The Red Soul

Chapter One

The crackling sound of dry leaves that were pulverized filled the forest when two bare feet ran over the covered path, followed by many black boots.

Myris did not know how fast she had to get away.

Agile, she avoided the low-hanging branches as she stormed off the muddy path. With large steps she left more and more trees behind, but there seemed to be more to replace them. A startled deer sprinted away from her when she passed the animal at full speed, but she did not have time to pay attention to the animal. She had no attention anymore for anything, except for the thundering footsteps behind her and her own breathing, which became more and more difficult as she kept on running.

Every step she took seemed too small, too short to be able to cover distance, but she wanted to go further. She never wanted to go back. That is why she did not look back and went on.

In haste, she made a turn to the right, away from the path she had followed on trust. Deeper and deeper into the forest.

Behind her the thumping sound of the footsteps was drowned out by the shouting of dozens of men. Orders… a man with a raspy low voice shouted orders to his men. Commandments that were intended to capture her, perhaps even to kill her. His voice sounded clearer than the others, deeper than the others, and screamed the loudest of them all. And the others shouted obediently back to confirm their new assignment.

She recognized the voice. It was the voice of the duke with the grey eyes. The duke, who needed to held her captive at all costs, needed to ensure that she could never escape, but had failed.

Yet, the possibility that they would capture her again was big. They were close. Too close.

Quickly Myris jumped over a protruding tree root. She did not know how long she was running did not longer know where she was running. She only knew she had to keep running, away from those men, away from this corrupted place. The wet moss stuck to her boots. Her hands had green streaks of the damp tree trunks and branches she kept pushing away, as if they were burning her skin with every simple touch.

The mess that was her light-blond hair, which flew back and forth on her back as she zigzagged through the trees, had captured leaves and small stick in the knots that had formed after weeks of not combing it. The loose tufts of hair in the front stuck to her face, to her glowing red cheeks. Her throat burned, begging for water, but she had to go on. She forced her legs to keep on running, even if they complained with every step. A red colour appeared in the corner of her eye as she felt as if she was about the pas out. But she kept looking straight ahead and did not stop running.

She did not know how she was covering ground. The last time she could run freely – could walk freely- was a long time ago. Her body’s condition was terrible. Her stamina was destroyed. But she had to continue.

She suppressed the pain and kept running.

The moon was the only light source she had at the moment, but it was occasionally hidden by the passing clouds. It was about to rain again, like it had done the entire day. But in spite of a shortage of light, she could still distinguish the shapes of trees that flashed past her and branches that barred her way. Just like all other obstacles that lay on her path.

The darkness did not bother her anymore.

She only hoped that that was not the case for those behind her, that she could use the darkness of the night as a cover to get away from the men who were following her. Stretching out her arm, she used a low-hanging branch to swing through a sharp turn.

She did not know which way she went, but she seemed to go deeper into the forest. The ground became increasingly uneven, more and more dangerous to run on. She had to be careful to put her feet down properly before they slipped on the muddy ground.

The trees were also getting more difficult to pass. They came closer together, making it harder to zigzag along them, as if they wanted to enclose her. As if they wanted to stop her with their broad branches and want to grab her with their long earth-covered roots.

Myris did not dare to look back. She did not dare to stop running to breathe. She tried to concentrate on making her breathing as even as she could, wanting to spare every bit of oxygen she could inhale, but it did not help much anymore. Her lungs were already giving up.

A metallic smell penetrated her nose as she sucked up the air. It stung her eyes and her head began to pound. Frantically, she blinked the upcoming tears away, but it made her stumble as the brown mud pulled at feet, trying the suck her into the ground. Exhausted, she was so exhausted.

 However, something caused her to keep on running, made sure that she did not stop. Until she was obstructed by something else.

Out of nowhere, air was squeezed out of her lungs as she felt a powerful blow through her whole body. Her head was spinning and her whole body jerked by the unexpected intensity.  For a moment it became dark and she did not see anything, only the unfolding blackness. The world became a haze around her and she felt as if the wind was completely flattening her, compressing her until she was as thin as the leaves she had trampled. For a moment, she seemed to have been absorbed into nothingness, as if the world had disappeared around her. The metallic scent was everywhere.

The first thing she felt when she became aware of her surroundings again was her feet that slipped in the slimy mud. Before she knew it, she flew through the air while the world was spinning around her.

Just in time she could put her arms in front of her face before she tumbled down a small slope. Leaves flew around her ears as she rolled over the ground. She did not dare to open her eyes.

A shot of pain flew through her arm, but she kept holding it tight in front of her face as she felt further and further. followed by a crackling sound that filled her ears. Her eyes shot open and she bit her tongue to refrain herself from yelling and alerting the guards. Black spots formed in front of her eyes and taste of blood filled her mouth.

Slowly she came to a halt between thousands of leaves. Air finally entered her lungs again. Between her whimpering, she sucked it in deeply. Everything hurt. 

Groaning she wanted to get up, but soon collapsed. Her head spun and she vomited over the leaves next to her, the last bit of food she had in her stomach coming out of her. She put her throbbing head in her hands to chase away the black spots.

When Myris was able to see again, she slowly examined the rest of her body. She was covered in small cuts and bruises were already forming, but her attention went down to her ankle. Her ankle...She cursed when she saw her ankle, which laid in an unnatural pose and burned as if she had put it in fire. Broken, absolutely broken.

Her foggy eyes slid further to a stinging sensation on her arm. A large, deep cut disfigured her left forearm. Blood flowed from the wound and dripped on her clothes and dirty feet. If she did not quickly patch it up, she would lose too much blood.

