The Dark City.
A Kingdom of Monsters.
A Kingdom of Sin.
'Don't let them take your light, my child.'
Isabelle had clung to her father's words, like kindling. Trying to keep the thin flame of hope burning in her bleak life.
Sold to the slavers' m...
Isabelle's hand shook violently against her mouth, trying to quiet her breath. She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek to stop her teeth from chattering.
The chill had seeped so deeply into her bones that she couldn't stop her body from shaking. Her back roughly scraped the inside of the hollowed out oak, but she could squeeze in no further. Instead, she focused on remaining perfectly still against the rattling of her bones.
The heavy footfalls continued to circle the tree, a loud hissing exhale just above her head. It continued to circle the area a few more times. What if it didn't leave? Fear gripped her throat forcing her breaths in shallow gasps. Images of it reaching its claws in and dragging her out by the legs played in a morbid loop, heightening her anxiety.
Would she be able to outrun it? Certainly not. She would have to fight. Armed with nothing but the small letter opener sized dagger Adam had slipped in her hand before the hunt. If she could just catch it off guard, perhaps she could wound it enough to have time to get away. Slowly, and with a shaky hand, she lifted the dagger till the pointed tip glistened at the mouth of the hollow, catching the glow of the full moon.
With conviction Isabelle took deep breath before shifting her stance so she crouched on the balls of her feet and let out a choked cry.
The footsteps stopped for a brief moment. Followed by a snort. Then came the scurrying sound of something moving on all fours coming swiftly closer through the rustle of fallen leaves and underbrush. Yellow slitted eyes were there at the mouth of the crevice. Hunting till it focused a bulbous orb on her face. It should have looked at the dagger. Isabelle lunged, driving the steel into its right eye with a squelch, sliding through like it was a wedge of cheese.
A horrific screech cut through the night. She lost her grip on the blade as the creature swung its head away curing on the forest floor clutching its eye. A clawed hand tendering reaching to pull of the knife only to scream once again at the pain of trying to dislodge it.
"You bitch!" It hissed, focusing it's good eye on her horror stricken brown eyes peering from between the slit in the bark. Isablle bolted. She tripped her way out of the crevice, feet stumbling over roots scraping her hands to soften the fall.
Its long scaly tail lashed in her direction. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" A shrill promise tore from its lips.
Isabelle didn't look back as she stumbled out and ran straight ahead through the dark forest maze. She fell several times over upturned roots. The adrenaline driving her neck breaking pace through the thick underbrush as whipping branches and forest floor tore at her flesh.
The scent of blood would draw them in. She had to keep running.
Her lungs burned, and her legs ached threatening to collapse. Just when she thought she couldn't run any further, there it was, the fence. And beyond, freedom. Unlike the rest of their stone walled and guarded prison which surrounded both the castle and the village itself, this was a simple wooden fence. Similar to the ones she had darted over and slipped under as a child when playing, in places she ought not to have gone past the manor.
Isabelle's heart thumped with hope. Freedom. She grasped the wooden fence, the splintered edges rough on her clammy damp palms and she knew it was real. Her heart stopped when she looked at the other side and found no forest. Only the steep drop of a cliff. Her heart sank back to the depths of despair as quickly as it had risen. Below she heard the rush of a river. It snaked inky and black into the distance beyond, the water moving quickly below.
She was never meant to escape.
Her ears rang a warning as a sensation crawled up her spine. Isabelle whirled, coming face to face with the cat-like woman. Who's pale green eyes shone luminous and wild from tawny furred skin. A sharp sensation sliced across her throat. Iabelle gasped for breath. None came.
The world tilted to the side.
Her vision fell, to the left, neck lulling against her shoulder as warmth spread across her chest. Isabelle's hands reached up fingering the hole of soft severed flesh and broken ribbing. Her legs collapsed under her. A strange numbness seeped in as her back hit the forest floor. The smell and taste of iron hot on her tongue.
The moon shone clear through a hole in the canopy of dead leaves and twisted branches Illuminating her pale torn flesh. The same cold glow that had taunted her when she'd first been taken to this dark land.
A shadow loomed over, obscuring her view.
Jaws dripped wet with saliva, from pointed white teeth, that flashed an eerie glow. They opened wide around the slash in her throat. She closed her eyes, her back lifting from the damp forest floor slightly as it tugged at her broken flesh. Somewhere in the final threads of consciousness she heard a snap of bone as her neck contorted sideways into the wet dirt.
She felt no pain. Only a cold chill that seeped deep and heavy into her consciousness. Isabelle's eye peeled open- just one final glimpse at the moon. So she may take a pretty image with her into the afterlife.
Wet liquid splattered onto her lips and chin, warm and metallic. Her own blood dripped from a piece of flesh hanging from the jaws of the feline demon. Glowing eyes held no remorse as it slurped down her body with a smack of its lips. She saw a girl reflected in that fiery orb. Broken. Empty. She was not that girl. Impossible. The image flickered in and out of her vision like candlelight. The world slid into black as her last breath seeped from the hole in her neck carrying a whistling sigh on the wind of the autumn night.
Isabelle has died. Pick a new path.
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