Chapter 40
Elias sucked air into his lungs in his desperate flight. Branches whipped his bare arms and face as he ran through the wood while roots tried to pull him to the ground. In the night, beneath the canopy of the deadwood, there was nothing but deep dark wherever he looked; he ran, not knowing where to go. He barely managed to avoid the obstacles that jutted out of the darkness towards him with the light of the king’s fruits glowing beneath the fabric of his pant pocket. Still, thorns and thistles cut into him, leaving his arms a mess of leaking wounds.
A cry echoed behind him, a heavy thump following just behind. Elias turned in his run, his foot catching a root, and fell, sprawling across the protruding wood the same as Mila had done behind him. Blood pumped panic through Elias’
