Page 17 of Agor

But I wasn’tthatstupid.

“No. I far prefer you in chains.” I put on my tunic, then buckled my belt over it. “Well, it’s been fun, Chief Agor, but I have to go now, and I sincerely hope I’ll never see you again.”

I grabbed a coil of rope from the floor by the workbench.

“Wait.” He set up, rattling the chains.

I paused on my way to the window.

“Are you going to call your men in to stop me? Should I gag you?” I probably should. Why was I even asking him?

He shifted awkwardly in the pile of pillows.

“If I promise not to send my men after you, will you untie me?”

“You don’t want your people to see you like this, do you?” I guessed.

“No. Not really,” he admitted.

“All right.” I took pity on him and kneeled at his side.

Shoving a single coil of the chain from his wrist down past his knuckles, I got up again.

“There. This will let you free yourself soon enough, but not too soon.” I hurried to the window again.

The chain had enough slack now for him to shift it down loop by loop, eventually setting himself free. If I lingered, I risked becoming his prisoner again.

Not losing another second, I opened the window and climbed out.

“Wait!” he called after me. “I don’t even know your name.”

There was no need for him to know it. Absolutely no need at all.

I jumped out, hitting the ground hard, then ran to the wall, keeping to the shadows. I grabbed the closest ladder leaning against the wall and climbed up without looking back.

The dog’s howling bark came from the chief’s house. If he sent dogs after me, would I live long enough to see another sunrise?

Fear made my hands shake. But I couldn’t let it paralyze me. I looped the rope around the sharpened end of a log, then climbed down. Once my feet hit the ground on the other side, I ran as fast as I could, leaving the keep and its chief behind as quickly as my legs would let me.

Chapter 4

Becca

Making it a fair distance from the keep, I circled it, then headed east, toward the edge of the orcs’ forest and my settlement.

I had to stop twice to make sure I stayed the course and moved in the right direction. Navigating at night in a forest filled with mists that drifted between the trees and over the ground wasn’t easy.

Taking a wrong step also carried the risk of losing the dry ground and ending up in a bog of mud with no bottom. A bog killed slowly, sucking its victims in until they drowned.

I kept my eyes down for another reason too. The gray patches of fog played with the dark shadows of the forest in the pale glow from the stars above, creating visions that might give me nightmares if I stared at them too closely.

Sometimes, when I looked at scary things directly, the magic disappeared. Instead of monsters with long, gnarly fingers, I saw tree branches. The ghostly shrouds turned into patches of cobwebs. And eerie eyes burning with menace became just glowing mushrooms growing in circles around rotting logs and tree stumps.

Other times, however, staring directly at the monsters only made them look more real. The darkness solidified, taking corporeal shapes that stalked me in the shadows.

I drew the knife from my boot, keeping it ready. A knife was probably useless against ghosts, but it gave me just enough confidence to not run into the woods screaming.

Rustling came from behind me. A soft crack of a twig. A splash of water under someone’s foot. Or a paw?

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