FicWad

They arrived at a gnarled old tree, an ugly tree where the stench of death floated so strong and thickly around it you could almost see the clouds of it.
The girl saw and felt nothing. She were still unconscious, even as the horseman lowered her limp, motionless form down a little before letting her drop the rest of the way with a dull thud.
She awoke some time later, rather disorientated. Her clothing still intact, but her ribs ached terribly and her head was pounding.
When she realised she were in unfamiliar surroundings but seemingly alone, she rose up from the damp straw which had served as her bed and ever so cautiously tiptoed away from the darkness, following a faint glow emanating from a passage.
Following the glow she found it weren’t so far away as she carried on- She could scarcely make out the figure of a man, almost silhouetted in the candle light.
This room were beautiful, definitely not what she would have imagined in what seemed to be a dirty old cave. Suddenly she began to regain some of the memory of what must have happened. She remembered how she had been out in the western woods collecting fire wood, she had heard horses’ hooves approaching close by....That’s when she came face to face with the monster.

She wondered for a moment if some gallant man had come galloping on a noble white steed and saved her from death. Crushingly she came back to reality- No brave hero would bring her here. Before she had chance to disappear back into the dark- he saw her.
She gasped as her eyes met his, his unnerving, inhuman eyes, as cold as his heart. They were almost glowing in the darkness as she held his gaze. She felt sucked in. She found herself walking slowly, blindly towards him though she didn’t want to- She desperately wanted to do the opposite and run away, far away.
At that moment she knew she was under his control- as if she had chains attached, and he was pulling at them....drawing her to him.
‘’Now’’ Said he, I shall have to call you something- Perhaps your name?
She merely blinked in response, too nervous and too zoned out over the whole situation. Though he had seemed less malevolent with the question it didn’t settle her nerves any.
No tongue?, Deaf? He asked sounding more irritated at her silence.
She only shook her head.
The man was more violent now, taking her arm roughly so she let out a small cry of pain.
‘’Tell me, what is your name? If you don’t, it won’t be a happy ending for you.
A tear crept slowly down her cheek; he brushed it away roughly, then gently traced her delicate bone structure.
Go on? He said in a softer tone adding another question: Can you speak?
Finally, she swallowed and replied in barely a whisper, Yes, I’m ...my name is, Embeth.
‘’Gut’’ he replied.
Once she had spoken those words she began to feel a tiny bit less frightened and even asked him a couple of question, The first one she asked was his name to which he replied he wouldn’t tell her then, but maybe in time.
The second- Why he continued to live even though he were dead and why he stayed instead of going back home to his family.
He turned his back away from her, she feared she had angered him but What he did surprised her, He either weren’t angered at all by her questions, or he we choosing not to show it.
He had told her quite simply, there was nothing waiting at home for him, for he had no family. As for being undead- He was no longer- not in his belief after all, were his heart not beating at that very moment?
When Embeth further questioned him as to why he wouldn’t tell her his name then, he thought for a moment before responding with a dangerous smile which told her it would be wise for her to ask no more. His answer was this: Why would you need to know my name? My human name.....For I am no longer human, I don’t need that name....Do I not have enough names as it is? Hmm? The Butcher, the murderer? The headless horseman, the headless corpse? The monster? A murderer......You see I am all of these things; I have all of these names. He stayed silent waiting for her to respond, reading her face like a book when she said nothing, He explained a little more, as if talking to himself rather than Embeth- You see, I forgot my humanity a long time ago, Long before you were born, I forgot everything, I don’t need any of that, weak, human things. The more I hated the less human I became, the less human I became the better a warrior I was, am and will be. My name held me back.
‘’Oh; was all Embeth said.
He raised an eyebrow at this, rather expecting more about the matter.
‘’Now, with the questions at an end; I have something for you to see....