Authors Note: Hi, hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Now I wonder would any of you have seen this coming, I suspect you will have, but we'll just have see. Please review, I'd really like to know what people think a bit more than usual for this chapter, since it's quite a bit longer than the others (I think)
The sun was setting, turning the sky into an artists dream, reds, oranges and purples, mixed with the pinks of the clouds and towards the east, the deep blue of night was starting to take hold, and a few glimmers of starlight were just starting shine through the increasing darkness. The mountains cast long shadows over the valleys, and on the westerly slopes, the rocks were coloured by the sky and fading light. The trees threw dark shadows all around, making the paths seem more treacherous than they were in reality. There was no wind, and the silence cloaked everything, like the impending darkness of the night.
Karl had set up camp at the top of a hollow, though he was surrounded by trees, he could see the sun set from where he was, growing up on of the trees was a strange plant, he'd not had time to investigate it closely, but it looked like something his mother grew, gardening was the only thing she could do now, Lucie now had the burden of looking after her, but he knew it would be unlikely his mother lasted the year, since the death of his father, she'd gotten slowly and steadily worse, taking comfort in her garden, and the exotic plants she grew, none more exotic than the black lilies, she'd given him one before he'd gone to Red River. He'd gotten a letter from her later on during the war, telling him about a girl, she'd talked to while tending the lilies. He sighed and watched the sun sink behind the mountains, and waited for the darkness to truly set in.
Mary sat though the dark night, cold and alone. As the moon rose, the trees became silvery, and their shadows became blurred, she could see his camp quite well now, not too exposed, but exposed enough for her to tell he was asleep. She walked round the edge of the hollow, and stopped at the tree with the plant growing up it, the picked on of the flowers and stared at it, the black lily, a dark beauty, she took the flower with her back to her own camp, and ended up putting it in water. She would have to sit up all night, to make sure she could get to him before he left. By the time dawn came, the flower was fully open, she took it and tucked the stem behind her right ear, she did not know why, but doing so made her feel safer. She could see he was just up now, picking up her gun, she walked over to the hollow.
Karl was just about to get the fire going again after the night, but a twig snapping made him stop. He spun round to see someone standing a couple of metres away, and pointing a gun at him, he recognised her at once. He looked into her eyes but saw no emotion at all, just nothingness.
"Why Marishka, what would it gain?" he said quietly, keeping as calm as he could.