Page 6

She licked at her dry lips; it wouldn’t be long before they started to crack. There was no point in reaching for the water sack, since it’d long been empty. Instead, she limped while pulling an apple from her bag, hoping to feed and hydrate herself at the same time.

Her gaze lowered to her slippers, and she grimaced at how muddy her socks were. At least the bottoms of her grey linen pants only had a few speckles on them, likely due to the internalribbon keeping them snug around her ankles.

Supporting herself on a nearby tree trunk, she wiped the sweat from her forehead. Although her head pounded with heat and high blood-pressure, the air was cold. The tendrils of winter were still fading, and the constant shade of the forest didn’t allow the earth to truly warm.

If I keep going like this, I’m going to vomit.She’d been running on and off for at least fourteen hours. The sun was past its highest peak, and she’d barely stopped moving.

No matter how far she ran, it didn’t feel like enough.

An oppressive, dark energy nipped at her heels, pushing her forward in fear. The further she got, the more she worried her newfound freedom would be ripped away. Her anxieties weren’t getting better, they only worsened. She thought it may be more painful if she tasted freedom, only to be barred back in a cage of tent walls with a new shackle at her ankle.

Her face drained of heat.If he catches me...Her stomach churned at the fate she knew awaited her.

“Don’t think about it, Linh Nguyen,” she told herself, throwing her apple core to the side. “Just keep going. Duneside is half a day’s walk from here.”

She refused to look west, knowing that her hometown, Ashpen Village, was directly that way. She was about halfway between the two towns, despite being far more east along the cape.

Every step towards Duneside only brought on more worry.

I thought I could go there, but...Shit, she hadn’t thought about the bandit soldiers situated inside both towns, which were there for their ‘protection.’

Bragg’s main camp was designed to keep humans from aiding them, and Demons from rushing through the middle of the two mountains. Safety at the cost of their freedom.

I’ll have to forage.She could do that, since she’d been learning the trade her entire life. She could point out what was poisonous or edible just by looking or sniffing.

Why hasn’t the northern Demonslayer guild sent people to help us yet?They were supposed to protect them, yet they’d been suffering formonthsat the hands of bandits.

Shaking her head once more, figuring they had good reason for abandoning them, Linh paused when she heard trickling. Her expression grew lax, then her eyes widened.

Is that...?Despite her aching body, she hobbled as she ran, chasing after the sound.Yes! Water!She followed the tiny stream’s westerly flow.

Linh nearly wept when she came upon a small pond. Only a few metres wide, both sides of its oval mouth were collections of boulders and stone. The water dropped down as if it’d been made via a sinkhole, and she could see cracked earth through the grass surrounding it.

Linh didn’t care how it was formed, only that it existed.

Rolling up her long sleeves, she dipped her hands into the water. It was clear, but she sniffed it to make sure it didn’t have any pungent odours. As much as she would have preferred to boil it, she still sipped it. Refreshing and much needed, she scooped handfuls of it to her mouth.

Quenching the worst of her thirst, she opened the water sack and watched it bubble as it filled. As if she couldn’t help herself, needing to gorge on it in case she didn’t come across another water source in future travels, she scooped more to drink.

Her tired reflection rippled as she slurped, but she ignored the wispy strands of black hair that stuck out around her head. Her eyes shone a rich brown in the sunlight, glittering with the patterns of the water.

She washed her face, removing the grime and sweat from her skin from running. She even rinsed her neck.

Just as she scooped another handful, she hurled out a gasp and fell to her backside.I saw a face!Or something...likea face. Then again, it’d been rather pale, like a skull.

If there are dead bodies in the water, it’ll make me sick.But it had smelt and tasted fine, and waterlogged bodies would generally leave a distinct taste in it. There would also be more bugs in the water, but she hadn’t seen any.

With her eyes wide and stark, she leaned forward.Oh god, please let it only be a hallucination.Cautiously, she peeked over the rocky edge.

Nothing. She rubbed her eyes before checking once more. With the surface unmoving, she saw nothing in the deep darkness. The walls of the pond appeared to be made of stone, rather than mud, and nothing moved beneath the surface.

A sigh of relief fluttered past her shaking lips, and she sagged to the side.Just a hallucination.Unsurprising, considering she hadn’t slept in what must have been over thirty-six hours. She’d stayed up all night to make sure she could escape.

I need rest.As much as she didn’t want to, she crawled to the boulders to her right so she could lean against them. She soaked in the warmth cascading over her.I can’t run forever. I need sleep.

Sitting upright, she rolled her head against the boulder to glance towards the water, a little spooked by it. At least the sun would keep her safe from any Demons. A bubble popped at the surface of the water, but she thought little of it as her exhausted eyes slitted with a heaviness before they started to close.

Just a few minutes.She could hopefully afford to close her eyes for a little while. Sitting upright would ensure she didn’t sleep long, as the ground beneath her arse, the rock at her back, and the position she was in were all insanely uncomfortable.