The Hunted.

When my eyes opened, a slight frosty chill brushed my face. Forest, vast forest with no end in site but it was silent, brilliant in its eeriness. A sharp heavy pain at the back of my head left me a bit lightheaded as I stood up in confusion. I tried to recall what happened, only flashes of inconsistent vague pictures flickered barely noticeable in my mind. 1

Where was i? 2

Finding my ground I paced lightly towards an illuminated path, treading softly against the brown leaves below my sandals, partly not wishing to make a noise, partly taking it all in. The forest, strange it was but in a beautiful way and the trees reached so high they seemed to encompass most of the sky, quite far apart were the larger ones with the smaller ones a bit more dense, you could not see very far.3

“how did I end up here?” 4

scouring for it in my mind for answers, all I could recall was the few moments ago i woke up and with no idea where I was, or indeed who I was. It was night and as I wondered on the dusty path i found nothing made sense to me, only a feeling, a familiar feeling orbing distantly around me, senses of past memories not willing to be captured remaining distant, the smell of decaying leaves, wet tree trunks and cent of flowers triggered the flashes. Faces, smiles that remained were out of reach,flashes of me running through the woods, hunting, smell of familiar heavily spiced food which stirred bliss in my fragmented, fractured mind even the light leaking through the forestry lighting my semi curved path brought distant flashes of familiarity to me yet I could not capture or make sense of it all, so far and distant from me yet so close it was taunting me, hoping I can remember but the flashes always seemed to fade. 5

I was soiled and the garment of a brown colour covered me to my knees, i could not remember why i was dressed like this but it was far from priority. I had to move wearily careful not to utter a sound both in my speech and my ever so silent fearful pace, scanning everywhere and around me with a dread that seemed never unknown to me, the loss of my me seemed immeasurable. 6

Whilst I could not see the moon or the stars, light still pierced through the gaps of the leaves to create ghostly torrents of illumination and this had brought some comfort to me as well as fascination within my chaotic mind. Simple things such like a leaf falling from the acacia tree in this deadness of a night seemed to render to me a pure exquisite wonder. Yet as the thoughts ran rampant in my empty, conflicted mind my awareness surfaced suddenly with a sharp intense familiarity as if i was not alone. I felt a deep chill run over my body as my senses became keenly alert as ripples in the still water in a paddle close to the path shimmered, not restricted but systematic, whatever it was it was not coming from the water. 7

I knelt down to put my ear against the floor so I could hear it, hooves, possibly a rider but it was moving too fast and the treads were too heavy on the ground. The ripples in the water became stronger and I could hear it as I stood up something was not right and I did not know what it was but what i new was that it came for me and even though there was no time to reminisce and search for past thoughts i could not help but frantically and desperately search my blank, scattered, mind for answers. 8

I looked behind and started to see a figure approaching, a rider, quickly I got behind a tree to hide myself and as he approached his shadowy self got clearer, I saw the horse and it was as black as night it ran in silvery on the accents of its muscles lifting dead leaves off the ground as it ran seeming like it gave fright to the earth with the innate leaves themselves. The closer he got the more i saw the reigns, frantic as if they shook violently in the air on their own. I was paralysed with intense, crippling fear, it was surely coming for me, i felt its need for me like a strong desire that had to be satisfied, yet some denial in me made me stay put even though every ounce of my being was screaming run! I stayed put waiting, drenched in fear. It seemed wrong to run and in the midst of this and I still could not fully make out the rider, only a silhouette dancing to the motion of the beast up and down, slowly and violently as he approached me with ever increasing speed. I saw see the reigns pulling the horse’s mouth, exposing its teeth in a frightful stance that could frighten even the gods, his robe was long, thick and dark in color as it was left fighting in the air behind, violently stretched back by the friction of the turbulence, 9

‘Run!’ I whispered to myself, ‘he is after you, why wait for it!’ 10

I realised i was in a silent conflict with myself, i wanted to run yet it was as if I was mesmerized, enticed by its motion, seemingly surreal and ghostlike. I was gripped in fear, I did not move. His face was still not clear and within his dark black cloak and as he approached closer I felt my chest constrict like a rope was tied around me and pulled slowly from both ends slowly suffocating me, I struggled to breathe, gasping for air, closer, my site started to blur, and with a sudden burst of will, struggling to get up as I had fallen to my knees I broke free from my paralysis and ran dizzily in panic into the depth of the forest. 11

