Rise

16

The palace was a half-day's ride from the barn, Palaquin sensed my urgency and sped off. I cast the charm once again, and the palace was in sharp focus, which, according to Rosie, meant I was getting closer. I spurred Palaquin to go faster, and not daring to look back, knowing if I saw Rosie's sad face, I would never be able to leave again.

Once we crested the last hill, I gasped. The charm's view of it did this monstrosity of stone and steel no justice, it towered over the field and wood, with stone demons standing guard on the tall iron fence, and the ancient castle looming above.

I made my way towards the woods, and once safely hidden behind the tree line, I dismounted Palaquin and tied him to a low-hanging branch and gave him an apple to keep him happy. I turned my blue-black cloak inside-out so that the forest green lining would show. I quietly scaled a tree and sat down on a branch, studying the movements of the stone guardians, and waiting for the black of night to conceal me.

When the moon reached its peak in the sky I carefully climbed out of my hide-away and switched my cloak back to the blue-black side. I made sure to keep my tread light, and my breathing almost non-existent. I had practice from all of the times I had to sneak from the house without mom and dad waking up to rescue Eli from whatever trouble she was sure to find.

I had noticed a small window just barely above the ground, near a opening that was scarcely patrolled by the demon guardians. Silent as a shadow, I stalked towards the window, blending into the darkness surrounding me. Iara must have been smiling favorably down from her realm, because the window was unlatched and opened easily. I quickly drop down, my feet landing softly on the dirt floor.

I held up a candle stick that was on the wall to my right and curse softly. There was someone sleeping on a bed right in front of me. I curse again, but tell myself that this was necessary to get Eli back as I drew out a dagger from my boot with a soft shhk. I creep towards the bed and position the dagger to easily slit their throats. I take a deep breath steeling my resolve, For Eli.

"F-Farrah?" I heard someone say, groggy. I jumped back as half of the figure I was poised to kill sat up, rubbing their eyes.

"Eli?!" I whisper-yell.

"Gods Farrah, you scared the shit out of me!" Eli responded.

"I scared you?! I thought you'd be held in some dungeon cell- wait who the hell is that?" I say, pointing to the other shape in the bed.

"Th- That's Caden."

"You know what? I don't care, lets get you out of here and back home."

"Bu-"

"No buts we're getting out of here. Now." She must've heard the sharp edge to my voice, or saw the cold steel in my eyes, because she just silently nodded her head and let me boost her up through the window, and followed me like a wraith. Once we were safe in the forest, I turned back towards her.

I reached out to brush a choppy lock of strawberry blonde hair from her face and she flinches at my touch. At that moment, I wanted to slit whomever made her like this ear-to-ear. I sat her down next to a fallen tree and retrieve the extra cloak from my saddle bag, wrapping it around her.

"I like the new look," I say motioning to her short hair. She only offers me a small smile in return.

"I would scold you for being so damn hard to find, but I'll refrain for now." She nods gratefully. "Now, why don't you start from the top."

An hour later, I had resolved to gut Amara, disembowel Vivian and castrate Caden, but I saw that it wasn't the time to threaten bloodshed, so I helped her onto Palaquin and sat behind her so she could use me as a pillow to sleep on. I nudged Palaquin into a quick trot and we headed back south, the crescent moon being our only light and the Iara's blessed darkness cloaking us.

**A/N Alrightie, so sorry about missing last week. There was a lot of technical issues with Wattpad but thankfully they're all fixed now! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and we'll see y'all next week for a very.... Interesting new chapter ;) XOXO Nikki**