The Dark Rider

CHAPTER Seven



Nicola’s dream had been very vivid. She had been in a deep sleep until something had awoken her, a tingling sensation along her bare arm. She slowly opened her eyes knowing that it would be him. Their gazes met, his face almost a shadow, lit only by the glow of dying embers. His deep blue eyes gleamed in the darkness connecting himself to her as they always did, telling her now that it was time. He leaned forward and kissed her softly before pulling back, his index finger moving to his lips, urging her to be quiet. She dressed quickly in layers of linens and a thick fur hide while he stood watching by the doorway. He was not rushing her, but she felt the desperate urgency in his actions.

When she was ready he pulled back the skins and stepped outside, and she followed him out into the biting cold to where the great beast of a warhorse stood waiting. He leapt up onto its back before reaching down and grabbing her arm helping her to swing up onto the saddle in front of him. He took the reins in his hands and she gripped his arms. In the distance, carried gently on the still air of the coming night, she heard the shouts of men and could almost feel the deep rumbling of horses’ hooves against the land. In her heart she felt a flutter of fear.

He looked behind them, his eyes searching, and then with an imperceptible command they were off, threading their way through the woodland towards open fields. Soon they were in open farmland and he urged the horse on, the animal quickly picking up speed into a gallop. She looked back to see a thin column of smoke already rising from the trees where the hut had stood, where she had been sleeping but minutes before, and her eyes widened in fear. She looked up into his face but his gaze was fixed on the horizon, his eyes unreadable in the half-light.

A sudden tiredness washed over her, and despite her fear and the cold she felt herself drifting away, lulled by the rhythmic movement of the horse, the heavy pounding of its hooves on the land, and then the movement fell away and she opened her eyes and below, far below, were fields and woods, while around her the sky was filled with crimson clouds. They headed west, fleeing the shadows of the night, while all around them the sky boiled red.





Nicola awoke, the dream still filling her consciousness. Vivid images and emotions churned in her stomach, while her heart ached for the mysterious rider. How was it possible to feel such powerful feelings from a dream? Clutching the duvet she slipped out of bed and padded over to the patio window where she sat and stared out across the bay to the sea. She allowed the sun to warm her, hoping that the rugged scenery would still her heart and make the feelings go away, but they would not, and all the time, as she sat by the window, its panes still covered with raindrops, she was unaware of the marks in the grass outside, of a horse’s hooves.





Nicola walked along the deserted beach, her swimming towel clutched in her hand. The sun shone down from a cloudless sky, the low angle of its light turning the sea a deep blue. Looking around, Nicola realized how lucky she was to have this, to experience this small paradise, deep in the west of the land, when all that awaited her back home were crowds of busy, bustling, blinkered people, all rushing around at top speed, always looking forward, upwards and outwards, but never seeing themselves. Never looking inwards, where the real questions lay and where the real answers could be found.

Nicola realized that soon she would have to go back. Her short stay away from her other life could not last forever and, although she drank in and craved for the beauty and passion of the land and its wild force that was so intense here, she wanted contact again with her friends and family. She knew her situation with Stefan would have to be sorted out, that she could not hide away from it forever. She also knew that she would have to sort her own self out. She was desperate to break out of the corporate prison factory she had become entangled within. She no longer wanted to face having to spend the rest of her life sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen, every second of the day filled with dull, grey tedium.

Although she had never believed in this intense drive and desire to make as much money as possible, this master that enslaved and deadened people for life, and produced endless rows of computer-filled offices worked by equally endless rows of spectacle-wearing humans, like battery hens, but producing bigger and bigger circles of money rather than eggs, she was a part of it. Despite her unwillingness she served the same master and she had to get out. The only problem was that she didn’t know how. But now she was free. This sudden realization hit her. She had no ties, no boyfriend or mortgage to tie her down. She had no idea what she was going to do but it was a start.

Nicola strode into the surf, the chill water splashing against her legs, until she was waist waist-deep, and then she dived down into the water and began swimming along, parallel with the beach. The coldness of the sea slowly soothed the chaos of her thoughts and she swam along, her mind gradually emptying, trying to forget itself, and after a while she just knew of the movements of her arms and the kicking of her legs against the water, and she felt the dreamlike quality of swimming. How, as she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself moving through a void, floating in a silky darkness where nothing else existed.

It was then that the sudden, strong feeling of being watched returned, and Nicola’s eyes snapped open. She looked quickly up to the cliffs but could see no one there. It was then that she noticed a man standing on the beach near to where her towel was, and she saw that he was watching her swim. Shivers ran through her body amplified by the coldness of the water.

Nicola swam on, hoping that the man would go away but he did not and soon cold forced her to stop swimming. Nicola stood up in the water and looked all around. The beach was deserted, and she felt suddenly vulnerable. Walking slowly through the waves towards the beach several meters away from the man, she looked more closely at him and realized that he was quite young, looking in his late teens. Their eyes met and the boy smiled, calling out to Nicola across the surf.

“I don’t mean to scare you. I was watching you swim. You seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“I was until I noticed you,” called Nicola as she walked out of the surf onto the warm, dry sand of the beach. She walked towards the boy looking at the way he stood, the way he held himself. There was something about him that made her believe she knew him.

“I was at the hotel. They said this was a nice place for a walk,” he said, lowering his voice as Nicola approached and stood in front of him. “I’m sorry if I have bothered you.”

