From Dusk to Dawn

Chapter 6

Marley knew as soon as Sawyer had set foot into the Twilight Woods, she was as good as dead. So he'd taken the necessary precautions and decided to go after her like the gentleman he was. After she'd disappeared into the woods, he turned and ran, reaching to his home in a pinch. Throwing the front door open, he ran inside. Quickly making his way to the kitchen, he pulled open drawers full of potions and quickly grabbed a drawstring bag. Throwing them inside, he then went over to his pantry and grabbed the necessary food he needed to survive the woods. As he shoved it into the sack, he froze as he heard footsteps behind him. They stopped at the start of the kitchen and Marley swallowed.
"What are you doing, Marley?" his mother asked. Slowly turning, Marley saw her with her hands on her hips, a suspicious brow raised. "I hope you're not planning on running away or something like that, that's very childish," she stared him down fiercely, "even for you."
    Putting a hand behind his head, Marley chuckled, choosing to disregard his mother's words. "Oh it's nothing mom, I'm just going to ..." he trailed off, not knowing what he could say to convince her he wasn't leaving. She obviously already knew something was up, what could he do? I might as well come clean. Heaving a sigh, Marley combed a hand through his hair, avoiding her gaze. "Alright fine, you caught me."  Finally meeting her eyes, Marley locked his gaze onto hers. "I'm going after Sawyer."
His mother tilted her head in confusion. "Where'd she go?" she questioned.
Marley swallowed. "The Twilight Woods." He knew how his mother would react once he told her and his predictions were correct, but it didn't prepare him at all. She gasped loudly and put her hands to her lips, muffling in a wail. Collapsing to the floor, she began to shake as she was racked with crying sobs. Marley forced himself to look down at her, not knowing how to react.
Ever since Marley's older brother Nick had left and never came back, his mother had become super protective of her last remaining son. His family assumed Nick had just ran away, hoping to start a new life on his own but Marley knew better. He was the only one who knew where Nick had really gone. He had left for the woods in order to find more out about them, but in the process, he'd fallen victim to the evils of the forest, or so Marley assumed.  
He was brought back to the present when his mother sniffed and choked up, trying to speak. "Marley, y-you can't be serious." She cried, sniffling. She looked at him with watery eyes. "Those woods are dangerous far beyond your comprehension."
Marley bit back a defensive retort. Ever since Nick had disappeared, he had devoted his life to studying and getting to know everything there was to the Twilight Woods and Silhouette's and he had the most knowledge out of anyone in the village. But his mother didn't know this, as did most of the entire town. They only saw him as an inexperienced little boy, not knowing what it was like to live in the real world.
I'll show them. I'll show them all, he thought to himself. I'm going to save Sawyer and they'll know that they underestimated me. Marley shook his head as he looked at his mom, sympathetic. "Mom, I know what I'm doing." He said gently, stepping closer to her. Gingerly taking her hand, he looked her deeply in the eyes and sighed. "She knows less about the woods than I do, mom. If I don't go after her, then she'll die."
She pulled his hand up to her cheek and leaned on it, tears streaming down her face. "But you could die too," she whispered, "I don't want to lose you as well."
Marley crouched down and wrapped his mother in his arms, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "I'll be okay mom, I'll come back to you, I promise." His mother clung onto him, and when she let go Marley stood up. "But I have to do this, for Sawyer. If I don't risk it, she could die worthlessly."
His mom looked at him, green eyes mirroring his. There was a sudden knowing glint in them. "You like her, don't you?"
Marley gulped loudly, taken aback. "W-what?"
His mother smiled, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Well I suppose a knight should go after his princess and brave the challenges ahead." She teased, getting to her feet. Marley felt his cheeks go up in flame and he swallowed, licking his lips. She closed one eye while she grinned giddily. "I'm rooting for you, son."
Marley swallowed again and cleared his throat. "O-okay mom, thanks." She chuckled at his embarrassed state and winked.
With all joking aside, her features returned once again to worry. "Are you sure you're going to be okay Marley?" She asked, looking at him lovingly.
