She is floating in darkness.
No sensations.
A recognised voice.
“She-wolf, what’s wrong? Don’t do this to me,” he cries.
The darkness swallows any response she may have had.
She is floating. Alone.
No, not alone.
There is Hate. Hate says, ‘Soon you will be mine, to use as I used her’.
“Waelden?”
Hate sits on her chest to stop her saying more.
Then a memory, hers, or someone else's. Holding a dead child in her arms as he left.
She almost thought something. ‘That was not me?’
‘It will be’ the darkness of Hate fogs her mind. ‘It always is.’
No!
“Waelden?’ she stutters, feeling herself being carried. Her head is resting against his chest. She can hear his heartbeat.
‘Mama!’ says the girl. The girl is distressed.
“Be gone’ she thinks to the darkness,
The darkness laughs.
“Rest, She-Wolf,” he places her gently on the bed.
“Papa, I’m scared. When I saw you out there, I saw mama again.” the girl says.
“I know love. I did too. But this time we will heal her. No matter what it takes.”
The girl moves. She can ‘hear’ her footsteps on the wooden floor.
“Go get Etta, get anyone who can help.”
His voice holds the sound of desperation. The darkness of Hate revels in it.
‘Let him know loss upon loss.’
She is weak, but something alongside her growls. She fights to reach out and grasp his hand.
‘No!’
There is a flash of silver. A face, though not a mannish one. The silver eyes blink.
“No? What can I do then? Speak to me Yllfa, tell me how to help you.”
She knows Etta cannot help. She also knows help is not far away.
There is the sound of something battering against the window.
Crow, she thinks. She has sent the crow.
‘Hrost, Hrost.’
The darkness laughs. ‘The bird is but a messenger. It has no power’.
The girl opens the door. The crow flies in and sits on her chest.
The darkness does not like that one bit.
She is flying. Her strong wings are riding the air as she looks down over the land.
There is a grove of trees. A Land beyond Land. She flies down
‘Ah, there you are,’ Silver eyes says. ‘He must bring you to me, daughter. And the sword also.’
