again, with sounds battering my sensitive hearing. I can already feel the strength the Mother gave me to start to ebb, and I know if we are going to get out of here, I need to move my ass. Turning, I quickly climb onto the elf’s back, gripping tightly around his neck. I don’t miss his relieved sigh as he loops his arms through my legs.
“Ready?”
He doesn’t wait for my reply. Taking a few steps back, he runs at the wall. Just when I think we’re about to crash into it, he takes a huge, soaring jump. We collide with the wall and it must have hurt him, but he doesn’t show any signs of pain as he starts climbing up the vertical barrier. My whole body is aching, and the higher we go, the harder I it is to hold on. In the end, I have to focus entirely on clinging to Vaeril, using every last scrap of strength I have.
“Hold on, almost there.” I’m not sure if Vaeril is talking to me or himself, since the vertical climb is made much more difficult for him as he holds a magical shield and carries dead weight. Finally, after what feels like a lifetime, we reach the top of the wall. Knowing I’m about to drop, he pulls me from his back and cradles me against his chest. With a grunt of exertion, he pushes away from the wall, and for a second, it feels like we’re suspended in the air as weightlessness fills me. When we start to drop, I have to bite my lip to stop the startled scream that’s trying to fight its way up my throat.
We land with a thud, Vaeril crouching low. We stay this way for a few seconds, and I worry he’s hurt. In this position, with me cradled against his chest, our faces are close together. My energy is quickly fading now, the Goddess’s strength fading from my body, but I need to make sure he’s okay. “Vaeril?”
My voice seems to pull him out of whatever trance he had fallen into, and he raises his head slightly so I can see his face. His eyes are wide as he looks around us, as if he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing.
“I’m free.” It’s barely a whisper, but I can hear the awe in his tone. Feeling my eyes on his face, he turns his gaze to me, the smallest of smiles pulling at his lips. “And it’s because of you.”
I want to respond, to tell him we did it together, but unconsciousness is calling me. Frowning, Vaeril realises I’m about to pass out, and the shouting from the other side of the wall is getting louder.
“Find the elf and the traitor, we can’t let them get away!”
The words make me flinch as Vaeril stands with me bundled in his arms. He glances down at me, and with an unreadable expression, he brushes a strand of hair from my face.
“I will take you somewhere safe, you can rest now.”
As soon as he says the words, I lose the fight against my fatigue. The last thing I hear as Vaeril starts to run from the wall is the shouts of “Traitor!” before I fall into the inky blackness of oblivion.
The hard ground digs into my skin, something uneven and sharp jabbing into my hip. Shifting my weight, I shuffle around until I feel more comfortable as bits of dust and small stones scratch at my exposed skin.
Wait. Why am I lying on the ground?
Opening my eyes, I jolt upright, looking around as my stomach sinks.
I’m back at the castle’s slave quarters. My breathing speeds up as my deepest fears come true.
No. I’m not a slave anymore, Grayson freed me. I escaped the castle.
Slaves hobble around me, their dull eyes facing forward as they trudge towards the palace to begin their day’s work under the early rays of the sun. Pulling my legs towards me, I see a flash of metal and hear a sound that will follow me for the rest of my life—the clinking of chains. I don’t want to look, I feel sick even at the thought of it. Taking a deep breath, I glance down at my ankles and can’t stop the cry of distress as I see my shackles.
No, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.
Reaching forward, I pull at the metal, my sobs loud as they echo against the stone walls, bouncing back and mocking me as I desperately