Smiling a small smile, Marley nodded. "I'll be fine mom, you've got nothing to worry about."
She sighed. "Are you sure?" Marley nodded silently. She sighed again and stood up. "Okay, goodbye Marley." She said softly, trying to keep it together. Marley opened his arms invitingly and his mother rushed into them, startling him. "Please come back to me, honey."
Marley smiled subtly and squeezed his mother. "I will, I promise." With that, he stepped back from his mother and approached the front door. Putting his hand on the handle, he gave one last look at her before throwing open the door and running into the night.
Pushing himself to go faster, Marley weaved in and out of buildings and potential obstacles, eyes set on his destination. As he ran around a well that sat in the middle of town, he reached the trail that lead to the river. Leaping the fence, Marley skidded to a stop as he reached the river's edge. Throwing a look behind him to make sure no one was watching him, Marley quickly pulled out a small flask full of the potion he had given to Sawyer. Unstopping the bottle, he gulped down the contents and threw the glass away, hearing it shatter some distance away. Rubbing his hands together, Marley dove into the river. Breaking the surface, he stroked powerfully towards the rolling watermill, watching it as moonlight reflected on the water. Reaching the support beams, he held onto it as he looked back at the town behind him, feeling the smallest pull of his heartstrings. His mother and father were home alone now, and Marley hadn't even let his dad know he was leaving. He sighed heavily as he realized his mother was going to be the one to break the bad news to him. Eyes downcast, Marley fought against the current of the river and grit his teeth. Refocusing, he took a hasty breath and pulled himself below the surface and swam under the support beams. Reaching the other side, he climbed out of the river and shook himself off before running into the forest without a second thought.
Pulling out his journal of notes, Marley flipped the pages to search for the potions he would use in case of attack. Getting lost in his studies, Marley read and reread through everything he knew, doubling up on his knowledge of the forest. Closing the book with a snap, Marley searched through his bag, making sure he had packed the correct potions. Seeing as he had, he lifted his hand from the pouch and patted it twice, looking through the trees for any sign of attack, but there was nothing. Blowing out a breath, Marley blinked slowly and groaned in boredom. I expected this to be a lot harder. Sighing, Marley walked on in silence.
Some hours had passed before Marley finally caught sight of Sawyer, sitting down with her back against a tree, slowly eating some packed food. Though on the outside she looked calm, Marley could see buried fear in her green eyes. Staying low to the ground, he ducked behind a greyed bush and debated whether or not to show himself. I don't know if right now is the best time to see her, she seems pretty anxious. Looking back over the bush, Marley heard a distant moan. Knowing all too well what made the noise, he gasped as Sawyer stood up and faced the tree, seeing it move and become animated. It leaned towards her and Sawyer screamed, quickly gathering her supplies before running out of the clearing. Huffing, Marley stood up and followed after her, keeping his distance.
Keeping Sawyer in his line of vision, Marley watched as she swerved and dodged around ghostly trees, nearly getting her head lopped off by a hanging branch. Gritting his teeth, Marley pushed himself to go faster, trying to catch up to her. A sudden shrill scream rose into the air, causing Sawyer to stop dead. Stopping as well to keep himself hidden, Marley watched her movements, ready to start again. Watching her gulp and start to run again, Marley set off after her. As Marley followed Sawyer stealthily, he noticed that this time her movements were different, less coordinated. She was blindly running into everything now, not caring where she was going. She was starting to get banged up, earning cuts along her arms. Marley grit his teeth as she ran on, not stopping for everything.
Marley saw how bad of shape she was in and heaved a sigh of relief when she stopped and doubled over, gasping for breath. She threw down her knapsack and pulled out his healing salve that he'd given her earlier that night. Rubbing it along her damaged arms, Marley saw Sawyer sigh in relief as it did it's job and her cuts lessened in intensity. Setting off again, Sawyer walked away from the clearing and Marley followed closely behind slowly. He decided to keep his distance up until the point that she made camp and finally reveal himself to her then.
