Hugh J. O'Donnell

The prisoner was a thief and a horse-killer. He’d shot the mounts out of three riders pursuing him, but they’d caught him.
They were far from civilization, but there was still justice on the frontier. They branded him with a horseshoe and left him tied to a tree. The Forest was unkind to humans who harmed animals.
The thief had just worked out the worst of the knots and was planning his escape when he smelled a carrion stink on the wind.
The Forest’s breath.
And then the Forest moved, and the thief didn’t stop screaming for a long time.

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They found the installation tucked into a forgotten corner of the museum. The three children stared at it long after the rest of the class had moved on. Their teacher had to find them when the trip was over.
Later, the three of them gathered in their secret hideout.
It looked so soft and fluffy,” Beryl said. She was the youngest.
Rusty, her older brother, scolded her. “It was all wet. How could it be fluffy?”
“Clouds,” Jade said. “I want to see a whole sky full of them.”
That was when they began planning their escape from the tunnels.

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The duel was over, and so was everything that had led up to it. She had won.
She sheathed her sword and just stood there for a long time. The sun rose, and she felt its warmth on her face. She listened to the wind rustle the long grass. The birds were singing.
It was all behind her: The vow of revenge, the years of hiding, and the years of training. He couldn’t threaten her any longer. She was finally free to be a normal young woman again.
She just needed to remember how. It would start with this moment.

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