Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 32

Helen

When the approaching daylight forced Ten into the shadows of the wood, they stopped the sleigh at the lakes edge, and searched for a place to camp for the day. He had pushed his face into the darkness of his scarf and pulled down his hat, making only a sliver of skin visible on his face as dawn had loomed in the horizon.

They had found a pine that would brace them against the wind and made camp there. Helen built a fire with logs Ten gathered and the black powder they had purchased back in the village, hoping it would burn through the day and keep them warm during their sleep.

Helen had been tempted to claim his body once more before they fell asleep, but she was truly exhausted. She didn't quite know what had made her so exhausted, this had perhaps been the easiest part of their journey, physically speaking. But their conversation from before weighed on her. She knew she had to travel north, she knew she would face the queen and whatever she planned, and somehow stop her plan, and the eternal darkness. But she had no idea how she would be able to do that.

Up until now, it had felt enough to just travel north, but now that the north neared, she felt she had to come up with something, some plan to make sure that the darkness did not prevail. But she had nothing. Most of the tokens in her pocket were ambiguous at best, showing her what might come. But the riddles and unanswered question they posed made her frustrated. Made her want to look up at the bright blue sky and scream at the sun to give her more answers. The only thing the tokens really told her was that the queen lay in her path. Other than that, Helens guess would be as good as any's.

Even in her annoyance at not having any answers, her thoughts kept returning to her sister and their final embrace. What if she died believing Helen had just left her? What if she died because Helen couldn't save her from the eternal darkness?

The thought alone made her head feel chaotic as her heart beat frantically and hard in her chest.

Ten slept beside her, the shadow from their shelter allowing him to not cover his face. He didn't wake at her panic and unease, but his unconscious body must have noticed because the arm he held firmly around her tightened, pulling her closer. That made her relax a little, he made her relax. Ten had promised to protect her. He had reassured her that she would find a way to stop the queen. And she trusted Ten, so she would try to believe in his words.

Regardless of the trust she had in him, there was something unspoken between them. She had seen the fear in his eyes earlier that night. He had been terrified that she would ask him if he would join her side. She hadn't asked. She had decided, perhaps when she had been dancing, that he had to make that decision for himself. She could not influence his choice. She would just have to wait until he was ready. She just hoped that it would not be too late.

She glanced down at the wedding bands that still sat on both of their fingers, her heart sending warmth to her cheeks as she looked at them, a small smile forming across her lips. Her thoughts went back to that first night they had met, when she had stitched him up after the wolf had bitten him. When she had seen the tattoo that marked his chest for the first time. A tattoo she had traced many times since then. Then the memory of the blizzard outside the cabin flashed before her eyes. That eternal white wall that had caged them in. Caged them inside that small cabin until they both realized that they would have to take this path together. That they were two people that was interlinked and joined in the path this prophecy staked out for them.

It was perhaps those three steps on this path that the prophecy made for them that had made it strikingly clear for her, that Ten played a vital part in the prophecy. Helen suspected, or it was perhaps righter to say that she knew, she knew that Tens role at the end, when the endgame would begin, would be vital for her success. He was the weapon or whatever you would call it, that the prophecy had provided her with. She was fairly certain that he knew that too.