Just when Marley's heart rate had slowed, Sawyer began to run again. "Are you freaking serious right now?!" Marley exclaimed. Right as I thought she wasn't going to run anymore. Grunting, he took a few paces forward and then froze as he heard a ragged groan a few feet away from him. This was no moan from a tree, Marley knew that for certain.
Marley slowly glanced to his right and locked eyes with his pursuer. It's white eyes shown through the darkness, pinning him in place. The transformed beast curled its lip, revealing shockingly white teeth to match its eyes. It was a big cat Silhouette, a cougar Marley assumed, and it's round ears were pulled back. Letting out a scream, the Silhouette leapt forward and crashed into Marley, toppling him to the ground.
Marley gasped as he hit the ground, wrestling the Silhouette, narrowly avoiding getting a chunk taken out of him. Bracing his arms against the chest of the beast, Marley temporarily turned his focus to his bag, discarded some inches away. Lifting one arm away from the Silhouette, he reached, trying to catch the strap on at least one finger. Fighting the cat, he reached even further but was still shy of the bag's belt. Gritting his teeth as the Silhouette snapped at him again, Marley curled his legs into his chest and pushed out powerfully. The Silhouette was sent flying over his head, crashing against a tree trunk, landing in a pile of tangled limbs.
Rolling over with the speed of a snake, Marley opened the flap and reached into his bag. Grabbing the hilt of his small sword he had brought, he pulled out a branch from the forest that he had snapped off earlier and searched for a match. Dragging the stump along the bark, it cracked with white sparks and then blazed to life. Hearing another shriek, Marley looked up from what he was doing and gasped as the beast ran full force into him, pushing his back into the dirt. It lifted a hefty paw and planted it onto Marley's sternum, pinning him down, the other paw on his arm with the sword in hand. He groaned as the beast pushed down with all its strength on his chest, claws fully extended and beginning to shred his shirt front. Leaning down, it snarled loudly in Marley's ear and opened its jaw, beginning to unhinge it improperly. Marley gasped as he realized that he didn't have much time left, seeing as its gaping maw was directly above his face, long teeth coated with slaver. Marley scowled as he started to hear the faint whispering coming from the Silhouette.
Pressing his knees into the Silhouette's chest to hold it back, he carefully maneuvered the flaming stick from his left hand to his right. Getting the right grip, Marley thrusted upwards, stabbing the inky flesh of the cat's underbelly with the burning branch. Yowling, the Silhouette stumbled back and pawed at its chest, trying to dislodge the stick from within. Marley got to his feet as the cat savagely shook its head back and forth, driven mad by the pain it was experiencing. Snarling and screaming, the Silhouette coughed harshly and finally sent the stick flying from the skin of its underbelly. Huffing, it growled and looked at Marley, its eyes penetrating deeply and freezing him in place. Hissing softly, it turned and then loped away, disappearing into the trees.
Breathing hard, Marley drew a hand down his face and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Taking a breath, he suddenly looked in the direction Sawyer had ran and realized he had potentially lost her. Growling to himself irritably, Marley set off on her trail, running with all that he had and grumbling all the while.
Marley didn't stop looking for Sawyer until he happened upon her camp, the only problem being she wasn't there. Walking forward, Marley observed her camp and saw her sleeping bag set out quite some distance away from any trees and couldn't help a small chuckle. Smiling to himself, Marley also saw her knapsack sitting by the pillow, the flap open and displaying everything inside. Curious, Marley approached it and saw that no weapons were inside. He rolled his eyes.
She didn't even think to bring something to protect her? Looking over, he saw a circle of rocks with dirt in the center. Oh, she's gone to get firewood, but why not just get it from a tree right here? Doing a quick once-over of the clearing and not seeing any twigs lining the grey grass, Marley gasped as realization seized him. She left camp to find firewood, and without anything with her? Is she insane?! Throwing down his knapsack, Marley opened it and grabbed a small bag of defense potion and grabbed his dagger. She's unarmed, she could be killed!
