Mercy & Fire

5. A Night's Catch

Rovan

A rabbit scurried around the dirt floor of the dark forest as if fire licked its hind legs. It was too dark to distinguish much else other than trees and shrubs if the moonlight hit just right, but this rabbit was as bright as the sun. It was as if all the moonlight was centered on its pure white fur.

It jumped and weaved through the forest, and I could feel myself running after it, desperate to catch it once and for all. In my vision, I could see my hand reaching forward, brushing the soft, white fir only for a second before I stirred out of sleep.

Every time I managed to fall asleep, I woke up this way. Grumpy at an imaginary, white rabbit that had plagued my dreams for months now.

It was bad enough that night couldn't approach without the ghastly voices in my head going out of control. They usually weren't so bad. They liked to force me to do their will every once in a while, but usually, they were pretty tame. Ever since that blasted white rabbit appeared in my dreams, though, the voices seemed to keep me awake on purpose. I was exhausted and past the point of keeping a sound mind.

They took advantage of this and took the steering rope straight out of my hands. I would black out and stir out of my stupor only to find myself in the midst of a massacre.

It was truly troublesome, especially now as I looked at the white rabbit herself, sitting and nodding off across from me in the flesh.

She was obviously frightened, which is probably why she fought her sleep like a warrior in the night. Her eyes continually closed and threatened to roll to the back of her head, and a second later, her head would weigh her down and fall to the side. Each time she would jolt awake and act like it hadn't happened.

Eventually though, she couldn't hold on any longer, and I knew she would end up with a knot on her head from the impact. Her head tipped over once more, and I decided I wouldn't help her.

Only... the conscience I didn't know I had made me rethink my decision.

My hand caught her head out of instinct as the lights behind her eyelids went out. I slowly let her rest her weight on the back of the cushioned seats and sighed as I settled back down on my side of the carriage. I placed my elbow on the small window to my left and rested my head on my arm. Only one eye remained on her.

I could tell she was naive and sheltered. No woman would fall asleep in my presence unless they truly hadn't faced danger before, and I suppose that's why she stirred these foreign sympathies within me.

I could have let her go free in that forest but every muscle in my body moved on its own, and quite honestly, I wanted to take her. She glowed with innocence and purity, which was something so rare to find in my world. When I saw her running through that forest, it was as if I had found the last piece of shiny gold in a world full of ashes.

Truly, she was a dead fish in the river the second I saw her. She was my catch of the night, both in my dreams and in this overnight invasion.

I moved to rest my elbows against my knees, resting my head on my hands as I watched her sleep. This was uncharted territory for me. I didn't particularly care for women in any sense at all. I had no friends besides Joaqim and even he only served me out of duty. I suspected that was the only reason I hadn't killed him during one of my episodes of madness.