The Darkness was heavy around Dwayne as he made his way through the marsh. He had the feeling he was going in circles, but he couldn't prove it. He had to get back to that mansion before anything happened to Rachel.
He tripped on a root, and fell face down in the soggy marsh. He jumped up quickly, feeling to see if any leeches had connected with his skin. He stood looking at his surroundings, wondering if he would ever find a way out. He was lost, he thought.
"Psssst." A voice in the air comes to him. He turns around in circles and falls back into the marsh. "Damn it!!" he yells.
"Such language!" An old woman says as she sloshes up. "Who might you be lurking in my marsh?" She asks curiously.
He stared up at her with his mouth hanging open.
"It's unpolite to stare boy. Are you just going to sit there??" She says as she pulls him up by the hood on his robe.
He stumbles and almost falls back into the marsh, but steadies himself. "I'm lost." he says to her.
"And I am old." She says, smiling a toothless smile. "Ah well, follow me. "She said, as she turned and started walking away. "You coming, I don't have all night."
He almost had to run to keep up with her. She was old, but not slow. She led him to a small shack that looked like it was made from the marsh itself.
"Take off that filthy robe, and your shoes too." She said and stared at him. "Maybe you should take off all your clothes.. don't want to dirty up the shack."
"Can you tell me the way to..." He stopped talking as she pushed him into the shack. "Waaa hey...."
"Too many ears out there if ya want to keep a secret boy." She said, as she shut the door and lit a lamp. The light flickered , showing shadows on a more spacious cabin then what it looked like on the outside. "I know who you are boy, believe me. The girl has no right to bring you here. My great-niece is the smart one." She says, tapping her finger to her temple.
"I'm confused." he said, as he wrapped a blanket around himself.
"Sad sight boy, confused and lost." She laughed. She handed him a long shirt to put on. "I ran from that fool, that mongrel." She said, as spit fell from her chin. "You want some pourage?" She said more than asked, as she slopped a spoonful into a bowl and shoved it in front of him.
"How do you know...." Dwayne started, but the woman shoved a spoon of mush into his mouth.
"Musnt say the name, just musnt. He'll hear it like a babe calls the mother." She said in his ear. "He must not find me, for Anna's sake."
"How do you know him." Dwayne asks, as he plays with the pourage with his spoon.
"What dear? I am old, do speak louder." She said, as she started to eat. "Eat boy, don't play."
"Nevermind." He said as he noticed the slave mark on her arm.
"You know, not everyone makes it to the mansion. He was careless this time." She said with her mouth full.
"What?" He asked, as he took his eyes off of the mark and looked into her old eyes.
"WHO?" She said, looking back at him.
"Nevermind." He said as he decided to just sit and listen to her.
"Make up your mind boy." She said and then continued to speak. She poured herself a cup of homemade wine, and offered him some. "He made a pact with the cursed one, as if he wasn't devil spawn already. Hmph. Silly me, I tried to change what could not be changed. The darkness rotted his heart when he was born. OH how the town folk hated me! " She said laughing.
"Why?" he asked as he finished his pourage.
"More?" she said as she spooned more into his bowl. "Eat!! You look a little thin."
He swirled it around in the bowl, it was actually pretty good. Thoughts of Hansel and Gretal came into his mind and he pushed away the bowl.
"Manners boy, EAT!!". She said, as she continued with her story. "To them I was a witch. Anyone that could stay in his presance, and not die, was surely a witch. So, I played the part." She closed her eyes, and Dwayne thought she was dozing off. The sound of her voice made him jump, as she started to speak again. Her eyes looked glazed and far away. "They burned us at the same time." She said with a sigh. "Poor Anna, does she bear the mark?" She asks Dwayne.
"I don't know." Dwayne says, hoping she would continue with the story.
"You don't know much do you?" She says, as she takes his bowl and puts it outside for the cats. "Well, he thinks me dead. I speak not his name, I know better. He would find me and most likely throw me to the wolves. When I bore a daughter he made me his slave. Anna was to marry, OH I forget his name." She says to Dwayne.
"Chester?" Dwayne asks.
"Ah yes, the handsome one, Chester." She says with her toothless grin. Her smile faded as she started to tell of the burnings. "He wanted Anna ever since she was a child. I do not know what happened to her baby girl. It was not Chesters, thats for sure. The evil one put a curse on her."
"But, if both of you are alive, who burned that day?" Dwayne asked in confusion.
"We both died that day. He led the townfolk to believe we were darker than he was. They hated Anna even more for bareing his child. Chester, poor dear, has never been the same since." She said with a tear in her eye.
She's crazy, he thought.
"You probably think me a fool. Watch your thoughts boy, I can see right through you." She said, as she brought a small chest to the table. "He took my youth and my charm. He took Anna's diginity, and mad an illusion." She took out pictures of what she used to look like.
Dwayne looked at her, and then to the pictures in disbelief.
"He took all that I had in me. While he made Anna believe one thing, I escaped. She truely believed I was dying at the stake. I escaped to this glorious marsh to escape a master I never wanted. Anna stayed, giving up all hope to be with Chester. There is no telling what that monster tells her." She said, as she put the pictures away.
Dwayne sipped at the wine as she continued with her story.
"He wants to play games with you, or else you would have been dead by now. There's just too many there, to many." She said shaking her head.
"Too many what, where???" He asked, starting to get frustrated.
"Take me to Chester. It's time we finish this." She said as she put on her robe. "Well, get up boy, and close your mouth."
"How can I take you to Chester, when I am lost." Dwayne said as he put a clean robe over his long shirt.
"You were never lost, you only took a deteur when you found me." She said as they went out the door.
"Then why didn't we move on to Chester's sooner?" HE asked, as she shoved a lantern into his hands.
"You had to learn boy, you had to learn." She said, as she started to walk faster than before.
"But, I haven't learned a thing." Dwayne said as he started to run after her. "You haven't even told me your name."
"You have learned more than you think." She said, still not giving him a name.
"Your name!" He said from behind her.
They travel in silence for what seemed like miles. A whisper in the breeze comes to Dwayne's ear.
The wind was speaking to him, and bringing him what sounded like a name.. He couldn't quite make it out though.. "Shhhhhharrrrr" Is all he could hear.