“It’s no bother,” said Nicola noticing for the first time his eyes. They burned with an intensity that filled her, their color a deep blue, like that of the sea, and she could not bring herself to look away.

“Are you staying at the hotel?” asked the boy.

“Only for a few more days,” answered Nicola. “I have to go home soon.”

The boy studied her, his eyes burning into her. Nicola suddenly felt as if he was looking into her soul.

“Is this a holiday or work commitments?” the boy asked.

“Holiday,” answered Nicola, “I was here with my boyfriend, but...” Nicola looked away, not finishing her sentence. The boy watched her for a moment and then looked past her to the wide sweep of the bay.

“They were certainly right,” he said.

“About what?” asked Nicola, suddenly confused.

“This is a beautiful place,” he said.

Nicola looked out across the sands that were glowing in the morning light. Suddenly she felt so alive. As if life itself was filling her veins and tingling on her skin. She turned to the boy. “It is,” she said, wanting to talk to him, to be with him. “I come down and swim in the mornings, when there’s no one else around.” Nicola paused, overtaken by the beauty of the bay. “It’s beautiful.”

“You must want to stay forever,” he said watching her as she seemed to glow with the energy of the place.

“I pretend it’s mine,” said Nicola looking up at him, seeing a depth in his eyes that made her heart race. “My own beach, my own island. Somewhere no one else can come and bother me.”

“I am sorry I have spoiled your paradise,” he said.

Nicola laughed, “I don’t think you have,” she said. The boy smiled and then looked away breaking the eye contact that had so drawn her into him. He looked up at the sky, feeling the breeze increasing. “I think it’s going to rain soon.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Nicola in surprise.

“Just a feeling,” he said. “And the clouds that are building up behind us.”

Nicola turned and saw a mass of dark-looking clouds moving across the land behind them, towards the sun that still lit the bay in deep gold. The cloud mass seemed to be growing as she watched and soon it had hidden the sun, plunging the bay into shadow. Nicola shivered. The boy bent down and picked up Nicola’s towel and gave it to her.

“We’d better get inside,” he said.

Nicola wrapped the towel around her but could not stop shivering. Seeing this, the boy took off his hoodie and handed it to Nicola.

“Here, wear this, it will keep you warm.”

“But I’ve been swimming,” protested Nicola. “I don’t want to get your hoodie wet.”

“It’s no bother,” said the boy. “Come on. It will keep you warm on the way back.”

Nicola put her arms in the sleeves of the hoodie and then pulled it over her head. It was indeed warm, although it was too big for her and looked like a baggy dress. The boy laughed, taking her towel for her.

“It suits you,” he said.

Nicola looked down at herself and then up at the boy.

“Do you think so,” she said, her eyes glinting. “Or are you just making fun?” As she spoke the first drops of rain began to fall on them and on the beach making little dark spots on the sand.

“Would I make fun of a beautiful lady?” said the boy laughing as he began to walk backwards away from her. “Come on, we’d better go or we will be very wet.”

As he spoke the few raindrops became heavier and more frequent, and soon a heavy downpour was sweeping in along the bay.

“Come on,” shouted the boy who was now making his way quickly up the beach towards the path. Nicola hesitated for a moment, but as she stood still the rain began to come down like stair rods and she could feel herself becoming quickly soaked. Shrugging she began to run towards the boy, catching him up as he neared the path. They then raced across the sands, each trying to outrun the other, giggling as they tried to barge each other out of the way. The boy reached the path first, and as soon as his shoe-clad feet were on firmer ground he pulled away. Nicola followed, her bare feet pounding heavily on the brown earth as she tried to catch up.





Nicola stood in the lobby of the hotel catching her breath after the run from the beach. She pulled the boy’s thick hoodie, now quite wet, over her head and handed it to him. She felt suddenly self-conscious standing there in her bikini.

“I guess we’re both pretty wet,” he said, pushing damp, dark hair back from his forehead.

“My fault I’m afraid,” said Nicola. “I stole your hoodie.”

He smiled at her. Again she felt as if he was seeing into her.

“I’ll let you off this time,” he said.

As he spoke Nicola noticed a single tuft of his hair that had fallen back down across his forehead. Before she knew what she was doing she had leaned forward, reaching out to push the hair back away from his face, the curve of her bare forearm resting heavily on his shoulder as she did so. She pulled away suddenly, scared at what she had done. He reached forwards, his hand touching her arm.

“Thanks,” he said. Nicola returned his gaze, staring into hidden depths, her heart racing in her chest.

“Look, you had better go and get changed,” he said.

Nicola did not want to leave, to break the spell that he had cast on her, the electric touch of his fingertips on her skin.

“Of course,” she said, turning to go, breaking the contact between them.

“Look,” said the boy.

Nicola turned back to him, the deepening greyness outside casting the lobby into shadow and making him a dark silhouette against the failing light. For a moment, Nicola saw him as he had been before, standing over her in the firelight, his eyes full of desire, fear and hope, deep blue eyes that burned into her, and she knew where she had seen him before.

He had been in her dream.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Nicola,” she said, her voice seeming to come from somewhere far away. “What’s yours?” she heard herself ask.

“Paul,” he said.

Nicola felt time stretching, her heart beating heavily.

“I’d better get changed,” she whispered as if still in a dream. She turned slowly.

“Will I see you again?” he asked.

She turned back meeting his gaze once more.

“Sure,” she said.

She turned away and walked up the stairs to her room.