Running from the clearing, Marley following the trail of trampled grass and weeds, getting more frantic with every passing minute. "Idiot!" He cursed under his breath, driven by worry. "Why'd you leave camp without taking anything with you to defend yourself?" Marley yelled, but then sobered, eyes downcast. "You have to be smarter than the forest Sawyer, please." Shutting his mouth, Marley ran on, scared that he could be too late. Winding through the trees, he swerved and dodged, slapping leaning and swaying branches out of his way as he pounded against the earth, desperately trying to find Sawyer. As he rounded a tree and pursued on, he suddenly heard faint sobbing in the distance and skidded to a stop, heels cutting into the dirt. Head whirling, Marley frantically searched for the direction of the crying and gasped as he saw Sawyer through the trees, sitting on a rock, head in her hands. Beginning to move through the trees, Marley not so stealthily stepped directly onto a twig that snapped immediately in two.
The sound seemed to echo throughout the entirety of the forest, birds cawing dully. Marley watched with a grimace as Sawyer snapped her head in his direction and her eyes widened. She had seen him.
"Sawyer ..?" Marley said softly. He held his breath, waiting to see how she'd reach. She watched him intensely, and then, after waiting for a couple of seconds, turned the opposite direction and disappeared into the trees. Marley immediately gave chase. "Sawyer? Sawyer!" He yelled, cupping his hands to his mouth. "Sawyer, it's Marley! Listen to me, you need to stop running! It's Marley! I'm not what you think, come on!" Sawyer showed no sign of hearing him, just simply pressed on, dodging trees. She cast a look back at him, but quickly turned as she realized that he was gaining. Marley grit his teeth and pumped his legs harder. "Sawyer! Slow down! Sawyer!" Calling was no use, Sawyer just kept on running mindlessly. Before Marley could get any closer to her, she suddenly took a right turn and dashed into some closely growing trees - breaking through the branches recklessly - into the clearing on the other side. Stopping at the front of the treeline, Marley huffed as he watched Sawyer escape and catch her breath. Banging a fist against the trunk of a tree, Marley cursed.
If only she knew that it was me! The more we're separated, the more danger she's in! Looking to his left, Marley saw a section of trees a bit of a distance away that lead into the clearing Sawyer had escaped to. Perking, he dashed that way, getting there quickly. Swerving around the trees, Marley ran as he spotted Sawyer in the distance and froze as he realized that she was kneeling in front of a lake, directly at the water's edge. Eyes widening, Marley prayed that the lake didn't contain a siren and watched silently. Bubbles rose to the surface and Marley knew that Sawyer was in over her head as black tentacles burst from the surface. Watching in awe, Sawyer backed up a few steps.
"Run!" Marley shouted, though he was sure she couldn't hear him. To Marley's astonishment, Sawyer turned around and began running in his direction, trying to get away from the siren. But she wasn't fast enough. A tentacle shot forward and wrapped around one of her ankles and she was pulled off her feet. Being dragged backward, Sawyer latched onto a root poking from the soil. Groaning, Sawyer fought to hold onto the root as the siren pulled at her, trying in vain to tug her into its depths. As sweat began to bead and she clenched her teeth, Sawyer looked above the root and stopped suddenly.
"She sees me." Marley whispered to himself. But instead of glee on her face, Sawyer looked sulkin and lowered her head back down. At once Marley realized he was too far away to completely make out. She can't tell that I'm me.
Marley began to run, knowing that Sawyer didn't have much time before she'd lose her grip. As he neared, Sawyer fingers slipped and she was immediately pulled backwards with a scream. In an instant, Sawyer was yanked beneath the surface with no way of reaching it again.
Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Marley threw down his pack and looked up as the siren roared, realizing his presence. Narrowing his eyes, he watched as the siren launched a tendril towards him, picking up speed as it went along. At the last second, Marley jumped nimbly out of the way and the tentacle punched into the wood of the tree behind him. Screeching, the tentacle desperately tried to escape the tree and that bought Marley enough time to get what he needed.
Pulling out a clear flask of potion, he busted off a branch from the tree and doused it in the potion. With a snap the limb burst into flame, the fire once again white but quickly changed to a bright red-orange. Looking to the tentacle that was still struggling, Marley narrowed his eyes.
