Whispers from the Dark

1. Goodbye

"Faelwen, wake up!" Someone pulled my blankets of me. Slowly I opened my eyes. My mom looked terrified down upon me. "We have to go! Now!" She quickly took some clothes and put them in a bag. As fast as I could I dressed myself. The sleep was slowly fading away and at the same time I got more aware of my surrounding. I wanted to walk to the window, but my mom gripped my arm tightly and pulled me away from it. Struggling to stay on my feet, I ran after my mom down the stairs. Downstairs my dad was waiting with a backpack and a sword. "What's wrong?" I asked. But all ignored me. "Take her outside, put her on a horse and drive away!" My father already walked towards a trunk in the living room. "But dear, what about you? I'm not leaving without you!" She quickly dried her tears and looked him doubtful in the eye.

"Go now! I'll meet you there!" She didn't need more convincing and pulled me with her into the garden. With her help, I climbed on our horse. People screamed, houses were burning. I didn't understand what was going on. A group of people were walking towards us, dressed in dark robes with red runes. They said something in a foreign language. Continuously repeating it. Everything around them burst into flames and with their long swords they killed everybody around them. "Hurry up!". Then my dad ran outside with another sword and a small dagger. He gave this to me. It was a simple dagger with a leather hilt and on the blade, was written one simple word: Brave.

I bound it to my tiny belt and gripped the reins tightly. The black sorcerers came closer and closer. My dad raised his sword in the air, while my mom vainly tried to climb on the horse as well. But our horse was too frighten and kept stumbling in circles, watching the danger grew near. Eventually she could grip the reins. Unfortunately, one of the black sorcerers stepped out of the group and raised his hand towards my father. He started shaking and dropped his sword. The black sorcerer pointed towards himself and as a respond my dad lost all control over his body and flew towards him hovering in the air. Then the slim hand of the sorcerer formed itself to a fist. My dad gripped his throat. Blood run down his face. Mom yelled. "Necromancers! Necromancers!" The necromancer threw the lifeless body of my father to the side and almost seemed to flow towards my mother. She hit the horse so hard, that he started to sprint away from the danger. I cling myself on his neck and looked anxious back over my shoulders. I had a last glimpse of my mother being stabbed by the necromancer's sword after she tried to defend herself with, what looked like, a magical stone. The words of the necromancers resounded in my head: "Dinok wah jul, vos yun feln do lug on." One of the necromancers looked my way and raised his hand. A bright white flash blinded my eyes...

I opened my eyes, heavily breathing. Artemis pushed his nose against my cheek. "I'm fine, Artemis. Just a nightmare, just a nightmare."

They come more often lately. You almost lost yourself there, with your travelling through the past. I heard his voice in my head as always. We were communicating telepathically. "I can't help it, it goes automatically."

Now your awake, we better continue our journey.

Wearily I stood up and slung my backpack over my shoulders. An icy wind cut through my clothes, I pulled my robe closer around myself and followed my wolf. His eyes told me how the road changed and if it was safe to follow. With his ears, I heard the night sounds turn into the break of dawn. Little beasts hid themselves in the bushes when we walked by. We followed a winding road, covered with pine-tree needles, into the forest. My face was frozen from the icy wind. I smelled the strong scent of pine-trees and the soft, warm, sweet herbs growing near the trees. All familiar scents but there was one faint scent I didn't recognize. It smelled like an almost burned out campfire. "Are we walking the right track? It smells different." Of course, Wen, we always walk this way.Artemis sounded irritated.

A cold wind blew small snowflakes into my face and I pulled my hood further over my head. "It snows," I mumbled in my scarf. My wolf growled and ignored me. I snarled back but he didn't seem to notice.