The Mark of Ilman

Chapter 4 - The Stranger

My head pounded as I became aware of the dark surrounding me. When had I fallen asleep?

I rolled over onto my side and stared at my alarm clock. 12:07 am

I rubbed my temples, trying to recall what happened. I remembered being attacked by some creature and the mom whispering to me. My head had gotten heavy and I didn’t feel well. I’d gone to bed and-

I paused for a moment. And what? I remember laying and bed and going to sleep but I didn’t remember remembering what had happened yesterday. What had she tried to do?

Placing my feet on the soft carpet I took a breath. In the back of my mind the voices began to whisper. I wondered why they had been silent when I got attacked. They usually screamed at me when I was going to get hurt. Now they whispered magic.

 My tattoo suddenly began to tingle and grow warm at the word. Magic. It made a sensation shiver through my body. This was too much. I needed these voices to quiet down so I could clear my head!

 I had never snuck out of the house at night before. I was always so scared of being caught but now I felt like the fresh air and excitement would do me good. I wasn’t worried about the strange creatures either. They seemed to be more scared of me than I was of them. I would be fine.

Silently, I slid out of bed and began to dress myself in warm clothes. I grabbed my shoes and a jacket. I walked carefully, keeping my steps silent as I made my way to the back door.   

Fear and adrenaline coursed through me as I took the first few quiet steps from my house. I looked back for a moment, staring into the dark windows of the townhouses. I listened for any signs of movement but once I was sure no one heard me I started toward the street. My heart thumped loudly as I gazed about the dark, passing unnoticed under the streetlights.

The cool, crisp air blew gently against my face and I breathed in the freedom and the little danger I felt being out at night. I gazed up at the cloudless sky, a bit disappointed that I couldn’t see very many stars.

As I walked along, I pulled out my Ipod and clicked on my favorite playlist. I felt so much cooler as I let my body rock with the music. My adrenalin heightened and now there was a bounce in my steps and my lips moved along silently with the lyrics. I found my feet walking faster, turning which way as I let the music fill the empty night air till I came upon a small park. The street lights casted an eerie light on the playground but still into the music I made my way to the swing set.

I sat on the swing and kicked off.

When I was little my father used to take me to the park every evening after work and he would push me on the swing while telling me one of his eccentric stories. They were always about those angels who saved the elves or the humans who got in trouble with the elves or other kinds of magic. Then he and I would play out his stories and I would pretend to be one of the angels. Even at home, when it was just me and him, we’d dress up and play.

I smiled at the memories. My father was a strange man with his active imagination that drove mom mad but I loved him all the same.

A whisper in the back of my mind and the unearthly feeling that I was being watched made me turn around to see a figure cloaked in the darkness under a tree, just standing there watching.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw it move. My hands tightened around the chains and my body froze. I willed myself to move but I just couldn’t. The fear of facing another creature was strong but this one didn’t look like the others.

As it strode forward I realized it was a man. He had an air of confidence radiating from him despite his shadowed face. He came and stood in front of me, his hands in his pockets but as I looked at him I realized that he wasn’t wearing normal clothes. He was wearing clothes but they were all made of this poor clothe. He wore old fashioned leather boots and black britches. A sword hung at his side. He wore a cloak over the rest of him, the hood pulled up, casting a longer shadow over his face.