daughter of esmund

Twelve

A/N: Hey all! Welcome back! I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you do please consider leaving a vote and a comment with any feedback you may have, it's greatly appreciated! I also just wanted to let you know that updates may slow due to school starting back up with things like theater and stuff, but I'll definitely keep working on this! I hope y'all enjoy this again. See ya! - Joya

Word Count: 2614

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Annie's POV

"Annie!"

I hear Vylad call my name from the hallway outside the room we've been renting for the past week. With a sigh, I close the book I had found under the bed and sit up, stretching before heading out the door with nothing more than my bow and quiver. When I exit and finally come to be able to see Vylad, I can tell his expression is worried, if not panicked. He's wearing a green sweater under a brown jacket, a black cloak sitting above those two items. His hands are covered by a set of brown leather gloves.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

He shakes his head, seemingly out of breath, "No time to explain, just follow me, okay?"

I give a hesitant nod following him as he hurries out the door, eventually, I have to quicken my pace to even catch up to him. Still extremely confused, and now almost out of breath, I'm finally almost at a run trying to catch up to him. I'm just able to adjust my quiver over my shoulder when I catch up to him.

"So, um, where are we going?" I ask when I'm able to get control of my breathing.

At this point, we've made it outside the village and are now running through the thick forest surrounding the city. The normally baby blue sky had formed into a smoky grey color, abundant clouds rolling into view all across the sky. Every once in a while a flash of white could be seen in one of them, the low rumble of thunder audible moments later. The leaves of the trees surrounding us are rustling, filling the silence in between the rumbles of thunder. Here is when the first droplets of rain fall from the sky, the cool feeling of them falling upon my blonde hair, pulled away from my face by a ponytail, and onto the pale skin of my face. They quickly grow more prominent, one sheet of drops beginning to fall as soon as the other one lands, stragglers falling in between. The rain has begun to form an outright downpour moments later.

"You'll see when we get there, here," he tosses me a large black cloak, "Put this on and pull the hood up."

I do as I'm told, only because it will provide shelter from the rain that was now pelting my head, shoulder, and back. Quickly, I wrap it around myself and yank the hood over my now soaking wet hair. I'm a bit behind him due to the efforts of putting the cloak on, so I pick up my pace once again. I really wish he wouldn't run this fast. He looks back to see me behind him and finally stops, waiting for me to catch up with him. I stop when I reach him, huffing heavily, "Irene, do we really need to get there this quickly?"

He nods, breathing heavily himself, "Yeah, this, this is on a time constraint I'm afraid. Don't worry, we're almost there...can you make it the rest of the way?"

I nod, shaking off my sore muscles as he began to break into a run once more. Sighing, I follow. It's another solid ten minutes filled with running before anything other than more trees or other vegetation is visible. A few hundred feet ahead of us is the wall of another town. It's tall, made out of rough grey stone. We approach it slowly, and once closer I know where we are.

O'khasis.

Still catching his breath, he looks over to me, "Can you climb?"

I nod, unable to speak due to the amount of air that my body is attempting to suck in. He helps me clear the first few bricks before he begins to climb. It's painful and slippery due to the rain, but even though I want to stop, I know that whatever we're doing is important based on his speed. Despite starting after me, he reaches the top first, pulling me onto the top of it moments later. Once I'm on top of the wall, I rush to the other side, peering over to see the city that I'd grown up in.