“How will we get to the heart of Reddon?” I asked her, rushing to keep pace with her. Fiona’s legs were longer than mine, and she was definitely in a hurry.

“The same way I got here,” she responded, sounding like I had asked an entirely dumb question.

I had no other choice but to trust this strange woman. A favored in red who wasn’t supposed to be.

Fiona was turning into the trees, not taking any used path. The tree line was dense here, thick oaks and pines grew mere inches from each other.

Where there weren't trees, large leafy bushes blocked our journey, wiping the wetness from their leaves onto our cloaks.

The homes we stalked behind were dark inside; its residents tucked away in their dreams. I often wondered if any of them were like me and yearned for something else.

“Keep up,” Fiona snapped at me, already ten feet ahead of me. Could she see in the dark? I certainly couldn’t.

She didn’t stop and wait for me either, from what I could hear over the rain, she pushed through the brush and continued without me. From what I knew of the land, we were headed straight for the farms.

Thorne’s used to own a piece of land out here, but mama said we’d traded it two generations before mama. Supposedly, it was also the last man in our family that made the trade.

Men.

Favored or not, their needs were placed above all else.

I was keeping up with Fiona’s pace now, skirts hiked up into balled fists. It felt as though we were racing with how fast she was going.

Fiona abruptly stopped, forcing me to catch myself on a tree before I slammed into her. “What is it?” I whispered to her.

Her head whipped around to give me a glare. Shut up, that glare said. Closing my mouth, I looked past her to see what had made her stop.

Two guards had stopped on the pathway to converse. They both held torches with half raised arms. The rain had eased into a drizzle, but the chill in the air hinted Ascelin wasn’t done.

Their torches illuminated bits of the land around them, barely touching the edges of the trees. We were safe from their sight, for now.

I was too far to hear what the men in black metal were saying, but it seemed casual, light-hearted. From what light was provided, I could see we were deep within the farm lands.

Rows and rows of dirt were separated, plough tracks between them. If we were heading east, deeper in, we’d be in the wheat and barley farms. They would now be vast, empty fields.

The last moon cycle had been the final harvest. Now, the farmers would sit and wait for spring to come.

Fiona’s hand reached for my arm in the dark, startling me. Her fingers were strong and brutal as they dug into my skin, gripping my wrist. She began pulling us backward, deeper into the trees and away from the guards, at an achingly slow pace.

I followed directly in her path, replicating each step she took as she led us away from them. She was as nimble as I was within my home, hardly making the leaves rustle.

After a moment, her steps actually began to make a little noise, as if she knew we were far away enough. She released my wrist, but my eyes had adjusted to the darkness now.

I could hear the scuttling of leaves and twigs, creatures fleeing as I passed through. A shiver flashed through me, but it wasn’t from the biting cold.

Lights flared in the distance, faint and fluttering in the wind. We were almost to the heart.

Shrieks carried on the wind, high in tone and followed by boisterous laughter. The favored still carrier on their celebrations.

Our path had strayed deeper into the trees, almost deep enough for the thick trunks to entirely block my vision. Fiona was weaving through them, her pace picking up.

She certainly wasn’t making it easy for me to follow, but I had a feeling she was only in a rush to be free of Reddon.

The trees were beginning to thin the closer we got to the heart, stumps left as evidence. I nearly tripped on one in my desire to keep up with Fiona.

Ahead, Fiona slowed down, reaching a splayed hand behind her.

“We’ll need to be extremely careful,” she whispered. “The entire guard is out tonight.“

“They are for each Deification,” I muttered. Sneaking around at night wasn’t new to me, and neither was doing so with guards around.

“How many guards do you think Reddon has, Claudia?” She turned to look at me in the faint glare the distant lights provided.

“Three hundred,” I estimated. I knew there were enough of them to be where they were needed, but it wasn’t like Reddon had an army.

Fiona only stared at me, face held in a perfect expression of shock. “There is much, much more than three hundred,” she said at last.

“He’s here!” A woman’s voice shouted from afar, sounding a mix of excited and scared.

I inched closer toward the treeline, curious to see who he was. Ascelin, maybe?

Did Ascelin actually visit the favored?

Curiosity had me acting bolder than rationality wanted. “Claudia!” Fiona half-whispered, half-shouted at me.

“They can’t see us from here,” I said to her, not even turning around to look at her. I wanted to see this, the celebration of a favored. “We need to get closer anyways.”

Logic and reason abandoned, I began creeping along the backside of the trees, heading straight for the heart of Reddon.

The closer I got, the more my curiosity grew. The tarps remained, fluttering in the wind. Reddon was even more packed and full of people than it had been for Robert’s Deification.

It was as if every favored was present for this event, unbeknownst to the rest of us.

“You don’t want to see this,” Fiona said, coming up from behind me.

“Robert’s returned!” A man yelled the announcement.

Latimer?

“Claudia,” Fiona snapped. She was in front of me now, obscuring my vision of Reddon. “We aren’t going into the heart.”

