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Mara had slept fitfully, her rest broken by nightmares of shadow and death, many desperate soul shattering screams had intruded in her mind, feelings of pain and suffering had causing her to toss and turn and just as she thought she would scream out… nothing ! a silence so deathly still that it brought with it a feeling of great despair and sorrow. Only then had she awoken, her dark eyes filled with much grief and sorrow for as the second night of the Yule had passed undisturbed for those within the Green man and the village without, she alone of all of them knew that others somewhere had not fared as well!
A silver tear trickled down her pale cheek as she rose, walking over to the small north facing window she looked out at the dark silhouettes of the trees shadowed against the orange and pinks of the new dawn. She had sensed something out there, waiting and watching, White Paws, the dog had too! she knew by the way he had continually nipped the boy’s ankles and tugged on her cloak to hurried them on in their task. She had said nothing, Birger was but a boy and needed not to know of such things. She had hoped to share her misgivings with Arato only to find that by the time they had returned he had already alighted to bed.
However even as she studied the swaying of the distant trees she knew that what she had felt out there was not the thing of her dream’s, no the Evil in her dream had been filled with great anger and resentment and envied with evil intent those of flesh and blood, it looked for something or someone…something to make it…..!
She stopped in her thoughts rubbing at her right temple where a dull ache had begun to develop, as it always did when she ponder and examined long the content of her dream’s a side effect that she had long come accustom too but curse all the same.
A faint clink of metal made Mara suddenly look up ’that sound’ she thought ’I’ve heard it before’ In her dream, the memory of the pained screams had driven it from her mind but it was definitely one in the same. Looking down on the courtyard she saw the reindeer and their sledge, but no rider. She tilted her head slightly... she had seen those reindeer before, in the stable as she and Arato had arrived and the sledge too although it had not been hitched, though it had been filled with furs as it was now. In her mind she swept the common room of the inn recalling the faces of the previous morning, the Innkeeper, the boy, the old woman, the trio of hobbit’s, the dwarf, the elf and the tall man none of whom had looked like fur traders, then she remembered the young woman, fur boots and strange word’s. ’the hunter’ she thought suddenly turning from the window and hurriedly throwing back on the dark pants and rust tunic she had worn the night before, she was still pulling on her boots as she rushed downstairs and out into the courtyard.
Mara stopped realising that her sudden appearance had startled the small group of animals and birds that had gathered about the reindeer, a few others from the inn had also come out to see what was going on, the fur’s lay strewn on the ground about the sledge so they could all see that the rider was not lying injured on it’s boards.
‘Where do you suppose she is?’ someone whispered but Mara was barely listening she had slowly started moving towards the deer , Her eyes transfixed on the fear reflected in their dark glassy eyes, something had frightened them. ’enough that they may have left their rider behind?’ she wondered silently. Slowly reaching out her hand she gently stroked the side of the nearest ones face.
‘if only you could speak and tell us where you mistress is!” Mara whispered.
Suddenly one of the birds a small wren danced about her head chirping wildly, she looked up. ‘I’m sorry little friend, but I know not the old ways and understand not the language of the avian’ she smiled sympathetically. Turning back to the deer she wondered if perhaps checking the halters and the sledge would turn up any clues as to why it had returned rider less.
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