Damian Black - The Order of the Night (English Version)

The Forest - Chapter 1

It was the next morning when Damian woke up with pain in his stomach. Had this woman really knocked him out? Where was he anyway?
With his eyes closed, he carefully feels the area around him. It felt like a forest floor, with lots of leaves and fallen branches.
Where had he been taken?
At least he was still alive,  flashed through his mind. When he carefully opened his eyes to look at the area around him. In fact, he was lying on the ground in the forest, surrounded by trees through which the morning sun was already shining. At first glance he seemed to be completely alone, but two or three meters away from him, a campfire was burning, at which two fish were roasted on a stick. Across from the fire was a huge tree with moss barking up a path. It was an incredibly peaceful sight and nothing reminded of the horror he had last remembered. How long ago that was, a few hours, a day. In any case, he did not recognize this part of the forest.
But the woman was far and wide not to see, what if she sat behind him and just waiting to knock him unconscious again or even worse. Maybe she was one of those shadow creatures and as soon as she reappeared, the darkness would fall over him again. Now is the chance to get out of here. To disappear and maybe to stay alive somehow. Carefully he straightened up, ready to run for his life the next second.
"Well, awake again?"
He winced immediately, that was clearly the voice of yesterday. With his hands clenched in fists, he slowly sits up. Fight, he had to fight!
He got up with a jerk, his vision blurred for a moment. But then he saw her, right in front of him.
"No, I'm not going to die!" He yelled at the young woman sitting in front of him, whose face was almost completely covered by a black hooded cloak, and stormed towards her. But sooner he knew it, the woman stood on both feet, grabbed him and threw him to the ground with one swing. Although she was a head shorter than he was, for the next second he was fixed there.
"First, I'm not your enemy. Second, you stink, please go wash yourself down by the river afterwards. Third, I'll let you go now and don't dare attack me again. Got it?" She hissed in a voice that quivered with anger. Damian swallowed hard.
"Yes." In that second the grip of the other person loosened. She was clearly superior to him, so for now he would have to do what she asked him to do. "Oh yes, there is a sack of clean clothes for you by the fire and throw those disgusting rags into the fire after dinner."
Without thinking, he nodded and headed towards the campfire. His legs felt numb, as if he were out of muscles. But as she had said, there was a large pouch next to the fire. He picked it up and fought his way to the river, which he only saw now at the edge of the forest. His arms also felt weak and fragile. After a few minutes he reached the river, with difficulty he pulled his old, half-torn shirt off his slim body and threw it next to him, followed by the shoes and the rest of the clothes. Slowly stepped into the cold river until he was up to his waist in it. In the reflection of the water he saw his pale face, which looked more like that of a 13-year-old instead of a soon-to-be 17-year-old man. His long, fawn-brown hair hung low over his face as always and more or less covered his blue-gray eyes, which looked at him indifferently. How could he have thought that a pushover like him could stand a chance against anyone. He quickly began to wash himself, the cold water made him shiver again and again, but the worry about what would happen if the person in the forest lost patience with him was too great. After the cold bath, he immediately grabbed the bag and opened it. At the very top there was even a cloth, he quickly rubbed his lean body dry and rubbed his hair halfway dry before reaching for the first item of clothing.
It was a blood-red shirt, the seams were unusually well made. He had rarely seen anything like this. He put it on and began to button it. Next came a black vest, with an embroidered dragon made of silver thread. The dragon was in the lower part of a kind of coat of arms, which was separated from the upper part by a crossbar. But it was empty. Damian opened his eyes wide, he had never seen such expensive clothes but he didn't have the time to marvel at them for long. The vest is followed by simple undergarments and black trousers. Again he reached into his pocket and pulled out a huge, black something. It was a coat, exactly the same as the woman already wore. He examined it briefly, on its back this coat of arms was also embroidered in larger. He threw on his coat and grabbed his shoes, they seemed quite normal. After putting on his new clothes, he looked again into the river. After all, he already looked a little less pathetic. He packed his old clothes and the sack and hurried back to the fire.