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Rhyder

I was caught, trapped in his inhuman gaze, and as I froze in fear my belly twisted and my monthly flow burst, the blood beginning to flow down my legs.

He made a low guttural noise.

Blood

I turned and fled.

Crashing through the trees, I ran with sheer terror in my veins and they followed, baying and howling like wolves.

The branches whipped and tore at my body and still I ran, my flow slick on my thighs, the scent drawing them like hunting bloodhounds.

I could hear the men fighting behind me, loud snarls and heavy, thick thuds, the occasional whimper of pain.

But not from my brother.

Never from my brother.

There was nothing in front of me exceptthe hill, the big peak Congregants would climb to claim a woman.

It was steep and rocky, deadly in the daylight, and even worse in the night with rain beginning to pelt down on us.

There was a rope to help during non-ceremonial climbs, and I pulled it up with me as I scrambled up the side, wrapping it around my wrist as I climbed, panting with the exertion, the rain flattening my head scarf to my soaked hair.

My knees were shredded in my haste, my hands trembling uncontrollably as I held on desperately to the rope.

It was a long way down and one mistake meant I’d fall on those sharp rocks at the bottom.

Rhyder was behind me, climbing fast, his eyes demon-bright, his big boots kicking down on the other Congregants, sending them tumbling to the ground with maddened roars of rage.

In a panic, I tore at a rock beside me, clawing it from the dirt with desperate, shaking fingers, then let it tumble down the hillside behind me.

It was a big, solid rock, and miraculously it managed to hit him squarely in the shoulder.

But he didn’t even flinch

Even in his madness he was impossible to beat.

What could I do?

I scrambled up to the top, my breath a sob in my chest.

There was nothing up here. Nothing except the raised grassy platform where Congregants took the Helpmeets they won in bloody battle in front of the whole Congregation and the heavy wooden post where they burned those who didn’t pass the test.

I was trapped.

Should I throw myself off the side? Try to get a weapon?

My skin prickled with terror as a bloody hand appeared over the side of the cliff, strong fingers digging into the soil, then another hand, rough and split knuckles, dragging up a big body after them, and Rhyder stepped onto the top of the hill.

As I watched him stalk toward me, all brutal heat, I felt something deep-down in my gut.

Rhyder wasn’t going to hurt me.

Couldn’thurt me, no matter what they did to him.

“Brother, it’s me,” I said, although there was still a tremble in my voice.