An Eternal Wintre

Chapter 6

Flower petals are strewn all over the bed and floor, forgotten as Anai packs a sack of essentials for her getaway. Once the shape shifter is free, the fingers will point and they'll point to her, she knows it.  If they don't, at least she finally has her escape.

Tightening the knot on her rucksack, she slings it over her back after she dons on a cloak to hide herself. Rummaging under the mattress, she finds her knife and tucks it in the waistline of her trousers. Looking around at the mess she's made and at the room that she's come to know as a home she pushes the dresser aside and slips through.

Sadness washes over her at the thought of never seeing Professor Kol again, never getting to say goodbye, but the world's never been fair to Anai and it's not going to start now. She treks down the steep stairs and down she goes all the way to the metal bars once again.

The shape shifter is lying on his side, chains ever present, but alone. Steeling herself, she goes to the bars and checks to see which are loose or rusted over and weak from years of wear and tear. At some point, she cuts her palm on rust and curses softly, waking her prisoner. He raises his head as much as he can and snarls low. "Shit," she curses again at another cut.

After a moment of futile efforts, she finds a bar that squeaks and moves in its slot as she pushes on it. Turning it harder and every which way, the bar pops out of place, places turning to rust-colored dust. She tosses it into the sewage water and steps through, getting caught on her sack but managing to push through.

Through the bars and in the middle of the prison, she realizes her mistake and looks up. Sighing thankfully at the existence of zero guards, she goes to the shape shifter and kneels by his bonds. Terrible security, she thinks. He tries snapping at her, most likely trying to rip her hand off. She bares her teeth at him and growls. "I could just let them kill you, you know," she threatens. It doesn't faze him but he seems to grumble and turns his head the other way.

Anai struggles with the chains and looks at them through narrowed eyes. "Are there any keys around or can you somehow rip out of them one-by-one?" she asks, yanking uselessly on a chain. "And don't say you can't because I saw you do it earlier the other day." She's going insane, talking to a shape shifter as if he were an old friend. Is he now though with her helping him escape?

Nerves make her hands shake and jitter. The air around them grows cold and frost forms slowly over some of the chains, turning it white and spiked with shards of ice and frost. The shape shifter growls low in his throat and starts pulling hard on the frozen over chains. Anai stands back, her hands shaking less from the frustration and risk of death.

With a loud roar, he breaks free of his chains and seems to pause before turning his gaze to her, a hungry look in his eyes. Somehow, she can't find time to be afraid, her body only growing colder by the minute. Her eyes drag to its neck, something dangling in the dark fur.

Guards start yelling and armored feet pound all throughout the dungeon corridors. "There! Two figures down there!" They were closing in and they were coming in fast. Without noticing it, the shape shifter charges her and grabs her arm in his mouth before throwing her up and landing her on his back. She didn't need to be told to hang on for dear life as she digs her fingers through the dark fur, wincing at the cuts on her palms.

He bashes through the bars and starts running. The wrong way. "No, you daft idiot! The other way!" she screeches, pulling his fur hard and turning him the right direction. He tries snapping at her but fails and listens, pounding hard on the ground towards the sewage exit.

Night air slithers through fur and clothing as they run off into the night. A girl clinging for dear life on the back of a shape shifter and a giant wolf-like creature hauling away the future queen of Lutenia.