***
I will never die.
The thought clawed its way up
from the murky depths of my subconscious, burrowing into the forefront of my
mind like a parasite.
I will live forever.
The wind lashed out, thrashing my
greasy hair into knotted clumps and flaying my dirt-streaked skin like a whip.
Beneath me, the horse’s sides heaved as she laboured against the storm. Her
hooves thundered across the dirt, her head bent against the gale and her mouth
foaming at the bit. Squinting against
the wind, I felt my heart plummet. Ahead, the path emerged from the tree-line into
a wide expanse of open ground. Away from the shelter of the trees, we’d both be
tossed like feathers in the wind. We’d also be vulnerable, exposed to the
searching eyes of our hunter. I gritted my teeth and leant
forward, hiding my face in the tangles of the mare’s mane.
Cursed.
The horse leapt from the trees
and I felt the tear of the wind like a thousand hands clawing at my skin. My
knuckles were white as I clung to the reins. The rain plummeted down, each drop
a shard of ice that chilled me to the bone. I felt, rather than heard, the cries of the wraiths as they clung to
the shadows of the tree-line. Their harsh squeals grated against my mind, the
tendrils of their thoughts oily and seductive. Fear gripped me like a vice.
They would not pursue me into the open, but their presence confirmed my dread.
We’d been discovered.
***
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