Chapter 5

Katrina threw the door of the carriage open and warned the coachman: "The Horseman is back! He has nearly reached us!"

By the time she had ended her sentence he was nearly there. Katrina jumped of the carriage and ran as fast as she could. She ran into the forest, glad that the trees had grown to stand very close in this part of the forest. That gave her an advantage towards the Horseman. On feet she could slip through small gaps while the Horseman had to make a detour.

After she had ran for several minutes she couldn't hear the horse's patter anymore. She allowed herself to rest, still listening, but hearing nothing but the normal forest sounds.

Katrina looked around, trying to make out where she was. She was familiar with the forests around her former hometown, she used to play there as a child and when she grew up she took long walks either to gather herbs for her teas or just to enjoy a few hours of solitude.

It didn't take Katrina long to figure out where she was and she remembered that there was an old look-out place for hunters close-by. She would be safe there for a while.

Katrina walked for a few more minutes and found the look-out she was searching for. Once she had climbed up and settled down, she started thinking about the return of the horseman. Why wasn't he dead? The charm that made him undead should have been lifted after he got his head back and the person who controlled him was dead. Unless her stepmother was not really dead.

Katrina remembered reading about a magic ritual to bind the soul of a person to a place, preventing it from going to the next world. If her stepmother had bound her soul to the Horseman's tree, she would be able to further control him. That meant the only way to stop him and leave him dead for good was to lift the ritual her stepmother must have performed before her death to keep her from dying completely. There was a huge flaw in this plan though. The spell to reverse the one her stepmother had caused was in the book Katrina had given Ichabod back then.

She had to get back into town and contact her husband to ask him if he still had the book. Katrina did not like the idea of a confrontation with Ichabod, who had made it very clear that he did not wish to see her again. She could not be considerate of her hurt feelings though, not when lives were in danger.

Katrina pondered her possibilities. She was near enough to the pension she had been heading to to make it on foot. It would not be a good idea to walk through this deserted area alone in the middle of the night while the Horseman was still after her though. If the coachman had successfully escaped he would get help soon. And if he had not - peace to his soul - they would be sending people out to search for him in the morning. They would assume she had reached the pension and stood there, but they would miss their coachman. Katrina could not help but feel sad at the thought that no one would miss her.

Ichabod Crane was pacing his apartment, nervously looking at the long case clock. It was 9 PM and he was nearly sure Katrina had left earlier two days ago, but still his mind was not completely ready to accept this truth and what it meant. He did not feel different from the way he felt the last two days. He still felt miserable, lonely and ... in love.

"Masbeth!" He called. A moment later the boy came out of his room and looked at him questioningly."Masbeth, what time was it when you brought Miss Katrina to the station?"

Masbeth looked confused, but answered the question. "I do not know exactly which time it was when she left here, but she took the train that left at 8.30, Constable Crane."

Ichabod was not sure if this was the answer he had hoped for or the one he had feared. He was certain though that there was no way to escape his feelings. He loved Katrina and he was now ready to admit that he had already loved her when he first saw her. The logical, scientific side of him did not believe that something like love at first sight existed, but his heart told him something else. He loved Katrina; he always had and probably always would. She was the only person he could open up to, the only human being he would show the emotional part of him. Ichabod knew he needed Katrina, because without her a part of him would be forever lost.

"Do you know where she went?" He asked Masbeth.

"Yes, she was on her way back home. I do not know where she is staying exactly though.

"We have to find out then. Pack a few things; we will take the 10.30 train," Ichabod announced.

"We are going to bring Miss Katrina back then?" Young Masbeth asked excitedly.

Ichabod smiled. He knew Masbeth liked Katrina very much, she had become like an older sister to him and the thought of not seeing her again had hurt the young boy, too.

"Yes, we will bring her home."

It was past midnight when Ichabod and Masbeth arrived at the station, so they decided to search for a night quarter and begin their search for Katrina the next day.

"There is a small pension not far from here. We can take a hansom," Masbeth suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea, young Masbeth."

Ichabod was eager to see his wife, but his logical mind told him that there was no need to wake up everybody who could know where she was. A few hansoms were waiting for clients near the station and they took one, asking to be brought to the nearest pension. They had nearly reached their destination when the coachman suddenly stopped abruptly.

Ichabod opened the door and was going to ask what was wrong, when he saw a terribly familiar scene. In the middle of the street lay a male body without his head. Next to him was a horsewhip, indicating that the man had probably been a coachman, too. He is back. The Horseman is back, Ichabod thought alarmed.

He knelt down next to the body when he heard Masbeths frightened voice."Constable Crane! Look what I found!"

Ichabod joined the boy and immediately saw what had scared him that much. On the ground lay a coat Ichabod recognized as Katrina's. He tried to keep his emotions under control and process the scene to understand what had happened here.

