The Wild Hunt (Part One)

Dead Sprint

I peaked my head around my door and out into the hallway. The guards were no where in sight and the long stretch of hall echoed with the sounds of festivities from far off.

Sae stood behind me in a simple black gown I gave her from my wardrobe. I could feel her anxiousness radiating against my backside.

"Remember. You left after General Yakmen ordered you to. That is all you know. You went back to your quarters after to change and return to the great hall."

She bobbed her head and I gave her hand a squeeze before slipping through the door.

I had never been by myself walking down this hallway. I was always with someone. A servant. A guard. Someone to keep an eye on me. Now I was alone and I felt stupidly free while I stuck close to the wall and made my way towards the servant quarters. Sae said they had access to outside the palace through the East stables that were connected to the courtyard attached to the wing. Beyond that the east palace wall was and the infirmary. A small exit was carved through the wall beside it and used to cart the dead through. As long as I made it through the servant quarters without being recognized it was a straight shot through the stables and over to the infirmary. There weren't any guards patrolling this area due to the lack of threat from the sickly and servants.

I rounded the corner of the hall and saw a few servants leaning against the archway into their quarters. They were all female and dressed in the same attire as me. They chatted amongst themselves, seeming relaxed and comfortable where they were.

It was an unusual scene for me. The servants I saw or who walked beside me had darting eyes and stiff bodies. They never seemed quite at ease and who would blame them when the king they served killed in a blink of an eye.

I stuck close to the wall, easing my walk into a more casual manner. I kept my head turned slightly, making to be admiring the mural that hung from the wall. Just a couple more feet.

The servants didn't mind me as I passed by them and found myself in a dimly lit, narrow hallway. Tall, slender doors built very close to one another lined the walls of the hall. There had to be a dozen doors on either side and with how narrow they were the rooms had to be at-least four feet wide. I couldn't possibly imagine sleeping in such a tight space. Yakoto slept in one of these.

Yakoto. I wonder where he was right now. I wonder if he watched my father pour the sanctification blood down my face and looked away. Part of me wished to see him again, if only to tell him goodbye for real this time. But I had to keep moving.

The hall was a long narrow stretch before it opened into a small courtyard that hosted a large communal bathing pool and beyond that, through a covered porch was a set of double doors. It was night out and the space was light it a warm glow from the lanterns strung above. There were two small, slotted windows on the face of the doors and through the iron grates I could see the stables and horses there.

No one was in the courtyard and I hurried around the pool to the double doors. I was so close. I could smell hay and horse dung.

I pushed against the wide doors and came to stand outside the palace. The air was dark and damp and horses neighed off to the side within their stables. A man was slumped against a pillar, his straw hat over his face and a lantern beside him. He seemed to be sleeping as his chest rose and fell slowly. He had his legs crossed out in front of him and a leather, tasseled, whip in his hand. He must have been the stable man and I quietly hurried around him before sprinting towards the infirmary.

The palace wall was this large, golden curtain with emerald pillars and flaming sconces. The lit sconces cast flaming orange shadows across the gold brick. The infirmary looked like a squat, dark, sloping, box against the grandness of the wall. Wooden carts lined the side of it and I watched as a gruff looking man in a red tunic and white sash come out and grab one. He pushed it through the entrance and came out a few minutes later, hauling the naked, dead body of a woman in it. I sucked in my breathe as my eyes beheld the deep, bloodied gash in her ivory chest.

I had to hurry. I followed the man at a distance and he curved around to the side of the infirmary and pushed the cart through a swinging door. I stood at the corner of the building, watching it swing back behind him. It was a small, green, wooden door and there was two feet of open space beneath it and four feet of open space above it. It hung in a narrow archway inside the wall.

After about thirty's seconds I followed after the man and pushed past the swinging door. The short hall was illuminated by a single lantern, that dangled from the curved ceiling. I could see the forest just beyond it and a thrill went through my body at how close I was to freedom.

I almost made it to the end when the man with the cart appeared from the left. It was empty and he was about to pull it in backwards when he saw me.

"What are you doing here at this time of night? Shouldn't you be in the palace?"

His face was cast in shadow but I could make out a scraggly mustache and wide shoulders. He didn't recognize me. I had to think of a good excuse.

"T-the woman. She was... she was my sister." I mumbled out.

I saw his mustache tilt down. "I'm sorry. She's gone. Your shouldn't be here. Now head back."

No. I couldn't turn around now. Freedom was a foot away.

"What did you do with her body?"

His shoulders shifted and I heard him grumble something incoherent. "You shouldn't be here girl. Get."

He turned back around to grab the handles of the cart and in that precious moment I rammed my shoulder as hard as I could into his backside. He stumbled forward into the cart, bowing over the edge while his legs kicked up behind him. I heard him curse as he tried to flip and maneuver awkwardly in the cart to right himself.

I squeezed through the gap between the cart and wall and took off towards the forest line. A fowl stench stung my nose and I looked towards my left. Dozens upon dozens of bodies laid in a heap, deep inside a dug out trench. There were bodies that looked fresh, bodies that were covered in sores and festered wounds, bodies that were severed and rotted, their yellowed bones jutting out and flesh swollen and oozing. It was a horrific sight to see and I covered my mouth, feeling sick to my stomach. That naked woman laid sprawled ontop. Her eyes were wide, empty and her mouth hung open in a frozen scream. I didn't want to imagine how she got that wound on her chest as I continued forward, tearing my eyes from her dead body.

"Hey! Stop! You won't last a night in those woods!" The man called after me. I didn't look back. I pumped my arms and sprinted the rest of the way into the dark forest. I didn't care. All I knew was that I was free.

I was free.