The Darkness of Blackmoor

The moon is beautiful, the moon is the drink to a man's glass, the moon is the power the deadliest creature that ever to roam Blackmoor.

Chapter 1

London, a ghastly place to the eyes of Harry Ledford, he had detested this place since he was a young lad. His family had lived in an abnormally large house, that would’ve housed many of the homeless, but his father was too far up his own rear to help. His mother was an exception, her flowing blonde hair passed her hips, her bosom was pale and smooth, her eyes were the most dazzling of the most, pale blue, with a touch of green. She was a beauty, even Harry dreamt of her, which had brought bile to his own demeanour, he wasn’t the only son, he had an older sister named Emily, who was now married had bore three children, she lived in London still, though Harry had tried to convince her to move away, out of London. Though he assumed she was stubborn, he knew that it would’ve killed mother. He had a younger brother, Mark, two years younger than he, only twenty, but was ruggedly handsome and bore his mother’s eyes. Jealously had brimmed Harry, Mark had taken almost every woman from his grasp, and he wouldn’t even apologize.

‘You need to accept that maybe you’re not cut out for a partner Harry’.

Mark had said this to him without any sympathy, his eyes were bright with joy, which caused an uproar between the boys, which ended with Harry slamming his younger brother’s face into one of the ebony tables. Their mother rushing in, her eyes wide with disturbance and then disappointment. You boys must know when to stay behind the lines, one of you may end up dead. Was what she would say to them both, Harry hated his brother the most, Emily was the sibling he would turn to, she would stroke his cheek and smile, her eyes were dim with knowledge, ‘he’s only little, he’ll come to his senses’.

The next event that happened, Mark was only fifteen, he had already ‘come to his senses’. He had commented on Harry’s current partner, advising him to lock her up, since he himself was roaming around the house. It sickened him to hear those words from him.

It had been when Harry was twenty and Mark was eighteen, that Harry had left, he had risen in the break of morning, packing his things, what he hadn’t of known was that his brother had risen as well. Mark had caught him as he was making his way down the dirty steps of the front, ‘where are you going?’ His voice startled Harry, who spun around to see his younger sibling standing at the top of the stone steps, ‘I’m leaving’.

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m not needed here’.

Mark took one slow step down as if to get closer to Harry, but Harry wasn’t having any of it.

‘My train is leaving soon, please say what you want, and choose wisely as well, for as you know, I am not the one to leave having said nothing back’.

His eyes were trained on Mark, daring him to say anything untoward. He was met with silence and Harry nodded, ‘right, I doubt I’ll ever see you again, so goodbye’.

 

Harry believed that he hadn’t been away for too long, which annoyed him quite a bit when he was called back after hearing that his mother was ill, though he only wanted to see her alone, and not in the presence of said irritation. He placed the black bowler hat on his hair, his hair was brushed and placed back in a ponytail, seeing that his hair went down to his shoulders. He was tall, but not thin, but he wasn’t overweight, though his gut did strain over his belt buckle in an uncomfortable way. He sighed and began making his way up the dirt path towards the massive house before him, his father, brother, sister and mother would be there, and he had to make the most of it before rushing out once again. 

The doors were massive, one had to use both hands and grunt in an unmanly fashion in order to open them, Harry did so and examined the large entrance, where he walked through when he left, and all the other times before he ran away. A stairway led upwards, which was joined by two others protruding from the sides, he remembered where they led to, the left was their parents quarters and the right was the nursery and other rooms, which were kept empty until he and his siblings were old enough to leave and sleep in their own rooms.

He turned right, into the front living room, a massive window had been replaced on the far right, his mother’s idea, she hated having to use artificial lights during the day. Natural light seeped into the room, shining onto a beautiful mahogany table, his father’s little study, though his father did have a separate study, this was the place he would sit at when the family was together. There was a rustle behind him, and Harry had walked too far into the room to notice the other presence in the room.

‘So kind of you to join us’.

Harry closed his eyes slowly, praying to god that his father still kept that pistol in the top drawer of the desk in front of him. He turned to face his brother, Mark, who sat with one leg folded over the other, his fingers intertwined, his eyes glistened with malice. ‘Mark’, he showed no mirth in his voice. His brother stood up, ‘you see, I was betting with my sister that you’d not show up’.

‘Don’t lie, Emily would never bet on anything unless it’s really necessary’.

He stood his ground, unfortunately, nothing had changed between the two and Harry wasn’t going to attempt to mend whatever had been broken.

‘Now, now brother, no need to get feisty, you need to know whom you’re talking to’.

Harry wanted to strike his brother, their father had made his head of house after he had run away, it was a prediction he knew was coming, and he had learned to accept it. Now it was trying to avoid having it rubbed in his face repeatedly.

