DARKLING

Excerpt from  – Taken from The Lights Went Out and Other Stories.

She slipped through into woods with the agility of one well used to nocturnal ramblings, knowing how to pick her way along the meandering path regardless of the moon’s milky glow that shone through the thickets of hazel and birch.  She hummed low to herself a verse that was popular amongst the young girls in her village.

“Rose petals, rose petals, red and white, he that I marry, come to me this night”. It was custom for maidens on Midsummer’s’ Night to make potions to bind their admirers in love and matrimony and Emma Loxley needed only one more addition to a concoction she had ready: leaves that could only be harvested after nightfall.

She moved on further into the wood, her thoughts on the son of one of her father’s friends, a handsome boy who was much admired among her circle of friends, for his pleasing manners and brilliant blue eyes.  Emma smiled to herself, pulling her cloak tight against the chill air. She was dressed for concealment, she wore a grey cloak over a brown wool dress, clothing she had changed into after her parents had retired for the night before  she climbed from her ground floor bedroom window and slipped from the grounds .

As she wandered, the path narrowed and disappeared in parts. She stopped at a gap in the trees, a clearing of sorts. The area seemed strangely unfamiliar to her in the moonlight. Emma had wandered further this night than before, she had missed the church bells chime the hour. The sounds of the outside world failed to pierce the dense canopy. Branches crossed above her head creating a network of tunnels where even the moon light found it hard to penetrate.

As she turned to make her way back to the more familiar path she noticed the dark pointed leaves that she required and pulled a small knife from the pocket of her dress and proceeded to cut several stalks low from the base careful to leave enough of the plant behind. So absorbed was she in her task that she didn’t notice the stranger until she was nearly upon him.