1

Eleara

I already know that my mother will be furious with me because when she is gone, I am the one in charge and I ran into a problem today causing me to forget about gathering wood for the fire. I had meant to go into the woods after dinner but got sidetracked when our horse, Spirit, ran from my younger sister Yunice. It took me six hours to find her. 

Somehow, Spirit ran to the village opposite of ours, well past the outer kingdom of Clydane where the large markets and pubs thrive. We only have one way of transportation, so without Spirit, I had to track her on foot. It’s a good thing I taught myself how to track. I spend a lot of time doing everything for others in the household, so I am alone the majority of the time. While being alone is nice, I find myself getting bored after a while. To keep myself from getting bored, I had started teaching myself an assortment of skills, one being how to track. Mainly for hunting purposes but now it's coming in handy for a larger job - finding my horse.

Spirit’s tracks are rather easy to follow, only becoming difficult when they lead me into grassy areas. That’s when I start paying closer attention to the way the grass lies. As I kneel down to get a closer look, I tilt my head upwards and look forward. There appears to be a flattened path in the grass leading to the woods that are about fifty feet ahead of me. 

As I walk down the path, I find a faint shape of a horse's hoof. Reassuring myself that I am going in the correct direction. I walk along the path while the sun beams down on my face from above. The air is crisp and chilly but the sun beaming down on me keeps a great balance between being hot or cold. 

This must be a trail that the wolves use often because I had spotted a few dead rabbits with their stomachs viciously torn wide open and rotting, emitting the smell of decay as flies swarm their bodies.

I reach the outer edge of the woods. I suck in a deep breath in hopes to calm myself before entering them. The woods around here are filled with dangerous creatures. Inside the woods are fairies, trolls, witches, dragons, dark elves and more. I had to be the one to put my scaredness behind me in order to provide food for my family. I have come across a few of these creatures before, but thankfully I keep myself stocked up on a scent concealing powder that the merchant in town sells. Concealing my scent so long as I’m not in plain sight, since it doesn’t make me invisible. 

When I sprinkle this powder over my head, my scent is hidden for two hours. Hopefully I end up finding Spirit in that amount of time because I am running out of the powder. I unfortunately forgot to grab my watch before I left home so I have no way of knowing the amount of time that trails by. I grab my pack that is hanging on my shoulders and kneel down onto the grassy floor bringing it in front of me. The dark brown weathered leather is cracking. I have had this bag since I was a child. It is full of things that would help me in a time like this. A few potion bottles, a rope, a knife and a piece of bread wrapped in cloth. 

I grab the bottle labeled potion of concealment and pull out the cork -  making a popping sound as I do so. I dump out enough powder to equal the size of a chicken's egg, about the size of my palm, lifting my arm up above my head and I begin sprinkling the powder over me. Instead of the powder just lying over top of me, it begins to soak into my hair and clothing - disappearing.

As I begin to rise to my feet, I put the cork back into the bottle top and shove it back into my bag. I throw my bag back over my shoulder slipping both arms through the straps on either side. 

I take my first step into the woods and it's unusually silent. Any time that I have stepped foot into the woods prior, there are always birds chirping, leaves blowing in the wind, bushes rustling, but right now everything is still. I make my way deeper into the forest still following the path that has been created by animals walking over the grass, flattening it and revealing bits of dirt from their usage of coming in and out of the woods. I bend down and notice there is a patch of Spirit's white hair on the floor, and blood. I stand up and start running as fast as I can to try and find Spirit. 

My heart is pounding in my chest and my breathing is becoming fast and heavy. My feet pound into the forest floor - crushing the leaves and branches that have fallen from the trees. I see something out of the corner of my eye next to me but I don't slow my pace. If anything, my fear makes me run faster. I may try to hide my fear at times but that doesn’t mean that I don’t feel it. There are many creatures in the forest, both good and bad. Plenty of them to be scared of. Let’s hope that whatever is following me is one of the good creatures. 