‘If you showed one single ounce of remorse about how mother would’ve felt before you left’.

‘Mark’.

His brother stopped, his eyes wide, so Harry continued, ‘you don’t talk to me as if you know pain, I had spoken to mother the night before I left, she knew I was leaving, and she was glad that I was leaving, she knew there was potential in me, and now I own over half the hotels and stages in London... What about you then little brother?’ he had taken a step towards Mark, seeing the anger in his brother’s eyes, ‘what’ve you done to help this family stay on their feet? I may not live here, but as far as I’m aware, father doesn’t work anymore, and the money I send through is received diligently’.

The room is silent, and Harry knows he’s won this fight, for now, footsteps are heard and both turn to the door to see Emily appear, she had grown into a fine lady, a near resemblance of their mother, but with brown hair, like the boys.

‘Harry!’

She had rushed over to him and embraced him, her skin was warm, and close up, Harry could see that she had been crying, ‘whatever is the matter, Emily?’ Harry asked, his brow creasing his concern, ‘oh, it’s just mother, she hasn’t been well, and I don’t know how long she’ll hold on for’. He hugged her, looking over at Mark with a glare, in which Mark rolls his eyes and sits back down. Another presence is in the room and he looks up to see his father, standing tall and proud, he too was a handsome man, he was darker than Harry and his siblings, but he still turned heads of women.

‘So, you’ve arrived’.

‘Yes, father’.

His father nodded, Sir Leonard Ledford, they called him, Harry was now as tall as him, which made the men of the household rather large, rather abnormally large, just like the house, ‘I thank you for the money you’ve sent through, you say you own a few stages and hotels?’ Harry nodded, being careful with his response.

‘Well then, you can meet mother, but she’ll come down for dinner, I think that’ll be the best time to see her’.

Harry looked over to Emily, who had refrained from looking at her father, he had slowly passed her, his hand touching her arm. Harry could sense something wasn’t right, but he wasn’t one to jump to conclusions just yet.  

 

Chapter 2

Harry had missed the fine dining that they received, he remembered some of the maids and butlers at the house, some had passed on and some were new. His mother had come down and embraced him with so much love, but she was sick, and she could see it, she was thin and dark rings framed her eyes, ‘oh mother’, he whispered close to her ear, and she smiled, as if to say, there’s nothing you can do my darling. 

They say at the table, Emily on Harry’s right, and Mark on his left, he ignored the quick glances his brother had given him. He continued to eat, ‘so’, he jumped a little when his father spoke, ‘what was your first job when you ran away?’ Harry looked down at his food, ‘I worked at a bar, every day until I had enough, and then I went searching for a few more jobs’.

‘That’s exactly what I would’ve done, you’ve broadened your horizon’.

His father’s eyes were filled with some sort of light, but that was gone in seconds when his eyes looked past Harry, towards Mark, ‘unlike someone else I happen to know and be related to’. There was a clatter of silver wear and Harry looked over at Mark, who had leaned back in the chair, his hand raking through his hair.

‘Boys’.

All three men, except Emily, had stiffened, their mother was still rather powerful, even if she was sick, ‘enough of that, I can’t handle it when you boys fight’.

‘You’re right, mother’.

Mark had said, his eyes fixed on their father, who acted as if he wasn’t faced, Harry took a bite of fish, the food was always good, ‘do you have a partner?’ Their mother asked, and Harry shook his head, ‘no, I’ve been too busy with getting everything sorted out with the hotels, I haven’t found love’.

‘I doubt you’ll find any’.

It was low, but Harry heard it, and he turned his head sharply to his brother, who looked away, ‘no, because I have a job... Do you know what that is?’ He couldn’t help but snarl at Mark, who returned the glare. Their mother had clapped her hands, wincing in pain, ‘sorry mother’, Harry quickly said, ‘the food is lovely’.

‘Yes it is, isn’t it? I picked the recipes, I knew you would love’.

Harry smiled and continued eating, he was staying here for who knows how long, he’d better get comfortable.

 

 

 

The next morning was cold and the sky grey, but it hadn’t rained a drop, which didn’t surprise Harry Ledford the least, he pulled on his warm jacket and took a stroll outside. The wind gently pushed his hair and he sighed, he missed the breeze, there were no neighbors, which made it impossible for there to be any socialization, he’d have to catch a cab into the town in order to be with his school friends. He had once invited his friends over, and though they stayed for one night, his friends had made it clear they didn’t want to come back. The house was dead to them. Harry was fine with that. He had moved to the side of the house when he heard it, voices, at the back of the house, he recognized one of the voices as he grew nearer, it belonged to Mark. Carefully and quietly he sneaked to look around the corner, his brother was standing with some men, they looked older, he seemed to be having a row with them. Harry stood stock still, watching at his brother had sworn at the men, turned and left, leaving the men clueless. He waited before emerging, catching the men’s attention. One of them took a step towards him, their eyes wide, ‘Oh my god! Harry!?’ Harry smiled, he knew who this was, who all of them were.