“What are they doing?” I asked her, attempting to look over her shoulder.

“I’ll tell you later, but you don’t want to watch it.” She sounded impatient now.

Something in me was angered by her words. Why wouldn’t I want to see this hidden event only the favored experienced?

“We’re leaving, remember?” She whispered, and that struck home. She was right. We were leaving, and it shouldn’t matter what the favored did or didn’t do in my absence.

The people were screaming and running from what I could see and hear. They ran everywhere but away, as if they were playing a game.

“We’re leaving,” I repeated, confirming.

It was hard to pry myself away, to turn my back to a secret I hadn’t known about. Fiona was eager to distance us, bouncing on her heels and looking around us and into the darkness.

I was unsure if I should be more worried by her reaction, or what went on behind me.

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Curiosity still screamed within me to turn around. Fiona was sticking by my side, ensuring that I didn’t.

Not much later, Fiona had put enough distance between us and Reddon. Their screams no longer chased us on the wind, no more lighting to guide our escape.

“The road isn’t too far from here,” Fiona said from somewhere ahead of me. It was startling to hear a voice, and not a whisper.

“Do you have any idea where it goes?” I’d been spacing out, mind and heart racing with adrenaline.

“Somewhere with more to offer,” she remarked, shuffling her skirt in the dark to be free of a branch.

I was beginning to realize that I had blindly trusted this woman. She was the first I’d ever heard of there being some road, besides the cobblestone paths, that led to Reddon.

But what motivation could Fiona have to lure me out here, to create a hoax of running away?

I knew nothing of Fiona Bassett. Truly, I didn’t know of any Bassett.

No. I shook my head, closing my eyes to bat away such thoughts. I’m scared is all.

“There!” Fiona shouted. My eyes flew open, and thank Ascelin, there was actually something there.

A long stretch of trees had been completely cleared away, creating a tunnel through Ascelin’s forest. Dozens of tracks marked the exposed earth that’d been created.

There were fresh tracks, too.

“They were heading in,” Fiona murmured, lingering at the edge of the road.

Large hoofs had imprinted the mud, creating holes that had begun to fill with rain water. On the sides of the horse prints, identical wheel marks had been left.

She was right. The fresh prints were headed toward Reddon.

I was still in shock that there was a road. I’d hoped it to be true, but I hadn’t really expected it.

“And they’ll be coming back soon,” I finished her thought after recollecting myself. “We can’t be on the road.”

Fiona nodded, now at my side. “Let’s cross, then stick close.”

I couldn’t tell how long we’d been walking, but when the dark got even darker many hours later, I knew a new day had passed.

Fiona charged ahead of me, seemingly uncaring if I were to lose track of her. She’d disappeared at times, only to appear once more shortly later.

She hadn’t paused for even a moment, even when I stopped to relieve myself. I was in awe of her ability to hold her bladder for so long.

We hadn’t spoken, either. I was happy to leave Reddon in silence, and so was she.

“Do you need to rest?” She asked, breaking our day-long silence. She was hidden by a wall of oaks, the only evidence of her being there was her voice. Fiona didn’t even sound out of breath, despite practically running the entire time.

Admittedly, I was out of breath.

The cold wasn’t refreshing anymore, it didn’t satisfy my lungs as I gulped down big breaths of it. The temperature had been in a steady decline from the moment we were free of Reddon.

“Yes,” I gasped, relieved to finally pause and lean against a trunk. Fiona appeared a moment later, holding a now golden-hued lamp before her.

She glowed in its light, casting eerie shadows over her face, making it so her eyes weren’t seen. Was she smiling, or was it the shadows?

The latter, surely.

“Here should be fine,” Fiona said, pausing to look me over with a skeptical eye. “I thought you were carrying a child, Claudia. You haven’t thrown up this whole time?”

“I have nothing to throw up.” Grabbing the lamp from her outstretched hand, I turned around the wall of ancient trunks, examining what she’d found.

It was dry here, and with the trees at our backs, it offered enough protection. One front we didn’t have to worry about. I sat the lamp down, leaving it on to finally have some light.

A groan almost left my lips as I settled down into the dead leaves, nestling myself in as if it were my bed. Fiona was lowering herself down opposite of me, watching me with a curious look.

She looked gaunt, hungered.

“Are you hungry?” I offered softly, already reaching for the rope around my hips.

Fiona didn’t answer. She only watched me as I untied the rope, hand digging inside the sack. Her gaze felt warm on my skin as I dug through it, mumbling aloud to her.

“I’ve got bread,” I said, then dug some more. “More bread, and some sweets. . “ I trailed off, peering back at her.

Fiona’s lips turned upwards, lips parting to reveal unsettling teeth. “Pregnant after all,” she joked.

Grabbing a loaf, I pulled it into halves, offering one to her. After a moment of her not taking it, I lowered my hand. “Are you not hungry?”

“I am,” she said, unmoving. “I have a sensitive stomach is all.”

My skin tingled, that instinct once again kicking in, igniting fear. Without thought, I subtly leaned away from her, a protective hand splaying over my belly.

