Page 55 of Bound By Darkness

Murmuring increased around me as people talked amongst themselves, mostly upset the line wasn’t moving. I couldn’t help but agree. It was bad enough they had us toiling in the mines for hours. Now we had to wait underneath the rain? Rain soaking into my pores and bones?

My teeth clattered as I crossed my arms over my chest for heat. That was hard to find nowadays. And sometimes, I even found myself missing the prison. Missing the endless lovers who came into my cell. At least they brought warmthand food. The guards here brought nothing but cuts and bruises.

A piercing shriek tore my mind from my thoughts.

It wasn’t unusual to hear screams, especially not near the cliffs. But as another echo of shouts rippled through the crowd, my heart drummed against my ribcage.

The man in front of me took a step back, the red clay squishing underneath the weight of his soles. “We?—”

A flash of red and brown caught my eye as a woman slipped over the mountain edge.

Her hands flailed in the open air as the wind sucked her into the abyss, her voice echoing off the jagged rocks.

A shove to my shoulder knocked me over, my hand reaching to steady myself against anything solid.

It met flesh as another shout echoed through the mist.

What was going on?

Sure, it was common for a few unlucky prisoners to lose their footing, but this was different. These prisoners were escaping from something as another flung off the edge to death herself.

“We need to move back!” the man boomed above the crowd, his back pressing into my palm. “Move!”

He turned around, his bony fingers gripping my wrist as he shoved me forward into the frenzy.

My arm slapped into the nearest body.

He bounded up the slippery hill, his fingers shoving and yanking on any available flesh.

He knew it too.

Everyone did.

Panic ensued on the mountain edge as prisoners from every angle propelled themselves upward and away from the screaming below.

The mist covered it all except the horrid sounds. I needed to get away. I needed?—

Mud coated my tongue as I slapped into the ground, feet stomping and daring to crush my body into the seeping cold. My arms covered my head in a desperate attempt to protect what little remained of myself.

My feet curled to my chest as I waited—waited until the movement stopped. A yelp left my mouth as my hair yanked to the side, prying my head from beneath my arms.

My eyes opened, rain threatening to drown each one as I stared at the open sky?—

At the flashes of black and blue tangling with the mist itself.

The first flash veered left, slamming into the back of an unsuspecting man. Blue light erupted from his chest.

He vanished.

Nothing but a pile of charred bones atop the rust-colored clay remained.

What—

Another streak of black silenced an elderly woman, her body curling upon impact. I had known her too. She worked the section beside me in the mines—quiet, but kind.

My mouth dried.

This… this wasn’t anything I’d seen before.

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