Rise of the Warrior of Everfen

Chapter 24: Maybe I Want To Make My Own Choices

She rode out of the meadow, out of the camp, and into the trees. She just wanted to get away from here, away from the confusion of trying to be human, drawing the line between friend and foe, and right and wrong. And the decisions that were no longer hers whether she was a slave or not.

She cut through the trees away from camp, but she found a road nearby and took to it to allow Lothar the freedom of running over smoother ground. She had no plan, no intention of stopping, but as she rode away, she had a strange feeling of freedom come over her. For the first time in her life, she was free to runaway if she wanted, free to leave, storm out. She could go and never come back if it was her choice. To have that liberty was the most freeing thing of all. To know she could.

Or could she?

She'd thought that was her choice, but Wren had just shown her that she might not always have a choice. Could she not choose her own future with or without money? Why did money matter so much? She growled in frustration and Lothar flicked back his ears and it wasn't until then that she realized they'd been running long and hard while she attempted to sort through her chaotic mind.

"I'm so sorry!" She burst and pulled back gently on the reins. He was sweating, laboring for breath, but as she slowed him he strained against the reins, ears pricked forward now. He pranced with high steps as if begging her to let him keep running. "No more, for now." She patted his neck and dismounted. She checked the saddle and it was a little loose, but she hadn't tightened it before riding. She was lucky it hadn't slid right off.

Breathing almost as hard as her horse, she looked both ways down the road. Which way? Was it her choice? If she ran would the humans come find her? Was she doomed to always be trapped by everyone around her?

She pressed her face into Lothar's mane and sighed heavily, inhaling the grass and dirt scent that clung to his body. She finally pulled away and patted his side before she turned him and started back the way they'd came. She stayed on the ground, walking next to him and he seemed content to follow her.

They weren't long on the path when Lothar lifted his head higher, watching something ahead of them and she rose up on her toe tips, catching sight of a large, black wolf running fast. A familiar orc wielding a hammer was perched on his back. Bukoo ran on mostly silent feet, barely a sound, and Cold Hammer was low over his shoulders.

When they started to slow, he sat up straighter and Bukoo wagged his tail in greeting. She didn't fail to notice the stern look on Cold Hammer's face when they stopped and he slid off the wolf's back. The last thing she wanted was to fight with Cold Hammer after Wren and Lohke upset her.

When he spoke, however, he didn't demand to know why she had run away or ask her why she disobeyed them when they yelled at her to come back. Instead he demanded, "Give me one little sign or hint and I'll go back and kill them for you right now."

"What?" His words were so unexpected she almost laughed.

"Whatever Wren and Lohke said to you, they will make up for it." He was dead serious about it, gripping his war hammer tighter. "You can watch."

She laughed lightly, pleasantly surprised as she started to relax. Some part of her wanted to pull him into a hug. She remembered hugs. Real ones where the other person held you and sighed and for that one moment you were purely, incorruptibly happy. Her mother used to hug her like that.

Dismissing the idea, she sighed, "No, you don't have to slay the human king or your best friend."

"Then they will beg forgiveness at your feet."

"No," she laughed because he was serious and it brightened her day to know he would willingly risk punishment or death by forcing the pair of them to her feet. It was a nice image in her mind.