She glows. Her heavy strands of black hair slide /
like serpents over somber, blood-red plush.
☼
Her heart pounded against her ribs, a stick upon a drum barrel, as she locked eyes with Avallac’h. The mist took its time in dispelling, uncurling from their burgeoned limbs and freeing them from the weight of memory. She knew not what her companion had seen within the mirrors of fogs, only that the usual softness of his expression had been spirited away, disenchanted by whatever horrors he’d unearthed.
And for once, with the weight of her heart heavy within her breast, she knew she would not force him to suffer the nuances of her curiosity. Whatever came of their trials within the forest, she was wise enough a woman to think it unwise, unfair, to subject either of them to further questioning. Her tongue was leaden behind her teeth, regardless.
She was fascinated. Simultaneously enthralled and disenchanted by the beauty of this forest, and the memories that wrapped, like thorny branches, around her heart. She could feel the places where a child’s love spurted from her chest, sloshing the blood of things long lost against her ribs, coating her insides in misery. It twisted, like a knife, in the shallow gap between her lungs. She was rattled, she was shaken, as she fell into place beside Avallac’h.
Even as the mist unfurled, the glazing cold of its touch upon her spine caused her skin to spasm, her head to jerk, as she sought the face of the unwanted touch.
You’re mine.
She trembled, stumbled, and gritted her jaw together as she disentangled herself from the past. With force, her hooves fell upon the path, and the many ghosts faded into nothingness. A grit of determination shone within Avallac’h’s gaze as she sought him, lost, and she met his resolve halfway. No matter the want to find what the forest offered, she shared in his want to depart from this wretched place.
It was clear to her, without words, that memory held no promise for either of them.
Dazed by the inexhaustible variety of her nightmares, she stumbled forward upon the path, knowing that to look behind them would mean only revisiting all they had seen. But when the birds gathered, black-winged things whose feathers unfurled like tenebrous mist, her jaw set.
They cawed: a hoarse, grating, nasty sound, and her lip curled over the scars that scoured her muzzle. The challenge of the first did not keep her from lifting her head, ignoring the searing itch of tears behind her eyes as she look forward. Its kin joined in, a cacophony of raucous nonsense that tore into her ears. The temptation to indulge them was fleeting, and she bowed her neck an inch to snap her teeth, more feral beast than woman, at the hobbling chase of their wraith-made wings.
They retaliated with their screams, and her ears pinned as she shouldered her way through, her hooves meeting the ground firmly. The birds could move, could part like the ghastly mist that made them—or they could be crushed.
But she would not be stopped from escaping. She had made her way free of the tomb—she could escape this, too.
In heavy silence, she chased the light—she pursued the end.
And for once, with the weight of her heart heavy within her breast, she knew she would not force him to suffer the nuances of her curiosity. Whatever came of their trials within the forest, she was wise enough a woman to think it unwise, unfair, to subject either of them to further questioning. Her tongue was leaden behind her teeth, regardless.
She was fascinated. Simultaneously enthralled and disenchanted by the beauty of this forest, and the memories that wrapped, like thorny branches, around her heart. She could feel the places where a child’s love spurted from her chest, sloshing the blood of things long lost against her ribs, coating her insides in misery. It twisted, like a knife, in the shallow gap between her lungs. She was rattled, she was shaken, as she fell into place beside Avallac’h.
Even as the mist unfurled, the glazing cold of its touch upon her spine caused her skin to spasm, her head to jerk, as she sought the face of the unwanted touch.
You’re mine.
She trembled, stumbled, and gritted her jaw together as she disentangled herself from the past. With force, her hooves fell upon the path, and the many ghosts faded into nothingness. A grit of determination shone within Avallac’h’s gaze as she sought him, lost, and she met his resolve halfway. No matter the want to find what the forest offered, she shared in his want to depart from this wretched place.
It was clear to her, without words, that memory held no promise for either of them.
Dazed by the inexhaustible variety of her nightmares, she stumbled forward upon the path, knowing that to look behind them would mean only revisiting all they had seen. But when the birds gathered, black-winged things whose feathers unfurled like tenebrous mist, her jaw set.
They cawed: a hoarse, grating, nasty sound, and her lip curled over the scars that scoured her muzzle. The challenge of the first did not keep her from lifting her head, ignoring the searing itch of tears behind her eyes as she look forward. Its kin joined in, a cacophony of raucous nonsense that tore into her ears. The temptation to indulge them was fleeting, and she bowed her neck an inch to snap her teeth, more feral beast than woman, at the hobbling chase of their wraith-made wings.
They retaliated with their screams, and her ears pinned as she shouldered her way through, her hooves meeting the ground firmly. The birds could move, could part like the ghastly mist that made them—or they could be crushed.
But she would not be stopped from escaping. She had made her way free of the tomb—she could escape this, too.
In heavy silence, she chased the light—she pursued the end.
