrowed his eyes at her sudden change of heart. "Where is she, sister?" He said in a low voice as he began to sniff the air.
The woman's breath caught in her throat but she kept a calm look on her face. "I already told you this, brother. She died at birth."
"You lie to me, sister," Artemis accuses. "You did not flee into these woods by yourself. That child deserves to die. She is the definition of disgrace."
"She died, brother. I speak the truth. There were complications and she did not survive." The woman's gaze flicked behind her for a moment before meeting her brother's head on once again.
"I see the deceit in your eyes. I will find that child and kill her. Just like I will do to you." Artemis signaled to his men and they circled the woman. Her heart pounded in her chest but she remained calm.
"I am not afraid of death, brother." The woman said in a soft voice. "I am afraid of what our people will become. You just need to listen. Hear the tress, brother, for they are—"
Artemis didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence. The men closed in and began to kick her body with their steal toed boots. Artemis bend down, his face close to hers. The only thing she could see in his eyes was hate and disgust. "Turn your face to the sun." He griped her jaw turning her face to the west and plunging his spear into her gut.
The woman only grunted as the pain spread through her body. "H-Hear me young one." The woman said in a voice almost too quiet to make out. "The trees will call you when you are ready. L-listen to them." The woman's head fell to the ground, her body shaking. "I am joining them now. Be free my sweet Aerith. Live for me." Her fading gaze turned back to her brother, the darkness pulling at her brain. "Brother… I do not fear this. For this is what was meant to happen." She swallowed down nothing, for her mouth was dry, the color draining from her face. "Forgive me. brother. For I still love you." The woman closed her eyes. "I'll see you again someday, my beautiful Aerith…"