The thud of an arrow nailing a hare to the great oak behind it reverberated through the forest.

I slung my bow over my shoulder and stalked toward my fallen prey. Its beady eyes stared senselessly into the distance as it took its final breaths.

"Perfect. Breakfast is served."

Plucking the hare from its perch, I walked toward the campfire some way in the distance. Florence sat in front of it, delicate hands held out in front of her in a somewhat pathetic attempt to warm them.

I whistled and held up the hare by the arrow's shaft. "Guess what I've got?"

Florence clapped her hands in a childish euphoria, a grin spread wide across her flush lips.

After roasting it over the fire for what felt like quite some time, Florence and I ate in pleasurable silence. Our first meal in days.

I pored over what our next move should be as the pink tinge of the rising sun stretched over the horizon. Assuming my tracking was accurate until this point, we were not far behind. I considered leading us West to attempt an alternate route, but our prey's home was most directly accessed from the South. We were already headed that way.

I craned my neck to peer at my companion. An auburn curl graced her cheek, still flush with pink from the cold. Her lashes curled upward in a natural way that I thought was very pretty. My body felt hot at the observation.

"Where to next, Captain?"

Her use of the satirical nickname startled me. I'd jokingly told her days ago to call me that and she seemed to have taken it very seriously.

I tried to avert my gaze from her eyes as unassumingly as possible and cleared my throat.

"Well, I was thinking we'd continue heading South. It's the most direct route."

"Aye aye."

I choked back a laugh and looked away from her.

Putting out the fire, I threw the hare's now-clean bones into the snow. I offered Florence a hand up and ignored how my stomach twisted when she took it.

I used my shirt sleeve to wipe off the blood from the arrow I'd used and put it in my quiver.

"Ready?"

"As ever." She threw me a reassuring smile and gestured for me to lead the way.

We walked on for many hours, the sun having fully risen and set again before I stopped us in our tracks.

"There. Right there." I spoke in a hushed tone, careful not to startle it.

Florence was very obviously confused as she squinted her eyes into the night. "What are you seeing that I'm not seeing right now?"

"Quiet. We don't want to scare it."

Though I couldn't see her, I felt her eyes roll.

The creature I sought froze dead in its tracks, but I felt as though it did not yet sense us.

As silently as humanly possible, I inched my fingers to pluck my bow off of my back. I held it in one hand at my side, using my other to reach back and select an arrow from my quiver.

My breaths were controlled, steady. I nocked the arrow in my bowstring, feeling its familiar stretch as I pulled it taut.

I stretched, stretched, waited, breathed, and... released.

My arrow hit home, pinning its victim to a tree as it had done so many times before. I paused, listening for an echo of the creature's pain, waiting until its breaths slowed and then stopped.

Florence's hand appeared at my shoulder. I waited for words of encouragement, or wisdom, or congratulations, or... something to make my heart flutter.

"What the hell is that thing?"

I gazed at the creature nailed against the tree. The inky blackness, its shapeless form.

"That," I breathed, "is the dark."