Quickly she reached for a knife that was tied to the edge of her broken brown trousers. She had made it herself from a stone and it was very small and blunt. She would not be able to kill anything like that, but it was all she had left.

Roughly she cut off a strip of her too wide, black shirt. She immediately regretted the quick action when the world began to turn before her eyes, but she put her jaws together and continued as tears streamed down her face. The frayed piece of cloth was immediately soaked when she bandaged her wound. A cry escaping when she tightened to not as much as she could to put pressure on it. She was aware the fabric would not last long, but it needed to stop the excessive the bleeding for a while.

Carefully, she listened to her surroundings. She no longer heard voices or dogs. There was also no rustling of leaves and the cracking of branches to be heard in the distance. There was no sign of the duke and his men anymore.

Lying on her side, Myris began to shake violently. Putting a dirt covered hand in front of her mouth, she muffled a second cry that escaped from her lips as she broke down. Despite the pain, also tears of relief covered her face. For minutes she cried as it dawned on her that she had escaped.

But when had recovered herself again and looked around… Myris realized that she was completely lost.

With a confused expression she gazed at her surroundings. There was nothing to see except thousands of trees she did not recognize. The forest was completely silent and there was no sign of life between the walls of wood and leaves. The wind had also stopped. Then she looked back up at a clear sky, while it was supposed to be raining- even storming perhaps. Yet, there was no cloud to be seen. Moonlight shone on the green around her and gave the forest a mysterious, silver glow.

Slowly she got on her feet. Her broken nails clamped into the barge of a tree as she lifted herself up. More tears escaped as the stinging of her arm intensified, and for a moment she doubled over as she vomited once more. Her body shook even more when both also blood came out of her mouth. A dirty, iron taste filled was left in return, but she could not wash it away. She had no water to drink or to clean her wounds, the knife being the only possession she still had.

Myris knew that she would not survive for long if she did nothing against that. She was on the verge of death, something she had been many times before. Yet, this was the first time she did want to give in and welcome it. For the first time, she refused to give up. But therefore, she had to come up with a plan.

Her original plan… Myris had abandoned it as soon as the men had come after her. She had started to go south, to a safe place... although she did not know if that still existed, but the men... They had come out of nowhere and had changed her whole plan. She did not even know how the men had found her, how they knew she was gone. She had learned the rounds of the guards by heart, moving all the attention of those who could still be in her way to other things. She had thought everything out perfectly for months. At first it went well, she had escaped without any problems, but within a few minutes, they had suddenly turned up behind her. And then, in the middle of the night, she ran away from everything and everyone.

However, if she now did not find anyone that could help her, she would not survive, and everything would have been for nothing.

Maybe there was a village somewhere outside the forest. Maybe there were people in the neighbourhood who could tell her where she was. Perhaps there was another chance to find medicine before she succumbed to her injuries. Somewhere there had to be an end to all those trees. She had to find at least a sign of life, human or animal...

As slowly and carefully as possible she leaned against the tree, her fingers grazing against the raw wood, and put her weight on her right ankle. She wanted to take a step, but she stopped immediately. With her first step she already wanted to scream as a new wave of pain erupted through her broken ankle.

With a grimace she sank to the ground with her back against a tree. It seemed impossible to go any further. Fear crept through her body and she had to clench her hands into fists to make them stop shaking. She stroked her right palm with her finger and breath out in a shaky manner.

Shadows slid over her. She looked up at the sky again, where a flock of birds flew over her, past the moon illuminating the entire forest. The moon was still high, so she still had a few hours before it would be light. She had to use that time well, but for what. And how? She wanted to sleep, to close her eyes, but she was on unknown territory, without a single thing that would allow her to defend herself or to hide.

She had no choice if she wanted to stay alive.

Panting, she clung to the tree again to hoist herself. The rough bark that already had scraped the skin of fingers raw now gave her even more small wounds. Yet, at least that were not wounds that wanted to make her cry out of pain. She hardly felt them. It was as if she slowly became numb.

She wanted to follow the birds, that the flying animals would pick her up and take her to a peaceful place, but when she carefully took a step to the birds something seemed to draw her back. She felt that something or someone was looking at her, watching her. With an uneasy feeling she squeezed her eyes and peered at her surroundings.

Anxiously she turned towards a rustling bush. She swore as a pain in her ankle went through her spine, but she kept her eyes fixed on the area around her. She swore she saw little eyes staring at her, hidden in the bushes and from hollows under the ground.

She blinked a few times. When she looked around, the eyes were gone.

She must have imagined it. But how? She could not be already delirious from her injuries, right?

The weird feeling strengthened and the metallic smell stalked her. It felt as if someone was slowly pulling her with a hook. The colour in her face faded due to the recognizable smell and she did not move. She had smelled it too often. And if she smelled it, it never ended well. But did something ever end well for her?

Just before the stench completely let her head spin, a delicious aroma of pine and jasmine penetrated her nose. It chased away the disgusting copper smell that had been in the air all the time. Warm tingling glided over her skin, caressing her.

Her mind said she had to leave, but she crept a few steps forward away from the birds as the pleasant smell extended for her.

Myris looked around again. She had heard stories about a place, but ... She shook her head. That was impossible. At least, she hoped fervently that it was not possible. Otherwise she was doomed. But she had to continue, had no choice. She had serious injuries, and also hunger and thirst surrounded her for a few days.

With her teeth clenched together, she stumbled on. She ignored her ankle, but she tried to use it as little as possible. The feeling that attracted her became stronger and stronger. The eyes were back and now in the trees as well, but she ignored them, as if she were indeed imagining it.

She had to go on before she collapsed.