Chapter 5.2

I never found out the names of those bodies crushed in the avalanche, but it earned me another three black marks on my back. I was marked in the lantern light, crouching comfortably at Rickons feet as leaves and dirt stuck to my clammy skin and he carved out three more vertical lines next to the others.

After, I crept away, mumbling about firewood, so they couldn't see the expression of pain on my face. My shirt stuck to marks, but I shivered against the cold, and I'd rather burning pain than frost bite.

The return journey was as pleasant as the journey there. It was full of exhaustion, hunger and cold. We encountered a few patrols but each time there was no more than three men in the opposition, they were spotted far in advance and quickly taken care of. This time I didn't see any combat, Quinn took care of most of the killing and seemed to enjoy the task.

I put one foot in front of the other, keeping a couple of paces behind Rickon and blocked all else out, as if in a trance. Which is why the sudden stab of intense sensation was so shocking; from nowhere I'm struck with a painful stab of fear so nauseating that I caught myself on the nearest tree to steady myself. I searched the trees for the source, and there at the centre of the trail, half covered by dirt and leaves, was the vicious jaws of an old animal trap, rusted but still sharp. And next to it, the ghostly feet of the black shadow.

Once again, I tried to converse with it, "who are you?" the figure held its silence. "can't you speak?" I asked it. I peered into the surrounding forest but there was no sign of where it came from. Like the previous encounters, out of nowhere, I was just suddenly aware of its existence. Was it real? Could my eye be playing tricks on me? The shadow was immense and wide and seemed to move on its own. Although a shadow should have no substance, it seemed like it was thick and made of the darkest black. Even in the shade, I could clearly see the sharp outline of its body.

Rickon, by chance, had missed the animal trap and was yelling at me to hurry up. The others filtered past me, just barely missing the trap. I was about to yell a warning, then I was struck with the deliberating thought that I should stay silent. If I'm quiet and one of them gets hurt, they wont know that I knew, would they? They cant punish me for it. These men are bad people, if one of them gets hurt, wouldn't that be good? Don't they deserve it? But the idea hit me with a wave of guilt, and just as Jay is almost on top of it "watch out!" I yell. He turns. "there's an animal trap."

"how can you possibly know that? Stop yelling nonsense brat!" Quin hisses from ahead.

"no he's right." He gently uncovered the trap with his hands, revealing large rusty jaws protruding from the ground. Quin turns and stares at the trap with disbelief.

"how did you know that?!"

The squad has come to a standstill, watching the exchange. "Come on, we don't have time for this." Rickon beacons forcefully. Avoiding the animal trap, we trailed after him. When I looked back the black shadow remained guarding the animal trap, in the next blink he was gone.