I haven’t seen whatever has been following me. Hopefully it got bored of me trying to ignore it and decided to pursue a chase with something else that verbally expressed their fear. I decided to take a quick break and sit underneath a tree that has lost the majority of its leaves due to winter being right around the corner. I had grabbed the wrapped up piece of bread out of my bag and started ripping small chunks out of it to refuel myself. 

The thing that had been following me truly did scare me but I tried my best not to let my fear show through my mask. Instead, I kept looking forward pretending to pay no time towards whatever it was. Eventually I stopped seeing the blackness of the shape and after about twenty minutes had passed, I decided to stop, catch my breath and recharge myself. 

I hope Spirit is okay. 

I eat about half of the bread that I brought with me, wrapping the rest up to save for later. After putting the bread encased inside of the cloth back into my bag, I do a quick stretch. I lift my arms straight up over my head and lean forward, stretching my shoulders and back. A few cracks popping, releasing me of some of the pent up pain that has built. Then, I reach down to my toes and touch the crisp leaves and soft blades of grass on the ground. 

When I stand up, straightening my back, I see it. The creature that had been following me earlier. I watch the creature as they watch me from a low tree branch. They seem frozen, as am I. I draw in a sharp breath.

“Hello?” I manage to croak out.

The creature doesn’t move. It’s too far away for me to identify exactly what it is out here with me. All that I can make out about it is the fact that it looks to be wearing some sort of hooded cloak. Now I may be a curious person, but in this situation I am not letting my curiosity get me into trouble.

Before giving any more time for the creature to think, I turn on my toes and make a run for it. Running deeper into the woods, no longer paying attention to tracks or evidence left behind of where Spirit might be exactly. My knees are lifting high to my stomach and my feet stomping into the ground kicking up dirt as I speed off. 

Suddenly I feel the chill of mist wrap around my arm and yank me backwards. I fall straight on my ass and the back of my head connects with the solid ground. My vision has gone blurry and I swear that I see stars floating in the trees above me as I look up into the sky, even though it is not dark enough to be seeing stars just yet.

The hooded figure makes its way into my view. My vision isn’t clear yet because of the sudden smash to the back of my head. The creature leans down, bringing itself closer to my face. The smell of rotting flesh intruding my nostrils. Once they get close enough for me to make out their facial features, I inhale a sharp gasp. 

What is a Hag doing following me into the woods? 

“I sense a darkness in you, girl. What could you be hiding?” asks the creature.

Her voice is soft, yet full of sorrow. As my vision starts clearing, I roll onto my stomach and lift myself up. Pushing my palms into the leaves on the ground, crunching them beneath my hands. I stagger as I stand myself up, not realizing how hard the hit to my head clearly had been. 

I bring my hands up to my eyes and rub them clear. The Hag standing before me is clothed head to toe in a black hooded cloak. I cannot see their face, darkness shrouds the creature only letting their fierce green eyes glow. The eyes have a waving movement to them, like the flames of a fire burning. She brings her deep blue hands up to her hood and pulls it back - revealing her face. She is so thin, the skin on her looks like it could easily be eaten by her bones protruding from underneath. Her long black curly hair hangs in front of her face, with missing patches throughout her skull. She opens her mouth to reveal a row of yellowed, sharp teeth smiling at me.

“What do you want?’ I ask sternly, trying to hide the tremble of my voice. 

She just locks her eyes with mine and begins to circle around me. She reaches out with her boney blue, almost black, hand and grabs a piece of my hair. I jerk my head to the opposite side of her to release my hair from her hold. 

“I can smell a great deal of darkness within you.” she hisses.

I scoff, “You’re just trying to scare me.” I say. “I made sure to douse myself in concealment powder before entering the woods. To steer clear of creatures just like you, so how did you smell my presence?”

“Oh no. I am not trying to inflict fear onto you. I am more curious to know how a human like you smells so strongly of dark essence. The heaviness is coming from inside of you. What magical properties do you wield?” 

