Chapter 2

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Her head pounding as if the blood couldn't get to her brain quick enough, Everliana groaned. She was back in her own body, she knew because she could feel the familiar lightness of it, still stretched out across the floor. That, and whenever she had switched before she had ended up with a headache that could only be described as the type that you get when you eat something frozen too quickly. Slowly lifting herself into a sitting position, her eyes still closed at an attempt to keep the pain at bay, she laid a palm across her forehead. There had to be some way that she could switch without having to endure the intense pain burning throughout her skull every time. Her eyes now open, Everliana saw the body of a stocky, brutish looking man crippled on the floor across from her, and it took her a few minutes to remember that he was the man that had tried to kill her. The man that she had ended up switching into.

Not allowing any more time for thought, she picked herself up and hastily grabbed her things scattered across the old oak floor. Imagining that she'd spent about five minutes between having knocked the man out and getting up, Everliana didn't want to risk wasting any more time. She didn't know how long he'd be out cold for and she certainly didn't have any desire to stay to find out. Glancing back just to check that he wasn't stirring, she raced through the doorway, bringing up the map in her mind that she had formulated in terms of making a swift getaway. Not allowing herself to glance at the statues and portraits that littered every corridor, Everliana sped up when she saw her escape – a set of solid wood doors that she remembered having opened when she'd first entered this death trap.

Slamming her body into the right door, it swung open with a groan loud enough to startle a horse that was tied to a tree to her right. Everliana started to race to the brush where she had first entered the clearing when something on the horse's back caught her eye. A weathered saddlebag. Hesitating for only a second she raced toward the horse and, soothing the chestnut mare with soft whispers and gentle strokes, she peered inside the pouch closest to her. Taking in the long-awaited sight of food, Everliana gasped with glee. There was a golden and crusty roll of bread, some round crimson apples and a slab of something hard and yellow which she guessed could only be cheese. Belting the flap back down tightly she stared at the beautiful creature before her. She had two choices; take the horse with her where she'd cover ground faster but have a higher risk of being found or let the horse go free so that it's master could not follow suit at a hasty pace. Having made up her mind Everliana untied the saddlebag and, after slinging it over her shoulder, she untied the mare from the tree. Then, after having waited a few seconds to see whether it would leave of its own accord, she resigned herself to slapping the beasts rear with the palm of her hand causing it to squeal and make a mad dash for the trees. Wasting no time herself she melted into the foliage and ran as fast as she could away from the horrors of the night.

***

As soon as she deemed herself to be far enough away from the clearing to rest, Everliana drooped against a tree. Her throat and lungs were burning and her entire body screamed and shook with pain. Unable to stand any longer she slid down the tree to the floor and felt a familiar and intense ache crippling her bones. The adrenaline had worn off and her body was telling her that it needed sustenance if it was ever to move again. Remembering the saddlebag she pulled it from her shoulders, not realising how heavy it was until she'd done so, and sat it in her lap. After what seemed like ages of fumbling with the belt Everliana lifted the flap of the compartment and, ramming her hand in, she pulled out the roll of bread. Not even checking to see whether it had gone mouldy or not, she stuffed the massive wad in her mouth and bit off as much as she could fit in. Then hunting through the compartment on the other side, she found what she was looking for. A canteen – half full. She'd presumed that if the man had thought to pack food, he'd have most certainly thought to have packed water too. Putting it to her cracked lips and tilting her head back, Everliana guzzled down half of what was left in the leather sack. Her stop at the creek a day or two ago had obviously not been substantial enough for the amount of travelling she'd been doing.

Not allowing herself another drop, she rested the wineskin against her right thigh, and stuffed her hand back into the compartment that she'd pulled it from. Brushing her fingers around the bottom of the bag she felt what seemed like a drawstring full of coins and a folded up piece of parchment. Intrigued; she pulled out the small square of paper and unfolded it. Once the paper had been smoothed out making the writing eligible, her eyes widened in horror. She hadn't even read the entirety if it before she'd started to violently tear the thing apart. It was too late though. The damage was done. As the shredded pieces of parchment fluttered to the ground around her, Everliana watched as the words that had been written on them danced through her mind taunting her.

BOUNTY. YOUNG WOMAN. HYBRID.

The Koniglich were giving away 500 glint for her body - dead or alive.

A chill rushing from the nape of her neck to the bottom of her spine sent Everliana shivering. They knew everything... They knew that she was a young woman of nineteen. That she was wearing a grey velvet cloak and that she was traveling alone. Worse yet, they knew all of this and she had no clue how so. Shrouding herself in her cloak as if it were some sort of protective garment that would save her from being caught, Everliana dropped her head to her chest and closed her eyes. This was the first time in a long time that she had felt truly scared for her life.

Exhausted from lack of sleep, she'd only gotten maybe an hour or so back at the castle, she tried to stay awake. Her eyes fluttering behind their lids as she remembered the sound of the bounty hunters feet, Everliana inwardly scolded herself for having let her mind and body fall into a deep slumber back there. She'd not spent years of her life sleeping lightly for herself to be caught off guard and nearly killed. She couldn't let herself leave this world like that. Sleep edged its way into Everliana's mind, an invisible thread pulling at her brain, tempting her to let go of everything but she couldn't. She wouldn't. She'd promised her mother that she would stay safe. She'd promised her that she'd stay hidden and do everything in her power to survive. She'd promised...

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⏰ Last updated: Mar 07, 2016 ⏰

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