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them. And secondly, nobody needs to know that you held it. It's as simple as that. Don't worry - there I go, saying it again. I swear I'll scream if I say that again tonight.'
I laughed as we left the greying embers and made our way back.
CRACK!
'Did you hear that?' I asked, spinning around, grabbing onto the staff for extra support.
'Of course I did - it was probably a stray rabbit or something,' Rhünilde said, putting a hand around my shoulder, comforting me. 'You really should stop being so … so, cautious. You're only young once as they say.'
'Doesn't really work for you, does it?' I asked her. 'I bet now you have to be as cautious as anything.'
Rhünilde smiled. 'Well I'm up here, on the borderline, in the middle of the night. I don't really see that as cautious, don't you think?'
CRACK!
'Ignore it, ignore it,' I said out loud, walking forward. There was no way I was going to look
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back, not even one little peek.
CRACK!
Keep on walking, I told myself, keep on walking. One step after another. One step after another.
'Come on Arra. Keep on moving,' Rhünilde complained. 'We've got to walk a fair bit before we get back and at this rate we're never going to get back. Just keep thinking of your bed and we might make some progress!'
CRACK!
My determination turned against me - I couldn't bear it any longer and for a split second, I took a glance back. From the hills, I could make out a dark object, moving over the embers, heading straight towards me.
'Rhünilde!' I screamed, dropping the staff. 'Rhünilde, help!'
I couldn't see her anywhere and before I knew it, I had lost my vision. Everything had gone pitch black. I scrambled at my eyes but couldn't see my hands. The starlight had gone - I was in a hellish darkness.
There was a tightening of rope and I felt my
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