Rain poured down in sheets, turning the mountain path into a muddy, near-impassable mess.
I was soaked to the bone, my thin clothes clinging to my skin like a second hide.
Icy rainwater dripped from my hair, mixing with the blood seeping from my swollen, infected wounds, pooling at my feet in a pale pink puddle.
The carriage I'd prepared had been tampered with—halfway along, the horse went wild, bolting straight toward the burial grounds.
I was thrown around, battered and bruised, barely managing to leap off at the last second.
I don't know how long I stumbled through the mud, only that I had to get farther from Delmora Town. Farther still.
The wounds from the spiked gauntlet, soaked by the rain, burned at first, then dulled to a numb ache.
My vision blurred, the world reduced to th
