Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Once again, Sierra awoke to the sound of the door shifting open. Except instead of the usual two guards, this time there was only one standing within the arc of light the opened door allowed into her room.
Sierra moved into a sitting position, her muscles tightening in response, letting her know she had been sleeping longer than she had anticipated.
Before she could fully deduce what was going on, the guard was by her side, helping her to her feet. Sierra assumed it was time to visit Slaine, but to her surprise, the guard led her out of the cell in the opposite direction of where they usually went.
Sierra looked over her shoulder just to be sure, but before she could decide whether she should be worried, the guard grabbed her arm tightly and began speaking in a low, urgent whisper.
“Don’t look back. We must be quick.”
Sierra wanted to ask why, or where they were going, but her intuition told her this was the time to remain quiet.
The guard led her through several hallways of doors resembling the one where Sierra had been held the past few days.
On and on they went, until at last the guard pushed open a door that led to the exterior.
Directly in front of the door was a small patch of grass, that ended at what looked like a fast-moving river, sparkling in the dim light of the setting sun.
“Can you swim?” the guard asked.
Sierra looked back at him to notice he wore a cap pulled down low, obscuring most of the upper portion of his face, probably to hide himself if anyone noticed him escorting her out.
Sierra looked back at the water, noticing the current pulling it along rapidly, creating small swirls in the surface of the water.
“I can, but I’m not a strong swimmer.”
“It will have to do.” The guard pushed her toward the water. “Stay in the river until it narrows. You will see a large boulder on either side. One of the boulders has a crevice in it where you can stay until I can come for you. There will be food and water waiting for you there.”
“But wait, who are you?” Sierra asked, as he pushed her toward the water.
“No time for that now. I’ll see you later.”
Sierra wanted to argue, but she must’ve still been weaker than she realized because the next thing she knew, she was falling, and the cold river water was closing over her head.
In a panic, Sierra’s stiff limbs began to move, pushing her towards the surface.
By the time she broke through, gulping down a few breaths, she looked back to see that the bank where she had entered the river was already empty, and the door to what looked like a castle, now that she could see it fully, was closed.
Sierra stretched her toes, only to find the river was too deep for her to reach the bottom.
Trying to stay in control of her panic, Sierra moved her arms in an arc motion to situate herself so she could see the direction the river was flowing.
She hadn’t swum in years, mostly due to her insecurities about her skin while wearing a swimsuit, but she found the instinct came back to her quickly.
The river was moving quickly, and Sierra knew she had to come up with a method of flotation before she tired herself out from treading water. So far, she had kept her head above water with a forward crawl, but she wasn’t sure how far she had to go to find these boulders the guard spoke of.
Sierra looked at both sides of the river. The banks were steep, and she wouldn’t be able to climb out here. Not that she planned to, as she had a feeling she could trust the guard who helped her, but it would be nice to find a branch or something to keep herself afloat.
Although she thought of going closer to the bank to see if something was, by chance, hanging over the river’s edge up ahead, she also knew how dangerous the current could be if she was pulled into a tree on the bank and unable to get to the surface to breathe.
Based on that knowledge alone, Sierra was certain that she needed to stay in the center of the river and just hope the boulders the guard spoke of weren’t too far away.
As she made this decision, she also came to the realization that her adrenaline was wearing off, and the river water was very cold, especially on her wound, where she had been bled the day before.
With a grimace, Sierra realized she might be facing an infection later, depending on the status of the water around her.
In the rapidly dimming light, she couldn’t see anything in the water, which was probably for the better.
She didn’t know what kind of animals lived in Sidhe waters, but if she saw anything moving around her feet right now, she was liable to scream, possibly compromising the escape she had been gifted.
Time seemed to go on forever as Sierra battled to keep herself in the center of the river, and to keep her head above water.
Just when she thought that she couldn’t make it any further, two boulders the size of small huts on either side of the river came into sight.