“I wasn’t gifted with any powers.”

She stops circling around me and wraps her hand into my hair, tightening her grip and pulling my head back so hard that with anymore force, my head could snap right from my shoulders. 

“You’re hiding something from me. What did you come into the woods for?” 

I close my eyes, fighting back tears, expecting her to kill me just because I may be the only person in the still woods at this moment and she is in the mood to taste blood. 

“I came into the woods to find my missing horse. She ran from my home earlier today and I've been following her tracks.” 

She brings her face to my neck and inhales deeply, trailing up to my cheek. 

“Well, you’re not lying.”

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“What would be the benefit of me lying right now?” I hissed.

Her green fiery eyes look me up and down. “I wouldn’t get smart with me girl”, she spits. “I could easily snap your neck off and relish in the blood that comes squirting out.” 

A shiver runs down my spine, raising the hair on my neck and arms. My breathing turns quick and sharp as beads of sweat start forming at my hairline. Images of her covered in my blood as she holds my head by my long brown hair wrapped in her hand and my body lies on the ground spasming rushes into my mind. I close my eyes and shake my head to rid myself of the thought.

She throws my head forward releasing me of her grasp. As I stumble forward trying not to fall on my face, I catch myself against a tree to steady my stance. The bark is rough against my hands. I start coughing and blood spills out from my mouth. 

“Looks like you have gotten roughed up more than I intended” chuckles the Hag.

“What do you want from me?’ I let out with a heavy breath. 

She watches me as I wipe the blood dripping from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand. She vanishes and reappears in front of me within a second - grabbing my wrist and bringing my hand to her mouth. She glides her crusted bottom lip over my thumb as I cringe in disgust. When her mouth is hovering over the blood on the back of my hand she inhales, parting her lips and breathing in particles of my blood. 

“Ahh”, she moans. “I bet your blood tastes as delicious as it smells.” 

I gulp against what feels like a rock in my throat. “Please, you can’t kill me.” I managed to say. “My family wouldn’t know how to survive if I were to die, I provide for them.” I cough again, more blood spraying from my mouth and landing on the Hag’s face. 

She spreads her mouth showing me her sharp yellow row of teeth. She flicks out her tongue and mops up the blood on my hand before it begins to dry. Her green eyes grow wider as she pulls her gaze from my hand to my eyes. The flames that dance in her sockets grow wilder. She drops my wrist and takes a stride backward. 

“It cannot be.” she whispers. 

“What? What do you mean?” I begin to ask.

Before I can get any kind of answer out from her, she takes one more glance at me from head to toe.”I shouldn’t have meddled with you.”  She says, her voice filled with worry. “You need to find your horse and get going.” 

The sound of wind rushing fills my ears as black mist rises around the Hag, swallowing her. My rocky breathing slowly becomes steady as I brush off the dirt on my clothing. I pull my bag back around to the front of me and pull out the concealment powder. I uncork the bottle and apply more onto my hand. This time creating the size of a large apple, the powder is spilling out through my fingers. I throw the powder over my head and twirl around in a circle as the particles fall over me. I replace the cork back onto the top of the bottle, push it back into my bag and continue on with my search. 

The sound of something struggling draws my attention. I hear the huffing sounds of a displeased animal. I pick up my pace and begin running towards the direction of the noise. I run through the trees, no longer on a smoothed out clear path. I dodge the branches, jumping over low tree tree limbs and ducking underneath higher arms. I swear, the way these trees are lined up is almost as if they are trying to keep me from getting to my horse. 

They will not stop me. My arms thrust forward and back, my legs are moving so quickly that I almost feel like I'm floating above ground. I continue pushing through the tree limbs outstretched towards me and when I finally see what looks like a break in the tree line, I stretch a smile that's almost too large for my face to contain. 

That’s when I see her. As I come to a halt at the edge of the trees, in front of me is Spirit, shoulder deep in a pit of mud. Great. Her head and top of her back revealed her white coat, now splashed with brown mud and her black mane tangled. 

