Serpent Game: Slave to the Shadows vol. 1 (Now on Kindle!)

Chapter 7 | To the Sky

A blissful Eve sprawled on a bed, decorated in acceptable white sheets, blankets sewn seamlessly with a ruby red fabric. All the while, her head was burrowed into a feathered pillow.

Morning had arrived only a few minutes before as sunlight found its way onto her person. This light soon struck her eyes and attempted to wrestle her back into consciousness. It failed to outright pull her away from her slumber.

But it was close.

Futile as the effort became, Eve soon gave up and allowed herself to wake. Time to embrace the morning air, emulate her day as close to any other. Her ambitions were struck down abruptly when a Halsberth guard braced like a stone inside of her mysterious resting place near a door.

A moment of panic ensued.

She screeched, flailing about the bed till she collapsed off the side. The guard acted immediately, taking a knee and offering a helping hand in true chivalrous fashion.

"I'm so terribly sorry ma'lady, I did not mean to startle you!" pleaded the guard. "Surely, I mean you no harm!"

"W-where am I?" the startled teenager pressed to the red-haired gentlemen in gold armor.

"Never fear, for you are safe within these walls." At least one of them felt safe.

"I'll be the judge of that, you creep!" The guard sneered. He retracted his hand as his guardian demeanor shifted.

"Well, if we're going to have such an attitude, then perhaps you don't belong in Halsberth after all!"

"What?" Eve gasped, sprang up. "I'm in Halsberth?!" The guard nodded.

"That's right, in all her majesty! For years, the central grounds for-" Her head appeared to slump down in disappointment.

"Then that means ... he just-"

"Up and vanished? I assume you're talking of that delinquent."

"Not a damn delinquent!" Eve almost instantly corrected. "The stubborn oaf with the long, grey hair. Yeah. I guess he's long gone."

Though she found relief, she also felt a sudden surge of ... betrayal?

Nonsense.

Just another body to leave her in her time of need.

She began scanning the room subtly, even outside of a narrow window, thin and castle-like in its design. Eve was instilled with a sense of vertigo as she caught on to the familiar three-pillar monument formations; and how her sight met with their middle base. Just shy of one-hundred feet off of the ground. Immediately darting her gaze aside, she pinpointed her bag, lying next to the guard's position on the ground.

"You wouldn't happen to have a puppy running around here, would you?"

The guard pondered for a moment, snapped his fingers in no time at all. As if giddy, he stepped out of the room and called out in the halls.

"Estabon! Could you be a good pup and come forth?" As the phrase escaped him, so did the sound of tings and crunches, as if his plated armor was being gnawed at. The guard pulled back into the room, noticeably taken aback by a—quite frankly—unsurprising betrayal.

Delusional, the flustered guard laughed awkwardly.

"Ah, this is no time for rough-housing, Estabon!" he grimaced, slightly attempted to shake his arm. "Not in front of your mother!"

Once more, the name alone only caused more retort.

However, as those beady, little eyes resonated with Eve's, he only growled before dismounting the arm. The guard cleared his throat with sense of relief and soon returned to his honored 'damsel.'