Chapter Text
Snow-pregnant clouds sat heavy on the dusk horizon, casting fat shadows across the treetops. Jesper urged his horse on, the sturdy animal pulling his rickety carriage without complaint. The crunch of snow beneath well farriered hooves and last bird song of the day were the only noise that permeated the forests underbelly; an eerie reminder he really was alone.
In moments like this, Jesper often found himself lost in thought, day dreaming of tea and feeding a hearth laid fire with crisp, dry pine wood. Napping, curled beside the dancing flames like a spoiled house cat - instead he couldn't feel his toes. The potential to find anyone at the end of the long, northern trail was barely a consolation prize in comparison and statistically improbable.
Still, he urged his horse forward, knowing for certain the animal would get a thorough rub down and all the oats he wanted when their journey was over.
Night came swiftly, blanketing the forest in darkness as well as cold. The tip of his ears screamed in frozen protest and his eyes watered, irritated by a wind that pierced him to the bone. Jesper could do nothing to stop his teeth from chattering.
The cabin appeared suddenly. In the low light it loomed like a giant, sleeping beast, noD distinguishable features visible save for it's smokey breath.
Jesper had to squint to see the smoke rising from the chimney, juxtaposing itself against the star lit sky.
He urged his horse to amble a bit further.
"Whoa," he said. His voice, although a whisper, was loud as a gunshot.
He climbed out of the carriage, his movements rigid, muscles tense. Unhooking the horse, Jesper mused upon his findings. He led the animal to an open lean-to, securing the reins to a post just inside it's threshold, and was pleasantly surprised to find hay lining the wooden floor.
"Look at that," he said, stroking the length of the horses face. "Have a snack while I go find some mail to deliver."
He gave the horse a pat on the rump as he stepped back into the snow.
The cabin was not a small affair, and where it wasn't in pristine condition it certainly had character. Icicles hung forlorn from the lintel, thick at their point of contact. They'd been cut recently, broken haphazardly only a dozen centimeters down.
Jesper, not traditionally short, was still a solid few hands length from the ice. For a moment he worried this was the home of a giant.
Gathering his courage, he knocked.
The sound was hollow.
"Hello?" He said, meaning to call but his voice was that of a mouse. "Anyone home? I'm here to take your mail for delivery." If you have any mail.
No reply.
Gingerly, Jesper dared to try the door. To his surprise, it was unlocked. It opened with a loud creak. A menacing darkness greeted him, threatening to swallow him whole.
" Hello?" His voice, again, a squeak.
For a long moment he stood there in silence, straining to hear anything.
A soft exhale to the right of his ear was mistaken for the whisper of the wind and Jesper didn't register what hit him a moment later.
The air in his lungs effectively left his body as two, thick fingered hands wrapped around his throat.
A scream clawed its way up his diaphragm before getting caught at the base of his neck, unable to slip past the fingers strangling him. For a long, painful moment he tried to gain his footing only to find he was pinned.
Jesper gasped, adams apple bobbing against a thick digit. He stared up at his attacker, eyes watering as he went limp. Saliva pooled past his lips and a distinct, vulnerable heat spread within the confines of his trousers but he couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed.
Only when Jesper saw the darkness licking at the edge of his consciousness did he fully register the two stormy, inhuman eyes staring down at him
And then Jesper knew no more.