“More for me then, I suppose,” I mumbled awkwardly, trying to hide that I was completely uncomfortable now.

I held her eyes as I nibbled at my food, my stomach turning sour, no longer desiring food. The forest was silent around us, but I knew its residents were watching.

Weariness fell over me. I hadn’t a clue where I was, and I hadn’t slept in a sun, as mama would say.

I wanted to look around us and into what little the lamp illuminated, but something in my heart told me to keep my eyes on her.

“How old are you?” I was skimming around the real question I wanted to ask her.

Fiona leaned back against a junior tree, still puny in its predecessor's shadow. “Too young to wear red.”

“You said you weren’t supposed to be wearing it,” I prodded, directing her to the answer I was seeking.

Heavy stillness stretched between us, the air feeling thick in my throat. My heart sounded loud to me as I waited for her response.

“I made a mistake, Claudia.” Fiona’s voice was cool, her tone almost threatening. “I voiced words that shouldn’t have been spoken,” she continued. “I was to see Ascelin for my crimes.”

My throat tightened around the bread I’d swallowed. Fiona’s lips pulled into a thin-lined smile as she watched me. “Your crimes?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“I would hardly call surviving a crime,” she scoffed, fingers fiddling with the ends of her curly blonde hair. “I was already planning to leave, before I heard you in that alley.”

My stomach growled, filling my absence of an answer. Ascelin, I was hungry, but I couldn’t eat. I felt as though something incredibly dangerous sat across from me, and I had nowhere to run.

“Are you alright?” She asked, but nothing in her voice hinted that she cared. “You look frightened, Claudia. Am I scaring you?”

All I could do was shake my head, and that was still a lie. She was scaring me, but I couldn’t tell if it was my own anxieties or not.

A soft laugh spilled from Fiona’s lips. “I can see your fear. You have eyes like a doe that give you away.”

“The environment is all,” I attempted. “The vulnerability of where we are.”

Fiona hummed in thought, her eyes dipping down to where the iron stoker lay at my side. “I am starved,” she said, her gaze snapping back up to mine.

“I have plenty to share.” I was quick to toss the sack over to her. Fiona didn’t even acknowledge where it landed at her feet. “I understand you have a sensitive stomach, but that’s all I have.”

“What do you know of Ascelin and his favored?” Her voice was quiet, but it carried on empty air, louder than it should be.

“Not as much as you,” I said with a sigh. “All I do know is what I was bred into, Fiona.”

A muscle in her face twitched, as if she were irritated by my response. “I didn’t want to believe you were just another cow.”

“Cow?” I bristled, fear temporarily forgotten. “I wasn’t born into wealth and favor like you. I’m sorry I don’t know of Ascelin and his favored,” I spat at her.

“I call you a cow, Claudia, because that’s what you are.” Fiona was standing now, cloak fluttering around her with her sudden movement. “You are their food in their life before Ascelin, and after.”

“What are you talking about?” I was on my feet now too, already palming the stoker. Fiona didn’t bat an eye as I did so.

“I was going to help you, I want you to know that.”

Dread pooled in my belly, and I began to regret what food I had managed to eat.

“Mirin would not be pleased if I brought you anyways,” she murmured, deep in her own thoughts. She’d been lying, of course.

I knew it now; how stupid I had been. Fiona knew what was at the other end of this road we followed.

I felt as though my body were lighting on fire as she looked at me with innocent blue eyes. Was she going to kill me? Who was Mirin?

Blood pounded in my ears. I was a trapped animal with nowhere to run, and Fiona was my hunter.

“I wanted to help you, Claudia.” Fiona took a single step forward, stepping deeper into the lamp’s glow. The light spread over her, bringing her into full view. “I’m just so hungry.”

“Are you going to eat me?” Even my voice was shaking, fingers squeezing around the handle.

“That is what we do with cows.” Her voice was kind and gentle, like she was speaking to a child. She took another step towards me, and I was fast to hold the iron out before me, making her hesitate.

Then, she laughed at me.

Fiona’s laugh was cruel, genuinely amused as she stared at the so-called weapon. “This only buys you a small amount of time Claudia, if you are to use that how you’re thinking.”

My chest rose in rapid breaths as I backed away from her. She followed, her steps in tune with mine, keeping the sharp point inches from her chest.

“This can be quick,” she cooed. “I need your strength to make it home.”

A root nearly tripped me in my retreat, but moments later my back was flush with the barrier of trees. “Stay back,” I shouted at her. “This isn’t funny, Fiona.”

“No, it isn’t,” she agreed, her features morphing into terrifying anger in the array of light and shadows that danced on her face. “Even if I spare you tonight, death by Mirin’s hands is far more-”

Her sentence abruptly ended, her eyes going wide as her mouth went slack. Fiona lurched forward, nearly stabbing herself on my stoker, before her knees went out, her body slamming into the earth and knocking the lamp over.

An arrow protruded from Fiona Bassett’s skull, blood slowly leaking around the wooden weapon.