Taking flight
323 Words
Her feet slapped hard against the cobbles as she ran, she twisted and ducked through the crowd earning grunts of annoyance and indignant cries. A sob rose up in the throat, a combination of fear and hope that she strangled back. All of her life she had lived as a salve, dreaming of one day running away but she had never had the chance, until today.
It was as she was being returned to the salve line, ready to be sold again after the death of her master. The sound of the copper key clicking in the chain was familiar to her, but today it didn't seem right. As the fat greasy man had turned away, yelling at a cart seller that had gotten too close to his girls she hadn't heard its distinctive click shut. She glanced at the women next to her, she gazed hollowly into space, there would be no alarm from her. Quickly she jammed her nails into the lock, feeling it pop free. Amazed the chains fell away, and she took off.
The weight of the heavy copper chains holding her hands to her throat reminded her she was an obvious target, and she quickly veered down a narrow alleyway to get off the main street. Her scrawny shoulders scrapped on the terracotta brick as she forced her way over the piles of trash to emerge to a brightly lit road. There were less people her, but also less cover for the stares she was receiving. She could not hear faint voices behind her yelling in alarm, she had to find a place to hide, and a way to get these chains off. Looking around quickly as the voices grew in her ears she saw a carriage and shot towards it, throwing herself under by its still wheels. She crushed herself into the dark space, muttering her prayers to the goddess as her chains glinted in the dark.
- Writer
