Chapter 18 - The Dark
Floating between the border of consciousness and sleep, Jacob heard his brother gently murmur good morning into his ear. Exhausted from the nightmarish dreams that plagued him during his sleep, the younger Grimm shuddered at the terrifying encounter his brain had conjured. "Sleep well?" Wilhelm's voice inquired from beside him. Letting out a groan in response, Jake clenched his eyes shut, attempting to fall back asleep.
"Come now," his brother's voice taunted him playfully, as Jake felt him a hand lightly caress his cheek. The tender gesture initially comforted Jake, until his brain started processing how uncharacteristic it was. As the cool hand slid from Jacob's cheek to gently cup his chin, a feeling of panic pierced the exhaustion that enveloped him.
"Will?" Jacob questioned, fighting the overwhelming urge to sleep, and blearily opening his eyes.
"Not exactly," Wilhelm's voice responded coolly, as his lips brushed against the younger Grimm's ear.
At this, Jacob's eyes snapped open, confirming that although it was Wilhelm's voice that had woken him, it was not his brother who stared back.
"Good morning," his brother's voice greeted him from the stranger's smiling lips, as Jacob lay stunned. "Not a bad parlour trick, is it?" he taunted.
Trying desperately to understand the situation, Jake took in the other man's unusual appearance. High cheekbones and thin lips complemented a curiously pale complexion, his face partially obscured by a cascade of long silver hair which spilled over his black jacket. Jacob locked eyes with the curiously handsome stranger, feeling his chest constrict in fear as he noticed the other man's dark grey eyes.
Jacob uncharacteristically cursed in surprise, scrambling to pull himself into a seated position, away from the stranger.
"Tsk, watch your language," The silver haired man interjected in annoyance.
"As if I'm going to watch my fu-" Jake yelled, his response cut short by a sudden pressure constricting his throat.
"I said, watch your language," the other man chided, his voice becoming less and less like Wilhelm's as he spoke.
Struggling to breathe, Jacob held up his hands in surrender. "As I thought," the stranger answered with a smirk.
"Sorry, let's try that again," Jake apologized weakly.
"Indeed," the other man replied with a smirk.
Wilhelm awoke to the glare of the sun in his eyes, only stirring from the blankets as he realized that he shouldn't have been able to see the sun from inside his tent. Pulling himself upright, the older Grimm cursed at the open tent flap. Noting that neither his brother nor his brother's boots were in the tent with him, Wilhelm wondered if Jacob, ever the early riser, was already awake. Stumbling out of the tent, Will rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he scanned the clearing.
The forest glade was empty save for chirping songbirds, their extinguished campfire, and one remaining horse. Wilhelm called his brother's name, wondering why Jake would have left without telling him. Taking a step toward his mare, Wilhelm noticed Jacob's jacket laying crumpled on the ground. The older Grimm felt a wave of nausea overwhelm him. While Jacob may have been a bit careless at times, he was always careful with the few possessions he owned. Picking up his brother's jacket to examine it, Wilhelm noted that there was no blood on the garment, nor did the ground show signs of a struggle.
"Horse thieves?" Wilhelm wondered aloud, receiving no response except for the ever-present birdsong. "No, I suppose they would have taken Kastanie as well," he puzzled, inspecting the mare to make sure she was unharmed. "I doubt that thieves would have easily been deterred by Jacob," he continued, "He's not particularly intimidating." Noting that their supplies appeared untouched, Will felt his chest tighten as he realized why Fee was gone, "They needed to carry Jacob, he must have been unconscious. This was planned." Kastanie snorted her agreement as Wilhelm anxiously raked a hand through his hair. "But why would anyone kidnap him?" the older Grimm exclaimed in frustration as he moved to pack up their belongings.
Wilhelm felt increasingly ill at ease as he took apart the tent, noting how late in the day it had become. Desperately wanting to leave the gear, Will reminded himself that it would do neither of them any good to lose their equipment. Packing up his saddlebags, the older Grimm realized that their remaining food had been in Jacob's bags. "Excellent," Wilhelm snapped sarcastically to the empty glade, "As if I needed more incentive to find Jacob." The birds' chattering sounded oddly close to laugher in response. "This is why people like cats," Wilhelm yelled in frustration, not in the mood to be mocked by anyone or anything.
Cursing under his breath, Wilhelm pulled himself into the saddle, failing to notice that the birdsong appeared to have quieted in response.
"It's just you and me now, girl," Will muttered to his mare. Receiving a snort in reply that seemed uncharacteristically disdainful for a horse, the older Grimm sighed. "Come now, Kastanie, don't be like that," he added, guiding her out of the clearing. "I don't suppose you know which way they went, do you?" Wilhelm asked his mount, feeling foolish as he received another disparaging snort in return.
"You know, Jacob has the sugar cubes," Will added tersely.
At this, the mare's ears perked forward and she abrupted turned, trotting deeper into the forest.
Wilhelm had been riding hard since the early afternoon. Between himself and the chestnut-coloured mare, their pace had slowed considerably. Judging by the low angle of the sun's rays, Will guessed that sunset was not far off. The thick canopy of branches and waning sun cast deep crisscrossing shadows across the road and forest's edge.
A familiar feeling of dread began to well up in Wilhelm's stomach, realizing how late in the day it had become. Will knew that he should have stopped to let Kastanie rest over an hour ago, but he had pressed on for his own selfish reason: he, Wilhelm Carl Grimm, did not like the dark. His dislike was so intense that it bordered on irrational fear. In his younger years, Will hadn't understood how his brother Jacob could go out for walks at night unaccompanied, and seemed to enjoy it. The only thing that made Wilhelm's irrational fear worse was that he never felt quite as afraid when his brother was with him.
His uneasiness forced Will to ride with one hand on his pistol holster, and was making Kastanie jumpy. To his dismay, the sun was setting quickly and the shadows spread across the road had begun bleeding into each other, a reminder of the fast-approaching night. The dense canopy overhead further obscured the road ahead of them with shadows.
Kastanie stopped suddenly and began stepping nervously in place. Wilhelm felt his breath catch as he looked up from his mare and saw the silhouette of a man emerge from the shadows. Without thinking, the older Grimm reached for his pistol and aimed it at the figure.
"Jumpy, aren't you," The figure rebuked in annoyance, "I don't think your pistol is going to be much help."
Author's Note: Thank you for reading. This is the updated version of Chapter 18, uploaded on 02/2023.