What had spooked her so badly?

I drop my bag down onto the ground in front of me. Kneeling down, I reach out and tug on the zipper. It’s not budging. 

“Oh come on!” I shout out of frustration.

 Finally the zipper releases a loose piece of leather that it was sewn down to. Once I get my bag open, I reach inside and grab the rope out that was neatly rolled inside. As I make my way towards Spirit, I can hear her ragged breathing. She must be so tired. I have no idea how long she has been stuck in this pit. 

I plunge my foot into the thick mud and slowly make my way towards the center where Spirit is. Suctioning noises sound off as I pull my feet out with each step that I take. Spirit’s gloomy eyes seem to fill with light as she sees me walking towards her. 

“Don’t worry Spirit, I am going to get you out of here.” I calmly tell her as I make my way to her side. 

Once I am standing next to Spirit, her left shoulder meeting the height of my head, I raise my hand to her forehead and gently slide it down her snout. I throw the rope over the top of Spirit’s backside. Making my way to her right side, I grab the end of the rope and guide it down through the mud behind her right leg and then her left, bringing it back up on Spirit’s left side where the remainder of the rope lies. 

I tie a double knot with the rope and pat Spirit’s head. I trudge back through the thick mud, listening to the suctioning sounds and plugning noises until I make it back to the pit’s edge. I climb out and walk over to the nearest tree. My clothes clinging to my body are weighed down by all of the liquid stuck to them. Thankfully there was still enough of the rope left over when I made it to the tree so I wrapped the rest of the rope around my waist and tied it off.

I seat myself on the ground behind the tree to keep myself steady. Sweat falls from my forehead and I swipe it away. Facing the tree, I raise my legs to a ninety degree angle and mount my feet against it. I wrap the rope that stretches between myself and Spirit around my hand once, lean back and pull with all of the strength that I have left. 

I keep trying for what feels like an hour. My hands are cold from the crisp air and the muscles in my back and biceps are on fire. Each time that I have peered over at Spirit, it looks like I have made no progress in freeing her from this mud trap. I lean back and ready my biceps for yet another attempt but as soon as I flex my muscles and fire off, my arms give out and I slam back onto the ground. The force of my body plummeting down creates a loud dense thump. 

I release a sigh and close my eyes, holding the tears that are rapidly forming behind them.

“Looks like you have gotten yourself in an interesting situation.” Comes a deep voice from behind me. 

I jerk my body upwards, my abdomen burning from the sudden use of muscles, and wipe my eyes. I turn around to see who is out in the woods with me but as I scan the area I don’t see anybody out here. I turn my body back towards the tree and gasp - jumping from the scare.

“River.” I say with a scoff. “What are you doing out here?”

“I saw a fragile woman alone in the woods, struggling to aid her horse that's almost been swallowed by the thick mud pit.” he says casually.

I sigh and roll my eyes. “I’m not fragile. The mud is a lot thicker than I thought it would be and my hands are practically frozen as the temperature continues to plummet while the sun sets.”

I drop the rope from my hands and bring them in front of me to begin rubbing them together so the friction will warm them up. As I start rubbing them together, River bends down and grabs my hands. Cupping mine inside of his own, they practically swallow my hands with how large they are. The warmth of his hands sent heat throughout my body. 

“What are you..-” I begin to ask before he cuts me off.

“Warming up your hands.” He says as he blows hot air into the hole he created with his fingers, trapping my small hands inside of his. 

As he gets to work gently holding my hands and warming them, I can’t help but notice his full lips and the stubble that trails from above his lips, down to his chin and running along either side of his sharp jaw.  I look up to his eyes which are already locked on mine and quickly look away. Swallowing the lump in my throat. 

“I’ve been trying to pull my horse out of this pit, do you think that you could help?”

“Yeah, I noticed that about thirty minutes ago.”

