[THIS STORY WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2024]
He had hunted me, captured me, and locked me in a tower.
Season 3 'Of Crows and Thorns'
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While in RISING, Tabitha discovers something peculiar that may assist Nelle in her plan to escape the...
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Fear beaded on my skin like icy flakes and washed goosebumps down my arms. I spun around so wildly my feet tangled up my long skirt and I almost tripped, the sound of tearing fabric and my panicked heartbeat filling my ears. Hitching up my torn skirt, I burst into a frantic sprint, dashing as fast as I could toward the outside passageway that cut through the Keep. The end of the Hangman's Noose swung wide and dragged through the air behind me. Sage bounded by my side, his speed kept in check as I wove around the fallen soldiers that littered the courtyard.
Tendrils of hair whipped across my forehead as I chanced a glance over my shoulder. Graysen was trapped in place by dark magic that shivered all around him in a blanket of furious energy. A few soldiers, holding Zrenyth's chains, approached him warily like he was a savage creature. One of the soldiers tied his hands behind his back, coiling the thick rope tighter, imprisoning him further. Graysen stared in my direction. No one else could see the anguish carved into his features. The terror shining in his round, gray eyes. He couldn't speak but his gaze did—Run!
Valarie spun my way, slashing a finger, and pointed right at me. "Catch her!" she bellowed to her cadre.
Fright exploded through my veins. I jerked my head forward, pumping my arms and pushing myself faster, careening around the corner into the passageway. The gloom was broken up by the blue-flamed torches that wavered as I streaked by, stirring the air with my manic flight. The sound of my footfall rebounded off the walls in loud slaps, and then I erupted back outside, my bare feet clapping upon the wooden drawbridge as I hurtled across it.
The Keep, with its formidable walls like sheer cliffs, loomed above. Abandoned vehicles blocked the driveway. Several servants were emptying the cars' holds, removing bulky weapons bags, but they were distracted, their minds elsewhere it would seem from the perplexed glances they cast the fortress. No doubt hearing the chaotic noises filtering outward from the courtyard and wondering what was happening.
My feet kicked loose pebbles as I traveled over rough, uneven cobblestones, dodging around the cars, looking with longing and desperation at their metal forms. There was no use stealing one of the SUVs, not with the rope tied around my neck. I'd never get past the gates.
Behind me, I heard the shouts of Valarie's cadre as a few of them surged from the Keep. I skidded to a halt, the soft soles of my feet burning with friction. My hands clenched into anxious fists as I jittered in a panic. Sage whined and danced at my side, waiting for my decision of where to flee, where to hide. My skirt flurried wide, its hem grazing at my ankles, as I spun around, scanning the garden that was lit up with a colorful shimmer from flittering willwips and moonlight.
I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know where to run!
My gaze landed on a tall, crumbling building in the near distance. It reminded me of Graysen's tower but on a smaller scale. The cracked, white-gray stone blocks were studded with lichen. Wide holes, windows of a sort, were gouged out of the top of the circular structure and there was a rampart surrounding its roof.