"She must have been this man's passenger. She probably took of her coat in the carriage, because it was warm enough in there. When she saw the Horseman approach she must have jumped out and ran away."

"Do you think ..." Mastbeth could not complete his sentence.

"I do not know." He tried and failed to keep his voice steady. "She cannot have made it far on feet; we have to search the area."

Ichabod tried to ban the thought from his mind that they might be searching for another body. He could not allow himself to break down now. If his wife was still out here she needed his help. Ichabod sent their coachman to drive to Sleepy Hollow and get as many volunteers as possible to help them search for Katrina. He doubted that there would be even one person who was willing to come out here when they learned that the Horseman was back though.

Crane turned to Masbeth. "You can go back to town with him, if you want. I cannot ask you to risk your life again."

The boy looked at him decidedly. "Miss Van Tassel has always been kind to me. I will not forsake her."

"Thank you," Ichabod answered with heartfelt gratitude.

Crane followed the trace of broken branches and footprints, indicating that a person had run this way not long ago. It did not take him and Masbeth long to find the look-out place. Cranes heart beat faster, when he saw that the trace ended there.

"Katrina!" He shouted, hoping she was up there, safe.

Katrina did not trust her ears when she first heard her husband's voice. This could not be real, he could not possibly be here! Then she heard the familiar voice again and her heart started beating faster. He is here! He is really here!

Excitedly Katrina answered: "I am up here, Ichabod!"

Ichabod sighed in relieve and hurried to climb up the stairs, followed by Masbeth, who managed the task of climbing much more skilful than the Constable.

Eventually, both men had reached their goal."Katrina, are you injured?" Crane asked worriedly.

"No, I am fine. Ichabod, the horseman is back! I saw him!"

She desperately wanted to talk about his feelings for her and if their marriage still had a chance, but she had to tell him about the horseman first.

"I know. We found your carriage and the body of the coach man."

Katrina looked sad, she had hoped the man had managed to escape, too.

"We sent our own coach driver back into town to get help. I doubt he will come back though. Who can blame him."

Ichabod looked at his wife and saw that she was shivering. He took her cloak he was still carrying and gently placed it around her shoulders.

"Thank you," Katrina said softly.

The closeness of the man she loved was intoxicating and both she and Ichabod had completely forgotten young Masbeth's presence.

Katrina could not hold back the question that bothered her any longer.

"Why did you come after me?"

Crane hesitated, thinking about what to tell her and how. "I had a case today, a lethal accident. The victim's neighbor believed that another neighbor who is known to be a witch had something to do with her death. I went to her house to speak with the woman, who assured convincingly that she was not involved in her neighbor's accident. She did not deny being a witch though and was surprised I did not question her magical powers. I told her about you, about what you did to me."

He looked his wife in the eyes and saw heartfelt remorse in them. "The old woman told me that a love-spell cast on a person who does not already have feelings for the witch speaking the spell loses its power within 48 hours. It has been 52 hours and 35 minutes since you boarded the train and I still love you with all my heart," Crane admitted.

Katrina smiled warmly at him. "I love you, too. I have from the moment we first met. I hope you can forgive me. I never meant to hurt you, I was just afraid to lose you."

"I know and I already forgave you, my love. I came here to take you home with me."

Crane took his wife in his arms and kissed her deeply. Katrina returned his kiss with a passion that made his heart beat faster. They both had completely forgotten that a very embarrassed Masbeth was watching them.

After what seemed like an eternity they let go of each other to catch their breaths.

"I am afraid we have to deal with our undead friend before we can go home."

Katrina nodded. "I think I know why he is not really dead. I thought about it the whole time. The only explanation is that my stepmother is still in control of his head. There is a dark magic ritual I read about that allows a witch to bind her soul to a place on earth, preventing her from dieing completely. If she bound her soul to the horseman's tree, she is still able to control him. There is a counter-spell for that ritual, but it is in the book I gave you."

Ichabod smiled and took the book from a pocket on the inside his coat.

"I still wear it above my heart."

Katrina returned his smile, feeling touched that her husband had kept her gift despite their fight. Katrina took the book from him and searched for the spell. Only parts of a few words were missing because of the hole in the middle of the book. She could figure the missing parts out considering the context.

"Let us go then," Katrina said.

"Go where?" Ichabod asked, having a feeling he would not like the answer to this question.

"Back to the horseman's tree, of course," his wife explained.

He had been right; he did not like the answer at all."What will we do when the horseman appears?" He asked worriedly.

"I suggest we run of in different directions, you two distract him and I finish the counter spell."

Crane did not like that plan either, but for once he could not offer a better idea, so he reluctantly agreed.