The further I went from him the easier it became to breathe and I kept running, dodging the tree stumps, trees, rocks and other forestry things lying everywhere until I reached a steep fall into a shallow valley. I stopped to regain my breath behind an old thick tree at the edge of the cliff as it seemed to me that i had lost him. Breathing heavily as if trying to pull in all the air in the world glimpses came to me that ran sharp pains to my head, first it was only darkness, then faces.. but not faces, black cloaks around them, black soiled robes that covered their heads but, no faces, I struggled with the sharp, needle-like pain grabbing my head to my knees as if to pull it off then another glimpse, it was an army of them, thousands stretched out to the end of my sight beyond a fiery-like sky, as if it was dusk, or a large blazing fire engulfed some tormented city from beyond them. As another flash hit me my nose started to bleed, droplets trickling down slowly down my lips and as it hit the floor, all of them, in a sudden aggressive turned and faced my eyes in a violence that shook me, it was as if I was watching them secretly and they had discovered me, it was absolute horror. Immediately I heard a deep and loud neigh coming from the distance knocking me out of my flashes, I knew he had found me. 12

I started to feel the ground again, he was coming, I could not jump into the valley so I started running sideways looking for a point to cross but he was getting closer and my chest was starting to constrict again whistle I struggled to see, then at the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of him again.13

“what do want from me!” 14

I let a violent cry out to him struggling to run as my chest felt that much tighter. I could feel my eyes dying in their sockets, painful as if I scraped them in sand and in my panic disorientation I could sense him getting closer, I could smell him, very thick and dense smell running a cold burn to my lungs that made me choke, I could not run anymore, with the last burst of my depleting energy I took a few more steps and collapsed hard on the ground plagued with dark mud, stone and decaying leaf. blurry as it was I saw him like a shadow approaching me, heavy thick breath of the beast he rode radiating ferociously and its eye facing me with the slightly tilted heavily manned head becoming a bit more clearer, looked as if to stab me with its unforgiving gaze, as if the rider himself was looking at me through them. I looked to the face but only a dark cloak covered it to where his nose should be, I must be seeing things. 15

“please, what do you want?”16

I screamed within me with all the strength I could muster but only the sounds of my dying gasp came forth out of me, I was reaching out as if to reach out to him, to his humanity, 17

“please! Listen to me! Friend, you don’t have to do this!”18

I cried in vain and as he got close I saw no humanity, but something else, i felt it even deep within me, the coldness and the dark, blackness surrounding it, surrounding my eyes, stronger and larger. Fear kept me conscious as my heart bit furiously trying to explode inside my chest I almost moved involuntarily to its constant beating. Swiftly it pulled on the reigns of the large powerful horse with extraordinary aggression which made the beast lift its hoofs so high with a loud deafening neigh that rendered me delirious as it dropped its hooves violently on the floor and the dust it created cloaked them furthermore, breathing it increased my agony and pain 19

“please, what do you want?” 20

in appeal i tried to reason but the dust slowly cleared and he dismounted, coming at me slowly, there was breathing, thick streams into the air but, no face, i felt deep footsteps vibrating deep into my spine as i lay of the ground and the cloak moved patiently to their motion as though there where yet no feet, 21

who are you? tell me what i have done! why do you chase me like this? ” 22

I cried silently, I was absolutely terrified and at this moment, I felt the cold bitter tears streaming down my face, hope had left me alone a cold to this bitter truth. Then with sudden force i was thrown to a tree close by, hitting it so hard I released a deep moan of sheer exquisite pain as I chocked out some blood on to its cloak, its thick muscled, armoured hand which seemed to appear from nowhere gripped my throat with such force as if to snap it whilst a very deep vibrating noise came from it like the dense blackness around its head scanned me. I faced it with no more strength of words, no more questions, no more pleas. As I felt everything stop around me I felt a sudden, sharp piercing pain bringing me back as something sharp sank into the flesh and bone of my thigh, my body frozen in shock as he threw me with ease to the unforgiving ground. I hit my head on a rock a sharp distance away, which sent
intense flash backs flickering violently in my mind, I saw what seemed to be me, I saw other people but there seemed to be panic, I was hurt, the pain, many were hurt, I felt the fear, smell of burnt flesh and searing heat as I relieved it, houses were burning and so were the crops, the children, there were many of them laying on the muddy ground within the patches of the violent fire in the night. I saw the army of these things again, stretching far into the a dark mountainous area as they slowly , some held large torches of fire, they were taking us by the many in cages of pure black steel, we were being hunted, they had caught me, all i could think about now, they caught me, then with the last image of the faceless ride and his beast, I lost consciousness.23