Chapter thirteen
How are you still here?”
Klawdia lingered above me, gaping at me as if I were a ghost.
Her rosemary scent wafted through the morning air.
“I never made it out,”
I whispered, supporting myself on my elbows.
My eyes were still adjusting.
“You lie! Or else you would have been whipped like I was.”
Her voice turned louder.
I heard people rustling nearby, and my heart began to race.
What was she implying.
“I am not, Klawdia.
The emperor found me.”
I kept my voice low, hoping she got the hint to calm down.
“If you hadn’t left me behind, if you hadn’t deserted me—we might have had a chance!”
She took a step closer.
It was as if she didn’t hear a word I was saying.
She was almost unrecognizable.
I rose from where I lay and said softly.
“I was captured as well.”
“You lie,”
she spat.
“Is that what you’ve been telling yourself? Why didn’t they punish you for the same crime I did?”
She gave a raspy chuckle.
“You knew they were coming and planned this because of what I did to you and Nour.
This is all your fault.
Look at me!”
She twisted around, and my eyes widened.
Her back showed several marks from the lashes she received.
They were not completely healed but were already scarring—she’d be scarred for life.
Her skin had been mutilated.
Her dress was ripped in several areas from the leather whip.
“Look at my body—my face,”
she hissed.
She turned back around and faced me with eyes that had gone wild.
I took a cautious step back, unsure where this was going.
Klawdia took a step towards me.
“I didn’t leave you, Klawdia.
The emperor brought me back,”
I defended myself.
“The emperor would have never let you go—he would have killed you if he found you himself!”
she insisted.
I shook my head and took several steps back as she advanced towards me.
What did she want? I looked around, and warriors were stirring awake.
“What’s going on?”
Maeri croaked from being half asleep.
“You did this,”
she growled.
“You deserved to die with your sister and mother.
It should have been you, just like it should have been you they captured—”
She lunged for me.
Before she reached me, I whirled and scurried in the opposite direction through the woods.
I passed several sleeping warriors.
I glanced back—she had a thin leather strap wrapped around her hand as she came for me. A branch slapped my cheek as I maneuvered through the trees.
Run, run, run.
My legs burned and felt like pillars of bricks, but I forced them forward.
As Klawdia chased me down, I heard her steps closing in on me—
She took a fistful of my hair and yanked me towards her.
When I fell on my back, she attempted to grab ahold of me, but I scrambled to my feet and pushed myself away from her grasp.
I felt my hairs being ripped from my scalp.
Her hands clawed my face and neck, trying to grab ahold of me. I stumbled backward, fumbled on my knees, and lifted myself, attempting to gain distance.
I felt a pull at my ankle and crashed into the mossy ground.
I crawled on my hands and knees away from her, but out of nowhere the leather strap was wrapped around my neck.
She crawled on top of my back, her legs straddling me.
The strap squeezed my throat, and my hands flew up to free myself.
I couldn’t breathe out.
I couldn’t breathe in.
I tried to call out her name, but nothing came.
Klawdia yanked the strap behind me tighter.
“You did this, you cursed witch,”
she spat.
“You’re going to wish you were dead along with your sister.”
I tried to tell her to stop.
My fingers clawed to find leverage against the rope crushing my throat, desperate for air as darkness closed in around me.
She was killing me, but this wasn’t the end for me.
I refused this death.
I wasn’t going to leave this world from a leather strap.
My fingers let go of the strap and reached behind me to where I felt her.
They found her face and clawed against her mouth and eyes.
I heard her growling from the scrapes.
I thrashed as hard as I could.
For a moment, she loosened her hold on the strap just enough for me to take a breath.
That was all I needed.
I thrusted an elbow into her face.
Her shoulders went flying off my back, and I scrambled onto my feet, coughing as air entered my chest.
Klawdia screamed from the stinging abrasions to her eyes and cheeks.
Without wasting another moment, I ran as quickly as my short legs would allow.
I looked back to see Klawdia trailing behind me, relentless.
She had eyes of murder.
My body rammed into another’s, and I looked up.
A warrior had his arms wrapped around mine.
“What is going on here?”
His brows drew together, and his head tilted while he stared at my neck.
I couldn’t stop heaving, begging for air to live inside me again.
I couldn’t speak even if I tried.
“I saw her.”
Kallen appeared alongside Maeri, both panting, as if they’d been chasing us all along.
“She attacked this girl.
I ran as quickly as I could.”
The warrior I’d never met released me and walked to Klawdia.
My eyes followed her, making sure there was a safe distance between herself and I.
Her eyes went from murderous to fearful real quick.
I could see her body trembling from where I stood. Actually, I was barely standing—my hands leaned on my knees to catch an ounce of breath.
“No! She did this to me!”
Klawdia screamed.
The warrior who had caught me had a hand around her arm, pulling her out of the woods.
“Let go of me!”
I shook my head, not registering completely what just occurred.
I didn’t mean for that to happen.
I felt like I was just asleep less than five minutes ago in dreamland.
I tried to pay attention to the conversation ahead of me. My breathing slowed, air filling my lungs more naturally now.
“Shut it!”
The warrior tightened his grip on Klawdia.
“Do you know where we send violent people in our country?”
He paused.
“We send them to Stroka.”
Klawdia’s eyes widened, her face turning ashen.
“What’s your plan with the girl?”
Kallen asked, his panting slowing down, mirroring my own.
“Seems like the both of them need a lesson on how to deal with conflict.
We don’t have time for this nonsense.
We’ll send them both to Stroka.”
My lips parted. No.
Kallen’s back stiffened.
“I’m not sure if that’s the wisest choice.
This one”—Kallen pointed at me—“healed some of Emperor Aris’ wounds.
He might not take it too fondly if he found we sent a healer back.
We might want to bring him in on this decision.”
“No, no need to bother him with trivial matters.
We’ll just send this one back to Stroka.
She’s been a constant nuisance anyway,”
the warrior grunted.
He pulled Klawdia with him.
“You can’t possibly.
Please, I beg of you!”
Klawdia cried, attempting to pull her arm free of his grasp.
“That’s where you’ll be sent as punishment…”
The warrior’s voice faded along with their presence.
But I had a feeling this wouldn’t be her last effort to end my existence.
Maeri was across from me and she stared with wide eyes.
I was sure she was wondering what happened, but she didn’t intrude.
I felt a burning, stinging sensation around my neck.
My hand went to the raw, open, and inflamed skin that encircled my throat. I flinched at the touch.
I hadn’t noticed until now that my limbs were shaking uncontrollably.
I had gone into survival mode, though it didn’t feel much different from the last couple weeks.
Perhaps, I was just getting used to the feeling that every day depended on how much I wanted to live it.
If I gave up just a little, I’d die.
Looking towards the edge of the woods where Klawdia disappeared, the rest of the woken up warriors around began to pack their belongings and we began our journey to Siniya once more.
I now focused on my breath, my steps, and my pain.
The burn around my neck, in a way, felt like company.
I finally felt something; pain replaced the numb feeling that once filled me.
I thought perhaps I was losing my mind, because it felt comforting to have something that caused me to feel something.