Chapter 6 Into the Unknown
Into the Unknown
The following night, Alissa had everything arranged for the escape plan Freyah created to help her cross the walls of Bryniard.
She packed her bag with enough provisions to keep her alive for a week, some changes of clothes, her small notebook, and a quill pen.
Her hands instinctively grabbed one of the drawings Dhalia had made and tucked it in her bag without conscious effort, something to remember her daughter by and the reason she was leaving.
Little did she know that the girl would remain in her every thought and dream from that moment forward.
Her bow and quiver of arrows hung across her shoulders, and a dagger was hidden inside her boot.
That was all she could carry on her journey to this place of which she had no idea.
Alissa didn’t know what awaited her on the way, but she had the feeling nothing she could ever carry would be enough to help her along this crazy path she had chosen to walk on her own.
Leaving the cabin with her daughter beside her, she glanced back, taking in the corners of the place she grew up.
The place that carried the memories of the happiest and worst of her days.
The room that served as a living room and a cooking place, right beside the little bedroom she shared with Dhalia.
The simple wooden furniture and tapestries her mother knitted herself, the rough-hewn timber that made up the walls Alissa used to scribble on as a child.
She felt a bit of nostalgia when she closed the door behind her to leave the only place she’d ever called home, walking into the unknown for the first time.
Alissa took Dhalia to the Weller’s place, where Freyah’s parents would be expecting them.
She walked the whole path holding back the tears that threatened to surrender to her anguish, her hand attached to her child’s as if they were inseparable.
Alissa couldn’t help but wonder if she had gone completely mad, possibly walking toward death as her father once did.
Mrs. Weller received them by the doorway, and the woman’s arms enveloped Alissa in a warm hug.
“Good luck on your journey, my child,” she whispered in her ear. “We’ll take good care of her.” Alissa frowned. She wasn’t expecting Mrs. Weller to know anything about her plans to leave. She blamed Freyah and her big mouth for it.
Her concerns evaporated when she realized this was the moment to say goodbye. An abrupt wave of despair and regret washed over her as she knelt to look into her child’s innocent eyes.
“I will be away for a while, sweetheart,” she spoke, her voice breaking as she gently traced her fingers down the little girl’s golden locks.
“Will I sleep here tonight, Mommy?” Dhalia asked in a sweet voice.
Alissa forced a smile, trying to shake the tightness in her chest away. “Yes, baby. But I will be gone for a while longer. Freyah and her parents will take care of you.” She avoided the child’s gaze so as not to break down in sobs.
“When will you be back?”
“Before you know it,” was all Alissa managed to say, her eyes shimmering with tears.
While she looked at her girl, she felt everything.
She felt sadness that began in her heart and welled up to her eyes.
She felt revolted enough to break the world in two.
And although terror made her legs tremble, she was also determined.
Most of all, she felt the sharp pain of being away from her girl in the little time she had left to live.
Days that were more precious to her than any treasure would ever be.
Days when she would miss moments she could never have back.
It’s not fair.
It really wasn’t.
It wasn’t fair that to save her daughter’s life, she would have to be apart from her in those last days. What if she couldn’t return in time? What if she left, and by the time she was back, Dhalia would be long gone and buried?
That was Alissa’s biggest fear: losing her daughter and whatever time they still had left together in a failed attempt to save her. She almost gave up on leaving when her brain was filled with terrible scenarios, her mind collapsing for every intrusive thought.
I can’t leave her.
That was until her attention flipped back to the black and white sparkling threads that still flew around Dhalia, slowly stealing her life.
There was a particular cruelty to moments like this, when life presented two paths so different from one another.
These were the moments that would determine what the rest of their lives would become.
Each path held a future that would only be known if she chose to follow it.
She would only know if she’d made the right choice when it’d be too late to turn back.
Trapped in Bryniard, Alissa had never before faced a moment where a single decision could alter the course of her life and that of her loved ones.
Was this a suicide mission? Could there be another way to save Dhalia’s life?
It was impossible to predict the future that lay ahead on the road she had chosen. All she knew was that she’d only find out if she dared take this step forward.
She remembered then why she was risking it all—her life, her time with Dhalia.
She waved those thoughts away, the sense of courage rising within her again as she made the effort to move.
She kissed Dhalia’s cheeks and hugged her tight and long one last time, her arms memorizing how the little girl felt between them.
“I love you,” she murmured.
When she walked away, glancing back at a sad little girl waving at her through the house’s window, Alissa made a promise to herself.
I will be back in time. I will not let this be the last time I’ve seen my daughter alive.
Alissa had agreed to meet Freyah at her family’s tavern at midnight, where she stood waiting.
Her friend was ten minutes late when she opened the tavern door.
Freyah was wearing a long-sleeved white dress, a brown leather belt cinching her waist. A dark brown cloak was tied around her shoulders, and she wore boots that matched her dress and reached up to her knees.
Her purple eyepatch was the only thing that didn’t match the color palette of her outfit.
They went to the underground of the tavern, where Freyah placed the wooden horse-drawn cart at the tunnel entrance and loaded it with the five barrels of ale they dispatched once a month to send out of Bryniard.
Only last night, when they were coming up with a plan, did Alissa learn that the Weller’s family tavern exported ale across the wall every month.
So many questions went through her mind when she first heard about the existence of such tunnels, but she’d only managed to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me about it before?”
“To keep you from wanting to do exactly what we’re about to do now, Alissa.”
Freyah did have a fair point; Alissa probably would have wanted to explore the tunnels if she had known they existed when she was little. Alissa grunted.
“And besides, no one but my family knows of the existence of the tunnel that leads from the tavern to the outside of the wall. We kept it a secret to prevent people from attempting to cross it and ending up dead.”
The plan was to add four barrels full of the beverage, along with an empty one, so that Alissa could travel inside it in disguise.
A man always came by at night to pick up the carriage, accompanied by a horse to lead it outside.
To excuse her sudden disappearance from Bryniard for the time she would be away, Alissa had asked the Wellers to spread the news that she had decided to go on Ishlor.
That was what they called the quarantine the people of Bryniard occasionally chose to follow, secluding themselves from society willingly from one siren day to another to pay respect to all the victims of Senectus Subita.
That decision was not going to be questioned—going on Ishlor was seen as an act of appreciation by her people.
Only when they finished loading the wooden cart of the carriage and Alissa was already inside the barrel did she hear a loud noise next to her.
She lifted the lid of the barrel to peek outside, curious about what could have caused such a loud noise.
To her despair, when she glanced up, she watched Freyah climb inside another empty barrel.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a loud whisper, her brows furrowed and eyes wide.
“Did you think I was going to let you go alone, Lissa?” her friend answered while positioning herself inside the barrel.
They whispered, arguing with each other, only their eyes peeking out of the barrel, the lids balancing over their heads.
“Are you out of your mind? It’s too dangerous. That’s not what we agreed on last night!”
“This is non-negotiable, Lissa. I’m coming with you,” she stated. “Unlike what you clearly believe, you are not the center of this universe, and you will not tell me again what to do with my life.”
Alissa felt a sense of pride in seeing her friend speak her mind without filters, following her heart above all else.
Freyah started closing the lid until she stopped to say something else. “Don’t worry about Dhalia. My parents will take care of her.”
Alissa sighed in resignation. She was mad at Freyah’s unpredicted audacity and nonsense, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to talk her out of her decision.
“Now close that damn lid. The man will be here at any moment now,” Freyah said at last.
Disturbed, Alissa did as her friend ordered. Ten minutes later, when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, her heart thundered and her stomach turned. Anxiety for the future threatened to overtake her senses.
There was no going back now.