Black Blood

I nod slowly. Novak is right, although I don’t quite know how the ghosts could come in handy later. The screams and whispers seem to have faded into the background for a while.

It is to be hoped that I will be able to keep them out, or that they will stop making themselves heard. I’m a newbie to this world, it seems obvious.

‘Try to keep them out and don’t panic, that’s the only way to get through the night.’ It’s almost irritating how much Novak seems to know about the outside world, it makes me feel stupid.

You’d expect a crown princess to know something about the ‘subjects’, but nothing seems to be further from the truth.

I nod again. My confirmation is a sign for Novak to walk away from me to his horse.

‘If you make the fire, I’ll put up the tent.’ My gaze immediately goes to Rave, he is the only one I know who makes fire. I actually have no idea how to make a fire.

Wood, that seems a good first step. Like a headless chicken, I start walking back and forth, picking up branches.

After a few minutes, I have gathered enough branches to fill my arms. I walk back towards Novak, who has already pitched the tent, and throw the branches into the grass.

My gaze lingers on the pile of branches and I wonder what I should do next. Novak puts an iron thing into the ground next to the tent and turns around. He puts his hands in his pockets and looks at me with raised eyebrows, almost expectantly. I turn to Rave, who has taken a seat in the grass next to us.

‘Ignis,’ is my command. Rave raises his head, opens his mouth and a red glow begins to form in the back of his throat.

‘Wait,’ Novak’s voice echoes through the forest. I turn around startled. The boy comes rushing towards me at a brisk pace.

‘Don’t do that if you want to stay under the radar for a while,’ Novak tells me. I swallow and feel stupid. Novak kneels down by the pile of twigs. He puts the twigs in a sort of triangle and takes something out of his pocket. In his hands he holds two black-grey stones.

‘Have you ever made a fire?’ Novak asks, turning his head in my direction. A little embarrassed, I shake my head. I feel like a stupid and spoilt brat, what will he think.

‘Aren’t Night Riders supposed to be able to send fire?’ Again I shake my head. Novak lowers himself into the grass until he’s sitting with his legs raised next to the pile of twigs. He looks at me expectantly, as if I would have to explain something to him. I sigh deeply.

‘Sending elements is a gift of nature, not a gift. Night Riders can only send wind by nature,’ I explain. Novak has a doubtful look on his face.

‘What else can Night Riders do?’ I don’t like this subject at all, I have developed a hatred for my magic and don’t even know what I can do. I had to keep it hidden for a long time, letting myself be brainwashed by my father’s stories. Despite my hatred of this subject

Novak’s face shows that this is not a subject I will escape.

‘Sending wind, detecting dark magic, performing every spell there is, taking and giving life, we have a connection with death, immortal to old age and disease.’ It is my only and honest answer. I certainly don’t know everything about my powers, have never done half of them.

There are things that held me back, like my father’s regime. There are also things I would never want to do, take someone’s life for example. I don’t want that stamp on my name, the same stamp as my father. The stamp of murderer. Novak nods slowly.

‘Come,’ he says, pointing to the seat beside him. I do as he asks and sink to my knees beside him in the grass. These are flints.

‘Hit them together and they make sparks, make the sparks light the wood,’ he says and then pushes the stones into my hands. Novak picks up a few dry twigs and dead grass around him. He puts the little dry things on the wood in a kind of heap. I sit a little confused, with the stones in my hand, looking at Novak.

‘Well do it,’ he urges. I hit the two stones against each other but nothing happens.

‘Harder.’ I hit the stones harder, a few times in a row, and sparks do indeed appear. I hold the stones closer to the dry heap and hit hard a few times. After a few times, a spark strikes the dry heap and a flame arises.

‘Now blow gently,’ is Novak’s next instruction. I blow on the little heap of flame and see it expand before my eyes. I blow at the fire a total of three times before it has doubled in size. Satisfied, I lean back to a normal position and look at Novak. He smiles small and nods in satisfaction.

‘Well fire you can make now,’ he informs me. I smile and get up from the grass. I knock the blades of grass and twigs off my dress and look at the fire.

Novak gets up and walks towards the tent. It is only then that I realise that there is only one tent for us together. The idea that Novak and I will be sleeping together in such a small space does not appeal to me. There must be another tent if I am to accept it. I can’t do anything against a vampire, alone in a dark forest, at night. I swallow worriedly and try to tell myself that nothing is going to happen.

Novak comes running back with a couple of trays in his hands. He lowers himself on the ground next to the fire and sits down in a cross-legged position. I stand uncomfortably next to the fire and don’t know where to put myself. He opens the trays and puts them almost into the fire.

‘I brought food from the kitchen before I left,’ he says without looking up from the fire. I nod, knowing he can’t see it.

He takes the tin of cigarettes from his pocket and takes one out. He holds the thing briefly in the fire until the tip burns and then puts the cigarette between his lips. He turns his head and looks at me.

‘Are you coming to sit down?’ he asks, blowing out the smoke as he speaks. I nod quickly and sit down next to him in the grass. Uncomfortably, I pull a blade of grass from the ground.

A question is burning on my lips but I am too afraid of the answer to ask it. I feel Novak’s eyes piercing my side. Novak’s hand, with the cigarette, comes into my sight. He holds the cigarette out to me and I gratefully take it from his fingers. I take a puff, let the smoke slide over my lungs and slowly blow it out. The smoke seems to give me the courage I needed.

‘Is there only one tent?’ I ask slowly. I hold the cigarette back up to Novak. He takes it out of my hand and holds it next to him.

‘Yes,’ he answers nonchalantly. Immediately my head is working overtime again in thinking up the worst scenarios. He won’t? No. I shake off the thoughts as much as I can but I can’t quite shake off the panic.

‘Is that a problem?’ asks Novak next to me and takes a puff from the cigarette. Lying alone outside in this forest might be a worse choice than alone with Novak in one tent. Letting Novak sleep outside doesn’t seem like a good option either. I have no other choice.