Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Memoirs of a Mercenary ❯ Chapter 2

From then on, I led a strange life. I wore children's clothes again, made larger to fit me. No one made fun of me, but many people would not look me in the eye. My mother mourned me as if I had died. I was not allowed to play with the other children, and so I was left with a lot of time on my hands. I pretty much did as I pleased; I suppose no one knew what to do with me anyway. I didn't get into trouble, and so I was for the most part ignored.

 

I thought about the dream I had had many times. I was obsessed with the sword, and would sometimes sneak off into the woods to play with sticks as if they were swords. I didn't let anybody see me, as I was afraid I would get in trouble.

 

I got into the habit of hanging around the training grounds. There were lots of other girls who would stand just close enough to see the boys walking outside the building and whisper to each other without them hearing, but every day I got closer, until one day I sat on the railing that ran around the building. I was on the side of the building that was an open courtyard, and I could see the boys fighting. The day I reached the railing, one of the boys had been badly injured in a practice run. The shaman woman was there, stitching up the gash in his leg. I was not immediately noticed, as everyone was watching the boy get healed.

 

There was one boy standing away from the crowd, looking surly and disgusted, but occasionally casting worried glances towards the crowd. I didn't understand at first, until the boy spoke up.

 

“You should have dodged that, you idiot,” he called.

 

From within the huddle came feeble laughter. “Yeah, I know.” So, I thought, the boy on the outside accidentally hurt his friend. I was thinking this over when the guilty boy happened to look up and spot me.

 

“Hey look! It's the demon girl!” he called.

 

The master trainer extracted himself from the ring of boys and came towards me. “Hey you!” he called, “get out of here! There aren't any girls allowed in the—”

 

“Hush!” the shaman woman exclaimed. “You don't want to make her husband angry, now do you?”

 

Dead silence dropped over the boys. The trainer frowned deeply, stared hard at the shaman woman for a moment, and then sighed.

 

“You can watch if you like,” he said begrudgingly.

 

I was very confused, and looked to the shaman woman. She smiled and winked, and then came over to me.

 

“How is your husband?” she asked, loud enough for the others to hear.

 

I played along; although I didn't know what game it was I played. “Uh, I don't know. I, uh, haven't spoken to him recently.”

 

She smiled. “Oh, well that's very good news, isn't it?”

 

“I suppose…” I agreed. I noticed that all the boys were staring at us intently.

 

“Do you like to watch the practices?” she asked me conversationally.

 

I nodded. I began to say that I would like to join them, but she cut me off.

 

“Then you would be angry if they made you go away?”

 

Suddenly it clicked in my head. “Yes.” I said coolly. “I would be very angry. Besides, I'm just watching. No harm in that.”

 

In a quiet voice the shaman woman warned me not to abuse this power of mine, and then she left.

 

I was now the evil spirit's wife. Unbeknownst to me, everyone had called me that behind my back. Knowing it didn't change anything in my treatment. It did, however, explain why I got away with so much. If I were angry, I could call on my “husband” and curse whoever had angered me. Of course, I would never actually do it, as I was terrified of the spirit myself. But from then on I was allowed to watch the practices every day.