Sweet Innocence and Gentle Sin || 𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐑

Chapter 23 Part 1: Let Me Go

I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife.

~)(~

I could taste blood. Not my blood, but still, it wasn't a good taste. Blood mixed with dirt and sweat, an odd flavor that I didn't think I'd ever be able to describe.

A soldier split my bow in half with his blade, so I stabbed him in the neck with one of the sharp points. I threw the other and it hit in the stomach of the soldier coming up the stairs to the balcony.

It was so loud—so much louder than I thought it would be. Something happened when the fighting started this morning, an unplanned advantage the enemy used to drive our men back against the mountain.

I picked up a bloodied bow someone dropped when fleeing and pulled the arrow out of a dead soldier behind me, nocking it as quickly as I could while the sound of movement grew louder.

Someone ran up the stairs and started towards me with his sword raised. I loosed the arrow and watched it cut right through his throat and into the skull of his companion behind, sending them both down the stairs into an ever-growing pile of bodies.

I whistled a breath and then dropped behind the balcony edge as the sound of arrows fired overhead, raining down. Some landed in already dead bodies around me, others bounced off the stone floor and splashed in blood.

As soon as I knew it was safe, I twisted over the ledge and fired an arrow in the direction of the commander. I dropped back down, nocked another arrow, and lifted to fire again, but he was down, so I shot at one of the archers who moved to check his body. Getting their commander down meant fewer volleys.

I took the chance and ran through the door, tripping and tumbling down the set of stairs I didn't know were there. My fall wasn't as hard as it should've been—because I landed on a cold, dead body. I forced down bile and slid off the male, wiping my mouth, though it only smeared the blood around.

My shoes slid around the puddles of thickening blood as I turned the corners. I swung the bow over a shoulder and picked up a sword, having to pull it from the tight grip of a corpse.

The candles above bodies laid against walls dripped their wax onto heads and shoulders, hardened into mounds atop dried blood. Some halls were pitch black, others without a single shadow.

I ran down a few more flights of stairs until I knew I was in the lower levels. Most of the fighting happened at the mouth of the cave and in more open areas. There was no telling how many of them got down here, how many were going door-to-door in search of prey.

It was dangerous to hunt these halls, especially when they were so thin and had such sharp corners with difficult vantage points. I had to rely on my hearing to get me through it.

So far, there was nothing but the sound of my own footsteps through the halls. That was good—I wasn't going ever complain about that. But it did make me a little suspicious. Shouldn't there be more soldiers down here?

When this is over, I can think about the morbidity of it all. I'm sure my younger self would've never been able to believe where I was now. She wouldn't recognize me, I'm sure. There wasn't a single thing the same anymore, and though I should be afraid of that fact—I wasn't. It was about time, actually, for me to grow up and realize this world was cruel and I had to change to keep a step ahead of it.

Something made me stop walking and press my back against the wall. The sound of breathing from the turn a few feet ahead. Someone was there—and I think they were waiting for me.