Page 10 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
“Where is she?” he asks to the cowering girl in front of him.
“I sent her to bed and locked the door, I swear,” the maid says, her voice fearful. I hear the smack of the whip and the sound of her whimpering in pain.
“Is that so…?” A lighter voice fills the air. It belongs to the lady of the house, Graysen’s wife. She pads into the room in her deep ruby dress, her curled ringlets of gray hair properly styled as if she is expecting a dinner or a meeting with someone important.
“Do you know how much she is worth?” she asks again, inching closer to the young maid.
The girl shakes her head, more terrified at the sight of the governess than her husband.
“The traders are willing to pay us ten thousand worth of silver and gold if we deliver her,” the lady tells her. Without warning, she slaps the maid on her face.
“I want her found,” Governor Graysen barks at his guards. What are you waiting for? Move. Now!”
Fear floods my veins at the order. They’re selling me to the slavers?
No. No. No.
That can’t be.
I want to see my family again. I don’t want to be shipped away to a faraway continent. My heart is galloping like it’s trying to escape my chest.
Calm down,I tell myself.
Loren and the twelfth regiment will never allow that to happen to me. I force a breath through my teeth and climb down the wooden cupboard slowly.
The Twelfth’s main post is just below my room. I’ve memorized every walkway, every passage, and every room of this dim and dreary castle. Finding my way will be easy. I just have to make sure I don’t get caught.
I wait until not a single chatter or footstep is audible to make my move.
Grant me a safe passage to find the knights of Völundr.I pray to the gods before stepping out of my room.
The governor and his guards have all disappeared from the hall. There’s no one guarding the staircase either. I sneak as fast as I can down the passage, ignoring the lightning pulsing down my calves, telling me to slow down. Ripples of relief go through once I make it safely down.
It’s not that far now…
My heart leaps with every step I take to their room. The world flips as I trip from the slippery floor.
I stretch my hands to brace my fall, but by the gods… it hurts. My arm throbs with a dull ache but the rest of me appears intact.
I raise my head and shudder from the growing, vibrant red pool in front of me. What in the world… is this?
It’s streaming from the other end of the hall. From the coppery scent and color, I know it’s blood. Yet I can’t help but follow the trail slowly.
A long object glistens in the bloody path.This is Loren’s pipe…I run faster toward their room.
No, no, please Gods, no.
The deities answer my prayers and deliver me safely to my knights.
Whatever remained of them.
Bodies scatter all over the hallway in red and black pools. Most of the knights lay headless, some torn in half, some simply a steaming pile of flesh. I look at the sunken faces of those who are whole, their mouths agape with whatever horror they witnessed before their death.
I recognize the stag regalia of the captain and approach him slowly. Loren lays unconscious on the floor, blood flowing freely from the gaping wound on his chest.
Sorrow replaces the hope I had earlier.
They’re all dead.