The light was mostly gone from the sky at this point, and Sierra knew it was a miracle she had seen them at all.
A few minutes later and it would have been too dark for her to make sense of anything around her.
She made her way to the bank on her right before realizing that the guard hadn’t specified which boulder would have the supplies.
She would have to check one first, and if it wasn’t there, she’d have to make her way across the river to the other.
Luckily, the river was becoming shallower as she moved toward the edges, and Sierra was able to stand within a few feet of the bank, so it shouldn’t be too hard to cross the river again if needed.
As soon as she rose out of the water, the gauzy dress clinging to her body, Sierra’s teeth began to chatter in the chilly evening air. While it was warmer here in Sidhe than in Dublin, the river water had been cold, and the air on her skin was giving her goose bumps.
Sierra only hoped that the mystery guard had planned for this and would have a blanket or something for her to change into stashed in the crevice.
Approaching the boulder, Sierra started at the side closest to the river, walking around it slowly, looking for any opening.
She ran her hand along the rock, ensuring she wouldn’t miss anything as the sun officially set, leaving her in darkness.
The rock face was smooth beneath her callused hands, indicating it had once been in the water itself.
Unfortunately for Sierra, she reached the river on the other side of the boulder rather quickly, meaning she had made the wrong choice.
Trembling, Sierra grit her teeth as she walked back to the area where she had exited the water.
It was completely dark now, with no moon to speak of yet, and crossing to the other side would be dangerous.
But Sierra knew that staying here without shelter would be equally as dangerous.
Seeing no other option, Sierra waded in as far as she could before pushing off the ground and swimming for her life to the other side.
While the current did catch her, as she expected, she had entered far enough upstream that she was able to make it to the other bank just before the boulder.
Sapped of energy and now officially without adrenaline, it took everything Sierra had to crawl her way up the bank.
At one point, she had to stop and lay in the mud for a moment before she could continue.
Finally, once her entire body was out of the water, Sierra rose to her knees and began wringing out the parts of the dress she could reach so the water wouldn’t weigh her down.
It was only getting colder, and one glance at the rising full moon told Sierra she needed to get to the crevice fast, before any nighttime creatures in Sidhe began their hunting.
Just as before, Sierra started feeling the rock by the river and made her way around the boulder.
This time, there was a distinct crack in the boulder about halfway through illuminated in the moonlight.
The entry wasn’t large, but Sierra could just squeeze herself through, cursing her hips as the fabric of the dress caught on the edges of the rock.
Inside the rock was pitch black, except for the small sliver of light the moon allowed in through the crack.
Sierra reached her hand out in front of her, only to encounter nothing.
She began feeling her way around on her hands and knees, concluding that the rock was completely hollow.
During her exploration, Sierra found a small leather sack, which she opened to discover a large piece of material which she assumed was a blanket, something that felt like bread, and a water skin.
She drank the water greedily, forcing herself to save some for later, and ate the bread as quickly as she could manage without choking, before trying to figure out what to do with the blanket.
She knew the best thing to do would be to peel off her dress and put on the dry material.
Even though she realized that was the best option to prevent hypothermia, she also couldn’t bear the thought of the guard coming back to find her naked.
In the end, Sierra’s sense of preservation overcame her insecurity, and she peeled off the dress, wrapping the cloth around her bare shoulders.
In any other situation, she would hang the dress to dry, but she knew that wasn’t an option here as it could alert an enemy to her location.
So, she spread it out across the ground in front of her as much as she could with the restricted dimensions of the boulder, before leaning up against the rock wall and curling herself in a ball for warmth.
The boulder kept her body heat trapped inside for the most part, making Sierra glad she hadn’t given up on the riverbank.
Although she knew she had just slept for at least a day, and that it was probably better to stay alert, Sierra’s eyes felt heavy.
Soon, they were drifting closed of their own accord, and Sierra fell into a dreamless sleep.