She could hear his voice as he spoke to her. Taunted her. She didn’t know how close or how far away he was, there was really no telling. She knew his tricks. Knew his abilities. She was trying to mask her own sounds as she ran. She needed to be smarter than this. She needed to push the fear down and try to pull something else out. So, she took a moment to pause, inhaling, and closing her eyes. There was a fallen tree nearby, hollowed out and dead. If she could make it to that and make it inside, it might buy her some time.
She changed direction, dodging thorns and ducking under branches. The tree was in sight and she paused. She couldn’t approach it straight, it would be too obvious so, she decided to climb the tree nearest her. Climbing trees, traversing in a forest, it had always come naturally to her from her birth and time in the grove. She jumped from one set of branches to the other, trying to leave as much behind to make him think she was in the trees. The fallen hollow log was leaned against the tree she was in so she was able to maneuver and lower herself into it.
The closed her eyes, attempting to conjure up enough magic to make her own breathing and heartbeat as quiet as possible. It wasn’t perfect. She didn’t think for a second it would work for long but she knew this wasn’t about evading him. She couldn’t do that. Not forever. This was about proving to him that she was not going to just bow down and give him what he wanted. She wasn’t going to fall to his feet. It was proving to him that after thousands of years under his control she still wasn’t broken. She still wasn’t his permanently his and would never be.
She would fight and continue to fight. Until her dying breath or his.
She changed direction, dodging thorns and ducking under branches. The tree was in sight and she paused. She couldn’t approach it straight, it would be too obvious so, she decided to climb the tree nearest her. Climbing trees, traversing in a forest, it had always come naturally to her from her birth and time in the grove. She jumped from one set of branches to the other, trying to leave as much behind to make him think she was in the trees. The fallen hollow log was leaned against the tree she was in so she was able to maneuver and lower herself into it.
The closed her eyes, attempting to conjure up enough magic to make her own breathing and heartbeat as quiet as possible. It wasn’t perfect. She didn’t think for a second it would work for long but she knew this wasn’t about evading him. She couldn’t do that. Not forever. This was about proving to him that she was not going to just bow down and give him what he wanted. She wasn’t going to fall to his feet. It was proving to him that after thousands of years under his control she still wasn’t broken. She still wasn’t his permanently his and would never be.
She would fight and continue to fight. Until her dying breath or his.
07-26-2023, 08:59 PM
