Chapter 10
329 Words
10
“Emmet.” That was the first word I managed to say. “Where’s Emmet?”
“South. Far away from here.” The black-haired man kept my hand held tightly in his.
His skin was clean. His hand hadn’t been covered in the blood that had sprayed the dirt alley.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Are you angry I saved you?” He pressed me into the shadows as he peered around the side of Handor’s shed.
“No.”
“Then it should be enough that I’m here. We need to get to the woods.”
“I can’t.” I yanked my hand from his grasp.
“If you stay here, they’ll kill you. The soldiers watched that man follow you, and now that man is dead.”
“I can’t just leave. I have to get to Lily. If the soldiers are going after people, I have to warn her.”
The man closed his eyes for a moment. “Where’s her home?”
“Southeast end of the village,” I said. “I can get there on my own.”
“You’re not leaving my sight.” He grabbed my elbow, steering me to the trees between homes. “Is Lily fit enough to travel?”
“She’s old but she’s not decrepit.”
“It’ll be easier for us to stay alive if I don’t have to carry anyone.” He didn’t offer any explanation as he took off running behind the houses.
I didn’t ask for one.
“It’s across from the next house,” I said as the towering tree that stood in front of Lily’s worn, wooden home came into view. Smoke rose from behind the barren branches.
I ran faster, outpacing the black-haired man.
My heart thundered in my ears. The pounding of faraway hooves rattled away all reasonable thought.
The man caught me around the waist, keeping me in the cover of the shadows. I didn’t need to go any closer.
The soldiers had displayed her out front by the road. Her gray hair drifted with the breeze as the rope around her neck twisted. Flames cut through the roof of Lily’s home, their brightness outlining her shape, as though her death would set the whole world to blazing.
- Writer
