Dagger of Jade

Chapter 2

Saige let out a cry of emotion and Julius stood straight up where he was working, but neither made to say anything.

I was speechless, unsure of what to say or do, but I knew I had to say something, do something.
"What?" was all I could muster. The word was throaty and quiet, just above a whisper.

The guard in front, a hulking, darker-skinned man, reached for my arm, a rope in his hand. I took a quick step back, out of his reach, but again he reached forward.

"Revelynn Pierce, come quietly or harsh measures will be taken," a paler guard said behind the one currently reaching for me.

The pale guards eyes flicked to my sister, then my brother, then back on to me, and a chill ran up my spine. If I did not go with these men, they would hurt my family, and my mother, so frail, so sickly, what would come over her?

If I tried to resist, they would hurt my family, there was no way we could beat them and even if we did, we would have nowhere to go.

If I went with these men, maybe I would be killed for my crimes, but maybe I could plead my case to the men or whoever their leader was. Maybe, just maybe, I could get out of the situation unscathed.

Turning towards my sister, I mustered a small smile. "Saige, take care of mom, tell her I love her." Then turning to my brother, my smile fell. "Julius, you are going to have to hunt. Put the music aside and learn. My bow and arrow are under the couch. A rabbit can last you two weeks if you prepare and use it wisely, and a deer three times that."

"No, Revelynn, you never stole, we will figure this out, just stay and," Julius tried to reason, but I cut him off.

"There is no getting out of this one, I'm afraid."

Saige started to sob, no doubt finally realizing that the punishment for my crime would be a hanging, or if I was lucky, slavery, but either way I would never see them again. I considered telling

So, as tears welled in my own eyes, I grabbed the dark cloak off the hook by the door, secured it over my shoulders, and followed the large man out of the room.

🞚🞚🞚

The night was unforgiving. It ripped my dark hair from the long plait it had been secured in and threatened to tear my cloak from my shoulders as the horses raced us through the forest.

I was secured to the muscley guard atop the horse by a rope, unable to move at all, though a small comfort of no chance of falling. I had never ridden a horse, let alone one such as a royal guard horse. The steed was massive and fast. Faster than any horse I had witnessed.

As I wondered who the man I was tied to was to secure such a force, somehow sleep latched on to my consciousness and lulled me into nothingness.

🞚🞚🞚

Dense fog smothered the forest, choking out any light. Whether it would be from a moon or a sun, I could not tell.

I should be cold, weary, but I felt nothing, numb, as if I was not me. As if the body I inhabited was simply a husk of what I knew I once was.

Suddenly, though I did not startle, a brilliantly glowing stag bounded into my line of sight. The white light that the stag emitted gave me a sense of warmth, as if I knew I could trust the animal.

It stopped, head turning towards me and met my gaze. For what felt like eternity, we stared at each other, but eventually the stag turned and started to prance away. When it had gotten about fifty feet, the stag stopped and turned back to me, beckoning me to follow, so I did.