Once again, I was travelling in the grip of a stilt strider. The claws around me were so tight, I nearly passed out from the pain. Daun's kind and gentle face flashed in my mind, giving me strength. Finally, my body slammed to the ground and the cloth over my eyes was ripped away.
I looked up, squinting in the twilight. A guard in ebony armor was standing over me with a spear pointed at my temple. "Get up, boy." Behind him, the towering silhouette of the Obsidian Tower pierced the sky, its three spires gleaming in the fading sun. I had been delivered to the lair of the stilt striders.
I stood up on shaking legs. The guard moved behind me and jabbed his spear handle against my back, making me wince. "Get inside." A pair of massive doors slid open in front of me on creaking, rusty rails. I shuffled forward as my head pounded. The guard directed me up a spiral staircase. My legs were burning by the time he ordered me to stop.
"Welcome to your new home," said the guard, opening the door of a blackened room. There was nothing inside but a hole in the floor and a cot. He shoved me into the cell and slammed the door, leaving me in the dark.
It was sometime in the morning when a slit high on the wall opened up, sending a sliver of sunlight into the room. I felt empty. Numb. I suspected what was about to happen, but I couldn't face the truth. A dark oval on the wall intrigued me—what was its purpose?
A few hours later, the oval flashed a repeating pattern of white light. It was a screen. I was happy to receive a distraction to take my mind off my hunger.
Just as the strobing light became unbearable, the image of a Privus man appeared on the strange display. His face was hidden in shadow, except for his mouth.
"Listen carefully to my instructions," said the man. I recognized the same bored voice from the alert we had received from the stilt striders back in the village. "Do as requested and you will survive. Resist and you will die. Nod if you understand."
I nodded.
"Stand up," said the man. I still wasn't sure if he was a recording or not.
My stomach grumbled as I stood—I hadn't eaten since leaving the village and I felt exceedingly weak. The door of my cell rattled open on rusty hinges.
"Walk to the hallway. Follow my voice."
CITEȘTI
The Ashen Wrath (Watty's SHORTLIST recipient 2018) CHAPTERED VERSION
SFA science fiction novella in 76 chapters. (CHAPTERED VERSION FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE) The Privus live a life of safety and luxury in The Walled City, while the Thrall are forced to labor in isolated fields and factories. Menacing machines keep the work...
