Walking back to the castle I eventually fell into a trance-like state, moving more so out of habit than conscious effort. At some points, I even forgot why I was walking, or where, until the sound of a loud bell resonated through the air.
My feet stopped and I looked up to see the towering stone walls that used to make me feel so safe when I was a child.
The gate opened and in seconds I saw several soldiers on horseback running toward me. They swept me up in an instant and took me back inside. Before I knew it I was in my bed, waking up in my room and a much-needed rest.
When I opened my eyes I didn’t move. I didn’t want to. It hurt, everything did. It wasn’t the deep pain like before, but the scrapes and cuts covering my body stung, and as I moved I could feel the scabs trying to tear.
I let out a long, annoyed groan, finally getting up and rubbing my eyes. My whole body was covered in bandages. My clothes had been changed, my torso being covered with an unbuttoned long-sleeved cotton shirt, and my legs feeling the softness of a similar material down to my ankles.
‘New clothes are nice and all… But I'd rather just not need them…’ I fell backward again, sprawling out on my bed. ‘Not yet… I’m not ready to get up yet…’
I stretched my arms, them being the only part of me that made it out mostly unscathed. Aside from my left one the was still scratched and bruised from the pressure of the wolf's jaws.
After stretching I pulled it to my chest. ‘Catherine going to be pissed… So much for taking it easy while it healed…’
With another deep breath, I finally got out of bed and opened my window to feel the cool air blow against my skin and gently rustle my hair.
My legs still felt weak, and my body tired, so I sat down, turning my back to the window and taking a rest. It was the same place I sat last time I survived a life-or-death battle. Covered in blood and drenched from the rain…
I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes nearly falling back asleep as I rested. ‘I feel like… I kinda get why people like alcohol in the morning now. I wonder if that means I’m growing up.’
Letting out another deep breath I opened my eyes, finally feeling ready to head downstairs and eat something. As I started to rock my weight forward to stand before my eyes finally scanned over my room and I froze.
It was fully repaired, as if nothing had ever happened. The floorboards had all been replaced, and the door was brand new. The walls had been patched up as good as new, and the desk had been replaced as well.
I felt like it should have made me happy. I mean, sleeping in a room that was covered in scars from a literal demon certainly made the creepy feeling of something being in my closet a bit too real. I was happy I wouldn’t have to deal with that anymore, but somehow it almost hurt…
‘It's like it never happened… All that I went through…’ I grabbed a handful of my own hair, resting my head in my hands. ‘He literally threw me to the wolves and forced me to climb out on their corpses.’
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Just being in the castle felt suffocating. What exactly were these walls keeping me safe from, the monsters? Somehow the pit almost felt safer.
I felt like my father was going to walk through my door any second, and every second that he didn’t only made me more anxious. My senses heightened reflexively, and I started to hear footsteps. They were too far away to tell if they were heading to my room, or somewhere in between, but not knowing only made me more anxious.
I was losing my mind and my nerve, finally getting so nervous I climbed out my window and onto the roof just to breathe clearly. ‘Why am I panicking now. I passed, didn’t I? I didn’t even get hurt that bad this time…’
I clutched my chest as it tightened. My fight or flight instinct kicked in, only there was no fight in me this time. I heard my door open and every fiber of my being told me to run.
I jumped from the second floor, toughening my body and breaking my fall with a roll. ‘I need to get out of here.’ That was the only thought in my mind. It was so vivid it was hardly even a thought, and more like an instinct.
Before I knew it I was in the stables. Hiding in Fritz’s stall.
Just like all the times before she was making it clear she wanted me to ride her. I paused, pretending to think about it, weighing the decision, only to make it blindly, swinging my leg over her and holding on tight to her mane. I closed my eyes and buried my head against her neck without a word.
I felt my heartbeat race as she kicked the stall door so hard it shattered and blew off the hinges. Only then did I start to second-guess my decision. Even if she was nice to me, she was dangerous. That much was clear to me in that moment more than ever before.
It was like she could read my mind, feel what I was feeling, and react accordingly. Before anyone could respond we were already out of the stables and headed straight for the open gate. The guards seemed to be too shocked to do anything, much less stop us.
The moment we crossed the threshold and she felt fresh grass and snow under her hooves she took off even faster, sprinting at such a speed that I could only hold on for dear life, tensing up even more, making her run even faster.
As we rushed across the plains and over the rolling hills several miles flew past us in minutes. Of course, I couldn’t exactly appreciate any of the scenery. I wasn’t too scared to open my eyes at that point, but I felt like if I did for too long, the wind would scratch them from our speed.
When she finally stopped it took me a moment to let go of the tension I was holding, but when I did, I felt my chest finally loosen, and my breath started to come easy again.
Lifting my head, I saw a massive canyon stretch out in front of my eyes, splitting in several directions with a deep crater in the middle. Looking down at it made me feel as though I were atop a skyscraper, and grateful I wasn’t afraid of heights.
Waterfalls ran off the sides of the canyon walls from various places, all pooling in the center of the crater steaming up from the giant hot spring lake.
large overhangs left narrow dry tunnels that acted as walkways and great ancient buildings were carved into the sides of the cliffs, each one holding architecture that was completely foreign to me. I could only guess what kind of people lived there.
The sight was breathtaking. Whatever flight response I was having that made me feel the need to run far away had long since left, and all I could feel was awe.
‘Buildings carved into the cliffside should be easily defendable because of the terrain, it almost feels too perfect. Of course, if the buildings are too shallow a well-placed catapult shot could be devastating, good luck landing one though. Because of the nature of the structure, it wouldn’t be hard to reinforce the buildings with metal either.’’
Fritz shook out like a dog, gesturing her head back to the waterfalls.
I grinned, rubbing her neck. ‘Those are also strategically valuable, the several water sources combined with the naturally boiling water at the bottom makes it really hard to take away their clean water supply during a siege.’
Fritz neighed in a way that told me she was rolling her eyes.
“What is it?”
She shook her head back and forth slowly.
I leaned over, hugging her neck. “Come on, who cares if I like it because it's pretty or for some other reason, it's the same result either way isn’t it? It's cool… Thank you… For showing me this…”
She snorted as if saying “Whatever.” and then we just sat there, enjoying the view. Everything had happened so fast, but now that it had finally calmed down and I had time to think. ‘I wonder… Just how much trouble I’ll be in for this…’
I laid back on her rump, placing my hands behind my head and staring at the clouds. ‘I guess I could just not go back… No, I should at least make sure I get this demon off my tail for good before I do anything too crazy… Still, if my chest tightens up every time I hear my father's footsteps things could get tricky.’
I let out a deep sigh, sitting up to finally button my shirt. ‘No, I don’t think it will be a problem. I just have to go back to the way things were when Bhaltair would beat me, remove all feelings, and forget about the past. Focus on one step at a time, and fight back, even if it leads to me breaking another arm, that’s the only way I can keep myself sane.’