Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 5

Helen

Helen felt like she was fighting to break through thick fog or like she had to dig herself out from falling into very deep snow. But this time it was not snow or fog, but the darkness of her own mind. She felt so tired, and a part of her wanted to just stay in this darkness and let the world pass by, but an increasing and stabbing pain in the back of her head rendered that impossible. She could move her body again after a moment. But as she did, she froze completely. There was something or someone behind her. There was a man behind her, and it felt like she was sitting atop a horse. She could feel warmth radiating from the man as it seeped into her frozen body. Her hands went to something around her waist, a rope. She didn't dare to trace where the rope was attached, but she suspected that he had bound her to him. He didn't want her to escape, but in this darkness, there was no way she could escape and survive the night anyways.

She could feel the man's body against her back and thighs. And then it all came back to her, the man from the fair, the one she had thought was a dark one.

Her heart stopped beating for a moment as she remembered the last thought that had crossed her mind before everything had gone dark. The man who had approached her was a child of the moon, she had been sure of it. And now she was alone with him in complete darkness, she could quite literally not see anything. But that somehow made her other senses that much keener. She could hear and feel his breaths. She could smell the horse, and some faint smell that she thought was him. She could hear each movement the horse made through the deep, but light snow. She could hear his movements, how his garment shifted in rhythm with the movements of the horse. But it all was nearly drowned out by the increasingly loud and fast beating of her heart that almost made her ears hurt.

Her mouth went dry as she tried to accustom herself to the darkness. She wasn't sure if she had ever been in such all-consuming darkness before. Not even when they slept would it get this dark, as they would always burn a candle to keep some of the night's darkness at bay. This was completely unknown territory to her. A strange and unknown feeling seemed to take hold of her. As if there had been formed a link between the darkness and her heart now, and she was not sure if she could ever separate the two again. A shiver ran up her spine as a voice in the back of her mind told her that this link to darkness could be deadly for someone like her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden movement behind her. The man leaned just a bit backwards, and then a scratching sound filled her ears before an explosion of light and warmth hit her eyes, as he lit a torch.

The world was once again painted in colors and brightness. It was almost as if the world beyond them had popped back into existence, being wiped out from the map as the darkness had consumed it before. But now, that the torch's flames lit it up, the world had been born again. Helen couldn't help but inhale the burning smell that the torch exhumed, feeling her heart calming slightly, because fire, as destructive as it could be, also meant that there would be light.

They were making their way through a dense forest. He had not taken a path, but instead he led the horse through the lonely and desolate woods. Helen couldn't understand how he could have navigated through this dense forest without any light. What kind of magic did the night give them that made them able to see through this dark nothingness?

For the first time since she had regained consciousness, Helen remembered the old lady and what she had told her. The prophecy. She instantly put her hand over her pocket, and to her great relief, she could feel that the small pouch with the objects were still where she had put it before. He had not gotten to them.

Her heart started beating faster and harder again. What was she supposed to do now? Try to run away? To what? Her home that would soon be enveloped in eternal darkness. To Sam? She was no clearer on what to do about him now, than she had been before she went to see the Volve. The thoughts about the river came back to her, and the choice she had made in the church this afternoon. And no matter how twisted it might be, all Helen could think was that this, this journey or whatever it was, was a far better alternative to the destiny she had feared for so long now. And perhaps this dark one was a part of her journey. A strange and slightly unfamiliar feeling of excitement mixed with feelings of fear and terror hit her all at once as she turned and faced the man who had kidnapped her.