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The next morning, Lisa dragged herself out of bed, disoriented and achy from sleeping so deeply that the entire village of Opal could have been slaughtered and she wouldn’t have woken to the screams.
She rubbed her face and headed into the bathroom.
She met her blue-grey gaze in the mirror as she studied her mussed-up hair. The shine from last night had faded into a rat’s nest from sleep. She threw water on her face to lift the fog from her brain.
Herk had asked her to marry him? She blinked at her image, trying to decipher if it had been a dream or not. She couldn’t be sure based on the stupor she had gone to bed in.
Lisa brushed her teeth as she mulled it over in her mind. The more she polished, the more she questioned whether it had happened. No way. Herk had never so much as made a pass at her.
Even as kids, he had a gruff way about him, like he was trying to not resent her for being in their home. He never handled her like she was a breakable piece of china. Until she turned eighteen, he would slide into her room to talk late at night after everyone in the house had gone to bed. He’d told her his dreams. His plans for Opal and beyond. And in none of those nightly conversations had he ever expressed wanting a future with her. And he certainly never made a move, and god knows he’d had plenty of opportunity.
They had been friends, confidants, more like siblings. She must be confusing a dream with reality.
By the time she stepped into the kitchen, she had herself convinced. It wasn’t until Herk didn’t even acknowledge her that her doubts evaporated. The glare he gave her before he stormed away all but screamed it at her.
“Why?” she blurted before he exited the kitchen.
He stiffened in the doorway but didn’t turn.
“Because maybe I can help you attain your destiny,” he muttered and marched off.
She didn’t know what she expected him to say, but making it sound more like a business arrangement rather than a romantic tryst made it all the more unappealing. The man she married would be the one to sweep her off her feet. He would make her see fireworks when he kissed her, and he would be much kinder and gentler than Herk had ever been.
She slammed her cereal bowl down on the kitchen table and focused on eating, but it did nothing to calm the storm brewing inside. When she stepped outside to the start of another grueling day of training, Herk was nowhere to be found. Neither were her neighbors.
She crossed to the road and looked towards the center of town. People were gathered around the great hall. Even from this distance, a woman’s cry reached her from within the crowd.
Lisa started towards the group slowly at first, but the continued wail quickened her footsteps. She pushed her way to the front and stopped short at the gruesome scene.
The town constable crouched next to one of the older women in town who was holding the dead body of her husband. Great swaths of torn flesh crisscrossed his abdomen and face. She would have guessed he was mauled by a bear until she saw the bloody footprints in the snow.
Four-toed paw prints. Two bloodied, and two pristinely cast in the snow. Bear prints have five toes and longer claws.
She looked up at Herk on the other side of the circle. His hard glare was on Lisa. Soon, everyone else’s attention was on her as well.
“The white tiger has risen,” he said.
A chill caught Lisa, and she wrapped her arms around her to stop her from actually shivering. It was bad enough Herk was staring at her, but now the widow and the rest of the town had started to notice that Lisa was present as a witness to this massacre.
“It appears that way,” Constable Jones said and stood, looking at Lisa as if she had suddenly become this town’s savior.
Now she wished she had stayed in bed and not bothered with starting her day. This was worse than finding out Herk had really proposed to her. Worse yet, the town expected her to magically make this tiger disappear. They expected her to fulfill the prophecy.
Herk crossed and grabbed her arm, leading her out of the crowd and back towards his training grounds before any other of the townspeople started to join in with ‘what are you going to do about this’ looks.
She was grateful for the exit until Herk opened his mouth again.
“It’s time to tap that magic.”
Was he serious? The last thing she wanted to do was stare at a cold fire for another eight hours.
“I beg to differ. It’s time for me to wield a sword or pick up my bow.” She yanked her arm from his grip. “If we are going to war with the white tiger, don’t you think I should be able to defend myself? Or are you hoping that I’ll be the next victim?”
He skidded to a halt and glared at her, pointing his finger accusingly. “You are destined to kill that thing. And magic is the only thing that can kill that beast.”
“Bullshit. It’s just a tiger. I can’t even make sparks appear on my fingertips, never mind blast that thing back to where it came. I need to start practicing with either my bow or a sword.”
“Only magic can defeat him.” He crossed his arms. “Or are you missing that point.”
Lisa threw her hands into the air. There was no reasoning with Herk. The lore was just as full of crap as his insistence she was that girl. “Then we are all screwed, because I don’t possess magic,” she argued much louder than she intended.
A throat cleared behind them, and they spun to see the village secretary. He adjusted his glasses and looked off at the thick woods at the edge of town.
“The council would like to speak with you,” he said to Lisa.
“Tell my father I will be there in a minute,” Herk said.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” the man said. “Your father has requested Miss Winters presence before the council.”
“Oh,” Herk mumbled, and his cheeks reddened. He waved Lisa to follow the village secretary.
She raked her hand through her hair and nodded, following him down the street with Herk a few steps behind like some morbid protection detail, or an escort walking her to her death.