Beyond the Walls

Chapter 28

She runs in the woods like a deer startled by a tiger. Her boots kick up the dirt as sticks catch her skin. But the shouts of the Tranquillity patrolmen drive her forward. Her pockets rattle with the silver of the Concave woman who made the mistake of entering the square in the Convex Sector for a business deal. The girl knows she fucked up. She doesn't have the stealth hand of a pickpocket.

"Get her!" barks a Tranq from behind and she grunts, tripping on a root and regaining herself in one motion.

Gaining momentum, she manages to lose the Tranqs enough for her to leap up the trunk of a tree, her foot finding purchase on the lowest branch. Reaching up, she hauls her way to the top, testing the strength of the finest arms.

"Where'd she go?" the Tranq shouts, glancing around himself like he's trying to find his way out of the forest. Then he looks up. "There!" he points, and she curses her red hair for betraying her.

Another Tranq with calculating green eyes and a jagged scar down his face slings his bow and an arrow from his back, aims and fires. She gasps as the arrow narrowly escapes the back of her scalp. But for the second arrow, which embeds itself in her chest and she topples out of the tree, dead before she hits the ground.

I jolt awake, gasping and whimpering, sweat spilling down the sides of my face. Ruben stirs. "Woah, what happened?" he murmurs, shifting up.

I give my head a little shake, pushing the sticky hair out of my face. "Just a bad dream," I say.

Grey early morning light streaks into the room. A bird, singing loudly, lands on the windowsill and I sigh in relief. Not a Mercuree.

"It's pretty much a cliché that I would get stupid nightmares like that," I breathe a laugh. "Why couldn't the universe be more original?" Throwing the blankets off, I pad into the bathroom and peel off my hot clothes. I switch the shower on and step in, allowing the warm water to wash the salty sweat from my skin.

"Were you not going to wait for me?" I open my eyes to see Ruben holding the shower door open, already naked. I laugh, shaking my head. He grins and steps in. "I can't believe you would do this to me, Elle."

"Edward will be back," Ajax says at breakfast, chewing a spoonful of oats and swallowing. "So today, we need some of us to start the journey to the other two cities. Try to convince them to join an alliance before he attacks again."

"I'm going," I say.

"Well, obviously, Elle." Ajax rolls his eyes. "I'm thinking you, Aston, Ruben and Killian."

My heart sinks and I force swallow my toast. Killian who, unfortunately, sits across from me, catches my gaze before averting himself back to Ajax.

"I'm not too keen to go, Ajax," he practically stutters.

"Why not?"

"I think I should help you take care of the sick prisoners."

"Well, I can't send Monet at the moment as she's still injured," Ajax says, sipping his coffee. "So, unless you got a twisted ankle that I don't know about, I don't really have another option."

"Brilliant," Killian sighs.

"I've spoken to the prisoners this morning. They are either kidnapped from the Untamed tribe, from Aurelia or from the city of Moset. None of them is from the fourth city. However, the ones from Moset are fairly certain the leader King Wright would be willing to ally with us."

"But of course, we can't take their word for it and have to prepare for them to do what Duchess Lister did," I say.

"For sure," says Ajax. "We will get you guys suited up and heading off tonight when the train arrives."