Shadows of Iraedes | NanoWrimo 2021

CHAPTER FIVE: ON WINGS OF FREEDOM

"Aurora!" She heard him screaming her name as she ran. She beat her feet, her boots pounding over cobblestone streets, dirt roads and through small puddles that hadn't dried up yet. It must have rained while she had been in the pantry because the streets were much wetter than they had been when she had been at the docks. Mud splashed up her legs and up her skirts but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was get as far away from Gharet as she could.

She weaved in between and around walkers and ducked into many tight alleys to try and loose him, but she heard him trying to keep up with her. There were a few times she felt the urge to look over her shoulder but she didn't want to chance anything now that she was outside. She needed to get away from him but needed a place to hide. She took a few more turns, twisting down one alley and then turning onto a main road only to slip into a narrow space between two buildings, doubling back to the wide road she had been on before the alley way.

She emerged onto the wide road into a crowd of people she had just swerved through and looked over her shoulder down the small space she had had to squeeze through herself, even being the tiny size she was and saw Gharet charge past the opening without even a glance down it.

This was chance. She had lost him for a moment. She bolted not waiting to see if he noticed he wasn't following her and ran for the harbor. Her feet ran so fast they almost pulled her down, down to the ground, threatening to trip her but she was swift on her feet even after being in the pantry for days and sprinted down the docks. Her feet slammed down on the boardwalk and she went all the way to where she had met the old sailor who had wanted to help her. He wasn't there but she did find a mountain of large wooden crates she could crawl into and hide.

She dropped to her knees feeling the wood rush up to meet them and she knew she would be black and blue tomorrow but she crawled in as quick as she could anyway.

Settling into a corner made by three different crates she rested her head against one and felt her heart racing in her chest, pounding to be let out. She closed her eyes and listened for sounds beyond the opening in the crates she had crawled in. If Gharet found her there, she would be trapped, but she hoped if that did happen and she made a struggle and all the noise she could make, maybe someone would help her away from Gharet. She knew the older sailor had wanted to, but had no way of standing up to Gharet.

The only sounds she heard were the calls of the gulls soaring over head, the chatter and yelling of sailors, the moving of feet, and the laborious lifting of things across the docks. What she didn't hear was Gharet yelling for her and she hoped that was because she had lost him in town. She let her heart slow and relax before she dared to crawl out to take a peek at her surroundings. When she did she was relieved to see Gharet was no where to be seen.

She pulled herself back in like a snail burrowing back in its shell for safety and she huddled in the back corner, the furthest from the opening between the large crates. When she had looked out she had also seen none of the sailors were touching the crates she was hiding amongst and until they did she had time to plan her next move now that her possibilities were endless.

For a while she sat, her eyes closed, her ears listening but her mind was blank. She didn't know what to do next. She'd always had someone telling her what to do, whether it was her mom, her grandparents, or Gharet, she'd never made a real decision on her own before. Her mother had paired her up with Gharet because his parents had been good people. She had believed that too made Gharet a good person, but she hadn't known how he could be controlling, manipulative and had an addiction.

Aurora opened her eyes and was about to leave her safe hiding spot, thinking she would be able to avoid Gharet easier now that she had lost him when her eye caught something in the dim light. The sun had set but the last rays still streamed across and allowed her to see little, but enough.