Islinda did not die.
However, whoever knocked into her might as well have given her a taste of death because her head spun, pain pierced through her body from the impact and she squeezed her eyes shut in a grimace. Deep down, she knew the hunger was responsible for the dizziness but not the suffocating weight on top of her.
Wait, did she just say weight….?
Her mind finally cleared and Islinda found out that she was being pressed down by a larger and heavier body. At first, she panicked, having thought it was a hunter trying to force himself on her, until she lifted her head and stared into golden glowing eyes that sent fear slithering down her spine in a dark caress.
"By the gods, no…." She choked, recognizing the otherworldly creature staring at her with those strange eyes, and the blood drained from her face.
No! It was impossible! it wasn't even dusk yet!
"Never cross the borderland between the human and the fae," her father had once warned her as a kid. Growing up, she had heard people tell the tales of the exotic pointed-eared creatures that lived behind the Divider. They were called the Faes.
Islinda had once seen a Fae as a child, but that one was weak and a female, unlucky enough to be captured by the humans who paraded her around as a form of amusement. She could recall having eagerly taken in the Fae's appearance, which was so similar to humans and yet so different.
Faes were beautiful, ethereal creatures that never aged. It is said that they are frozen right around a certain age and the one that had been captured that day was a child by their standards. Islinda did not know what happened to that particular Fae afterward because her father had dragged her away from the crowd to save her life.
Her father told her that had it been a stronger fae, the stupid humans would have been obliterated in a twinkle of an eye. Faes were that powerful - and merciless - and if she were unlucky to come across one, she had to run as fast as she could without looking back.
Sadly, what was she going to do now that the dreadful creature had her pinned to the ground with no form of escape?
Islinda did not make a move. No, she didn't dare to, not while lying helplessly beneath this deadly creature, and watching possible ways he could kill her playing out in her head. She chose to go as still as possible.
Most dangerous animals do not attack unless provoked, perhaps, she could apply the same technique to him. Hence, she did not even feel the snow soaking into her coat and chilled her body. No, all that mattered was staying alive.
However, it was at that moment that Islinda noticed the sweat coating the creature's forehead. So, they do sweat, Islinda was surprised. But that was until she saw his face was contorted in… pain? Something was wrong. It then hit Islinda that if the Fae wanted to kill her, he would have done it already.
"H-help…. me…." The creature spoke out with difficulty and her eyes widened greatly.
Islinda couldn't tell which discovery was most shocking, the fact that the Fae creature was able to speak their language or that he was asking her for help. However, help for what?
And then she felt it, another liquid soaking into her clothes and it was different from the snow because it was warm and sticky. With a frown, Islinda reached down between them and then lifted her hand only to come up with blood and her heart rate picked up speed.
As if the Fae creature finally accomplished his plan, he collapsed on top of her and the breath was once again stolen from her lungs. He slumped on her with the whole of his weight and Islinda could not squirm out from beneath him. He was too heavy.
"Gods, what was going on here?" Islinda wanted to cry at her strange predicament. She had only come here to hunt for food, not get involved in whatever crazy situation this was.
She was wet now and had to get off the ground else she froze to death while being suffocated by a Fae. If she died here, what would the villagers think about this scene when they come upon her carcass? Would they actually feel pity for her or think of this as a bad omen and throw her corpse away without a befitting burial - and of which, she would return to haunt them as an aggrieved ghost.
She was not dying today! Not in this forest. Islinda made up her mind and then with all of her strength, rolled the Fae over and groaned with the effort. He fell to the side and Islinda took in a mouthful of breath, staring at the pink-hued sky. She was finally free.
Standing to her feet, Islinda discovered that her coat was wet now and she was practically freezing from the cold. She wanted to take the material off because the wetness made it heavy and uncomfortable but her inner clothes would barely save her from the cold.
Hence, Islinda stood staring down at the Fae who asked for her help, having no clue what to do. He looked so deadly still that he almost appeared dead but when Zoe touched his body, he was oddly warm. He was alive. For now. It seems the Fae could withstand the cold temperature better than the humans.
Now, Islinda was left at a crossroads on what to do. The man was a Fae for crying out loud and she should leave him to his death, and rid the human realm of one predator like him. Yet, Islinda found out that she couldn't leave him. Not when he begged her like that, even though he was a dangerous creature that would have ended her life had he been on his feet.
Moreover, she couldn't take him back to their cottage and treat him. If Madam Alice found out that she had an exquisite creature like him in her custody, she would sell him off and take the coins and she wouldn't know what happened to him afterward. Hence returning to the cottage with him was out of the question. Nor was there space back there where she could hide him.
What was she going to do?
Islinda had a feeling deep down that she was running out of time. For a creature that strong to succumb to his wounds meant that it was a pretty serious. Then, the abandoned hut in the forest came into her mind and a shiver went down her spine. Of all places, why did her mind cross there? Today was indeed not her day.
She had come to discover the abandoned hut years ago while on a hunt with a few others from the village. No one knew who built the hut, it was just there, but it was said to have belonged to a wicked Fae who used it to lure unsuspecting humans and then eat their flesh for dinner. No one knew whether it was true or false because none of them dared to venture close to it.
What was the worst that could happen anyway? Here laid a Fae that would die if she didn't help him. If the rumors were true and a wicked Fae lived there, perhaps he or she would be kind enough to save her Fae kin - and have her for dinner instead.
Gods above, she was going to regret this, Islinda knew that, and yet it was not in her nature to look the other way when someone was in trouble. But her problems only seem to multiply because now, how was she going to take the injured Fae to the abandoned hut and carry the deer at the same time? It was impossible.
She couldn't leave the deer behind. What if another hunter, desperate enough, comes into this part of this forest and stumbles upon it, claiming the hunt as his? Worse, other predators might trace the blood and come snatch the animal away. In one word, she couldn't go home empty handed else Madam Alice would skin her alive.
Islinda came to a decision.
"I'm sorry," She murmured to the Fae as if he could hear her, "But family comes first and I'm sure you understand that." Islinda made up her mind.
She then lifted the deer from the ground with strength and dropped it across her shoulder as she does in her other hunts, already used to the weight.
Islinda was sorry but the Fae chose the wrong person to help him.
She had to go home, now.
So she left.
Yet, Islinda barely walked a kilometer when she stopped with a sigh, put down the animal, and went back for him.
May the gods help her.