He embraced all of them, ‘I’ve missed you mate, where’ve you been all these years?’

‘I’ve been working my arse off’.

‘Wow, so you really ran away?’

Harry nodded, ‘yes, sorry I didn’t tell you, but I had a feeling that if I did, mom and dad would look for me, and go to you lot’.

The boys nodded, ‘we understand, because that’s what they did, but of course, we had no clue where you’d gone’. They were all smiling and Harry couldn’t help but laugh.
The group had migrated up the stairs and back into the house, where they sat in one of the many living rooms that the house possessed. It wasn’t like the front room, but it was altogether beautiful. They had spoken about many things, about jobs, about women and goals, all attention was averted away from any negativity, because frankly, no one was really here for that.

‘I can’t believe you’ve gotten this far’.

Marcello was the youngest of the group, he wasn’t British, but Italian, moved to England when he was a young boy and attended the same school as Harry, Mark and Emily. He was not too tall, and sported a rough beard now, his eyebrows casted over his dark blue eyes, a rather strange colour, Harry had thought to himself.

‘We heard your mother was sick, but Mark was giving us a hard time’.

James had said, whilst rolling his eyes, Harry knew that his friends weren’t happy with Mark, no one ever was, so the boys hadn’t bothered about asking.

‘Yes, well, he’s usually like that, but you can always talk to Emily, my father and I, we’re much more bearable to talk to’.

 

 

 

If the men hadn’t been so busy, they would’ve stayed for dinner, but that was for another time, Harry sat at the table, eyeing his plate, he was thinking of going into town, to see if anything had changed whilst he was gone, there was a nagging feeling inside, as if something was telling him to stay home, that it wasn’t worth it. He had spoken to Emily and was able to convince her sister to bring mother along since her mother was beginning to look a lot better than before. She had given him a quizzical look, but had agreed nonetheless. If anything, he felt excited, better than being in the house with Mark and his father roaming around like zombies.

The dinner table was set up as it was last night, so there wasn’t really anything new that Harry was expecting, he remembered nights like these, and he hated them, though the food seemed to taste a lot better now than it did before. ‘We’ve hired a new chef’, Sir Leonard said, as if reading Harry’s mind, ‘oh, well then, that’s nice, I mean, the food wasn’t horrible before "‘.

‘It’s quite alright Harry’.

Harry wasn’t so sure if it was Sir Leonard sitting at the head of the table, he had chuckled at Harry and his eyes showed so much tenderness, as if he really adored his presence, that, he didn’t mind, but it wasn’t something that easy to get use to.

‘Sorry, it’s been so long...’.

Harry wiped his mouth with the handkerchief, ‘yes, it has, it’s been a while... Since you ran away’.

Harry looked over at Sir Leonard, seeing if there was any hint of disdain, and that it was just a play that he put on with his emotions towards Harry. But there was no such thing, there tenderness was still there, his father’s eyes raked over him, something that, for Harry, would only allow a woman to do.

‘You did the right thing’.

Harry almost missed his father’s comment, ‘the right thing?’ He questioned him, his brow furrowing in concern, and Sir Leonard nodded, clasping his hands together, ‘we looked after Mark and Emily, and left you out, it was unintentional, I was afraid if you didn’t think about running away, you....’.

‘That I would kill myself?’

The answer was correct, he didn’t need his father to nod, ‘but that morning when Mark had told me, that you had run away, I was relieved, I was relieved to know that you were stronger than me, that you wouldn’t turn to ending your life. That one day, you would return to the family’.

Harry looked down at his hands, ‘it was just unfortunate that we met this way’, Sir Leonard nodded, ‘I must admit, I didn’t want to meet you like this, when your mother was ill, but I had no choice, I wasn’t sure if she would make it’.

‘It’s fine, you made the right decision, otherwise I may not have seen her’.

 

The men had finished their dinner and made their way back into the cold dark hallway, Harry shivered, it was freezing, but Sir Leonard hadn’t flinched. Being in this house and the murky hallways had roughed his skin in such a way.

‘How long are you planning on staying?’

Sir Leonard asked and Harry shrugged, ‘as long as you want me to’. His father smiled, an unnerving smile, suddenly he realized that his father a little too close for comfort.

‘I’ll be heading to bed now’.

Emily had Mark had retired early, and he understood, but now, he damned them for not being here with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

Let me know how it is for you guys :)