Embedded Emerald in Gold fire

Lurking in the dark - 9

The farther they travelled into the north the scarcer villages became, the pathway changed into a path- way most likely used by animals more than humans for travel instead of the flattened stones they had been riding on. The sharp sound of hooves hitting stone had annoyed Kara ever since the beginning and she enjoyed allowing Freyja to do whatever she pleased over the days. She tried to not care about the men ignoring her, tried to not react to it or allow herself to miss it. She had been the one to not speak to them all journey, she had been the one to avoid them, but now that they did it to her it felt different. She did not feel welcome to voice an opinion or thought, she did not feel free to do as she pleased with their judging eyes on her.

The air was so thick in between the group she swore if she pleased she would be able to slice it. But the solitude had its perks. Kara used the time they spent at a slow pace to sort through her bag, transform a few items just in case she was ever to be too weak to. Before the incident she had not been thinking about having an emergency kit of food and medicine. Working through her bag only lasted so long and Kara found herself surprisingly bored. She had not felt the desire to communicate with others for a long time, loneliness had become her companion winters ago. Why was she oddly longing to communicate?

Her hopeful eyes rose from Freyja's fur and haltered. Renmar was looking at her and their eyes met. His weren't hostile and squinted like the others, his looked kind, curious and somehow trustworthy. A tiny smile crept onto Kara's lips, habit forcing her to hide her sharpened teeth from him. He returned her smile and commanded his horse to wait for Freyja and move to her side.

Neither of them knew what to say, greetings felt inappropriate since they had been travelling alongside each other. It was Renmar to break the silence "did you rest well?" he asked in a hushed tone. Kara did not know if it was in order to not startle her or to not let the others hear. She only nodded, tried to hide the shy blush by shrinking into the collar of her coat. Why was this conversation consisting of only one sentence making her so giddy? Was it because he showed kindness to her? Was he planning something, caring only for her magic and not for her? What other reason would he have to be kind to her now that her secret had been spilled?

The golden ring around her emerald eyes seemed to be burning and moving while Kara looked over Renmar and into his eyes. She did not see hostility, yet she had made the mistake of underestimating the dark side of humans before. What was his aim? They had her like a slave, she would do whatever Mardaniel commanded... what did Renmar wish?

"Is it something you wish of me?" Kara blurted out. The shock on his face was evident, the heat rose into his own cheeks and Kara knew he was lying when he shook his head and said: "no, it is... no, I just wanted to see... to ask...". His stutter was enough for Kara to regain her suspicion. "It is always the same with you humans" she grunted and demanded Freyja to dart off just like she had done so many times already.

Renmar's eyes followed her, what did he do? Stupid! Stupid and damn, was he not able to have a normal conversation without screwing up? Why did he have to be unable to just be normal? Great, now she was suspicious and thought he had bad intentions when the truth was that his only intention was getting to know her. Was that so absurd?

Kara allowed Freyja to choose a path close to the group, close enough for her heightened sight and hearing to know where they were and what was going on. It had been bliss running through her when Renmar approached her, but now she was left with new anger. She felt it stir inside her, felt something claw at her inside. Kara knew the beast inside her, she remembered the moment it had been born like it was yesterday. In some nights she would still feel the metal around her ankles, the hard slaps in her face and hear their voices.

But since finding a sense of peace and quiet in her life she had not felt the claws, had not felt the anger. Why did it have to come out now? Why did it have to show and make everyone in the group believe what they knew about witches to be true? Stupid! She shook her head in her anger, clenched her hands to fists and felt her fingernails bite into her skin.