His gaze lingers then drops to the medallion. "There are no secrets between a knight and his battle-witch. Not the world she came from, not the curse he carries. Not even her name is kept from him. Do you understand, witch? When I ask you a question, you will answer with the truth. Always."
Eh . . . It's not the answer he wants, so I nod.
"A thousand-year curse was placed upon all the kingdoms of the realm. 'Tis my duty to break it by the end of this era."
There's some bad juju here. I can feel it. "Or . . ."
"Or the fogs of Black Moon Draw swallow all. This realm, and all within it, ceases to exist."
I might as well have been hit by a bag of doorknobs. "No. That can't be."
"'Tis so. To break the curse, I must finish what my ancestors did not: reclaim the lands that belong to my family."
"So you prayed for a battle-witch to help you." I don't like this sinking feeling inside me, the one that says I need to help an unlikely hero save his world. I don't want anything to do with this place and definitely don't want to be responsible for not having bizarre magic powers.
"Aye." He lifts the boar's head once more.
I watch in reluctant fascination as he puts the monstrosity on. The inanimate head comes to life the moment it's on securely, the eyes flaring gray and snout wrinkling as it breathed in and out.
It's just so creepy . . .
He starts towards the entrance.
The leather strap snaps me forward, and I'm soon trotting to keep up with his long, quick stride. Embarrassed, I purposely don't look at the people we're passing because I'm afraid of what they're thinking. After my exchange with the Shadow Knight, it's harder for me to pretend this is fiction.
But it is! I scream at myself internally. It's not like these people will show up in real life anyway and the new me, the person I want to try to be here, isn't going to be upset with what complete strangers think.
A group of horses mill near the edges of the field where the earlier battle occurred. Two wait a short distance from the others and the Shadow Knight takes us in that direction.
The teen boy from earlier is holding the halter of one, a gorgeous gray dapple, that's only a few inches shorter than the huge black steed beside it. The horse's eyes glow the same strange color blue as the Shadow Knight's.
He goes to the gray one and stops on the left side.