I scrunch my eyebrows in response to his answer. “And you decided to watch me struggle instead of coming over to offer me your help?”

He smirks, revealing a row of straight white teeth. “Well, I didn’t want to intervene right away. Not when you looked so damn beautiful, even through the struggle.” 

I let out a huff filled with annoyance and shook my head. He chuckles and unties the rope from around my waist. His hand lightly brushes against the bare skin on my waist from my shirt slightly lifting up in the wind, causing goosebumps to protrude not only from the cold air, but from his touch. When I look down to his hands, the sleeves of his black shirt are slightly rolled up revealing dried blood. 

“What is that from?” I ask. 

“A deer. Believe it or not, it does get a bit bloody.” He says as he raises his brow.

“Do you think that just because I am a girl that I have never seen blood before? Or made something bleed? I do hunt deer as well.” 

He looks back up at me and his smirk fades as he clears his throat.

“My goodness, you sure know how to tie a tight knot.”

I look back at his face, focused on trying to undo the knot that I tied. He is very handsome. His short black hair is complimented nicely with his tanned skin. Even under his black long sleeve his muscles are trying their best to not break through the material.

“Ahh, there we go.” he says as he finally gets the knot untied. 

As he looks at me, I feel my own eyes getting dragged into his deep brown eyes, deeper and deeper. I jerk my head to break the stare. 

“You think that you can pull my horse out on your own?’ I ask him.

“I know that I can.” He says as he throws the rope over his shoulder and leans forward to begin walking.

His pace is slowed due to the restrain from the thick mud that Spirit is stuck inside of. I look over to my horse and my eyes widen. The height of the mud gradually gets lower against Spirit’s body. The mud had been up to her shoulders when I had found her and ever since River has begun to pull her out, the mud is now down to her knees. She is now able to lift her legs and help alongside River’s pulling.

The suction sounds that were made as I was walking in and out of the pit had returned while Spirit’s hooves are entering and exiting the mud. Her legs are shaking as she manages to pull herself out of the pit. She shakes her body, trying to free herself from the mud that clings to her. I ran over to her and put both of my hands on each side of her face, bringing my forehead to hers. 

“Why did you run from Yunice?” I ask. As if I’ll get a response.

Spirit’s eyes look at me and dart behind me, following something. River walks up to my side, making his way toward Spirit. When he reaches out to untie the rope around her, I find my eyes drifting to his forearms. The veins that flow down to his fingers are prominent from the strength he just used to free her.

“Something must have spooked her,” he says.

I clear my throat and look away.

“The scariest thing that she was around would be my sister.” I say with a chuckle. 

River finishes removing the rope from Spirit and turns to look at me, his eyes meeting mine.

“Have you felt a change in the air?” he asks me.

“Well, yeah. Fall is coming to an end and Winter is approaching rather quickly.” I say as a smirk smears across my face.

River runs his hand through his hair and huffs out a half smile.

“That’s not what I mean. It feels like something dark is looming. The air feels thicker.”

I scrunch my brows.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

He shakes his head and looks down.

“Nothing, I don't know. I think that I am just tired.”

He hands me the rope, brushing his calloused hand against mine. He pulls his hands back and brushes them off against his jeans, then sliding them into his pockets.

“You’re welcome,” he says.

“Thank you, for deciding to no longer entertain yourself by watching me struggle.” I say with a smirk.

He looks me up and down before he smiles and turns to walk away. As I watch him unclip the lantern from his bag and ignite the wic, I wonder what darkness he was talking about. I run my hand down Spirit’s neck. She brings her head down and rests in the groove in between my neck and shoulder. I put both of my arms around her and gave her a tight hug.

As I drop my arms down and walk over to her side - ready to mount, I catch River looking back at me. A look of worry casts over his face. I look away, looking down as I mount Spirit’s back, only to find my eyes travel back to River once I'm settled. He is still watching me. He flashed me a smile before looking down at his feet - turning around to head deeper into the woods.