Chapter 3 #3
A mile off the main road, the route to our freedom sat before us, along with a wall of dense fog.
I had only seen it once from a distance, and it was even more threatening up close.
The barrier started from the land and jutted up into the sky.
It could have ascended through the cosmos for all anyone knew, as the top had never been seen.
Alec broke the heavy silence as the horse pulled the wagon onto a small, worn path that put us parallel to the barrier. “Do you ever wonder what it’s like on the other side of that wall?”
I scoffed. “No. I assume it is filled with nothing more than magic and monsters.”
The barrier was so close I could likely touch it if I leaned far enough out of the wagon. A realization that I pointedly ignored.
Alec continued, “I sometimes think that maybe, like humans, there is a mix of both good and bad seraphs. I mean, Greta told me about that Terren guy. Maybe he belongs on the other side of the barrier.”
I huffed out a breath. “I wish I could banish him there. Terren would probably fit right in. He is a monster, and not the only one I’ve come across. Violence is often the only language men speak.”
Alec turned his gaze to the worn path ahead, staying silent.
Way to offend a man helping you, Rory.
“Alec, I am sorry if…”
“Shh!” He lifted a finger to his lips. “Do you hear that?”
Cora sat straight up, alert, and turned toward the direction of the forest. My head whipped to the barrier, eyes darting around like a seraph would burst through and attack us at any moment.
Alec pulled the horse to a stop and turned in his seat, not to the barrier, but to the pitch-black forest. His thick eyebrows furrowed, and his light eyes slowly scanned the darkness.
“I hear it, too, Alec.” Cora’s voice was no more than a whisper.
“What do you hear, sweet girl?” I questioned.
Alec turned to me. “Horses.”
A steady strum of hooves battered the ground, cutting the quiet of the forest.
My heart skipped a beat. “Shit! Terren!”
Alec snapped the reins, and the horse jolted to a gallop, lurching the wagon forward and almost unseating me.
“Hang on!” he shouted over the pounding of running horses.
Or maybe that was my heart trying to burst out of my chest. A heavy wagon couldn’t outpace a horse with a single rider, and I was aware our attempt to flee was futile.
Dread sat in my stomach, and the anxiety that Greta had stifled broke through her herbal concoction, blazing inside me at a level I had never had the displeasure of experiencing.
Lights flickered between the trees of the forest as the hoofbeats became louder and faster, giving away the location of our stalkers.
“Auroraaaaa!” Terren sang out in mocking terror. Cora whimpered next to me, her eyes clenched tightly closed.
Four forms on horseback broke through the trees and onto the path behind our wagon.
My heart thumped in rhythm with the sound of the pursuing horses.
Cora looked up at me in fear, and as I stared into her wide hazel eyes, I was ready to do whatever was necessary to keep her out of the hands of the monster trying to take her from me.
“Alec, I’m going to jump and distract them,” I exclaimed as I met his eyes.
“Unhook the horse from the wagon and jump on him with Cora so you can outrun them. Take her as far away as you can and then send word to Greta. She will know what to do. Please! My distraction will give you enough time to make it.”
“Mom, no!” Cora gasped out.
Alec gripped the reins and stared at me with bulging eyes. “Are you serious?” he shouted.
Wind whipped my hair, but my face remained calm.
The horse may be running at full speed, but tranquility had settled over me.
I had never second-guessed protecting my daughter, regardless of Clotha’s paths to choose from.
The choice was easy to make. Wobbly, I stood to make my jump and looked into the glassy hazel eyes that matched mine so perfectly.
“I love you, sweet girl. I promise I will find you.”
I bent my knees to leap off the wagon as tiny arms clasped around my waist in protest. Cora screamed, “No!”
The wagon careened out of control, and the front wheel lifted over a huge rock, violently tipping Alec’s side up and off the ground.
A gasp was ripped from my throat as Cora and I were thrown sideways out of the wagon into a free fall.
I tugged her toward me and locked her in my arms, bracing for impact with the forest floor. The collision never came.
A temporary burst of pain quickly blazed through me as the forest and wagon dissolved into a cloudy haze of whites and greys.
Squeezing pressure encased my body, and voices roared in my ears, sounding from everywhere and nowhere, speaking in dialects I couldn’t understand.
Silhouettes faded in and out of focus, and all I could think to do was grip Cora closer to me.
She whimpered in my arms, and a peace washed over me, knowing that if this was how Clotha saw fit to finish our story, at least I had my daughter.
My body crashed back-first onto the ground, rolling us from the force of the fall. The haze lightened, and the squeezing pressure dimmed. I could no longer grip onto the edges of my consciousness.
Everything went dark.