Running forward, he jumped and drove the branch directly into the inky flesh of the tendril. Pain filled shrieking sounded from the depths of the lake and the siren grew more frantic, quivering and shaking while it yanked at the tree, desperate for escape and the pain to go away.
What the siren didn't know is that the potion Marley had used on the stick was also a sedative, and was soon to knock it out as soon as the fluid spread all throughout the essence of its insides. While in pain, siren's tended to draw their tentacles to the body as a sign of defense while they recovered, and that didn't change for any of them. This was Marley's shortcut.
Wrapping his legs around the tendril, he held on tightly while the tentacle fought to get away. It didn't even realize he was there, all of its attention purely on the tree. At last the tentacle ripped itself from the tree and immediately started lowering into the water, disappearing into the disturbed waves. Marley watched the water as he got closer and closer, counting down the seconds. When the water swamped his cargo pants and quickly followed with his linen shirt, he gulped in a breath and disappeared with the tentacle below the black water.
Slowly opening his eyes, Marley glanced around in the light of the bioluminescent seaweed and began searching for Sawyer. As the tentacle pulled him down, he finally spotted her, three tentacles holding her at bay against the body of the siren. When the tentacle that Marley was hanging onto was getting as close as he preferred to the body, he let go and watched in fascination as it slowly drew it into itself and bubbled snoring began to sound.
Marley looked over at Sawyer and saw that she was still being held, cuddled against the siren closely as it slept. Stroking over, he stopped in front of her and reached for the tentacle around her waist. Carefully unwrapping it, he moved onto the next two. Once he had them all unwound, Marley looked to the surface. It was quite a distance away, but he could make it, he had to make it.
Grasping Sawyer's upper arm, Marley pulled her close and hooked his arms underneath hers, clasping his hands together just below her chest. Kicking his legs, he set off towards the surface. His lungs were beginning to burn as he swam harder, determined to reach the surface in time. Come on Marley, he thought to himself, it'll do you no good if you both drown. Clenching his teeth, Marley pressed on, the surface not far off. He saw the moon dancing on the rippling surface from below and he put on a burst of speed. It was so close; just a few more feet. Groaning, Marley stroked with all that he had left.
At last he broke the surface. Gasping and coughing, he grit his teeth as he dragged Sawyer towards the shore, breathing raggedly through the waves. Finally reaching the shallows, he set Sawyer down and collapsed next to her, panting. He was utterly exhausted. That swim had taken a lot out of him, all because of Sawyer's foolish choice to come to the Twilight Woods. After recovering, he looked over at her and felt for a pulse. When he didn't find one, he picked up his journal and flipped the pages, searching for the best way to save a drowned person. CPR wasn't an option, cracking Sawyer's ribs wouldn't do her any good if she were to continue through the forest with him. Besides, he didn't have a potion that could heal her fast enough, or one that he knew how to make.
Stopping on a page that suggested something Marley thought would work, he carefully took Sawyer in his arms. Laying her head against his chest, he began massaging her back, kneading it rhythmically. After a few minutes of that, he looped his left arm around her stomach and clenched his hand into a fist. Using his right hand, he pressed it against her back. Breathing out a sigh in preparation, Marley forcefully dug his left fist inward while he pushed the heel of his hand into her back. Nothing, no reaction whatsoever. Doing it once more, Marley waited. Wrapping both arms around her front, he dug them both inward forcefully and waited. Still nothing.
    "Sawyer, you have to wake up. Your sister needs you and your parents need you, you can't let them down like this." He begged, waiting. No response. Marley sighed and tilted his head, his lips right next to her ear. "Come on Sawyer, do it for me." He whispered. Watching her intently, he waited for any indications of movement and gasped when her eyes fluttered. Her brows knit together and then she started coughing, water cascading down her shirt front. Opening her eyes, she put a hand to her chest and sucked in deep, shaky breaths, still coughing. Her eyes darted around and then she looked down. Realization seized her as her eyes traveled up and down Marley's pants and she whipped her gaze around, staring him straight in the face, eyes widening.
"... Marley?"